Thank You Time!

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make our first show such a success. As Chair, I have been showered with compliments and have been busy giving credit to all of you. . . . Roundabout Quilters should be very proud of themselves. 

 On Wednesday, I was able to thank North Hampshire Quilters personally but I also want to thank Loddon Quilters. Both groups willingly gave us information, support and help, most generously. They were also kind enough to come along themselves and have a look. So, thank you everyone! Our next show will be in two years’ time.

Jude 

Our Show!

Why Not Make a Day of it!

Not only is it the Roundabout Quilters’ Show, but 1.30 on Saturday June 27^th sees the opening of, “Thread, Colour and Stitch”, the Basingstoke Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild’s Exhibition.  It’s at the Willis Museum in the Market Square, five minutes’ walk from All Saints’ Church.  There you can see an embroidery commissioned by the Mayor for the Mayor’s Parlour, based on a Victorian map of Basingstoke.  Work from Basingstoke Young Embroiderers will be displayed and there is a wide variety of exhibits – traditional, contemporary, hand, machine and modern.  In short, there’s something for everyone.

Should you fancy something else, unconnected with textiles, the weekend sees the Cheese and Chilli Festival and a Sunday of family fun.  For further details see www.basingstokefestival.co.uk.

Our Show!

The Show

As Roundabout Quilters approach their second birthday in September, it seems just the right time for our first exhibition.  It will take place on Saturday 27^th June from 10 – 4 and on Sunday 28^th June from 12 – 5.  We have been fortunate to secure All Saints’ Church, Southern Road, Basingstoke RG21 7NP for our show, in this, their centenary year. 

We are a very varied group.  Some members are national prize winners, others are just starting out.  Our quilts come in many sizes and range from traditional to modern and art quilts.  There are wall hangings, cushions and bags.  Since we started we have had five workshops with professional quilters and textile artists and there is a group of work form each of these.

Refreshments will be available in the church hall next door and there you can find our traders: Juberry; Quilters’ Dream and Running Chicken.  We’ve invited them because they have all brought their shops to us and done a talk for the group.  They are people we’d shop form again (and again).

There is a raffle for two I-Spy quilts, a goodies hamper and a sewing hamper.  One of our members, Jane, is the Basingstoke representative of Project Linus and she’ll be able to give you information about Project Linus’s work making quilts for sick children and others in need.

Getting there:

There are nearby public car parks in New Road, accessed from New Road.  Having parked your car, it is a short walk to the church.  Coming by public transport, the railway station is a 15 minute walk away and the bus station is a 10 minute walk.

Quilters Dream

Last Tuesday we had a visit from Janet and Ricky from Quilters Dream.  Not only did they bring some of their wide range of fabrics to sell, they also talked about some of their quilts that they brought with them and told some amusing stories about their experiences in the words of quilting.  It was really interesting to find out more about them and their work.  When you visit their shop they are, of course, doing their best to help you find what you want and are great at suggesting fabrics and offering advice.  It was good to turn the spotlight on them for a while!

Purple Stitches

Viv from Purple Stitches is bring her sale fabrics to our sewing meeting on January 27th next year.  She'll also be coming to talk to us and bring her shop in December 2015.  Meanwhile you can visit "Purple Stitches" within Pride and Joy at Sherbourne St John - well worth a visit and there's a tea room.  What could be better?

Off to a Great Start

We have started our new year at Roundabout Quilts with an interesting and informative talk from Bec Hnndyside. She showed us many of her beautiful quilts and how they came to be made - who they were made for, what the creative process was to make them and the techniques she used.  A lot of the fabric she dyed herself.  It was great to have her with us, to get those creative juices going again.

Here are some of the quilts she brought to show us all.

This one was part of a set of twelve.  All the fabric was hand dyed.

This chap, called Dave has a lot of quilting, printing and embellishment

Again, this shows hand dyed fabrics and quilting in the style of Welsh quilts.

New programme now available

Just to let you know that I have updated the Programme of Events page for the 2014/15 programme.  I hope you agree there is plenty to look forward to.

If anybody has any ideas about who they would like to see in the future please let us know as I am sure work will start on the 2015/16 programme before long.

Denise

Next Meeting - Edwina MacKinnon

Just a reminder that our next meeting will be on Tuesday 22nd July at Carnival Hall and our speaker for the evening will be Edwina McKinnon.

Edwina will be giving a talk entitled 'The Story So Far..' and on the following day, Wednesday 23rd, she will be running a Colour Confidence workshop.  There are still a couple of places on the workshop if anybody is interested.  Please contact either myself or Jude (our details are on the contact page)

This is Edwina's website if anybody would like a look this is her website. Work in Progress and below is a taster of her work.

Copyright  Edwina McKinnon

Displaying your quilts

A little while ago, one of our members, Diana Baker, took the trouble to tell us about a great new device for hanging your quilts that only requires one nail making it a much easier process than normal.  It could be a very useful thing, especially if you enjoy making wall hangings.  This is what she wrote for us and I thought I would post as she wrote it -

Hang It Dang It -The terrific quilt hanger system

An American invention by a quilter's husband to hang quilts with a minimum of fuss and only one picture hanging nail necessary!

 

This comes in 3 adjustable sizes: allowing you to hang quilts from 21" to 110". Once hung the quilts look as if they are floating on the wall, with no hanger  showing at all, and your wall only has one nail hole!

 

I purchased my first one on Amazon, showed it to Janet at Quilter's Dream in Andover, and she now stocks them direct from the US supplier, for less than I paid on Amazon, and no postage or customs to worry about. They are as far as I can tell the only ones in the UK stocking this great hanger, I know as I tried to source one before going to Amazon.

 

They have a website at http://hangitdangit.com/ and a Youtube demo.

I really recommend this, being the owner of 2 sizes and quilts hanging to prove it.

Just wanted to share.

It has been a while since we last posted which is naughty as there is a lot that we could be sharing.  I will try and catch up post some pictures I have taken in the last few months.  In the meantime I thought I would just do a quick post to show you what one of students achieved on the Ineke Berlyn workshop.  Jane Wheeler is not a member of our group but Jude and I know her from our Inspiration to Stitch course and she was very keen to come to the workshop we held as a fan of Ineke's work. This is the finished wall hanging from that day.  Isn't it wonderful?!

If anybody else has a finished something from either this workshop or any of the others we have done and is happy to share, we would love to see them.  Email either Jude or me with a picture and we will post them.