First meeting of the new year

Off to do our first meeting... I'll be posting photos of our accomplishments. Hope anyone who can come, does!  Bring a lunch, and I'll provide drinks and desserts! See you there! (9am-3pm)

Okay, ... first workshop done, however, Until I can figure out why my computer won't let me post the photos I took, I'll be just talking/typing to you... I'll post photos when I figure this out.

We had a few people show up I didn't expect! Dee and her daughter, Delaney (and Dalton helped to take down everything at the end), the usual suspects, Margaret, Kathy, Marilyn and Jane (and me of course).

Premmie hearts for the Premmie Project! In Iowa. Sixty two of them made by Kathy S.

This one is spoken for....a man with cancer.

This one doesn't have a backing yet.... just 'borrowed' a piece of batting from another one.

We finished tying a few quilts and had bindings for Marilyn to take home (she had the bindings on them by 4:30pm!), one that needed some seam ripping (my fault) that Kathy took home (she needed some busy work in front of the tv) with the binding. We'll see if it comes back finished (wouldn't that be nice?).
I also took one home to get done... We have two more pinned, one more tied and I really couldn't look at another one, so they are put away for the next meeting in Oct.

Two of them are spoken for already, so as soon as they are done... off they go.

All in all, I think we got a lot accomplished!!! Great job, ladies!

New Quilts for the summer!

For those of you that have a Facebook page, click here to read other stories about our group. Like our page https://www.facebook.com/PeacebyPieceQuilters

For those of you that don't, Enjoy the eye candy.

This is a cute quilt that will have to go to someone special (a farmer of sorts), the black and white fabric on the back has feed and grain type wording...I've named it "Holy Cow!"















This quilt was given to a 65 yr old lady who having a rough time with her chemo treatments for pancreatic cancer. I've named this one "Jelly Jam Blues" (doesn't it look like stripes of raspberry jam...?)




This quilt has got split log cabin blocks in it and makes me think of "Raspberry Limeade" (raspberry, lime binding and hopefully it will 'aid' someone getting well...see how I come up with the names?)















There was also many, many Pocket prayers that Kathy made... we were running low. Thanks, Kathy! (Nice that one of us has air-conditioning in her sewing room!)Enjoy the next photos of our "pocket prayers"... of which several were taken after they were blessed on Sunday morning.

 Here's the basket they are in... located in the Narthex (entrance of the church) at St Mary's Episcopal church. If you need one, let us know (we can mail them out too). - Kathy calls them "Hot Pockets", but that name is taken

Fundraiser and a quilt

One of our latest quilts, "Marching to First Base" went to a little 4 yr old boy with leukemia. He lives in town and one of our local luncheonettes offered to give 20% of the days profits to his medical expenses. I decided that in addition to having lunch there with my mom, we'd bring him a quilt to cuddle with. I hope it 'works'.... (lunch was delicious!!). Hope this makes you well, Gavin!

"Cycling in VT" sent on it's way!

Finally got to send the finished quilt "Cycling in VT" on it's way....to MA.

This went to a woman (former nurse, and veteran) who has been dealing with ovarian cancer for a while, and thankfully, I've heard she just got some test results back that said 'negative'. We like to hear that, and hope that our thoughts while working on her quilt have helped that prognosis along. This was blessed after the holidays and sent out last week. Thank you Edith for the fabric and the request.

More quilts finished and Blessed

It's been such a blessing to see how many of these quilts can come to life and be finished!!

This one was created because of the beautiful fall fabric. Not wanting to cut up this fabric into small pieces, we used a large 8" square block, framed with fabrics that would match the leaf fabric. We put them together with a broder of the fall fabric, so it gives the illusion of the frames rising above the leaves. Makes me think of leaves floating under a bridge, which may end up being the name of this quilt. Green plaid is on the backing, with various strips of the frame fabrics as the binding. Two possible names...1. Leaves Under the Bridge, 2. Floating Leaves. 

 This  one is a quilt that Mary Ellen did using blocks that she'd made from a 'Block of the Month' project and it looks a little bit Asian, and is machine-quilted by Laura McCarrick with angel wings, hence the name, "Asian Angel Wings". Nice black and white florentine backing was used.

This quilt was a Black and White Challenge, done with Vernon Nutmeg quilters, when Nancy was a member. She had these blocks from the challenge and had never put them together. Considering them to be 'orphan blocks' from this project, she put them together with sashing to enlarge the quilt, then added a brilliant blue thin border, with a larger black print border. The backing is pieced and the binding is solid black. It's called "Challenge Me".

 

I love seeing them laying over the railings at church when they get blessed. It's such a special moment.

 These two are laying near the babbling pond in front of the pulpit. Love these.
Stay tuned for more....

Hurricane Sandy quilts delivered!

Oh, how I wish I had a photo of Ed Johnetta's face when she heard how many quilts we were donating! She was such a love to come and pick up the quilts we had for her chapter (Quilts for Kids). She was so excited to see it was me that she was dealing with (we'd just been emailing back and forth to set this up), and then to hear we had 30 quilts...., well, you'd have thought she died and went to heaven! She said the girls in her chapter usually make a pickup of a few quilts, maybe 5, but 30??!! Never!

After we got them loaded into her car, we discussed how important it was for both of us to make sure they got to help those in CT first (if possible), since we had such horrible devastation to our shoreline. Once she got them home, she sent us the email she sent to the regional chapter of Q4K, and a thank you to our group. Oh, Ed Johnetta, you have no idea how much we thank YOU. I only wish I could actually go with the quilts to see where they end up residing....

October Preparation

It's two days before our meeting and I want to prepare the ladies for it. Yes, we'll be doing our normal tying of any remaining quilt tops, but I want to have some things put aside for the January quilting event (6 hrs).

We need 'manly' quilts.

I have some great ideas and plans, but may send you all home with homework!! Notice that the date it will be due is JANUARY 2013. Gives a lot of time to play...and you won't have too many blocks to make, so it should be relatively easy.

If you are wondering about our "Canning quilt", it hasn't been forgotten. I know it's a very involved quilt, because we have no 'pattern' to go by (THIS is what is called 'flying by the seat of your pants') so I want to wait until April (our next 6 hr event) to put this top together.

We have given a few quits away since our last meeting, and I'll catch you up on those recipients.

See you Monday!

Wowwy, KaZowwy!!

That's all I can say......

We had a great turnout this month, it was so surprising! Two reasons, really.
First, it was the first meeting of the year (school year) and although we usually meet on the first Monday of the month, this being Sept, we met on the SECOND Monday of the month and that will sometimes screw up people's schedules, so we usually have very little people remember that it's even on this month.

Second, I didn't advertise much (in the church bulletin, or any other way). I'll get better at this one someday soon, I promise.

Well, the ladies surely surprised me this month, in any event. You can always tell who has air-conditioning in their sewing rooms. This summer was exceptionally hot and my sewing room faces the south side and is on the second floot, so I wasn't in there ALL summer! But Mary Ellen and Kathy were phenomenal with what they put out.

This is one of the last of the lasagna quilts, which I'm calling Lasagna Leftovers. We finished it that night and as soon as we had it blessed on the following Sunday, someone requested it for a friend (Rebeckah M) in VA who was having a very hard time with "Pots Syndrome".  She also requested one with motorcycles for the husband who has been ill for some time.

We had another one similar to the one above, that went to Jessica T's uncle in WA who is suffering with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. I sent that out from work last week.

I also had one called "Enid's Black Beauty" that Lynn K requested for a former roommate who has been having difficulty after surgery (ovarian). She's already had breast cancer, and now this. Lynn said she's a bit of a wild one, a rebel, so I pray that she fights hard on this one. Lynn took it home to deliver to her friend.

 

This cute little one was made by Mary Ellen. I called it Baby Blue bubbles, since the fabric on the backing is soft little blue bubbles. These are adorable.

 

See the next post for photos.....

 

We did discuss that we haven't very many 'manly' quilts, so I think I'm planning to have them work on 'homework pieces to bring to the Jan. mtg. I did pick up some beautiful fabirc with leaves and birch branches on it (greens, grays, browns) that may be great for a border and/or center strips for more heartstring quilts. I pulled all the fabrics we had in the cabinets at church that would go with it and I think it will be beautiful!.

 

We also have some plaids still (LOTS!) that we can use with a dark center strip to make some HS blocks for Jan. 2013.

 

The nice thing was, some people who haven't been able to come to the meetings lately, were able to show up (Pat, Dot, etc)... nice to see you ladies. We did miss Janet. Will see you in Oct., I hope.

 

 

Pre-May mtg

Well, we've gotten a few quilts to the done stage since our last mtg.

1. "Geisha's Fan-fare"- My name for it, anyway. We added a fabric to the back that looks like a map, and it seemed to fit the Oriental front.

2. "Peachy Cream"- We chose a nice dark brown for the binding and my mom sewed that to it. Looks nice.
I have a few more that need to be finished to the top stage and then maybe put together at the June mtg (all day event).

I have three thoughts for the June event...
   1. Orphan blocks
   2. New blocks ideas
   3. tying marathon again (seemed to work fine last time).

We did give a few quilts away this month. "Where's My Shirt?" went to Nadine B. in OH, just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The quilt was requested by her daughter in Toronto. We sent it out UPS ($23) to the daughter so she could have the kids sign the blocks (hopefully, it will be subtle, although it's Nadine's quilt now, so she can do what she wants with it).

We also gave Edith B a quilt for her Aunt Sally in CO. She has carcoma. We gave her the "Purple Batik HS/Aqua" quilt. Edith will get it to her aunt.

One of our youth in the church will be going to Mexico for a mission (2nd yr) and asked to bring a quilt with her. We have no problems with it as long as it isn't used as a gift to the padre that is in charge of their mission. It needs to be used for a family in need. Until next mtg...