Bidding Adieu to 2017: Let's Improvise

If you've survived the first round up! In our second round up we will start with our November meeting. What a busy month this was. 

Starting with a Kate's meow (bahaha) these wee kitties were first up on the bee blocks.

Heather's moody monochrome brings the storm at sea block together elegantly even though it looks like I was doing a handstand taking the photo!

The big event in this meeting was the Improv Challenge. The guild set the challenge back in the summer to make an improvised mini quilt. There were no other restrictions and it is fantastic how varied they all looked.  I think I have the correct name with the correct mini - kick me if I haven't!

Pauline's Aquarium - fantastic use of Carolyn Friedlander fabric in the background

Helen's graphic improv draws you in.  Love the quilting at the angle.

Kate's Penguins waiting for Santa is perfect!

Pam decided to take a literal approach in case it wasn't obvious she'd made it up as she went!
They are coming to get you.....

Fiona's crumb quilt oozes a Japanese richness, love it!

Jo's tendril obsession continues with this lush low volume background and perfect pink leaf.

Cathlene cleverly got 2 for the price of 1 as this is the Michael Miller Our Yard Fabric Challenge as well,
loving how it blends

Ruth also had a dual purpose as this became a gift - loving the grellow minimalism

Now this was a fascinating technique.  Ann used scrap yarn and threads behind a mesh and created
this amazing impressionism effect - what do you see?

Lucy gave us a perfect midwinter scene with her night sky and flurries of snow

Mags sought inspiration in Fife.  Well at least the view of it  from her house. 
Gorgeous use of fabric.

Audrey went free form curves and isn't that colour combo to die for?

Sheena gave us a full on scrap fest.  I love how colourful it is.

During our wee cake break we had a ballot and Pam and Mags won the chocolates - well done!

You'd think that would be enough for anyone? But no.  Not the EMQG, we've still got WIPs and finishes!

So do you remember last month's bee block? Margaret's tropical orange and lime delight? Well look what she did do with it! Amazing huh?  She upcycled a jumpsuit and went for an HST throw. Clever.

Barbara moved into dress making with this skirt, for a tree of course! Though I think it looks very fetching :) 

Another Michael Miller Our Yard Fabric Challenge from Kate who created this lovely project pouch.

Now this is a delightful whopper! Angela's made this in a gorgeous array of pastels, not her go to array but my goodness it works and the wee girl who helped design it will love it for many years I'm sure.  

Sue showed her beautiful TartanKiwi zebra which will be resplendent on any wall!

Now I think and I need to be corrected that these are Cathy, Ann and Fiona's rope bowls? I totally love these and they look so good together.  Definitely need to make one or 10!

Next up we have a few WIPs to add to the 2018 challenge.  Ann's gorgeous squares is nearly there!

Madeline has two epic sew alongs to complete first her Jen Kingwell Long Time Gone top.

And her Sarah Fielke Down The Rabbit Hole also near the end.

Cathy also nearly there with this beautiful grid of loveliness!

One from the Pappersaxten workshop from Cathlene.  This is a great challenge! And hopefully doesn't live up to its name... Five Impossible Things.

Kate has been on it! That's 3 makes in one meeting.  This constellation is destined for a charity quilt drive which will be publicised soon.

This was our last full meeting of the year. We continued to support The Welcoming teaching patchwork and quilting a blog is being prepared to show what we achieved in the first session of drop ins.  I hope you agree that these busy talented ladies deserved a big night out? Well that's exactly what we did in December.

We made each other a small christmas gift then ate and drank heartily!
And that's all we are confessing to!

...A Happy New Year to all... 

Bidding Adieu to 2017: Pappersaxten does Edinburgh!

It's been a few months since the last blog and we have been super busy in that time, charity quilts, teaching, fantastic workshop and lecture by Jenny Haynes, 3 meetings (well one involved cosmos, martinis and good old vino - what's on tour stays on tour). So to begin where we left off....

At the beginning of October we were visited by the talented Jenny Haynes aka Pappersaxten who gave us a fascinating talk on her life in design and textiles and her childhood in Sweden.

Plus we got to see her inspiring pattern drafting work in her magnificent trunk show.

After such an inspiring talk we were totally ready to get curvy and make.

We had an all day session (not the gin kind!) using a range of patterns.  Jenny was hugely generous with her tips and advice on getting the best piecing technique and her templates made it a joy.

It was definitely a heads down and sew day as we all wanted to get as far as we could.  Some started big projects, full quilts while others tested themselves with perfect cushions.

 Above all we had loads of fun!

Finishes will appear over the course of the monthly meetings I'm sure.

As autumn crept into winter we met shivering warmed only by the quilty action on show. Oh and tea and cake of course!

In our October meeting we were definitely feeling the heat of colour from our bee blocks.

Margaret received a tropical cocktail...

Now your author knows what happened to these blocks but I'm not going to tell.  I'm sure the finish won't be long in appearing on a blog soon (as long as your humble author pulls her finger out and writes them!).

Pam (your slow blogger) was overwhelmed with the wonky jewels which I can't wait to put together.

Most of Madeline's Minecraft blocks from an earlier meeting came together.  You can see the fab quilt top here.

To add to the full on riot of colour in this meeting we got all the fantastic solids from the Augusta MQG plus our own and devised a plan which I'll cover later on.

After fortification of cake and tea we went around the group to see progress on WIPs and finishes.  In September we started a UFO challenge and the first entries started coming in.

Cathlene's bee block big hexies - we like big hexies we cannot lie! The baba who receives this gets a hug from the guild but it's Cathlene's skill that brings it all together.

Just in time for Halloween Kate's spooky dresden is a charm!

 Sue was very quick to turn her block from Jenny's workshop into a cushion.  There were many oohs and ahhs and changes of plan after seeing how she used thin binding which we all thought was piping.  The oohs and aahs continued when Diane pulled her's out the bag - a dead-heat in the finish race.

Fresh from My Bearpaw's 2017 Stitchgathering (also in October) we had Suzanne with her cushion made from Mandy Munroe's free form workshop adding to the glow of solids at the meeting.  Sheena had her fez, no I mean rope bowl, from Julie Rutter's workshop which was a really fun make.  Sheena also attended a fascinating multi-day workshop at the Festival of Quilts where she used leaves to dye images onto various fabrics. We all agreed these were amazing both in terms of process and result.

And there's more! Mags has done an amazing job with her first full quilt FMQ on these two vibrant beauties destined for charities.  The woman is a quilt making machine! 

Margaret used leftover scraps from a previous show and tell for this gorgeous cushion with immaculate hand stitching.

I have to apologise at this point as my (non-existent) notetaking has failed me.  I think this amazing lonestar belongs to Heather (because I can see her on the photo!) or was she just being helpful holding it and it is Fiona's? And the gorgeous B&W&R matrix is that Fiona's or Anne's? Both UFO/WIPs for the challenge!

So that was October.... I'll allow you all to rest and you can catch up on November and December next 😇