Quilting Guild Meeting. – Page 2 – Welcome to the NIPG Website

Here is seascape (1) the beautiful “Seascape”, the colours reminiscent of the coastline of the Coromandel Peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island.

Many of you may have seen her exhibition of the quilts, at the Festival of Quilts.

They take their inspiration from the decorative motifs and history of “The Land of the Long White Cloud”. t. Each of these quilts is a similar size, approx 40in long by 10in wide.

As Gail says herself, she is doing a good job for the New Zealand Tourist Board!

It may be that Gail’s passion for New Zealand will prompt you to plan a trip there.

If you’d like to know more about Gail and her work, visit her website http://www.gaillawther.co.uk/v3/, from which the following piece has been taken:-

“If we haven’t met before, my name’s Gail Lawther, and I’m a quilter and textile artist.

I began working full-time in fabric and thread about 20 years ago, and can’t imagine a better way to earn my living! I design and stitch quilts for books and patterns, and also create larger pieces on commission.

I travel all round the UK and further afield, giving talks about my quilts and teaching workshops, and several times each year I do residential workshops in different places.

You will find me, wit OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA h my husband Chris, at quilt shows around the country; we try to do a different combination of shows each year, but are always at the Festival of Quilts at NEC in August.

I also design and make church banners; many of these designs are available to buy as full-size patterns, so that you can create your own versions for your church. [See Gail’s website http://www.gaillawther.co.uk]

When we’re not working, we love walking by the sea near our South Coast home, and exploring Britain and further afield; nothing beats sitting in the sun, reading, with a cool glass of wine or Pimms and some snacks at hand …”

Hard to picture the hard working Gail with the time to sit and relax.

Lastly, here is a Youtube video, with Bonnie McCaffery interviewing her about “Glimpses of New Zealand”

Continue reading Gail Lawther “Glimpses of New Zealand”

NIPG 2015–16 Season Kicks off with …

650x466_church_ladies_panel_sectionjpg — Image from Quilting Treasures. (http://www.quiltingtreasures.com/shop/product/church-ladies-quilt/)

Last year we opened our 2014-15 season with our very own members. Our Guild is packed with industrious and talented people and we wanted an opportunity to highlight some of our members’ pieces. We left it entirely up to each speaker as to what they want to ‘share’ within a ten to fifteen minute slot.

‘Here come the girls’, this year’s theme…. intriguing!

Last year it was “Favourite Things”. The four people who stepped up were Esme Edwards, Anne James, Paula Ellis and Helen Heron. It was absolutely fantastic, one of our best meetings!

Esme Edward's Treasured Machine with Box — Esme Edward’s Treasured Machine with the Magical Box in the background.

Esme Edwards, began by placing a funny wee black box on the table, puzzling us all at what it contained. What was her favourite thing? Having started her talk by revealing some of her history with sewing and in particular patchwork, we were wondering what could be in this little box. To our delight, she opened the box to reveal the most gorgeous sewing machine. One which she has until recently, used regularly.

How to follow Esme’s opening? Anne James, our present Chairperson, bravely stood forth and enchanted everyone with her manipulated fabric piece, which she had constructed for her City and Guilds.

Detail of Manipulated Fabric by Anne James

We were on a roll – how could our meeting get any better?

Paula Ellis Commissioned Piece — Paula Ellis’s Cushion, depicting Lucky, a special commission.

However, Paula Ellis captivated everyone before she even spoke with her gorgeous cushions. The variety and skill which she used to create them, had everyone listening to every word and trying to take it all in to replicate at home. The cushion which had been commissioned by proud pet owners, was beautiful.

[After the meeting there were demands that Paula give us a workshop on creating these adorable cushions.

You asked, we answered!

Paula is taking an all day workshop on Sunday 8th November.

Launch of exhibition in Linen Hall — Helen Heron and Michael Longley at the Linen Hall Library for the launch of Helen’s exhibition.

Lastly, and by no means least, Helen Heron treated everyone to a riveting talk, on how she came to create her piece which celebrating renowned poet, Michael Longley’s poem ‘The Leveret’ written for his grandson.