Little Bags

February is an activity month. The topic for both meetings is 'little bags' and we're trying out some of the free-to-use (for personal and charity/fundraising use only) tutorials by S.O.T.A.K Handmade.

So far, most people are tackling the very useful scissor case as their first 'little bag' project. Those who didn't fancy these tutorials bought their own patterns, but most stayed with the 'bag' theme.

April is the next activity month and the theme is 'denim'; what can you make from a pair of old jeans?

A couple of our members have started their spring cleaning already, made space in their wardrobes and have managed to source enough pairs of old jeans for the entire group!  You know who you are, thank you.

January 5th, 2022

With no further restrictions announced by the Government, it was full steam ahead with the resumption of our face-to-face meetings. We held our first-ever daytime meeting and, another first, in a new venue. So far so, good.

There were a few items brought along to show-and-tell. Firstly, some charity quilts made by Pat for Project Linus and Quilts for Care Leavers using gifted fabric.

Two in-progress contemporary pieces by Elizabeth.

This Christmas tree skirt is embellished with applique by Amanda. It took quite a while to embellish but was ready in time for Christmas.

The meeting is on 19th.

The replanning is now done and we have a programme for 2022. It's slightly different to previous years as we'll be in two venues from January. Still one evening meeting each month, but we've swapped the other evening for a daytime meeting and that has necessitated a second venue. It's all very exciting.

Time for a change

As part of the planning for 2022, the possibility of a daytime meeting was raised. This proved a hugely popular idea so, to cut a long story short, WCQ will be moving from two evening meetings per month to one daytime and one evening meeting. The  Saturday morning Zoom, introduced during COvid-19 lockdown, will stay for the foreseeable future. Details of the new arrangements can be found on the 'meetings' page.

And we're off!

And, what a fabulous turnout of 18; would've been 19 had it not been for the demonstrations blocking the M25. 

Several members remembered to bring something for show-and-tell and we saw an array of finishes, some from recent Zoom workshops, some from pre-Covid face-to-face workshops, new work and entries for competitions, and items for charity and future fund-raising. 

We made a start on our planning with a view to having a new programme in place for January 2022  and also started to discuss the structure of the group and membership and how it'll all run going forward. 

The other thing we talked about was our next exhibition. The last, and our first exhibition, was in 2018 to celebrate the 5th anniversary. At the time, the intention was to hold an exhibition every three years but this never happened and then you-know-what happened.  The group started in 2013 so 2023 will be our 10th-anniversary year. It seems sensible and achievable to go with 2023 for our next exhibition, fingers crossed!

WCQ gets going again

September sees WCQ resume face-to-face meetings now that Covid restrictions have been eased. We've been Zoom-ing through Covid and, until the end of the year, we'll keep Zoom-ing on the first Wednesday of each month and meet face-to-face on the third Wednesday of each month. Like everyone else, we're keeping everything crossed for no more lockdowns.

WCQ may look a bit different going forward. We'll be replanning until the end of the year with the expectation of having a programme in place commencing January 2022.

We're still hoping to hold a workshop with Gail Lawther (it's been postponed a couple of times now) and the workshop with Pat Archibald has already been rearranged for April 2022. Both of these will be face-to-face workshops. 

One year on.......

The last blog was 4th May 2020. We're almost one year on now and looking forward, with everything crossed, to June 21st 2021 when step 4 of the Government's roadmap kicks in and we can start planning a return to some sort of normal.

In the meantime, we've been meeting on Zoom; every Saturday for a quick chat plus the 1st and 3rd Wednesday evenings when we'd have met face-to-face pre lockdown.

Having been rescheduled, our workshop with Gail Lawther is in the diary for September 2021 and the workshop with Pat Archibald is in the diary for 2022. Everything else needs to be revisited.

It's like starting again! What will the new 'normal' look like?