Wombourne Quilters Newsletter July 2012


Wednesday 18th July
Our next meeting will be a talk by Lesley Brankin, entitled ‘Inspired By’ which should be an interesting insight into the way Lesley develops her ideas. Just to remind you, we agreed at the AGM that we should make a contribution of £2 when we have a visiting speaker, to help cover costs.

1st August
Our special Linus Evening. An opportunity to bring your Linus quilts to work on or complete and to start something new for Linus. Please bring sewing kits to help layer up or finish off some of the lovely Linus quilts that are in progress or to have a go at a simple kit for a small quilt. If you can bring a rotary cutter, quilters rule and cutting board you can prepare pieces ready to be joined or if you can manage a sewing machine, you can work on chain piecing and quick machine quilting. We have quite a selection of donated fabric but any further pieces are always welcome, as well as wadding offcuts and suitable backing fabric.

We can often see making quilts for Linus as a way to use up fabric and forget the real children who will receive them. Mary Toft donated quilts to the Sutton Coalfield region earlier this year and she showed us a brief but most touching thank-you note she received from one of the children and it reminded us all of why we make these quilts and why we should continue to make them as lovely as possible.

 ‘At last it is finished’ and ‘Work in progress’
At our Summer Show and Tell two themes quickly developed, most people had brought either work in progress or items that they had returned to and completed at last. I started the Show and Tell with work that is a little different for me as they are fused, rather than pieced - and then there was the brightly coloured yellow, orange and pink Linus quilt top in progress.

Carol T brought three quilts for Linus that she is making, using off-cuts from previous quilts, each one slightly smaller than the last but all with a beautiful range of mauves, pinks, blues and turquoise. And then there was an exquisite little book of mini sample quilts.
Gill B brought lots of different blocks including crazy ones of course and told us about her list of things that she wants to finish once she retires this summer - I don’t think ‘retire’ is quite the right word if this list is anything to go by! She also brought an amazing memory quilt top that is a journey through her life and told us how it became too emotional for her to complete in 2010 but she is now hoping to get it finished later this year, when she has retired.......

Mary D brought along pieces that she has, in her words, finished off at last! we have all been there - a bright fresh blue and white hexagonal table center and the wall hanging from the Elizabeth Wall workshop last year, now beautifully framed.
Jane W showed us her stunning ‘quick’ quilt she has made for a friend, using subtle Japanese fabrics set in an off white surround - and then the many, many squares she is making - I cannot remember how many but it was in the hundreds - for another project she is working on - it will be most interesting to see it completed at a later date.

Carole A showed us a selection of ‘quilt as you go’ quilts for Linus (the technique we used on our Olympic quilt) but also a lovely batik one for herself and all the small, delicate journal crazy patches she is doing, one each month. And then there were the Victorian petticoats and bustle! these are reproduction items that Carole is making for a project in Coalbrookdale and several of us fell in love with them as skirts! the petticoats that is, not the bustle!

As well as the touching thank-you note, Mary Toft brought more Linus quilts, this time using one of those quilting gadgets we fall for at shows that allows us to cut and sew perfect blocks but she said she was bored with it now! And then there was the fresh, cheerful large quillow, made from a gift of fabric, which looked distinctly Scandinavian in blue, yellow and white.
Susan T showed us a quilt that she is making for her young grandson, space ships and trains are not her usual style, and another in the Japanese fabric Sue has been working with recently. And then there was the very pale pink immaculate whole cloth, hand quilted piece that had won a prize, more like the Sue we know.

Angie A brought just one quilt but what a quilt! This one was started a while ago and it is finished at long last, all but a little of the binding. It has been worked through some tough times for Angie but now it is complete and will be used on a daily basis, hopefully with a feeling of triumph and with pleasure.
Denise Smith had a lovely selection for us to see, including delicate examples of shadow quilting of birds and a large quilt made for her daughter who is a ‘Sex in the City’ fan. The quilt is called ‘The Big Apple’ reflecting New York and machine quilted with a big apple design of course. And then there was the bold appliqué Olympic quilt showing many different sports in silhouette, in the Olympic colours.

A large piece of brightly coloured painted fabric was spread out for us to see by Carol P, and it will be interesting to see what she will do with it in future as it has the potential for a stunning piece of work. And then there were lots of lovely little crazy blocks that Carol is working on each month, each one has its own distinct character and reflects the different skills and techniques that Carol has acquired.
Janet B had a wealth of items to show, including samples from workshops and the four journal quilts for the first months of this year as well as two framed appliqué pieces that are for a friend’s cottage in France. And then there was the Union flag for the Jubilee that just had to be made, pieced from lots of different red, white and blue fabrics.

Jan F has made quilts and bags for all her family except her youngest daughter. She told us the story of her quilt top that she has now made for Sarah, who did not really know what she wanted but said it should be big enough to cover the sofa, that it should be in warm colours and dark enough not to show the dirt created by her young sons! And the quilt, in rich warm tones of brown and deep red looked just about right.
Maggi Birchenough, our regional Quilters Guild rep came to visit and brought two pieces of her work to show, her final piece for her C&G, based on flower seed heads with stitched detail, and a small piece completed after a workshop which used fusing and plenty of intricate stitching, an embroidery/quilt cross-over.

It was a most enjoyable evening and thank you to all who took part. If I have missed anyone out, my apologies; it is not on purpose but due to memory overload and malfunction. As I also forgot to take a camera, we do not have any pictures but if you have a photo of any of the work you brought to show, please email a copy to me as it would be lovely to have a record on our website.

Kate