Brown House Quilters - work in progress

It all begins round the kitchen table at The Brown House. Then they take their work home and come back with it all magically finished!
Sometimes they take it really seriously and work hard. But not always!
Notice that the work is fuelled by copious amounts of tea and biscuits.

Brown House Quilters - Sampler quilts

After many months of enthusiastic work, members of the group have got to the stage when all the blocks have to be arranged, ready for assembling the quilt tops. This isn't as easy as you might think, as anyone who has tried it will tell you. Every time you think you've got it just right, you think that a small adjustment will make it look more pleasing. When you've done that, something else comes to the eye - two dark blocks placed adjacent to each other don't look good, or some of the patterns would look better seperated, or....And so it goes on.


Chris laid all her blocks out on the floor while the rest of us stood round and offered comments - in fact, we agreed that she'd got it about right almost first time. The blocks will be set together with sashings and posts in light and dark blue.

Jennifer's blocks are on a pink and lilac theme, and she's so pleased with them that she says that she'll re-decorate the room for which the quilt is intended, to make it match the quilt!

As well as the traditional American block patterns used, we covered other useful techniques, such as appliqué, bias appliqué and English piecing over papers. Please note that most of these blocks have been sewn by hand using the American patchwork method. That's because most of the members of the group prefer not to use a sewing machine, enjoying the ability to relax in the comfort of an arm-chair while peacefully sewing!