I guess I should bring you up to date on my day at W.P.Q's party, See previous post, well as I said in the title What a day to remember. Leaving home at 9.15am I picked up Sheila on the way, I can't believe how much quilting stuff we got into my car! Arriving at the hotel we quickly parked and unloaded before heading inside, we were greeted with fresh coffee and cookies or Birthday cake (left from the September meeting and which had been cut by one of the group's early members who had travelled all the way from Suffolk to join the fun, and which I missed due to being on holiday:-(
As the 'girls' began assembling in the room designated for our workshop. Helen (Keenan) was already there along with members of the committee. She started the day with an introduction to her work (lots of lovely quilts) and a run through of what we would be doing before settling us down to work. The workshop was an exercise in rotary cutting fabrics WITHOUT rulers ... very scary, then rejoining them into stripy blocks. At first I was nervous terrified but once the initial cut was made it was very liberating and I was away, after about 15 minutes 'practice' we assembled once more around Helen's table and she gave more instructions, this time we were to save time by cutting 3 or 4 layers of fabric at a time!!!! again it was quite easy and FUN as long as you stayed focused. I only made around 8 blocks but some of the others were well on the way to creating a wall hanging by lunchtime. Lunch was a delicious buffet served over a couple of hours which meant we could stop when we were ready. All too soon it was 4pm and time to stop, at this point there were many groans from some of the ladies who were steaming ahead. Sheila and I cleared up our machines etc and put the sewing things back in the car, then getting our swimmers out we headed off to the pool. The tables in the workroom had been very low for all that cutting and sewing and I was really suffering with my back, so getting changed and lowering myself into the warm water of the pool was bliss! :-))) 3 of us swam for about 45 minutes (I mostly floated like a whale which was very relaxing LOL) then out we got to change in time for dinner.
Once in our 'Glad Rags' we headed off to the Bar where we found several others from the group had gathered. It turned out that some of the ladies wanted to go on sewing so the hotel had found them a room they could use. Around 7 pm we were told they were ready to serve dinner. Helen was invited to propose a toast to the group, which she did commenting that she had enjoyed her day immensely and saying what a great bunch of quilters we were etc, then following the raising of glasses we enjoyed our meals amid much chatter and lots of laughter. The evening ended around 10 -10.30 and I drove Sheila home. I did attempt to take some pictures but unfortunately my camera decided that it was not going to work so I will post some pictures of my blocks as soon as I can.
Monday 8th was the october meeting of Westbury Park, for our AGM and the business was followed by a short workshop led by Anne making Jolly Santas or Snowmen. Mine's not quite finished so watch this space.
Last Saturday (13th) saw me off again, this time to the Quilters Guild Region 5 Regional day in Thornbury. The speaker for the morning was
Clare Kingslake who gave an amusing talk about her journey into quilting and applique and she shared lots of her work with us, by 'sharing' I mean she actually passed everything around for us to examine closely. I just loved her work especially her appliqued sheep. There were several traders for us to browse around during the lunch break before we re-assembled to hear the afternoon speaker,
Dylis Fronks again a wonderful speaker with a good sense of humour, (her recounting of her time as a VSO was hysterically funny) this time we could look at her beautiful work but were not allowed to touch. Afternoon Tea and lovely cakes were served by members of Severn Valley Quilters and the raffle was drawn (and I won a prize!!) before we came home.
Talking of prizes I am delighted to tell you all I WON a 'Givaway' from Hilary over at
CityKrafters blog so I will spend the next week or so eagerly awaiting the knock of the postman.
Well my friends as there are not any pictures of my 'adventures' to share with you this time I thought I could pop in one or two from earlier in my quilting life, so this post is not too boring.
This is Libby's Quilt 2009, made for the birth of our neighbour's 2nd daughter.
Sophie's Doll's quilt made for Libby's big sister using some of the leftover fabrics.
Antique Log Cabin - Date unknown, on loan from a friend who asked for advice on storage. She thinks it was made by her Grandmother who lived in South Wales and she remembers it on her bed during Family visits to Granny's. It is made entirely of wool fabrics and I think it must have been foundation pieced onto a heavy white cotton background, No wadding was evident, and it was showing lots of wear (see the white areas)
Close up of above, I suggested Gill took this to
St Fagan's (Museum of Welsh Life) for documenting.
Well that it folks
See you all next time.
L