Event
Reviews 2009
Christmas Surprise - Ann Street Jelly Roll Workshop First Quilts and Heirloom Textiles Event reviews 2008 Hawaiian Applique Come and Try An Afternoon With an Artist April Meeting Marion Haslam May Meeting and AGM Members' Mini Workshops Mini-Exhibition - Neredah A Visitor's Review - Ros Saturday Sewing Day - Brenda Saturday Sewing Day - Margaret Red Cross and Historic Quilts Sandown 2009 - Janet H Wendy Dolan - Sarah Our December meeting was very well attended and everyone seemed in the
Christmas mode. We had a visitor from the Quilters’ Guild of the
British Isles Region 1 who brought along a lovely quilt they are
raffling to raise funds for their charity. It was a raffle evening as
tickets were being sold for the alphabet quilt made over the summer by
Shirley Quilters to donate to the Baby Café so they can raise funds to
keep the group going.
Linda told the meeting that last month’s mini exhibition had been a great success with many quilts and smaller items, all of them sewn to a high standard. The sales table was very successful and the cushion tombola made a large profit. Linda thanked everyone who took part in making the evening so successful. After the notices were read, members who had made Christmas items and quilts to give as presents displayed their achievements. One was a Father Christmas wall hanging, the hat was quilted squares and the beard was made of white rosettes and made a very pretty hanging. There were several quilts on display from the very large to the smaller lap quilts, all of them extremely well made and colour co-ordinated. At last months meeting Linda had given out cracker wraps and asked us to decorate them with something appropriate for a decoration to be brought out year after year. These were given a raffle ticket and each person who had made a decoration was asked to pick a ticket from the box. I myself had great trouble deciding how I would decorate my cracker and was very interested to see how inventive my fellow Quilters were. My personal favourite was Jackie’s which had been turned into Santa’s sleigh complete with Santa himself and reindeer; pity I didn’t win it!
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I
have read with interest Neredah's review of Shirley Quilters recent
exhibition on 17th November, and would like to add my thanks to those
who organised such an enjoyable evening. As a visitor, this was
only my second visit to the Shirley Quilters, but I was made to feel
very welcome. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, with
plenty of people willing to chat. The Fun Quilters' Quiz,
displayed on cards around the room, was a great way to get everyone
mingling and discussing the questions. 'Multiple-choice' style
meant beginners and experts alike could joing in ..I'm definitely not
an expert yet still managed to win a prize!! I
won't duplicate Neredah's description of the wonderful quilts on
display, but would like to mention the amazing fabric bowls and topical
'origami' Christmas trees - both of which were really impressive and
demonstrated the variety of projects the Group have worked on.
The tombola of cushions made by members provided much
entertainment - I won a fabulous creation by Jan Thomas - all in aid of
charity. I would encourage anyone with an interest in quilting or
patchwork (and yummy biscuits) to visit the Shirley Quilters next time
they have an open meeting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The hall was
packed and buzzing for Shirley Quilters second mini-exhibition on Tuesday
evening, 17th November, to show the work of members created over the
past 18 months, since our summer exhibition in June 2008. Due to space and time restrictions, only
smaller pieces created through workshops or as the result of demonstrations and
mini-workshops at meetings were featured, along with pieces from our two major
projects over the past year, the Mystery Quilt and quilts made for our chosen charity
this year, the Addiscombe Baby Café. Thirteen brave
woman managed to finish their Mystery Quilts of a city landscape, by following
monthly instructions over a 12 month period, which only hinted at what the end
product would be. Although the quilts
all followed the same patterns, it was interesting to see the subtle
differences in use of colour through the pieces, for example, where the instruction was
simply ‘building colours’, some people chose greys, others terracotta and so
on. I have to admit that I fell by the
wayside at the enormity of the task so congratulations to all who completed the
quilts A beautiful
alphabet quilt and several floor quilts were this year’s group project and
presented on the night to Katie Fisher, a lactation specialist who, with a team
of volunteers, provides much needed help and support for breastfeeding mothers
at the weekly ‘baby café’ at St. Mildred’s Church in Addiscombe. The plan is for them to raffle the alphabet
quilt to boost their funds and to use the floor quilts to replace blankets
currently used to place babies on the floor.
I am sure these colourful quilts will be very much appreciated by the
babies! The evening was a
huge success with lots of visitors, a sales table heaving with lovely goods
(and people very keen to spend, spend, spend!), a cushion tombola with piles of
cushions donated by members, a quilters’ quiz, a challenge to ‘guestimate’ the
number of blocks used in one of Linda’s quilts and, as always, tea, coffee and
nibbles. The highlight of my evening was
finally winning a beautiful cream cushion on the tombola after many tries, many
disappointments and much determination to win!
The people who know my interest in dyeing were very quick to say, ‘and
what colour do you intend to dye it?’ As
it happens, cream goes perfectly with my colour scheme. Many thanks to all
who helped make the evening such a success.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marion Haslam came
to our October meeting and gave an interesting and enjoyable talk about her
journey as a quilter, illustrated with the quilts she had made. She linked her
work to different times of her life and to the different countries in which she
had lived. We could all relate to her first stitches which were at school with
Binca and the sewing of the obligatory apron, and to the fact that at certain times
she had not made quilts at all. On returning to The evening
concluded with the drawing of the raffle and we all agreed that we had had a
very enjoyable meeting! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hever - by Barbara Once again the "Quilts at Hever" show came around 4th-6th September.
Visiting this Show is a bit like visiting old haunts - it is new, yet
seems so familiar when meeting so many people you know. Catching us on
news is as much a part of Hever as the quilts themselves!
Once again, Pat Taylor and her Team worked so hard to set the whole Show up and when you watch the speed at which they then dismantle it on the final day, you wonder where they get their enegy from! I offer thanks to all of them on our behalf. There were, of course, many beautiful pieces of work to admire, but I think most of us would agree that Chris Lawson's "Never Ever Again" deserved to be the winner of the Visitors' Choice. What a beautiful Baltimore quilt - a real heirloom. The Tudor Times challenge produced some very interesting pieces and the winning "Quilt" - a fantastic replica of a Tudor garment - couldn't fail to please the Judges, it was perfect in every detail. It is hard to pick out particular quilts with so many to look at but A Sweet Affair by Gail Pemberthy which came second in the Visitors' Choice, deserves a mention. Such a pretty quilt adorned with all those tempting iced fairy cakes and, as Gail said - no calories! Amongst the traders and demonstrators it was nice to see Wendy Dolan's work yet again - such a clever lady. Like me, I think you all enjoyed the talk she gave us recently. And...what about those lovely books by Frances Pickering and did you see......oh well, here's to next year's show. I'm now pondering the challenge of "My Favourite Artist" - shall I have a go? More importantly, will any of you? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Members' Mini Workshops - by Margaret The theme of the evening was members' mini workshops. There were three different ones for us to rotate around. Linda had a beautiful Dahlia shape bowl made from craft Vilene and fabric. It was not a project for the faint-hearted as maths skills were required to calculate the measurements to create the petals. We decided it would be wise to make a paper one first, but we like the challenge! Val and Catherine were making brightly coloured fabric and paper beads. It’s amazing what you can produce from toilet paper, water and a kebab stick. Other materials to use were glossy paper leaflets, or magazine pages, organza and chiffon. Not to forget nail varnish and a heat gun. Lots of ideas to take home. Jan had small machine embroidery samples which were inspired by a book called Threadplay by Libby Lehman. The basis of it was reverse appliqué, but lovely textures and effects were created by the sewing machine. We could see that this was something that you could play around with and come up with interesting results. The evening passed very quickly thanks to the above ladies and all their preparation to make the workshops fascinating. Linda explained that Hilary Walker, who had planned to bring her patchwork fabrics etc. for sale, had been unwell and so was unable to come. I’m sure we will all wish her well. The very sad news that Liz Harvey from Beckenham Quilters had died following a serious operation, came as a shock to those in the quilting world who had met her at various events over the years. Our sincere condolences go out to all her family and friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wendy Dolan - by Sarah Wendy
Dolan's visit on 21st July was a great success. There was a good
turnout and her talk was both interesting and stimulating. Wendy
brought several pieces of her work and showed us samples at various
stages of the design process. There was a delightful machine
embroidered landscape of trees standing proud on a ridge, using various
textured media backed onto calico, inspired from the Sussex coutryside
where she lives. Wendy is a member of The Sussex Guild of Designers and Makers and frequently exhibits at craft shows. She welcomes work on commission and showed us some of the work she has done in this respect. The most remarkable piece of work that she undertook was a huge stage curtain for the Royal Carribean Cruise Liner. She had to turn on a sixpence and provide design ideas and a costing within a week and work flat out to meet the deadline. Another project she took on was of a wedding dress train with accoutrements to match the brides tattoo! Wendy travels widely and lectures ans teaches machine embroidery. A highly organised lady, she initially trained as a teacher and she has an excellent ability to explain a technique so clearly that rapid progress is made even by the complete novice. She often visits Puddleducks centre in Sevenoaks for a day and again at West Dean College with a three day course - in January 2010 where inspiration is drawn from Gustav Klimt. Chichester here we come! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As usual there was a
good mixture of quilts displayed by quilters of all abilities, including several
mini-exhibitions of professionals’ work. On the whole the standard was very
high and the quilts very varied. I came away with the overall impression that
there were quite a few brightly coloured quilts and more than usual were
densely quilted both by machine and by
hand. The championship
winner was a beautifully executed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Cross and Historic Quilts - by Catherine At the meeting on Tuesday 16th June, we were treated to a display of ten antique quilts from the collection of Anna Mansi who is a Beckenham Quilter and each one had a story to tell. Seven quilts had been acquired since Anna’s last visit to us in 2007 and were examples of Canadian Red Cross quilts donated to families in Britain whose homes had been torn apart in World War 2 bombing raids. These quilts, originally handpieced by womenfolk from across the Atlantic Ocean were sent to give comfort and warmth and although bearing the ravages of time still retained a delicate beauty. Anna related the experiences of the recipients and the all important provenances of each quilt , providing us with a fascinating slice of social history. As an added bonus, Anna had also brought along three Welsh quilts. These were of the wholecloth type and had been made by homeworkers in rural Wales to provide an income for impoverished families. Traditional motifs had been used such as hearts, stars and Paisley shapes – known as Welsh pears. We were able to seeclose up and feel all the quilts on show and this made their histories even more poignant. Thank you to Anna for an absorbing evening and long may she continue to show these exhibits and perhaps jog peoples’ memories of similar quilts they may have stashed away, long forgotten, which may too have a tale to tell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday Sewing Day - by Margaret A flurry of ladies carrying Sewing Machines and
large holdalls arrived at the hall on Saturday morning. The first job was to
find your mug and get a cup of coffee and a biscuit! Suitably refreshed, Linda
explained that the theme of the day was “machine quilting”. She had a DVD by
Patsy Thompson which would be shown in small sections and then we could
practice what had been demonstrated. Some people already had experience and were up to a
good standard very quickly, whilst others encountered various problems. By
chatting to each other and comparing notes most snags were overcome. The clear message
was that the only way to improve your machine quilting is to spend time doing
it! There was a lot of other work going on around the
hall. The project which we are doing for the Addiscombe Breast Feeding Centre
was much in evidence. This involves sewing animal blocks for an alphabet quilt
and also log cabin blocks to make floor cushions. From what I saw, these are
going to be very bright and cheerful. Different individual projects which were going on
included a magic squares quilt, a couple of jelly roll ones, an item using
wonderful Kaffe Fassett fabric and some pretty Sunbonnet Sue blocks in
progress. All too soon, it was time to pack up and head home after a lovely easy-going day with friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Saturday Sewing Day by Brenda There was a full house for the Saturday sewing day - a chance to try
free machine quilting or just to escape from the house and sew in peace!
Linda had set up the laptop so that we could watch the DVD of Patsy Thompson taking us through the mysteries of free machine quilting. We watched for a while and then went off to try it for ourselves. Just setting up the machine and getting the tension right was hard work, thank goodness for Linda's expertise. Then we were off quilting lovely flowing curves ( and in my case lots of pointy bits). We progressed to loop the loop, stars, hearts and flowers with varying degrees of success. However we all felt that we could now go home and try again. Patsy said that about 100 hours of quilting would make one proficient!! So that's 2 hours down and 98 to go. Most people had also brought other projects to work on. Neredah was trying to quilt some blocks made several years ago while catching up on all the gossip. Sharon was just starting the mystery quilt - good luck with that! Ann was wrestling with a very large bed quilt, while Jacky was working on a much more manageable baby quilt. Judy bravely tried out the free machine quilting on her kaleidoscope quillow ( the result of a previous workshop). The afternoon gave us a chance to look at, and talk about, other people's work, while getting to know our fellow members, both old and new. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ May Meeting and AGM - by Bernadette What a busy meeting it was this evening! Brenda greeted everybody at the desk and we moved swiftly on to Jackie our treasurer who was more than happy to accept our cheques and cash for another year’s subs and our course our fee for next month’s sewing day. Once everybody had settled down Linda explained that the first part of the evening would be for formal business (AGM), followed by a break for refreshments. After the break Katie Fisher from the Addiscombe Baby Café was to talk to us about the work of this group. Addiscombe Baby Café is the charity chosen to be the recipients of quilted playmats and a group quilt to be made for potential raffle/auction (more later). Linda Mercer our Chairperson introduced the committee members to the group as there were several new members present. Following these introductions the Shirley Quilters 2009 AGM commenced. Linda read out her first report as Chairperson and it summarised a very full and productive year for the group. Jackie Bartley then presented the Treasurers Report which indicates a healthy balance sheet. Both Linda and Jackie pointed out that whilst our Exhibition in 2008 was very successful in terms of the quality and quantity of exhibits, unfortunately it was not a financial success. Low visitor numbers was probably due a clash with other events taking place on the same date. The committee will bear this in mind when planning our next exhibition. A proposed date was set for next year’s AGM – 18 May 2010. There were no questions from the floor and the meeting was concluded in a matter of minutes! Wiith the formal business over for the evening, Linda
announced some updates to our 2009 programme- they are as follows: 21 July – An illustrated talk ‘Creative Stitched Textiles’ by Wendy Dolan 3 October – Saturday sewing day (perhaps an opportunity to plan Mystery Quilt blocks!!) 20 October – a talk by Marian Haslam (she will be bringing some fabrics and quilts) 17 November – mini exhibition, cushion tombola and sale of work table. After the notices were read out, it was time for refreshments. During the break there was time to buy bargain fabric from the ever-dwindling stash belonging to Charlotte Monkton – well done Hannah! Following the break it was time to launch our charity quilt! The design chosen was a simple block with a letter of the alphabet per block together with an appliqué animal to represent the letter of the alphabet. To make life easier for us all, packs were prepared in advance for each letter of the alphabet – the packs came complete with instructions. Anyone wishing to take part was invited to choose a pack and sign on the dotted line for this delightful project! It is hoped that the quilt will be ready for our mini exhibition on 17 November. As well as the animal quilt, everyone was shown a simple log cabin block with a child friendly motif that is the theme for the quilted playmats. Fabric for the centre piece was available and everybody was invited to make as many blocks as they wished! Last but not least it was the turn of our speaker Katie
Fisher to introduce herself. Katie is a
Lactation and Nutrition Specialist who, amongst many other things, works as for
the Addiscombe Baby Café. Katie told us
that the aim of the café was to normalise breastfeeding, support early
parenting and encourage friendships to form.
The Addiscombe group operates a drop-in session every Monday morning
(10-12) at St Mildred’s Church, Katie kindly offered an open invitation to all members of SQ to visit the Baby Café. She looks forward very much to receiving our donation of quilts. On that note I will end the far too lengthy report and urge you all to get quilting in order to support this most worthy cause. Happy quilting! April Meeting - by Eileen There were a number of different faces at the April meeting and we always like to welcome newcomers to our group. Jacqueline from The Fabric Room at Guildford had brought her “shop” and of course all quilters like to add to their stash and she did a brisk trade. I think we all wonder how there can still be bolts of fabrics that we have not seen before. As well as bolts of fabric she brought along some lovely jelly rolls, fat quarters, various threads and a wide selection of waddings. There was certainly a buzz around her stall and lots of purses and fabrics being clutched underarm! The evening included a Show and Tell and as well as individual projects, a number of people had completed various pieces from the Hawaiian Applique workshop which had been held in February. It’s really amazing how they all looked so different and some of the really clever ones amongst us had added their own “style” as well. There were quite a few jelly roll quilts that had been completed or were nearing completion – again a follow on to a Saturday workshop we ran earlier in the year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An Afternoon With an Artist - by Nicky A Visit to The Keeping Gallery Shortly after arriving at Renata Keeping’s home it became
apparent that we were in for a particularly special afternoon. It was the artist herself who showed us into
her lounge to share some intimate stories from her own past, and her husband’s,
Charles Keeping, to give us a better understanding of their work.
As she said, "some people draw for others, some for themselves". When the art is the result of the artist’s own personal demons it is only truly unlocked by a better understanding of their life. All around the walls of this family home were lithographs, paintings, textile crafts and models. Alongside the art were the many books illustrated, and at times written, by the couple. Very popular were the aging apples depicted in fabric and the very realistic fabric cakes designed to tempt and torture. As she walked us slowly from room to room, Renata took the time to explain the stories and events behind each collection and was happy to answer any questions we had. And just when we thought the day could not have been any more special the artist herself went off to make tea and cakes for us all. Truly an afternoon to remember! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Come and Try - by Sue The
room was really
humming by 7.30 as so many members and their guests arrived for our
Come and Try evening. We started with Linda, our Chairperson,
welcoming all the visitors,
some of whom were original Shirley Quilter members and then it was on
to the
notices. Tables had been set up around the edge of the room for
the
demonstrators, five in all, and they were going to show us different
techniques. After
the notices we all split up into different groups to watch the demonstrations
and take part in some if we wanted to. We could “have a go”
at chenille, a crazy patchwork heart, making designs on fabric with Markal
paint sticks and stencils or make a flower using a folded fabric technique. Most
traditional of all, we were shown how to make hexagon shapes and sew them
together using fabric over paper templates. Half way through we had a
welcome break for tea and biscuits and went home at about 9.30 having had a really
interesting and enjoyable meeting. Many thanks to Margaret, Sharon,
Barbara and Neredah, Brenda and Jean for giving up their evening and being so
busy that they did not have time to get round and watch the other
demonstrations and to Linda and the committee for arranging such a fun meeting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hawaiian Applique - by Jean With the last of the snow now cleared, we were looking forward to our February meeting. This took the form of a Mini workshop with Brenda and Pam who were showing us Hawaiian Applique, using gauze, in a variety of designs. In true Blue Peter style, they had samples 'prepared earlier' and then went on to explain the method step by step. The evening went quickly but, by the end, the variety of designs being used proved how adaptable this technique can be. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seventeen brave quilters, some dressed more appropriately for a polar expedition than a gentile sewing workshop, braved the arctic conditions to attend. However, their resilience was put in the shade by the tutor, Jo Baddeley, who travelled all the way from Sevenoaks! Thank you Jo. Jo first showed a selection of
quilts, plus books and patterns. These displayed the incredible range of
patchwork that can be made from jelly rolls. She Then the serious quilting began, cutting strips to size and piecing them together. Jo provided a worksheet to follow and with her and Linda on hand to help, the pattern began slowly to emerge. Mid afternoon we had a show and tell. As always it was amazing to see how many different effects you can get using the same pattern with different fabric. I did however think that in the current financial climate I might take out shares in Moda. It was a fun day and I discovered that jelly rolls have some big advantages. They contain harmonious fabrics, saving all those ‘ums and ahs' when selecting fabric, and also reduce the chances disappointment with your final choice. Though initially they seem expensive, they provide a large range of fabrics for a project, which would prove much more expensive if brought in fat quarters. They save hours of time rotary cutting strips. However, best of all, for us not so skilled technicians, they greatly increase the chance of ending up with a regular sized quilt! Quits on display State of Monkey Button 4 x 4 Log Cabins Star Books Cosy Quilt Design Strip Clubbing ISBN 9 780979 531606 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our first meeting of the New Year began with a buzz of excitement as approximately thirty people arrived with bulging bags of quilts and other works of art! We had a very enjoyable time looking at, and hearing about, each person’s contribution to the meeting. Everything was left out on display so that afterwards we could look more closely and touch. To mention just some of the items:
It was interesting to see how often the names of local Quilt Tutors cropped up – Charlotte Beddoe, Pat Salt and Dinah Travis – starting our own quilting history! However, some first quilts were made before going to any classes –just because a pattern in a book or magazine just HAD to be made. Quite a few had been made before there was any knowledge of rotary cutters, boards and rulers – Just a lot of geometry and meticulous drawing of templates on the insides of cereal packets!! Hopefully there will be some pictures coming on the website to show far better than words what a fascinating evening we had. It was lovely to see many different contributions in just a couple of hours! |