Monday 21 November 2016

November 2016

A well attended meeting with a full house of members. There was quite a variety of work being done, with lots of chat and catching up with life's trials and tribulations.

HW decided to do some more work on the Infinity squares we started at a workshop we all attended in the summer. It is coming along but does require concentration. We seem to have a lot of strips cut and are trying to decide whether we should make bigger quilts, or keep to 12 blocks.

Infinity Squares

CB was working on a brightly coloured Corner to Corner crocheted blanket. This is a lovely pattern, several of us have made one or two over the past year or so. This one may be destined to check out the suitability of selling one-off craft items on the web. This idea is in it's infancy, it has given us a lot of food for thought!

C2C blanket

Another project on the go is a Christmas present for our Secret Santa, I don't think this picture gives the game away. It is looking good and nearly finished before going home, plus - all done without a pattern.
HT on Christmas

CD was working on Project Linus T-shirt quilts as Christmas is coming up and there is always a bigger demand for them. One down and three to go!

PL T-shirt quilt

AB attempted to get her beach bag finished, holiday has been and gone but it may be ready for the next one. She went back to crochet practice after lunch, plenty of time to finish beach bag before next holiday.
Beach bag

Lunch is always looked forward to with anticipation. This time we had Cauliflower cheese soup and bread, with apple tart tatin and cream for dessert. All of it homemade and delicious.

Cauliflower cheese soup and bread
Apple tart tatin


After lunch it was back to work until tea and cake with the birthday presents and a round of Happy Birthday. EL in Florida joined us for this via Face time, then she was off to help hang some Christmas lights on a Lighthouse (only in America!)

Happy Birthday
Another productive day crafting, already looking forward to the next one.


Monday 17 October 2016

October

I do sometimes think our monthly meeting keeps many of us sane during the rest of the month! A productive day for all. A good chat and dates arranged for future outings!

Lunch was our usual - but nevertheless very enjoyable soup and homemade bread....we did however, include a cheeky drop of red and white today!!


Dessert was a magnificence Pavlova with lots of yummy fruit.....


We had two members moving forward with their infinity squares (only one member has finished!) the others are just undecided whether to go bigger.


 

Another project linus quilt being made - quilt in a day - and CD wasn't far off that target!

 

Two hookers..... one just starting, and the other just finishing...

 


 

And two show and tell for the charity pile...

  


A quick catch up with EL and a round of belated happy birthday on Face time, with a promise of UK dates soon for us all to keep free. Till next time girls..... happy crafting.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

September 2016

We were a bit thin on the ground this month, only three of us. HT popped in briefly for a chat and cuppa, unfortunately,  AB missed her as she had forgotten the foot pedal for her sewing and machine and had gone to collect it. HW was in Bath with her son looking at the University and EL was unavailable for Face-time due to family commitments.

We had new projects and some works in progress on the go. CB was working on a gift, it was completed but it would spoil the surprise to show it. so here is a tantalising glimpse.

Selection of fabrics from CB

Some choices made CB

AB and CD were working on the Infinity Squares started at a workshop in July with Jan Hassard. You can see more of these in the previous post Quilting on Steroids - The Chichester Retreat..

AB infinity Squares in progress

CD Infinity Squares in progress

We had a break for lunch. Salmon, salad and homemade bread, with apple and blackberry pie and custard to follow.


Then it was time for a bit of Show and Tell. CB had been making crochet blankets for charity.

Crochet charity blankets CB

CD had been making another Project Linus quilt.

Africa 02 for Project Linus CD

CD had also started a Jewellery roll as a likely fund raiser for another Quilting Group. She needed a longer zip for the pocket, but managed to assemble all the other elements, for a speedy finish once zip is purchased.

Front of Jewellery roll

Pocket, ring tidy and ties
We hope to have a bigger get together next month, but there seems to be a lot going on in our lives in the moment.


Sunday 21 August 2016

Quilting on Steroids - The Chichester Retreat

Our Goal - The Infinity Square Quilt
It's a rare event for the Quirkies to be all together in the same place at the same time these days - so imagine a whole weekend of fun, laughter and quilting with new skills thrown in!

We congregated at the Chichester Park Hotel the penultimate Friday night in July (22nd) for a weekend with Jan Hassard teaching us infinity squares.

The evening started off with a talk by Jan who showed us an amazing number of spectacular quilts; some of us felt daunted already. But the highlight was meeting up in the bar for some catching up and laughter - even if some Quirkies didn't recongnise EL over from Florida (no worries AB).

HW ogled this one





At  least one Quirky seeing an alternative quilt pattern decided she might have preferred it; Jan indicated it is easier than our infinity squares believe it or not.



Saturday morning we lugged our machines up a flight of stairs, set-up, got out our supplies and were straight into the project with the aim to make at least six (6) squares for the weekend - ha ha.



Step-by-step board of instructions

We had very brief written directions, but a step-by-step board which really helped.  And Jan was very encouraging to each and every one of us. This quilt does require precision cutting and sewing, so some of us were more advantaged than others - and ripping out required by all!

fabric audition





EL had a melt-down about her fabric choices, but ended up doing two slightly different squares. Here is an 'audition' of the background colour (background in this case meaning the 1 inch solid colour stripes between the multi-coloured strips). CB kept her calm and pointed out a few basic tips - many thanks!

Empty, hot workroom at lunch break



There were 16 of us in all, the room a bit cramped and the air conditioning non working on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year in England.  But onward we cut, pinned and sewed.

Rogue Block


This quilt requires 32 fabrics in 4 colourways (gradations of one colour) and sew into strips as the 'pre-work'.  One on the course, chose an alternative route for their fabric (one fabric with graduated colours) which resulted in very different blocks.






HW's work in progress; love the brown
CW - first out of the gate with a completed jewel block


By the end of Saturday our blocks were beginning to take shape.









The food was lovely and the weather beautiful if hot; the hotel swimming pool was utilized by four of us Saturday evening.  The other two Quirkies took a walk around the local environs. Our waiter doted on us and after dinner drinks were in a lovely courtyard with plenty of flowers for the bees much to HW's delight.



Jan's cute machined fabric boxes

We were joined for dinner by another Jan, who does machine sewn boxes; something EL had read about, made contact from afar and lo and behold Jan lives nearby.  So she and her boxes stopped in Saturday eve and again to check our progress on Sunday.  Quilters are lovely people.





The class effort minus TS
Sunday morning we were all keen to crack on and by 3 pm the group had produced a range of lovely squares.  Only Pat got all 6 done . . . but fun was had by all.

Much joking was evident about making placemats vs quilts from the blocks - but all will go to use in one item or another.

All too soon and we had to drive home, taking various routes through the country side and AB guided by TagNav. Our August get together shall surely see much progress on these quilts.


Modest HS handiwork 

 PS.  Just for the curious - here's EL's squares with the two different background colours - and oops I just spotted the mistake in the one on the top - do you see it (easily made, done by others on course and thankfully easily fixed). So you can see how the choice of fabrics really impacts the squares.

Jan described the top one as summer and the bottom autumnal - the one inch squares came from an American 'honey bun' fabric roll (except for the yellow/orange ones). A honey bun is the cheats way to get 32 coordinating fabrics!

Sunday 14 August 2016

August Delights

Wonderful weather, what better way to spend the day than sewing with good friends. We had five out of six of us today, with HT making a trip to the FoQ.  We even had our 'overseas' friend fitting in another day with us, amongst her very busy visiting schedule!

We had a variety of projects today, which of course is not unusual. We were trying to progress our Jan Hassard blocks.







We had a door hanging as some work in progress....



We had cross stitch....


We admired some finished bunting....



We enjoyed a very scrumptious lunch....



We admired an amazing crochet blanket from CD.....


And one of us learnt C2C for a plane journey....


Till next time girls... happy quilting!