Spring 2002 Newsletter

How do you put 70 years of living into a few short paragraphs and capture the essence of the person? The answer is not easy, especially when you are talking about Jean. Jean, you could say had a finger in many pies, but quilting was her main passion. As most of you know, she was a founder member of The London Quilters and it is to this group that she has very generously left her extensive quilting collection of books, fabrics and sewing related items. When Jean spoke about a new quilt project she became animated and alive. You could feel the adrenaline flow, her mind racing and her fingers itching to get started - so much so that you could not help but get carried along in the flow yourself. She had an intuitive understanding of colour and great patience, as everything she stitched was done by hand. Where her work was concerned she was the most self-effacing and modest person you could meet. She made quilts for the famous and not so famous, had her work illustrated in books and exhibited extensively, more recently with a group of textile artists called "Six in Stitches". When a group of London Quilters volunteered their time to help at "Link", a drop-in centre in Camden for victims of HIV and Aids, Jean was there quietly at the forefront teaching people (men and women) to sew, or as she found was more often the case, just sitting and lending an ear - generous as always with her time. She said once of this task "everyone needs someone who will just take time to listen and not pass judgement".

Her quilting was always evolving. She travelled extensively to quilt shows, embroidery exhibitions and craft fairs and was always on the lookout for new ideas or ways of incorporating new methods into her quilts. The "Living Crafts Fair" in Hatfield was a great favourite of hers. Here she could be found chatting at great length to other craftsmen and women about their work and sharing ideas - this exhibition is looming on the horizon and will not be the same without her this May.

As well as quilting she adored gardening. She had a lovely plot in the "Adelaide Community Garden". She nurtured this with the same great care and love she gave to a quilt project. To say she had green fingers was an understatement. Any cutting planted by Jean grew and flourished with great gusto. One of her greatest loves was to sit in the garden at the end of a warm summer evening and enjoy a glass of wine (home-made) and contemplate her next project. Members of the garden are hoping to tend her plot for this coming season and then hopefully it will be passed on to someone with a keen interest in flowering shrubs and plants. Again quietly, unknown to most of her friends, she was heavily involved in reclaiming a disused bomb shelter in the grounds of her flat. She was responsible for getting a considerable grant from the council for this project. This garden, when it is opened, will be a green area for people to sit amongst the sweet smelling herbs and flowering cherry tree, planted in her name. This garden will be dedicated to Jean.

As everyone knows, animals were a lifelong love for Jean. She was an Animal Technician at St Mary’s Medical School until she retired in 1996. She often said "I know where I stand with animals, they are a constant". It was impossible when out walking with Jean not to have to stop when passing any animal and have a chat either with the owner or the pet! So many people, unknown to us are going to miss the love and care she gave their animals, as she was a regular animal sitter and walker. Owners were able to leave their pets in her care in the safe knowledge and understanding that she would look after them as she looked after her own three cats. How many miles of Hampstead Heath she covered in her lifetime no one will ever know.

Amongst her many talents, as those of us who knew her well will attest to, were her wonderful cooking skills. To have attended one of the London Quilters Christmas gatherings or the North West London quilters meeting and sampled her home-made cakes, vegetarian meals or even partaken of her delicious mulled wine on a cold winter’s evening was a great joy and an occasion not to be missed. In recent years, she had taken on a computer course at the Mary Ward Centre, "you have to keep up with the changes in technology or you get left behind" she would say. I never knew where she could find enough hours in the day to accomplish all she did.

In the last year of her life she had shown a great interest in Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, is a great example of one whose only goal in life is to be an instrument of truth and peace. When we carry out our daily work with love, care and mindfulness, he says, whether it is cooking, writing, sewing or walking we are following the path of truth, peace and justice and bringing peace on earth in a more profound and expansive way than we can imagine. Thank you, Jean. You have shown us how to live life to the full and for that we are all eternally grateful because that is exactly what life is for.

"The real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air but to walk on earth". Thich Nhat Hahn

Since the last Newsletter, we London Quilters have been pretty active. I felt our last 3 speakers were very good: Lynn Seaman, with her generous explanations about fabric painting, the wonderful Lynne Edwards (what a gifted speaker she is!) and then a true individualist, Jan Hale, intriguing us with her explorations with wool.

Many members have been busy with their quilty activities. Some attended the Guild Conference--excellent reports from Scarborough--while others visited the Quilt Festivals, particularly marked by a beautiful retrospective of Alicia Merrett’s work. Others, including myself, went to the EQSD at Barcelona, which proved a feast for the eyes (even if mutterings about disorganisation were heard).

You will have heard of the sad death of Jean Edwards, and read the lovely tribute overleaf. I had known her only for the last five years, but I had felt close to her through talking of LQ’s and the Guild’s early days, and her recent fabric experiments. It has been an easy burden to accept her legacy to the LQ’s of her quilting effects, because I felt she was a friend. Her funeral, which was beautifully organised by Margaret Tucker, was very well attended and you will be pleased to know we sent flowers and will also make a donation to the garden she supported.The legacy consists of a large amount of fabric, both conventional and exotic, many quilting notions, beads, buttons, embellishments, paints, etc.--and above all, a Bernina. The Committee will be considering how best to use this overwhelming gift to all our benefit, and will announce a plan shortly. If you have ideas, please talk to us--we will benefit from consultation.

Margaret Tucker, Jean’s executor, has been admirable beyond praise, and Frances Radford and Anne Ryan have been stalwart in their support of Margaret. I should also like to thank the LQ members--particularly Margaret Scholey-Hill, Claire Crocker, Linda Seward and Stefanie Rickard--who have helped me shift and store Jean’s effects quickly, as was necessary. What a wonderful group of women, what friends to have.

The LQ Committee met on May 15th and decided to have a sale of Jean Edward’s effects at the July 15th meeting. Fabrics of all kinds, books, quilt frames, wadding, beads, buttons and many other items will be for sale, so please put this date in your diary and come with your cash or chequebook. All proceeds will go to the London Quilters. The Committee are thinking up ways to spend the money that will be of benefit to all members. All suggestions will be welcome and considered.

Jean left us a Bernina sewing machine, which will be bought by silent auction. Details about the machine will be available at the May and June meetings, with a secondhand price guide. Sealed bids should be sent (or handed) to our Chairman, Christine Restall by July 1st. The highest bidder will get the machine.

The Olympic Gift Quilt

By Margaret Scholey-Hill

All the countries participating in the Centennial Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, were given two quilts, one for the flag bearer and one for the official representative of the International Olympic Committee. This enormous project was started only 2 years beforehand. Each quilt was to be 54"x 70" and could not use specific Olympic trademarks such as the Olympic rings. 2,000 people were mobilised to participate in the project.

During the March Show and Tell, LQ had the opportunity to see one of the UK quilts called ‘Go for gold, a heart of gold’. This used the colour-wash techniques developed by Deidre Amsden, who was a London Quilter. The design was of an enormous heart on the gold, silver and bronze rostrum used for presentation to the winners. The artist, Cindy Rounds Richards, described how she collected the different fabrics for the 2" squares, many of them from Liberty’s. The secondary quilted design was of her daughter, with a gold medal around her neck, representing the potential within us all to be winners if we choose to be.

It took 500 hours of machine piecing and quilting. Cindy was delighted when her quilt was selected for the UK because her ancestors came from here.

A letter will be sent to Cindy to update her on the whereabouts of her masterpiece and to thank her for her generosity of spirit. It is hoped that it will be on display at the Potten End Show, on June 8th. Details from Nora Field.

Region 1 Spring Regional Day March 9th 2002

By Margaret Scholey-Hill

There were about 100 quilters at the last Regional Day and London Quilters were well represented. Elizabeth Shapland, showed slides of Alaska throughout the year to show how the seasonal colours inspired the quilters in her group back home. She described the development of the individuals’ skills and confidence through working with monthly challenges. Then we enjoyed the fashion show, from pieces that Elizabeth wears to our meetings. The waistcoats and jackets were much more wearable than any we had seen in magazines and we could imagine being proud owners. Elizabeth shared some of her secrets such as to use panels, not darts and not much wadding.

The second speaker, Angela Madden paid tribute to the Pear Tree Quilters, the group she had joined early on in her career. The contact through the years had been fun and challenging. She passed around plenty of samples of the techniques she has developed and published in her many successful books. She described herself as shooting off in different directions but returning to develop as new fabrics and technology came onto the market. Celtic designs of animals, birds and insects had been a constant inspiration and these had been modified for use with the sewing machine. Photograph fabrications had come later and latterly, quilts with a ‘painterly effect’. Angela is one of our quilters who is working on the boundaries with other textile artists. There was even a car clamp protest quilt!

The pieces from the Region displayed around the walls, included works by Janice Gunner, Monica Millner, Christine Restall and Linda Seward. The traders were excellent with bargains and a wide variety of unusual aides for quilters. The disappointment was the few people who accepted the two challenges. One was for an embellished piece and one for any object made from a fat quarter. Both the speakers had extolled the virtues of group encouragement and challenges, but somehow these didn’t take off. Our new Regional Day Organiser Dawn Ulgen, took away a batch of questionnaires and there may be some clues there. We had a wonderful day. The next Regional Day is on Saturday September 28th, so make a note in your diaries now.

QUILTERS’ GUILD AGM

by Hannelore Braunsberg

Scarborough was an excellent venue for the Conference and AGM and the weather was lovely. An enthusiastic 610 members attended. Opening lectures were by Annette Claxton and Jennie Rayment, followed by a daring Show and Tell of disasters presented by officers and members of the Committee.

On the Saturday, the AGM was a long one. Details of all that was discussed will be in The Quilter, but some interesting items were brought up. The Guild’s finances are in good shape and Janet Rae worked hard and successfully for

a Heritage Lottery grant with the result that the Guild is to receive £50,000 for Housing Our Heritage, which is quite simply incredible! In collaboration with Andrew Salmon (organiser of exhibitions at various venues), the Guild will hold annual exhibitions at the NEC starting 23-25 August 2003. Competitions, galleries, work of individual artists or groups, historic pieces, children’s events, educational sessions, master classes and traders selling related products will be included.

The Gala Dinner was attended by most of the participants and was followed by a presentation by Irene McWilliam. The last day featured two most entertaining, humorous lectures by Rosie Frances (Australian) about her life, quilts and dolls, and by our own Kate Cox, who presented her wearable art with asides about her family and her views.

There were quilts galore on show, including challenges and an exhibition put together by Janice Gunner entitled 'Riot of Colour.' Thanks goes to all those who worked hard to make this meeting another great success story for the Guild.

In March, I went to the Henley Exhibition Centre in Oxfordshire to see work by Sandra Meech and Delia Salter. These quilt artists live in the area and decided to put together this exhibition, entitled Journeys, because their pieces complement one another, which they certainly do. The large bright gallery was divided in half with Delia’s work on the left as you walked in and Sandra’s on the right.

Delia works mainly with her own hand-dyed cottons and textured fabrics. Many of the pieces in this exhibition were inspired by her reaction to events in the news, both here and abroad. She uses a great deal of imagery in her machine-quilting, and stark contrasts with her fabric choices. One series, Displaced, featured quilts that were made as an emotional response to news reports of people who have had to leave their homes due to war or natural disasters. Another series, Broken Birds, was started because of a journalist’s description of children damaged by war and in less obvious ways. These quilts were all very thought provoking as well as being interesting visually, particularly the stitchery.

Sandra Meech’s work is inspired by the images and textures of the landscape, particularly Arctic Canada. She transfers her excellent photographs to fabric and uses these as design elements, complemented by stitchery using different types of threads and yarns. Her use of colour is spectacular and one never tires of studying the quilts to find some new image hidden in a corner. One wall hanging called The Way We Live Now featured images from various parts of the world in 6 long strips, from Chicago to Spain. Another piece, High Life, featured images and impressions of Sandra’s trip to New York City for the Millennium.

Makower Crafts UK sponsored this exhibition, which was of extremely high quality and interest, and well attended.

CHAIRMAN’S CHALLENGE

The challenge is to create an Evening Star block,

8 1/2" square, including the seam allowances. Make the star in yellow or gold and the background sky in shades of blue, purple or black fabric. These can be prints or solids.

To make the star points, make quick Flying Geese as follows:

For the sky (or goose) triangles, cut one 5 1/4" square of sky fabric. For the star points, cut four

2 7/8" squares of a gold or yellow fabric. Using a pencil, draw a diagonal line across the WRONG side of each of the small squares.

With right sides facing, place 2 small squares on the large square, with the diagonal pencil lines in a continuous line. Trim off the excess fabric where the squares overlap in the middle. Sew 1/4" away from EACH side of the diagonal line.

Cut the square in half along the diagonal pencil line. Press the star triangles to the right side.

Place a small square on the remaining corner of the sky fabric with the diagonal line in the opposite direction to the first diagonals. Sew 1/4" away from EACH side of the diagonal pencil line.

Cut in half along the diagonal pencil line. Press open for a complete flying goose section. Make 4 flying geese sections.

Cut a 4 1/2" square of star fabric for the centre; cut four 2 1/2" squares of the sky fabric for each of the corners.

Sew a sky square to each end of two flying geese sections.

Sew the long edge of a flying geese section to each side of the 4 1/2" square.

Sew the three sections together, matching seam allowances, to form the Evening Star block.

Bring the block to the June meeting!

8th June-7th July 2002: Passe Partout. Exhibition of group & individual quilts at Dashwood Gallery, Hall Place & Gardens, Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent DA5 1PQ. Enquiries: 01322 526574.

June 12th -23rd 2002: Pathways 5 the Opus School of Textile Art Exhibition of City and Guilds assessment work at The Terrace Gallery, Museum of London. Saturday 15th June is the Open Day.

E-mail: enquiries@opus-online.co.uk.

8th July-September 25th 2002: QC - Quilts at the College. Exhibition and sale of art quilts at the Royal College of Pathologists, 2 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AF (nearest tube is Charing Cross).

Open Mondays to Fridays 10-5. Entrance free, by prior telephone appointment only.

Contact 020 7451 6700.

There will also be three Public Open Days including demonstrations and an opportunity to meet some of the quilters on August 8th, 15th and 22nd, open 10-5, no appointment necessary. Details from Cathy@michelg.freeserve.co.uk

tel: 020 8540 3854 .

12th--24th November 2002: Four in Stitches at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, Waterlow Park. New work by Fay Clark, Barbara Denny, Ruth Ingram and Beryl Prichard including quilts and stitches textiles. Details in next Newsletter.