More completed projects......

This is the first opportunity I've had to post this week, so I´ll dive straight in!    Louise has been spending some evening making a selection of doileys.  Two of which are shown here.

Kath has finished off a quilt using fabric remnants from previous projects, and is giving it to her friend's daughter.

Carol brought in her quillow to show us, seen above as a quilt and below all folded up into a cushion,

 

also Carol showed us  a bright quilt she made several years ago using Ikea cotton fabrics.  This photo doesn't do justice to those lovely bright colours.  Sorry Carol!

I spotted this little Christmas wall hanging of Cath's on the table too, Ann is borrowing it to make a pattern so she can adapt it to her own needs.

Ann says she is having a break from making larger quilts for a while, and is making use of her stash of fabric remnants to make several small projects.

Above Carol is working on a quilt for a friends first grandchild.  It's a Sun Bonnet Sue design and here Carol is battling with the embroidery stitches on her machine, which was making hard work of embellishing the applique for her!

Above, Sheila continues with her charity knits, while Louise works on her latest quilting project.  I am told it is lovely, but confess I didn't see it in detail so hope to show you next week if Louise brings it to work on again.

It looks to me as though Helen must be getting near to the end of this embroidery now, though there is so much fine detail in it.

Margaret is making Christmas stockings after finding a bag full of felt at home, and Jan and Kath spent the session hemming the sashing on the centre panels of the Group Raffle Quilt.  

Below is a peak at the centre panel of the quilt, and by next week the outer panels should be attached

Jacqueline continues with her bobbin lace, while Marilyn embroiders flowers on quilt blocks,

and Helen above, with Merlyne and Carol below, work on small cross stitch projects

Linda  below, popped in after choir practice to chat to Jan about threading her overlocker machine

Before closing this week, I must give a warm welcome to our latest new members, Millie seen lower left in the photo above, and Simone on the right in the photo below.   Millie enjoys knitting, while Simone, after walking around the room and seeing all the exciting projects being worked on,  particularly Elle's applique quilt blocks, decided she would like to learn how to applique and asked where she could find materials and patterns.  Needless to say, there was no shortage of advice for her and next week I think we may see her again with lots of supplies eager to start work!  Also welcome back to Chris, seen in the centre of the photo below, after a long absence while she was in the UK.

Elle's applique project which inspired Simone

I'm not sure why, but all except Ann, forgot it was the first meeting of the month and it should have been Sales Tuesday this week.  I got the blame for not reminding everyone on here!  It was decided to have Sales Tuesday next week instead,  so I'm reminding everyone now to bring in fabrics, yarns etc.  I'm told Pam will have fabrics for sale so if you are looking for anything, bring in your purses!  

Don't forget too, to head over to the Group Website and see the latest updates in Members' galleries.  Have a good week, thanks for stopping by.  Rachel 

Standing room only.......

We seem to be growing in numbers each week.   Maybe it was the fact we had a visit from Sue with her large selection of handbags to choose from, which encouraged  everyone to attend this week!  It seemed the majority of members found a bag they liked, and some placed orders for ones that quickly sold out.

Sue setting out her bags

Penny has her eye on the one she likes!

Many members found something they liked

Jill has been busy finishing off projects, above an autumn themed table runner and delightful place mat below.

Cath has been embroidering and quilting this panel for the end of a bed.  I'm sorry Cath, the colours didn't photograph very well and don't do justice to your work.

Detail of the hand embroidery work

Cath has discovered she really enjoys hand embroidery and decided to add some to her Row-by-Row project too.  It is very effective and adds a new dimension to the quilt.

Cath's row-by-row project

Hand embroidery adds extra dimension to Cath's quilt

This little chappie above has been knitted and donated by Gladys for the exhibition raffle later in the year, and the duck below is one of a set to be made into a pram toy by Penny.

Pam shows one of the completed Dorset buttons, (not Suffolk as I stated in a previous posting!) but I'm not sure there will be many more made to go with it.  Pam is not a fan of hand work, "too fiddly and time consuming", much preferring to get stuck into something on her sewing machine.  Talking of which, you may be interested to know that Pam made her decision to go ahead and buy a Janome embroidery/sewing machine.  She said the offer was too good to miss and now eagerly awaits her new "toy" to arrive.  It's very heavy so I don't think we'll be seeing it in the hall, and Pam will continue using her smaller machine in group meetings.  But I hope we get to see some of the embroidery work she will be producing.

Pam below, working on her scrappy quilt project (above), using up every last inch of left over fabrics from previous projects to make the backing for the quilt too.

As you can see from the photo above, there wasn't much free space this week, but Helen (below) managed to find a quiet corner to refine one of her designs for the quilting motifs for the raffle quilt, and at the far end of the table above, Rozanne managed to find space too, to layer up all the setting triangles and corner blocks, once she had traced off the quilting motifs.  The quilt will now be put together with sashing, then passed back to Rozanne so she can complete the hand quilting.

Another regular is pleased we have so many members.  Our local baker does a good trade in bread each week as can be seen here, this is just the tail end of the regular queue for bread and rolls when he arrives mid morning.

Back inside, work continues.  Here Margaret shows me one of a couple of 400g balls of yarn she's using to knit squares to join into a blanket for her 92 year old father who lives in the UK.  Margaret visits him every few weeks to make sure he is ok, as he still manages to live alone in his own home.

Christine and Cath chat while working on their quilts, and Christine showed us two finished projects too.

Christine's completed quilt for her grand-daughter

Christine has a label on the back of this quilt which shows she began work on it it 2011, so she's pleased to have finished it at last!

A few blog posts ago I said Carol had virtually finished this table cloth, but Carol corrected me saying there is actually more to be stitched than actually stitched .  Well it looks well on the way now!

Louise is seen here concentrating on practicing the technique of perfect mitred corners for quilt bindings.

Christine left with Louise

Jenny above left, discusses her findings with Jill after experimenting with fabric paint and screen prints, as part of  Jenny's "the journey" project, which  she and the Diversity girls are currently working on.

That's all again for this week, I hope you enjoy keeping up with our Group members as they work through their projects.  Don't forget to pop over to our website where amongst the regular updates, the "Stitching Corner" member has changed to Kath this week.  Next week I hope to show you the latest progress on the raffle quilt.  Thanks for stopping by.   Have a good week,  Rachel

Full house again........

Despite a couple of regular members being away we still had thirty members attend this week's meeting, and there was hardly a chair to spare!
There are quite a number of projects nearing completion or completed, especially the Row-by-Row quilts.

Helen Hulme's row-by-row quilt just needs the binding adding, while Christine Speller has completed a dog-themed quilt for her niece who has  terrier and labrador dogs

Ann is well on the way to completing her row-by-row quilt (above) too, and Pam has finished hers (below). 

Jill's completed version of the row-by-row project is shown above. 

 And above is Louise's version.   These quilts are going to make a stunning display at our exhibition later this year.  Louise had never tried patchwork and quilting before joining in this workshop, and enjoyed it so much she started another lap quilt at the same time, and has discovered she really enjoys the hand quilting too.

Louise's second quilt

Jenny has used her own hand dyed fabrics to make a wholecloth hanging and worked an all-over quilting pattern over it, which she designed and digitized herself.

The front of Jenny's piece

Quilting design detail

The reverse fabric on Jenny's quilt

Sheila, below continues to knit for the charity which she supports and by the end of the morning had all but completed another cardigan for the Green Fields Africa.  It just needs it's buttons adding.  More information on the charity can be found HERE and then by clicking on the charity name.

Christine Speller has also just completed a pretty quilt for her granddaughter while Kath (below left) is making progress with her knitting.

Mercedes brought in a tote bag and purse she has made.  Mercedes works fine needle-turn applique on intricate pieces.

The detailed motif on the front of Mercedes' tote bag

Mercedes with her purse

Pam seen above with Ann, is discussing her dilemma in choosing a new sewing machine.  Pam, who up until now has been working on two small standard machines, intends making a considerable investment in a new machine and has to decide whether to purchase  an embroidery/sewing machine, or a sewing machine with quilting features.  Below Pam is trying out Jenny's Janome embroidery/sewing machine to see what she thinks and next week she will try out a Bernina.  Pam enjoys all aspects of machine work, from piecing quilts to adding embellishments with embroidery stitches, but also really enjoys free-motion quilting, and needs to make sure her choice of machine will do all these things.

Mercedes, Jan and Jenny (right) discussing her quilt

Jenny is at the quilting stage of the commission quilt she took on for a friend and neighbour, and brought in the quilt to ask opinions on quilting ideas for it, and Jacqueline continues with her bobbin lace project. Jacqueline confirmed it's a project she started many years ago and is seeking advice and from Marilyn on how to proceed with it.

Jacqueline (left), Helen and Marilyn (standing)

That's about it for this week.  Next week we have Jill's friend coming in with a selection of handbags for us to buy, so it will be a busy session!  Thanks for reading, hope to see you next time.   Rachel