Mini Exhibition - by Liz
The
hall was crowded for the mini exhibition and we were all treated to a lovely
display of varied and interesting work.
The
Ugly Fabrics quilts didn’t seem to contain many ugly fabrics at all, and the
Chinese Whispers display was fascinating. To see the initial pictures
through to the final iterations brought home how individual quilting is, and
how much imagination people have. Quilts ranged from abstract to
pictorial, from beach and underwater scenes to country and even outerspace.
The
block of the month quilts illustrated how the same design looks so different
dependent upon fabric choices. Some were delicate and understated and
some were bold and bright, but all were beautifully executed and for a fairly
novice quilter like me it was something to aspire to.
As
well as beautiful quilts, there were some lovely homemade cakes to accompany
our tea and coffee – thank you to the ladies who worked so hard on these.
There
was also a table of handmade items for sale – all made by members of the group
and which offered a head start on Christmas shopping. Once again, the talent and creativity on
show was spectacular, and the quality of the workmanship were a credit to all
who participated.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mini Exhibition Sales Table - by Shirley
We
were delighted with the space provided for our Sales Table enabling us to
display all the members’ work to advantage.
It is quite obvious that good quality hand made goods are very popular
as gifts and our table was full of varied and colourful work. Those visitors who were not quilters were
interested in how the quilts and other items were made and assembled even
though some have little idea of cost of the raw materials and the time taken to
produce such goods. Despite the fact
that it was cold and foggy, we had a steady stream of visitors which kept us
busy during the evening. Hopefully, our
sales have generated a healthy profit for sellers and Shirley Quilters.
Goods
for this Sales Table were provided by thirteen members of the Club and there is
a great deal of talent and creativity amongst the Members. How about these talents being put to good
use for our full size Exhibition in October 2012?
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mini Exhibition - by Julia
What an enjoyable evening with beautiful work displayed, tea, coffee and cakes, raffle, good company and a sales table
with a large array of items to browse and make purchases from.
This was the first mini exhibition that I have taken part in and
being Chairman as well I hoped all would go well!!
Thank you to everyone for all the work they put in to making the evening
such a success. There were a large number of visitors who made positive
comments and some who have joined our waiting list. I found the
'Chinese Whispers' fascinating especially when you looked at the photo
and then the last whisper! The ugly materials were transformed into
creative items that peope were commenting, 'didn't look like ugly fabric
at all' and it was interesting to see how different the block of the
month quilts all looked. I especially loved, June Sykes, 'Calendar' ! It
was beautifully embroidered and was such an original design.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Christmas Trees - by HelenIt was a full house at Shirley Quilters this month
and we were lucky that the weather was sympathetically
frosty as we made Christmas Trees! A big thanks to Jill who provided us
with templates and much needed guidance as we cut and sewed our
suffolk puffs before threading them onto the wooden trunks set in
cotton reels before topping them off with a gold star. A quick show and
tell at the end of the evening made impressive veiwing as many were
complete and will no doubt adorn mantlepeices all over the Shirley area
this Christmas.
It looks like our mini exhibition in November will be
colourful, as we accepted members' exhibits from the Ugly Fat Quarter
Dare, the Chinese Whisper and the Block of the Month Quilts
.................looks like it will be a great evening which will
include a sales table, a raffle and tea & cake!
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Janet Crowther Workshop - by LindaAs we entered the hall, we were faced with a wonderful
display of colourful yarns and threads and we knew then that it would be a good
day.
Janet had prepared packs for each of us, containing all that
we would need to make a small bag. Each pack contained a different selection of
yarns, but wrapped up in such a way that we could not really choose our
favourite colours – a clever plan as it took us out of our comfort zones
straight away.
The first task was to arrange the seventy or so yarns from
our packs in an order that look pleasing to us. There was such an array of
colours in wool, silk, thick, thin, lumpy, shiny, feathery and variegated
yarns.
Janet gently encouraged us and kept us focussed by telling
us that we had about an hour to couch down all our threads onto the piece of
calico from our pack, being careful to go back and cover any gaps.
Our new thread ‘fabric’ was then cut into squares,
rearranged in more typical patchwork style and joined together again. The
resulting ‘fabric’ made the outside of our bag. The bags were finished by
adding hand made cord all round the edges, a handle and a button to close if
required.
Janet had promised that we would be able to finish the bag
in a day and she was right – we went home pleased with and proud of our
results.
Everyone learned
something new on the day, including Janet who found it hard to believe that
quilters still think in inches rather than centimetres.
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Mini Workshops - by Lindsey
As a new member of Shirley Quilters, September’s meeting
proved to be a huge learning curve for me, with a set of five mini workshops
led by SQ members, showing lots of techniques to enhance my quilting skills.
I was fascinated by how to create cathedral windows, as explained
by Eileen, to stunning effect. I’ve seen
this in books but never realised how easy it was to do.
Sharon gave us a lesson on how to use different stitches to
embellish our quilt projects, which is a good way to create definition and we
had a chance to practise some stitches, while Ann showed us how to construct a
mariner’s compass, a fiddly process but a very effective end result!
Julia gave us details of an easy quilt using all your scrap
fabric, called “Scrappy Spools”, and Pat’s demonstration of the intricacies of
manipulated squares, by pleating and stitching fabric to create blocks of
different design and texture was a brilliant way to bring interest to a quilt,
particularly when using a single colour fabric.
I really enjoyed the evening and it certainly gave me some ideas for future projects.
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Quilt Games Evening - by Ann
Considering
the holiday season is in full swing, the games evening was very
well attended. First on the agenda was a quick demonstraion by
Janet Crowther, who showed the bags that she will be teaching us
to make at the Saturday workshop on the 8th October.
Next up was the
election of the charity that the Group will adopt until May 2013. The one charity put forward which met our
criteria was The South East Cancer Help Centre, Purley, Surrey. The vote in favour was unanimous.
Finally it was
down to the games. Having divided
ourselves in teams the first game was finding the names of the quilt blocks
from anagrams. Considering the length of
time I have been quilting there were a few blocks I had never heard of. The next game was another block finding
puzzle which gave some of the letters in the name but not all. Next we were asked to throw a fat quarter
into a tub from a distance, surprisingly quite a few members managed a hit and
got to keep the fat quarter! Lastly a
tray containing 25 haberdashery items was placed in the middle of the floor and
we were given time to study the contents.
When the tray was removed we had to write down what was on the
tray. Two teams got all twenty five and had a
pick of the prizes. All in all a very
enjoyable way to spend an evening.
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Glamorous Beadwork a talk by Eliza McClelland - by Julia
Eliza
delivered a vibrantly enthusiastic and stimulating talk. She captivated her audience with her
theatrical tales and wide spectrum of historical knowledge which in turn inspired
her design ideas. Eliza displayed a quilt of flamboyant colours made from
scraps from theatre costumes and was able to identify the pieces from memories
of productions and her colleagues. Her beadwork broadened our minds to try
different ideas with beads. I especially liked the ‘Peter Pan’ collar and the
bird book cover. It is always interesting to see how others work and I found
the, in, out and plop technique will stay with me for years to come!!
Thank you to
all members for your support, kindness and patience at the end of the meeting,
it was greatly appreciated..
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JJN Amish Holidays - by Jill
I went on holiday to Boston and Vermont, USA, with my friend Rita and
eight ladies, together with our guide Janet Wallace. We stayed in
Tewkesbury, Mass. and spent the first five days visiting Boston and the
surrounding area. We visited the Wenham Museum, Lexington, Concorde and
the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell. We learnt about the history of
the area and of course visited several quilt stores, Joann fabrics and
A.C. Moores craft store. We spent a morning at Keepsake Quilters at
Centre Harbor, had lunch at Lake Meredith and a boat trip on Squam Lake
to see the nesting eagles.
On the sixth day, we travelled to Vermont. We stopped at Canterbury
Shaker Village where we had a tour and lunch and then travelled on to
our hotel in Stowe. We spent the next day at the Vermont Quilt
Festival, then a free day and then a day at the Shelburne museum.
Our last day we travelled back to Boston airport stopping at Quechee Gorge and lunch in Woodstock.
This was a most enjoyable varied holiday with interesting like-minded
company and I would recommend Janet's holidays. If you are visiting the
Festival of Quilts at Birmingham, she will be helping on one of the
stands, so ask me if you would like to speak to her.
June meeting - by Judy
The
June meeting was advertised in the programme as "Lesley Syme Talk entitled "Joseph's Coat
to Jacob's Ladder”, illustrated with lots of quilts”. We need a new word.
“Lots” in no way describes it; it was “mega-lots”, and each quilt more beautiful
than the preceding one.
Lesley
first became interested in quilting when her husband’s career took her to
Minnesota where summers are too hot and winters too cold to make outdoor
activities attractive, so indoor crafts come into their own and there are
plenty of shopping opportunities to support them.
Many
of Lesley’s quilts are traditional in design and feature amazing hand-appliqué
and quilting. The quality of her work is exceptional and I’m sure we were
looking at the heirlooms of the future. Lesley also brought some examples of
techniques from other countries as well as some antique quilts she has
collected. These included a hand-sewn quilt in which the individual pieces were
the size of postage stamps!
This
meeting was open to visitors and the friend I brought with me was quite
overwhelmed by the number and range of quilts Lesley brought with her. So thank
you Lesley for a great evening.
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May Meeting - by Betty
The evening started with Linda announcing that the
Addiscombe Baby Cafe, which we have been supporting for the last few years, has
had to close. A breast feeding support
unit will be at Mayday and a new Woodside Centre will be opening. The money from Shirley Quilters has been
mainly used to pay the rent at the Baby Cafe but any excess has been used to
buy toys for the new Woodside Centre.
Jan then showed what has happened to all those colourful five
inch squares that we made. They have
turned into a beautiful colour-graded piece of patchwork on the way to becoming
our Olympic quilt.
We then came to the AGM.
There was discussion on a proposal to change the constitution to
allow
more than fifty members but this was defeated by the members.
Jackie, Treasurer and Linda, Chair, both reported a good year
for Shirley Quilters. Linda was
presented with a token and flowers in acknowledgement of her hard work as Chair
for the last three years. Helen agreed to
become Events Co-ordinator, Eileen will continue as Secretary but no-one wanted
to be Chair, by the end of the evening, however, Julia had
offered and been gratefully accepted.
After coffee, Margaret gave us a demonstration of Kantha
quilting. Kantha is a form of embroidery
used in Bangladesh and West Bengal using just running stitches. When used as quilting just two layers of
fabric are used, no wadding, but because the fabric is covered with stitches it
becomes quite thick and firm. Margaret
had some simple designs for us to try.
Trace onto one piece of calico and stitch though both layers, outlining
the image first then continuing with running stitches in shaded colours until
the design is filled, the background is then filled with running stitches in a light
colour to make the design stand out.
There was a lovely Kantha quilt on show, made by Beckenham
Quilters using designs from nature, animals, flowers etc. Another idea to fire the imagination and make
you think “ I’d like to have a go at that one day!”
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chair's Report for 2011 A.G.MWhew – what a year!
As a group we have
accomplished an incredible amount.
The programme for
the year was varied, with workshops both for beginners and more experienced
quilters.
Our speakers too
were very varied. Christine Restall brought lots of her contemporary art quilts
and gave us an interesting insight into her work. Carolyn Forster makes much
more traditional pieces and she was a witty speaker and shared lots of hints
and tips, increasing our confidence and desire to try some of her designs. We
were also visited by Paula Ozier, a fabric designer, fairly new to the quilting
circuit, who told us some of the steps from design to finished fabric. Her
fabrics were very different from any others on the market and of course, we just
could not resist buying a few fat quarters.
For two days In
September, we had a demonstration table at the Quilters’Guild Region 2 annual
exhibition at Hever
Castle. It proved a great
success, both in advertising our own upcoming exhibition and also in sales of
‘mini makes’ on behalf of our charity, the Baby Café in Addiscombe.
The biennial
exhibition held in October was a great success. Many people exhibited their
work, which ranged from very large double bed quilts, down to bags, cushions
and small hangings. We were fortunate to
have good weather and attracted lots of visitors, who were full of compliments.
The group quilt, a beautiful double quilt, begun earlier in the year and the
bag tombola helped raise a further significant amount for the Baby Café.
Sadly the deep snow
in December meant we had to cancel the meeting that month. This made the
January meeting even busier than usual. Firstly, there was a ‘show and tell’ of
the Christmas bell decorations made at the October meeting and a surprise belated
present for everyone as a ‘thank you’ for all the hard work of the previous
year. Then it was down to the three challenges for this New Year. An Ugly
Fabric Dare, Chinese whispers, and a block of the month quilt.
I have been so
pleased with the response to all the projects we have put to you through the
year. Already there have been many completed Ugly Fabric Dare pieces and the
Chinese Whispers are progressing well. The imagination that went into the mini
makes was amazing and we had lots of volunteers to help man the demonstration
table. Many thanks too, to the number of people who not only exhibited at our
exhibition but who helped hang all the exhibits, who baked cakes, served
refreshments, acted as stewards, manned the various stalls and then helped to
take everything down.
I think Shirley
Quilters are a great group of people who are friendly and welcoming and very
willing to share expertise. It is great to see so many getting involved with
helping in every aspect of the group. I really do believe that by actively
participating in a group, you get so much more out of it and I do hope that you
will continue to be an active and fun group.
As I come to the
end of my term as chair, I would like to say some personal words of thanks.
Thank you to Jan,
Janet and Angela for their time looking after the refreshments for us and thank
you in advance to Jackie (S)who is taking on this role.
Thank you to Jackie
(B) who not only keeps track of our finances, but also has words of wisdom at our
committee meetings.
Thank you to Jan,
who I co-opted onto the committee. She has been a great help as she has been
quilting for a long time and has been very willing to teach mini workshops and
is now overseeing the Olympic quilt project
Thank you to Brenda
who has served as Events co-ordinator. She is very well organised and has made
sure that our speakers and visitors know where to come and has written to thank
them after each evening. She was also great at getting free publicity for our
exhibitions in quilting magazines.
Thank you to Eileen,
our Secretary. Eileen too is incredibly well organised and as well as taking
minutes, she tries her hardest to keep up to date with all your contact
details, and makes sure you get reminder emails. It is Eileen we have to thank
as well for our website and for keeping the information on it current. She is
also great at spotting unusual raffle prizes and looks after the library. With
a list of tasks this long, I know she would welcome any offers of help – in
particular, looking after the library.
So finally, thank
you to all the committee for all their input, inspiration and support over the
past year and thank you to all of you who make the group the success that it
is.
I am sure that you
will support the new committee and that the group will continue to thrive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow! What a Night! - April Meeting - by Claire Where
to start? I first discovered Shirley Quilters when I visited to
the exhibition last year and was amazed as to how nice everyone was,
ever since then I have been coming as a visitor nearly every month and
each time I've not been disappointed and have gone away having learnt
something new. The April meeting was no exception with six
demonstration tables set up, we were spoilt for choice.
I
happened to start with the "Basic Table" where I discovered the
quilters bible also known as "The Quilter Ultimate Visual Guide" by
Ellen Pahl which gives detailed instructions on how to do pretty much
everything. Also on the table I learnt how to use your backing
fabric as binding and how to do square corners on your binding, both of
these I found completely foreign as I had never been taught this as I
had been told that it was incorrect, what a load of rubbish.
Prairie
Points - I'd never heard of these before, yet I had always wondered
what the small triangles were that were loose on quilts and how
complicated they must be. Now I not only know what they are, but
they are in fact quite easy, well maybe with a little practice.
Move
Again... Basic Blocks. My, what this covered could have been a
whole day demo. The various methods of sashing and joining blocks
left me completely mesmerised and in a daze.
Time for a cup of
tea to recover before the next table, also to think what have I been
doing, quilting for ten years and not knowing half of this.
Tea
time over - next up Mitre Borders. Having always done straight
borders I was naturally curious and thought they were going to be so
complicated, what a surprise, wrong again. I came away now
knowing two methods of how to do them.
Next - Mitre Corners on
Binding. Ah now I'm in my comfort zone, something I know how to
do. I was still blown away by a stunning quilt Eileen had done
using the Stack and Whack method for kaleidoscope blocks.
Last
but not least a table designed to show how to "sandwich" a quilt, no
not with bread, butter and jam but backing, wadding and a front.
So,
you think I've finished - no. A small table in the corner with a
preview of what's to come next month aftter the A.G.M. Kantha
Quilting. I'm already excited. The evening finishes with
the usual show and tell, where I am again mesmerised by the beautiful
work everyone produces.
Time to go home, completely exhausted
and drained with fingers crossed that I do hopefully make it to
becoming a member next month. If not I will certainly enjoy
coming back as a visitor on open nights.
Quilting
and March meeting - by JanetI
have always been interested in sewing and have made two large bed
quilts by hand from patchwork squares, so when I saw that Shirley
Quilters met on a Tuesday evening I went along to help to swell the
numbers. What a surprise! It was the first session
after a
snowy Christmas, there was a long queue to register and it seemed to
me, hundreds of chairs set out waiting for quiltmakers.
As
luck would have it, next to me in the line was Neredah. When
I
mentioned I knew no-one and was a novice she kindly offered to sit next
to me. It's always nice to find a friend in a crowded
place.
What
followed was one of the most stimulating meetings I have ever been to.
What worried me was that everyone seemed to have been
quilting
most of their lives and I was rather overwhelmed. I learned
that
a jelly roll was not a type of cake and that a fat quarter was not a
home for large people.
My
third session at Shirley Quilters again did not disappoint.
There
was a wealth of materials and equipment for sale which meant I would
not have to make yet another trip to the Sewing Shop. Janet
Cooper from Sleeping Bear Crafts also brought some gorgeous
quilts for us to see and ponder over and gave short demonstrations on
how to square up patches made from triangles and turn them into Flying
Geese.
The "Show and Tell"
at the end of the meeting on 15th March included work inspired by
Christmas cards, cushions and a lovely peg bag as well as some
delightful and varied quilts. I couldn't wait to get home and
get
started on some sewing!
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Carolyn Forster - by Jean
We
were delighted to welcome Carolyn Forster to our February meeting with
her talk "How I got Here". Her talk, originally planned for
April
2010 but delayed with flight problems due to volcanic ash, made our
anicipation even more eager. We were not to be disappointed.
Carolyn started making quilts whilst still at school,
although
she confessed that at this stage she had no knowledge of design or
construction. She went on to complete a three year textile
degree
and later to train to teach needlework. She left teaching and
during a short career working at Laura Ashley, she discovered her love
of fabrics and started making quilts. She went on to complete
her
City & Guilds qualification and started teaching patchwork and
quilting to adults. By this time in her talk we became aware
at 1
- Carolyn only makes quilts which she likes and 2 - She is very much a
quilter's quilter, amusing us with her stories of the trials of dyeing
fabrics, of problems with working with different materials but in the
end revealing that she is very accomplished, having produced many
beautiful quilts as well as writing a book.On a very windy Saturday morning 22 people
arrived and
settled themselves between two rooms for a day’s sewing. This
was an “in-house”
day when everyone worked on their own projects within the theme.
It wasn’t long
before the sound of sewing machines began and fabrics were pieced, cut
again,
re-sewn and made into new shapes.
There was a huge variety of fabrics and
patterns. Some which caught my eye were Jellyroll Jive with vibrant
colours,
Daisy Chain with beautiful shades of blue and turquoise and Lemon
Sherbet. Strip
The Willow was made in glorious vintage fabrics called Fandango.
One of the
patterns made teddy bears and another idea was a central square of a
large
elephant with various borders around it.
It was interesting to note how many
people have now invested in small lightweight sewing machines. This
must be an
expanding market.
All too soon it was time to pack up, have
a “show and tell”
and be on our way. It was a very enjoyable day.
