January 2015

Keeping our membership at  25 members, we welcomed a new member to the group, Miriam. There are 8 names on the waiting list.

Yesterday we had a shown and tell, some nibbles/drinks to celebrate our second birthday and block 7 in the mystery block challenge, a Dresden plate block.

Show and tell, top to bottom, left to right then:
Nappy bag by Michele
Baby quilt in progress by Miriam
Raggy bag by Shirley
(Centre, left, top) Japanese style bag, a gift to Gillian
(Centre, left, bottom) modern block quilt by Tina
(Centre) baby quilt in progress by Lesley
(Centre, right) crochet blanket by Katie
Cushion by Rosemary
Crochet hook roll by Heather

Our Christmas/2nd birthday meal is coming up later this month and will be attended by a much larger group than last year; we're all looking forward to it.

The new style programme has kicked in and next month we'll start the mini-tutorials, crazy patchwork by hand and by machine. And we're already starting to think about Christmas 2016; what to have was out Secret Santa project and to include in the programme the Christmas wreaths Shirley showed us at show-and-tell last year. It's all go!

"Putting it all together" Workshop

Yesterday we held our first workshop of 2015, 'Putting it all together', in response to several requests about how to put blocks together and make a double fold mitred binding. Thirteen people came attended; one or two came along for the ride and spent their 'me time' cracking on with their own project in the company of like-minded folk.

To save a bit of time, attendees were asked to bring some pre-made blocks, or orphan blocks, to use to make their samples. We looked at squaring up blocks, the importance of measuring accurately, using sashing and borders, quilt-as-you-go sashing and, lastly, mitred minding. With time pushing on, we decided to move basting techniques to Wednesday and quilting is already planned as the subject of our second workshop in March.

December's Secret Santa Mug Rug Swap

The group has not done anything like this before. Everyone took part, it was a lot of fun and the results eagerly awaited. 

We were not disappointed. These photos were taken on the night, so there are a few mug rug photos missing as a handful of ladies were unable to come along due to work 'dos' or travelling.

Now, what to do for next year's Secret Santa?

















As well as the mug rugs, there was lots for show and tell too, some of which are Christmas pressies so this post will have to wait until after Christmas. Top to bottom, left to right then:

Elaine's table runner, Jenny's Christmas throw, Heather's lap quilt.
Denise's crocheted stocking, Pam's log cabin quilt, Tina's snap-top purse, Pam's Rudolph cushion, Shirley's 'raggy wreath.
Wendy's gold work, Jenny's wallhanging and Denise's angel.

November's Meeting

Following on from Sunday's workshop, there was lots to see on Wednesday. In addition to the bags (see previous blog post):-

Tina, Jenny & Maria spent a day sewing earlier in the month and made a start on the group's quilts for Project Linus. They made one quilt for a boy and another for a girl.

       

And the next photos show the talent and variety of sewing and crafting skills within the group:

Elaine's fabric bowl

Pam's 3D Christmas Tree

Jenny's quilt

Chris' mug bag  

Chris' walking bag

Gemma's Ipad cover 

Lesley's embroidery

Shirley's fabric wreath

Denise's Japanese bag

Pam's stump work

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Wendy's stump work

Katie's mug bag

Chris' trapunto panel

Bag Day Workshop

The group held it's first workshop this month with 18 members taking part.  It was a whole day affair, 10am to 4pm, with a bit of time before and after for setting up and then clearing up. 

Two or three bags were completed on the day, with all the others almost finished, and most finished by our monthly meeting on Wednesday. Below are the photos so far (there are few more to come in due course). Some bags are waiting for handles and eyelets, others to be washed/tumble dried to make them 'raggy'.

Natalie's bag

Karen's bag - front

Karen's bag - back

Tina's bag - front

Tina's bag - back

Michele's bag

Jenny's bag 

Katie's bag

Barbara's bag

Heather's bag

October

I've been out every day and most evenings for at least one week and this is the first opportunity to post the update from this month's meeting.

We welcomed a new member, Jacqui who we first met when she came along to one of our Sewing Bees during the Brentwood Arts Festival back in July.

Our thoughts are now on the programme for next year so we had a bit of a brainstorm to come up with ideas - and there were quite a few! These have all been sorted out and it looks like the ideas can be grouped into a number of one-day workshops as well as some great ideas for our Wednesday meetings. More on all of this once we've firmed up the ideas.

On to show and tell then. A very talented bunch with examples of not only patchwork and quilting.

Jenny's Xmas hanging

Vera's little quilt

Tina's table mat

Tina's mug rug

Tina's table mat

Tina's table mat

Wendy's applique

Wendy's stump work

Wendy's xmas hanging

Denise's santa

Natalie's doorstop

Heather's bed quilt

Pam's quilt (in progress)

September - more photos

Two more show-and-tell photos from September's meeting. For some reason, these had not uploaded to my laptop and were still sitting on my phone. Lovely pieces both of them.

Mixed media by Wendy

Framed machine appliqué by Pam