March meeting update

Just wanted to update you all on the progress from the other night.

We had a good turnout; Jane P, Kathy S, Anne R, Margaret M, Muriel and Nancy. 

Muriel is working on the binding on Margaret's Green D9P (with pink binding),

I finished tying the gray ties into the Lime Green/Red and Gray quilt that Kathy put together, but I haven't found the right shade of  gray binding material in my stash. I'll have to go to Joanns (darn, lol). I think I'll call it Lime Green Surprise! 

I have the 'serged squares' quilt that I have to machine-quilt this month. Hope to have it done by April's mtg.

I added borders and cornerstones (offset-due to lack of enough fabric that we had in stash- so we improvised) to the little pink one that Kathy made. Really adorable. The border fabric really sets it off. Not sure what to call this one, as it looks like the pinwheels are fenced in some wealthy person's yard. Any suggestions? (my thought is "Quartermaster"...)

* * * Don't forget that the April mtg will be on April 5th from 9am-3pm (Sat). Bring a lunch to enjoy. I'll figure out the dessert and drinks. Not sure of the "theme", but it will probably be another sandwich/deli theme as we'd like to finish ALL the incomplete quilts that we have in house. I have a few that will need to go to Maine with me in May (to Marden's) and may take some Project Linus quilts to cover the cost of the backings we need (if that's okay with Jane).

Okay, the Margaret news... Keep her in your prayers as she called this morning to say she was flying to FL as her son isn't probably gonna last very long (kidney transplant, has had seizures/ small strokes and is in a coma at the moment. They told her to come down if she can as they don't expect much more...sad.

But on a lighter note, we'll show you a quilt she just finished (pie quilt pattern). Just lovely- some of my favorite color/combos.

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!