Exhibition a Great Success!

Well —- I think we can safely say that the Glamorgan Quilters 35th Anniversary Exhibition was a resounding success!

Takings over the two days amounted to a staggering £3,600, which means that we will be able to give a generous donation to Ty Hafan Hospice.

We were thrilled that just short of 500 visitors found their way to view the exhibition from far and wide …… one from Tel Aviv and another from Australia!!!

And, they were not disappointed at having a total of 91 quilts to enjoy. Below is a small selection….

The bird quilt in the picture below was made by the late Sue Bowers (Patchwork House) and the bunting quilt beneath it was made by Gayney Jones. It won 1st prize in a WI competition to celebrate the organisations centenary

All 11 entries from the 2016 Wendy Surride challenge were displayed with information about this year’s challenge and the winners.

There was a display of the Japanese Folded Patchwork pieces that had been made at Ann Lewis’ February workshop

Plus many beautiful craft items (cushions and bags) and of course the signature quilt took pride of place.

There was also a banner and two quilts that had been made by pupils of Llansannor school under the guidance of GQ members Corinne Roberts and Keris Howard.

All of the quilts were labelled with the name of the person who had created it, what had inspired them to make it and the techniques used. Corinne Roberts very kindly took charge of making the labels which looked very professional – so much so that Bristol Quilters wanted to know how we had made them so that they could update their logo. Corinne very kindly gave them a sample.

And moving on – we had a wonderful craft stall which held a bounty of beautiful items made by members and which raised a considerable amount of the total income.

Plus there were traders Red House Quilting from Mumbles and Sew Lovely from Penarth. So, no excuse not to buy something that you might or might not necessarily need!

It wasn’t surprising that due to the huge interest that the show created we were kept on our toes in the tearoom. It was buzzing the majority of the time with vistors sharing their views about the quilts, or catching up with old friends over a cuppa and delicious home made cakes.

Over tea and cakes visitors were also invited to sign the visitors books. Members will be able to view the visitors books at future meetings. Below are just a few of the comments to wet your appetite

Wonderful exhiibition – so inspirational – Llandeilo Quilters

Amazed at the variety of colour and tecniques. Excellent – Dyffryn Quilters

Now girls, well done!!! Totally awesome quilts. What a show – loved it all. Lesley, Port Talbot Quilters

A lovely exhibition. It was great to come back and see what the present members make. Beautiful – talented people! Having been a founder members in 1981 it was lovely to come back. Carole Thompson

What a wonderful and inspiring exhibition! Particularly love the whole cloth quilts and am in awe of the skill and patience on show. Steph. Fife, Scotland

Beautiful display-some wondeful talent. Angela. Ironbridge, Shropshire

In addition to the above we had a display of Glamorgan Quilters work in the library foyer for the whole of the month of July which helped promote the event

We also had a display in the window of the Cowbridge Ty Hafan shop which helped promote the event

Ty Hafan Shop Cowbridge

And, of course there were the Cutting Edge Textile Group WW1 quilts exhibited in the Old Hall which drew the crowds. Volunteers from the Cowbridge Branch of the British Legion very kindly manned the event and raised £270 for the charity by selling commemorative badges.

A special thank you to Liz Price and Caroline Neudegg (Cutting Edge members), Terry Dennis, Mike Carney and Graham Roberts who generously gave their time to help with the exhibition.

And a huge thank you to all the GQ members who helped in various ways. We couldn’t have done it without you!

All in all, a wonderful coming together of both the local and quilting comunity. A job well done!

Email feedback

Had lovely feed back about the quilts you should be very proud x Julie Williams, Ty Hafan Emporium, Cowbridge

WHAT A FANTASTIC RESULT. These events don’t just happen without lots of planning.
Salinder Gammage

Just a quick line to say many congratulations on a super exhibition, you and the committee did Glamorgan Quilters proud. You especially must have worked really hard, I was pleased to be part of it, done a few in my 35 years with the group, especially pleased with such a good venue. Relax now until we all meet once more.
Sincerely Truda xx

Just to say congratulations to you and your team for such a successful exhibition.
Ann Lewis

A brilliant exhibition Monica. Congratulations to you, the Committee and all the helpers. The WW1 Quilts were also mounted beautifully and made and impressive moving display. Proud to show my friends from North Wales. Thank you.
Keris Howard x

Congratulations to you all-the exhibition looks amazing and you have obviously all worked hard, only sorry I was unable to attend in person.
Fran Barrett

I was blown away by the amount of wonderful support, the exhibition was really good and the World wWr 1 quilts look good too
Jan Webster, Cutting Edge

Happy days at the Exhibition!

Well, what a day – around 300 people through the doors and heaps of wonderful comments about the exquisite work on show – something to be ver proud of all you Glamorgan Quilters!

Lots of ooh’s and aah’s round the main exhibition space in the church….

and lots of chatter in the tea room where friends had the chnace to catch up…

As well as welcoming locals, including Barry Stitch ‘n Bitch, Cowbridge Stitch ‘n Bitch and Cutting Edge Textile group members we welcomed guests from West Wales, Bristol and as far afield as tel Aviv – how wonderful is social media!

And, not forgetting that this showcase of wonderful work could not have been achieved without the help of many of the Glamorgan Quilters members who rallied round to support the event in various ways. For example, making crafts and cakes, offering their quilts and crafts for exhibition, and/or volunteering their time to organise and run the event. What an amazing crew you all are – THANK YOU!!!!

Here are a few of the crew involved but there were many more….

And, tomorrow we have the opportunty to welcome lots more people through the doors – we are so…… looking forward to it!

GQ 2016 AGM

On 9 July GQ held its AGM which gave the opportunity to reflect on the past years activity which included the making of the signature quilt (which was on display), participating in an enjoyable workshop to learn the art of Japanese folded patchwork and hearing a number of interesting speakers which included the Mother of Africa charity work, Textile traders, Batik’nBeads and how to take good photos of your quilts, to name but a few.

members viewing the signature quilt

Business over and it was time to enjoy lunch, find out who had won the Wendy Surridge Challenge and hear our guest speaker Christine Porter.

Corinne Roberts was the lucky winner of the Wendy Surridge challenge with her lovely collage quilt

Hilary Carney took 2nd prize and there were joint 3rd prize winners Helen Hughes and Wendy Floyd.

The day was rounded off with a talk from Christine Porter….. and not only were members entertained with a lively and enjoyable account of her travels they were able to enjoy viewing a wide range of Christine’s beautiful work.

A full and enjoyable day and more to come in September!

Email from Christine Porter in response to our thank you note:

“Thank you for inviting me to speak at your meeting on Saturday. Your hospitality was amazing! I have been trailing around the UK for years, talking to and teaching groups, and I can honestly say, I have never sat down to such a delicious spread as you provided. The welcome I received was very warm and friendly and I was so well looked after. It was a great pleasure meeting your members. Happy Quilting in the future”.
Best wishes
Chris
http://www.christineporterquilts.com

A Visit from BatiksnBeads

Batik and Beads

This month at Glamorgan Quilters we were pleased to welcome Maryke Phillips from BatiksnBeads. And, as well as bringing a colourful display of batik fabrics and beads she entertained us with a lively talk about her quilting life. This included showing some of her work, which was stunning

Two of a series of 6 panels

Maryke also enjoys making fabric books

And bags, which she sells as kits

As well as enjoying Maryke’s company members also had the opportunity to learn how to make pleated squares. Many thanks to GQ Wendy Floyd for sharing her knowledge and skills.

Betty Nicholls manned the activity stall to help make cupcake pin cushions

And, amidst all the activity there was still plenty of time for members to catch up for a chat

Email from BatiksnBeads
“We had a lovely day with you all and we thank you for your support.
I hope I left you inspired to stitch!
We had a good journey home with sunshine all the way
Look forward to seeing you at Malvern
Thank you again
Maryke and Geoff”

A Busy Day at GQ HQ!

There was no shortage of energy at Glamorgan Quilters today.

There was much to do on the activites table with a number of Japanese folded patchwork squares needing to be completed ready for the sewing up day on Tuesday. Many thanks to those who put their own sewing aside to help with the task. Your support was very much appreciated.

Caroline sewing up a signature quilt square

Also, a big thank you to Wendy Floyd who demonstrated how to make a pleated square. Sadly, we didn’t manage to capture the moment with photos but hopefully there will be an opportunity next month.

We were thrilled at the response to our call for craft items. At today’s meeting we received a wonderful array of items for which we are eternally grateful ….and look forward to receiving more in the coming months.

Hilary Carney is coordinating the craft stall and is looking for volunteers to make crafts and help sell them so if you are able to help in any way please see her at meetings. Or, you can email her hilarymcarney@googlemail.com

Following notices members were shown a number of quilts that have been made to raffle to raise funds for the RNLI. There will be raffle tickets available at the April meeting.

After lunch we welcomed Kathy Williams, Chair of the Glamorgan Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers who gave a talk about her work. But, before starting her talk she set members up with a short exercise on how to make a braid – which engaged them for the whole hour of her talk!

Kathy left some braiding instuctions for anyone who might be interested src=”https://glamorganquilters.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/braid-pattern.jpg” alt=”Braid pattern” width=”490″ height=”675″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-897″ />ded here

Kathy showed some wonderful examples of her work….

… including pieces from a collaborative exhibition with Judi Mendelssohn

As always,an interesting and varied day and already looking forward to more in the future.

Annual General Meeting

Today (4 July 2015) Glamorgan Quilters held its AGM.

There was a flurry of activity from early morning to prepare the hall and get the food laid out ready for lunch. Great thanks must go to Caroline Leonard who made a delicious lunch and many thanks to those members who contributed with fab desserts. A feast to be proud of!

Three members contributed to the Wendy Surridge Quilt Challenge and after members voted the shield was awarded to Catherine Macey – well done Catherine.

We were delighted that Wendy Surridge could join us to award the prize.

And, to round the day of we were joined by Jen Jones from the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter who gave took us through a fascinating tour of her quilts with her talk and presentation slides.

An enjoyable day all round and more to look forward to in September.

Click here to view next years programme

Click here to view details of the new committee

Click here to download details of forthcoming workshops.

Member of the Month

This month the spotlight is on Hilary Sheldon.

Hilary started quilting in 1997 when she retired from work. She attended Vicky Pearce’s classes and recalls that her first piece of work was a nine patch which was hand sewn…. and is still not finished!

Following this she made quillows for two of her grandchildren and an Owl and the Pussycat wallhanging for her third grandchild. Vicky’s Owl and the Pussycat quilt has a real £5.00 note on it but Hilary decided to make hers by printing the image of a £5.00 note on special fabric. In fact, she made one for everyone in the group but it was pointed out that it might be was illegal to produce your own money!

Hilary’s daughter took the Owl and the Pussycat wallhanging to school the other day and her grandson – who is now 17 – was cross that it had been taken down off the wall at home.

Hilary recalled that she joined Glamorgan Quilters around 10 years ago, about the same time as Betty Nicholls. They had to wait 4 years before they were able to join.

The quilt below is 16 years old. It was made by Hilary for a friend, who has since died. She is now renovating the quilt and making it into a wall hanging for her friend’s husband.

Hilary’s favourite patchwork is cutting and piecing and she likes more complicated designs but says that she doesn’t enjoy quilting as much. She made a quilt with Pam Stead a couple of years ago. It was for a soldier who was based out in Afghanistan. It was a great partnership as Hilary made the quilt top, Pam quilted it and then Hilary did the binding because Pam did not enjoy thta part of the process.

Hilary learnt how to sew at primary school and still has her grandma’s Singer long bobbin machine. She also likes knitting, playing bridge and cooking. Cooking is her favourite pastime with patchwork a close second. She always has something on the go.

She is a member of the Women’s Institute and is planning to do a disappearing nine patch cushion for the annual Glamorgan Federation of WI show at the Cornelly Community Centre.

She enjoys Glamorgan Quilters as it is a very sociable group that enables you to gain new ideas and friends.

Virginia Hole Workshop

The Virginia Hole workshop held this weekend was a very colourful affair and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!

And, for the future Virginia has a two day workshop that looks very interesting…..

Colourful Creations

Glamorgan Quilters meetings are always colourful and today was no exception. There was wide variety of work to admire.

Hilary was busy with what looked like a Valentine’s quilt

And the other Hilaty was busy working on a wall hanging based on green fabrics.

Truda was showing a beautiful quilt that she has made with cottons and recycled denim jeans.

Wendy was working with colourful fish.

Margaret Harris is creating a beautiful hexagonal quilt.

And, Drew got stuck into a bag that she bought at today’s stash sale.

Looking forward to enjoyng more of the same next month!

Celebrating A New Year

Today, Glamorgan Quilters gathered for the first meeting of 2015 and took the opportunity to show off some of their work at Show and Tell. The focus was on the first and worst quilt that people had made but there was a variety on show.

Dianne showed the first piece that she ever made which was a small Santa quilt made in log cabin.

And, she showed the gtoup another Chrsitmas quilt that she had made.

Sonia showed everyone a small quilt that she had for Christmas from Jackie.

And, Jackie showed two memory quilts that she had made using the clothes of a two year old child who had died from meningitis.

Gayney’s first quilt was a child’s quilt.

but she also showed some applique that her grandchildren had done.

There were numerous other wonderful quilts exhibited. This one took four years to make.

And this was stitched totally handstitched.

There are sone very takented people about!