Also in June.....

For the second year, we supported the local village fayre. What promised to be a scorcher last Sunday turned wet and cold just as we finished setting up and only turned nice again around 3pm when we ventured to roll up one side of the gazebo. So, a bit of a slow start and although the visitor numbers did increase, I'm sure more would have ventured out had the weather stayed nice all day. 

Anyway, we were pretty pleased with the stall, and there were a few sales so at least the table cost was covered.

Here are a few photos. As you will see, lots of lovely hand-made items, and not all patchwork and quilting.

June: Gold Work Mini Tutorial

Here are the photos from last night's mini tutorial on gold work. Firstly, the three finished pieces:

 

And the works-in-progress:

 

 

 

 


Next month, it's the next mystery block swap and a bring and buy.

May's Show 'n' Tell

We welcomed three new members this month - Sue, Sarah & Laura - having agreed to 'up' our maximum membership to 30.  Undaunted, these ladies also brought something to show 'n tell this month. As you will see, everyone has been very busy.

Firstly, there were a few quilts both finished and work-in-progress.

Some are made from panels, others pieced, one has a raggy finish and another includes holiday photos printed onto fabric.

Next there were bags, purses, soft storage boxes and crochet hook rolls.

Plus, a whole host of other small projects including sundresses, a rabbit, crocheted blanket, bunting, mug rug, scotty dog, clothes hangers, felt flowers, English Paper Piecing (from the last workshop) and a non-slip mat to stop your sewing machine pedal from moving across the floor. Quite a few of us will now be making the latter!

Everyone picked from a short list a gift they'd like to receive from Secret Santa this year so the next thing is to sort out who makes what for whom.

As well as  making all these projects, Heather and Shirley had been to a Lynda Monk workshop with the Embroiderer's Guild, Pam and Sarah had been to free machine embroidery workshops in Chelmsford at Make Do & Mend and Maria had been to a Japanese bookbinding workshop with Helen Howes. And, a few of us took a table at the Quilters Guild's Craft Stash Sale in Shotgate.

Next month's meeting will be a mini tutorial on gold work.

Cushion 1 workshop

Last year, the ladies came up with a list of techniques they wanted to either learn or refresh. These were taken and grouped, and then  formed the basis of the three cushions workshops planned for this year.  On Saturday, we held the first of these workshops.


This first workshop covered English Paper Piecing (EPP), making your own bias piping and pillow case backs. Whilst no-one completed their project during the day, good progress was made (EPP is stitched by hand so it takes longer) as can be seen in the photo.

This month's Wednesday meeting is planned as a show-and-tell. Hopefully, we'll see some of the finished cushions, plus lots of other 'makes' as several of the ladiess have been to workshops elsewhere since last month.

We're also looking forward to welcoming three new members on Wednesday.

April and our AGM

April is when we hold our AGM. We don't have to, but we like to; we feel it's good practice to formally review the group, how it's set up and run, it's finances, it's programme etc, and it doesn't take too long if your circulate the paperwork ahead of the meeting for everyone to digest and come prepared with their comments and feedback.

We've already seen changes to the programme for 2015, the main ones being the introduction of mini-tutorials during our monthly meetings and the additional one-day workshops that we're holding bi-monthly.

The good news is that we feel the maximum membership can be increased to 30. The parking is much better now that the car park has been resurfaced so neater parking is now achievable as the giant pot-holes are no longer. So, there should befive happy ladies today who have received an email offering them a place in the group.

The mini-tutorial "crochet - getting started' took place yesterday very ably led by Jenny, Tina and Pam.


One cot quilt also got basted - very useful being able to use the village hall tables to make a surface large enough to do this.

Next month is a show-and-tell month so we should see some of these pieces finished.

Quilting Workshop

Yesterday we held the second of our Saturday workshops, this time on quilting. We looked at hand quilting, straight/curved lines using the walking foot and free machine quilting, the latter being what most of those attending wanted to try their hand at. Some of us have machines that do a few embroidery stitches so we had a quick look at using these too.

The day went well, with 13 attending the workshop. Tea, coffee and biccies were provided; attendees brought their sewing kit, a packed lunch and lots of pre-prepared quilt sandwiches to use for their practice and samples.

Here are a few photos from the day. Hopefully, the confidence is now there to practice at home as, with practice, the stitches do become more even and the curves smoother. 

February 2015 - Crazy Patchwork

The first of the mini tutorials took place this month as part of the new-format programme for this year.  

Two tutorials were offered, crazy patchwork by hand and crazy patchwork by machine with Wendy and Maria respectively leading the teaching. The photos, right, show some of the pieces in progress.

Next month we're going to look at decorating the crazy patchwork pieces.