December 2021

We met this month at Bobbie's home and everyone was able to attend.  Bobbie made two kinds of donuts for refreshments -- chocolate and cinnamon nutmeg.  Both were delicious.

At the end of the meeting we did a different process of our holiday gift exchange at Marty's suggestion.  Each person chose a gift from the pile on the table.  Clement Moore's Night Before Christmas was recited and every time a word began with the letter "t"  the gifts were passed to the right.  At the end we each opened the gift we now held.  Wonderful gifts were received by all.

Next meeting is at Deanna's house on January 21 at 1:30.

Joan shared photos from her Mexico trip for her son's wedding celebration.  The setting was beautiful and the photos were lovely, particularly Joan in her new dress.

Photos and text courtesy of Sandra Ellison for this post.

Mary shared first with an EBHQ Community Quilt that she was quilting.  In each square she quilted a beautiful flower motif.

The quilting shows best from the back.

Mary also brought her llama baby quilt with free motion llamas quilted.

Mary also shared a Unicorn baby quilt designated for someone who wanted unicorns and pink.  She quilted unicorns (some of which she added Glow in the Dark thread to) onto the quilt top.

Mindy finished another detailed Christmas stocking, this one destined for Payton.  

Mindy also brought her finished top from her Round Robin experience.

Sandy showed a Christmas table runner in progress that was done in reverse applique.

Betsy brought two disappearing nine patch flannel baby quilts.

The fabric used on the back of the doggy quilt was named "blood splatter" on the selvage.

Arleen designed a new mask pattern that has a neck strap incorporated into the ear loops.  You never lose your mask when you don't have it over your nose and mouth.

 Arleen showed a small Kaffe stripes quilt she made a while ago.

And then she made a large Kaffe quilt out of fabric she had left over and some given to her by Betsy.  We all would be happy to have this quilt in our collection.

Joan hand pieced a Christmas tree skirt that Richard thinks should be layered and quilted.  We think it looks good as is, but perhaps she might try fusible fleece to give it some body.

Joan also mentioned that she is working on publishing her great grandfather's letters from the Gold Rush time.  There are over well over 200 letters that his wife kept.  She hopes that they will be housed at the Bancroft.

Deanna is using up fabric from her stash and made this quilt with two unique sides which she quilted beautifully on her Baby Lock.  She wanted to feature the center fabric instead of cutting it up.  She found a pattern that would work and searched for the perfect blue for the border. 

The other side of the quilt features a Japanese fabric split into three sections.

Bobbie showed her finished pillow top, possibly for the EBHQ VIC Marketplace.

Bobbie also showed several blocks made from Japanese fabrics she got in LA years ago.

Marty has been playing with sewing scraps together when she has a free hour.  Beautiful work.

October, 2021

We met at Marty's house this month with a great view of the clouds over the bay.  Mindy and Sandy were not able to join us.  Next meeting is November 19 at Betsy's house.

Marty tested her baking skills to great success with a recipe for Chocolate Eclair Cake from America's Test Kitchen.

Ah, but to go back to the quilts

Marty had displayed her Christmas tree quilt to get us started.

It is embellished with various beads and crystals.

Marty showed us all her new favorite way to tame all of the bobbins she has.  A handy box with foam insert that keeps bobbins organized and easy to stack.

Marty also used up more or her stash making another children's quilt for EBHQ. Marty said her previous one in this pattern was more for a girl, so this one is more boy oriented.

And not satisfied with quilting, Marty modeled a lovely blouse she made.  So pretty--such a great smile.

Deanna had just picked up the flower quilt she showed last meeting from Melissa Quilter.  She needs to bind it, but she wanted us to see the beautiful quilting.

Deanna also used a panel to make this charming alphabet quilt, with a coordinating pillow case.

 

The backing fabric continues the floral theme.

Betsy had two quilts from her July blitz of finishing UFO's.

One was an EPP baby quilt with a charcoal gray background and similar backing fabric.  Ignore the wrinkles on the back.  Clearly, someone did not pin enough before quilting.

 And a double size quilt top using up a layer cake and various patterns of white on white background.

Betsy is obsessed with Tim Holtz's line of fabrics called Abandoned.  She just finished another quilt using his fabrics, this time with a black background.

And to make the back, she pieced leftover flying geese blocks with more Tim Holtz fabric.

Have you ever seen fabric you like but didn't know how to figure out how to use it in a quilt.  Challenged to use this Carrie Bloomston Color Theory fabric, here is one bright quilt Betsy made.

And the backing fabric is leftovers from the front fabrics, a few Kona solids, and a rainbow or two.

 Charley Harper fabrics are wonderful and Joan's daughter has gifted her with a sampler pack.  But how to use them?  A solution was found in one of the books given away at a previous meeting.

And Joan used another Charley Harper with cats to make a cute pillow case.

Joan has been busy with her friends in Washington working on landscape quilts from a photo.

Choosing the right fabrics, and using paints to over paint some of the fabrics to get the right tonal gradations, this quilt is a great representation of the photo.

Arleen is at it again, this time using Tim Holts Abandoned fabrics too.

The background colors gradate from a black to gray to a beige/white.

Not to let any of the Tim Holtz fabrics go to waste, Arleen made a tiny quilt from the scraps.

And she had a big announcement that she will be moving back to Hawaii to care for her mom and mother-in-law together there.  Timing is not yet set in concrete, so we hope to see her at a few more QT meetings.

September 2021

We met at Deanna's house this month and continued to wear masks to be cautious.  We missed seeing Arleen who had a sore throat and stayed home.  

Deanna made a delicious almond cake served with ice cream and fresh strawberries.  And we got another treat by tasting her quince paste with manchego cheese and crackers.  Delicious!  Those who wanted were gifted with their own block of quince paste to eat at home.  Thanks Deanna!

Our group challenge quilt now has a hanging sleeve, a label, and is with Bobbie who will enter it at VIC as one of her entries. 

While Arleen was not able to join us in person, she did send pictures of what she is working on.  Just realized that these could be added to our blog so here they are.

The fish quilt is still in progress.  Arleen has added button eyes and more hand quilting to it.

 

Arleen has started a new quilt with the background color switched with the print color from the first of this design.  Looks great!

 

Arleen decided to submit 2 quilts to PIQF, even though she doesn't plan to attend in order to support quilt shows.  The Tokyo quilt show has disbanded and we don't want more shows to close.  Both of her quilts were accepted.  Congrats to Arleen!

Joan had to leave early so we started with her story about meeting Roberta Horton.  Both were teaching at the same location and Joan introduced herself to Roberta and showed her a quilt she was making for her son.  Roberta liked it enough to include it in her book "Plaids and Stripes" as an example of how to use directional fabrics in quilts. 

 

Mary Mashuta has asked Joan to make a quilt in Roberta's honor for a show at PIQF next year, and Joan opted to remake her Princeton Nine Patch Quilt in a smaller version for that show.  A wonderful tribute to Roberta.

 

 

Joan got her giant strip quilt back from Hello Stitch, custom quilted by Stacey.  She has the binding on and will spend the next week finishing that!

 

Deanna had previously shown a baby quilt for her grandson with a space robots theme.  She had pieced some squares in a pattern not intended.  Never fear.  Those pieces have now become a new, wonderful baby quilt.

And the back has lots of character too.

Deanna also has made a quilt for her daughter-in-law's sister daughter (did I remember that correctly?).  She had a pattern that she used for the dimensions but created a setting that most of liked better than the quilt pattern's choices.

Since she doesn't usually work just in solids, this was a new experience.  Here is a close up of these wonderful flowers.

Marty has made another lovely baby quilt.

She has used the stitch options on her sewing machine to quilt and it adds so much character to the quilt.

A few meetings ago Betsy had a house quilt kit that she offered to others in the group.  At our August meeting, Marty opted to take it. And look what she did with it!  Such a cheery and fun little quilt.  Thanks to Marty for saving that quilt kit from obscurity.

Betsy brought several quilts that were part of what she did with her summer vacation!

In preparation for her grandson moving to a big bed, Betsy made a science themed quilt.  She particularly loves the monsters on the border.

One of the UFO's that got finished was this batik woven quilt. 

And in keeping with trying to use only fabrics in her stash, the backing fabric was there and seemed to be made for this quilt top.

The little baby quilt was English Paper Pieced and is now quilted and bound.

Betsy's friend Arlene made a rail fence quilt to learn quilting and Betsy used the leftover strips and some white on white fabrics she had to make this easy scrap quilt.  The pattern is called Lakeview Terrace from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

The back fabric is an echinacea print by Anna Maria Horner and seems made for this quilt top.  Beautifully quilted by Melissa Quilter with leaves, vines, and echinacea flowers.

Sandy has been busy.  She showed a Compass Bag that she made with fabrics from Stone Mountain purchased at the beginning of the pandemic.

She also has made a rice bag in a larger size that her previous one and she can use this as a project bag.  She used fabric strips made in a class with Sujata Shah.

Sandy had a lovely fused quilt from a Sue Benner class that is finished and ready to decorate some lucky space.

Sandy wants to have some handwork to work on while watching tv in the evenings.  She has two projects ready.  

One is a hand pieced/quilted wall hanging with the good luck triangles on the corners. Apologies for the poor quality photo.  Hopefully, Sandy will bring to finished quilt to a meeting so a good quality photo can be taken.

The second project is hand embroidery for a linen scarf.  

Mary is recovering from hip surgery but you wouldn't notice that watching her walk around and up and down stairs.

She has been working on community quilts for the guild, but also has made this lovely abstract quilt.  She asked for input on how to finish it off--borders or no, color binding....and as always happens she got many different suggestions.

Happily, she also brought her wall hanging that had been inspired by a New Yorker cartoon.  She communicated with the cartoonist asking for permission to use his cartoon as inspiration, sell the quilt, etc.  Such a fun quilt.

Bobbie brought two blocks redesigned from the input she got last month.  They work so much better and are lovely.

She also showed this wonderful black, white and red wall hanging.  On suggestion from Joan, Bobbie added the narrow dark gray strips to edge the larger black and white stripes. 

Mindy has added her top and bottom borders to the Round Robin she is working on.  Since the quilt is so big she isn't doing side borders.  The quilt now moves on to the next person.

She also brought another Round Robin she is working on.  Primary colors and the border works so well with the rest of the quilt.

And Mindy is working on another Christmas stocking.  Can't wait to see the next pieces she adds.