May meeting

May??? when did it get to be May?? Blimey we are almost half way through our Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild year.
Lets start off with this months Bee blocks.
Ann gave us all a brilliant and fun to do block, made up of HSTs in cream and one colour which she specified in advance, I was red, it was so much fun picking out all one colour to make up this block. Dont they look fab together? there are still some to come to fill in the gaps.

Next up was Jo's block, an economy or square in a square block using an ace tutorial from Rita - Red Pepper Quilts

Laying them out almost turned into a game of Happy Families or Solitaire with people moving blocks around, so much fun.

What a bumper crop for show and tell as well. These ladies keep on raising the bar!
Lets start with our newest member! Welcome Lynsey. this gorgeous log cabin was Lynsey's very first quilt, pretty impressive for a first quilt!

How cute is the back!

Well done Lynsey and a very warm welcome to the Guild.
Barbara was up next, we go small but very very pretty with a stunning pouch (interior zips! I want to do interior zips, Barbara assures me they are simple) and a lovely pincushion.

From small to huge! Our president, the lovely Jo showed us her finished medallion quilt, my very limited photography skills cannot do this one justice, plus the other members wouldn't stop fondling it for me to get a good picture :-)

What is the great thing about being a crafty person?? You are never stuck as Audrey demonstrated with her lovely batik pouch. Audrey bought a new phone and it is so new there are no covers available. Not a problem for an EMQ member, we just whip up our own, love the batik fabric, nice and soft. You cant see it from the picture but there is a lovely FMQ design on this.

The thing I love about the guild show and tell is the wide variety of styles, fabrics, sizes of quilts and articles the members bring along, each one unique and most very very personal too which is lovely. Jane exemplified this with her show and tell, this lovely journal quilt which she is doing for a challenge for another guild.

Next up are a couple of scrappy trips, now who doesn't love a scrappy trip? Here is Fiona's

Next up Lesleys.

Lesley also brought along a stack of coins quilt, simple but so effective. Loving the contrast with the background.

The next quilt was not only stunning but made us all stop and think about the comfort quilts bring.Tatyana made this fabulous Star Wars quilt for one of her sons friends who is very ill. I just know this will bring so much comfort and joy to him.

More medallions! Margaret shows us her take on Jo's fabulous modern medallion pattern.

Fab backing.

Are you as amazed as I am at the range of things in this months show and tell? Just look at Janices tumbling blocks cushion! The contrast in fabrics is just perfect.

And the back is sooooo cute!

Janice also brought along a cute sashiko pouch. The button was fab.

A work in progress and what a cute WIP Katy! these Hazel blocks are stunning, Love the background fabric, Great choice.

WOW! Robin brought along the quilt she received in an Instagram swap, How amazing is this!

Whose this hiding behind her quilt??? Oh yes its me :-) I finally made up the quilt with the Bee blocks I received from my Bee round last year in the guild. thanks ladies, this is going to Linus, I know it will cheer up and give comfort to someone in need.

Another great meeting ladies, and the cake was amazing Helen.

Legion Scotland fundraising quilt

I'm sure you all recognise this beautiful quilt, made by Sheena and the Layer Cake Bee group last year and featuring appliqued Legion Scotland logos and the charity's colours. 

It's now being raffled to raise funds for Legion Scotland and you can purchase a ticket by donating on their Virgin Giving page. Just decide on your own level of donation and Sheena will be picking someone out of a hat at the end of May. 

And for more information about the work that Legion Scotland do take a look at this animation.

Anne's Bee Block for April 2015

Anne's Bee Block for April 2015

As inspired by a quilt idea on the internet, this month I've chosen as my bee block one made from half square triangles - one half of the triangle is cream fabric (supplied) and the other half is patterned fabric in a specific colour range only. The final block is 4 x 4 half square triangles, with the coloured fabric always in the top left hand corner of each mini block please. Your final block will measure approx 11.5". 

I wish to make my final quilt with one row of yellow blocks, the next row in green tones, then blue, then red and finally purple. Hopefully a rainbow quilt of 5 rows of 4 blocks each! To achieve this please only use one colour range in your block - please use the cream fabric that I have supplied and left with the instructions for the block, in Jo's shop , for those who were not able to make April's Guild Meeting. Thanks. You will see that each instruction sheet gives you a different specific colour range for your bee block. Please stick to the colour on your instruction sheet and choose one that you feel happiest to make your block in! Thanks. 
Any problems please just email me. 

Thanks and happy sewing ! 

Anne.

April meeting - say hello and wave goodbye

It was a full on meeting for April, fun laughter and lots of cake, very very good cake, many thanks Anne and Fiona!

It was a bittersweet meeting too, we said goodbye to two lovely members recently. Marina left at the last meeting and this meeting we heard that the lovely Lucy wont be coming back. We will miss you both ladies, good luck and hope to see you at EMQ events.

The upside to saying goodbye is that we get to meet lovely new quilters, so a big hello to Robin! Robin will be doing a blog post to tell us all about herself in the meantime it was lovely to see some beautiful examples of her work.

Robin is a whizz kid with the zips as evidenced by this gorgeous pouch, I will be coming your way for some help with those!

Here is Robins fabulous scrappy improv quilt she did at a recent class with Jo. My poor old phone camera cant do justice to the colours.

Can you believe this is the first piece Robin ever made? wow, beautiful log cabin. A very warm welcome to the group Robin.

Look at the beautiful baby quilt Sheena brought alone for show and tell, such sweet fabrics, a very modern slant on the traditional baby quilt.

The back shows off the free motion quilting, scallops and straight lines, this is a very contemporary baby quilt. Fab work Sheena.

Jo is admiring Sheenas second show and tell, a beautiful fabric covered lampshade.

A few EMQ members are taking part in the latest instagram mini swap. Some lucky partner will be on the receiving end of Jo's stunning cathedral window mini with a variegated background. 

Just look at the back of it, you are one lucky swap partner!

 We always know that Tatyana will bring something amazing with her awesome free motion quilting skills. This month we got to see one of her very early quilts, this is Tatyana learning to free motion quilt .... I would consider myself very very lucky to get to this level of FMQ skill!

 The front is as beautiful as the back, we all agreed it was a stunning colour combination.

 Just in time to get our tickets for the next stitch gathering we got to see a finish from Janice from a previous stitch gathering. The Jelly roll quilt from a class with the lovely Fiona.

I think this is my personal favorite from the meeting Janices fab bolster made with linen and liberty hexies. Tatyana agrees! 

Jane showed us just how beautiful a simple nine patch can be, simply made with charm squares, the sashing sets it off perfectly.

As well as providing us with the best tasting cake I have had for a long time (since the last meeting!) Fiona and Anne brought along the results of a class with the talented Sheena Norquay.

Both of these pieces are completely free motion quilted.

This is Annes piece

This is Fionas

Anne was so sweet, she didnt want me to be left out of the show and tell so she took a picture of my show and tell. I took along the mini swoon quilt I made for the ukminiswap on instagram. 

I hope my partner likes it!

Jo's bee block for April 2015

This month I would like you to make Economy Blocks following this tutorial by Rita Hodge of Red Pepper Quilts.

The photo above is from Rita's blog which, if you don't know it already, is well worth checking out, she is one of the most talented Modern Quilters around.

The blocks are really small at 5.5 inches each, so if you could make me 4 that would be excellent. The quilt will be for Siblings Together so for a very good cause and I think I will need 120 for a decent sized quilt.

I made these 2 in about half an hour, they are really quick to do. But if you are really struggling then just make 2.

Please use nice bright colours, any colour you like, as the quilt will be for a child. Also I would love a fussy cut centre square. It doesn't have to be an animal, it could be a flower or a house or text or anything, just something other than an overall pattern.

Any questions just send me an email, but hopefully you will enjoy making these cute blocks - they are good fun and easy!