November 2019

It was a smaller group than usual this Friday at Deanna's house, with Mary, Betsy, Sandy, and Bobbie joining Deanna for the meeting.  Christmas decorations were being put up in the driveway and along the fence for a festive entrance to the house.

Next meeting is at Mindy's, on December 20, at noon, for our usual potluck luncheon, and for our gift exchange, with a limit of no more than $15 per gift.

We discussed our next challenge again over Deanna's fig bars and ice cream.  We all agreed to the rules that were discussed and Sandy has kindly offered to assemble the blocks we make into a quilt, with someone else doing the quilting.  Sandy will send out detailed information on the challenge.

Betsy had made a tshirt quilt at the request of a friend of her son's.  Initially, she thought it would be lap quilt size, but instead it is a queen size quilt.  Melissa Quilter did the honors of quilting  it, and given it was the only tshirt quilt Betsy has made, it turned out pretty well.

 

 With the power board giving out on Betsy's Bernina just at the end of piecing this quilt, she is now the proud owner of a new Bernina.  She made a quilt from leftovers to learn how the machine works for piecing, and for quilting.  

 

And a quilt that had been made years ago was used as another learning tool in quilting.

Deanna showed us a lovely new one block wonder and on the back you can see the fabric she used for the front.  She quilted this herself on her new machine too!

 Sandy brought oven mitts she had made, lined with InsulBright and a layer of batting.  Getting ready for the gift giving season, she could have had several takers at the meeting.  

Mary, too, has a new sewing machine, this time a Bernina.  She has been practicing on it learning how to quilt with the stitch regulator.

 

And Bobbie has finally gotten to the finish line with her triptych.  She is in the process of doing the binding and then the hanging sleeve will get attached.

She has the start of another piece or two, as well.

September 2019

Betsy hosted Quilt Therapy in September attended by Bobbie, Sandy, Marty, and Joan.  The Pair/Pere/Pear challenge quilts were due.  Several had been show at a previous meeting, and several more shown here.

There will be no meeting in October as we will be attending PIQF instead.  Next meeting is at Joan's house in November.  (NOTE:  Place changed to Deanna's house as Joan will be out of town.)

Marty showed her pair challenge, a wonderful Yin and Yang pair.

She had also put together some log cabin blocks using the Karen Eckmeier pattern shown in the book Layered Waves.  Love the spikes in the border.

And a preemie quilt for the guild.

Joan had made progress on her latest EPP work with Kaffe Fassett dots.

 

Betsy had finished a beaded curtain look quilt in her favorite blue and white color scheme.  The borders are only on the sides.

And Betsy showed her pair quilt, a pair of owls, of course, with button eyes..

Betsy had seen a picture of a quilt made from strip sets and then cutting triangles that were turned in alternating directions.  Mostly Kaffe fabrics.

Bobbie showed her pair/pear challenge quilt, in artistic Bobbie style.

 Sandy had her pear/pair challenge piece to show with pear fabric and pairs people.

Sandy has also been sewing garments and showed off a new blouse she made.

August 2019

Our first regular meeting in the daytime.  This milestone was at Mary's house.  The sun was shining, we were all awake, and it all seemed a bit different.  Bobbie couldn't join us but we had the pleasure of Joan's son's lady friend, Joy, attending.

Next meeting is at Betsy's house on Friday, September 20, at 1:30.

Quite a few of us had completed our challenge piece for the "pair, pear, pere" challenge.

Joan's touching piece is a tribute to her father (pere), using photographs printed on fabric and featuring a sketch of him in the center.

Joan created a quilt using up her Asian fabrics in a disappearing 4 patch design sashed with a fabric to set off the blocks.

Sandy showed some silk scarves that she made using old silk men's ties.  Here's a link to the process she used:  https://lyndaheines.blog/2016/09/10/dyeing-scarves-with-silk-ties-revisited/

Blank silk scarves are available at Dharma Trading Company.

Sandy brought a cute cat doll that she made.  Unplanned, but she and the cat share a similar expression in this photo.

Deanna showed off some border quilting on a new baby quilt made from Tula Pink fabrics.  She used a decorative stitch on her new BabyLock sewing machine.

 

Deanna also had her finished challenge piece, a Prickly Pear quilt.  She pieced and then painted the background and the prickles on the cactus.

 

 

Marty had cut out fabrics for a workshop that ended up being cancelled.  Instead of letting them go to waste, she made a children's quilt out of them.

 

 

And a few more pieces incorporated into the back.

 

Marty show some blocks she had made a while ago in a workshop that she is now considering revisiting to make enough for a quilt. 

The blocks were from a Karen Eckmeier pattern shown in the book Layered Waves.

Marty also has her challenge piece finished and chose the Yin and Yang pair.

 She tells the meaning on the back.

Betsy has been playing with indigo dyeing for the first time.  These pieces show the various designs she tried and the different depths of blue depending on how many times the fabric is dipped in the indigo.

Betsy has also been hand piecing what originally was planned as two quilts.  But, she is tiring of this particular pattern and is now considering combining the pieces into one baby quilt.  The group was in agreement that this would work.  Yeah!

Mindy continues to work on her hand quilting project.

She also showed a piece of decorative ribbon/braid that she found at Tale of the Yak.

Mary had a retrospective of the various quilts she has made out of the "made" fabric she pieced together from various scraps when she was undergoing radiation a few years ago.  Quite a variety.

 

Mary is also working on a piece honoring the Lady of the Bulb, a sculpture in the Albany Bulb park.  The inspiration photo is on the left.  She is piecing is using the Ruth McDowell techniques.  The second photo shows the border Mary is considering for the piece, which we all liked. 

 With border fabric.