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 😇

The Summer Round Up - Part 2

Welcome to the 2nd round up which is a world of WIPs and UFOs - if you are of a quilty bent you will know this has nothing to do with corporal punishment or Roswell.

Our September meeting involved a lot of catch ups on bee blocks.  We had more Christmas cheer for Pauline.  Mags provided us with a lovely herringbone pattern to create a French garden style elegance with our fussy cutting skills exercised.

The parallel bee block wasn't feeling blue, just being blue...

This was the month we brought our block swaps for Augusta Modern Quilt Guild together for the first time.  The challenge was to make a pair of 12.5" block out of solids and each guild kept one of the pair.  We are then building twin quilts over the few months.

I'm not going to win any prizes for this photo but I wanted to keep the mystique, yes that's it, mystique, so it wouldn't have been right to share too much.

The majority of the meeting was taken up with confessions on unfinished work and some lush finishes. The guild have registered c50 Work In Progress pieces to challenge ourselves to finish those projects that need a bit of a push. 

Leading the charge was Cathlene with a gorgeous array of colours and big hexies!

Sue then shared her part makes with a bangin' wonky dresden started she made at Stitchgathering 2016 and numerous blocks she wants to use some how!

Now the Empress herself with the most divine Liberty medallion. Sheila is talked about in hushed tones around these parts with how prolific her output is so we didn't believe she had any WIPs!

And sure as eggs is eggs there she is with a beeeeeaaaauuuuutiful Tartankiwi finish.  We all started choosing our favourite block* but then agreed they are all fabulousa! *It's the otter ;) 

Angela kicked off with this amazing finish, so much thought in the colour/fabric balance. She then went on to show is about 2,784** blocks she has amassed for a couple of quilts, can't wait to see them together!  (**Slight exaggeration)

Here's a lovely WIP - it belongs to someone. My sugar high peaked at this point and my memory is foggy as to who is hiding behind it! You will be found (is it Diane?)!

At this point my mental note taking lost count of Suzanne's gorgeous haul of tops! Lone star rising, jelly roll, vintage lace (not pictured) and a study in one designer (whose name escaped due to cake overdosing on my part).

Now dear Mags is another prolific quilter who is currently working on a dozen or so makes - beautiful birch trees, QAYG Cori Dantini panels, the STUNNING rainbow scraps (which is now complete!) amongst others.

Our esteemed treasurer, Ruth, brought us a mini piece of elegance with her fallen feather with scrappy binding which is just perfect.

Margaret continued the theme of elegance and sophistication with a WIP and a finish in stunning soft colours both showing how solids and patterns can play together. The cushion is inspired by her love of pebbles that have a single line of quartz (or calcite).  A very effective pattern.

We then saw Liz's modern pinwheel made with her own templates - gorgeous, who doesn't love grellow! 

Finally, from a photographic perspective, Robin's hand pieced, hand quilted BOM stunned with the amount of labour this love will have taken.

There are more WIPs to come next month! Any that weren't photographed will feature when completed I am sure (my own included). Everyone get finishing now :)

In other news for September... A few volunteers from the Guild are supporting a great charity called The Welcoming by hosting a workshop and weekly drop in to teach hand piecing techniques.  It's early days but we are getting lovely feedback so we will bring more news on this in future blogs.

Autumn calls...

The Summer Round Up - Part 1

The Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild has not been on holiday.  The silence belies how busy we have been.

The scarcity of updates is due to our Empress of Communication (and that is the official title) handing over to somebody (me) who has little ability to workout how to write a blog. So a huge thank you to Sheila for her great blogs and I hope I can measure up.

So what exciting things have the EMQG been up to?

In August, we raffled our Quiltcon 2017 charity quilt along with other great prizes in aid of Richmond's Hope raising £350 to help with their fantastic work. Winners have been notified.

We shared our favourite sewing notions from scissors to (empty) chocolate boxes, plus some gorgeous makes:

Mags' kaleidoscope of pinwheels had our heads turning in awe. 

Helen's amazing crosses inspired gasps front and back!

Now as I write this the little girl destined for this beautiful quilt has arrived, but Irene was patiently waiting for her grand-daughter back in August.

The incomparable Jo Avery shared her improv landscape which uses all the colours
from her recently released Aurifil thread collection - what a stunner! 

The final make I have a picture for (sorry I will get better at this!) is Ann's bonny blue cushion... A stunning use of solids!

Finally we had our Bee Blocks, due to summer holidays the blocks are coming in over a couple of meetings so we'll have to wait with bated breath to see the quilts bring them all together. I can't wait!

Yes, Pauline is being super organised for a Christmas quilt.

Shuffle forward in time to September, and we have a jam packed meeting with bee blocks, swap blocks and a bountiful audit of UFO/WIPs all to be seen in the Summer Round Up part 2.