Print & Stitch

Led by group member Wendy, seven of us spent the day printing and stitching.

Using a selection of Indian print blocks and fabric paints, we printed up a range of fabrics and left them to dry whilst we enjoyed our packed lunches.

After lunch, Wendy explained her technique and we all set to. Lessons in French knots and other hand stitches were available upon request!

All the pieces are still very much work-in-progress and it will be some time before they are considered finished pieces. Here are the photos. 

We hope to run another of these workshops in 2020.

Busy, busy, busy!

The group has been fairly busy since April. We've been on a retreat, tried our hand at folk art painting, recapped on the technique of QAYG sashing, made postcards for a postcard swap with Strutt Stitchers/Worksworth Quilters of Derbyshire and had fun with the RSPB Mini Quilt Challenge (organised by The Little House of Patchwork).

RSPB Mini Quilt Challenge - here are a few of the entries completed so far.

Postcard Swap - 26 people took part. The theme was 'summer' and the posting window July 1-5.

We've received some lovely cards too.

Fingers crossed all the cards arrived safely.

Retreat - 18 people attended this year and there was a bumper haul of projects completed over the Friday-Sunday break.

Folk Art Painting - always open to trying something a bit different. We used thick card for the tutorial;  I wonder who will be the first to try an interpretation on fabric?

Meet the mice

The hand sewing projects are going down a treat. Just  a couple of hours at last night's meeting to complete this little mouse designed by two of our group members.

What did we do in February and March?

Well, February saw Katrina O'Neill visit us with her new travelling fabric showroom. At our second meeting in February Heather and Elizabeth led a mini tutorial on faux chenille. Faux chenille takes a long time to prepare, cut, stitch and decorate so it'll be some time before we see any finished pieces.


With Easter looking, Lesley and Eileen taught us how to make Easter bunnies at our last meeting in March. A hand sewing project that we all enjoyed, not least because because hand sewing is so much more sociable than machine sewing. Everyone had a good natter! I wonder how many eggs didn't make it into the bunnies' tummies?

We're looking forward to a visit by Daisy May Quilting in April for a talk about long arm quilting and, of course, their pop-up shop.

Felt Flowers

This is what we’ve been making this evening. So much fun and very addictive. Thanks to Sue for leading the session.

Postcard Swap

One week after the last posting date, we're still awaiting 7 postcards from our swap with Marsh Quilters. Let's hope they turn up soon and have not gone AWOL in the postal system.

Anyway,  here are those that had arrived by our meeting on Wednesday.

Getting back to normal

The exhibition is now pretty much done and dusted, and put away until next time. It was a hugely successful event and everyone involved should give themselves a big pat on the back. We were delighted with the number of visitors, many of whom gave the group some lovely positive feedback. And, how lucky were we with the weather? Despite a breeze on the Friday morning that necessitated a move of the group challenge exhibits, the sun shone both days.

Since the exhibition, the focus has been our own group Secret Santa (a postcard and a tree decoration swap) and a 'normal' postcard swap with Marsh Quilters. More on these next time.