"Man Up!" Jan meeting

Dee working on Halloween Horror

Well, I must say we had a great time, even though we only had six ladies at our first 6 hr event of 2013. While Dee & Janet worked on this 'horrid' quilt (blocks were straight/consistantly sized/etc), that sure turned it into a gem of a little quilt!

This is the layout. It was made years ago but no one is sure who worked on the blocks (them being so wonky, I don't think anyone WANTS to claim they worked on it). All I know is, Janet was a miracle worker to get it into this cute quilt top.

I'm glad I had this broom fabric to add for the border. Next is to add a boy fabric to the back that is NOT Halloweeny. Then it will be reversible.

 

These blocks I yanked out of the 'orphan block' box in our storage. They were from a 'swap' that I'd done years ago with a local quilt guild. I fixed it so there'd be 12 blocks and then went to work at adding black sashing to separate the business of the black/white prints.








After adding the sashing (am I the only one who caught sight of the improper sizing of the blocks, that somehow came out okay in the end?), we decided if the outer border was to work, we needed a nice blue fabric to pull out some color. Well try and find a blue/green backing for it. Maybe one we can roll the edges over to the front for a binding.

This quilt  I'll call it "Back in Maine" since the backing was bought in Maine.

 We tied it with multicolor embroidery floss since it was so colorful.

 

I did layout all the quilts that Kathy had quilted/ and or bound, along with her 14 pillowcases. I added Marilyn's pillowcases and we will send them to Con-Kerr Cancer (drop off is at Quilting by the Yard quilt shop). The green/torquoise one on the far left is called "Stop it, Cars!". Just a top at this stage, but we'll either finish it or donate it to Project Linus in March.

These Heartstring blocks were done by Kathy and possibly others, but were in the orphan boxes (RWB), and I thought they needed to be put to a top. This placement didn't make it to the finish.

 This was the finished project. Dee and Jane worked on this. Great job, guys.

 This was one of the loveliest ones we got to work on... Kathy had made the HS blocks and one of the new visitors, Delaney (age 11) worked on the placement of these blocks. I'm thinking this should be called "Thank God I'm a Country boy". It just looks so homey and warm. This is how far it got put together. I'll hopefully work on it at home or bring it to the Feb mtg to be made to the top stage.
Nice placement on the quilt, Delaney.....

 This medalion I've been playing with for years..... Not sure what to do with it yet, but the next stage should be something that makes it POP! (The rust points are flappy- not attached down).

These are piles of HS blocks to be made. (one pile is what is two photos at left). 

 These are more piles to be put together..... the Red/Blue pile did get to a top (see photos above), but the others need a few more blocks to make a complete top. For another meeting.....

 Here she is..... Delaney. She was visiting us with her mom (whom I work with). We gave her the blue blocks and just let her design it. We'll call this one, "Delaney's Quilt". She did such a good job on the design, she can come back anytime she wants. (I hear her mom says she is planning our lunch for the next 6 hr event!).

This is what she started with ....

and this is what she created. Great job!

 

 

Okay, I know

we were making 'manly' quilts, but while I was laying out the stuff to be worked on the night before, I found these lovelies and decided they needed to be 'revamped. Not sure who made them, but I hope they don't mind that I 'adjusted' them.

And then I just kept going.... connecting these purple pinwheels below.

These "fall fabrics' (top pile) were taken home by Marilyn. Can't wait to see how she puts them together. We put together the pile on the bottom left before we went home (Janet and I), She's taken them home to put together. We may have to put a border around them to finish that top.

 

This one needed one more block, so I made one the night before and Margaret worked on this one, until she realized that a block or two, didn't lay flat when ironed, so I took it home to 'fix' it and put it together. I can see this one with a black border and wild outer border. Hmmm......

 

 Jane was working on rows as needed. Overall, it was a very worthwhile day..... Thanks everyone! See you in February!

Day at the Orphanage Event- Success!

What a great day for a "quilting bee", so to speak...(Actually, it was a little muggy for me..whew!) This quilt (I may call it Prisms), was put together in design at the last mtg and Mary Ellen brought it home to put the rows together. I'm not sure what we'll do for the borders, but a nice black frame might be good before we extend the sides...

I went over to the church the afternoon before and spent three hours just sorting through the blocks and putting them on tables to have the ladies get ideas for the designs that we were to create for this little babies....(blocks). I'll try and tell you a little about the various groupings..

This one was a challenge I gave the ladies... Bright center strip, black on one side, white on the other with bright corners. We made two other quilts with some of the blocks, and these were the leftovers.

 

The ones on this table were two "Sudoku" (one squares and one rectangles) quilts that Mary Ellen made and then decided to donate them to the group. The top one, I chose to add a warm brown batik as a border, and the other one at the bottom of the picture, has a few fabrics that are auditioning... (I got voted down on the bright teal and the pink... oh well.) The Pink blocks were leftovers from a few Breast cancer quilts we put together. The note on the blocks at the bottom, says "Too small", as they were cut less than 9.5" square. So I have to remember when making more that they get cut 9.25" sq.

  

This is a closeup of the quilt with the backing (green) and the yellow binding already in a zip-lock, pinned to the top... Ready to go to the quilter (probably me...).

This one is sixteen blocks that Marilyn made and just wanted to try a two color variation (blue-red). The three up in the corner, were stragglers from the Prisms quilt.

These were various HS blocks... no consistant center strip (or even squared up to the center, per se) but I tried to blend them together according to color...I think they ended up being paired up to alternate with the red center blocks (later in this post).

This one was a block that I learned at a workshop. I'm not sure what I thought to do with it, but was pretty and I had a bag full of fabrics that would go with it. The rust 'prairie points' are 3-D".

This is the "muted cranberries",... they were the first attempt for Heartstring blocks by a new member, and although the center four HS blocks (cream and maroon) had no foundation blocks... she has since learned to do them better, I liked the split design to them. The other four blocks I though might go with them... maybe. However, Dot got them to work on and she decided to put the plaids with them... She took it home to finish.

 

This is the Bright/B andW blocks and the Red/white/blue HS blocks. Not sure whether it will stay with JUST RWB, but we do have a good amount of them.

These are strictly red center HS blocks. They'll get together in a quilt with very little help.

These went up to join with some of the blue centered ones, I believe...
 

This table had three choices on it. Clockwise from top; yellow/gold HS blocks. They were all made the same, same centers, same set of fabrics on one side (on all of them) and another set of fabrics on the other. Very stunning. It ended up with a gold border, and a yellow purple wide border on the outer edge. (the Border fabric was one I hated in my stash and had donated it, so it's good to see it got a good home. Halloween Happy blocks are next, not sure how they will get designed... and the left has the red/green plaids that got put together with the cream maroon blocks shown earlier.

 

This is the crew photo (minus Phyllis and Pat) when we finally thought to take a group photo. You'll see Phyllis and Pat in other photos, don't worry. Left to right: Muriel, Dot, Cricket, Jane, "C", Janet, me (Nancy), in lime green and Anna.

Here are Muriel, Dot and "C" working at making sure the blocks we had were all trimmed to the correct size.
 

Here's Phyllis, Cricket (a guest who came from MA to help- she's part of the heartstring group, like me) and Janet. (Hope they don't charge consulting fees...LOL)

 

Here's reliable Pat. She always says not to let her sew, but she's a great ironer! She even brought her knitting to do in between ironing.

 

Here is a quilt that we finally got the borders on (we've had it in the 'closet' for months! Don't know why we haven't finished it, other than other quilts get pushed in front of it). Thanks Cricket!
 

 

Jane (who is charge of our annual Quilt-a-thon for Project Linus) is working with Janet on the Yellow/gold HS quilt.

 

This is a trading patches that just never got a chance to 'play' with any of us. Next time...

I actually DID put down the 'whip' and let them have lunch!! LOL I made strawberry shortcake for dessert (Mom -far right- made the biscuits). ...ok, all I did was buy the whipped cream and smush the strawberries the night before.

This little frog Happy blocks set had filler blocks put inbetween for this affect. It should look great!

These blocks (misc HS) got connected with some of the red centers and were joined with sashing (black). It should look really striking when it's finished (almost got there before we left).
 

Unfortunately we only had the hall until 3pm (although I knew I could stay until close to 4pm), so the quilts that got taken home were the Yellow/gold HS, the Frog HB, the Cream/Maroon Plaids HS, the RWB HS, and the Bright BW HS blocks. Hope to see them at our Sept 1st mtg.

Since I have the last one at home, I'm not sure what will get done with it, since I also have Amazing Grace to finished the quilting and bind (we're putting in prayer ties in the outer edge), and we are starting a new one for a 15 yr old girl with brain cancer who likes moose and the color red.

Oh, just not enough hours! Why CAN'T I BE RETIRED????

These poor guys never even got to see the light of day! Next time...