May 2015 Retreat

Greetings everyone!  I've finally edited the photos from our overnight retreat in May.  If I don't do things right away, it is so much harder to get yourself back to it.

We had a great time.  Actually I think the time went by quickly.  We did indulge ourselves with a cat nap, then got right back to it.  There was plenty of sugar to keep us energized.

We had a pot luck carry in,  lots of food and desserts, vegetables were scarce.  But then what is the most important ingredient at a sew-in ............. chocolate.  Yep, we had chocolate. Here is our buffet table.  Everyone was invited to dinner, even if they couldn't stay overnight.

Click on the photos for a nice close-up view.

Our buffet table.  Is Mary here leading the line-up  or going back for seconds?  

Here is Susie and Alice having an after-dinner chat.

Here is a pic of ladies working hard at having fun....Dee, Susie, Mary  and Pres. Jen waaay at the back.

Alice is working hard on her quilt.

Arlene is always working on a traditional masterpiece.                                        

Kathy B.  is seen here  knee deep in projects for her annual craft sale.

Here is Pres. Jen hard at work.

Pres. Jen brought a troubled medallion, looking for ideas to turn it into a quilt.  She received much help, since quilters can't resist sharing their creative ideas.

It's truly evident that Stephanie is enjoying her work!

We had a great time and fondled lots of fabric.  I thought I was too old to stay up all night,  but each year gets easier.  I'm looking forward to next years' quilting marathon!

May 2015 Club Meeting

We had another productive meeting this month.  Lots of programs to talk about and lots of things to share.

Our program this month covered a collection of effective and helpful tips for quilters, presented by our V.P. Kathy B.  Kathy provided a multi-page handout with tips and tricks to share.  She demonstrated several tools.... of special interest was the Accu-quilt Go cutter and dies.

Here is Pres, Jen and Shirley P, showing off a wonderful T-Shirt quilt.

Here is a delightful pictoral hexagon quilt made by Jan B.  We all need to make one of these!

Here is a  not-so-shabby stack of children's comfort quilts made by  Joyce D.  Joyce is our high-volume monthly contributor for charity quilts. She is such a blessing to our group!

Here is a set of children's quilts made by Kat S.  It is the "Supersize 9-Patch" pattern by Anita Grossman Solomon.  You could make one too.  It is a free pattern  HERE .

That's it.  Check back soon for the report on our annual overnight retreat.

April 2015 Monthly Meeting

President Jennifer opened our April meeting with a question ..... " How did you meet your husband ?   We enjoyed many interesting and funny stories from everyone.

Jennifer also provides a prize drawing every month ... your name goes into the bucket if you wore your name tag.  Arlene won a lovely plant this month.

Show and Tell

Kathy B. showed off this lovely quilt made with civil war fabrics.

Pres. Jen M.  shared  these 2 vintage tops and asked for finishing suggestions.

50's  Bow Tie

Sunbonnet Sue

Charity Sewing

Shirley P. made these baby quilts -- from a  3 -in -1 pattern by Anita Grossman Solomon.

Kat S.  made these 2 childrens quilts.......

Quick Strippy

Joyce D. is our over-achiever  in providing charity quilts.

Her show started with   ..................

this .............................                    

and this .....................................    

and grew to this ..........................

and finished with this pile of 20 quilts !  

Thanks Joyce !

Remember the Forks of the Wabash and Piecemakers Quilt show next weekend, April 18 & 19.  Be sure to stop by and see the wonderful display of quilts and place your vote.

And lastly, you will find many free patterns, great for charity quilts at  www.maryquilts.com.

March 2015 Sew-In

Several club members gathered for a sew in last Saturday, March 7th.  We had a great time together.  We worked on our own projects this time ... anything goes.  Remember to click on any photo for a larger close-up.


First up.........Kathy B and Val B.  Here they are making design decisions for Valerie's project.

This is Kathy B's  X's and O's project.  She was able to add the borders and be ready for the next quilting stage.  The best part of this photo is .......................  the   SOCKS !   Kathy is showing off her socks in this photo....testament to a colorful quilter, indeed!   You can see her in the photo above.

Here is our Mary D., working on a secret project.  Ssssh, don't tell.    LOL  I wonder what it could be?

This is Stephanie J., our ever-faithful  fearless leader.  Steph is working on a child comfort quilt of comfy flannel with raw edge applique stars.

Here is Dee, working on a new outfit for the m o u s e.  What some gals will do for a friend.  

And me ? ...... see the table behind Dee,  I'm  cutting up bolts of home dec fabric for our new year of school book bags.  I got 48 bag and strap kits cut.

and here is our Alice .  She is creating a colorful 4-patch quilt.  Somebody will love to cuddle under this bright and warm quilt.

We had a great sew day.   We see signs of spring on the way and fresh new energy for more quilts.  See you all next month!

March 2015 Club Meeting

We missed lots of members at the March meeting....several snowbirds still to return home.  In the meantime, we had a wonderful show and tell.

Arlene made a beautiful quilt with the jewel box pattern.  She has a wonderful way of mixing fabrics, it comes so natural for her.

and here is the back. I hope you can see the detail of her hand quilting,  just beautiful!

This is a second jewel box quilt by Arlene; she made very good use of our winter season

with more hand quilting........................I missed getting a picture of the back.

Arlene's sunshine and shadows log cabin quilt

also hand quilted................

Arlene's family is so blessed to be receiving all her hand-quilted treasures.



Now, here Susie is showing off a sweet little rag quilt. It is a pretty varigated fleece.  The girls called it sherbet, perfect for it's spring-like appeal.

and here is the back.......................................

Lesa shared a delightful demo of techniques for the 'fold and sew quick and easy blocks'.  She also provided a handout illustrating all the blocks.  It truly looks quick and easy and will be a great method for maintaining those low-stress days.

here is a great example using the fold and sew technique.  This little quilt frames colorful embroidery blocks suitable for a child's quilt.

That's it.  We're looking forward to seeing the rest of our members coming home from their warm winter homes soon!  We missed you.

February 2015 Club Meeting

We had a great February meeting.  With Decembers' Christmas party and a weather cancellation for January, it seems so long since we've had a meeting. There was lots of business to cover.  We also had our annual garage sale and a great demo from Stephanie on the mystery project we're doing next Saturday.  With all the holiday festivities behind us, we are all anxious to get back to our creative side.

So, let's get on to the show and tell.

Here is Stephanie, demonstrating designing possibilities from the cut units of our annual mystery project.

Show and Tell

This beauty is the creation of Lesa S.  It is a queen size quilt, and the photo does not do it justice.  It is gorgeous!  Everyone would have walked home with it, should we be able to distract her guard.

She also made a matching pillowsham for the bed topper.  Just drool-worthy.  Shame on her for showing off.

Jennifer M, Pres. -  acquired the navy seal emblem in the center and built this quilt around it. It is just wonderful and the slivers of gold make it sparkle.

This is Susie's  spool quilt top.  It is totally hand pieced. A labor of love, I'd say.  Susie is a devoted hand quilter but she says she is happy to be finished with the hand piecing.

and Susie S. also made this adorable applique quilt for one very special little great grandchild.

Our Charity Quilt Missions

                                 Here are 3 small bundles of joy donated by our Dee S.

Kathy B. started this bow tie quilt during one of our workshops and brought in the finished quilt.

Kat S. started this quilt during a workshop last year.  The top was created with pre-cut squares from the club's donated stash.  She made alternating 4-patches, then finished it up at home.

Here is another finished product started during our workshops.  Stephanie shows off the finished quilt.

This is an unknown soldier.  I know it is made up of postage stamp pieces and contains many old indigos from the 40's and some actual pieces from the 30's.  There was so much excitement over this piece, that ownership is blurred.  Maybe someone will send me an email with the info.

We thank everyone for your efforts on behalf of the club.  I hope to see you all next Saturday.