November

Most of the group were able to attend last night's meeting and, yet again, have all been very busy since last time. We also welcomed Natalie, our newest member.

Chris has a break in her holiday schedule so was able to join us and made use of the table space available to lay out her blocks so she could number them up ready to piece together.  We're looking forward to seeing the finished item, and a photo. Chris brought her blocks along in the lovely project bag she made some months ago (right).

Rosemary's been making tree decorations and table runners (left), some of which will be decorated with fused appliqué (right).

Another lovely, yet very different, table runner is being made by Elaine. It's not quite finished, but here's a photo (below)
. 

Lesley's made a start on her modern quilt. It's looking gorgeous as is (right). A few more rows to go though before the top is al pieced.


Having run a Christmas craft session for the Embroiderer's Guild, Wendy has been busy making little Christmas stockings (below) for very cute Christmas stocking bunting.



Amongst other things, Shirley made a lovely scissor keeper using this tutorial and Maria made an origami-style bag using this tutorial. Both proved a big hit last night so we'll probably see a few of these at show and tell soon!

Some of us have now made a start on a 3D Christmas tree using this lovely tutorial but none are finished yet. There should be some trees finished in time for December's show and tell.

Suggestions have been made with regard to the potential recipients of Linus quilts we want to make as part of next year's programme, and these are being progressed.

Almost one year in and feedback is that two hours per month is too short , so we're hoping to extend the meeting finish time to 10pm from January.

We've had no success if booking a restaurant for a Christmas meal, however, we've had a much better idea. We'll have a little get-together/party in January instead to celebrate the group's first birthday. How time flies!

October

This month, we invited the local Project Linus co-ordinator to our group meeting to talk to us about the project. We have in mind making a quilt or two for the project as part of our 2014 programme and are now so much better informed about what's needed, why and how to go about it. What we need to do now is gather all our fabrics and find organisations local to us who could make good use of the quilts so, watch this space!

As usual we managed to fit in a quick 'show and tell' and, again, there were some lovely finished projects.

This is Gill's quilt, a raggy quilt which now needs to be washed and tumble dried to complete the ragging process.

Elaine's been busy making Christmas tree hangings and has a few requests still to fulfil. This is one of the finished ones (left).

We saw another two jelly roll purses from Elaine and Rosemary. This is Rosemary's one, which just needs a flower to be added to the flap.  

This month saw the first of the Christmas table runners completed by Gemma.

Tina's been busy too. Her blue and white quilt is coming along nicely but isn't quite finished yet, but this lovely Christmas wreath is.

And, we welcomed Jenny to the group taking our membership to 17.

 

September

September's been another creative month.

Firstly, congratulations to Laura and her hubby on the birth of their son. 

Other group members have been busy too!!

Elaine's been on a roll, as they say, making these gorgeous weekend bags.

Shirley completed her pretty jelly roll purse (right) in time to take it on holiday as a gift for her hostess. 

Maria also completed another purse, this one (below) as a workshop sample, with another couple in progress and destined for a charity craft sales in November.




This is Gemma's very pretty Christmas tree wall hanging (right). There are quite a few of these still in progress so, hopefully, some more photos next month.

Rosemary's also been busy making mice (no photos available yet) and this lovely peg bag (below). 

A few of the group members missed this month's meeting one one reason or another so it'll be interesting to catch up next time with their projects and, hopefully, some more photos.

We're also looking forward in October to meeting new group member Jenny.

Following on from their stand at Festival of Quilts, and with a Project Linus quilt or two in mind for next year, we've invited the local co-ordinator to one of our meetings to tell the group abut the project. With a busy calendar for the early part of 2014, she's agreed to come along to our October meeting so, more on  this next time.

Still with next year's programme, a Sunday workshop with Alex Waylett has been booked for May. 

Christmas is coming

Firstly, we welcomed to the group two new members, Lesley and Elaine, taking our numbers to a wonderful 16.

This month saw the start of our Christmas projects, but before that take a little look at these gorgeous bags, last month's project.

Tina's bag

Anne's bag

Karen's bag

Tina and Anne have both made their flower embellishment, and Karen is now looking forward to the next village jumble sale and hoping to find some more vintage buttons and brooches!! There should be some bag photos next month too as there are still a couple in progress.

As well as the bags, there are several other projects underway; Gill's now hand quilting her quilt, Gemma's making fabric storage boxes, Rosemary's taking a break from patchwork and having fun making fabric mice, Tina's cutting out blocks for her raggy quilt and new members Lesley and Elaine are, respectively, working on a traditional quilt using English paper piecing and a quilted barrel bag. Oh, and Laura's baby will be arriving any day now.

We had lots to talk about this month, especially as several of the group had been to the Festival of Quilts, some for the first time. Wendy and Pam had also been on a workshop and brought to 'show and tell' the trapunto pieces they made and Maria brought to show the group the results of a round robin mystery block quilt she'd taken part in at another group, and now has to turn into a finished quilt. The group's programme for 2014 is also taking shape with a few more ideas to follow up on, including talks and workshops.

Anyway, back to this month's project, the first of the Christmas projects, an appliquéd Christmas tree skirt. The photo is of one made by Maria; it's only a little skirt as Maria's Christmas tree isn't much more than a large table decoration and usually sits on the sideboard. Quite a few of the group prefer a large, tall tree so we're looking forward to seeing their finished tree skirts in due course.

Everyone's looking forward to the other Christmas projects planned too - a table runner, a wall hanging, a table decoration and our first Christmas meal. 

We are still able to take new members so if you've been reading this blog and thinking of joining, do get in touch - details on the 'contact' tab.

Catching Up!

Since this month's meeting, Laura's finished her project bag and July's project - spurred on by the arrival in a few weeks of baby #2, after which her sewing time will dwindle for a while!

Laura had a large-ish piece of a very pretty floral fabric so decided to use it to make the little purse, rather than break into a Jelly Roll. The purse pattern works just as well in this fabric as in a Jelly Roll, and can be easily resized, so is very versatile. It's also quite a quick pattern so great for those last minute gifts.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone else's little purses next month.

Hot, hot, hot

Despite the heat, most of us made it to Wednesday night's meeting and made a start on the next group project, a small bag covering strip piecing, quilting and using magnetic bags clasps. Oh, and an optional flower embellishment. All new stuff if you're new to patchwork and quilting, and sewing generally, but useful techniques to know for all sorts of things.

These are photographs of bags Maria made as gifts and samples; hopefully, they will inspire everyone. Looking forward to next month's 'show and tell', it'll be great to see how everyone's got on and how they've made their bag their own.

Small projects are great for covering techniques whilst being very achievable in a short space of time, and not adding to the pile of work-in-progress (WIP) projects. Quite a few of the ladies support church and charity events and are always on the look out for new ideas; small projects like the bag are just the thing and are often well received. 

As well as the small projects, Gill and Tina have quilts in progress, a Jelly Roll quilt and a sampler quilt (Lynne Edwards' book) respectively. Hopefully, we'll be able to post a photo of each in due course. 

Rosemary's been 'playing' with ideas for the Christmas Tree wallhanging she'll be showing us all in a month or so (it must be odd to be sewing Christmas Trees when the temperature is up around 30 degrees, and Anne's been making small, heart-shaped ring cushions, all very prettily decorated.

Anyway, next month, we start on the first of our Christmas projects. We've also got a couple of ideas for next year's programme; more news on this next month, hopefully.

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