2025

 

April Notes from Friday 13th April

Not an unlucky day for our meeting as we had the lovely Jan Hassard to talk to us. "And Sew On..." was an inspiring journey through her lifetime of quilting. Some of us were reminded of workshops where we were taught by her by the quilts. We were able to handle lots of quilts and learned of the latest step along her path during the Covid Era - Jan has now moved into the digital publication of her quilt patterns. This meant that she remade all the quilts that are now patterns and we saw (and touched) them all. A busy and interesting talk.

https://www.janhassard.com/collections/digital-pdf-downloads

There was an unexpectedly large Bring and Donate table (or four) as two different stashes from 'retiring' quilters arrived. Our members enjoyed searching for treasures and the Donations tin did well.

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March Notes from Friday 14th March

Our Speaker was Michele Moody who spoke about her "Life in Pieces" An apt title for a group which has /is Gone to Pieces! Michele has been quilting for over 40 years and was one of the original members of the Quilters Guild. She brought a wide variety of quilts from all her decades of experience and allowed members to look more closely after her talk.

https://www.rosemaryrabbitquilts.co.uk/quilt-gallery/

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February  Notes from Friday 14th February

AGM followed by personal projects.

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January Notes from Friday 10th January

This month's meeting was a Zoom talk by Ruth Singer and the title of her talk "Criminal Quilts".  The description of the women's lives and ages was most moving.

https://ruthsinger.com/criminalquilts/

 

2024

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December Notes from December 13th

Our Christmas Lunch was a wonderful social occasion with good food and company.

The hall looked festive with Christmas themed quilts on display, small trees and cyclamen on the tables and a small red lantern with a tealight at every place. These had been made by Pam, who was also responsible for the main courses and accompaniments. Puddings were made by members and were delicious!

Our project this year was for a EPP star.

Photographs are on the GtP Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/gonetopiecesquilters/

 

November Notes from November 8th

Sally began the meeting by thanking members for all their hard work which made our Coffee and Quilts Exhibition such a success although the format was different from pevious exhibitions.  Coralie thanked the Committee for their efforts.

A donation will be made to the Church (who allowed us to use the Church) and wadding, backing and courier fees for our Charity Quilts paid for from the profits. There may be enough for a further donation to a Charity.

Lloyds have changed our account and Katie explained the ramifications. It is now better if members make payments by BACS as cheque and cash deposits will be charged per item.

The subs for 2025 will be £45 to cover the increased cost of speakers, hall etc.

Our Speaker, Kate Findlay, gave an excellent talk as usual.

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October Notes from October 11th

A busy and productive meeting with a VIP visitor in the form of Sarah Green, MP for Chesham and Amersham who sews but is not a quilter. Yet!

She had come to our Charity Sewing Day to see some of our Charity Quilts and to learn about Quilts4CareLeavers and the Linus Project.

Divided into small groups, we sewed either a version of the Potato Chip Block or Till Roll Blocks.

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September Notes from September 13th

Karen Crookes of Sunflower Stitches was our Speaker - she had kindly stepped in when a diary clash meant our planned talk could not take place. Karen spoke about how she had started sewing at 5 years old but came to quilting in her 20's. To her surprise, Karen discovered that she was a quilter, a quilt teacher and designer who used technology to engage with her students during lockdown and all the while working full time and fitting everything in during her 'spare' time.

https://sunflowerstitches.co.uk/

The arrangements for our Coffee and Quilts exhibition in October were discussed and members signed up for various tasks. 

Members took flyers to distribute locally. +

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​August Notes from August 9th

August Meeting

The August Meeting is always our Summer Social.  This year it was an Afternoon Tea with strawberries, scones and clotted cream. The project kit made up into a strawberry needle case to fit the theme. 

Members entered the hall to find that it had been decorated with bunting, vintage tablecloths, vases of flowers and pretty vintage china - a lovely sight.

There were 3 charity quilt tops as part of Show and Tell  - and several other members' quilts too.

 

July Notes frrom July 12th

Cathy Corbishley arrived  by train with all her quilts in a couple of suitcases which were Tardis-like in their capacity. Her talk about Cyanotype and the History of Blue Printing explained not just the technique but also demonstrated that   a Sun Bed has more than one use (and can be picked up cheaply on eBay)  Cathy has work hanging in the Antarctic and various museums in the UK. She also showed that Blue Printing isn't always blue!

https://www.baus.org.uk/museum/1387/cyanotype_on_fabric_appliqu_quilts

There was the second part of the sale of Barbara Furse's stash which is raising money for the St Franxcis Hospice.

Members signed up for the Summer Social whic will be held after the Festival of Quilts.

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June Notes from June 14th

Our Speaker this month was Christine Green “Bust the Rules and Get Creative”.  Christine has been working with Creative Textiles for some time and has been involved in projects for the BBC. .Her Talk was lively and engaging and really encouraged us to break all the rules and ignore the Quilt Police - anything goes and variety is the spice of life! Christine was happy to have members examine her quilts at close quarters.

Gloria collected in Charity Quilt b;ocks and produced the instructions and fabric for the next block - the jelly roll she won in the raffles a few months ago

Many members were wearing their new name badges.

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May Notes from May 10th 2024

Our May meeting at Coleshill was a Four Corners day with a focus on badge making. Groups were making badges using a number of different techniques.  Katie's group were using cross-stitch alphabets, Sally's were designing floral Baltimore wreath badges, Janet's group were making fabric roses and leaves and Gloria's group using FPP to make miniature flying geese borders for their names.

As always there was a warm buzz of activity and some lovely rnd products.

Steph collected the quilts for our exhibition of quilts "Gone to Pieces Goes to the Movies" at the Elgiva in Chesham.

Rosemary gave details of the group outing to the Malvern Quilt Show.

Terry collected previously made items for the exhibition Sales Table.

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April Notes from 12th April

Notes from the last meeting:

1. A lovely spring day in Coleshill.  Our speaker was very enthusiastic and invited us all to visit her garden where she grows Madder, Woad, Weld and offered us cake too.  We are hoping to arrange a date.

2. Next meeting is 4 corners and we will be making name badges.  The options are:

a)  Cross stitch with Katie

b)  Roses with Janet (embroider a leaf)

c)  Miniature flying geese with Gloria

d)  Baltimore style with Sally

e)  Or work on your own badge or any other project.

If you weren’t at the meeting but would like to sign up, please contact the person directly or bring your hand sewing kit and embroidery threads.  The name badges can be adapted to be quilt labels if you already have one.

3. Jenny Harper-Jones has recently returned from a trip to Australia where she met up with a quilt group celebrating their 40th anniversary.  Perhaps we could twin with this group? I will send a separate email with some photos.

4. We have purchased a roll of wadding for the benefit of the group and Tessa has agreed to house it.  It is 96 inch wide Hobbs Heirloom and 80/20 (80% cotton and 20% polyester) and it costs £9.67 per yard.  If you would like to buy some, please email Tessa  and let her know how many yards you want.  Tessa will cut it and bring to the following meeting, please pay Tessa direct.

5. Coffee mornings have been arranged at Cedar Barn as follows:

a)  26th April – to complete the medallion quilts we have been making.

b)  24th May – Lindsey will show us how to make the little teddy bears

c)  28th June – sales table makes

d)  26th July – new mystery quilt project0

6. Workaid Forecourt sale tomorrow  20th April.

7. Free Hand exhibition by Contemporary Textiles London, featuring work by Sarah Hibbert and our member Jane Wray from 30th April – 11th May at Willesden Gallery, 95 High Road, London NW10 2SF. (10.30 am to 8 pm but not bank holidays).

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March Notes from GtP Meeting 8th March

A very enjoyable meeting with our Speaker Gilli Theokritoff who said "Don't Look at the Back" before showing us a range of lovely quilts and telling us of her journey in quilting.  We welcomed 5  new members, Fiona B, Beverley M, Fi Cg, Jill C and Shirley B.

Notices:

Malvern trip on 18th May Please confirm and pay for your place on the coach so spare places can be offered to other local groups.

Elgiva Quilts  There is a particular way to prepare your quilt for hanging that Steph demonstrated. The quilts need to be ready need to be ready by the June meeting (set up on 15th June). Contact Steph for details if you were not at the meeting.

Ceramic Vase Wokshop Contact Lindsey for more information

Sarah Hibberts Workshop  There are still a couple of places.  This workshop is on 6th April at Little Kingshill Village Hall, cost £30.  Let Heather or Steph know if you would like to attend.

Bunnies workshop on 22nd March  This  is now technically full but Kath says she can take a couple more people. If you want to come along, just contact her.

Name Badges Sally reminded everyone to wear their Name Badge at every meeting.

Show and Tell is on our Instagram page

https://www.instagram.com/gonetopiecesquilters/

 

February Notes from GtP Meeting 8 February

Today's meeting was our AGM, followed by a Sit and Sew social session. There was also an extensive Bring and Donate table with lots of enticing items. PAT testing took place after the AGM. The Chairman's Challenge to make a travel sewing kit was won by Rosemary W.

For pictures of the meeting see our Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/gonetopiecesquilters/

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January Notes from GtP Meeting 12 January

This was our first meeting of 2024 and our Speaker was Irene Roderick, an American quilt artist who specialises in large scale pieces.  Irene's talk was titled "Dancing with the Wall"  as she believes a design wall is essential to the compostion and design of contemporary, improv quilts.

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2023

December Notes from GtP meeting 8 December

Our Christmas meeting was a huge success.

Kath and Pam  cooked and served our first course and many delicious puddings wre made by members.

For pictures which always tell the best story, see our Instagarm page.

https://www.instagram.com/gonetopiecesquilters/

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November Notes from GtP meeting 10 November

Our Speaker was Sarah Cook who told us all about Bojagi. These were originally wrapping cloths for storage or carrying but the technique has become popular as an art form.

Sally reminded us about the Chairman’s challenge this year.  The challenge is to make a small travel sewing kit -something useful and to be finished by our AGM.

There were sign -up sheets for the Christmas Meeting and for making puddings for that event.

Gloria handed out instructions and kits for the November Charity Block.

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October Notes from GtP meeting 13 October

We had a very productive day sewing quilts for care leavers.  Thank you to everyone who came and sewed, donated fabric, made blocks etc  We have many brilliant quilt tops being made and I’m sure they will be very popular. 

Notices from the meeting: 

1. Christmas lunch this year will cost £6 and a sign-up sheet is already available, please bring cash with you.  We also need some volunteers to make desserts please. 

2. Thank you to Jackie for organising a very enjoyable Knitting & Stitching show trip. 

3. Morsbag charity, https://morsbags.com/make-a-morsbag 

This Friday (27th October) is our last coffee morning of the season at Cedar Barn from 10.00 to 12.30 pm.  I will bring along the next part of the medallion quilt but we also hope to see other things that you are making.  Come and join us if you can. 

Gloria is planning some fun things for us to do on zoom over the winter months. 

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September Notes from GtP meeting 8 September

A very interesting talk from our Speaker Jan Allston who has travelled all over the world and quilted whilst doing so,

A quiz based on one of her quilts, had us all searching our minds during lunch.

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August Notes from GtP Meeting 11 August

A very enjoyable Summer Social with a lot of cake!

Pictures are on our Instagram account

 

July Notes from GtP Meeting 14 July

We enjoyed a warm, entertaining and informative talk from our speaker, Sarah Hibbert, who took us through the process of turning her small collages into finished quilts and how that became the beautiful book From Collage to Quilt, via Andy Warhol and Rod Stewart!

 

Our next meeting with be our Summer Social on 11 August at Cedar Barn, Barn Lane, Hazelmere, HP15 7BQ.  More info to follow in due course.

 

Dates for our diaries:  London Quilters have an exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library (88 Avenue Road, London NW3 3HA from 28 June – 26 July (Mon–Thur 10am-8pm, Fri- Sat 10am-5pm)  and Steph Hudson’s exhibition at the Elgiva in Chesham runs until 29 July.

 

There are 10 places left for the trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday 8 October.  Payment is necessary to secure your booking, and if you have already booked but not paid, please do so as soon as possible.  Booking and payment details were in my last email.

 

Sally showed us the quilt top assembled from the house blocks that we made in preparation for our 30th anniversary.  Pam and Kath have volunteered to complete it and there was discussion about entering it into FOQ or Malvern next year. 

 

Our next coffee morning will be on Friday 28 July at Little Kingshill Village Hall, Windsor Lane, HP16 0DZ from 10am – 12.30.  All welcome to sit and sew, chat, have tea, coffee and, of course, cake!  For those who have started, or are thinking about starting, a medallion quilt for our challenge there will be the opportunity to get help and advice.

 

Our speaker for September is a change from that published in our programme.  We will now be treated to “Cruising and Quilting” from Jan Allston.

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June Notes from GtP Meeting

t was so hot outside but wonderfully cool in the hall at Coleshill.   Thank you to Steph, Mary and Joan for sharing your quilts with us, we enjoyed hearing your stories.  Thank you, Coralie, for hosting so well. 

We had a lovely display of rope bowls that had been made at our recent workshop.

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Notices 

1. CETG trip to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting & Stitching show on Sunday, 8th October from Gt Missenden and Amersham, £30 all inclusive, please email Jackie Connors if you are interested.  jmvconnors@aol.com 

2. Terry’s block of the month is due back by August meeting at the latest. 

3. Raffle, please give us feedback on what you want from the raffle. 

4. Jill Packer is featured in the latest The Quilter (magazine from the Quilters Guild) with some beautiful pieces using curved piecing.  

5. London Quilters will be having an exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library from 28th June. 

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May Notes from GtP Meeting 12 May

We had a very entertaining talk from Moira who is very generous with sharing her quilty techniques.  Don’t forget to be careful with any empty tomato paste tubes, they are very sharp!

Next month we will be starting a new mystery quilt.  We hope you will want to make this frame quilt with us.  We will also be arranging mid-month coffee mornings to support this.  The aim is to enjoy doing something together and to make some nice quilts for our exhibition next year.

 

Malvern – 20th May

There are still spaces for the coach (but you will need to purchase your own ticket for the show).  The satnav code for the Council car park is HP6 5AW.  This is not the new leisure centre car park, so check you are in the right one.

 

Coffee morning this Friday, 19th May at 10.00 am to 12.30 pm, at Cedar Barn, Hazlemere.  Cost is £1 per person to cover coffee and cake.

 

Project Linus.  Unfortunately our Project Linus rep has had to give up helping the charity for personal reasons.  Mary Mills has volunteered to collect quilts for Project Linus and deliver them to Sue Monroe in Aylesbury. 

 

Care Leavers charity (October meeting this year).   MP for Chesham & Amersham,  Sarah Green has been invited to attend as she likes to sew and is interested in seeing what we do.

 

Bring and Buy, sadly we said goodbye to Liz Harris at the meeting but fortunately Jacqui has agreed to take over the Bring and Buy.  Thanks for all your help Liz, please keep in touch. 

 

Help needed.  We are very grateful for any help you can give us in running this group.  We haven’t had much response to our requests for tea/coffee making.  We depend on the help our lovely members give us, it also makes the meeting more fun for everyone, so please do what you can.

April Notes from GtP Meeting 14 April

It was great to see so many braving the pouring rain to come to our four corners meeting.and many enjoyed having time to chat and get to know people while sewing.   It is also inspirational to see what people are making. 

Check out the photographs of our 4 corners workshops and the block of the month on our Instagram page 

Gone To Pieces Quilting Group (@gonetopiecesquilters) | Instagram I

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On Sunday, 23rd April there is a fabric sale at Great Kingshill Village Hall, HP15 6DW.  The proceeds go to Parkinsons UK and Cancer Research so it is a really good cause.  These sales offer absolute bargains and homemade cakes too.  From 10 am to 12.30 pm. 

 

If you are planning to come with us to Malvern, please let us know by 1st May, as that is the last date to order the entry tickets. 

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The block of the month is due back in May or June.  (Thank you Gloria for preparing the kits for us - contact her if you would like one.)

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March Notes from GtP Meeting 10 March

Our speaker, Megan Mainwaring, treated us to a display of the most beautiful applique quilts and talked us through her process for choosing fabrics for her projects, considering contrast and the colour palette as well as the value of the fabrics.  One of her tips is to use a colour wheel when choosing colours, and another is to take black and white photos of fabrics to determine their value.

 

CHAIRMAN’S CHALLENGE – Sally set her challenge for 2023. Members should make a travel sewing kit.  It should be pretty, small and compact but sufficient size to hold threads, needles, buttons etc.  The deadline is the Christmas meeting.

 

The coach trip to the Malvern Quilt Show on Saturday 20 May- seats are available.  The coach departs at 8am from the Council car park on George V Road in Amersham (up the hill)    Please contact Jackie Connors is you want a seat. The cost is £30 i payable by  BACS to the Gone to Pieces bank account. (Details were in the Membership pack given out in December.)

 

Steph  has organised a workshop on Saturday 15 April 10am to 4pm at Little Kingshill Village Hall. "Crazy Houses", taught by Ann Stonehouse.  Please contact Steph if you want a place. Cost is £35 paid by BACS to  the GtP account.  You will need to bring your sewing machine with a quarter inch foot, an extension lead, rotary cutter, cutting mat, 12” x 6” (minimum size) ruler, sharp scissors, small scissors, sewing thread in cream or grey to blend, fabric in a variety of colours, tones and values, and paper and pencil for notes. 

 

Terry Stevenson told us about the quilt morning on Sunday 23 April from 10-12.30 in memory of Cathi Grainger at the Great Kingshill Village Hall.  Tea, coffee and cakes available, fabric for sale and many of Cathi’s quilts will be on display.  No cost to enter.

 

Liz alerted us to the Liberty remnant room now open on the top floor of the store, cotton lawn from £10 pm and the sale continues until July.  Fabric must be bought by the metre, (no FQs!)

 

DIARY DATES -

• Lady Sew and Sew Linus day – 25 April

• The Stitch Festival at Business Design Centre, London – 23 – 26 March 2023

 

And please note our next meeting is 14 APRIL (not the 7th as it says in the programme).  This will be a 4 Corners meeting but there will also be a sit and stich table for anyone who isn’t involved in a 4 Corner session.   (If you missed the sign-ups today and would like more information contact Steph.)
(Show and Tell photos will appear on our Instagram page later this week.)