Gartmore

 

Ahhhhhhh Gartmore, this stunning house seems to have become our annual retreat. 

 

After the roaring success of last years retreat the lovely Sheena (@auburnstitches) kindly volunteered to organize another. Let's face it, January is a pretty miserable month, ages to go till pay day, cold dark and miserable, all the hype of Christmas is over. So having this to look forward to is such a treat! It's all paid up for in advance so all you have to do is rock up with your sewing stuff and have fun!

We had the same cosy room to sew in, same lovely staff, same gorgeous food (OMG the food, the cake, the breakfasts .... ok diet begins in February 😉) what's not to love??

 

 

I actually don't know where to start! So I will just dive in, forgive me if this is not in chronological order but there is just so much to remember and get down.

Your intrepid blog writer had managed to injure herself, again! This seems to be a recurring theme ... never mind everyone looked after me, there were seven of us which is a nice number for the size of the room. We were all working on different things, some great things about the room, coal fire, mmmm toasty! Also huge big table to lay things out plus we also got to use a couple of the other rooms to lay things out on the floor.

So what were the crew working on?

Lucy was working on this quilt with gorgeous William Morris prints, I adore the yellowy mustard co-ordinating print, just make it for me. Lucy said she had never done Fmq before ... what? Seriously? Look at it! Amazing fmqing! You are a natural Lucy! 

 

What's next?? Awww I loved seeing this one come together, lovely sunny bright prints. Pauline was putting her bee blocks from the guild together. 

 

 

I could see Paulines sunny smile from my work station 😊.

 

On Friday night we had a quiz arranged by our fantastic organiser Sheena, here she is in full Bamber Gasgoine mode (I know I'm giving my age away 😂😂😂) 

Sheena puts her heart and soul into organising the retreats, we said it often enough during the weekend but I'll say it again here, thank you Sheena! The quiz was great fun, and we learned loads! This has to become a regular part!

 

 

The winning team!

 

 

Here is Sheena iwith the cushion which was one of the projects she was working on, it's to match the one she is holding up. So soft and warm, beautiful. 

 

Oooohhh mysterious 😊😊😊 Margaret looking all Mata Hari! Hand quilting her stunning batik quilt. 

 

 

Helen took the opportunity to lay out her charm square quilt on one of the large floors, loving the corals and teals.

Helen also worked on this fun childrens panel, all some texture with prarie points.

 

Not content with these two, Helen also worked on her bee blockd from the guild, I adore this string quilt, I'm really going to have to make one!

 

 Now gimme an awwwwww 😊😊😊

 

Here is Sheena with Gartmore bear made by the lovely Janice. Gartmore got quite a few hugs throughout the weekend.

Janice also made this totally adorable pinafore, you might not be able to make it out but the pocket is a William Morris strawberry thief print.

Last but not least Ruth and I had decided to make the Seahorse pattern by Tartankiwi.

 

We managed to get a fair bit done, I got the body done and Ruth managed the head, so here is our Frankenstein seahorse 😊

 

On the Saturday night Sheena organised a quilt competition the theme was red, here are all our entries, can you guess which won?

 

 

 

   

 

 

 Ooohhhhh aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh I can't find a picture of Ruth's entry, you can see the bottom of it in the above picture, just take my word that it is sooper fab??? 

The winning entry was Helens the first picture above, pretty stiff competition!

 

So we had to get some group pictures, as you can see the ladies took this seriously .....

 

Ok take two?

 

 

*sigh* serious faces please chaps!

 

 

Oh I give up!!!! But I think you get a flavour that this was fab fun and certainly to be repeated.

Let's say thanks to Sheena again.

 

Rightyho, we will say cheerybye for now, normal meeting blogs will resume. 

But Gartmore, this is merely au revoir, not goodbye 😊.

 

 

 

 

 

January - lets banish the blues

 I can guarantee that there is nothing more certain to banish the January blues than a meeting of the modern quilt guild! 

I was late and had hardly sat down when Ruth and Sheena said "get a picture of Cathlene she matches the quilt!" Whoah yea that's how we  rock n roll at the guild, we match our clothes to the charity quilts! Seriously, Cathleen was working hard with the rest of the members finishing off the hand quilting on our charity quilt for quilt con. It's been an epic journey and a real group effort.

First up on the show and tell is our own Jo Avery (yes she's ours, keep your hands off 😊😊) Jo always amazes me with the way she combines her business with a huge sense of charity and helping others. No opportunity to help those in need goes past whether it is Maggie's Centers, Siblings together, Social Bite. It's rare in this day and age so let's celebrate it! At the stitch gathering the year before last Jo came up with the fab idea of everyone making their own tickets, we had to choose our favorite word. All the blocks have been made into quilt tops and will be donated to charitable causes. How sweet is this! Jo was looking for volunteers to help quilt the tops, Jo is very good at getting volunteers 😉😉 seriously who wouldn't want to quilt a fun top like this!

Well this mini really cheered us all up a fun and bright quilt to brighten up January from Cathlene, this is for the Modern Quilt Guild swap, a lucky partner will be getting this one soon.

 

 

Ok can we all just agree I am not David Bailey?? But if you peer very closely and zoom in you can see Paulines fab sewing tidy she got in the swap at Christmas. It's a nice picture of some of the newer members of the guild though!

 

 

You all follow the lovely Irene @sewhappilyretired in IG right?? If not why not?? 😉😉 she is sooper lovely, has the most gorgeous shoes and makes beautiful things like this zippy pouch!

 

 

 

I can't do hand piecing but am in awe of folks who can like the amazing Madeleine @madeline_bonner here are some of her gorgeous La Passaglia cogs, amazing fussy cutting.

 

 

 

That's all for now, but lots more news coming, we are a busy bunch at the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild.

 

 

 

 

     

December meeting, eat drink and be merry

Annnnnnd the prize for most awesome shoes goes to Irene @sewhappilyretired 💕💕💕 cmon how fab are these beauties!! Yep it's our annual Christmas extravaganza, done in our usual sober modest fashion ....

 

 

It's been an eventful year the usual ebb and flow with members joining and members heading off to pastures new. We said a very sad farewell to Tatyana our sooper awesome long arm quilter extraordinaire and just all round lovely person. Cheerio Tatyana we still hope to see you even if only virtually on Instagram! Jaquie too is taking a leave of abscence .... To become a mum!!! There will be no shortage of beautifully hand quilted quilts to keep your baby snug! In normal EMQG fashion we had a secret Santa, oh my goodness what a stunning range of gifts!!!

 

Blimey! And I don't think I even got round them all!

 

 

Keeping it classy 😉😉

 

This is a sorting hat ..... As part of the meeting we had to choose quilts for inclusion in our stand for the knitting and stitching show, what a choice and we could only pic one!

 

What a beautiful array of quilts to choose from and no I'm not saying which got chosen, you will have to come along and see for yourselves!

 

 

 

Right, thats it!! Farewell for another year my chums, take don't eat too many mince pies and here is to a very quilty new year.

November, even more new friends"

More new members! Wa hey! We love new members, even more inspiration for us. And what a fab way to start off with some cheery fun blocks from lovely Irene showing us some impressive foundation piecing! tartan kiwi workshop.First up a beautiful butterfly from a tartan kiwi workshop.

 

Next this fab bird from a quiet play pattern:

 

 

Keeping up the bright and cheery vibe is Robin with this stunning Hawaiian applique block.

 

You deserve to smile Robin, it's amazing! Not content with that Robin also brought along this wall hanging. How beautiful is this!  

 

Remember our Sarah Fielke workshop? Well look what Sheena did with the improv letters!! This is amazing Sheena, auburn stitches is the name of her blog.

 

 

I was looking at my notes for the next entry and thought it didn't look like my writing! The lovely Robin took some notes for me while I was busy snapping 😊😊 cheers Robin, a truly group effort.

Another lovely new member Diane is up next with this truly modern cushion:

 

 

Diane also showed us this circular dresden! I think our new ladies are going to keep us on our toes with these great show and tells!

 

 

Awwwww! And again awwwwww! Honestly could this quilt be cuter?? Nope don't think so. Jaqui knocks it out of the park again with this sweetie!

 

Just loooooooook! Flirty winky penguins! What's not to love.

 

 

 

 

 

 I can't think of a better way to round up this post than with a stunning bag from Lucy (Skinnymalinky quilts).

 

 

Right next month is our annual Christmas party, normally a quiet sober affair 😂😂😂 yea right, see you there!

 

 

 

A weekend with Tartankiwi

What's this?? The tartankiwi?? In Edinburgh??

Why yes 😊😊 we get all the best speakers don'tcha know!! The lovely Juliet was coming across to teach at the stitch gathering, so the EMQG and Jo Avery lost no time in making sure we all got to hear the lovely Juliet speak and see her amazing quilts.

Here she is in the middle, can you see the dress can you?? How sooper awesome is that!

 

Right enough of the fan girl nonsense! We want to hear Juliet and see the amazing quilts!

The butterfly, where it all started! And how great to hear about Juliets journey.

Awwww the zebra!! Look at the colors! That's my kind of quilt. Look at Jo Avery holding up the other end, she is having a ball! Well we all were 😊

 

You love this one don't you?? Who wouldn't what an amazing piece of quilting art!

 

Ach words are failing me now, lets let the quilts talk for a little bit.

 

It always amazes me how gracious quilters are, letting us up close and personal with their creations! Just look at the obscene amount of fondling going on there ....

 

 

You've all got this pattern from Love quilting and patchwork right? How appropriate for Scotland!

 

Ok I'll put my hand up, if I HAD to pick a favorite it would be this one. I need to make this so badly.

 

 Can you see the dress?? 

 

The ladies from the EMQG were lucky enough to have a class with Juliet on the Saturday, here is Helen with her gorgeous bird. What another fab weekend for the EMQG.