On Saturday morning 15 of us walked into the hall thinking "what have we got ourselves into."

After closely looking at Margaret Drayton's 2 beautiful Mariner's Compass quilts, she assured us, "It's easy," as only Margaret would.

Two days were taken up making various blocks using the foundation piecing method, which for some of us was a first time. We were shown how to make up patterns and sort colours to complement each one.

It was interesting how different all the finished blocks looked with everyone's various fabrics. Some fabrics that we never expected to go together took on a whole new look and were fabulous.

The more we pieced, the easier it became and it really wasn't as difficult as some of us expected. There was very little unpicking to be done.

Margaret's Class Angel, Judy Alcock, was great, giving us hints, tips and surprised us with a batch of warm muffins that she had baked. We became so engrossed with our sewing that we had to be reminded to take a break!

I had always thought of the Mariner's Compass block as very intimidating and could never attempt to make it, but with Margaret's wonderful 2 days of tuition, laughter and encouragement, I am eager to start.

Many thanks Margaret.

Jenni Strachan