Quilting

homerdog

I have a friend due to retire in 3 weeks and she's been talking a lot recently of quilting in her newly found spare time....not patchwork tho, can anyone point me i the direction of a good book or even a club in the Stretford/Sale ares of Manchester.
I think it's the sort of quilting where you pad a little bit and stitch around it.
Thanks...Debbie

tinker77

Under the same category as quilting is applique a much easier form where you use a blank piece of material then applique a design to the top I do these for friends and then sew them into padded throws they love em! its quick and easy to do I use zigzag on my machine and get designs by searching for free applique patterns on the internet printing them out and then enlarging them to fit

homerdog

Thankyou, will keep trying, she does do basic sewing, but this was just something she mentioned to try in her retirement. Going to try the library and see if they know of any groups locally that I could contact.
Debbie x

Battleaxe44

A quilting group will definitely help your friend get started. Find a group that is friendly. i know from experience some groups are not user friendly. I tell everyone , each of my quilts has a flaw in it, this way they are Armish Quilts..so if you want perfection, you must me Godlike. The orignal group I met up did not like this philosphy, they certainly took the fun out things, with perfection all the way and they never bothered to help anyway. So if you find a group, go along and talk to the group and see how much help they are willing to give and share. The group I am with mow are lovely, we meet one Sunday a month, there is a tutor, well I have seven tutors and we share tips, and ideas. We meet at fabric/craft shop, run by two hands on crafty ladies and anyone who comes into the shop is immiadetly asked iof they would like a tea or coffee and made very welcome. Even husbands ar emade welcome, (they are opening a husband creche) in the new shop, so we can shop, discuss and sign up for classes. I hope you can find a group like this for your friend, then she will love quilting.

There are a lot off good books out there and if possible go to the quilting fairs. These are goldmines of infornation. Of course you will be reaching into your purse to share your money with the vendors.

This is an essential book for all quilters http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1564771989

Have fun

ca55ie

Apologies homerdog gave only just seen your post. The Quilters Guild have loads of local groups who are vey friendly, cover all sorts of quilting and are very generous with help and advice. Here's the list of groups in Region 13 which covers the NW.
http://region-13.quiltersguild.org.uk/about-region-13/region-13-local-groups

Hope this helps

homerdog

Thanks Tinker77, Battleax & Ca55ie,
A local quilters group gave me the info i needed and i got a lovely book for my friend, she loved it. x
Regards - Homerdog