August 2024

 We met today at Joan’s house at 130 on a bright sunny day.  Mindy was the only one who was not able to come but hopefully she will be able to make it to the next meeting.  We are trying to find the best date so everyone can make it.  Next months meeting will be at Mary’s house on September 9 Monday at 2:00.  Hopefully the later time of half an hour will help.  It’s much more fun when everyone is there and we can all catch up with what is happening.  I know I learn so much from just listening to the stories that people share.

Joan

Joan was the first up because she was so excited to share her new book.  The books proof just arrived after years in the making and it is something to be proud of.  This will be printed in a limited run for family members.

Sandy

Sandy made the long drive to the Bay Area and we were very glad to see her.  She wants us to think of what our next group challenge will be.  She needs a kickstarter and hopes this will get her mojo back

Deanna

Deanna has been busy. She brought three projects and a box of books some from 1974 when she first started quilting.  Wow.

The first quilt was made of 10 inch squares of Maria Horner and Kaffe Fassett fabrics paired with leftover backing grunge fabric.  The fabrics were so beautiful and it went well with the grunge.

The second quilt was made with a layer cake from Betsy’s stash.  Deanna thinks that Betsy must have first picked the central fabric and then added the colors in that 1 fabric for all the other colors.  She made the patch by putting two 10 inch fabrics right sides together.  Sew around the four ends and then cut on the diagonals to end up with four half square triangles. Genius.  The placement of the patches made for a beautiful composition.

The third project was the Mandala dyeing kit from Cindy Lobeck.  She had 12 fat quarters which she folded in 6 sides then each tied with 3 rubber banks.  She picked her 3 colors yellow, blue and magenta. Soaked her fabric in soda ash, mixed the dye with urea, soaked it, iced it, rinsed and washed in hot water then tada it’s done.  Lots of work.  It came out beautifully.

Thank you Deanna for your tips on going to Jenny Lyon’s newsletter about the basting spray which is now available as a glue stick.  Finding petite thimbles at Dick Blick. Sharing your vegetable fabrics and oldies but goodies books.

Mary

Mary also had three projects that she wanted to share. The first two are donation quilts which she used to practice her free motion quilting. Instead of circles she is doing free hand continuous loops and flowers.  Good job. Your confidence in free motion quilting is inspiring to all of us.

The third quilt is one of her UFOs started in a 2002 Angie Woolman class on basic blocks.  Her daughter wanted her to make a tshirt quilt and this was the perfect class to get her started in quilting.

Arleen

I had 2 quilts to share.  

The first is a quilt top made with scraps from old recycled kimono and silk ties from the tie factory.  I saw a quilt pattern that I liked from Quiltcon 2024 and drafted the pattern on graph paper.  This was supposed to be just a study so I did not even back the silk with interfacing.  It came out so well, I’m going to try and finish it.

The second quilt is the Gay Parker quilt top.  I decided to make it bigger by adding a border so it would be able to use as a foster youth or twin size.  I found a golden yellow fabric and just sewed it straight on the sides of the top.  When I started quilting it, I realized the border was stretched out in places.  I should have stopped then and taken out the border and redo it.  But I just went ahead and kept going. Mary suggested I first measure and then cut and pin.   She is right of course.

Bobbie

Bobbie made two pillows to go with her new bedspread she made.  She is also on the lookout for patterns to make two quilts for her grandsons who are getting married in the future.  She has drafted some patterns and will probably use those but also wants inspiration.

Marty

Marty had two quilts and a book to share.

The first is a children’s quilt that she pieced and quilted.  Good job.

The second uses 2 packs of 5 inch black squares paired with 84 bright color squares.  This was enough to make 168 half square triangles which she made into this beautiful quilt.  She doesn’t normally use black, but after this it may change her perspective. This is improv.  Do you see the heart at the top.

The book she shared is a treasure.  Youngmin Lee The Art of Korean Textiles.  It is a treasure.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

Joan made a lovely peach cake with vanilla ice cream. Yummy.  She also made a pitcher of iced tea with mint and lemon. So refreshing after a long day.  It is so inspiring to see all the beautiful quilts and projects that our group of friends are making.  I know that I have been inspired and have gotten some good ideas that I want to try.  Hope you have too.

July 2024

 Although the day was supposed to be hot, there was a cool breeze that made Deanna’s house feel cool.  Everyone was glad to be out of the hot sun.  Sandy and Mindy were not able to make it today and they were missed.  We all discussed our schedules in the hope that we could come to a time for all of us to meet without babysitting and other commitments.  We settled on the first Monday of the month with August 5th being the first Monday at Joan’s house at 130.

Mary

Mary started us off with her Bishops Ranch quilt. Very well done Mary.  Hello Stitch did the quilting and they did a really good job.  They are located in the Ace Makers Space and the price was reasonable.

Bobbie

Bobbie took a Jean Smith class on English Paper Piecing and decided it is not for her.  She passed on her project to Alice with extra papers and EPP projects.

She has completed 3 blocks of her son’s circuit board quilt.  She ordered some fabric from Spoonflower for the sashing and border and has decided on the thread to complete the quilt.  The details in the circuit board are very precise and well done.

Alice

Alice has started on another foundation paper piecing project.  She received a Christmas gift of an expensive book from Jen Kingwell.  She decided to do the Wensleydale block and started pulling fabric from her stash.  The center fabric is a nice orange.  With 11 blocks made, she is well on her way to completing it.

Joan

Joan has started a paper piecing project called the chrysanthemum pattern.  The flower has 16 leaves and a circle for the center.  These will be appliquéd onto a base fabric.  This is a good hand project to take with you while traveling.  

Joan also agreed to take on two of Betsy’s EPP unfinished projects.  Thank you Joan

Deanna

Deanna has finished another baby quilt using her 1930s fabric from her Moms stash.  The pattern is called Cake Mix from Moda. The block used 10 inch fabrics.  The binding has a blanket stitch which is machine stitched.

Her second quilt is an UFO from a class who she couldn’t remember the teachers name.  I think it is called Flight of Imagination from Karen Matsumoto, but I could be mistaken.  Gay Parker had a quilt in this pattern that Marty remembers.  Deanna was able to choose the border, binding and quilting to finally finish this into a beautiful quilt.  Well done.

Marty

Marty made a Chinese coins pattern to make a baby quilt.  She used her walking foot to quilt the straight lines and free motion squiggles.

The second quilt is made with a jelly roll of Van Gogh fabric from Betsy.  The border fabric is from the free pile of fabric from the Tuesday drop in.

Marty has made another cardigan from a pullover sweatshirt.  She cut the front in half and used a walking foot to insert matching fabric on the edges.  The lavender fabric complemented Marty.

Arleen

I finished quilting the top of leftover Kaffe fasset stripes and Jane sassaman yarn dyed fabric.  It feels good to finally finish this.

Thank you Deanna for the Blueberry Crumble cake with Vanilla ice cream.  It was delicious and looked so pretty on your pretty tablecloth.  We are all hoping Sandy and Mindy will be able to make the next meeting.  It is a highlight of my month to meet with good friends and share in our comraderie.

June 2024

 We met at Bobbie’s house on a cool and breezy day.  Some of us were having a hard time getting in the building but fortunately Bobbie came downstairs and we were able to get in. We’re still not used to the new apartment.  Mindy and Joan were not able to meet today but hopefully we’ll see them next meeting.

Sandy

Sandy started us off and although she didn’t bring anything we were able to catch up.  She was glad to be in the Bay Area after the heat wave of 107 at her house.  With the heat she doesn’t have the energy to start any projects let alone go outside.   Hopefully with cooler weather and a new exercise program she’ll get the energy to work on her dyeing projects.  

Mary

Mary had three quilts to show. The first is a donation quilt that she used to practice her free motion quilting.  She showed us how she quilted it.  The second is a crumb quilt.  She sewed small scraps together into strips and then added the crumbs to to the blue fabric.  The third quilt is a small old project that she practiced her free motion skills on.

Bobbi

Bobbie is going to enter her pods quilt into Quilt National at the Dairy Barn.   She has been busy and shared 4 different projects.  The first uses up small scraps of fabrics.  She puts the fabrics on a base fabric with wonder under and covered with tulle.  This was free motion quilted.  The second is a selection of squares of interesting fabrics surrounding by her collection of stripes.  The third is an EPP project that she is taking with Jean Smith.  The fourth is going to be a triptych of circuit boards.

Alice

Alice is working on her EPP project.  Instead of the white stars she has decided on a pinkish fabric.  She is not sure how far she’ll get with this project because it’s not as fun as she remembered.

Deanna

Deanna had a lot of catching up to do and brought 4 projects along an elephant pattern for Alice and a FPP project for Mindy. The first came from fabrics she picked up at drop in.  The pretty fabric was cut into squares, surrounded by a red border and simply quilted. The second donation quilt is drop in fabric of manatees and fish with lettuce and water fabric.  Nice and colorful.  The third is 30’s fabric from her Moms stash.  At first she was going to do something similar to Marty’s strip pieced quilt but decided to make something easier.  The last quilt comes from a layer cake of Andover fabric.  Beautiful fabric.   This quilt will be for her great niece and was quilted by Melissa Quilter.

Marty

Marty started off with an old project. Japanese Puzzle.  She likes to figure out how to draft this pattern,  but after trying the pattern with leftover fabrics decided not to continue.  The second project is Flight of Imagination.  She is still thinking about this one.  The third is a pattern she drafted from her trip to Nebraska.  Using 4 fat quarters, she made the block with the pretty fabric.  The fourth project is Route 66 donation fabric from drop in.  With 4 patch squares, the quilt came together.  The last project is the quilting of the strip fpp quilt. 

Arleen

I had 2 projects to show.  The first is the grid quilt using shirting and blue hand dyes.  I added the colorful fish and quilted them with glitter thread to give them a silvery scales effect.  The second is an old project. Using all of my Kaffe Fassett scraps, I put them on a green background.  I found a quilting motif called Magnolia from an Instagram user ipatchandquilt.  Hopefully I can finish the quilting.

Everyone had so much to share.  With the bright sunlight and good weather it seems we are all busy working on so many different projects.  Hopefully the weather will get better for Sandy to prosper in her dyeing projects.  I can’t wait to see what she does. 

Bobbi made a ladyfinger strawberries with cream cake. I should have taken a picture.  It was so good.  We will meet next month at Alice’s house.  Stay cool and keep creating.