December Meeting

The December meeting is a practical afternoon.  Viv Denscombe will be showing us how to make "Decorated Jars" to be used with a tea light. Example below.

Decorated Jars

Requirements:

Jars/bottles (bring them ready painted with white emulsion paint) or, paint them on the day - just saves time and ensures they’re dry before gluing!

The items below Viv can supply, but feel free to bring your own if you wish:

Picture paper napkins;

Scissors

Paint/glue brushes

PVA glue (or if you have matte medium)

White emulsion paint

Wet wipes

Pots/plates to hold emulsion/glue

Table cover

Hair dryer

November Meeting

Wednesday 6^th November was another of those “grey days” we had become accustomed to for so long but once at Cosby Quilters we were transported to the colourful world of Gilli Theokritoff.

Surprisingly, we learnt she began as a designer of shoes and then knitwear for exclusive London stores and yarn companies.  She followed a City and Guilds Course and in her early sewing days made items for her children but used a limited colour palette.  Once persuaded to embrace colour she has not looked back.

Through her friendly and bubbly personality, she showed her beautiful colourful quilts, many of them being exhibited and entered in competitions.  She even shared the judges’ comments.  Despite her talk being called “Please don’t look at the back” these too were eye-catching.

Some of us had already done Gilli’s kantha workshop in the past and several people seemed interested in one of the workshops she talked about in the future. 

Kathy Francis

Examples of the work Gilli showed us.

November Speaker

Our speaker for November is Gilli Theokritoff and her talk is entitled "Please don't look at the back".

Gilli Theokritoff is an experienced quilter and teacher and has won awards for her contemporary quilts. She loves traditional piecing too and is keen to encourage new quilters with her lively and engaging classes. Gilli started her career as a shoe designer, moved into knitwear, designing for exclusive London stores and later for yarn companies such as Rowan. Eventually she discovered her true passion, patchwork, while bringing up her children (they are very handy with a sewing machine too!). She now teaches around the country and occasionally exhibits her work.

September Meeting 2

The afternoon of 2^nd October was a colourful one for members of Cosby Quilters as we welcomed Nikki Parmenter.  We knew she was a multi- media textile artist but the examples she brought with her were breathtaking.

With the help of images on the screen and actual examples she explained the process of planning and making them, many based on myths and legends.

A wide range of materials were used including fabric, net, threads, metal, acetate, plastics, paint, padding and funky foam which were used as a ‘base’ for her creations.  Heavy free machining, as well as embellishment by hand and the addition of threads, feathers, beads, jewellery and spray paint lead to pieces of rich depth and colour.  Many pieces were really large but at the end many ,both large and small, were passed around for really close inspection.

A workshop was held on the Thursday, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.  The results are shown below.  They are all work in progress.

September Meeting

 

Our speaker for the 2nd October is Nikki Parmenter and her talk is entitled "Post Cards and Projects". This is an afternoon meeting.

She is a Cheshire based artist who specialises in mixed media, textile based pieces. She takes her inspiration from a variety of sources and she is particularly interested in the way in which ancient societies created a series of visual symbols to represent the things which were important to them. She investigates myth and legend and draw parallels between societies, showing that although many people have different beliefs we are all united by visual iconography.

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She has exhibited widely both in group and solo shows both here and abroad  and has had articles published in magazines and on the internet. She also features in Kim Thittichai's book, 'Experimental Textiles'. Her work has won  prizes at The Ferens Open, The Potteries Open and the Grosvenor Open  Exhibitions.

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She has received positive feedback from the galleries where she has exhibited as  she tries to make her work accessible to all age ranges and to people from different backgrounds. Viewers, especially younger people, respond to the visual  richness of the objects whilst others make connections with their own religious beliefs and feelings.

Her workshop on the 3rd October is Fantastic Flowers

A sewing machine, fabrics, soldering iron and glue gun are needed for this workshop. You will learn how to bond fabric together in order to create an intensely coloured piece of material which will be made into a 3D flower with a padded centre.

 

Our speaker for September was Jane Cobbett and she entertained us with a talk on the history of quilting from a reference to Mary Queen of Scots and her ladies, cutting triangles of fabrics to modern art quilts.  The inspiration in that period for the shapes used for patchwork were probably leaded windows and tiles.  She encouraged us to make a template out of a square of paper which produced an elongated hexagon.  This was how patchwork pieces were produced prior to 1860 when templates were first available. 

In the late Victorian period, the popular quilts were Crazy Patchwork which used all different types of fabric and was usually embroidered, Sun Bonnet Sue, which evolved into the crinoline ladies, and Red Work which could also be brown and blue but is still called Red Work. 

She also told us how seed sacks were used to make quilts in America and as a result manufacturers of the seed sacks created patterned sacks.  Four sacks would make a quilt backing and three would make a garment.  The fabric was very course but sugar and flour sacks were of a much finer quality. They were particularly used during the depression.

In the 1950’s the quilts were very much make do and mend and then in the early 1970’s became popular eventually evolving into the art quilts that are made today.

It was a very enjoyable evening and very informative.

Crazy Patchwork Tea Cosy

Cathedral Window Patchwork

Dresden Plate block made from Seed Sacks

July Meeting

Gill from GillyMac Designs had us all doodling to encourage us to take up free machine quilting. On the overhead screen she showed us various different continuous patterns that are simple and look effective.  After she had showed us each design she then encouraged us to try drawing the designs and to get our minds and hands to memorise the action required to create them.  Free machine quilting requires lots of practise and drawing the designs does help.

Examples of Gill's free machine quilting

July Speaker

Our speaker for July is Gill from GillyMac Designs and her talk is called "Doodle your way into confident machine quilting." 

 In 2014 Gill set up GillyMac Designs to teach local children and adults to sew.  Gill quickly won national awards with her children’s classes and was recruited to teach classes for Liberty of London and works nationally for the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. 

Gill’s work has been shown around the UK as part of the GENArt movement, including being exhibited at the Turner Contemporary Gallery.

Over the past 5 years, Gill has expanded GillyMac Designs to four adult weekly classes and three weekly teen classes and the much loved Junior Sewing Bee.  Other classes are developed and fitted into this busy schedule.

Gill has also grown a large vibrant online community on Facebook and Instagram as well as setting up the online GillyMac Club for all her pupils to join and continue to share their work and learn from Gill regular online sewalongs.

June Meeting

Our June meeting was held on 5th featuring Michelle Moody. As well as being a founder member of Quilter’s Guild she is a very experienced quilter herself.  She explained her quilt journey and the stories behind a very large number of quilts that she brought to show us.  One could not fail to be impressed, partly by the sheer size of some of them, but even more by the fact that they were hand quilted.    I myself had never seen so many hand quilted examples in one place!

Michelle had a very easy way of talking, explaining and answering questions.  She belongs to a number of groups and runs many workshops as well as selling her quilts and doing commissions.

Detail of a bought Indian Quilt

Details from Michelle's Quilts

June Speaker

 Our speaker for June is Michelle Moody.  Her talk is entitled "My Life in Pieces".

Michelle has been quilting for over 40 years and still enjoys learning new techniques.  She is a well respected teacher of various styles. She's a founder member of the Quilters Guild which was established in the 1980s.  Michelle also belongs to a number of local groups, which meet regularly and like many of us, she admits to having far too many UFOs.  Her website is Rosemary Rabbit Quilts, where she sells her quilts and also takes on commissions.

May Meeting

 Angela Daymond, with her “ Kantha – 500 Years of Stitch” did not disappoint at our May meeting.

As well as a detailed explanation of Kantha work and the stitches used,  Angela impressed with both her slide presentation and many beautiful really old quilts from her own collection.  The volume of stitching and the effects achieved were eye catching and members were able to examine them closely for themselves.

She also highlighted the therapeutic effect of Kantha work and the popular ‘slow stitching’ and put out a challenge to use the technique to make a cushion cover using a favourite fat quarter which might have been purchased in the past and only stroked and admired up until now.  I think many of the audience recognised such benefits of sewing especially during the lockdown period.

Kathy Francis

Details of Kantha pieces made in South Asia

Angela's beautiful kantha work

May Speaker

Our speaker is Angela Daymond with her talk "Kantha, 500 years of stitch.

Angela is a textile artist and teacher who specialises in kantha stitching and natural dyeing which she loves in equal measure, and she loves to share her passion with others. She was taught to sew by her mother and she loved her children’s Holly Hobby sewing machine. She is rarely found without a needle in her hand and loves being driven to places so she can sit back and stitch. She loves the simplicity of kantha work that you can take needle, thread and fabric, and combine with just one stitch, the running stitch, to create abstract and representational images with lots of texture.

Her first foray into natural dyeing came over 40 years ago when she first deliberately squashed elderberries on to the bottom of a white dress. She constantly loves the surprise element of natural dyeing and uses many plants native to the United Kingdom.

She specialises in using woad, the oldest blue plant dye in Northern Europe.  The inspiration and colour palette from the Fenland environment in which she lives provide constant stimuli for her work, whether she is dyeing or stitching. 

She loves to share her studio space with others and run regular workshops there. The gentle movement of needle and thread and a constant supply of tea and coffee means happy stitchers!

April Practical

The meeting in April is a practical session and we are meeting in the evening.  The project is embroidered felt circles.  You will need to bring with you your hand sewing kit and embroidery threads.  The felt will be available for you to select the colours you would like at the meeting.

The lilac one is the original project sample and took 1/2 an hour.

This was used as the basis for a book cover as shown below and shows the many different ways that you can attach your circles.

March Meeting

Our March meeting, held on 6th March, was the last afternoon meeting until the Autumn.  It was a beautiful sunny  afternoon and our speaker, Moira Neal, was equally bright.

Her presentation was inspiring and the result of careful planning, it was a detailed explanation of the title "A View from my Kitchen Window and how it inspired a quilt".  The quirky quilt was displayed and the detail astonishing.

Moira's talk was accompanied by pictures she had taken, mainly during "lockdown", and how they developed and were used in the quilt.  The behaviour of creatures in her garden was fascinating.  Lots of practical tips and explanations of techniques were also explained.

Kathy Francis

Moira's Quilt

Moira had a case made with the quilt as decoration 

Moira's Sales Table

The Raffle Table with Moira's donation of a Cat Picture

Dates booked at Ashby Magna Village Hall

 

Just to let you know that we have booked some dates at Ashby Magna Village Hall

Traverse - Nearly White workshop 

on 25 May 2024  

Charge £30 for members, £35 non-members 

We also have 2 Sit & Sew Days -  Members can bring their own project to work on or spend some time on charity quilts  

30/03/24  and 15/06/24.

Charge £3 for all or part of the day

March Speaker

Our speaker for March is Moira Neal and her talk is entitled "A View from my Kitchen Table and how it inspired a quilt".

When her mother was no longer able to wear her pretty summer dresses, Moira used them to make a quilt. She added torchon lace made by her mother, a skilled lacemaker. Moira has a preference for appliqué and she usually machine quilts in her individual style using black threads, a technique she has taught in workshops. 

Moira Neal is a free machine artist and she loves to up cycle old cotton sheets to use in her work.  She enjoys dyeing, printing, stamping, marbling and appliqueing them to create her own unique cloth.  She no longer makes large bed quilts and now concentrates on making quirky work which she can use for her range of greetings cards. 

Speakers

 Please note that there have been changes to the Speakers for 2024.

February Meeting

 

The February meeting will start with the Annual General Meeting.  

All the documents for the AGM are available in the pages section of the blog.  On a computer the pages show at the top right-hand corner of the blog.  On a phone click on the home key and a list of pages will appear.

We are aware that some members are unable to attend an afternoon meeting, if you do have any questions or comments on the AGM business, then we'd like to hear from you - please email ginagcooke@gmail.com so your thoughts can be included in the AGM.

The subscription for this year remains at £30 with visitors still paying £5.   As our insurance requires that visitors can only attend up to 2 meetings a year before joining as members.  It was agreed to highlight this to attendees at the AGM ie visitors are required to join (ie pay the balance of membership subscription after attending two meetings), if they wish to come to future meetings. 

Workshops will be charged at £30 for members, and £35 for non-members. However, more expensive speakers and those providing materials will be £35 for members, £40 for non-members. The Committee have also agreed that we will require full payment up front for future workshops. Due to the high costs involved it’s sensible to ensure they are viable before we go ahead with the booking, which I hope you will understand.

After the AGM we are taking a closer look at the completed travelling books & Jeannie from Quilteeze is the trader.

 We look forward to seeing you all.

Gina Cooke