Orpington Quilters
Orpington Quilters
News
August 2026
Our August meeting this week was a very quiet affair as many of our members were away on holiday. It was a “Sit and Stitch” session where the group brought in their hand projects to work on, including some knitting and crochet. Diane brought in some bits and pieces (fabrics, thread, wadding, etc.) that had been donated after someone went into a care home, and a number of magazines she was happy to pass on.
Next month Diane will run a small workshop on making a pin cushion.
There were just 2 items for the Show 'n Tell section, which can be seen on our Facebook page.
July 2026
At this month’s meeting we welcomed Steph Harris who took us through her journey of long-arm quilting. Steph is a lively and engaging speaker who is well known to many in our quilting group. In addition to her job as an MRI radiographer, she is a busy mum to two boys and also works part time in admin for Daisy and Grace, a patchwork and quilting company well known to lots of our members. Steph began her patchwork career when her first son was born and she enjoyed the craft so much, she went on to take qualifications so she could teach at adult education in Maidstone. She first saw long-arm quilting in operation at a festival and became hooked. It was not long before she purchased her first machine and now she runs a business long-arm quilting quilts for clients. Steph showed a few of her quilts which brought to life her journey in long-arm quilting. Many thanks to Steph for a very entertaining talk.
We also held a lively raffle and enjoyed delicious cakes, many thanks to those ladies who provided the refreshments and those who donated prizes.
As part of the numbers project that the group started last month, several members brought in their 1 and 2 blocks. Jennifer and Diane also showed us their completed projects. These can be seen on our Facebook page along with other items that were displayed in the Show ‘n Tell section of the evening.
June 2026
On Thursday we held our June meeting. Jennifer introduced a Block of the Month (BOM) numbers project for all those members that wish to participate in making blocks of the numbers 1 to 9 over the coming months. This month's instructions for block 1 have been emailed to the group by Yvonne.
Next month we will welcome Steph Harris who will give us a talk on starting and running a long-arm quilting business.
Check out our Facebook page to see the wonderful quilts shown in the Show n’ Tell section of the evening as well as examples of the BOM.
May 2026
This week, on a beautifully warm evening, we held our May meeting. Our speaker this month was Tracy Aplin, a talented patchwork and quilter with a talk on fabric and colour. Tracy last visited us in July 2024 and we enjoyed her talk so much we were delighted to invite her back again. Her colours and techniques were demonstrated in her vibrant quilts and she happily imparted many tips and tricks for us to use. Many thanks to Tracy for her lively talk.
Next month we are going to announce a numbers block of the month for all members who wish to take part.
Check out our Facebook page to see the wonderful quilts shown in the Show n’ Tell section of the evening. on our Facebook page,
April 2026
As always for our April meeting, we held our AGM. After the standard items for this meeting, such as agreeing previous minutes, chair and treasurer’s reports etc., there was a lively discussion regarding membership. Happily the membership fee remains the same this year but it was agreed that we would try to attract new members as our numbers are dwindling. It was agreed that we are not a large enough group to organise exhibitions, which take of lot of effort, but that we should put out flyers/posters in local spaces to make people aware of who we are and what we do, maybe with a particular emphasis on encouraging beginners who are new to patchwork and quilting. We have many experienced quilters in our group who would be happy to share their skills and knowledge. The committee will look further into this.
Jennifer proposed a group project, a Block of the Month that could be turned into Linus quilts or personal projects. This will be introduced at our June meeting.
Next month our speaker will be Tracy Aplin, an accomplished patchwork and quilter, talking about colour and fabric. Visitors are welcome, the fee is £5 which includes refreshments.
Check out our Facebook page to see the wonderful quilts shown in the Show n’ Tell section of the evening. on our Facebook page,
March 2026
This week we held our March meeting. Unfortunately, at short notice, our planned speaker was unable to attend so we asked our members to share their quilting hints, tips and tools that they have discovered on their patchwork and quilting journeys. A wide variety of interesting information was shared, from special wadding scissors (something none of us had heard of before) to the hand dyeing of old sheets to make beautiful backing for our quilts. It was also explained that using fine sandpaper helps stabilise fabric when drawing around templates and we were shown a couple of small projects; one to make playing card holders from old CDs and another to make a holder for quilt clips from Daisy and Grace hexagons. As a group we support the Linus Project, making children’s quilts and incubator quilts for Kings College Hospital and we were shown how to make an incubator quilt using 5 fat quarters. We were even directed to a podcast called “Haptic &Hue” which looks at how textiles change our lives and work, and how they change the course of history.
As usual there were some lovely quilts show in the Show n’ Tell section which can been seen on our Facebook page,
February 2026
At our February meeting this week we welcomed Alison Ripley, a mixed media artist, who gave us a talk on Bojagi, the Korean patchwork technique. This method of fabric piecing is traditionally used as a system for preserving and safeguarding your luck by wrapping precious items in the resulting cloth. In addition to its history, Alison gave a demonstration on how fabric pieces are hand sewn together and brought in samples and materials so we could have a go ourselves. Everyone really enjoyed learning a new process and Alison was a delightful speaker.
Also, in response to a request for drainage bags, many of our members handed over several bags to Yvonne who will pass them on to the PRUH. As always there were many items for the Show ‘n Tell section. Check out our Facebook page to see the pictures of these as well as our efforts on Bojagi and the drainage bags.
January 2026
The first meeting of 2026 took place this week. The previous meeting in December was our annual Christmas buffet party. Unfortunately this author was on holiday so there are no pictures but much fun was had with a quiz, bingo and lots of lovely food brought in by the members. Many thanks to all the ladies that attended, making it a great evening of seasonal merriment and laughter.
This week Norma showed the group how to make a book cover. She kindly cut all the fabric required, material that had been donated by Randolph, a previous speaker, and the club provided the books. This was an enjoyable task and it gave some members a great idea for future gifts. Many thanks to Norma for her guidance (and patience!).
Several items were brought in for the Show ‘n Tell section, great work ladies! Please look our Facebook page to see these items, and also some completed book covers.