Last time the bursary came round I put my name in the hat and was lucky enough to be a winner I was the last name out of the hat so the amount of money I received wasn’t huge but it was enough to push me into making the plunge to sign up for a sewing course.

I have been envious and in awe of people like Vanessa and Ruth in the WI who are so talented with a needle. I don’t come from a family of crafters and when I was a teenager in the 1970s (I know -before some of you were born) sewing lessons in school were very un-cool and I remember spending most of my time sulking and complaining that I should be allowed to do woodwork with the boys: as of course I should.

Anyway, since being in the WI, I’ve seen the light and took advantage of the free lessons offered to us by the lovely Jinny at Word of Mouth. Although it was obvious from that experience I had everything to learn it gave me the courage to go on a beginners patchwork course at The Quilt Cabin in Albert Street. I have really taken to patchwork and made several baby cot blankets and a quilt for my own bed. With that experience behind me I signed up for a month ‘Block of the Month’ course which teaches a different patchwork technique each session as is labelled as a ‘Quilter’s Rulers Masterclass’. It is for this course, which I am part way through, that the WI Bursary money
is being used. It has the added delight that one of the women on the course is Sophie Hudson.

I was nervous on the first session but all the other ladies on the course are friendly, encouraging and happy to share experience and equipment. Now I can’t wait for that day of the month to learn a new skill. Following each session I go over the lesson at home making a couple more blocks so that the new technique sinks in. By the end of the year I will have a enough blocks to join together to make another quilt. For my birthday last year my husband bought me loads of Kaffe Fassett fat quarters and it is this material that I use each month in the block.

I hope you enjoy looking at the photographs. I have included some of the work I have completed and the brightly coloured blocks alongside the rulers that I have been getting used to. I encourage all of you to put yourself forward for the bursary next year. The only condition is that it has to be educational in some way, and as the names are simply drawn out of a hat it is just a very democratic first come first served system.

Thank you to Vanessa and her volunteers for all the hard work that goes on in hosting the Rag Market, the profit from which, goes to the bursary fund.

Jeni Wetton