September meeting - quilters welcome!

Oooohhhh what's this all about then?? Quilters welcome? Well of course we are!

Ok follow the signs ....

And follow the smell of fabulous cake!

It was a change of venue for this months meeting, we went back to school ... Audrey was kind enough to see if we could use one of the classrooms in the school where she works.

We like to mix it up a bit in the EMQ you know!

And talking of mixing it up there is no particular order to the pictures this month, let's be random :-)

Last month Jo was kind enough to give us some free fabric which had been donated for charity quilts, as you would expect our ladies took this fabric and worked their own magic on it. Look at what Katie did! One lucky young person will love this quilt.

Sew together bags, can you have enough of them? I think not, Barbara shows us her take on this great pattern. She also gave a plug for the blog tutorial from the quilt barn for it, I an second that plug, it's a great tutorial to help visualise the pattern which is available from sew demented. Barbara's top tip is to cover the ends of the interior zips, makes it easier and less bulky to sew them in.

Great colour choice.

Here you can see the interior with the covered zip ends. Cute interior fabric too!

I was going to apologise for the shockingly bad pictures of Tatyanas quilt! But then I remembered that everyone was soooo keen to hold, touch, feel and fondle this beauty that it was amazing I got any pictures at all :-)
How lovely is this whole cloth double gauze quilt? I wish you could feel it, very soft and snugly.

As ever Tatyana has worked her quiltjng magic with this one, she always seems to know 'exactly' the correct pattern or design which will bring out the best in a quilt.

Are you going to the stitchgathering 2015???? If so you could be the lucky recipient of Robins notions pouch. All hand sewn!! Even the zipper! Major respect to Robin for hand sewing a zipper, I have enough problems machine sewing them ....

Hand quilted too.

I have totally forgotten what this gorgeous improv block was made for and I was obviously too busy admiring it to take any notes on it!! Memo to self, less admiring and more note taking next month. But how gorgeous is it?

Janice took along what was probably my favourite show and tell. The catalogue from the Kaffe Fassett exhibition in the quilt museum in York. Sadly it has ended but from what Janice said it sounds fabulous.

Wow, just wow, a double EMQ show and tell, Lesley made to incredible feathers quilt, now I have struggled with that block and just made two, so major respect for this beauty.

Why is it a double show and tell? Well who could have done this wonderful FMQ ing? Tatyana of course :-) the combination of Lesley's beautiful feathers, sensitive colour choices and complimentary quilting all add up to one very special quilt.

 You could even say this is a triple show and tell as this is Jo's pattern, which Lesley started in Jo's workshop!

OK I am running out of superlatives here :-) ladies! Stop making such super quilts OK! My thesaurus is going into melt down here.
Jaqui is quilt making machine and almost all of her quilting is done by hand as well. This top is so soothing and calming, we had quite a discussion about the colour palette. Teal and Aqua, this is going to be a wedding present, that is one lucky bride and groom.

Who is this shy person hiding behind a "my small world" quilt top?? Ok it's me! I loved making this, great pattern by Jen Kingwell. I think I will stick to quilts with bigger pieces in future though.

Yet again the ladies knock it out of the park, look what Ann did with the fabric we got to make charity quilts. Some orphan animal panels have been transformed into a woodland scene.

Not to be outdone Fiona produced this stunner. Again all from the charity bag of fabric. Man our ladies love a challenge and rise to it every time.

Did I mention the stitchgathering?? Only THE quilting event of the year. Every year Jo sets us a challenge for the ticket, last year we had to embellish tote bags, this year we put our favourite word onto a square of fabric. Pauline was asking advice on her ticket, did we think it needed any more embellishment? The unanimous opinion was that it was pretty perfect as it is.

Small but beautifully formed, that's this mini quilt from Jane, loving the texty background.

The back is pretty spiffy too.

Do you at those beautiful pictures of quilts in magazines and think how fab it would be to see them in real life?? Ok so my photography is not *quite* as good as that of Quilt Now magazine but hey, I got to see a version of Jo Averys Lone Star rising quilt which they featured recently.

Jo is explaining how she FMQ'd it. At the EMQ we get to see top designers showing and telling their quilts, we don't forget how lucky we are!

Extra wide Tula Pink backing.

Let's finish the show and tell with this colourful hexagonal cushion by Audrey, and many thanks to Audrey for sorting out our new venue

Jo was looking at these cute buttons on the back.

Cake mmmmm cake. And gorgeous bee blocks for next month from Jaqui

I'm going to LOVE making these!

Audrey's bee blocks were inspired by this flying geese quilt from 'simply moderne'

Audrey wants white on white, can't wait to make mine and see how it all turns out.

More bee blocks form Helen, string tastic!

Katie's spinning wheels blocks, very interesting, lots of discussion about potential settings, sashings, this one will be one to watch.

Ann and I chose the same solid!

Gratuitous picture of cake.

Lyndsey was jumping up and down for me to take a picture of Lesley. Well Lesley is lovely I thought but why her especially?? Ahhhhhh then I saw the poster Lesley was sitting under :-)

See you next time ladies!

Robin's biography

 

Hello there! I’m one of the newest members of the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild group, and I’m so excited to join. Anyway, I’m here to tell you a bit about myself. I live in Edinburgh with my husband, we’ve been up here for about 5 years. I’ve always been a bit crafty (my other major “hobby” is jewelry making), my mom and grandmother taught me to sew, from about the age of 6. I started out with a little hand crank Singer machine and mostly made clothes for my Barbie dolls (really, that was all they were good for!). From there I moved on to making actual clothes, and I’ve gone through whole decades of life where my machine has seen more and less use (often when I get frustrated with finding clothes!). Although I can crochet and knit, I can’t be bothered with them, really! But sewing I always loved. One day, a couple of years ago, I stumbled into Jo’s Avery Homestore and noticed that she gave classes. I signed up for a one-day beginners’ patchwork, where I made a mat for our coffee table, and I have to say, from that point on, I was hooked! I love modern fabric and designs, particularly abstract designs and things like bright colours and textures. As part of that, I tend to like to mix hand quilting and machine quilting, both FMQ and more straight line stitching. I’m also totally hooked on Instagram (where you can find me lurking as @gingerscribble), and have been enjoying the lively quilting community there, participating in about 5 or 6 swaps over the past year.

 

 

 

August meeting

No pub this time just lots and lots of lovely show and tells, and cake, there is always cake!

First up some super exciting news! Looooooook:

 

Why that's only our Jo and Jane hanging out with Jen Kingwell, Lynne Edwards and a host of other top designers! You will all have heard about the new quilting magazine Today's Quilter? Well two of our founder members, our chair Jo Avery and secretary Jane Rae are designer, and features editor. So we know this is going to be an amazing magazine. I had signed up before I knew they were on board, now I am so glad I got in there early with my subscription. This is going to be an amazing publication.

 

 

 

Now onto last months bee blocks, now I have always saved all my itty bitty scraps as 2.5 inch squares, but I am rethinking that because I want to make string blocks like the ones we did for Helens round of the bee. How fab are these?

The pattern is based on this tutorialI love the almost 3D effect this gives.

Next up were Janice's fun cute blocks, I called them the 'I' blocks. Again showcasing great use of high/low volume, this will create a quilt that really 'pops' lots of discussion about sashing etc. can't wait to see the finished top, knowning Janice it will be a stunner!

Katie handed out her instructions for next months bee blocks. These are adapted from a fat quarterly spinning star block. We all use the same star fabric but pick a solid of our own choice for the contrast. Come back here in September to see what we make of this, you won't be disappointed!

Jo shared this wee cutie with us. You have seen that verykerryberry is going to be hosting a quilt along for the new Farmers wife 1930s quilt? If not scoot right across to her blog to get the low down. Jo has been asked to be a guest blogger and this is one of the blocks she will be blogging about. How cute is this?

Next up in the show and tell is Helen with this fresh and fabulous quilt made from a Joel Dewberry jelly roll. There's a lot of piecing in there Helen but it was soooooo worth it

W

 

 

 

There are only 18 weekends till Christmas :-) but Jacqui is well prepared with her gorgeous Santa quilt, this was so soft and gorgeous, perfect for the cold winters nights. All hand quilted too.

Not content with one fabulous show and tell, Jacqui also shared this stunning quilt made from Cori Dantini panel. I wish the lighting was better my poor photography skills really don't do this justice, again all with superb hand quilting.

I think this might be my favourite all time picture from the EMQG, look at the fun and laughter we are all having here. This sums up the great atmosphere of our meetings.

Janice is sharing her amazing doll, I think all the laughter was around some 'unseemly' rootling about the dolls underskirts to see if she had bloomers on, she did *phew!*

I am always envious of people who can work on such a small scale, our group really produce an exciting and eclectic mix of amazing makes at our show and tells.

Here is a better pic of the doll.

 

Look at the shoes!!

 

 

Janice produced two show and tells as well, this great plastic pouch with lacy zipper inspired me to get out the lacy zippers I have laying about. Great fussy cutting of the fabric too.

Look at what Fiona produced! Swirls and sequins, I was so busy admiring it I don't know if I took it down correctly but it think this was from a class at the Festival of quilts. Again my photography does not do it justice (also everyone else was keen to get their hands on it to admire!)

We love colour at the EMQG and Katie didn't dissapoint with her beautiful hexie quilt. Bang on trend there Katie!

There seems to be a doll theme this month! Audrey brought along this beautiful example, all that work in the dress and doll, this is perfect. And we can tell straight away this doll is properly dressed, see the cute bloomers peeking out? No need to rootle to check :-)

Cathedral windows is such a classic block, Barbara's beautiful example is just perfect, all made with her usual exemplary stitching.

I love getting pictures where we are flapping about with our hands :-) you can see the excitement and energy the group produces. Sheena was also at the Festival of Quilts and made these panels in a stunning surfaces class from Cecile Whatman. If you can't find the fabric you want you make your own!

I love all the panels Sheena made but this is my top favourite. The colour and movement are just my style, wonder if Sheena takes commissions? :-)

Lone star!!! I adore this quilt made by our very own Jo Avery. Jo was asking for advice about how to quilt it. That's the great thing about any quilting group, you have access to the "hive" collective mind. I have lost count of how many times the group has given inspiration and just the perfect piece of advice, and even top designers such as Jo sometimes need help!

 

 

Last up in a bumper crop of show and tells is this one, the person hiding behind the elephants is me! I have had this African shweshwe fabric for years and never found a pattern that I wanted to use it in. Then I saw Jos fabulous scallops quilt in an edition of Love Patchwork magazine and I knew immediately that's what I wanted to do. So we finish off this month with some elephants on parade.