Repeat After Me.....

I must not buy any more fabric!  I must not buy any more fabric! LOL  Of course, now I've said that you'll want to see what I've  been buying and I've forgotten to take a photo and I'm in a rush now so I'll have to show you my sins later.  

So, where have I been shopping?  Today was our local Quilt group meeting for Region 10 of the Quilters Guild and, horror of horrors, they have traders there to tempt you!  "It wasn't my fault mi'lud!".  Oh, hang on a minute, I'll go and photograph my stuff.

These were all (mostly!) going cheap from a lady who was closing her shop or from fabrics brought along by group members to sell.  I thought the letters might come in useful for something and it was only £2.  If anyone wants a bit let me know and I'll fussy cut some for you (don't all rush at once!)

Then I got tempted by Ineke Berlyn's book which I have seen several times and resisted but I was feeling weak today. ;o)  I do love Ineke's work.  I bought her book of Landscape in Contemporary Quilts long before I started sewing seriously just because it was so beautiful to look at and I thought it might inspire my paintings.  

(This photo above doesn't look as if the group was very well attended but I think everyone was off getting drinks and chatting somewhere).

Ok.  That's the confession over with!  This is the second Quilters Guild meeting I've been to and I really enjoyed it again today.  The days tend to be informal and friendly and there is time to natter and see what everyone has been working on, as well as chance to stock up on a few things if you need to.  The morning soon drifts into lunch and then the invited speaker makes their presentation.  Today it was the turn of Liz Hands who lives near Lincoln and who was a very entertaining and informative speaker.  (Sorry I can't find any internet links for Liz but I have her email address if anyone wants to contact her for classes).

Liz is a most generous quilter in that she was happy to share her work methods with us and also wasn't precious about us handling the quilts after her talk.  As you can see from the photo she covers a wide spectrum of work and, even though I may not wish to take up all the things she is able to teach I could see how some of the skills would enable me to make the kind of non-traditional work I am interested in.  In fact, attending the group today has solved several problems that I was having with the construction of my quilt for the Festival of Quilts.

Liz's 'face' quilts are quite dramatic and this quilt above was her response to the events of 9/11.  

I think lots of people wonder whether to bother joining groups, especially if they don't see themselves as traditional quilters, but I am enjoying my membership of the Quilters Guild.  I joined the guild in the hope that it would link me up with people locally who were involved in quilting and art quilting and that it would be a way of finding people to teach me the skills to get me where I want to be.  I'm pleased to say that so far I've not been disappointed.  Lincolnshire is a bit spread out and Region 10 covers a large area but the meetings move around to give everyone a chance to go without having to travel too far.  If, like me, you are new to textiles, you could find it useful to join the Quilters Guild.  On top of local groups there is the Quilt Museum in York which offers workshops at very reasonable (cheap!) prices and there are special interest groups within the guild like the Contemporary Quilt Group which has a Yahoo group so there is always someone to answer questions and share things with. (here endeth the advert for the Quilters Guild! lol)

I'll keep this vaguely short as I am off out tonight for a couple of hours for a reunion with work colleagues, some of whom I haven't seen for 14 years or more.  Hope I can remember their names! :o))  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Oops! I nearly forgot.  Look who's living in our garden,

There are three baby blackbirds and they're getting bigger and noisier every day.  Sweet!