Members are invited to enter a new piece of work created specially for the event. The theme is:

The quilt may measure anything between the minimum dimensions of 24" (62cms) square to a maximum of 36" x 48" (93 x 126 cms). There are no limitations as to style, fabric content or type of quilting. What you are invited to do is to purposely include something you have never done before. This can be anything- a skill, a colour or something like using different materials like silk, something recycled, paper or plastic.

It is your own interpretation that is important. Each entry must be accompanied by a personal written contribution of about 200 words, explaining your thoughts, feelings and the particular challenge that you are responding to in creating a piece of work to celebrate the Millennium.

Entries are to be ready for our May 2000 meeting and it is intended that they will be used for an exhibition to be held later that year. All the pieces submitted will be photographed and used as part of a slide programme to be shown to quilting groups and others in various settings. Sponsors will be sought to offer prizes and the requirements here will be wide so that all entries have an opportunity to benefit. The exhibition will include other pieces of work by LQ members as well as slides or photographs of work made for similar challenges by members of associated international groups.

As mentioned at the June meeting, we are intending to apply for a Millennium grant from the Camden Millenium Lottery Fund. We do need one or two more people to help with this as we need to form a Sub-Committee. Volunteers please contact Marlene a.s.a.p.

Some of our Committee Members will be standing down at the next AGM. If you would like to be involved and help further our work, please let one of the Committee Members know.

This year's Patchwork Association show at Olympia seemed to me to be more enjoyable and successful than last year's, with less derivative, more original work in the 'modern textile' sector, and with the majority of exhibits in the more traditional area showing a high quality of workmanship and colour choice. There were many pleasing quilts to admire, some very beautiful ones, and a few to smile at. London Quilters were represented at the expert level by Kate Cox and Janice Gunner, plus a few others - including our editor and the writer.

I am sure every visitor found many quilts to catch the eye. It seems invidious to pick favourites, but my personal selection would include the glowing Sunset in Africa by Silvia M. Ranieri; Margaret Starr's marvellous Brighton Royal Pavilion quilt, with its cool colours and slashed and embroidered surface; Jacobean Jamboree by Anne Brock, and Jennie Lewis' starry Millennium - Midnight in Moscow. The beautiful burnt oranges of Spicy Spires by Sal Spring will stay with me, as will the elegance of Six Flowers Carpet Fragment by Barbara Osborne. Everyone was smiling ruefully at Dorothy Stapleton's Who would marry a Quilter?

The advanced and professional category quilts looked particularly splendid this year, including June Barnes' beautifully-quilted Championship quilt Golden Wonder, but the one that really attracted the crowds and had that wow! factor was Zena Thorpe's Out of the Strong came forth Sweetness (as usual, one overheard a lot of muttering about the judges' choices - must be par for the course).

The millenium theme produced some intriguing quilts (a plethora of bugs), and the Hoffman Challenge entries made a gorgeous display - as did the new group of invited quilts from selected teachers - including some interesting new talents (Ricky Tims in particular, and Wendy Lugg from Australia, back after a few years). The schools quilts were, as ever, wonderful - I was especially drawn to the hand and footprints of Spice's School Ipswich. I also loved some of the small 'county' quilts - notably Dorset and London. The wearable art section was excellent this year, with six wonderful entries from Sacred Heart of St. Mary Girls School in Upminster (three of them by 16 year-olds - and I'm glad to say that their teacher Patricia Cristy was mentioned in the catalogue).

I spent so long looking at the exhibits and talking to other quilters that I had time only to race around the shopping stalls - just as well, perhaps. Altogether a wonderful day out - good coffee, too. My only grouse is that the lighting is not as good as it could be, being a dull overhead glare. I wonder if side lighting, or spotlights, could be managed next time?

I would like to add my voice to the request for better lighting for the quilts. Several people I talked to during the exhibition have expressed the same opinion: the lighting is poor and many quilts look dark and dull in the semi-darkness. It is an improvement on the conditions at Ascot but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Two reasons are given for the poor lighting: one, the cost; two, the fact that some fabrics may fade in bright conditions. My answers to those are: one, higher quality of display is an investment that may attract more visitors and generate more income; two, I take sides with what Jo Budd says on this matter - I will rather have my quilt well seen and appreciated for a shorter period, than kept in semi-darkness for a long period. (Anyway, fabric does not fade that quickly!!!)

If anyone would like to exchange fat quarters or more - I would be delighted to do so. I am seeking solid colours and have many floral prints available - Marlene.

3rd - 25th November

FIVE IN STITCHES

Sutton House, Hackney

An exhibition of stitched textiles and quilts by

For further details contact Jean Edwards (member of London Quilters) on 0171 267 9803.

Introduced as "one of this country's leading contemporary quilt makers," Jo Budd hastened to assure her audience that she didn't view herself in that way, and hoped that her quilts would speak for themselves. Jo was friendly and unassuming, and the audience warmed to her immediately.

Jo didn't start off as a quilt maker, but as a painter, fascinated with light and colour. Her early work was inspired by man-made structures and themes of decay and scale--how humans fit into the world. She was strongly influenced by Vermeer. She no longer paints because she feels it is too easy to get involved with the intricacies of everyday life when using paint on canvas. Textiles are the media with which she has chosen to work.

Jo Budd's early quilts were highly optical with strippy effects and lots of colour play. She is thrilled with the way one colour can affect another. Her next quilts were entirely abstract, influenced by the fabrics themselves. She enjoys the magic of making space appear on a flat surface.

Then Jo began working large. Using recycled fabrics, she made a series of Beach Hut quilts, staggering in their precision and realism. Until details were shown, one assumed that they were painted rather than pieced. Jo explored the way light reflects and glows on boards and other architectural features.

Gradually, Jo tried to find a way to graduate her colours. She began using dyes and batik--rubbing surfaces with a candle to create realistic effects. Then Jo began to design on the wall rather than the floor, which made a big difference to her perceptions of her work.

All this time, Jo had been living in a city, but had begun to feel the need for a more rural environment, so moved to Suffolk. Immediately, she began working in light "country" colours. Also, around this time, she met the man of her dreams and light came into her life in many other ways. Instead of light frames around dark centres in her quilts, light became the central focus. This happened almost instinctively, as does much of Jo's work, and she became aware of it after the fact, realising what her work signified only after much perusal.

Jo then began sponging dyes onto fabric, using the wrong sides of fabrics and allowing seams and raw edges to show. She tried to make pieces of fabric float in and out as the colours changed.

Next, Jo moved (with her man) near the sea--and it took her two years to actually tackle the sea as a subject, so enormous was its perspective to her. She began using layers of sheer fabrics to reveal other colours beneath. The horizon line of the sea fascinated Jo and she made small pieces to prepare herself for her larger "sea pieces." Thin layers of fabric were built up and cut through; free machining with nylon thread created new textures. She did a series of bright colourful "windbreak" pieces--at the same time architectural but carefree and fun. Jo's large boat pieces were her first attempt at including the sea in a work, albeit only in a small corner of the quilt at first.

Then Jo moved again and swapped the open sea for a sea of cornfields. Deep down, Jo feels that cities are vertical and the countryside is horizontal, but at the moment she is working on landscapes in a vertical format, several of which graced the front of the lecture hall as she spoke.

Always exploring her immediate environment, Jo Budd works in isolation, but judgingfrom her enthusiasm and her wealth of ideas, she thoroughly enjoys her life as a quilt maker. Long may it last! Many thanks to Jennifer Hollingdale and Morley College for organising a wonderful morning.

On Wednesday 14th of July a small group of dedicated London Quilters gathered at John Kebble Church Hall, Edgware, for a workshop with American quilter and musician Ricky Tims. His work was on display at Olympia this year and it certainly caught the eye of many quilters, for his strong colours, striking designs, and originality.

He did not disappoint at the workshop: he is a superb teacher, and his highly organized teaching system resulted in a completed group project by the end of the day. The workshop title was: Sprouting Wings and Learning to Fly; and it covered the techniques of string piecing on foundation fabric and on freezer paper (his prefered medium), and included a very interesting way of joining gentle curving seams.

The morning was spent working on samples where people could discover all the possible pitfalls of the technique and make mistakes without it mattering. In the afternoon a design was made, divided into eight sections, and every participant worked on one section. There were completed with half-an-hour to spare before the end of the class, when Ricky showed a number of his magnificent quilts and answered questions from the students. He very generously shared his original techniques with us.

This workshop showed how much we can learn from visiting quilters from abroad, who are here for a short time, and if we can be enterprising enough to book them even at short notice, we can benefit from fascinating quilting workshops and the dynamism and enthusiasm of those teachers. Thank you to Kate Cox, our vice-chair, who made all the arrangements, for her enterprising initiative and her organisational skills.

Do not miss the next few workshops with visiting foreign teachers which are being organised in addition to our usual monthly meetings. The ones already planned are: Marta Amundson in September, and Viriginia Avery and Sue Wademan next year. See the previous Newsletter for more details, and if you want to participate, phone Kate Cox on 0181 458 4119 as soon as possible.

If you have volunteered to help but have not yet heard from Elizabeth Bishop, or if you would like to volunteer but have not put your name on the list, please contact Marlene as soon as possible.