October 2023

 We met at Mary’s house today on a bright sunny day.  Joan and Bobbie were not able to make it, but everyone else came.  Arleen distributed the photo books to everyone and gave Joan’s and Bobbie’s to Mindy to give to them.  I made a book of Betsy’s quilts and Mary is going to check with her son to see if he wants it.  Deanna and I decided to get extra copies of books so if anyone else wants more copies of their books or anyone else’s please let me know.  The cost is $15 with the Costco discount but the covers are soft not hard.

Mindy

Mindy started us off with two stockings that she is making for Christmas.  She also showed a raw edge wool felt appliqué project that is looking very nice.  The last piece is the Round Robin quilt that she put the two borders on.  The top will be given to the owner this Saturday.

Marty

Marty showed us her gifts to Korean and Japanese hosts for omiage or friendship gifts. They were hand engraved silicon spoons and coasters.  Then she modeled a jacket made from an oversized sweatshirt that she copied from a 2002 pattern she saw in a gift shop. Very clever. The last is a children’s quilt which she just finished.  Carolyn was saying they are short of children’s quilts, so it will be well received.

Deanna

Deanna showed two quilts that she made from Tilda fabric.  She said you can go to Tildasworld.com to get the fabric which has a nice hand and look to it.  She cut them 7 inches, paired with a solid and sewed them on the diagonal to make half square triangles.

Arleen 

Arleen shared two quilts both from leftover of the Marcia Derse fabric. She was inspired by the round robin quilts that Mindy has been showing.

Mary

Mary showed her small black and white and one color quilt which can be used as a table topper.  Sorry I didn’t get the photo. She also added two strips on either side of the blue and orange quilt.  The koala quilt is the last in a series of children’s quilts with giraffes, llamas etc with 9 patch and 4 patch’s. Very cute and I’m sure the kids will love it.  She finished the quilting on the Blue and White quilt using paper templates made from plates. Very cleverly done.

Alice

Alice started off with the elephant quilt.  She was inspired to make diamond borders from Arleen’s quilt and drafted the diamonds on her own.  The purple and green colors look wonderful. 6 puppies are her next project.  I’m not sure if she said they were Tula Pinks fairy something fabric.  I love the colors and fabric choices.

Sandy 

Sandy saw this picture in a magazine and loved the design. She made the template of freezer paper. She is hoping to make it about four feet, but it is currently 32 inches, so she may be adding more to it, or not.

We discussed a challenge project and decided on something everyone has.  Look through all your unfinished projects and try to find one of the oldest and finish it.  That’s it.  Due date is May of next year.

Alice has agreed to host the November 8 meeting.  Her address is 1630 Buena in Berkeley.  We finished with a homemade carrot cake with tea.  Delicious and not too sweet.  Thank you everyone for a lovely meeting.  

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.