It is nearly April

Well March is nearly over and I don't really know where it has gone. I have been busy. Health-wise not so good, I won't dwell but it has involved lots of doctor and hospital appointments.

So what have you done in March? I hear you ask. Well I attended Region 15E  Quilters' Guild Regional Day followed by a course with Yvonne Brown, an inspirational teacher and prolific quilter. Below you can see my tidy desk on the course, well it's tidy for me! Then the photo of the workers at the end of the afternoon. I'm the one with very little done and gingerly holding all my little experimental scraps together when all the rest had a quilt block finished. Photo three shows the blocks I made 1/3 completed the next day. It has progressed on since then but I don't have a photo to show you, yet!

I've made several ATCs and Postcards, here are a selection

This is a selfie done on my iPad

I went to London to visit my daughter for my birthday she took me to see War Horse. That was a fantastic show, If you haven't seen the stage production do it's amazing. Those who know me will say but your birthday is in February, why a birthday treat in March?Well to tell the truth DD said when do you want to come down? and I said March because there is a stitching show at Olympia and I had never been before. Here are just a few of the goodies I got.

Beautiful fabrics from Burma

 Stash laid out on my bed

a little book made by Gilda Baron and some felted pebbles I made at a workshop with Ailish Henderson

 Back home and here is a small book I made when playing with some newly acquired artists inks, it really is quite small/

 Playing with disperse dyes

 Finally my small memory pin cushion which was actually made on Valentines Day in February. I don't think I have shared this with you but I love it.

 The image is my Mum, my Gran and my great Gran

I have done other things as well this month because I am working towards an exhibition at Wallington Hall in Northumberland in the summer with the textile group TWYNE. I'll tell you more about that in a later post when the advertising poster is completed. I have finished one item and am planning two more so will have to pull my finger out and get going.

That's all for now. If you are interested have a look at this link on our upcoming Creative Weekend.

Inspirational Weekend

On Saturday I went to our Region 15E Quilters' Guild Regional Day. Whow was it good! In the morning there was a talk from Dorothy Osler entitled "Insight into Durham's Traditional Quilting Communities from the Diaries of a London Lady" amazing how these entrepreneurial ladies in the 30's - 50's made Northern Quilting as well known as it is now. In the afternoon, after a raffle, show and tell (when I showed my Mandy Patullo Sweetheart Pincushion) and Linus Quilts we heard about the Life of a very inspirational lady Yvonne Brown.

I was interested in Yvonne's story, not just because of her interesting life and inspiration quilts but also because of her married surname - Brown. Before I was married I was Sheila Brown. No relation whatsoever! There are lots of Browns in the UK.

When I became aware that there was a place going spare on Yvonne's workshop yesterday (Sunday) I just had to sign up. However I quickly realised that both my sewing machines were in Tully's in Sunderland and I wouldn't get them back until Monday I was bitterly disappointed. However Anne our  lovely treasurer came to the rescue and lent me her Bernina, just like mine so there was no trouble doing free machining on it.

On arrival at 9.30 in the morning Anne was already there and had set up the machine for me. I then turned round and saw an old friend from the Embroiderers' Guild, Norma, turned round again and saw Melitta who I've known for quite a few years and another friend Kate who was in my C&G class and is now on the EG regional committee with me. Call it a small world! The stitching community of Embroiderers and Quilters are so generous and I have made friends through my various craft activities because of it.

Thank you QGGB Region 15E for being so welcoming.

Sorry Blogger is not letting me post the photos I wanted to share. So you will have to make do with my report.

Thanks for reading
Sheila