Welcome & History

Welcome to the Gisborne Quilters' blog! We hope you'll enjoy our contributions to the world wide web of quilters and crafters!
We're a  group of friends who meet every Wednesday evening at the Gisborne Municipal offices to quilt, stitch, knit, crochet, chat, laugh, share, and generally enjoy ourselves. Our membership is steadily growing, and all members bring new skills, interests, and stories, enriching us in many ways. There's always room for more members!
The group began in 2009, after Donna McNeill-Brown had been interested in starting a local group for some time, and especially after the two quilt shops opened in Gisborne. At first, a day group convened, however, most people work during the day, which was why a second, evening group was created. Donna made some contacts, and was happy to start the ball rolling. Tania Smith was also keen to get a group started and soon had us organised in terms of venue, days, and time. While the day group did not attract many more members, the evening group flourished and we now have at least 7 'regulars' and sometimes up to a dozen people attending the sessions.
We're all grateful for Tania, who manages the day-to-day administrative tasks and even publishes a newsletter! It's not a group with officers, rules, and so on, we're pretty informal, which makes life easier. Group members have very different interests and skill levels, as you will see from future posts. We've had some fun 'challenges' - e.g. the tea-cup bag, making postcards, and the May challenge is an "afternoon tea" theme. I'm sure more will be said about challenges later.
This is a team blog, so whoever in the group wishes to post something can do so. I for one look forward to seeing the Gisborne Quilters grow and flourish, and to see their works and stories on this blog!