Quilting Is Good For Us, part 1

A report was recently published online that makes interesting reading but probably won't surprise us.

Emily L. Burt, Postgraduate Student and Jacqueline Atkinson, Professor of Mental Health Policy, have looked into the connections between health and craft hobbies and report:

"Results: Cognitive, emotional and social processes were uncovered, which participants identified as important for their wellbeing. Participants found quilting to be a productive use of time and an accessible means of engaging in free creativity. Colour was psychologically uplifting. Quilting was challenging, demanded concentration and participants maintained and learned new skills. Participants experienced ‘flow’ while quilting. A strong social network fostered the formation of strong friendships. Affirmation from others boosted self-esteem and increased motivation for skill development. Quilts were often given altruistically and gave quilting added purpose." 

I had a weekend supporting all of those results as I attended a Lincolnshire Quilters' Guild Area Day and a workshop with Gail Lawther.

We arrived to find slight panic as the hall was in some state of disarray with no kitchen and a lack of tables but the "keep calm and sew on" spirit kicked in and we were all making new friends as we sat closely together on the tables that were available.

We had a lovely little Cathedral Window workshop, an inspiring "show and tell" and a very generous faith lunch, further confirming my belief that quilting and cake is a great combination - maybe I should do a study on that <VBG>

I got a lovely surprise when somebody said, "Hello Lis" 

and it turned out to be the lovely Julie who writes at Mixed Media a blog full of exciting things, do pop over and say "hello" to her.

After lunch it was time for the guest speaker, Gail Lawther, and she delighted us with her Glimpses of New Zealand talk, showing us all of the quilts in her series and telling stories related to them and, of course, to her times in NZ.

This is Gail speaking about the wallhanging that represents Rotorua and all the wonderful colours created in the geothermal pools there.  And then, what a delight, we were allowed to touch the quilts and get a really close look at all Gail's wonderful and varied techniques:

There was, of course, plenty of opportunity to open our purses!  Gail had brought her books and patterns, there was a wonderful sales table courtesy of the Lincolnshire quilters, and there were two traders with a wonderfully tempting selection of goodies including Fabric Freedom jellyrolls.  Do you know that these are made in England, contain 10 more 2.5" strips than other jellyrolls and are considerably less money?  What's not to love?

Making our way home after the day we couldn't stop talking and DH did sterling work in not only producing a wonderful meal for Trish, Ros and I but also smiling through a whole evening of quilty talk - I think the wine helped.  Thank you Al.

Tomorrow I'll share our workshop with Gail in which she taught us her stained glass window technique.