September 2023

 We met today at Joan’s house on a beautiful sunny day.  Unfortunately Deanna, Sandy and Mindy were not able to make it and were sorely missed.  But we had a surprise visit from an old friend, Ellen Wong.  We were able to catch up with what she has been up to and hopefully she’ll be able to join us more often.  The next meeting will be held at Mary’s house on October 11 at 130.

Challenge Quilt

Marty asked us to bring our challenge card quilts.  With the addition of Deanna’s, that will make 4 quilts

Mary

Mary showed us two quilts. The first was the pattern from Bobbie.  She found more of the feature fabric and was able to add a border and have it quilted by Hello Stitch.  The second quilt top is a vanity square pattern that is going to Debra.

Ellen

Ellen has not been quilting for the past three years, but she is sewing and showed her pants, shirt and a jacket that she sewed. The shirt and pants are a soft linen fabrics.  I’m not sure if she got it at Stone Mountain Daughter or Fabrics Store on College Ave near Ashby.  The reversible jacket is Blue Tiger fabric from Stone Mountain and is a chambray.  She decided to add more topstitching to enhance the design.

Alice didn’t have anything to show, but she did redo her owl quilt in the requested pastel colors.  From the picture she passed around it was bright blue pastels that’s been sent and enjoyed.

Marty

Marty showed us 3 quilts. The first is a table topper from scraps she picked up at drop in.  Even the reverse looks good.  The second is the 10 inch blocks made with 1.5 inch scraps from drop in put on point with a black middle. We were able to see fabrics in the scraps that we’ve used over the years.  The last quilt was her random blocks also on point using black and white fabric for the accents and backing.  I have to start going to drop in.

Joan has been keeping busy taking care of her eyes, going to the opera and seeing the Kahinde Wiley exhibit at the De Young.  She showed us the book she got and the paintings reminded us of Bisa Butlers quilts.

Bobbie has been working on her pods and also has been busy planning trips and going to museums.

Arleen

I showed 2 quilts.  On the first, I added a tumbling block border to the square small quilt.  I was inspired by Mindy’s round robin quilts.  Joan said it was one of my best quilts.  Wow.  The second is another Asanoha pattern quilt using Giucy Guice and and Bio Geo 2 fabric.  Instead of 2.5 strips, I used 3.5 inch strips which made the stars bigger and much easier and faster to piece.

We ended with a lovely lemon tart with fresh fruit.  Hopefully we’ll all be able to get together next month.  Even if you have nothing to show, it’s always good to catch up and find out how everyone is doing.

August 2023

 We met today at Bobbie’s new apartment.  It is a nice one bedroom with a den.  Bobbie is using the bedroom as her studio since it has the best light and the den as her bedroom.  It looks great after all the help from friends and family to move and set up the furniture.  Even with 8 people, it was spacious and comfortable for all of us.

We all went into the studio to see the Tryptych of the pods that she is working on.  After discussing how to quilt each fabric, I was amazed to find out that she made the background fabric. We all agreed to use the black fabric on the third pod with bits of thread to create movement.

Joan brought four quilts for us to look at.  Only the first was quilted by Melissa Quilter.  The next three were quilted by Joan with the help of her machine threaded machine.  With her bad eyesight she thinks this will be her last English paper pieced quilt. Knowing how much she enjoys the process, we’ll see.  The 10 inch wedge, the two suns and the trapezoid quilts were made from fabric used in the EPP quilt.  She offered her home as the next meeting which will be on Wednesday September 13 at 1:30.

Arleen made the challenge 8 of clubs quilt using freehand cut shapes of clovers and numbers. The next quilt is made from 3 jelly rolls of Shibori Blue and Kasuri fabric from Shibori Dragon. I’m thinking of naming it Asanoha Quilt since the pattern is based on an old Japanese Asanoha or Hemp leaf pattern.  It looks simple, but with the bias seams and y seams, it was challenging.  The third quilt is made with the leftover fabric.

Alice shared her Foundation Paper Piece quilts. The elephant was made from a fat quarter pack with the addition of the green fabric.  The pattern is from the Tartan Kiwi, I think she said the designer is from New Zealand.  The owl was made from a pattern she purchased on Etsy for 2.50.  Unfortunately, the person who was going to get this owl wanted it made in a more pastel color way, so she is making it again.  Wow, I love the way it came out.  Welcome Alice you shared a type of quilting the group hasn’t done in a long time.

 Sandy finished her baby quilt and sent it to its new owner.  She just came back from Pat Paulys dye workshop with 20 yards of soda ashed fabric.  The workshop used silk screens, thickened dyes with print paste, tyvek, masking tape, squirt bottles, free foam, paint lids and glue gun.  Lots of fun, but also unexpected surprises that things don’t always go the way you think they will.

Marty made the squares during the Covid lockdown using what fabric she had on hand.  Most blocks are log cabin, but others were just put together.  She put them en point with black and white sashing. Very effective.  The back was made from black and white leftovers that came together very well.

Mary showed off her blue and white log cabin. The border and backing fabric came from her drapery fabric.  She was worried about some fading on the backing fabric, but I couldn’t notice it.  It was suggested she quilt it using concentric circles.

Deanna used two Kaffe Fassett jelly rolls to make this Trip Around the World pattern.  Bobbie liked it so much she wanted to see how it would fit on her bed.  Just right.

Mindy was not able to make it this month.  She did share some pictures of tiny houses that she made.

July 2023

 We met Wednesday July 12th at Marty’s house.  Mary brought a friend, Alice Gates in the hope that she might enjoy the group. Unfortunately, Joan was not able to make it, but she assures us that she’ll make the August meeting.  August is set for Bobbie’s house on Aug 9 @ 130. The dining table was full of books from Gay Parker’s estate. Marty sorted them by categories, thread, patterns, designers, bags, clothing, etc. I think we all were able to find something.

Deanna started us off with her Delectable Mountains quilt top.  She bought 2 layer cakes of 40 batiks, sorted them with 1 light and 1 dark, drew a diagonal line, sewed on each side and cut it in half.  Then she cut them in 2.5 strips and sorted them into mountains and sewed them together.  She also showed her joker card for the group challenge. To make the rounded corners, she used a round tin and penciled the corner and cut it. Very nice effect with the choice of fabrics.

Bobbie went on a trip to Ireland and bought this jacket for Mindy.  Isn’t it so beautiful and warm. She said with the traveling and moving, she has been too busy to work on her projects, but hopes to get working on her pods.  She wants to show off her new place, so the next meeting will be at her place. She’ll send a reminder with info as it gets closer.

It was so good to see Sandy’s smile.  She showed off a baby quilt that she made.  She also has been traveling for two weeks in Japan with her son.  It sounds like a wonderful trip to Tokyo and Osaka and getting lost. Sandy bought a Bernina 570 and is struggling to get used to it. She is also scheduled for a week workshop on Whidbey Island with Pat Pauly on Mad about Motif.  Sounds like fun.

Arleen finished her Asanoha Blue Shibori quilt and quilted 6 petal flowers on each hexagon. Although lopsided and bumpy it came out very nice.

The second quilt top was quilted in the hemp leaf pattern on the plain hexagons.  I still have the border to do.

Mindy showed us her latest round robin but until it’s finished we can’t show photos of it.  She is getting closer to finishing her hexagon flower quilt.  She is hand stitching the stems and her flowers are getting tinier and tinier.

Marty showed off her 15 postcards that she made. I love the fish card. Someone dropped off 1.5 inch squares that she has been using to make the cards.  They also had 1.5 strips which she is using to make a string quilt. Black center with 10 inch newspaper backing. Lastly she showed her postcard sized challenge quilt.  Nice.  I think that was a good idea to keep it the size of a card.

Mary showed her 10” Wonky log cabin.  She used the wonky ruler with instructions to help her with the placements.  Using leftover curtain fabric she is going to finish it with a border and backing. She also finished her challenge quilt. Nice Joker.

We ended with Cherry Squares and Butter Mochi that Arleen made. Sweet desserts with wonderful company made for a very nice meeting.  It’s so nice to have 8 members together all talking the same language of quilts.  Hopefully next month Joan and Alice can join us again.