Clean Sweep Quilting Event 2013

What a great day to have a quilting event! So much better than 95 degrees and humid (predicted for our original meeting last Sat). We did have some funny hiccups to start with...one person got the email switching the date but breezed over it and didn't realize it was starting an hour late until she showed up at 9am, left and went home to re-read the email. Good thing she showed up, as she had worked on so many of our quilts between meetings.

 

The ladies that showed were, Muriel (our oldest member at 85 yrs old), Margaret, Jane, Janet, Marilyn, Anna, Kathy, Mary Ellen, Nancy (me), Deanna, Delaney and Brenda. Hope I didn't forget anyone...

 

Mary Ellen brought back a quilt she finished binding. I think I'm calling it "Bow Ties and Borders". The center of the Bow Ties is made so it's 3-D... you can stick your fingers under it. Cute striped fabric from the back became the binding. Just needs a label.

This is a sweet one from Kathy's donated ones (that she did at home). She machine quilted it with a decorative stitch. We're calling it "Cherries on Top". Very Cute.

This is such a cutie... Little panel blocks with numbers and animals on it. Made and machine-quilted by Kathy. I wanna call this one "Counting the Animals".

 This one is a mish-mash of heartstring blocks. Some are put together as 4-patch, some are 16-patch separated by plain blocks. All machine-quilted with a decorative stitch. (Also by Kathy)

 

 Mary Ellen made this heartstring quilt as part of a Memorial day challenge on a yahoo group's site, Heartstrings Quilt Project. The challenge was to use brown strips for the center strings. I call this one "Line 'em Up, Hearstrings!" Makes me think of our bingo quilt blocks we made for a quilt several years ago.


The Cool thing about it is the back!! She used a really unusual fabric to 'spread it's wings' (to widen it). We made a gold label for it and it's looks super!! Great job, Mary Ellen!

 

 Here is Muriel doing her favorite thing.... binding quilts. She got this little one finished and then headed home after lunch. Good job, Muriel.










 Finished.... "Spinning Blocks".

 

 Mary Ellen worked on "Delaney's Decision", tying a soft yellow into it. This one we used our noodle method to sandwich the front to the back. Dee (below) finished the trimming of the ties. It got trimmed (batting) and backing and was taken home to have the backing rolled over for the binding.

 Anna spent some time ironing and sewing on labels.

 

 Everyone kept quite busy.... Margaret, Kathy and Janet are working on one that they were soooo nervous about; didn't think the backing would be long/wide enough to meet the edges of the front. It did (1/4" in a place or two). This one is made from various heartstring blocks that were leftovers from other projects. Not sure what we'll name this one.

 

 "Road to Oklahoma" is one Mary Ellen worked on and donated to the group. We had issues with the borders, but once they were fixed, Delaney and Jane (and Dee below) tied this one....So pretty, but you have to stand back to see the 'stars'.  We'll roll the backing around to the front.

 

 Janet and Margaret also did the tying on this Red.white and blue log cabin. The blocks came from various members of a quilt guild project years ago. It will be a nice wheelchair sized quilt for someone.












Then there are the various tops that Kathy made.... We'll call them Blue Belly #1

 Blue Belly #2

 and Blue Belly #3, since all the strips center around a blue square. These were made by Kathy (in her spare time, LOL).

 

 This is a nice little quilt that I may name, "Fall in the Box" since the fabrics are fall fabrics inside a 'box/frame'. I believe this one ended up getting tied and someone took home to finish tying (probably my mom, Muriel).







Here are some other tops that were made at home and brought in (by Kathy)

 

 This one I think would look great with a 2.5" black border, and a wide outer red border. Very striking!















Another finish by Kathy....  "Maps in Blue".

 This one will eventually go to Alycia in CO for the quilts of valor quilts. It has a pillowcase to go with it. Nice job, everyone!

Deli Sandwiches in June

Our June meeting was actually one of our two 6 hr quilting events of the year. "Making sandwiches at the Deli" almost looked like it wasn't gonna be too well attended with only three of us there. Slowly one more appeared, with another to come after bringing her cat to the vet. With a phone call to one more (who wasn't coming because of work--that got postponed until Sunday), we ended up with six ladies who were so excited to be there!

We had quite a few tops to 'sandwich' and a couple of backings needed to be adjusted, done.
More were taken home to be bound, and quilted, but we got 5 quilts almost to the done stage. These three came in from the last meeting, finished.

Tooling Around was from a panel that was made from a Quilting by the Yard quilt kit that was given to one of our members (MEZ) by one of her quilting friends.

Same with these happy squares. They were leftovers from a previous meeting/homework assignment.

Enid was playing with some batiks and had fun with this. I call it "Enid's Black Beauty". Thanks, Enid!
The Frog quilt is a great kid one. That one got to the binding stage, but Marilyn took it home to finish that part.We got the binding for this (and the backing) up in Maine at Marden's. We had the top from 2009 and just couldn't find the right material to make it bigger until this last trip to Maine. It's made with Happy blocks, so I call it "Frog Hoppy". This one is really done, just not in these photos.

We were playing around with Kathy's latest Quilt of Valor blocks and came up with this configuration. Nice I think.... We sent this to Alycia in CO who is our QOV go-to person.

I took this home to quilt it and bind it. We'll roll the backing over to the front to use it as the binding. This great red backing (you'll see it next post) was also gotten in Maine at Marden's.

 And it's always nice to see our member's projects that they are working on....Margaret brought this one in... It's lovely!! I love black, white and brights.

Well, we are off for the summer (too hot to quilt), so enjoy the blog until Sept. (2nd Monday).

Quilt in the shade!

March mtg Means Lots of Tops!

Wow, have we got lots of tops completed!!!
The ladies were phenomenal this month getting their homework done. As much as there were not that many at the last meeting, those that were, took home hearstring blocks that were started and not finished. Some were leftovers that didn't quite work with the others, some were just not finished to make a complete top and put in storage for another meeting. So,... after pulling out all the ones that were in various stages, we decided to complete them to help the HeartstringQuilt Project Challenge (Feb-Aug 2012)--thanks for the push, Mary.
Here's what tops were finished.

This one Margaret finished (since she started it). She even had a cute tan print background fabric and we'll put a red binding on it.

This one is adorable... Also, it was a surprise, from Mary Ellen. Soft gray centers, with Dick and Jane fabric border.

You can even see the print in this close-up. How Cute! We found a 'vintage' backing and will get a maroon red binding for this. I think the name may be, "Dick See Jane Quilt".

This one, Mary Ellen added more black centers and it may just get a soft yellow binding. Looks like "Easter Morning", to me.

This one is my Lime Green center with Selvedges as the strings...hence, "Lime Green Selvedges". I may add a border or two and leave it.... or may keep making more to make it 5 x 7 blocks instead of the 4x6 blocks that it is now.

This one I love.... my personal favorite! I call it "Homespun Warmth". The blocks were finished by Kathy and I finished putting the blocks together (here just laid out at the meeting) at home. So warm and cozy!! We have another set to put together too, but not anyone's homework yet.

And Janet took our breast cancer centers (pink)blocks  home and added some green and pink blocks to complete this. She wanted to make it bigger and add a border, so we picked out some soft pink (that reads solid) and a bright green (narrow inside border) to finish this. Can't wait to see it next mtg. I call this one "Cotton Candy Pink).

I really think we got so much done at this meeting.

Oh! I almost forgot.... I finished putting together the RW-CB blocks together that Kathy had brought to last month's mtg. I did different placements so they were different from each other. Here they are...

Three Diamond Storm

 Corner Posts

These two will go to wounded veterans who have come home. We will send them to Alycia in CO, who sends them where they need to go. Thanks, Alycia. (Pillowcases are coming, too).

Busy scedule causes cancellation

Due to my work schedule (October being the busiest month of the year), I had to cancel our October mtg.
We did however, get to have a quick Sept. mtg (I think having it on the day after Labor day Monday throws people off, so I'm not sure how to plan for that month anymore- only 4 people showed up).

We did get our Quilt of Valor quilt done...Here is my grandson, Malakai holding it up (kinda)... this is the front (heartstring)

and we used a panel that was bought at Marden's for the back, but since it wasn't wide enough, we split it in half lengthwise and added an strip down the middle (added the label on). We had to change plans for where it was originally intended, so it's available at the moment.

Reactions to quilts...

I just got a phone call today from a member who 's been active in our church for almost 40 yrs. During our church service where our Priest Blessed our recent QOV quilt, I hung up the quilt like I always do on the front railing. I think people like to look at them as they walk by for communion. This woman said she was so moved after the service by this quilt that she actually cried when she looked at it. Two other women were doing the same as they admired it after the service, also. It still needed to be hand-sewn on the binding (my mom's gonna do that), but I knew it may not be available for a blessing by the following week. (I hope to connect with the soldier it's going to (he was wounded by an IED in Iraq), as he came home in May. (The photo is under the previous post)

This makes what we do seem very important to the parishioners and keeps up going. Yea, ladies!!

June mtg- Last mtg of school year

We had a few people able to make the mtg this month, but we seemed to get LOTS done!
A few of us worked on tying the "Sunshine and Space" premmie quilt, then I was able to sew the binding on and send it home with my mom to hand-stitch and finish (I got it on the 13th and had it blessed in church).

A few others also got a chance to tie the QOV quilt, up to the outer borders and I'm not sure whether I'll machine sew  (SITD) near the borders then add the binding (I have a choice of two different ones to use). I took it home and trimmed it, so far.

MaryEllen took the Black/pink/poodle blocks home to square up and put together. We'll add a border at the Summer Block party (at the 'bordello'). I can't wait to see it.

It's so nice to have everyone take part in the whole process for each of these quilts. I can't thank you ladies enough for all the work you put into it.

Spring vacation Project in Maine

We got a few things organized at the last mtg, so that I would be able to get supplies in Maine (my vacation spot) to finish a few quilts we've had requested. Enid's Yellow/Blue HS quilt top came to the meeting without borders. It was taken home by Enid with fabrics from Anna's stash (Dark sky blue) and Marilyn's excesses she had given me (beautiful yellow), to add the borders, then to hopefully get it to me (had two wks to finish the borders) before I went to Maine. She did good! I got it the two nights before I left and took a few others needing 'something'.

Since I brought my sewing machine up to Maine with me, I figured I'd at least get the backing done (pieced) on these few quilts. This was the view (and the weather was liek this for 12 out of 14 days!! Who could beat that??)

I found the perfect backing for the Yellow/blue HS top. It had a deep blue sky with clouds and some man-in-the-moons on the fabric, which went perfectly with the planets on the front. I'm calling this one "Sunshine and Space". It's for a premmie who was born in Dec 2009, 3 months early. He's about 10 lbs now, so making it normal baby quilt size worked out fine. I didn't have the top with me to match the colors, so I'm thrilled that I had enough (split it diagonally and 'streched it') to use for the backing. This photo is showing it split, just not extended yet.

I even got the binding done for this one and enough for another one (great blue/white stripe).

I felt the need to extend the top of this QOV quilt, because the panel that we were using on the back would have gotten cut off, if I didn't. This panel, I split in half up the middle and inserted a red strip (wide), added the label and figured it could trim it if needed. It should be perfect.

Mavie Q, a Heartstrings member (from Maine), made us 'some blocks' as a thank you for her friend's quilt (friend was very sick and needed one NOW- thankfully, we had one to send). I picked them up in Maine (at her house) and decided on this pattern of putting the blues together. I did get them together, even though I'm posting this design-in-progress photo. Thanks SO MUCH Mavie for the 48 thank you's....!!!

I did finish splitting and combining the pink/black /poodle squares (finished ones are the top left pile). I'll bring them to the next mtg.

The surprise I'm getting soon is that Cricket, another Heartstring member, took one of my first quilts ever, and added the borders around this to finish this quit for our group. What a great gift!! Thanks Cricket! Can't wait to see it in person.