Two years ago my book group read the Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier and I was fascinated by the Quaker story and how the women came together to quilt.  As a result I decided to make my daughter a quilt to go away to University. I chose a simple framed square design by Kaffe Fassett.  I decided to hand quilt each frame and then embroider words from her favourite songs within each block. I was so pleased she loved it.  

I was now hooked and was advised to join a local quilting group. I looked online and found the Cambridge Quilters and went along with a good friend who was also interested in quilting to see what it was all about.

The members were doing a 4” samplers and I looked forward each month to seeing their work.  I was made to feel very welcome and could ask questions about how to proceed with my daughter’s quilt.  I particularly enjoyed the guest speakers; their stories were so interesting and they brought in their amazing work for us to see.

I then decided to do a sampler quilt for myself to learn new techniques and find out what things I liked doing.  I was inspired by Tula Pinks City Sampler and then went online to find some more difficult blocks. I particularly liked stars but found circles difficult. I ran out of fabric so the colours developed as I went along depending on what I could gather. I quite like the journey and making changes as I went along. The Cambridge Quilters introduce you to local events and day courses and I went to Moira’s fabulous sewing studio to learn how to free machine quilt, I used this technique on the sampler quilt (pictured) and am continuing to develop my style and skills.

My next project is going to be a bed quilt in an Amish design, in greys and black with hand quilting. Watch this space…

Jane Hollis