Orpington Quilters
Orpington Quilters
News
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.
November 2025
At our November meeting last night, we were delighted to welcome our speaker, Gail Lawther, who gave us a wonderful talk entitled “Glimpses of New Zealand”.
Gail is a quilter and textile artist who first visited New Zealand with her husband a few years ago and they fell in love with the country. Even after a couple more visits Gail still found it hard to say she really knew the country as it has a rich and varied culture. She decided to create a number a small quilts depicting the many well known aspects of New Zealand and she brought along many of them to our meeting, talking us through their background and how they were developed. These quilts are small panels that look just like you are viewing New Zealand through a partially opened door. They are exquisitely constructed, using many different techniques and materials. It is worth visiting her website (gaillawther.co.uk) where there is a You Tube clip of an interview she gave on “Glimpses of New Zealand and where you can see and hear more details of these beautiful panels. Many thanks to Gail for an excellent talk.
Thanks also go to Debbie for providing the refreshments and to Jane and Michelle for the delicious cakes.
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Next week Jennifer and Sue will be taking our charity Christmas Tree quilt (named "Tree-mendous") to the Chislehurst Methodist Church to hang in their Christmas Tree Festival. This year the exhibition will open on Saturday 29th November and close on 5th December, see our Facebook page for a copy of the flyer showing details of daily times. The exhibition will support Bromley Brighter Beginnings and when it closes, we are donating our quilt to the charity so it can be auctioned to raise further funds for this worthwhile cause.
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See our Facebook page for pictures from the Show 'n Tell section of the evening.
September 2025
IThis month we had a quiet, almost subdued, meeting with many members still away on their holidays. There were no Show n’ Tell items (except a work-in-progress incubator quilt by Sue, who will properly show the completed quilt next month). There was more fabric for sale from Phillipa and Michelle also brought quilting books to be sold for charity. These had been provided by someone from a Daisy and Grace workshop. Many thanks to Diane who gave a demonstration of using fusible interfacing to produce perfectly aligned patchwork pieces. The products used offered pre-printed guides for fabric placement and stitch lines, with the added benefit of stabilising your work.
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Next month's speaker will be Carolyn Forster who will introduce her latest book "20 One Patch Quilts".
October 2025
At our October meeting, we were highly entertained by Carolyn Forster, who gave us a lively talk on one block quilting.
Carolyn studied textiles at Bath, has a City & Guilds in Patchwork & Quilting and has worked for many big companies in the fashion industry, such as Laura Ashley and Jaeger. She showed a wide selection of quilts, demonstrating that although only one block was involved, the use of different shapes and techniques could result in a spectacular variety of designs for our quilts. Many thanks to Carolyn, always a favourite speaker of ours.
As a group, we have created a quilt to hang in the Chislehurst Methodist Church as part of their annual Christmas Tree festival, which is being held this year to raise funds for Bromley Brighter Beginnings, a local charity that supports parents of young children in time of need. The festival will take place from Saturday 29th November and run for a week. Many local groups, schools and institutions will display their own tree interpretations. When the festival closes, we will donate our Christmas Tree quilt (named Tree-mendous), to the charity so they can raffle it to raise further funds.​​​​​​​​​
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Check our our Facebook page to see the quilt and other items from our members for the Show 'n Tell.
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Next month's speaker will be Gail Lowther who will give a talk entitled "Glimpses of New Zealand".
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August 2025
It was a relatively small gathering at this month's "Sit and Sew" meeting as many of our members were away on their exciting holidays. From those that did attend, there were some lovely items for the Show n 'Tell and the pictures are now available our Orpington Quilters Facebook page.
Norma gave us an update on the incubator quilts we donate to Kings College Hospital. As always, these are very gratefully received. Not only do they save the hospital many hundreds of pounds but the families of the babies that receive a quilt are delighted with them. When the babies are well enough to progress from an incubator, they are moved to a cot and we have been asked to make some minor additions to the existing quilt pattern to adapt it for use on the cot. Norma will try this out first and then let us know these changes.
Jennifer brought along the blocks that members have made so far for our charity Christmas project. Norma and Jennifer will be cutting out the background blocks and then we can move on to assembly.
Jennifer also brought in fabric that had been donated by a lady who had recently given up patchwork. The money raised by the sale of this fabric will be used by the group to fund future speakers.
July 2025
At this month's meeting there were lots of items from our member for the Show n 'Tell and the pictures can be seen on our Orpington Quilters Facebook page.
Norma ran a small workshop about using a till roll as a basis for stitching together scraps of material, also known as Till Roll Crumb Quilting. She showed, after stitching strips of fabric to the till roll, and carefully removing the paper from the stitch lines, the resulting fabric can be used to make numerous items including edging, binding and even whole quilts. This is a great way to use up all those little bits of scrap we quilters can't bear to throw away! Thank you Norma.
June 2025
Unfortunately this site has not been updated for a few months due to technical issues, and some holiday absences. Hopefully we are now back on track but there are some changes. The Show 'n Tell Gallery will now be displayed on our Facebook page so please check out Orpington Quilters on that app to see the latest efforts by our members.
This month we were delighted by a talk given by Pat Lumsdale, a former Craft Adviser for the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) and a tutor at Denman College. She took us through her patchwork and quilting journey from her first hexagon quilt (still unfinished after 35 years), through her time as an adult educator, her career at NFWI and her personal group projects. She exhibited a small selection of her wonderfully creative quilts, explaining their detail and background. Many thanks go to Pat for a great evening.
January 2025
A new year, a new venue! Our first meeting at the church hall was very successful. Many thanks to everyone who helped setting up and putting away the tables and chairs, it all seemed to run quite smoothly.
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Thanks also go to Mags, one of our previous members and significant contributors to Orpington Quilters in the past, for the demonstration of free-motion quilting. We thoroughly enjoyed it and picked up many hints and tips to help with our own future projects.
It was a lively evening and many members brought along their own pieces to show. Click on Show 'n Tell Gallery to see them.
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December 2024
As we do every December, this month's meeting was our Christmas buffet. The members can always be relied upon to produce a splendid spread, and this year was no exception. Many thanks to everyone for the fabulous feast! Much fun was had ​​​​​​​​​​with a seasonal quiz, a quilting based game of bingo and a fat quarter swap.
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This was the last time we shall be celebrating Christmas at Crofton Halls, as we are moving to our new venue in January. Three committee members visited our new home, which is the Small Hall, Christ Church, Charterhouse Road, Orpington, BR6 9EP, a couple of weeks ago and found to perfect for our needs. The hall is light, bright and airy, and has all the facilities we require. The date of our meetings has changed to the third Thursday of the month, instead of the 2nd, and the calendar has been updated to reflect this change of timetable.
Check out the Show n' Tell page for the latest projects from members.
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November 2024
At our meeting this month we welcomed Sarah Campbell to speak about textile designing and the process from initial design through to the final product of printed fabric. Fabric is at the very heart of what we do as a group so we found her talk very interesting. Our thanks go to Sarah for entertaining us so well. Click here to see more on her talk.
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Unfortunately we are losing our venue for our monthly meetings due to the redevelopment of the Walnuts Centre in Orpington and the redeployment of many of the Walnuts activities to Crofton Halls in January 2025. Yvonne has worked tirelessly over the past week to identify possible replacement venues and has managed to secure us a new home in Charterhouse Road, about 5-6 minute drive from Crofton Halls. Whilst we can still meet on a Thursday evening, from January it will be the 3rd Thursday in the month rather than the 2nd. All attendees at the meeting agreed with this change.
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Two of our group quilts had previously been hanging in Southborough Library and have now been returned to us following the refurbishment of the library. Both have found new homes within the group,
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Preparations continued for our Christmas buffet next month.
The Show n' Tell page has been updated with the latest presentations from members.
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Many thanks to the members who provided raffle prizes and refreshments, always appreciated!
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October 2024
This month we welcomed Randolph Bekker to give us a talk on wax prints. He gave us a very interesting insight into the history of this this fabric that many of us love. Click here for more details on his presentation.
As always, our members brought in a variety of items they have been working on and these can be seen on the Show n' Tell page.
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Many thanks to the members who provided raffle prizes and wonderful cakes and biscuits to go with our tea and coffee, much appreciated!
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September 2024
Unfortunately our speaker this month, from the Madlani Cancer Support charity, had to cancel at short notice so our meeting turned into a Sit and Sew session. It gave our members an opportunity to share the various projects we are all working on.and pictures of these and other items can be seen on the Show n' Tell page.
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We look forward to hearing about Madlini Cancer Support, and how we can help, when the speaker is rescheduled in the new year.
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August 2024
August is usually a very quiet month with many members off on their holidays and other absences so this month's meeting was designated as a "Sit and Sew", giving the members that could attend some time to dedicate to their own works-in-progress.
Recently the committee have been progressing a revamp of our group logo as it was felt that a lady quilting under a lamp looked a little outdated. After consultations with the group, and a collaboration of ideas, a much simpler design was presented at the meeting. No objections were raised so the pictures below show the design that will form the basis of a logo than can be used on flyers, posters, website,etc., as we try to attract new members.
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Members also brought in their own projects, which can be seen on on the Show n' Tell page.
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​Huge thanks to Diane who has taken the initial idea and used technology in the form of a quilting app to produce a simple representation of the proposed logo, with and without borders. It was thought a good idea to actually create a patchwork piece that could be on display where we meet so the picture on the right shows Diane's creation of the pieced logo.
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July 2024
This month we were treated by a wonderful talk by Tracy Aplin, the creator of many amazing quilts using vibrant fabrics and intricate techniques. Click here for details of her interesting presentation.
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As always, there were lots of items presented in our Show and Tell section of the evening. mostly for our charitable hospital donations. Several fidget quilts were shown and we have donated 27 so far to the PRUH, for which they are extremely grateful. All of these can be seen on on the Show n' Tell page.
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June 2024
At this month's meeting, Diane gave a demonstration on making zipped pouches, very useful for keeping in order those blocks and pieces that are still works in progress. As the demonstration progressed, she gave lots of useful hints and tips that would ensure the construction of a pouch ran smoothly, most of which were borne out of her own trials and errors on previous pouches. All the members found it really interesting so many thanks to Diane for her time in the preparation and delivery of this demonstration.
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On the left is Diane in demonstration-mode and the pictures on the right show the front and reverse of a pouch she completed earlier.
Also on display were many examples of old newsletters that were produced by members of Orpington Quilters in its early years. The earliest was from 1987 and there were many from the 1990s. It was fascinating to read what the group was involved in back in the day.
As always, there were many items for our Show and Tell section of the evening. Following a request for more incubator quilts, the members (and quilting friends) produced some wonderful covers for Kings College Hospital. In addition, many fidget quilts were also presented for donation to the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH). It is so interesting to see all the different ideas and tactile techniques used in the construction of these much-appreciated items. All of these can be seen on on the Show n' Tell page.
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Jennifer also showed the second community quilt and this can be seen as the final entry on the Community Quilt page.
May 2024
This month we welcomed Jenny Groves-Gidney to give us a demonstration of sewing circles using the Naked Applique method where the stitches do not show. Jenny owns a fantastic patchwork shop in Tunbridge Wells (Jennifer, our chair, says she would like to live there!). Jenny very kindly provided the materials and needles to complete this interesting exercise and spent a lot of time with individuals, showing the tricks to create a beautiful needle-turn applique piece.
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Here are a couple of pictures of the work-in-progress.
And this is Diane's completed piece.
Many thanks to Jenny for introducing the group to this technique, and for all her efforts in preparing the fabrics for everyone.
In addition to learning something new, members brought in their own creations which can be seen on the Show n' Tell page.
April 2024
This month's meeting was our AGM. It was agreed the existing committee members would remain in their respective positions and Anna kindly agreed to step up as Vice Chair. One of the many topics discussed was how we might recruit new members. So it is planned that a few members will approach their local libraries and other community centres about a poster and/or display of the work of Orpington Quilters. Hopefully this will provoke some interest from people that possibly do not know that we actually exist!
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Following last month's talk from Bonnie Foster, members have been busy making heart cushions for patients recovering from breast cancer surgery. Here is a picture of those passed over to Jennifer at the meeting, for her to hand on to Bonnie.
Bonnie had also talked about fidget quilts for dementia patients and as a group, we have decided make these too so they can be donated to the PRUH. A member's daughter is a nurse at the hospital and she and her team would be so grateful for these quilts. Here is the first batch of seven ready to be handed over.
At the meeting there were tables of fabrics and books for members to purchase for a small donation, though if the fabrics particularly were going to be used to create more items for charity, then they were free of charge.
March 2024
Bonnie Foster, from Beckenham Quilters, joined us this month to talk about their charity quilts and also to run a small workshop making heart cushions for breast cancer sufferers. Click here for more details.
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Next month is our AGM and we welcome any ideas from the members on any projects or demonstrations that they would like to see in the coming months,
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February 2024
At this month's meeting we welcomed Jo from Puddleducks, who came along with some examples of her wonderful quilting and a small pop-up shop of fabrics. Click here for more details.
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Sadly, the group was informed of the passing of a long-standing member, Rose, who we believe joined Orpington Quilters in the early 1990s. Mags and Carol, who knew her very well, put together the following...
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"When we joined Orpington Quilters, Rose was an intricate part of the group. She was on the committee for many years, taking part in the agenda, tea duties, demonstrations and exhibitions. Rose really pulled her weight. She was well known for her love of flowers and bling. When it came to making our 25th anniversary quilt, she was in her element when Rosemary suggested we added silver to each block. Rose was also known by many of us for saying things just as they were. This made her well loved and respected by all that knew her.
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Her cremation will be held on 22nd February, 9:15am at the Bluebell Cemetery, Halstead. No flowers, donations to St. Christopher's Hospice."
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Such sad news, she will be very missed.
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Click on the following links to see the progress of the Community Charity Quilt project and the lovely pieces recently completed by our members in the Show 'n Tell Gallery.
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Many thanks to Yvonne for providing a cake to go with our tea and coffee.
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January 2024
We started off the new year with a fabulous talk from Sarah Hibbert, a modern quilter influenced as much by art and architecture as quilting heritage. She talked us through her journey of quilting, from the early days through to the production of her book "From Collage to Quilt". Click here for a more in-depth piece on her talk. It was lovely to welcome a number of visitors from other quilting groups who came to hear about Sarah and her quilts.
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In addition, members also brought in their contributions to the Mystery Quilt and Community Charity Quilt projects, click on the links to see them. Also, other lovely pieces were displayed which can be seen in the Show 'n Tell Gallery.
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A raffle was held and refreshments supplied so many thanks to those members who provided prizes and cakes.
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