Page 82 - Patchwork & Quilting - UK (February 2020)

Original
members
INTRODUCING...

Shipton Quilters

BY JANE STEPHENSON

The Shipton Quilters group was formed in 1985, through Shipton Oliffe Women's Institute (WI) when
they took part in the National Federation of WI's Community Quilt Project in 1983. The group's main
aims are to further the techniques and traditions of quilt making and raise money for charities.

A core group of five was started by Jane Badger and Margaret
Brown, who both had a background in textiles and teaching.
The group increased to twenty, meeting once a month in The
Reading Room, Shipton Oliffe. Now we are now a group of
thirty, with a full range of quilting skill levels from beginners to
experts, meeting twice a month and are pleased that both Jane
and Margaret are still members today.

The group is a lively one with meetings being a mixture of sit
and sew evenings, talks and mini workshops where a member
will teach and demonstrate techniques. We have guest
speakers, tutors and day workshops. In recent years members
have been off to a quilting retreat at Villavin for a few days
of uninterrupted quilting, chatting and imbibing the odd
beverage at the end of the day!

Our exhibition is our main focus for charity fundraising but
we also make quilts for appeals, groups or charities. Last year
forty quilts were given to Acorns and nine fiddle quilts to a
local nursing home for residents with dementia. We aim to
choose charities that have a connection to our group members
or the area we live in. Our forthcoming exhibition in April 2020
is supporting Maggie’s (a cancer support charity), Medical
Detection Dogs and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
Group charity quilt 2020

80 British Patchwork & Quilting FEBRUARY 2020