Thursday 31 October 2013

How many people does it take to put up a cupboard??

There was a lot of noise coming from the store area in the hall this week, where Jan, Elle and Eleanor spent a hilarious hour or so putting together our new library cupboard.  This means Jenny no longer has to carry four or five very heavy boxes of books and magazines down to the hall from home and in future the books will always be available for weekly lending instead of monthly as at present.

Jan and Eleanor translating the instructions!


Christine taught the first lesson in her Row-by-Row workshop, with eight members taking part one of whom was Louise beginning her first ever patchwork and quilting project.  The first two rows of the project can be seen on the wall behind Pam and Christine,


Once again we lost a few of tables to a local fiesta, but as always the girls are resourceful and don't allow these minor glitches to stop play.  A very high table top was put to use as an ironing station, and even the less tall participants managed on tip-toe!  


Louise pressing the bias binding stems, and below the first part of her project


Jill

Pam

Ann and Linda

Cath's work


Linda showed us this little teddy she has just made for her first grand child due in a few months time, 


and Sue above, has almost finished this little knitted chappie, they will both make lovely gifts.



More finished projects from Ann above, and Pam below


and Carole has finished another drunkard's path quilt, this one for her daughter-in-law



Sheila concentrates on her knitting, while Rozanne and Shirley discuss Shirley's latest knitting project





This meeting was Charlotte's last visit with us until the Spring when she hopes to stay for a few weeks longer.  Charlotte, seen above with Carol, has been working on a log cabin style quilt while she's been here, and has been making the log cabin blocks for the border by hand, with only three left to do to complete the final border for the quilt top.



Michele showed off her finished i-tablet case and this jointed dressed doll card which she received from a member of her Australian stitching circle.



Vanessa is making a start on her new applique project above, and Maureen and Sandy (seen below) sort out enough yarn to make two woven crochet rugs, for the raffle at our exhibition next year, from which all funds raised will be donated to our favourite local charity Anne-Axarquia.


Before I close this week, news comes from the UK to say that after Margaret's knee surgery, her rehab is going well, and Margaret hopes to be back with us in the new year.  We look forward to seeing you Margaret.
News too from Helen telling us that she has found a stitching group close by, where she will be spending Monday afternoons.  I'm sure you will enjoy having a needle and thread in your hands again Helen, we look forward to hearing about what projects you and your new friends will be working on.
Until next time, have a good week.
                                                    Rachel


















Thursday 24 October 2013

Customs and Excise disrupt planned workshop!

There was disappointment at this week's meeting, courtesy of Spanish C & E, who snagged Elle's shipment of silk ribbon and kits from South Africa.  Elle had planned on giving a workshop for group members this Tuesday, but had to postpone the class while she sorts out the red tape involved in getting her shipment.


Carol sent me this photo above of her quilt which she is now adding quilting to, and below Rozanne showed us her finished tulip quilt, entirely hand pieced, appliqued and quilted.




I brought in my reworked Rose Cottage quilt to show the group.  I began this quilt about 7 years ago, and put minimal quilting on it, by both hand and machine because that was all I knew then.  After buying my Sweet Sixteen sit down mid-arm machine recently I couldn't wait to try out some quilting on it and looked at this quilt which is used on the bed each winter, and decided to unpick all the existing quilting and rework it on the new machine, using it as a practice piece to get used to the machine.  Now I am planning a new project so I can do more quilting as I enjoyed it so much and still have lots to learn about the art of free-motion quilting!


While Pam looks at Louise's ongoing knitting project, several ladies were delighted to see bags of knitting yarn which Elle brought in for them.  This wool has been donated by Maggie's family after she sadly died unexpectedly in the summer.  Maggie's family who knew that Maggie so enjoyed being part of the group when we first set up several years ago,  thought members might be able to make use of the yarn and make a small donation to the charity which helped Maggie in the UK.  Elle was amazed to receive 75€ for the charity from the sale of much of the yarn.   Members who bought some of the yarn will in turn be knitting or crocheting items for more charities which they support individually.  Maggie herself used to knit little baby jackets which she donated to the premature baby unit at our local hospital in Velez-Malaga.


Above, Rozanne is helping Shirley with the finishing of her knitting project and below Louise has the unenviable task of stitching together all these knitted squares into a baby shawl she has been working on for some time,


 while Margaret and Gladys enjoy their lunch during a break from knitting their topsy-turvy dolls.



Vanessa has finally put the last stitches into her lap quilt which is only her second patchwork project.  She says it has been a real learning curve, and she is already planning and drawing out the design for her next piece of work, a seasonal wall hanging with applique which is another new technique for her.



Jenny has found an old unfinished piece of work which she has decided is her "winter-evenings" project.  Jenny dyes her own fabrics and has already heavily hand stitched four layers of dyed calico, and  has drawn out a stylish flower design for which she is using more of her hand dyed cottons for the individual  pieces which Jenny will  hand-applique to the background.


Yvonne is tracing out another of the Japanese designs for one of her projects, a triptych wall hanging in creams and and taupe colours, while Gwen has been tempted by a book Ann brought in to show us.



It was good to see Helen B back this week, here seen chatting to Carole about her quilt, and Kath too who is working on two small seasonal wall hangings after being inspired by others which she saw recently completed by Ann and Helen H.  The "knitting circle" are deep in discussion below,



while Pam and Ann are deciding on the layout of their wall hanging above, and below Charlotte and Michele are catching up on their news.



Jacqueline is pleased to be nearing the end of her lap quilt which, after one of her cats found it in the cupboard and had fun with the wadding sticking out around the edges, meant that she had to trim the quilt more than she intended along the sides!  


After getting some advice from Yvonne, Tricia is cutting out fabric for her next project.  
At this meeting we also discussed our charity quilt project for which Helen Bush has generously offered to design and draw the butterfly motifs for the quilt blocks, and we intend beginning the stitching at the start of next year.  Helen has also offered to add any embroidery to the blocks which many of the group members will take part in making.  
I hope you have enjoyed keeping up with all our news, do please come back again next week. 
                                                                                                                                         Rachel



















Wednesday 16 October 2013

Short post today.......

This will be a short post today as not only were there very few of us in yesterday's weekly meeting, but my camera batteries failed after very few photographs, and the spare batteries I always have with me had been charged up for so long in their box waiting to be used, that they also had virtually discharged.  So I apologise for very little news this week!
Charlotte was with us again, and was hand-stitching  very small log cabin blocks which are being made for the outer border of her latest quilt project.


While Charlotte is working mainly in black and white prints, Carole is making progress on her latest drunkard's path design quilt, worked in bright autumn colours.  Carole is waiting to buy more backing fabric and gathered inspiration from group members about how she should approach the quilting on this project when it is all sandwiched together.


You can see from these photos we had lots of room to spread out this week, and in the background Louise is leafing through some of our library books looking for inspiration.  Louise was disappointed to check her bags on arrival to the hall to the hall this morning, only to find that whilst she had picked up two large crochet blankets for photographing, and brought the library books down on behalf of Jenny, she forgot her current knitting project, so didn't stay very long!



These two photos just do not do justice to Rozanne's beautiful work.  The bed quilt is entirely stitched by hand, the piecing, applique and quilting.  Stunning!


Shirley and Sue are continuing with their knitting projects (above), as are Gladys and Margaret (not seen here), who are each working on another Cinderlla Topsy Turvy doll.


Jan continued to pull down a knitted waistcoat that she didn't like when it was finished, so she could re-use the yarn, and Vanessa is putting the last few stitches in the centre panel of her lap quilt, and has decided what to quilt in the border. 


 Vanessa is already thinking about her next project, this will be a seasonal wall hanging which she is adapting  from a photo she took.  


Christine is putting the finishing touches to the binding of this scary Halloween wall hanging before she takes it to her grandson at the end of this week.  It was good to see Jill back today after her long trip to the US.  Jill is working on a new project, a crazy patchwork piece in creams with turquoise centres.  At this stage my camera failed, but hopefully Jill will have this work with her again next week, when I can show you what she's doing.
This post has been short and sweet, but just as well, as I have a meeting today with fellow group members of our sister group Diversity.  If you are interested in what we are doing in this group, do check us out on the Viñuela Sew and Sew's web page HERE .  I will be updating the Diversity blog within the next couple of days after the "big reveal" today of our latest project and discussion on the next one.  Have a good week.
                                      Rachel





Wednesday 9 October 2013

New workshop offered........

Long-time group member Elle chatted to us at this week's meeting about her new venture; she has become the sole distributor/stockist of Di van Niekerk's hand painted silk ribbons, kits and printed stitch panels in Spain.  This is good news for Elle and us, as we will be able to buy ribbons etc. from her without having expensive postage costs from South Africa.  Also Elle is offering workshops, limited to six students at a time, teaching silk ribbon work and further down the line, stump-work embroidery.   The first workshop is on October 22, and it didn't take long for Elle to be approached by six group members who will work on a small fuchsia design.  All the materials, needles and instructions will be provided in a kit from Elle, students just need to bring along an embroidery hoop.  You can check out some of Elle's lovely silk ribbon embroidery over in her gallery page on our group website Elle Smith

It was good to see another long-time member of the group return yesterday.  Charlotte, seen below right chatting to Margaret, hasn't been able to join us for quite some time but is planning on staying for about 5 weeks and expressed  her disappointment at not being able to attend Elle's workshop as she is travelling back to the Isle of Man on the same day as the workshop!


It was a smaller meeting this week, with only 21 members, and it was really unusual to see only two or three members working on their sewing machines.  Christine, back from her trip to visit family had plenty of space to spread out her work!  I was interested to hear about the reactions from Christine's grandchildren to their quilts  when they were given them during their summer visit here.  Christine's granddaughter was delighted with her pretty quilt, and the younger grandson declared his aquarium inspired quilt to be "cool" so that was a thumbs up, but Christine's older grandson at 12 years old, looked at his quilt then at his mother and asked very seriously "well, what do I do with it"!  Christine says that of course he is pleased to use it now and I'm sure that despite his initial reaction, he would have been very disappointed had his grandma not made him a quilt at all.
Christine, whose row-by-row workshop begins at the end of the month, showed us two of the panels she has prepared  for the project. 




As expected, Vanessa brought in her quilt top with much of the quilting done.  Vanessa is quilting large petal shaped motifs in areas of the quilt and can be seen above explaining to Louise how she marks out the shapes with chalk before stitching.  Vanessa was frustrated at the end of the session to have run out of thread and needed to wait three more hours before the shop opened where she could buy more and she could continue quilting!

Sue and Gladys watching as Vanessa quilts


Eleanor and Sandy had a chat while Kath, below worked on her strippy quilt.  This quilt project has taken Kath right out of her comfort zone, as the colours are very muted compared to the usual bright bold colours she likes to work in.



Decisions, decisions!!  Above Carole is making decisions about which fabrics to use in her next project, another scrappy illusion quilt, while Carol W, below left, is seeking advice on how to stitch this large quilt top which I believe is her first quilt project.  Carol is not happy with the machine quilting she has done so far, as like many of us she is having difficulty manipulating the quilt through the small space on her sewing machine so she has decided to opt for hand quilting, and is getting advice on needles and what threads she could use from Yvonne and Gwen.  The quilt has been packed away again while Carol finds what she needs, and she is looking forward to keeping warm under the quilt while she works on it during the winter months.



Tricia is seen here explaining to Elle where the inspiration came from for her latest "fishy" project seen below,


then Elle listened while Yvonne  explained where her latest work is leading her.  Yvonne is working on a mixed media sketchbook, using paint, paper and stitch working to a theme of springtime.


During the work process, inspiration struck and Yvonne decided to try printing the pages she had created using paint and paper, onto fabric.  She liked the textures produced by the watercolour paper and chose four of the printed fabric pages to make into a small quilted wall hanging and is now adding stitch.  Yvonne says all other work is on hold while this has unexpectedly taken over her time!

Yvonne adding stitch to outline the flowers




Ann has been playing with her new sewing machine and has experimented on her "sumptuous stitch" project (above) by using various individual embroidery motifs  to fill an area of her ongoing project.


AnnC popped in briefly with her grandson and his fiance, to show us these little quilted seasonal wall-hangings that she has made as gifts for family members.  

And before I end this week, I must say hello to Margaret over in the UK who is recovering from knee surgery. I hear Margaret is frustrated at not being able to travel over to be with us at our meetings, but I'm sure you have some stitching and knitting on the go Margaret, and we look forward to seeing you when you get back.

I'll leave you all with a bit of advice I found from a Singer Sewing Manual from 1949 about how you should approach your stitching.  I wonder how many stitchers actually worked in this way?   (Apologies for the quality of the print.)