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.

Coming Soon! Ineke Berlyn.

Just to let you know, our April speaker is going to be the textile artist and quilter Ineke Berlyn.  She is best known for her contemporary and art quilts and has written several books on the styles and techniques she uses.  If anybody is interested in finding out more,  her website can be found here - www.inekeberlyn.com

Ineke is going to be giving a talk called The A to Z of Quilt Creativity on Tuesday April 8th 2014 at 7.30pm.  Doors open at 7pm and the charge for those who are not members of the group is £5.  Everybody is welcome.  

Please note:  we are also holding a workshop with Ineke the following day but this is now full and there is a waiting list.

Ineke's 4 part wall hanging inspired by the four seasons.

What we made at Janet Clare's workshop

After her talk, Janet lead a workshop and taught us about her free motion applique and drawing with a sewing machine.  A great day was had by all and here is the evidence!

Paula Doyle

. . .is the speaker at our next meeting on Tuesday March 11th at 7.30.  She's talking about selecting colour for quilts and is going to bring lots of her work with her to illustrate her talk.
As usual, we're having a raffle and there will be tea, coffee and homemade cake.

We had another great speaker last week. The group was joined by Janet Clare, designer, quilter and teacher.  She gave a very interesting talk about her approach to quilt making.  As a trained designer she shared her work process from putting on her work outfit with her own hand made apron, how she uses sketchbooks and gets inspiration to how she puts her quilts together.  Her specialty is applique which she secures with free motion quilting and most of her quilts are done in calm, pale colours.

The picture below is Janet with her wall hanging, done in her style of applique.

Janet also did a workshop for some of the group which was a big hit with those who were able to go.  More pictures to follow I am told.

Next time, on Tuesday 25th February, we have a sewing evening at Carnival Hall.  Don't forget, for those who are interested we are starting our Block of the Month slot where we hope to get different group members to demonstrate different techniques.  The idea is that we share knowledge and maybe, if people are keen, we will each be able to put our blocks together and make a sampler quilt in a year's time.  If  you think you might be interested in doing this, it might be a good idea to think about colours so your blocks will blend well together but there is no pressure.  If you aren't keen on doing all the blocks or you don't want to make a quilt that is fine.  This is not a formal thing.

This time Hilary Drake is going to show us how to do a simple 9 patch block in squares.  More to follow on this.

Thanks for reading.

Denise

Tonight's Sewing Evening - Hobbycraft 7pm

Hi everybody,

Just a reminder that tonight's sewing evening is at Hobbycraft from 7 to 9pm.  You are very welcome to bring your sewing machines if you need to or any other needlecraft project you are doing.

And if you have done your first quilt challenge, please bring that along too!

Looking forward to seeing you later.

Denise

Just a bit of fun

Just as a bit of fun, I am posting a link to a list of  '100 Things a quilter should do before they die' which I cam across today.  How many can we all tick off?

I should just say it is a US website so going to the big quilt show in Houston might be a bit unrealistic but you could always swap that for the NEC!  At the moment, I haven't managed either of them but I hope to make the NEC next year.

Denise

Julia Gahagan's Website

Hello,

Good to see so many of you at the sewing evening last Tuesday.  I thought it was a good evening.  I actually got some sewing done too!

I just wanted to post a link to Julia Gahagan's website.  She is our next speaker on 12th November and she is doing the workshop on 16th November.  Hopefully, the website will give you a taste of what it is she does. There are still a couple of spaces on the workshop if anybody is interested.

Home Grown Textiles Website - I have linked to the workshop page but it you click on her first link on that page you get some pictures of what she does for various workshops.  We are doing Christmas Patchwork Projects.