August 2021

Deanna was scheduled to host our meeting this month, but needed to go help take care of her new grandson and while her DIL recovered from a C-section. Family first, and who can resist this face?  So, both Joan and Mary offered to host, with Joan winning out, and Mindy helping with refreshments.  Love this group of women.

The weather and smoke conditions did not make it pleasant to meet outside so we stayed in and kept masks on.

Joan claims this is her last big quilt, but we have our doubts.  This is for a relative who picked out the fabrics and the quilt design.  The color placement and addition of the triangles really enhance this quilt top.

Marty was inspired by a picture of a Christmas tree quilt so she drafted her own pattern and made this lovely quilt which will be finished in time to hang this year.  The bows on the presents under the tree add a lovely detail.

Mindy has been adding all of the lovely hex flowers she made to her quilt trellis background.

And she has a chart to show where each flower will be placed.

She has also added her part to a round robin quilt top.  Very colorful and a happy quilt.

Mindy has also put together another quilt top, with more to come on this one.  Spot some Kaffe and Tula fabrics in this one.

Bobbie decided she wanted to make some quilts with tinier pieces and found a couple of designs in a book she reacquired a few meetings ago.  She had lots of fabrics to use in it and charted out the patterns and where each fabric would go.

She even made up samples of each block.......but the experience was not the joyful one she had hoped for.  She described this journey so far as a saga.

Time to regroup.

More on our Bee Sewcial quilt top.  We each made blocks, Sandy assembled them into a wonderful quilt top, and now Arleen has done a great job enhancing the quilt with her modern style quilting.  She did the binding and has handed it off to Betsy for a hanging sleeve and a label.

Mary seems to be recovering from hip replacement surgery very nicely, carrying her cane with her as more of a symbol than a necessity.  And recovery does not seem to have slowed down her quilting.

She is making two baby quilts, one with butterflies and butterflies of all sizes are quilted into it. 

And an elephant quilt with elephants as the quilting theme.  Personally, the elephant quilt is my favorite.

Both quilts will be finished and to their destinations within the next month.

Mary also made a quilt with the logo of her daughter's business.  She was asked to only use solid fabrics and used the logo as her quilting motif.

Betsy took a 6 week vacation from Bay Quilts and used the time to try and finish up a lot of UFOs in her workroom.  She managed to do just that and here are some of the quilts or tops now ready for the next step or a new owner.

A few meetings ago the group voted on the material to use as a binding on this hand pieced baby quilt.  And it works perfectly.

Unearthed from the UFO pile was a one block wonder from over ten years ago.  Happily finished now and ready for quilting or donation.  Not one destined to remain in Betsy's house.

Started near the beginning of the pandemic, one person commented on Facebook that this quilt looked like the Coronavirus.  Somehow this put Betsy off of finishing it until now.  The border added out of a lovely Japanese fabric from Bay Quilts now guarantees this will be part of the lap quilt rotation.

I was making a baby quilt that was to be primarily red and orange, but got lost in how to assemble the blocks, so made a totally different one for the gift.  Adding the blue sashing saved these blocks and make an acceptable composition.

After so many UFOs it was time to make some "new" quilts, but with leftover fabrics from other quilts.  Two flannel quilts resulted, both disappearing 9 patch patterns.

The gray quilt is great for a baby with a jungle and alphabet theme!  Ignore the bicycles....

This second flannel quilt is more a throw size and has a water/sea creature theme.  Again, since leftover fabrics were being used, ignore the bow ties.

The last quilt seemed like a good idea on paper, but Betsy is not delighted with the results.  But sometimes that is the way a quilt turns out.

July 2021

We met at Mary's house just days before her hip surgery (she is home and recovering).  Unfortunately, Mindy was not able to join us as there was baby sitting involved.

Deanna stepped in to take the photos as Betsy was on vacation from most everything.  Thanks Deanna.  We decided to not do a holiday meeting this summer so our next meeting will be August 20 at Deanna's house (at least I think that is what we decided).

Sandra started off our show and tell with a bag that she made.  It has a squared off bottom that allows it to stand open.

 Arleen sewed together the leftover blocks from our BeeSewcial project but because one of the blocks has a folded piecing technique, it didn't seem suitable for the back.  She purchased fabric instead to use and has already started machine quilting.  

 

The leftover blocks can be a second top.

Arleen also showed a rainbow top that was inspired by a photo she saw.  A great quilt for using scraps or planned with purchased yardage.

Marty decided to use her stash to make a children's quilt for EBHQ instead of getting one of the kits.  She combined a lovely group of fabrics and will provide backing and binding (of the right length) to the guild.

Deanna made a baby quilt for a soon to be born grand child.  Space dinos was the theme and she was able to find the perfect fabric for the back to go with the space themed top.

Joan brought a family heirloom she recently was given.  It is a crazy quilt with lots of wool pieces and wonderful hand embroidery.

Mary had her finished one block wonder that was worked on at the Bishop's Ranch retreat. 

The original fabric is included on the back.

Mary also had a vanity square quilt with great colors of purple and green.

 And some of the leftover blocks made it to the pieced back, giving double the value.

Someone asked about the pattern and here it is.

Betsy is cleaning her workroom and has committed to finishing up UFOs and weeding out some things she knows she will never use.

This is was purchased as a kit years and years ago and now is finally a quilt top.  But with all of the measurements for cutting the fabric ending in 3/8 or 7/8 or 1/8, it is a lesson to not buy a kit unless you can read the directions first and see if the cutting is to your liking.  Having said that, the queen sized quilt looks pretty good.

And the EPP blocks that Betsy showed last month are now a baby quilt top ready to be quilted.

June 2021

It was a smaller group this month at Betsy's house....but we had a great time.  And the weather cooperated with not being too hot, so a fan was sufficient to keep things comfortable.  Marty, Arleen, Deanna, Joan, and Mindy all brought quilts to show and share.

Next meeting will be at Mary's house with Joan serving as the backup location if Mary can't host.

Marty quilted a very large quilt on her newish sewing machine and did a great job.  She used the aboriginal sashing print as inspiration and did a gentle wave design.

And she has a wonderful dragonfly print as the back.

Marty also used some sweet fabrics from her stash to make a baby quilt for the guild.

And Marty had two lone robin tops that she isn't quite sure what comes next.  Of course, we all encouraged her to add more rounds....but we shall see what happens.

Arleen is trying to decide how to quilt the borders of her quilt.  There were several suggestions and we hope to see what she does at the next meeting.

Arleen is also now making lovely buckwheat pillows with a removeable cover that will be available to buy at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco.

Arleen showed what she did with some of the leftover Kaffe stripe shot cottons.  Betsy has some of the same/similar Kaffe stripes that she won't use and once she can find them will give them to Arleen for her to work her magic.

Deanna now has no cast and is doing therapy for her dexterity.  She drove herself and is back to sewing.  She has made two microwave bowls, one for her and one designed for her husband.

Joan showed a quilt that, I think, she said will be gifted to someone.

 

Betsy showed off the wonderful quilting of Melissa Quilter on two tops she had shown before.  The first is an English Paper Pieced quilt where she wanted the hedgehogs to shine.  Melissa quilted feather wreaths around them.

The second quilt has Tim Holtz fabrics and Betsy calls it her Graffiti quilt done during Covid.  She asked Melissa to do graffiti quilting with words of hope worked in.  Love the results.

Betsy made a batik throw and used it to practice her free motion quilting skills.

Betsy continues to be obsessed with EPP and has finished the Polar Stars quilt top.

And she has started a new EPP quilt called Mishchief.

One of Betsy's sisters-in-law has a family member who will be having a baby soon.  A great excuse to make a baby quilt.  This one uses Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.

Mindy is working on a round robin.  The top is really cute and Mindy has many batik fabrics that came with the top to choose from, or she can add something from her own stash.