Author: Cat Nichol

Tonight was our AGM. Sue began the meeting, presenting her report of a successful year. Sue was thanked for her contribution as chair before she stepped down. Teresa has taken over as chair, relinquishing her role as Treasurer. Jane has taken over the role of Treasurer. Sally was voted onto the committee. After the AGM, members had the opportunity to buy from the Bring 'n' Buy before Show and Tell, including some more Christmas Challenge Premmie quilts. We have made over 100 premmie quilts this year.

Here are some of the beautiful quilts we saw in Show and Tell:

There were 9 Christmas Challenge Premmie quilts donated, as well as 7 non-Christmas ones. Here are a few of them:

September's meeting was very well attended despite the dreadful weather. Jennie Currie gave us a very interesting talk about her crafting journey and business. We had opportunities to buy from her haberdashery stall at bargain prices. More details in the Autumn Newsletter.

It was time to show off the Christmas Challenge premmie quilts, 27 altogether at this meeting, with more to come at October's meeting. There were also 5 non-Christmas premmie quilts donated. Here are a few of both types.

There were also a few lovely items in Show and Tell.

On a lovely warm evening, members came together to enjoy a talk by Trish Grammer, who runs Fabrica Trading Station, importing beautiful and colourful Shweshwe fabrics from South Africa. Trish explained how she came to make her first quilt, which she displayed at the meeting, and a little about the history of Shweshwe fabrics in SA. She had brought along a good selection of fabrics for purchase, as well as other items she sells.

We also shared a supper, our usual way of celebrating the end of the summer holidays together, with members having brought a huge selection of delicious food, both savoury and sweet.

There were also some lovely quilts in Show and Tell:

Our meeting on a lovely, warm summer's evening was well attended. Gail, aided by Rita, did a demonstration of how to use Apliquick, which method they have both used for their fine applique work.

Rita brought along her unfinished quilt which features a lot of applique using Appliquick.

Gail brought her beautiful appliqued flowers quilt, which had been our block of the month a few years ago. Both quilts show how the Apliquick method can be used to achieve quite detailed results.

Although not featured in Show and Tell this month, because the quilt had already been gifted, I had to share Sarah's beautifully made and apt quilt for Linda, Food Technology teacher from St Bartholomew's School, who retired this summer. A stunning piece of work.

As usual, we had a good collection of premmie quilts. Sue, our Chair, reported that we have donated 60 quilts so far this year. Members were reminded that the Christmas Challenge for 2024 is to make a premmie quilt using Christmas fabrics. These quilts need to be ready for September or October at the latest so they can be sent to the hospital in good time for Christmas.

Here is a selection of this month's donations.

On a lovely warm evening, we had good attendance at the club meeting, welcoming a new member and a visitor. Show and tell included some of the small picture quilts made at the workshop with Julia Gahagan on June 8th. All agreed that this was a successful and enjoyable workshop. We are looking forward to the next workshop with Kate Findlay on October 12th.

The main part of the evening was a very informative talk about threads, needles and wadding by Yvonne from Village Fabrics, details of which are included in the Summer Newsletter, accessed via the link above. Village Fabrics have moved to Herefordshire but their phone number has remained the same as when they had the shop in Wallingford. Yvonne also brought along a small shop and many members took the opportunity to top up their stashes! Even if you had been sewing, patchworking and quilting for many years, there was much to learn from the talk.

We have given a large number of Premmie quilts to Basingstoke Hospital this year and a few more were donated at the meeting.

In 2025 it will be 25 years since Market Square Quilters was formed. We welcome ideas of how we can celebrate our Silver Anniversary.

At tonight's meeting, we had feedback and questions about the Block of the Month programme, led by Cat. We are now on month 5, with 4 blocks still to go. Sharing of finished quilts is scheduled for January 2025

The group is hoping to run a coach to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, but we need the coach to be full. With a full coach the cost will be £37.50 and £47.50 for non-members. Entrance and parking are expensive for this exhibition, hence the cost. Anyone who would like to sign up please email MSQ or contact Teresa to be added to the list.

There were some lovely pieces of work in Show and Tell, including more premmie quilts.

Another well attended meeting with lots to Show and Tell. The focus of the later part of the meeting was Gizmos and Gadgets. Many members brought along items which they found very helpful and useful, or in one or two cases, not! It was an interesting time to share ideas and perhaps show gadgets which people may never have come across.

There was a lot of lovely work on show:

A very well attended March club meeting saw a good selection of lovely work for Show and Tell. Some of the quilts and other items can be seen below.

There is a new Newsletter available to read - please follow the link on the Newsletter tab.

Next month's meeting will be focused on Gizmos and Gadgets - what doesn't work as well as what does. Hopefully we will all have some advice on what to spend our money on and when to avoid wasting it on items which don't work or are of limited use!

Following Show and Tell, we had a very interesting, engaging and energetic talk by Christine Green, accompanied by slides. She explained how she reuses and recycles fabric, such as old curtains, oddments and even jeans into some striking and original quilts. She also told us about Gee's Bend Quilts, USA, a whole other talk on its own. She doesn't use a quarter inch seam or allow any rules to restrict her creativity. Below are some photos of Christine with a few of her many creations:

On March 2nd, 16 members attended a one day workshop entitled "Free-Motion Stitching and Fusible Appliqué" given by Janet Clare. We learned how to write our names, draw faces, penguins and chairs before finally sewing a scene with trees, flowers and appliqué cottages. Janet gave us plenty of help and advice and by the end of the workshop we had all produced scenes, in addition to gaining a lot more confidence in free-motion sewing.

Another well attended meeting, at which Caroline gave a very interesting talk, illustrated by pictures and slides, about hand quilting. She explained the history of quilting, the types of quilts typical of different places and techniques of sewing. There were also lots of lovely premmie quilts in Show and Tell:

There were also some Linus quilts donated by Penny and Heather

Some more work shown at the meeting: