Sunday 14 December 2014

QuiltCon Charity Quilt, the final push

Two nights of hard graft (aided and abetted by chocolate and cake, sewing is hungry work you know) had produced a copious amount of 4.5, 8.5 and 12.5 inch blocks but we still needed one final push to get our vision for the QuiltCon charity quilt realised.

Jane, Helen, Anne and Fiona stepped up to the mark and in what can only be described as a marathon piecing session they pulled together the previous 2 nights of sewing.


Almost running out of the background fabric, a little creative cutting saved the day!


We particularly loved the selfie taken at the end of the session, look at the clock in the background! A huge thanks to these ladies and in particular Jane who took the quilt top home to finish off the last of the piecing.

The top is now with our very own amazing long arm quilter Tatyana. Watch this space to see what wonders she works with our quilt!

QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge - getting started


To say we were excited about entering the Quiltcon Charity Quilt challenge is an understatement! The thought of having our quilt displayed alongside others from Modern quilt guilds at the Quiltcon was too good an opportunity to pass up.
The brief is challenging but with enough scope for each guild to have their very own unique interpretation. Looking through the #quiltconcharityquilt feed on instagram shows the huge variety of interpretations.
The colour palette was set, the fabrics purchased and donated, we simply had to get together to sew the blocks, and sew we did! Two dates were set for the guild members to meet and sew in our guild HQ - mybearpawcraft we made 3 different sizes of blocks, 4.5, 8.5 and 12.5 improv squares, showing off the fabulous colour palette chosen for the challenge.



The first nights crew, sewing up a storm.


A fabulous selection of blocks from the first night, this done in only 2 hours of sewing! The grey fabric background is going to be the actual background of the quilt


A second nights sewing produced even more blocks, but still not enough to fulfil the needs of our quilt.


Saturday 15 November 2014

November meeting

Wow well what a November meeting! It was Lucys birthday and she chose to spend her birthday evening at the guild meeting (good choice Lucy)
Lucys husband contacted Jo and arranged for a birthday cake to be delivered to the meeting. Lucy is always one of the first to get up to help make the teas and coffees so we were all warned to keep her in her seat while Jo got the cake ready.



Yes there were tears, and not just from Lucy! Well done Lucys husband, you're a keeper.
Next up were the bee blocks from last month, first up were Sheenas blocks - look!

 Sheena designed her own block using the colours and logo of the Legion Scotland, the charity she works for. The quilt will be raffled off to raise funds for the charity.
Next up was ME! (Sheila - @budsmam)
I asked for a simple Scottish Plaid block, asking the ladies to pick their own colour. How fabulous are these:

Not sure how they will be laid out but they will become a linus quilt, so bright and colourful, perfect.
Lucy didnt make last months meeting so she laid out her bee blocks too, they will be a quilt for her nieces baby. This will be an incredible quilt:
Show and tell was next, still full up with cake the members showcased an incredible variety of quilted things. Look at Barbaras tree skirt:
Helens hand appliqued quilt was incredible, the choice of colours the stitching, well done Helen!


I didnt manage to get a picture of Tatyanas amazing mini quilt, you will just have to take my word for this that it is totally AMAZING :-)
And what about Fiona's quilt for her son:
A perfect example of deceptively simple piecing showcasing great fabric choice and placement.
Roll on December!


Sunday 19 October 2014

Sheila's Biog and Bee Block

Hello there, Sheila here, or if you are on social media, I'm @budsmam.



I have always crafted, my main passion for many decades was embroidery, I did a lot of hardanger and speciality embroidery. Much like this ‘Around the world in 80 stitches’ sampler I recently completed.


I hurt the tendons in my arm almost 10 years ago which put paid to the large amount of stitching I did. I now have to ration the amount of fine needlework I do. This took me into the world of patchwork, not too many tendon issues there!
I have attended many classes, quite a few of Jo's fab classes but also learned so much online from the various swaps and bees which are a constant factor of online life.
This is a quilt I made from the scrappy Trip Around The World quilt bee.


I love scrappy quilts and am so chuffed with my scrappy Farmers Wife quilt, took me 3 years but I love it.


I am so pleased to be in the Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild, what a great bunch of ladies. My block is the traditional Scottish Plaid Block, there are many guides online to this block and in books of patterns, my block finishes at 12.5 inches, it has a centre square of 6.5 inches, two smaller squares of the centre fabric at 3.5 inches each, then two rectangles of 6.5x3.5 and two more of 9.5x3.5.
I asked that each block be made up of one colour, the choice is up to the chooser! The vast majority of my quilts go to Project Linus and this one will go too. A lovely bright quilt for some child to enjoy and cuddle.


Finally here is why I am @budsmam, sadly no longer with us but he was my best friend for 11 years, he was Bud and I was his mam.




Sheena's Biog and Bee Block


Whilst I'm a recent new comer to patchwork and quilting, I was brought up in a crafty household with a knitting and dress making mum (mind you, didn't all mums do this in the 1960's and 1970's?!).   Therefore I have always done some sort of sewing from making my own clothes as a teenager to lots of curtains and some upholstery more recently.


I did a patchwork evening class back in the early 1990's whilst living in Wiltshire and made a couple of things then including my first quilt: a lap quilt made of liberty fabrics that I went to the Liberty shop in London especially to buy combined with gold upholstery fabric (from the sublime to the ridiculous in terms of fabric - and better than it sounds, honest!).  And whilst really enjoying patchwork & quilting, life then got in the way.  Having said that I did keep going to quilt shows just to 'have a look' but I didn't do any more patchwork until three or four years ago when I moved back to Edinburgh and joined the Quilters Guild and attended every workshop that I could find.


I am currently working my way through learning different techniques and am greatly looking forward to having my attic converted in the new year as one of the rooms will be my sewing room.  Bliss!!!  I've also promised myself a new all singing, all dancing sewing machine with money left to me by my mum - a nice memory of her as she was a keen sewer.


For my Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guild B-block I have decided to try to design a quilt to raffle to raise money for the charity I work for (I run the marketing & fundraising for Legion Scotland, a charity that helps Scottish veterans, whether they left service yesterday or 50 years ago). This makes use of the charity's logo and brand colours which are two shades of blue and bright red (these represent the army, navy and airforce).



Wednesday 15 October 2014

October's meeting


Just a quick post about last night's meeting. First of all thanks so much to Audrey for taking the minutes (unfortunately Jane couldn't make it) and all the photos here.

We spent a while discussing the charity quilt project and looking at the fabric that had arrived (plus some pieces from member's stash).

We decided to have 2 separate evenings to get to work on the quilt, Tuesday 4th November and Friday 14th November. This way hopefully everyone can make at least one of the evenings and if we split in to 2 groups there will be enough room in the studio for working. So can you please email me to let me know which date you can do or if you can do both dates. I will then produce a rota and let you all know which date to come. Fortunately our November meeting will be between the 2 evenings so we can discuss progress with all the group.


At show and tell Janice showed us her quilt top from her bee blocks. isn't it stunning??!! This is going to make an amazing quilt. I think everyone wanted to start a project using shirts after seeing this!


Sheena presented her Bee blocks (above), she is using the logo from the Royal British Legion Scotland where she works. There will be more info about this in a separate post later.


These are Sheila's blocks, called Scottish Plaid (I think), she wants you to choose your favourite colour. Again more details in a separate post.
Jackie also presented her block for November as she won't be here. We will recap next month for anyone that missed it, but it's Christmassy!
Audrey will type up the minutes and send out next week. Thanks again Audrey!

Saturday 11 October 2014

Luke Haynes Lecture


Last night our guild hosted it's first event, and what an event to start with!

We were so lucky to have Luke Haynes come and talk to us about his work and show us some of his amazing quilts.


Luke was an excellent speaker, very funny, charming, and really fascinating. He is a true artist who's just bursting with original ideas.

He's also a very skilled quilter. You can see Fiona and Lucy below, getting up close and personal with his quilts!


Luke was so generous in sharing his techniques and knowledge with us and answering all our questions, and afterwards he chatted to everybody over tea and cake. I think Pauline may have commissioned her own quilt before the night had ended!


I managed to get some photos of the quilts laid out on the table. I couldn't take photos of them being held up as I was holding one of the corners!
One of the most interesting things about Luke's quilts is that he only uses recycled clothes, so they are made from a huge mix of textures, as you can see by the furry areas above.


This is one of Luke's small, self portraits. You can see his straight line heavy quilting here which he does himself on a long-arm. He also likes to use a different coloured bobbin thread which gives a fantastic effect on the back of the quilt.


More recycled clothes, you can see a Gap label in the piece above. These smaller pieces are used for his workshops, which are about de-constructing clothes.


Here's Luke, clearly having fun during the refreshments.
It really was a fabulous night and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I for one was bowled over by Luke and his art.


Thanks so much to Pauline, Fiona and Anne for making the delicious cake - I managed 2 pieces!


And a HUGE thank you to Pauline's husband Craig who, like a knight in shining armour, totally saved the whole event by rushing around with a spare laptop and helping us hook it up after a problem with the projector cable. The whole event may not have gone ahead without him!

And lastly here's to many more EMQG events!

A few more photos added by Lucy - thanks Lucy!



Tuesday 30 September 2014

Meet Lucy

Hi everyone, Lucy here. 

Early childhood memories and photographs remind me of the fact that I was a “cloth kits” kid. My mum would make me some unusual clothes from pre-printed fabric patterns and make my sister and I wear them. I was usually in red and my sister in blue, somehow my brother escaped the privilege! I do remember the lovely noise of scissors cutting through endless yards of fabric; and my sister and I using my mum's machine to make perforations in paper to make stamps for our post office.

I really had no other connections with sewing or quilting until my last daughter was born over 6 years ago. A lovely girl Sarah, was in my antenatal group, she worked at Avery Homestore and introduced me to Jo and the world of sewing.


I went to Jo’s Log Cabin class and made my first cushion cover and was hooked. I loved the fact that you could make something look really good from just sewing bits of fabric together. I went on to enjoy more classes and finally made a quilt for Molly (my middle one) – who still giggles at the corners of her quilt – precision is not my strong point.


Cara’s (my little one) quilt was made with stars and squirrels – she loves it. 


Jenny (my oldest one) has her peekaboo quilt through in Glasgow with her. The latter is probably my favourite as it took lots of thought and a little skill to remember how to do the peekaboo love hearts.


I have chosen a child friendly Bee Block to make a cot quilt for my niece. She is expecting a little baby in January. She was diagnosed with cancer aged 19 and she was told that she would not be able to become pregnant after all her treatments, but incredibly she is and she and the bump are doing very well. So a bright, fun, happy quilt will be a perfect gift from the mad great aunt (to be) to her little miracle baby.

Saturday 27 September 2014

Meet Audrey


I have been sewing all my life, starting with wee outfits for my Sindy doll. I went to Queen Margaret College( as it was in those days) and became a teacher of Home Economics. I have thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this creative and challenging work.

You could call me a jack of all trades and master of none as I enjoy all skills needed for my work. If I am not sewing , spending time with my three adorable grandsons, gardening or singing with the Pentland Singers then you could find me baking and decorating all sorts of cakes.

Patchwork and quilting only began again three years ago when due to a fractured kneecap I was unable to work. What joy! Every cloud and all that. I love to learn different skills and techniques and joining the EMQG allows me to experience the ideas and enthusiasm from the others in the group. What a talented bunch.


Tuesday 23 September 2014

September's Bee Blocks


Here's Margaret's completed August blocks (minus mine which is coming soon!).


Katie's courthouse steps blocks - lovely and colourful!


These teacup blocks are Audrey's choice for the Jelly Rolls. You should all have been given paper patterns to foundation piece this cute block. Make sure your handles all go to the right.


And lastly Lucy's blocks for the Layer Cakes. This was featured in one of the Love Patchwork and Quilting magazines. Make 4 blocks, chop them into quarters and re distribute to make 4 circles again.

  Christmas in March! For this month only i'm handing over the blog (mostly) to Mags Scammell. She is the host of tonight's ceremony...