Meet the Crafters No 2 Sheila Burness

This is the second in our "Meet the Crafters" series of blog posts so hope you all enjoy hearing about us and what makes us tick.

Today the focus is on Sheila Burness, who is the quilter in Lev3l 3 Crafters.  If you have ever visited The Venue in Manor Walks, Cramlington (our home base) then you will definitely have noticed the beautiful quilts that adorn the walls there.

Sheila is mum to two, grandmother to three and an absolute whizz with a sewing machine.  In fact she owns more than one machine - her largest machine is known as "Big Bertha".

 Although Sheila's own mum knitted and crocheted, she didn't actually sew - Sheila's love of sewing started when she was taught how to at school and over the years she has completed courses in embroidery, dressmaking and tailoring.  But it was when Sheila did her first course in patchworking that she really fell in love!   In Sheila's own words "I am a fanatic" - which may explain why she chose to call her business page Sewing MANIA (not that we think she is a maniac of course!).

 Many of Sheila's quilts are double sided, and one quilt can take between around four and six months to make, so an awful lot of work goes into them.  But the work is well worth it as the finished quilts are beautiful.

Sheila has visited the International Quilt Festival in Houston on a number of occasions and has also been to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania to visit the Amish Community who are well known quiltmakers.  In fact much of the fabric Sheila uses for her quilts comes from the USA.  I believe that on a number of occasions this has warranted a trip to Walmart to buy an extra suitcase for her journey home!

Although Sheila's passion is for patchwork, she does much more than this.  Her little lavender bags are lovely - and she made the lace that forms the bags herself too.

Sheila also makes a number of smaller everyday items - little pincushions for example.  Here is one with a matching heart shaped sewing case.

Another sewing case made by Sheila

And she makes bags too - lots and lots of beautiful bags.

Sheila's most recent addition to her bags family are the "Grab and Go" Baby Bags.  These have been beautifully embroidered on both sides, and contain really handy pockets on the outside - just right for baby wipes and bottles - or whatever you might need to take with you on the go when you have a small baby in tow!

She also makes an adult version of the "Grab and Go" bags - just right for that trip to the beach - handy for sun tan cream, sunglasses, towel etc.

In September Sheila turns her hand to Christmas baubles - made from fabric of course!  Beautiful baubles  that would enhance any Christmas tree.

And as we have mentioned the dreaded "C" word already, then I need to show you her lovely Christmas wreaths too.

All in all our Sheila is a very clever lady and is extremely knowledgeable about what she does.  You can find her in The Venue most Thursdays between 10am and 4pm at our free demo days where she demonstrates her patchwork skills.  Unless of course it is September and then she will be demonstrating her Christmas baubles.  You can also find her at our weekly Saturday markets most, though not all, Saturdays.

Many thanks for visiting our blog.  I hope you have enjoyed issue 2 of "Meet the Crafters" and will be back next time for another exciting installment!


Lev3l 3 Community Crafters