April 2024

 We met today at Joan’s house on a sunny spring day.  Joan opted to have the meeting in the house as she explained to us later about the lingering skunk odor from next door.  Being outdoors would have been nice, but we were glad to be indoors.  Alice and Bobbie were both unable to make it and they were missed.  Sandi had some fabric for Alice, but will bring it to the next meeting. The next meeting will be at Mary’s house on May 8 at 130. 

Joan

Joan was first up and she had a lot to share.  She started with her Magnolia quilt to show us how she quilted it from the back.  It makes a lot of sense to quilt from the back in some quilts when there is so much going on in the front.  Her second quilt is from the pattern Chill Out which uses 2.5 inch strips from her solids stash in an effective offset pattern.  The backing fabric was chosen so she can quilt this from the back with the wavy lines. She likes this pattern so much she is planning a third.

Deanna

Deanna looked through her ufo projects from years past and came up with these two.  The first is a view of Santorini that she thinks she did in a Laura Fogg class.  The landscape was assembled, a tulle sheer or organza fabric was put on top and the quilt was quilted to hold the tiny pieces down. She placed metallic threads and fluff to create clouds and waves.  The reason why she didn’t finish it was the mitered corners.  She has mastered the eyelash and mitered corner with the red and blue border. Good job. The second quilt also needed a border.  It started with a muslin foundation in a New York Beauty pattern.  She used French fabrics and a tablecloth that she got for $10 from a place in Martinez.  She couldn’t figure out how to cut the tablecloth to create a nice border.  Well you can’t tell, but this is also a mitered corner.   

The due date to submit the unfinished projects challenge is July.

Mary

After finishing Betsy’s hummingbird quilt, Mary has decided to start sewing for pleasure.  She has started a crayon quilt.  It was a challenge for her to pick out the colors from her scraps. We discussed how hard it is to find true colors in different values. Talked a little about Angie’s color classes and how valuable learning the basics of color theory has become when choosing colors for the crayon.  Still working on the filler fabric whether light, dots, dark or none at all.

Arleen

I brought two quilt tops.  First is the Reconsidering the Grid that was shown in the last meeting.  A third border of straight lines placed in a circle pattern has made this quilt much bigger. I was hoping to get this finished for PIQF,  unfortunately, I just found out that PIQF has been cancelled due to the Soccer Games happening at Levi’s Stadium. Bummers. 

The second is another grid pattern using shirting material and some of my old hand dyed muslin.  It looks very calming.  I really like using the grid patterns. 

Sandy

Sandy has decided not to work on her two ufos that she showed us last month.  Instead she pulled out a One Block Wonder project that she started and never finished. She made a runner with some of the completed blocks.  She also gave the unfinished blocks to Marty in the hope that she can make something of them.

Mindy

Mindy has two round robin projects that she couldn’t show us.  But she could show the possibilities of what will be her part of the project. The first is a strip of squares made using 3/4 inch strips. So tiny and so  like Mindy.  The second rr will use a lighter color palette since the first two were on the darker side.  She is also making paper flowers to use in her fans.

Marty

Marty had three projects. The first is from the Thursday quilters gather with a dark a light and a pop of color.  She chose to make a wonky nine patch. Unfortunately, it did not come out to 10 inches.  The second project was from a Diane Harris hexagon.  Instead of using Diane Harris pattern, she drafted her own.  Unfortunately the hand sewing of the fabric has inflamed the Reynard in her hands and she has decided to stop.  The third quilt is a finished project. Yeah!  She made a bow tie quilt using Betsy’s fabric.

Betsy’s name came up so many times in this meeting and it was decided to give you her son Eric’s email address.  Elivak@gmail.com. Feel free to send him pictures of how you are using Betsy’s fabric or how much she inspired us all.

Joan sliced a pound cake, whipped up a bowlful of cream and sliced some strawberries to make a wonderfully light dessert. Thank you Joan for hosting and reminding us what a joy it is to be with good friends.

This is a picture of my next grid project.

March 2024

 We met at Marty’s house on a beautiful spring day.  Unfortunately Deanna and Mindy were not able to make it.  This is a photo from Marty’s house window of the amazing scenery.

Marty

Marty started us off first with three projects that she is working on. The first is a block from the Thursdays quilters gather zoom meeting.  It is the first block which includes dark and light with a pop of color.  The second project is from Angie Woolmans class at the 4th Tuesday of the month at the Albany Library.  She made 9 patches of drunkards path with an “ethereal” theme.  For the third project, we went upstairs to see her fpp 1.5 inch strips.  Very nice

Alice

Alice showed us her fruit and vegetable quilt which came out to about 40 inches.  She wanted to show it next since it has a similar drunkards path block like Marty’s.

Sandy

Sandy has finished quilting her Maria Shell quilt.  She started in the center and using a regular foot just eyeballed the spiral lines outward.  No walking foot.  Just go slow.  Maria said to start with a 12 color pallet which should include 3 neutrals.  The other interesting technique she used was Elmer’s glue instead of spray basting.  Using a light hand just squirt the glue on the batting and put the backing on and press it out with your hands.  Dry for at least 30 minutes. Hmmm.  I think I’ll try it on a baby’s quilt first and then wash it to see how it feels.

She brought two projects to consider for her oldest ufo challenge.  The first from a Nancy Crow workshop and the second from an Ann Johnston class about design.  I like them both.

Bobbi

Bobbi finished her bed quilt.  For the binding she pulled the back fabric to the front and stitched it with the machine down.  Easy Peasy and it came out very nice.  It was quilted by Hello Stitch.  The Pods are almost done and Joan said they came out great.  

Mary

Mary is working on the quilting of one of Betsy’s quilts.  It is a panel of a hummingbird with flowers.  The border was done by Betsy.

The Bishop Ranch twin size top and back is finished.  Everyone got the same color for the center block and was asked to use certain colors for the surrounding block to match the Bishop Ranch color scheme.  She made a label showing everyone’s name for the back.  Very professional.

Arleen

I showed two projects.  The first comes from a photo seen from Sarah Nishiuras workshop of a 1930 quilt using feedsack that she sourced from the IQ Museum.  I used 6 inch origami paper as the fpp backing.  My first problem was that I forgot to include the 1/4 inch border on the paper.  Since I had them drawn it on the paper already, I just went ahead and sewed it.  I think it came out okay.

The second project is my third attempt at the reconsider the grid workshop.  I plan on making a third row of the grid pattern.  Stay tuned.

Joan

Joan didn’t bring anything to show.  She did talk about her next project for her Washington retreat challenge.  The challenge is to make a quilt with only solids.  Looking through all her stash, she had enough for 1 box which she is going to mail to her sister.

Marty made a wonderful light Orange Kiss me cake with sliced strawberries.  The cake came out light and fluffy and was perfect with the Strawberries.  I’m going to try and put it on the recipe page.  Thanks Marty for hosting.  The next month we will meet at Bobbie’s house so we can see her finished Pods quilt.  That will be Wednesday April 10 at 1:30.

February 2024

 The rain started just as we all got to Deanna’s house. For the first time in a while, we were all able to make it through dark clouds, rain and a flat tire.  It was so nice to step into a warm and welcoming house filled with friends.  The next meeting will be at Marty’s house on March 13 at 01:30.  With VIC so close, I thought I would include a picture of the parking at the Kaiser Convention Center.

Joan

Joan just got back from Washington and showed the quilt that Melissa Quilter finished for her.  The beautiful fabric was enhanced by feathers,, swirls, leaves and flowers.

Alice

It’s a 13 lbs, 9 ounce baby girl. Congratulations to Mom and grandma.  Alice showed us a picture of her new granddaughter.  From her phone she also showed us a quilt in progress which is like a drunkards path pattern. It is a Norwegian pattern from Warm Folk which uses vegetable and fruit fabrics.  Nice.  She has finished her elephant quilt and has put it on the living room wall.

Deanna

Deanna has been very productive with 4 quilts.  The first was a pattern from Missouri Star which was quilted by Melissa and made from a layer cake with grunge fabric.  The second and third were quilts made with Tildas World fabric.  The fabrics are so soft with a nice hand.  The fourth was her Many Trips around the world.  She used binder clips that she got from Amazon for 5.99 for a pack of 100.  They helped to stabilize the binding which was machine straight stitched from the front and then blanket stitched again from the front. Very secure and very well done.

Marty

Marty had three quilts to share.  The first was a wall hanging that she made titled Memory of Japan 2023.  She used machine embroidery and is thinking of adding more embroidery.  The second quilt was made with some of Betsy’s fabric.  It is one of her favorite patterns of using a 4 patch next to a square. It makes a cheerful baby quilt.  The third quilt, also from Betsy fabric was a jelly roll of dotted almost metallic fabric with blue dotted triangles separating the strips.  After the strips are sewn together, they are cut into 50 inch and then sewn together.  The blue border pulls it all together.

Arleen

I had four quilts to show.  The first was from a downloaded pattern from Kitchentable quilting.  The Charlotte quilt uses a jelly roll from Betsy and some grey grunge fabric put on point.  She made a complex pattern into a simple one.  The second quilt was the block put into rows.  The third and fourth quilt is the same pattern from the Sarah Nishiura workshop.  I learned how to do foundation paper piecing and grid designing. I really enjoyed her class.

Sandy 

Sandy has been very busy taking 3 classes in the past two months.  The first was with Carol Soderlund which was a dying class using minimal water.  The second was the Sarah Nishiura Zoom class and the third was a four week Zoom class with Maria Shell.  The quilt top from this class was  amazing.  You could see all the intricate work and precise piecing needed. She enjoyed all the classes and I’m glad I took her advice to download the zoom app on my iPad.  

Mindy

Mindy is hard at work on coordinating the Round Robins.  It looks like she is in both the Improv and Traditional RR.  Unfortunately I couldn’t download her starting piece, but this is a photo of the starting piece from the Improv RR.

 

Mary

Mary showed us the quilting she has done on her blue and gold quilt.  Her free motion quilting is improving with every quilt.  The second quilt is her own design trying to use up some of Betsy’s triangles of purple and sea foam green.  Good Job

With so many quilts and so much to share, the time passed by so quickly.  Deanna served a wonderful cake with handmade whipped cream and fresh fruits.  Yummy.  Thank you Deanna for hosting.