Region 7 Area Day,  15th  April - Yelvertoft Village Hall - by Jackie S

I have been in Northampton for almost two and a half years now and had never heard of Yelvertoft, but it was fairly close - half an hour’s fast drive away through country lanes and little villages. So I decided I would go, not having been to a Quilters’ Guild Regional Day since before the first Covid lockdown when I lived in London. Region 7 comprises Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire - very spread out and not easy to get to other counties for Regional Days held there.

Anyway I set off with my Google-printed directions not sure that I should be attempting this foray into the unknown, but I made it without any problems. The village hall was large and light with a kitchen serving tea and coffee and a table full of delicious cakes, of which I readily partook. There was a good gathering of about 50 people and Geraldine, Reg 7 Co-ordinator, greeted us all in her very lively and cheery way, outlining the programme for the day. Firstly, Sarah Hibbert talking about her collage quilts, then lunch, show and tell and finally Kim Porter from Washed and Worn Fabrics explaining how she came to have a business in re-cycling old cloth. There was also a sales table of donated fabric and books to raise funds for Reg 7, a raffle and Kim also had her own sales table of worn and washed fabric, plus lots of Liberty pieces. So, lots of reasons to spend, spend, spend.

Sarah Hibbert is a Modern quilter whose work has been exhibited in the USA and has had several quilts juried into Quilt Con, also one of her quilts is in the Guild collection and another was recently used as the logo for the Festival of Quilts. She explained how she started quilting, which was prompted by her making small paper collages of photos and advertisements from magazines folded many times and then cut into various shapes. This was after her Father destroyed all her Rod Stewart photos on her bedroom wall when she was about sixteen because she had a bad school report. Most of her quilts are made with linen and the designs are quite large and plain coloured. A few years ago she managed to get Rod to sign a copy of her cherished photo of him wearing red trousers from the album “Every Picture Tells A Story”, so blame Rod Stewart for Sarah’s quilting success story. Last year Sarah had a book published, “Collage to Quilt”, showing many of her quilts with instructions. She also brought these quilts along for us to see up close, all were very beautifully made. Visit her website www.sarahhibbertquilts.com for more information.

Kim Porter was pushed into quilting by her mother. Having been told that she was taking too much interest in boys and had also been asked to leave the Guides, her mother decided she would make hexagons, which Kim did not know much about. She eventually made a quilt from the hexagons, very badly she says, which is now lost. After this Kim took an interest in old fabrics and started to search charity shops for shirts; workwise, she trained as a Press photographer and when sent out on a job would take the opportunity to visit charity shops in the area. Eventually she started to put together small collections of fabrics and sell them at fairs and shows as well as making quilts. She was asked to work with Liberty making up Tana Lawn bundles for them and did this for a while, and was left with a lot of fabric, which she now sells on her stall. The quilts Kim brought to show us were very soft and had a faded look to them - she washes her own quilts regularly and they become softer with age. She hand quilts everything, again giving the quilts a softer look. Kim, too, has written a small book, “Using Worn and Washed Fabrics”, e-mail kim@wornandwashedfabrics.com for more information.

Both talks were very interesting and both quilters had similar beginnings, but different endings - except they discovered they both liked Rod Stewart and both knew and had connections to the pub he used to frequent in north London! Small world.

A very enjoyable and interesting day and I met quilters from a different area, which is always good.