Viñuela Sew and Sews

Another parliament of owls........

2014-07-02T23:06:00.000+02:00

There are a lot more completed projects to show you this week, beginning with this parliament of adorable tiny felt owls made by Christine Speller and donated as tombola prizes.

Christine also finished her table runner which last week she admitted to miscalculating the amount of binding she needed, and made enough to make at least another runner! And this was after she mis-read the cutting instructions so the runner has come out smaller than expected, well despite these little "errors, the finished project looks lovely Christine!

as do these little seasonal wall hangings

When members saw Christine's quilting verse above, they suggested we get a Spanish version made to hang with the one above at the exhibition. I'm not sure though if anyone has volunteered to make it yet!

Helen Hulm showed us this very realistic looking cross stitch she has finished and will be framing

and Louise too showed us her completed cross stitch picture she will be framing

Jenny has added another felt piece to her Island Theme, this one uses her hand made and dyed felt with her hand made and dyed silk paper, which she then embellished with her space-dyed threads

Jenny seen above with Katherine, Pam and Ann are working with their overlockers this session. Pam is pleased to have solved the problems she was experiencing with her machine, which turned out to be a switch wrongly set, not a fault with the machine, so after dozens of frustrating hours of trial and error, she can put all that behind her and begin to use the machine to it's full potential. Ann is also learning how to make the best use of her machine.

Flushed with her first successful attempt at "in-the-hoop" embroidery last week, Pam has been doing more experiments and is very pleased with the results. She has made a few more gift tags and intends making more to go with them and donating them as tombola prizes. Pam also mastered the Japanese folded gift bags and will be making more of these for charity.

Jan has been busy too, making this Real Madrid emblem wall hanging for Alan her husband who is an anything-Real-fanatic!!

William Morris themed designs have caught Jan´s eye too and she's made an appliqued fire screen, chair seat, and matching cushion.

These two silk ribbon pictures have been made by Jan too, the one above she completed in Elle's Silk Ribbon workshop earlier this year

The picture above is Vanessa's completed project from the same workshop

Sandy and Shirley enjoy a chat, while Vanessa quilts a baby quilt and Catherine and Elizabeth chat whilst making patchwork and knitting

Jan talks "exhibition" with Christine while Helen and Cath look on and Sheila knits quietly

Chris, above is stitching the tabs on her cat and dog verse wall hanging and bought a very nice wrought iron hanger do display it from.

Marilyn is teaching Elle to make bobbin lace and has loaned Elle a pillow and bobbins so she can make a start on a practice piece of lace. I don't know where Elle is going to find the time to do this as she has two hand appliqued and quilted quilts to finish before the exhibition!

Vanessa is quilting her project by machine while Catherine works on her Kaffe Fassett project by hand.

Jan gathers everyone around for a quick chat about the progress being made for our exhibition plans above, and Gladys below, is adding machine quilting to her table runner and says she's enjoying the project in which Pam has been guiding her in it's making.

That's us caught up again, and this is the last blog entry until the Group meets in full again in September, just a few weeks before our exhibition. Don' forget to head over to the Group website to have a look at members Gallery updates regularly during the summer. Pam is our next "Stitching Corner" member, so come back to see her lovely new work space and read a bit about her stitching background, and Frank has a whole bank of photos waiting to be added each week throughout the summer even though we won't be meeting up in the hall.

I am off to England for a few weeks, the first two days of which I am spending at The Cotton Patch, taking a course in machine quilting with Handi-Quilter's teacher Debbie Brown. I hope to come back with a few more stitches under my belt to replace the meandering stipple stitch which I put on everything at the moment!! I know many other members are travelling themselves or having visitors out to visit them, so I hope you all have a fabulous summer, and I look forward to seeing you all in September. Rachel

Almost the end of term........

2014-06-28T22:22:00.003+02:00

With only one more "official" meeting till the Group's summer break, preparations are ongoing for our exhibition in October. While many members are making small items for Tombola prizes, others are finishing off work which they intend to exhibit.
Although we "officially" break up for a couple of the hottest months of the year here, there will be a group of members who have chosen to continue meeting on Tuesdays and additionally, Pam will be leading a further group of members in making small items and gifts for donating to charity, who will meet on Wednesdays beginning July 9.
Jan and Kath went round the group at this week's meeting asking for volunteers for various tasks to do with the exhibition, and they were pleased with the good response they received from members present. Some husbands were volunteered too, to help hang the exhibits on the day and prepare the hall a couple of weeks before hand.

Asking for volunteers from Shirley, Sandy and Eleanor

Reviewing the list of jobs to be done

Despite the heat there are thoughts of the end of the year and many more seasonal hangings are being produced.

Pam tried out the automatic embroidery attachment at last on her new machine and produced this jolly little snowman gift tag which was stitched out in-the-hoop.

While Ann continues the theme with seasonal wall hangings

Ann with her work in progress above and below

Pam has been teaching Gladys and Margaret how to make the table runners that have been popular with two or three other members, Margaret is also keeping with the seasonal theme.

Pam with Gladys

Margaret's table runner

Kath above, and Gwen below, are making items for the show and tombola,

and Yvonne, who still can't find her pattern detailing how she designed her quilt project, plows through another of it's components. Judging by the huge pile of cut fabric and wadding she showed us today, she has plenty of time to come across it!

Pam is trying to get to grips with some tiny Japanese folded bags, but getting frustrated with poorly translated instructions. Pam did manage to get one finished by the end of the session, but wants to iron out the construction wrinkles before I photograph it!

One or two members have been finishing off projects, there is another lovely example of a Row-by-Row project, this one from Chris.

Christine has been working on this quilt on and off in between other projects for two years, and decided she really must finish it in time for the exhibition.

Christine has also made a start on a new asymmetrical quilt project, which she has been asked to teach, and intends leading a class once the exhibition is over. If you are interested in working along with Christine, please contact her. The photo below shows the top section, giving you a taster of the project which has a country style to it with it's over-sized and simplified tree and flowers. I look forward to seeing the next section Christine.

Chris is also finishing off projects started a while ago. The project below is from the Mystery quilt workshop. Chris didn't like the effect of the border on the original project so she's removed that and now plans to add an applique dove to the centre medallion, before layering up the quilt and adding quilting to it, another quilt to be ready for the exhibition.

Chris is also working on a small kit project she found in the US when visiting her daughter, it reads Dogs have Owners, Cats have Staff!

HelenH worked at her cross stitch project, while HelenP who goes back to the UK for a couple of months continued with her mini log cabin project.

Sue is getting on well with her silk ribbon picture, helped by Elle, while Jacqueline's bobbin lace bookmark is growing in length

And a little later in the morning, I spotted Elle at Marilyn's cushion, adding a few stitches under Marilyn's guidance, but Elle was making it look very easy so I wonder if she's done this before.

Behind the scenes, Frank and I have been working on the hanging display for the exhibition, and I can say it's a tight squeeze to get everything in our new venue! I'm meeting with Kath and Jan on Monday to discuss what we have so far, then it will be over to them to arrange where everything else will be displayed, on tables or draped over various props. We have also made a flyer which will be available next week for anyone wishing to sell raffle tickets to friends and family. Hopefully that helps explain why I am late with this week's blog again!

In case you don't already know, you can get the blog automatically into your email inbox as soon I post it, by subscribing at the top right hand side of this page.

Don't forget to pop over to our website after the weekend to see members' Gallery updates. Pam and Ann have new table runners in their galleries, along with a small quilt for Pam, and Helen Hulm has a gallery page for her Row-by-Row project. There will also be a new video from award winning quilter Sharon Schamber. Sharon gives step by step detailed explanation on how to add curved binding to a quilt and the video is well worth a watch.

I think we have caught up again, so until next week thanks for stopping by. Rachel

Smaller meeting this week......

2014-06-20T19:15:00.002+02:00

A much smaller than usual group met this week with some members still entertaining visitors or away themselves. We had a general discussion about our autumn exhibition, with most members agreeing to display some of their recent work. Plans are moving ahead organizing the actual display and Jan and Kath are working on the "volunteer rota", allocating various responsibilities to group members. Rozanne collected the raffle quilt and says she will probably have the hand quilting done in a couple of weeks. After that we can retake photos of the quilt along with other draw prizes and start work on the flyers so that members can begin selling raffle tickets which this year will be priced at €2.50 for a strip of 5 tickets. The prizes this year include two patchwork quilts, made by group members, a king size crochet blanket donated to the group part finished and completed by a member of the group, two woven crochet blankets made and donated by group members along with various smaller prizes, some also made and donated by group members.
Part of the exhibition will feature quilts made during two workshops held in the past two years, one being the Row-by-Row quilts made in Christine Speller's workshop, more details of which can be seen HERE . This week Cath brought her completed quilt in to show us.

Cath enjoyed the hand embellishing on her quilt so much, it took longer than she expected to finish as she kept adding more and more as she went on, like the forest of hearts hanging between the trees seen below.

Pam is still in Christmas mode and practiced free motion quilting on her new sewing machine on this little seasonal wall hanging

I didn't ask Marilyn what project she is working on, but this bobbin lace always looks so complicated. It amazes me that she can concentrate and get the design right with so much going on around her each week. I know I couldn't!

Elle has been busy hand quilting her batik applique blocks, and is confident she will finish this quilt ready to show it at the exhibition.

Gladys and Margaret take time for break while working on their current projects

and Elizabeth and Simone catch up while knitting

We have seen topsy-turvy dolls from other group members in knitting yarn, but Eleanor made this doll for her daughter many years ago from fabric. Eleanor says it was so well loved and played with it's now quite fragile and in need of repair. Eleanor intends deconstructing it all, giving it a good wash and then if necessary will replace worn parts before reconstructing it again. It will certainly last many more years after this repair I would think.

The happy doll above, and her sad counterpart below

Elle is seen here working on her Vintage Tiles Revisited quilt panels. A couple of posts ago I mentioned Kath was also working on this quilt, but her project has come to a halt as she searches out additional fabric of which she has run short.

Jacqueline has almost completed her bobbin lace bookmark, under Marilyn's guidance and help

Sue is making progress with the silk ribbon picture which she began at a workshop held by Elle a few months ago.

Carol is in the process of making her version of a bargello-style quilt with sashing strips separating the columns of colours, and Pam is beginning another quilting project using cotton patchwork fabrics and denim, even though she said she wouldn't make another denim quilt after making one some time ago for her son in law. Obviously Pam has forgotten what she said before about how hard it was to work with denim!

Yvonne and Helen are working on their hand stitched projects, they look really hard at work here, but this is unusual, as there is usually more chatting than stitching at their table! Below, Gwen is quietly concentrating on her latest knitting project.

That's about it this week, but if you head over to our website, you will be able to see the latest members' gallery updates for Ann showing a drawstring bag made for her friends daughter, some machine embroidery from Tricia, and some of the journal quilts I have made as part of an online workshop with Ineke Berlyn. There should be at least five little quilts here, but I am woefully behind with only three made so far. The intention is to make an A4-sized quilt for each month, beginning last January, and as I'm so far behind I am picking the ones I consider easiest to do first and not working in order like Yvonne who is up to date with hers and is no doubt working on June's quilt as I write!

Thanks for stopping by, see you next time, Rachel

More completed projects......

2014-06-14T00:20:00.002+02:00

It seems that despite having to cancel the meeting the previous week, group members have still found time to complete more projects and at this week's meeting there was a diverse display of work.

Linda has made this lovely dress for her new grand-daughter and was well on the way to finishing another one during this week's session. Linda also showed us this delightful knitted all-in-one outfit, made from gorgeously soft yarn, it will certainly keep it's occupant lovely and snug on cold outings.

Helen Hulme remembered at last to bring in her completed Row-by-Row project, only a couple more to be finished now, no pressure girls!!

Ann here enjoying a chat with Helen, and showed us her finished table runner,

and "Quirky" wall hanging, which is made up of block designs from her Row-by-Row quilt.

Christine is working to a Christmas theme at the moment, making several small hangings seen below, a couple finished and others works in progress

Group member Carol brought her sister in to meet us this week, and while she's been on holiday has co-opted her into knitting a teddy for a prize in the Tombola at our exhibition. I wonder if she managed to finish it before going back to Scotland.

Eloise made this her last visit for few weeks, she is off to the UK for a family visit and Vanessa joined us again after a few busy weeks with visitors, preventing her from coming to meetings.

Marilyn's deadline for finishing her quilt looms, but she's confident the target will be met.

Gladys is making progress with her quilt blocks, while Margaret chats to Elsje, and Shirley rejoins us after her month in the UK.

It was good to see Sandy back with us, here seen working on a crochet blanket she is donating as a prize in our exhibition raffle

Cath spent the morning making this lovely table runner, I love the colour combination Cath.

Louise is back with us again after having family out to visit, and expressed a desire to learn how to free-motion machine quilt, so next week will be coming to the meeting armed with fabric and her machine for a lesson. Louise has been practicing at home but would like some extra hints and tips to help her along the way.

Chris has quilted the sections of her Row-by-Row quilt, the next stage is joining these sections, then finally adding the binding. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilt.

Elsje says the wool from Morocco which she is using for the knitted jacket she is working on is proving to be quite difficult to work with. It seems many of the processes in making regular commercial yarn have been left out and the wool is quite "un-processed" and thick. Added to which the pattern Elsje is using calls for much finer yarn and needles, so she is having to make many adjustments as she progresses. Not a simple project!

Helen is having a few minutes break from her gold-work embroidery, and below Jacqueline looks well after returning from her Caribbean holiday where she says she had great fun.

Jacqueline has almost finished the bookmark she has been working on with help from Marilyn.

I think that's us caught up. I have a valid reason for being late with this week's update for once! I was at our sister group Diversity's meeting on Wednesday, needed Thursday to recover from the two meetings and did this by working on a small whole-cloth project, which I'm using to practice my quilting technique, and once I got started I didn't want to stop. Although I didn't do this on Tuesday, here is a quick peak at a part of it.

Thanks for stopping by, do pop over to our website to have a look at the latest gallery updates and "Stitching Corner" features Linda this week. See you next time, Rachel

Beautiful flowers.......

2014-05-30T14:00:00.003+02:00

Flowers seem to be a popular theme among stitchers of all types of work. This week several of our group members showed us projects varying from intricate machine embroidered flowers, to hand embroidered motifs and appliqued motifs.
Tricia showed us a delicate embroidered rose which has been made using organza and water soluble film. The design is stitched out "in-the-hoop" on her sewing machine then she carefully cuts around all the individual petal parts, before gently rinsing in water to remove the soluble film. Leaving a tiny residual amount of the film in the fabric means that when it's dry the petals can be molded into shape giving a very realistic shaped flower. Tricia also showed us a spectacle case with embroidered detail, this too was stitched "in-the-hoop". Tricia's sewing machine has an embroidery attachment and is linked to a computer where designs are stored and can be modified if desired and then "sent" to the machine for stitching out onto hooped fabric.

Marilyn spent the session working on two more of the embroidered flower panels for a quilt she is making.

Elle is working on two quilts at the same time, both include stylized flower motifs. Elle is working the quilt below from a book by Sharon Pederson - The Rose of Sharon Block Book, and is hand appliqueing all the blocks using the needle-turn technique.

The second quilt Elle is working on is a design by Lecien and is called Vintage Tiles Revisited. Elle is using lovely batik fabrics for both projects, but using different background fabrics for the two quilts.

When Kath saw a couple of Elle's appliqued blocks a few weeks ago, she decided she would like to make the same project too. Kath is tackling hers differently, in that she is working the applique motifs by machine, using the fused raw-edge method and working machine blanket stitch around the motifs to anchor them to the background.

On a more traditional theme, Jenny is parceling up the large quilt which a former neighbour of hers, commissioned Jenny to finish, and sending it off to Holland where Gerda now lives. Jenny has made an embroidered label for the back of the work, detailing where and who made the quilt.

Pam is stitching her way through "works-in-progress", and this week showed us her scrappy quilt finished along with two table runners.

The back of Pam's quilt using up leftover fabric from the quilt top

Pam has sparked interest in these table runners and now Ann and Christine are making one too.

On her visits to Spain and group meetings over the last couple of years, Charlotte has been meticulously hand stitching miniature log cabin blocks. These were for the border around a central set of log cabin blocks she put together by machine at home on the Isle of Man. Charlotte brought the quilt with her his week to show us the completed project. Charlotte has used many of the fabric leftovers from making the quilt top, for the backing.

Tricia is at the quilting stage on her Japanese-themed wall hanging above, and spent the session layering up the top with wadding and backing and then laboriously tacking stabilizing lines of tacking over the work before she begins free-motion quilting the piece.

The spectacle case made by Tricia "in-the-hoop" on her sewing machine

Above Carol is admiring Chris' Row-by-Row project which is now at the quilting stage, and was intrigued with how the "seminole" row was made. and below, Cath is adding the binding to her Row-by-Row quilt, both quilts which I hope will feature here in a week or two. No pressure ladies!!! Cath has been adding lots of hand embroidered detail to her quilt, and says it's been a fun project to work on. I understand teacher Christine has another project up her sleeve for the autumn, but the design and technique is a secret at the moment! I look forward to seeing what it will be, as I am sure are her "students".

Above, Sheila has started another baby jacket which she is knitting for charity, and Gladys works on her quilt blocks, while below, Margaret begins another square for her father's blanket

Ann has finished the drawstring bag she started recently, and she is giving it to her daughter's friend She says it just needs two tassels adding before it is sent off.

Millie popped in again for a knit and natter with Margaret and Charlotte, while Eloise below, is trying to remember the details of how she intended to construct a quilt she designed and began some time ago!

And our "International Members" Simone and Esje, both Belgian ladies who have lived in Spain for many years, also knit and natter.

It seems there is a trend to work with huge balls of yarn lately. Elsje is working with Pure wool from Morocco and is adapting a pattern to use this yarn

That's all the news this week. Be sure to check out the Group Website to see the latest member gallery updates.

Before I close, on behalf of the Group, I must take this opportunity to thank Cath who has been tirelessly working behind the scenes sending off information and photos to various magazines and newspapers both here and in the UK to advertise our forthcoming exhibition in October. We hope these will generate lots of interest and bring visitors to La Viñuela in the Autumn. Do please spread the word amongst friends and neighbours, the dates are 11 and 12 October 2014, and a banner will appear on the website with this information after the coming weekend's Sew&Sews update.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about what our busy members have been up to, hope to see you again next week. Rachel

Lovely eye candy......

2014-05-22T11:51:00.001+02:00

Things are back to normal after having to cancel the previous week at very short notice, as the tables had been removed from the hall for use in a fiesta in the village. .
This is a long post so grab a coffee and join us, as there was lots of eye candy on display this week, with one of our newer members, Marilyn, bringing some of her work to be photographed for her gallery page in our Group website. Marilyn's work will begin to appear in her gallery over the next weeks so be sure to return to it regularly to see these and other members' gallery updates.
Marilyn has been stitching in one form or another for many years, and particularly enjoys bobbin lace and patchwork and quilting.

Some of the bobbin lace made by Marilyn

Marilyn likes to incorporate embroidery into her patchwork quilts, in this large bed quilt each block has a different quilting design embroidered in the centre.

An embroidered doormouse hides in in the centre of this little patchwork wall hanging

A framed country scene in wool embroidery above, with detail below

An embroidered blanket with amazingly detailed animals and a sampler in intricate stitches below, are just a few of the pieces of work Marilyn has created.

Yvonne has finished her Japanese themed wall hanging, a detail is shown below

A small portion of this crochet blanket was part of a large box of yarns and equipment which former member Sue Stead's family donated to the Group after her sad death last year. Eleanor decided she would like to complete the blanket and found more yarn to complement the colours used in Sue's original work.

Linda has completed her Row-by-Row quilt above, and Chris is well on the way to finishing hers too, below. I know I have said it before, but I think these quilts will make a lovely display at our exhibition in the autumn, it's always good to see how the same design looks, interpreted by different people. Christine Speller, the class teacher must feel very pleased with all her students' work!

Chris Bradley's project

CarolW says these little knitted teddies could be used as tombola prizes in our exhibition, and Ann hasn't decided whether her seasonal wall hangings below, will be kept for herself, or given as gifts.

Gwen, who only has a few anchoring stitches to add to this pretty seasonal decoration, has been having a dyeing session at home recently and brought along her fabric to show us.

Yvonne seems to be powering through projects this year! Above, is her May journal quilt for an online workshop in which she is participating. This month's theme is "texture" which Yvonne has used plenty of to depict her seascape. Below, Yvonne works on a project started a long time ago. She came across it in a cupboard while looking for something else, and thought it would be ideal to bring to meetings as it involves hand stitching and the pieces are small and easily portable.

Jenny has only to remove the tacking threads and add a couple more quilting motifs then this quilt (above) that a neighbour handed over to her partially made asking Jenny to finish it for her, will be on it's way to it's owner who I am sure will be thrilled to see all the work Jenny has put into it for her. Next week Jenny will bring it again to show us the completed quilt.

Sue chats with Carole above, while Simone also works on her embroidery project.

Sheila, Margaret and Julie knit while Gladys below works on her machine embellishing blocks with embroidery for her latest quilt project

Margaret, with Carol center, and her friend Julie visiting from South Africa

Kath above, spent another session hemming more sashing on the raffle quilt, which if you haven't seen yet on the web site, now has all the butterfly blocks joined together. We decided at the meeting to add a border using the background fabric and to bind the quilt using the sashing fabric to add the finishing touches. When Rozanne returns from her trip to the UK, it should all be ready for her to work on the hand quilting. Several members have already expressed their intention to buy the winning ticket at the raffle!!!

Helen is working on a seasonal project which appears to involve dozens of strips of fabric. Next time I intend looking more closely at what's involved and will hopefully have a more detailed photo.

Christine enjoys foundation piecing and is working on a new project above, while Ann is making a drawstring bag below

Pam who, because she has been entertaining visitors recently, hasn't had a chance or the space to try out her new embroidery machine yet. Pam was hoping to go home after the meeting, to a new specially designed and finished studio where she can work uninterrupted, but had a visit from her husband Ray during the meeting just to let her know in advance so she wouldn't be too cross, that he hadn't quite finished the room!! Hope it's finished now Pam, please take photos of you working in it so we can feature it soon in the "stitching corner" on the Group Website which features Kath at the moment.

Pam with Ray delivering his "bad news"!

I think that's us caught up for another week. Thanks for reading and I hope you too have enjoyed seeing all the lovely work produced by our group members. See you next time, Rachel

More completed projects......

2014-05-10T12:54:00.000+02:00

This is the first opportunity I've had to post this week, so I´ll dive straight in! Louise has been spending some evening making a selection of doileys. Two of which are shown here.

Kath has finished off a quilt using fabric remnants from previous projects, and is giving it to her friend's daughter.

Carol brought in her quillow to show us, seen above as a quilt and below all folded up into a cushion,

also Carol showed us a bright quilt she made several years ago using Ikea cotton fabrics. This photo doesn't do justice to those lovely bright colours. Sorry Carol!

I spotted this little Christmas wall hanging of Cath's on the table too, Ann is borrowing it to make a pattern so she can adapt it to her own needs.

Ann says she is having a break from making larger quilts for a while, and is making use of her stash of fabric remnants to make several small projects.

Above Carol is working on a quilt for a friends first grandchild. It's a Sun Bonnet Sue design and here Carol is battling with the embroidery stitches on her machine, which was making hard work of embellishing the applique for her!

Above, Sheila continues with her charity knits, while Louise works on her latest quilting project. I am told it is lovely, but confess I didn't see it in detail so hope to show you next week if Louise brings it to work on again.

It looks to me as though Helen must be getting near to the end of this embroidery now, though there is so much fine detail in it.

Margaret is making Christmas stockings after finding a bag full of felt at home, and Jan and Kath spent the session hemming the sashing on the centre panels of the Group Raffle Quilt.

Below is a peak at the centre panel of the quilt, and by next week the outer panels should be attached

Jacqueline continues with her bobbin lace, while Marilyn embroiders flowers on quilt blocks,

and Helen above, with Merlyne and Carol below, work on small cross stitch projects

Linda below, popped in after choir practice to chat to Jan about threading her overlocker machine

Before closing this week, I must give a warm welcome to our latest new members, Millie seen lower left in the photo above, and Simone on the right in the photo below. Millie enjoys knitting, while Simone, after walking around the room and seeing all the exciting projects being worked on, particularly Elle's applique quilt blocks, decided she would like to learn how to applique and asked where she could find materials and patterns. Needless to say, there was no shortage of advice for her and next week I think we may see her again with lots of supplies eager to start work! Also welcome back to Chris, seen in the centre of the photo below, after a long absence while she was in the UK.

Elle's applique project which inspired Simone

I'm not sure why, but all except Ann, forgot it was the first meeting of the month and it should have been Sales Tuesday this week. I got the blame for not reminding everyone on here! It was decided to have Sales Tuesday next week instead, so I'm reminding everyone now to bring in fabrics, yarns etc. I'm told Pam will have fabrics for sale so if you are looking for anything, bring in your purses!

Don't forget too, to head over to the Group Website and see the latest updates in Members' galleries. Have a good week, thanks for stopping by. Rachel

Standing room only.......

2014-05-01T12:20:00.000+02:00

We seem to be growing in numbers each week. Maybe it was the fact we had a visit from Sue with her large selection of handbags to choose from, which encouraged everyone to attend this week! It seemed the majority of members found a bag they liked, and some placed orders for ones that quickly sold out.

Sue setting out her bags

Penny has her eye on the one she likes!

Many members found something they liked

Jill has been busy finishing off projects, above an autumn themed table runner and delightful place mat below.

Cath has been embroidering and quilting this panel for the end of a bed. I'm sorry Cath, the colours didn't photograph very well and don't do justice to your work.

Detail of the hand embroidery work

Cath has discovered she really enjoys hand embroidery and decided to add some to her Row-by-Row project too. It is very effective and adds a new dimension to the quilt.

Cath's row-by-row project

Hand embroidery adds extra dimension to Cath's quilt

This little chappie above has been knitted and donated by Gladys for the exhibition raffle later in the year, and the duck below is one of a set to be made into a pram toy by Penny.

Pam shows one of the completed Dorset buttons, (not Suffolk as I stated in a previous posting!) but I'm not sure there will be many more made to go with it. Pam is not a fan of hand work, "too fiddly and time consuming", much preferring to get stuck into something on her sewing machine. Talking of which, you may be interested to know that Pam made her decision to go ahead and buy a Janome embroidery/sewing machine. She said the offer was too good to miss and now eagerly awaits her new "toy" to arrive. It's very heavy so I don't think we'll be seeing it in the hall, and Pam will continue using her smaller machine in group meetings. But I hope we get to see some of the embroidery work she will be producing.

Pam below, working on her scrappy quilt project (above), using up every last inch of left over fabrics from previous projects to make the backing for the quilt too.

As you can see from the photo above, there wasn't much free space this week, but Helen (below) managed to find a quiet corner to refine one of her designs for the quilting motifs for the raffle quilt, and at the far end of the table above, Rozanne managed to find space too, to layer up all the setting triangles and corner blocks, once she had traced off the quilting motifs. The quilt will now be put together with sashing, then passed back to Rozanne so she can complete the hand quilting.

Another regular is pleased we have so many members. Our local baker does a good trade in bread each week as can be seen here, this is just the tail end of the regular queue for bread and rolls when he arrives mid morning.

Back inside, work continues. Here Margaret shows me one of a couple of 400g balls of yarn she's using to knit squares to join into a blanket for her 92 year old father who lives in the UK. Margaret visits him every few weeks to make sure he is ok, as he still manages to live alone in his own home.

Christine and Cath chat while working on their quilts, and Christine showed us two finished projects too.

Christine's completed quilt for her grand-daughter

Christine has a label on the back of this quilt which shows she began work on it it 2011, so she's pleased to have finished it at last!

A few blog posts ago I said Carol had virtually finished this table cloth, but Carol corrected me saying there is actually more to be stitched than actually stitched . Well it looks well on the way now!

Louise is seen here concentrating on practicing the technique of perfect mitred corners for quilt bindings.

Christine left with Louise

Jenny above left, discusses her findings with Jill after experimenting with fabric paint and screen prints, as part of Jenny's "the journey" project, which she and the Diversity girls are currently working on.

That's all again for this week, I hope you enjoy keeping up with our Group members as they work through their projects. Don't forget to pop over to our website where amongst the regular updates, the "Stitching Corner" member has changed to Kath this week. Next week I hope to show you the latest progress on the raffle quilt. Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week, Rachel

Full house again........

2014-04-25T07:40:00.003+02:00

Despite a couple of regular members being away we still had thirty members attend this week's meeting, and there was hardly a chair to spare!
There are quite a number of projects nearing completion or completed, especially the Row-by-Row quilts.

Helen Hulme's row-by-row quilt just needs the binding adding, while Christine Speller has completed a dog-themed quilt for her niece who has terrier and labrador dogs

Ann is well on the way to completing her row-by-row quilt (above) too, and Pam has finished hers (below).

Jill's completed version of the row-by-row project is shown above.

And above is Louise's version. These quilts are going to make a stunning display at our exhibition later this year. Louise had never tried patchwork and quilting before joining in this workshop, and enjoyed it so much she started another lap quilt at the same time, and has discovered she really enjoys the hand quilting too.

Louise's second quilt

Jenny has used her own hand dyed fabrics to make a wholecloth hanging and worked an all-over quilting pattern over it, which she designed and digitized herself.

The front of Jenny's piece

Quilting design detail

The reverse fabric on Jenny's quilt

Sheila, below continues to knit for the charity which she supports and by the end of the morning had all but completed another cardigan for the Green Fields Africa. It just needs it's buttons adding. More information on the charity can be found HERE and then by clicking on the charity name.

Christine Speller has also just completed a pretty quilt for her granddaughter while Kath (below left) is making progress with her knitting.

Mercedes brought in a tote bag and purse she has made. Mercedes works fine needle-turn applique on intricate pieces.

The detailed motif on the front of Mercedes' tote bag

Mercedes with her purse

Pam seen above with Ann, is discussing her dilemma in choosing a new sewing machine. Pam, who up until now has been working on two small standard machines, intends making a considerable investment in a new machine and has to decide whether to purchase an embroidery/sewing machine, or a sewing machine with quilting features. Below Pam is trying out Jenny's Janome embroidery/sewing machine to see what she thinks and next week she will try out a Bernina. Pam enjoys all aspects of machine work, from piecing quilts to adding embellishments with embroidery stitches, but also really enjoys free-motion quilting, and needs to make sure her choice of machine will do all these things.

Mercedes, Jan and Jenny (right) discussing her quilt

Jenny is at the quilting stage of the commission quilt she took on for a friend and neighbour, and brought in the quilt to ask opinions on quilting ideas for it, and Jacqueline continues with her bobbin lace project. Jacqueline confirmed it's a project she started many years ago and is seeking advice and from Marilyn on how to proceed with it.

Jacqueline (left), Helen and Marilyn (standing)

That's about it for this week. Next week we have Jill's friend coming in with a selection of handbags for us to buy, so it will be a busy session! Thanks for reading, hope to see you next time. Rachel

Two Groups meeting........

2014-04-17T18:30:00.003+02:00

Today saw our two groups meeting in the same hall. Diversity members, who are also VSS members, met in a corner of the room to discuss where they are heading with this year's project "the journey". Both groups meeting on the same day is not ideal as space is at a premium, and Diversity members often need more space for paints and other wet media. It's a recipe for disaster trying to work with these processes when there are lots of people moving about, no one wants to spoil anyone else's work with splashes of dye or paint! So it's with much relief that the Diversity girls will be able to resume their meetings on Wednesday's from next month, now that the room is no longer needed by Town Hall staff on that day. Below you can see Jenny, Cath and Carol with samples of Gwen's work left, Jenny's center, and Cath's designs laying on the table.

We discussed further designs needed for the Group Charity Raffle Quilt which Helen Bush (seen below) is drawing for us. All the applique blocks have been returned completed now, embroidered and quilted. Helen will be working on some quilting stencil designs for the corner blocks and setting triangles which surround four on-point applique blocks making up the centre of the quilt. Rozanne has volunteered, (or was she coerced?) to do the hand quilting on these blocks, and yesterday a trip was made to our local fabric shop in Torre del Mar, with the completed applique blocks, where after much trial and error and patience from the sales lady, a pretty fresh looking fabric has been chosen for the sashing and binding to complete the quilt.

Two more of the butterfly blocks for the raffle quilt

Don't forget to pop over to our website to see more blocks and follow progress as it's made on this quilt.

Marilyn spent the morning this week showing Jacqueline how to bobbin lace. Although I didn't get round to asking Jacqueline, it looks as though this wasn't entirely the first time she's tried this technique as she was well set up with her own pillow and wound bobbins, already producing lace. Sorry Jacqueline I will chat with you next week.

Jacqueline left with tutor Marilyn standing

Vanessa who very recently moved into her new home, was table deep in fresh white net curtains, while the knitting circle, as always seem to be sharing a joke or two.

From left to right, Sandy, Eleanor, Shirley and Sue

Chris is just finishing off this gorgeous dress for her granddaughter

Pam was having fun(!) working out the layout for her latest scrappy quilt project, while Christine is thinking ahead to Christmas using up her scrap fabrics.

Tricia and Penny

Trish is getting on with her Japanese themed project, and has now added a border of contrasting gold fabric to the central panel. Unfortunately I didn't photograph this well, so hopefully I'll see it again next week.

Penny's geese

Penny was making strange looking white stuffed things, which when I asked, turned out to be white geese. Of course once that was pointed out I could see the resemblance, and as I was seeing Penny again yesterday I challenged her to show me a finished one. I'm ashamed to say that I then forgot to photograph it! Sorry Penny, hopefully she will bring them in again next week to show us the completed gaggle.

Sharon showed us some striking fabrics she had ice-dyed with Jill over the weekend, along with a

t-shirt dyed in the same way. Above are Sharon and Jill holding up the dyed t-shirt, with another amazing fabric below.

This is such a satisfying method of dyeing for those of us who have tried it before, that showing us these fabrics prompted almost all of us immediately to say "I'll have to go home and do some now!"

Sharon who visits her friend Jill here several times a year for two or three weeks during school holidays and comes along to Sew&Sews meetings when she's here, has endless energy it seems to me. This is the third project I have seen her working on in the short time she's been here this time! Sharon is seen here with a seasonal table runner she has almost completed.

Above, Jan is concentrating really hard threading a needle to continue hemming the binding to finish off her latest patchwork and machine-embroidered quilt, and below is the completed woven crochet blanket made by Maureen and donated as a raffle prize for the exhibition later this year. These lap sized blankets have proved very popular with Spanish visitors to the show in previous years, so we hope to raise even more money for our adopted causes at this coming autumn exhibition, and there are one or two more being made and donated using surplus yarns donated by past members of the group.

That's another week gone by, thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing you next time, Rachel

Back in the seat .........

2014-04-12T19:41:00.003+02:00

It´s great to be back after my trip, and firstly I want to thank Yvonne again for taking photos and doing blog updates while I've been away.
Secondly I must say how lovely the blocks are looking for the Raffle Quilt. I hope everyone enjoyed taking part in the various processes so far, especially those who don't usually work in these techniques. I think the final quilt will look stunning. Thank you again to group member Helen (Bush) for her lovely original drawings.

A couple of the quilted and embroidered blocks

It seems that while I've been away, the final stitches have been put into most of the row-by-row quilts too. I'm hoping they will all make their way back to the hall for photographing when they are finished. Here is Jill adding the last binding stitches to hers below,

and Louise above, doing lots of lovely dense hand quilting. I have to admit to loving the look of this type of quilting. Louise told me that she has found it to be really addictive and keeps finding more areas she can stitch! This is Louise's first venture into the patchwork and quilting world and despite initially being quite scared, I know she is well and truly hooked.

After reading about our newest member Marilyn's bobbin lace making in a previous blog from Yvonne, I was surprised to see her embroidering pretty flowers on small patches, with a pile of patchwork blocks alongside them.

Marilyn has to finish this quilt by June I think, so she has lots to be getting on with over the coming weeks. In the UK Marilyn belonged to both embroidery and quilting groups separately, and was delighted to hear from friends here in Viñuela, about our Group. Marilyn says she was directed to our Group Website saw all the different things our members do and thought that the Group would be an ideal one for her to join.

I enjoyed catching up with Eloise again after many months too. Eloise is making a second Jacobean Fan quilt using foundation piecing.

Eloise, seated, discussing her fan blocks with Christine

Carole below, is making a quilt for her son using up strips left over from previous projects

Jacqueline above, continues to work on her cross-stitch picture and Carol has almost completed her lovely fresh looking tablecloth with white geese waddling all around the edge of it!

Margaret and Sandy worked on their knitting projects, while Rozanne worked on her latest patchwork project.

Margaret, left, Rozanne and Sandy right.

A cushion cover made by Rozanne to go with bunting shown in a recent blog, made for her granddaughter

Penny above right, has been showing Pam how to make Suffolk buttons. Quite an uphill feat as Pam herself admits she is not a hand stitcher, much preferring to work by machine..... less fiddly and quicker too!!

Pam's more preferred method of working, patchwork blocks, ready for a Christmas project

Jill too is thinking of Christmas with this stocking. You´ll get lots of pressies in there Jill!

Helen has almost finished her landscape project

Christine, Cath and Louise

Carol above is modelling a classic style quilted jacket she is modifying slightly, while Sharon below, works on her latest patchwork project.

Sharon had received a parcel of patchwork magazines from a friend in New Zealand, and decided to repay her kindness by making her friend a project from one of the magazines to show her appreciation.

I think that's about it this week, except to apologise for being so late writing this, it won´t be many days before the next meeting, and I´ll be back again!

Have a good weekend, thanks for stopping by. Rachel

Progress being made on the charity quilt blocks......

2014-04-03T19:58:00.002+02:00

Yvonne here again. Let’s start this week off with congratulations to Linda who is now a proud grandma to a baby girl. And secondly an apology to Margaret with her wool and Christine with her dog quilt, the photos were too blurry to publish!

This week the Diversity group had an informal meeting in a corner of the hall. Gwen has made various stamps and tried them out on paper and fabric.

Jenny is helping her with more ideas for the current Diversity challenge "The Journey".

One of Jill’s designs on paper.

Anne’s row-by-row finally taking shape, above and below are two of the panels

Tricia looking at the print she has chosen for the border of her oriental hanging.

Penny is back in town and is showing us a colourful table centre.

Gladys and Margaret with a very large ball of yarn!

An overview of part of the room. Margaret, Shirley and Sandy at the front.

Another new lady joined today, welcome to Marilyn. She brought along her bobbin lace to show us, ¨Oh what tangled webs we weave¨ comes to my mind!! Wow so many bobbins.

Jill’s row-by-row is now quilted and ready for the binding.

Helen H. was working on this delightful cross stitch piece.

I finished this hanging above, inspired by Linda Kemshall of Design Matters T.V. it's hand dyed fabric, free embroidery and mounted on a painted canvas.

Lastly the charity quilt butterfly blocks are getting finished. Three more quilted and two with the embroidery finished, now waiting to be quilted.

That’s all for now folks, happy stitching, see you next time. Yvonne

Happy Birthday Kath............

2014-03-26T09:39:00.003+01:00

Lets start this week off by saying Happy Birthday to Kath and thank you for the cake. We had a visit from Lola this morning, she works in the town hall and was very impressed with our work on the raffle quilt, she will be buying tickets come Oct. Here she is chatting to Jenny and Gwen, both back from trips this week.

Gwen, Jenny and Lola (from left to right)

Cath is making a cushion for her grandson, who seems to have ended up with a black eye after a recent game of footie.

Here we have 2 mug rugs for friends of Pam, aren´t they great fun?

Helen

Lovely to see Helen back, she is doing the Ineke Berlyn Journal Quilt course and this is January's underway.

Rozanne left with Elsje and Catherine

Rozanne seen here learning how to make crocheted balls, she thinks they will make great Christmas tree ornaments with a little tweeking.

Margaret was trying out a bag pattern to the size of Ryanair's new cabin allowance.

Eloise (right), and Vanessa

Eloise is back after being unwell for several months and was putting a lining into some curtains.

Vanessa is going great guns on a quilt for her new baby grandson.

Gladys is still plowing on with crochet squares for the exhibit.

Helen popped in and helped out with some embroidery on one of the butterfly blocks she designed.

Rozanne brought along some bunting she made from left over fabric from a quilt, it is all buttonhole stitched by hand and has her grand-daughter's name appliqued onto it.

Merlynne has been busy embroidering tops for small ceramic boxes, she plans to give them away as gifts.

Linda is still awaiting the arrival of a grandchild, so decided to recyle some wool into a fetching jacket that she modeled for the camera!

Jacqueline is embroidering another panel to go with one she completed some time ago,

and I, Yvonne, have finished a small wall hanging with sashiko stitching. Finally a big thank you to all the ladies that worked on the butterfly blocks. Sorry, no pictures this week they were all whisked away for more work to be done on them. All in all a good meeting with 26 ladies in attendance.

Happy stitching, until next time. Yvonne

Yvonne here reporting in......

2014-03-20T10:47:00.000+01:00

This week Yvonne is back here on blog duty as Linda is on tenterhooks awaiting the arrival of her grandchild, due any day now.

Pam & Ann are still working on their row x row quilts and Linda is knitting a colourful baby jacket, fabulous soft yarn.

Cath's row by row is getting ready to be quilted, just love the country colours and Linda's is in 3 pieces which she feels will be easier to quilt under the domestic machine and join together afterwards.

Christine and Chris seem to be sorting out the world's problems while Louise is working on crochet squares

Carol is sewing small log cabin blocks to make cushions, she is using left over scraps from a quilt, and Christine is making a crochet blanket.

Elsje, Sue & Gladys are all busy with hooks and knitting pins (above), while The new lady Catherine is making a curtain to hang in a Moroccan themed bathroom and knitting a sweater in one piece (not sure about the sleeves!)

The charity quilt is looking good, here is a sneak preview (work in progress).

Vanessa buttonholed around one of the designs today and Margaret was doing some hand embroidery on another whilst Rozanne was hand piecing and chatting. Vanessa, Ann and Carol in the background.

Good to see Tricia back again, she brought along some oriental fabric she hopes to make into a wall hanging. Getting advice from Kath.

Carol is still embroidering her geese.

Ann is finishing the binding on her lovely bright square dance quilt.

And finally we find Jan cutting up the last of the precious steam-a-seam!

Hope to see you all next time, happy stitching ,Yvonne.

Linda here this week.....

2014-03-17T09:54:00.002+01:00

Thanks to Linda for getting these photos and text to me, though I'm a bit late posting them again!

This week twenty four ladies came for a sew, knit and natter!

Jill has put a large section of her Row-by-Row quilt together seen above, and has started quilting it by machine. Ann is also working on her quilt and is seen on the right below, discussing it with Pam who freely admits she didn't apply herself hard this week!

Quite a few ladies were working on panels for the charity quilt to be raffled in October.

Chris and Cath

Gladys and Vanessa

Helen showed us all a bag she has been making for her sister this week. She can't be persuaded to run a workshop though, as many ladies were impressed with her work.

Here she is showing it to Carole (left)

And the finished bag

Carol shared patterns so I imagine we will be seeing more of these cute teddies soon

Carol and teddies

Ann has knitted a baby jacket and mittens for the imminent arrival of my (Linda) first grandchild, so cute, it's just missing the buttons now.

Elsje brought a friend along with her. She is getting started on Christmas decorations already, and is seen here cutting and stitching an angel. Elsje's skirt can be seen on the table next to her friend (apologies - we didn't get your name as it was a busy week). Sorry Elsje, that I didn't get you in the picture too.

Again most ladies left at lunchtime. Although it's warmer outside, it's still a little chilly indoors for sewing all day.

I hope to see everyone again next week with my completed panel for the charity quilt - that is unless my grandchild decides to make an appearance in the meantime. Linda

Just a little footnote from me (Rachel) to say don't forget to pop over to the Group Website . The Member's Stitching Corner has changed, as has the video, along with the usual updates to gallery pages. A new gallery page has been created to enable you to follow progress on our group charity quilt too. At the moment this can be accessed by clicking on the photo in the top right hand corner of our Home page.

Jill also sent me a photo of her charity quilt block (above). It's now ready for the machine applique stitching, then the stems and butterfly eyes etc, will be added in hand-stitched embroidery.

I'm enjoying seeing what you are all getting up to back home while I'm here in beautiful, dry, sunny England, so keep stitching! Rachel

Group Quilt.......

2014-03-13T09:40:00.001+01:00

Many, many apologies for the delay in this posting. Many of you know I am in the UK now and just didn't find the time to write this before leaving. I'm trying to make amends now.
Last week's meeting saw group members make a start on the group charity quilt, to be raffled later this year at our bi-annual exhibition.
We started off by having a general overview of how we would approach this new challenge, and members eagerly awaited their first glimpses of the the sixteen designs Group member Helen Bush has drawn for the quilt blocks. This year's theme is butterflies with a few flowers sprinkled in.
In advance of the meeting, the blocks had been assembled into kits, which included the block drawing and background fabric along with applique fabrics and other materials needed to complete the block. These were soon distributed to the more experienced patchworkers who were then allocated a team mate who would help with tracing and cutting of the applique shapes.

Gwen, Margaret and Rozanne working on their blocks

Yvonne

Louise, Jenny and Katherine

Jenny watching Gladys and Pam

Helen above and Jill below, tracing their designs

Gladys tracing on the lightbox

Margaret's block ready for the machine applique stitching

Cath encouraging a terrified looking Margeret

Christine and Jenny attaching the applique to their backgrounds

The beginnings of Pam and Glady's block

Rozanne painstakingly adding the applique pieces to her butterfly

Jenny and her team with Jan searching through for just the right fabric to complement the wings on her butterfly

Gwen's design above, and Christine's below, ready for the applique machine stitching

I can't wait to see the other blocks as they are made, and at the end of this session we all agreed that this quilt will be stunning when it's finished with one member asking if she could keep the quilt if her raffle ticket was pulled out at the draw as the winner!!

Pam brought in her finished denim and flannel quilt to show us, made from recycled jeans and shirts. She has made this for her son-in-law, who's initials Pam has embroidered in the centre, and says it was quite hard work making it because as it got bigger it became very heavy. All the seams have been snipped individually with small scissors too, so this project was a real labour or love!

Christine has finished this lovely quilt above, all hand needle-turned applique and hand quilted, and just has the binding to add to her class sample Row-by-row quilt below.

Pam and Jill also showed us their finished bags. Pam's bag above and below has a posh pocket inside and motifs front and back

while Jill used more of the same fabric for her motif and added button details to her bag above.

We welcomed Jenny back to the group after a long absence this week. Jenny spent the session working on a new top canopy for her garden swing bed.

As this blog is so late being posted, I already have photos from Linda from the meeting this week but I'll stop here, and I'll post those in a day or two. Don't forget to check out our website to see more of the work made by our talented group members. Have fun stitching, see you all next time and thanks for stopping by. Rachel

Report from Edinburgh Quilt Show.......

2014-03-01T18:17:00.001+01:00

This short upload is from group member Carol Warren who spends her time between her home in Edinburgh and her house here in Spain.
Carol sent the following message and photos which may be of interest to you. I'm sorry I can't credit the makers of the quilts as there is no information with them. Carol says......

"There was some lovely and inspiring work and it's always good to see
new ideas......and of course, the fabrics!!

I thought of the group when I saw the tiny 'sew a row' quilts, just
larger than A4 - now that IS a challenge! "

Thanks Carol, look forward to seeing you soon, Rachel

Happy Birthday Shirley........

2014-02-26T12:43:00.003+01:00

This week we had 22 ladies in attendance but the group went home fairly early, I think it was just a bit too chilly in the hall.

Kath (above left) was getting some advice from Rozanne on a lovely quilt top that she started last year and is now determined to get finished.

Jill was showing off because she has made a start on her Christmas gifts already! 2 table runners underway. She also brought in a bag ( below) that she and a couple of others are making.

Cath was working on a bed runner (below) that she is updating with some embroidery to give it a lift.

Louise was seeking some help on the colours she has chosen for for this quilt top (below).

It was quite a change to see Gladys (below right) at the sewing machine this week, she is usually in the

" knitter's corner ". She was getting some help from Pam with a Dresden Plate design.

Pam also showed us a Rail Fence with a twist that she has just finished after putting it on one side since last year. All the free-motion quilting was done on the small machine she brings along to the group.

After a long absence it was lovely to see Gill again, unable to come on a regular basis at the moment, we look forward to when she can make it back.

Cath & Sheila moved into the sunshine for a while to get warm.

Linda has been working hard and finished a floor quilt for her grandbaby (who isn't with us yet). It is totally reversible with jungle animals on the front and Noah's Ark on the back. Just a couple of weeks work!

Linda's baby quilt with detail below

The reverse of Linda's quilt

Christine is making a couple of large bed cushions in pink (below)

Carol has just started embroidering a pre-printed table cloth that is really cute with geese & flowers.

And last but not least Happy Birthday to Shirley (centre) who brought in cake for everyone.

Bye for now, Yvonne

Russian needlework.......

2014-02-19T13:43:00.000+01:00

Twenty eight ladies attended this week's meeting, including Elena who arrived with a beautiful crochet and ribbon embroidered table cover, which she told us is made in colours typical in Russian needlework The base fabric is a mocha coloured waffle textured cotton, with coordinating crochet cotton. The ribbon embroidery uses regular ribbon stitch and a type of french knot which Elena says is very typical in this type of Russian work. The cloth was made by Elena's mother and given to her as a gift. Elena says she has numerous cloths all made in a similar style in many different shapes and sizes.

An area of Elena's table cover above, with detail below

Elena also brought in more of her unique glass bead tree creations and explained she hopes to generate interest in this Russian style work, by demonstrating and taking commissions of her work at two of our local country craft markets.

Elena (right) and Elsje discussing an order for Sue (standing) for the white tree (above Centre). All the materials for these works of art are sent over from Russia as Elena is unable to find these materials anywhere here in Spain.

Yvonne brought in a small quilt she made in 2001, entirely hand stitched. The applique is needle turned and embellished with embroidery stitching and the quilting is done in tiny stitches Yvonne says she made this in the days when she seemed to have more time to sit and hand stitch, whereas now she's taking part in various workshops and challenges, some through the internet, so she limits her hand stitching to embroidery embellishment, with the majority of her work being pieced on the machine.

Yvonne's quilt with details following

Gladys above, continues with finishing off the donated crochet square blocks for the raffle blanket, while Rozanne, below right, learns from Carol how to braid yarn.

Jenny trying to fathom out from the instruction manual, what the problem is with Pam's machine

The saga of Pam's overlocker that won't stitch properly goes on! The overlocker was given to Pam a while back and will not stitch correctly, so it's been in to the repair shop and is waiting a new foot to replace the old one which had burrs on it and was thought to cause threads to break continually. The existing foot has been sanded to remove the burrs so the thread no longer shreds, but additionally as it stitches the machine un-threads itself. Anyone who has an ovelocker knows just what beasts they are to thread, with the three or four threads needing to be threaded in the correct order or the machine will just not form the stitch correctly, so having to continually stop and re-thread the whole machine while working, is no fun. Jan has previously looked at the machine, Pam has spent countless hours with it and now Jenny spent all morning trying too! Maybe the new foot when it arrives, will miraculously sort the problem out Pam. If not you might just have to admit defeat!!

Jenny's completed sampler quilt

Jenny continues to gain more expertise from the machine embroidery digitizing live webinar course in which she is taking part with an online tutor in Australia. Above is her first digitized applique design, which Jenny says she has kept simple while she masters the technique. Also Jenny is mastering the art of digitizing her own quilting designs in-the-hoop and is pleased with her first attempt at all over quilting in-the-hoop, seen below stitched out over a piece of Jenny's latest hand ice-dyed fabric.

Above, Elsje who joined us about three weeks ago continues working at her dress-making. Elsje came to Spain from Belgium about twenty two years ago and lives in Alcaucin, heard about our group through Linda a couple of years ago, but has only just managed to make time free on Tuesdays so she can join us. Elsje says what a lovely friendly group we are, and how willing everyone is to share their diverse knowledge and skills helping each other to learn. Thank you, Elsje on behalf of the Group members!

Carol trying desperately to avoid the camera, and Helen enjoying a chat above, with Carole below, starting another Scrappy Illusion quilt, this time for her grandson. Carole says she just loves the way this quilt is designed and how easy it is to make up in whichever layout style you choose.

Lesley and Sarah made it again today, three weeks in a row girls!! Hope you manage more visits so you can finish your current projects.

A Seasonal cross stitch sampler completed by Lesley

It was good to see Shirley back from an extended three month trip to the UK, Shirley says it's great to be back and sleep in her own bed and catch up with her stitching friends. We also had a surprise visit from Bridget with a box of books after a clear out at home to make space for new ones. Some of these have been absorbed into our Group library and others taken by Group members after making a donation to the charity we support. While she was here, Bridget says she even managed to get a few stitches done on her project, though she spent most of the time catching up with Group members and looking at all the work being done since she last came to Viñuela.

Bridget on the right, with Chris

While with us Bridget showed me her new "toy", an iPad which she loves and used to take these two photos. Above a rare moment when I sat down and chatted with Yvonne, and below (from left to right), Sue, Rozanne and Shirley. Thanks for the photos and books Bridget. Hope we see you again soon.

I won't be at the meeting next week, and as I forgot to ask nicely to Yvonne if she would take photos there may not be a blog! But I will be back the following week, when we intend starting work proper on the Group charity quilt. One sample block has been made up to show participating members what they will be working on, and invited them to come forward if they are interested in taking part. There is a large group interested so the quilt shouldn't take too long to make. Helen (Bush) has drawn sixteen lovely designs of butterflies with scatterings of flowers and leaves which will look lovely on the cream background fabric chosen for the quilt. Helen has also offered to do any embroidery needed on the butterflies and flowers, an offer which I am sure we will be taking up!

I hope you have enjoyed reading what our members have been up to this week, see you next time, Rachel

Better late than never!!

2014-02-14T20:29:00.000+01:00

Sorry ladies, I´m very late with this weeks blog, I won't bore you with the reasons because they are not very good ones! Instead I 'll just get straight on with photos and updates.
I think attendance this week reached an all time high, with twenty eight regular members and three new ladies all being creative in their respective fields of work.
A local Spanish lady spotted us taking photographs outside the hall the week before, and came over to see what we were doing. Rosa used to pop in and say hello when we were in the old hall in the village and didn't realize we had moved into this new building. She lives just along the road so asked if she could come and join us on Tuesdays. We were delighted to welcome her and she arrived this week with her trolley full of her own work to show us. Like many Spanish ladies of her generation she makes beautiful crochet items. She showed us a very large table cloth. It was too big and delicate to photograph easily, but the one below is a smaller example of her work.

One of Rosa´s crochet table covers

A little pin cushion made by Rosa, sitting on another piece of Jill's ice-dyed fabrics

Rosa also brought along this little pin cushion (above) made from a CD and empty fish can, and the lightweight top (below), which Rosa explained she has made from strips of 50mm wide purchased cotton lace, sewn together horizontally for the body, with two separate tubes added after being made up in the same way, for the sleeves. Rosa would like to learn how to dress-make and left the meeting this week telling us she will buy a pattern and bring it next week with her fabric and hopes Vanessa will help her learn. Rosa will only be working by hand in the meetings, as she says she can't bring her machine along to class like other members.... she owns an ancient treadle machine but says it stitches beautifully.

Rosa's cotton lace top

This week we also welcomed Elena who is Russian and was introduced to us by her friend Elsje who herself only joined us last week. Elena makes intricate beaded ornaments replicating trees and flowers.

A beaded bonsai tree (above) and beaded branches waiting to be made into a tree (below)

Back with our regular members, Kath brought in a finished quilt for her friend Sue,

Kath's finished quilt

while Jill is making progress with her striking circles quilt (above) and Lesley (below) is adding more to her Cotswolds-themed cross stitch piece.

Lesley's daughter-in-law Sarah, is seen (above) cutting the sashing for her son's Thomas the Tank Engine quilt, with Gwen alongside her, trimming off the edges to a slashed bag she's making using some gorgeous fabric (below)

Seats and tables were at a premium this week as can be seen from the following photos , maybe we will have to start a waiting list for new members soon!

New member Elena at the top of the table, with Vanessa in red, Rozanne hiding behind Elle and Kath (nearest)

The regular knitting circle, (clockwise left to right) Sue, Sheila, Margaret at her machine, Maureen and Margaret

Row-by-Row participants

And at the other end of the hall the Row-by-Row workshop is nearing the end. Christine thinks that most members will have made their final strips in another two weeks, and will then just have to join the strips to each other and add a binding to finish off their quilts or wall hangings.

If you head over to our website www.vinuelasewandsews.eu after this weekend's update, (hopefully Sunday night) you'll be able to see many of the row components made by those taking part in this workshop. There are too many to show here, and I don't want to upset anyone by only showing a few of them!! I´m really looking forward to seeing the completed projects, and I think they will make a striking display at our exhibition in the autumn.

That's it for this week, thank you for stopping by, see you next week, Rachel

Welcome to another new member......

2014-02-05T14:02:00.000+01:00

We welcomed another new member this week at our meeting. Elizabeth heard about our group from neighbour Linda Hood. Elizabeth enjoys dressmaking and spent the morning making use of our large tables to cut out her new project.

Ann advising Elizabeth (standing )

There was a variety of work going on this week, the Row-by-Row girls had a break from their project and brought in other work for a change.

Jill is working in beautiful batik fabrics to make a circles quilt

Last week I mentioned another project Jill is working on, making yo-yo's for a quilt, so she brought these in to show us. Jill says she is really hooked on making these, so I'm not sure how big this quilt will end up!

A striking blue wall hanging also made by Jill recently

Another completed project by Jill

Jill was really excited when she showed us the results of some "ice-dyeing" she did during the week, this piece of fabric is one of several.

And the t-shirt markings (below) are fascinating when we were told that the t-shirt was just crumpled up and placed in the bottom of the bucket below the tray of fabrics, where the melted ice and dye powders collect. It's such an unpredictable way of dyeing, and very easy to do.

Ann brought along the component rows of her Row-by-Row quilt, after pointing out that although I have been photographing the workshop progress, hers are the only ones not featured so far. Well I'm very sorry Ann and I make amends here!!

Modules from Ann's project

Actually I hadn't photographed any of Louise's modules either, so hers are here too (below). This is the first time Louise has attempted patchwork, and she says she's really enjoying it. Judging by her attention to accuracy and detail I think we'll be seeing more patchwork quilt projects from Louise in the future.

Modules from Louise's project

It was good to see Sarah and mum-in-law Lesley back with us this week

Gladys (above) is one of the Group members who have volunteered to finish off the ends and join some of the unfinished crochet squares donated to the group by Sue Stead's family after her death last year. We intend to raffle the resulting blanket at our exhibition later in the year. Gladys is seen struggling here as she forgot her glasses when getting ready to come to the group today!

Maureen (above) is also working on a rug to be raffled at the exhibition. Maureen is using yarns kindly donated by Maggie's family after her death also last year. These crochet and woven rugs were popular at our last exhibition so we hope they prove as popular this year, and help to raise funds for local families in need.

Good to see Cath back from her trip seen here (right) chatting with Kath

And Carol visiting from Edinburgh too after a long abscence

Christine and Merlyne, making use of precious sunlight from the window

Helen brings her own light, much needed for this intricate gold work

Jenny (above) is braiding with the use of a clever polystyrene frame, while Carol (below left) continues to work on Savannah's fleece blanket while chatting with Yvonne who continues to quilt her sampler quilt.

Tiny booties, knitted by Carol

I will be asking Gladys for a copy of this pattern for sure, I think he's adorable!

That's it for another week here in Andalucia, I hope you've enjoyed seeing what our members have been up to this past week or so, don't forget to pop over to our website, where the Stitching Corner has been updated along with additions to members galleries, and a new video has been put up. This time it's the embroidery techniques of textile artist Gilda Baron. Till next time have a creative week. Rachel

Electricity and sun back this week......

2014-01-29T19:33:00.000+01:00

The sun shone this week so the hall seemed a little warmer than it has been the last couple of weeks, even though we had to make a drastic cut in the number of heaters used after I got told off for using so many appliances when I went to the town hall last week with cap in hand asking them to sort out the fuse box for us when it went bang from being overloaded!
Twenty three ladies came with a variety of things to show each other. First off were two of Rozanne's beautiful quilts, as always, worked entirely by hand. One was a very large white wholecloth quilt which unfortunately doesn't photograph too easily. The other, a smaller strippy quilt in subtle colouring. Rozanne says these quilts each take approximately six months to complete.

Detail from Rozanne's wholecloth quilt

Jenny continues to work on the traditional quilt left with her to be finished by a neighbour, and is now nearing the end of the commission, with just the layering up with wadding and backing fabric, then adding the quilting.

Jill is enjoying making "yo-yos" with scraps of fabric for a lap quilt for her lounge and heard Yvonne say she had made a quilt many years ago using "suffolk puffs" as they used to be called before Clover made a plastic gadget to make the puffs more easily. Yvonne made them the traditional way by running a gathering thread around the fabric edge and pulling it tight to create the puff shapes, and brought in her quilt to show us.

Yvonne's quilt above, made 10 years ago, with details of the Suffolk Puffs below

Louise showed us two crochet projects she has completed recently. The striking hexagonal design blanket is to be used in her home, while the lilac and lemon blanket is a baby gift

Even though Linda is taking part in the Row-by-Row project she has found time to complete this small stained-glass wall hanging.

Linda and Louise working on the Row-by-Row project

Ann working on the individual modules in her next Row

Pam working on the modules in her Row, while members in the background admire Yvonne's Suffolk Puff quilt

Some of Pam's paper pieced blocks

Jill and Helen working on their modules

At the other end of the hall it was buy too, with various projects being worked on from cross stitch to applique projects. Christine seen above in a white jacket, has just completed her Mackintosh Rose cross stitch. Christine says it just needs a press and then its ready for framing.

Jenny continues to bind her quilt while Jan helps Katherine un-jam her machine.

Before Yvonne could complete the quilting on a sampler quilt she needed a stencil. As she couldn't find the original one, thinking she'd loaned it to someone and it hadn't been returned, Yvonne spent the morning drafting and cutting out a new stencil from stiff template plastic, then as she was getting packed up ready to leave, she discovered the original one in the depths of her bag!! Carol seen here with Yvonne, spent the session stitching the applique letters to a quilt she's making for her niece Savanah.

It was great to welcome Margaret ( sitting in the back of the photo above) back from her extended stay in the UK after knee surgery. Margaret seems like a different person after the successful surgery has put paid to the pain she's really struggled with for the last ten years. Margaret says she can walk pain free for some distance these days and actually enjoys going out and about again enjoying the countryside.

Merlynne working on her cross stitch project

Christine taking a break from the Row-by-Row project she's teaching, is binding a runner

The Blackwork design above, is being made by Ann . Ann tells me that for her daughter's eighteenth birthday she paid to have her room decorated, but didn´t "give" her a present so said she'd make something for her later. The delicate variegated grey thread will match her room perfectly says Mum Ann.

Jacqueline working on her latest cross stitch project

Vanessa spent the whole morning standing cutting triangles out of fabrics she bought for a new project after finding a new Patchwork shop nearby in Rincon de La Victoria. She can be seen here looking at the instructions for this project which she has downloaded on to her Kindle. Vanessa says this is proving a really helpful gadget and says she finds it very easy to download patterns for patchwork or crochet and can so easily carry them around with her wherever she works

Vanessa with a crochet project she began last week while waiting to buy her fabrics

Part way through the morning we gathered round to have a chat about the plans for our future exhibition in the Autumn. While I was in the town hall last week, the Mayor gave his approval for the event to be held in our regular meeting hall in Viñuela, so after a show of hands from Group Members, it was decided that this will be the venue for the exhibition this year. Members put forward various thoughts and ideas and once we have confirmed the date, plans will go ahead in earnest. The earliest thing we have to do is send advertising copy to the big patchwork magazines as they require these details months ahead of events.

I hope you enjoy seeing what our members get up to each week, and please don't forget to pop over to our Website to see the Members' Gallery updates which change each week. Rachel

Well attended meeting cut short........

2014-01-22T11:59:00.001+01:00

It was great to see twenty eight of our regular members in this week's meeting, with so many varied projects on the go.

The Row-by-Row workshop ladies continued with their project, above Christine can be seen helping Ann decide on the placement of shapes and colours in her next panel, while below, Pam can be seen making her fabric choices.

Linda working on her panel, with Helen doing Redwork stitching, and Cath deciding on her fabric choices and placements. Below, Louise getting to grips with techniques in her first ever patchwork project.

Christine's class sample showing the latest panel of tulips and checkerboard

Sheila knitting her latest project

Jacqueline brought a new cross stitch project to work on

Sue, Margaret and Maureen working on their knitting and crochet projects, while Gladys has begun working again on a patchwork quilt project started some time ago.

Jenny (centre) seeking advice from Yvonne and Kath, on which fabric is best for the next border on the quilt she has been commissioned to complete by a Dutch neighbour. This is proving quite a challenge for Jenny as there is insufficient of the project fabrics to complete the quilt to the size the she has been asked to make the quilt to. The project was started many, many years ago, and Jenny is finding it almost impossible to find modern day fabrics that are compatible with those already in the quilt, but she is not giving up!

Jenny then showed us another quilt she has been working on for herself. This project cleverly combines modern patchwork designs with traditional style blocks. Jenny is taking part in a Craftsy free sampler workshop and is using machine embroidery stitches to quilt each block. With only the binding to be hemmed down, the quilt will soon be in use.

One of the blocks with traditional hexagons and embroidery stitch quilting

It was good to see Merlynne and Christine back after extended trips to the UK, Christine has almost finished her cross stitch version of a distinctive Rennie Mackintosh rose design seen below

Rozanne is working on a quilt, which again has been pieced entirely by hand, reproducing a quilt design layout originally made in approximately 1924 and featured in a book showing the original quilts together with details of their makers, seen below

Rozanne marking the quilting lines on her quilt, using a glass as a template as it's the perfect size circle!

Helen is still working on her gold-work embroidery design, saying she feels it seems like it's never going to get finished! The work is designed by Helen and uses numerous types of gold thread, together with tiny seed beads, and small amounts of padded applique in the center of some of the flowers. Maybe Helen will finish it in time to display it at the Group exhibition later this year.

Elle too is working on an embroidered picture, but is working in silk Ribbon on a pre-printed background, one of the Di van Niekerk designs Elle is distributor for in Spain.

Last but not least this week, we must welcome our newest member Katherine, who will be coming to our Tuesday meetings with Jenny and Louise from Sedella. Katherine has just bought herself a new machine and plans bringing it next time to try out the embroidery stitches before deciding what project she will work on.

Unfortunately, despite such good attendance today, the session came to an abrupt halt with bang at 12.30 as there was an overload on the electric panel. No amount of persuasion by removing appliances would get it back on so without any warmth from heaters or hot drinks, most members called it a day by 1.30pm.

I hope to see you all again next week, with normal service resumed! Rachel

Another New Year for our VSS group ...........

2014-01-17T11:50:00.002+01:00

A belated Happy New Year to you all. It's been a bit of a hectic week for me, so I'm a bit late with our first blog of the year!
Despite all sorts of illnesses going around here and some regular members still away on holidays , eighteen of our regular members were keen to get back into their creative zones this Tuesday.
After a general show-and-tell amongst ourselves and a chat about what we had been doing since our last meeting, we had a more formal discussion concerning a few changes to Group membership, which have been needed for some time as the we are growing in size, and about plans for this coming year for the Group. Members are keen to take part in the making of a Group quilt to be raffled to raise funds for charity and a general discussion ensued about our forthcoming exhibition in the Autumn. Dates and the venue will be announced once confirmed with the relevant parties.
It was great to see Helen with us again seen here with Yvonne and Jill

I forgot to ask Jill why she is standing up crocheting. Each time I looked across at her she was busy making a long crochet chain but was standing up doing it!

Carole turning up trousers for a change, instead of doing her usual patchwork

Kath setting up the new library service

Margaret, Gladys, Sue and Sheila knitting and chatting

Margaret brought in two projects she has been working on and says they were a lot kinder to her fingers than the topsy-turvy dolls which she had been making, as they used much bigger needles.

This thick jacket still needs it's toggles and the fish bellow needs his eyes, then they'll be complete

HelenH has been making cushion covers for her niece (I think I have that right!) and herself.

Above and below one side of one of Helen's cushions

One of a pair of cushion's for Helen's niece

I brought in one of my current projects to show members. While I should have been working on the Creative Sketchbook course I am taking part in on the Internet, run by The Kemshalls, instead I have been working on an applique wall hanging over the Holiday period. I have incorporated fabric painted leaves and used Inktense crayons, (which act like watercolour when water and fabric medium are added), to the fabric appliqued flower shapes to give them some depth. All the fabrics used are some of my own hand-dyed fabrics. I used a design and layout for the upper irises made available by The Kemshalls , but the jug and lower flower stem are my own additions to the original design

This is my hanging with all the paint and Inktense crayon work heat set with the iron, ready to be layered up with wadding and a backing

The iris above is fussy-cut from one piece of fabric, then the petal outlines and shadows have been added with Inktense crayons to give the flower some definition, as seen in the photo below. They appear different colours because I took one photo with artificial light at night and the other in daylight. I'm no photographer!!

I have really enjoyed this way of working, mixing traditional applique with art materials, and intend using more of my ice-dyed fabrics in this way on future projects.

Yvonne brought in her framed silk ribbon embroidery, made during a recent workshop taught by Elle.

While Christine works on her Row-by-Row project in the background, Pam showed me some of the denim fabrics cut and ready to be used in her latest quilt project. Pam is asking for donations of denim please, it can be old jeans, or denim shirts from anyone who has them stashed away. All donations will be gratefully received by Pam. Pam intends backing the quilt with flannel or warm brushed cottons in place of regular patchwork cotton fabric.

Next week the Row-by-Row workshop led by Christine will continue, and I for one will be continuing my silk ribbon workshop with Elle in between taking photos for the next blog!

Until then, have a good week, don't forget to check into our Group website where members galleries are updated regularly and at present there is a new video to watch. Hope to see you next time.

Rachel

Last meeting of 2013........

2013-12-20T20:01:00.001+01:00

Before reporting on this week's meeting I must thank Yvonne, Carol and Ann for keeping the blog going while I visited family back in the UK. It was very much appreciated by me and those who like to see what our Group gets up to every Tuesday.

Jan has apparently held a secret dream of having an "English afternoon tea party" with the Group and this dream was realised at our last Group meeting of 2013 this week.

Jan rallied members to make sandwiches, quiches, flans and pastry delights, cakes and cheesecakes, suggesting that members bring their own china tea cups and saucers and plates to help get in the spirit of the occasion. One or two brought lovely cake stands and serving plates and several china teapots, and Pam and Ann provided a few flower table decorations too. There were several varieties of teas available to complement the food, and part way through the event our Spanish member Maria joined us and brought along half a dozen bottles of Rioja! Maria has been unable to attend meetings for several months due to ill health, but it's good to hear she is on the road to recovery, although she can't join us yet as she is working again in the village.
Tricia made her signature iced and marzipaned fruit cake, this now seems to have become a yearly tradition. Thanks Tricia it was delicious with that addition of special brandy! In fact all the food was lovely, and amazingly there was very little left at the end of the day, there seemed such a lot as the table was being prepared and at one stage Jan suggested we may need to put a notice outside offering some to anyone passing by! We did invite our friendly bread-man, who brings our lunch every Tuesday to come in and have a look and taste, which he happily did.

Twenty five regular members gathered for this last meeting of the year and despite the festive atmosphere, many still managed to do some stitching and knitting during the morning.

While Rozanne continues to hand quilt, Margaret and Gladys are knitting

The topsy-turvy Cinderella doll above and below has been made by Margaret

Lots going on at the table behind Margaret and Gladys

This trio of Santas, made by Gwen have now got their stuffing and will look great in her Xmas table display

Helen setting up her work area.

Helen showed me the work she has been doing for the group, designing and drawing the butterfly blocks for the next charity quilt project which we will be starting work on in the New Year. It´s our hope that any members who would like to, can take part in the project even if they are not usually patchworkers. The designs will be fused to background blocks using the raw-edge technique, a stage which non stitchers can work on, then machine work to applique them can be done by others. Those members who enjoy embroidery can do their bit by embellishing the blocks with embroidery and beadwork before they are joined together and finally quilted.

Louise and Sheila enjoying a chat

Jill, Helen and Ann doing hand stitching close to the heater to keep warm!

Jacqueline, Maureen and Sandy enjoying a cuppa and chat

Jan thanking everyone for their part in making such a lovely spread possible

Jenny and Yvonne..... and this was before the wine arrived!!

I´d like to end this last blog of the year by taking a moment to remember some of our friends and families no longer with us. To all our readers near and far, I send you all Seasons Greetings and good wishes for a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2014. Thank you for supporting us by reading our blog, we will be back in the New Year, after a break of three weeks or so.

Rachel