Notice Board

GROUP BANNERS

An appeal again for group banners, after the wonderful display we had on the Westpoint Quilt Show stand and also at the AGM we need more banners to be displayed at our meetings and also for next year at Westpoint.
I am very pleased to store them and would appreciate if these banners were donated to SWQ for this purpose.
So that the stand at Westpoint can be as impressive as possible I need any banner that your group is prepared to make for us. The banner needs to be 18” wide and 36” long with the name of your group and the town where you meet on the front; also it needs a hanging sleeve on the back of the top. Also I would like a label on the back of the banner with the place and day where you meet, and also a contact telephone number. If your group can help please let me know.
Christine Badger 01404 44151

Annual Subscription Changes

Membership subscriptions will be due as from 1st April. As with last year you will get your membership card in the March magazine, so that you can use it in April onwards. With the increase of postage we are regretfully having to increase the subscription to £14 a year, as given notice at the AGM last year. Here is the membership form in Word and Adobe Reader (pdf) formats, to renew by cheque and post or a form to renew by standing order.

We do not use direct debit as it would cost us at least £600 to set this up, whereas standing orders do not have an administration fee.

If you are already using the standing order method to pay please either inform the bank of the increase or use the form to send to YOUR BANK to instruct them. This brings the subject up that if you do not receive a June Magazine, check how you have paid then contact the Membership secretary.

Standing Order Mandate forms - Word, PDF.

Christmas Meeting 2013 Challenge

Having won the ‘Angels Angels All Around’ Christmas Challenge at last year’s Christmas Meeting Jeanette Orr has chosen 'White Christmas' for the challenge at the Christmas Meeting on 30th November this year.

The West Country Quilt Show

28th – 30th November 2013

The organisers of the West Country Quilt Show held at the Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallett have expressed an interest in South West Quilters providing some quilts for their general show and having a stand. At the Committee Meeting in January it was agreed that we could use this venue as a general exhibition of our work where size, theme, when the quilt was made and where the maker comes from makes no difference. I have offered to undertake the administration of providing quilts to this Show as I do for Westpoint with Grosvenor to ensure they are delivered and returned to their maker. At the time of writing this for the magazine we do not know how many quilts the organisers may want.

If you would be interested in putting forward a piece for a general exhibition please let me know either by e-mail: traceyd1977@hotmail.co.uk or by telephone 01884 38766 so that we can get an idea of whether we could do this show as well as Westpoint. I will not hold anyone to offering a quilt or expressing an interest at this time as we would send out formal entry forms as we do for Westpoint.

Details of the quilt show can be found at www.westcountryquiltshow.co.uk even if we do not end up providing quilts it looks like a great show and I feel sure it is somewhere we will be represented and perhaps increase our Somerset/Dorset membership.

Tracey Driver

Chairman's Challenge for the Spring Quilt Festival, Westpoint, Exeter 2014 - ‘Thirty’

The Challenge in 2013 was a great success so we are going to stick with the 'any size goes' rule. Having taken on board the feedback of having amateur and professional categories, we've decided to not have this as it was difficult to define what makes a professional quilter. Also, there were no entries from groups or two people so it is back to single quilters making quilts.

At this time I do not have the dates for the exhibition at Westpoint for 2014, but it will be either the last weekend of March or the first weekend of April. The entry form is attached and I need to have this back by the end of September 2013.

Tracey Driver

Dorset & Somerset Quilts for Westpoint 2014

In 2012 we had quilts from Devon and for 2013 we have quilts from Cornwall so it has become the turn of another county and we have decided to put Dorset and Somerset together. The quilts will be shown in separate sections clearly labelled as Dorset or Somerset quilts.

In order to be as fair as I can I will assign 20 quilts to each county which will be filled on a first come first served basis. I will hold a reserves list for any over this amount. I am looking for one quilt per quilter. If it transpires that either county does not fill their allotted 20 spaces by the first week in October I will offer the reserves the space, again on a first come first served basis. Also if it works out that both counties can provide more I can speak with Grosvenor about extending our spaces. The other unknown quantity is how many Challenge quilts we will have so the county quilts may have to plug a gap. I will not know this until September.

The entry form for the County quilts is attached. This needs to be returned to me by the end of September 2013.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me on either traceyd1977@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01884 38766.

Coach to Quilts UK Malvern

SWQ  Coach to Quilts UK  Malvern on Saturday 18th May 2013

If there is enough demand we will be running a coach to Quilts UK at Malvern leaving Tavistock at 7.30 a.m. and picking up at Okehampton 8.0 a.m. and Exeter Moto Services 8.30 a.m.  This year we have had to make a small increase - the cost will be £24 for those under 60 years of age and £23 for those over 60 years of age.   The cost includes return coach travel to pick up point, entrance ticket and gratuity for the driver. 

Book by 16th April – form attached

Contact: Denise Pearcey, Hedgebank, Brentor Road, Mary Tavy, Tavistock, PL19 9PY – Tel: 01822 811003

The SWQ Trailer

We currently keep our stock of hanging frames and accompanying sheets etc. in a galvanized fully enclosed trailer which at present is covered by a tarpaulin at the bottom of my garden. This is available to our members for their exhibitions at a hiring fee of £20. I have happily been keeper of the frames for the past seven years but am wondering if anyone has anywhere under cover that it could be kept considering the wet weather this past year.

It is approx. 4m long including the A frame and 1.2m wide. It would mean you taking over the bookings of said frames but this is very simple as the whole trailer is taken every time and it only goes out about four times a year.

If anyone thinks they may be able to help please do get in touch so we can discuss it.
Susan Enderson

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED

Can you help – because of my commitments as vice chairman and hopefully as chairman elect for next year I will be standing down as area representative for East Devon and therefore looking for a replacement or replacements.

The job of an area representative is not difficult and can be as simple or as onerous as you like to make it, you can do it by yourself or even a little group of you. All that you need to do is find a suitable hall to hold the workshop in – hopefully with a sensible car park – with tables and enough light to work in. SWQ will then assist you, if necessary, in finding a tutor and will financially back you in the venture. You only then have to settle on a price and advertise it in the magazine. The SWQ committee will only be too pleased to help with advice and guide you through your first few workshops.

I personally am willing to assist you in any way possible and speak to you or any of your groups if that would help. So come on ladies of East Devon.
Christine Badger Vice Chairman

Wadding and Calico

As you are aware SWQ has a small quantity of 90” wide Wadding which is 80% cotton and 20% polyester – a nice soft one suitable for either hand or machine quilting. This is now £8 per metre.

We also have a supply of 60” wide calico and extra wide Calico 108” wide at £11 per metre.

To save bringing large rolls of calico and wadding along to meetings, and finding a place and time to cut it on the day, we would ask members to pre-order Calico and Wadding – Christine Badger for Calico and Denise Pearcey for Wadding.

National Sailing Academy Olympic Sailing Quilt

Six members of Loada Patchers Quilters presented the National Sailing Academy with a quilt designed to recognise Weymouth and Portland's contribution to this year’s Games. All the designs of the panels are original, using a variety of materials including individually made fabrics and reflect aspects of the local area.

Chris Knight, Business Manager, WPNSA said that the Academy was delighted to receive the quilt which is now hung in the restaurant.

pictured right from left to right : Desira Smith, Anne Pope, Linda Baldrey MBE, Maggie Howell, Pam Buttress, Angela Hartle, Richard Knight

Calling all Cornish Quilters: Truro Cathedral 2014

During 2014 Truro Cathedral is celebrating the Saints of Cornwall which will include lectures and talks about the lives of the Saints.

The Cornish members of South West Quilters have been working with Truro Cathedral in the hope that we can organise a Quilt Festival. A first meeting was arranged between Mary Miller, Jo Morgan, Helen Edmond and the events organiser, and the idea was met with great enthusiasm, and appropriate space is being organised for this and other events tied into it, to hopefully include work from local schools.

There are over 140 Cornish Saints so there is plenty of choice. These quilts will make up the Exhibition in the Cathedral in the summer of 2014, and during the initial discussion it was suggested that the hangings and quilts should take us through the year, so the size of the quilt will be dependant on the space in that particular position in the Cathedral.

The quilts to be made need not necessarily be stained glass representations, and a good source of inspiration is the book The Saints of Cornwall by Nicholas Orme. There are a number of copies in Cornwall County Library.

If you would like to make a quilt for what we hope will be a major event in Cornwall in 2014, please contact one of the following to register your interest:
Mary Miller Tel: 01326 211045
Helen Edmond
Jo Morgan

It would be appreciated if you could make contact by August at the latest, as the date for the next meeting in the Cathedral has been arranged for then.