A weekend with Sarah Fielke 1/3

It only seems a few weeks ago that the lovely Robin (@gingerscribble) who always has her finger on the pulse, alerted us to the fact that Sarah Fielke was coming to the UK. *snaps head round* wait a wee minute here, Sarah Fielke?? OK deep breath. Our wonderful president, the ever amazing Jo Avery got right on it. Opportunities like this don't come around that often. Before we knew it there was a whole weekend organised. It all kicked off with a talk by Sarah on the Friday night, she was going to bring some quilts along, fabulous!  So along came Friday night, we gathered in the Eric Liddell center.

Our fabulous President Jo introducing Sarah.  

 Sarah talked us through the fascinating story of her quilting life, I won't replicate that here, but if you ever get a chance to hear her you HAVE to go and not just to see the quilts! She interwove her story with the quilts .... This was first up.

Dotty Dresden, what can I say, for me this was such an eye opener from me when I bought the first material obsession book. The colour the pattern, the life and joy which springs out of this quilt and to see it in real life ....  Sarah took us through her life and her books quilt by amazing quilt. 

Whirligig oh my .... Another favourite of mine from 'quilting from little things' I will admit to hyperventilating at this one 😊 

 I remember when Sarah put out the post on her blog about sending her teacup blocks for her birthday. She ended up with well over 100!!! It might have been as much as 400 but honestly by this point in the evening I was so entranced by the quilts I could hardly retain any information! To see her 'all that and the hatter' quilt from 'hand quilts with love' was incredible.

 

 The story behind 'Little quilts' moved many of us to tears, quilting friends truly are the best. The quilts were stunning too.

Night garden from 'quilting from little things' I know some of the EMQ ladies are going to make this one now after seeing it in the fabric flesh 😉. Pssssst, look at Jos face as she helps hold this and the other quilts up, I think that fairly well sums up what we were feeling 😍😍😍.

What's that you say Sarah??? We can come down and fondle, sorry admire them in person?? I had to leap out of the way to avoid getting trampled 😉.

And fondle and admire we did! Blimey I have never know someone so gracious with their quilts.

Look at Tatyanas face! I love this picture, again sums up far better than my paltry words what we were feeling.              

 

Could the evening get any better?? Well only if the lovely ladies of the EMQ guild supplied cake and fizz! I think it's mainly thanks to Barbara for the cake. 

Oh boy, that was just the start of the weekend, so I have split it into three posts. Come back to see what we got up to on Saturday. I'll leave you with some more pics from Friday.

 

 

June meeting, shiny pooh!

We always have a giggle at the Guild meetings, Janice was showing us her gorgeous Winnie the Pooh quilt when someone shouted out 'shiny pooh'!!!!

Sometimes it's the small things! It is a gorgeous quilt. And right now I think we all need something to make us giggle.

Now I'm not normally a fan of green but that's the great thing about the guild, it challenges your assumptions, gets you out of your comfort zone and shows you a different side to things. I love this green quilt!

Bee block time! Sue recieved a fantastic array of flying geese block, looking forward to seeing what she makes with it.

New friends! We love making new chums, here is Cathy showing us a gorgeous bag she made. We had a spare slot because sadly last month was Janes last meeting, she has moved to pastures new down in the borders. Good news though is that she is setting up a modern quilt guild down there so I know we will still meet up.

So it is fabulous to say hello Cathy! And even more good news, Lucy will be rejoining us next month after a sabbatical. New chums old chums, that's what it's all about!

 

 

Bags, who doesn't love a good bag? And this is a particularly fine specimen from Robin, I can't imagine making one so intricate but I'm now inspired!

 

Gorgeous.

It was bags a go go! Yet another fabulous sew together bag from Jacqui! Love love love the pocket interior.

 

Oh you know we just hang with internationally renowned designers like Jo Avery and get to admire in person her amazing quilts!! (Squee!!) I loved this Fujiwhara quilt when I first saw it in Today's Quilter. I was really really really hoping we would get to see it in the fabric flesh, and we did! Stunning.

Who doesn't like a bit of Kaffe?? Fiona choose big blocks to show off these bold prints. Fab.

Big to small! Cathlenes beautiful secret garden mini.

 

Awwwww just how cute it this!! Barbara with her Elizabeth Hartman lap quilt, just too sweet!

Great use of flying geese. Sheenas sewing machine cover made from an FMQ workshop with Jo.

Phwoar! How bold and beautiful is this one? Ann manages to bring some sunshine and summer with her Jelly roll quilt. It has velvet binding! Unusual.

Katy shows off the mini she received from Robin in the recent hand pieced mini swap, beautiful work as ever from Robin.

 

 

The Riley Blake challenge was indeed challenging this year but I think you will agree that Katy rose magnificently to it!

 

Sometimes just a few colours and a classic pattern is all you need as Sue demonstrated with her take on the classic Dresden plate.

Oooohhhh what's up for next months bee blocks then? Some HST fun from Lindsey.

And pinky purpley Ohio stars from Cathlene. Looking forward to making these!

Talking of bees, look what Barbara made with the bee blocks she received!

Mmmmmm cake, cherry and chocolate brownies no less, cracking.

 

 

Wow, the detail is so fine I didn't really get a picture that would do justice to this amazing mini by Tatyana, incredible quilting, just stunning.

 

Lastly I got to show off the Tula Pink butterfly quilt I made in 30s repro fabrics.

That's it for this month, see you in July when we will be sampling the delights of "le petit mort" :-)

Crafters in action!

Woo hoo! How much fun was this! The EMQ was so excited to learn that the Knitting and Stitching show was coming up to Edinburgh for the first time.

As if that wasn't exciting enough we were over the moon to have one of the stands in the crafters in action area.

A rota was drawn up and we all took turns in manning the stand, speaking to the lovely people who came to the show and generally just had a ball!

 

Look! It's me with Jo Avery!! Could I be more happy!

Lots of happy shoppers were very taken by the examples of modern quilting we had on display. The guild members had a blast chatting about modern quilting and quilting in general.

On the day I was helping on the stall the main attraction was this amazing quilt by Helen. So many people stopped by to see it and a few went and bought the book it came from 'Best ever applique sampler' by Piece o Cake designs

Gosh what a rubbish photo that was, I think it was because I couldn't get near the quilt for people looking at it!

Here is a close up.

 

 

Some more of the inspirational work by the guild on show at the stand.

 

 

 

Robin took along her La Pasaglia quilt, but didn't get much done because so many people wanted to chat which is fabulous! We were blown away by the interest in the guild and in modern quilting in general.

 

It was a great event, many thanks to Jo Avery who was the driving force behind us getting a place in Crafters in Action. Also to the many guild members who manned the stall and took along examples of their work. Fingers crossed we can go back next year.

 

 

April meeting, with showers

Well it is Scotland ... But it may be grey and miserable outside but there is always sunshine in an EMQ guild meeting :-)

Can you give me an awwww, Lesley brought her brand spanking new son along, he was the best behaved of all the guild members ;-)

Some more bee blocks for Robin. This is going to be one awesome quilt, much discussion, sashing or not? You had better keep coming back to see won't you!

Bee blocks for next month, Margaret choosing a simple HST block but it's in Karen Lewis fabric, so it will be fab-u-lous. Guild members please note the bright colour square goes in the bottom right of each HST when making up. Just make it so it looks like this one :-)

Keeping it simple but sweet, Lesley wants a bearpaw block with low volume background, I'm looking forward to these ones!

We were a bit thin on the ground but what our show and tell lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. First up this wee stunner from Margaret, well big stunner really! Simple disappearing four patch. But just goes to show what great fabric and colour choice does to a simple block.

Look at the back! Lovely.

We have been watching Katy hand sewing this for a few meetings now. Some lucky person is getting this in a swap! Don't know I could give this away, it's beautiful.

Oh man Janice, these are just too sweet! Simply gorgeous economy blocks.

Sue didn't make this but got it in a swap. A lovely 91 year old lady was desperate to get out of hospital to finish making this! The quilting community is just lovely.

Swaps seem to be the theme of this month. Many of us were in the blueberry park mini swap on Instagram, hosted by Nina

Above is the lovely bag Robin received as an extra and below is the beautiful mini she got from @cookie_mama123 it was a fab swap and if you look to last months post you will see the amazing mini which Robin sent out!

Even the back had geese!

You just can't see the amazing porthole hearts properly in this photo, how beautifully balanced is this quilt from Barbara? If I had better lighting, a better camera and didn't totally suck at taking pictures you could see how lovely this really is!

How would I sum up EMQG members?? Overachievers! Sheena did a double sided quilt as a present! She wasn't totally sure what the recipient wanted so she made two stunning quilts one for front and one for back .... I feel inadequate :-)

So last was my little effort a cute wee mini, very Scottish, but an American pattern in American 30s repros. It's bright it's colourful and it makes me smile, as does every guild meeting.