Thursday, December 11, 2014

Holiday decorating

There was a last minute change of venue for this meeting.  So in the pictures you may catch glimpses of bald men and skeletal remains.  Do not be alarmed.  They are participants in the Polysomnographic Technology program. 

As always, we started with everyone's favorite part of the meeting- show and tell.


Beth is making this as a gift.
At first I thought it was printed on fabric.  Then I got closer.....


It is in fact a portrait style quilt.  Lots of little bits and pieces carefully fused!  Mary Lee was very impressed!


Lori is making this as a gift as well.  We are all coveting the sparkly fabric at the top.

Lori is still enjoying doing stitcheries.  



It will look like this when it's finished.














Lori made a couple of these to go with small gifts for co-workers.

Chris had a bunch of these left over from an older project.  She is helping her daughter make them into gifts for co- workers. Each block will be a mug rug.  A very clever way to use up orphan blocks , while giving a nice gift!











Susan had always wanted to use the design of this Laurel Burch shirt for a quilt. Finally, she did!








Mary Lee and Elaine are doing a series of windows.
We all tried to convince  Mary to add a tiny piece of the challenge fabric so she would be ready for January!
















Martha found a tutorial online for these ornaments.














Cynda brought along the supplies for a hands-on project to create holiday bouquets with greens she cut around her yard. 








Several members worked on other projects while the rest played in the wide array of goodies!




And they all got lovely arrangements for their efforts.




 Mary Ellen's


Susan's


Chris'


Cynda's














In January bring your challenge to finish- or your recycled project, which is due in February.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Recycling and Photography

I did not realize until now that I never did a post after the October meeting!  It was a short and confusing meeting for me anyway. We were getting ready for the quilt show.  I had to leave early and I heard it turned into an episode of the Big Bang Theory after I left.  But there was show and tell. 

 Kathi brought her mermaid crazy quilt.















Mary Lee brought her most recent project (which needed to be finished in less than 24 hours!)













Chris brought her recently completed tree from last year's class with Wendy Butler Berns.

 After that, it was mostly a chatting session while quilts were being prepared for turning in the next day.

Lori was sewing a sleeve on her comfort quilt. 









Mary Lee was sewing the binding on her second quilt show entry.
(You can see pictures of the show at the link above)









At our November meeting, we had some catching up to do!  It's not that we haven't been meeting, but we haven't been planning very carefully the last couple of months, so we are all "at sea" concerning ongoing plans and projects for the group.

But first, we enjoyed our favorite part- show and tell!


Mary Ellen used up some of the miles of ribbons she had to make this little clutch purse.



Mary Lee was using the fabrics she bought at the quilt show to make a new table topper.


Mary is also determined to finally finish this in time to hang for Thanksgiving.  It was something she started  to improve her machine quilting skills "several" years ago.










Lori was working on this crazy quilt on her most recent road trip.













Chris is also working on a hand stitching project.




Elaine has started a "door" series.  She was proud of the fact she did what she calls "messy" stitching to achieve the uneven logs!













Kathi made this little tool holder pouch.
 (sorry I forgot to turn the picture- turn your head to the right.  It's good exercise for your neck anyway)

Kathi also made a book with her "fiberista's"


















This is an old project Kathi is reviving, and hoping to finish soon.  Lots of great embellishing on this one!




Martha made some bags for the daughters of a friend.














Martha discovered the bright fabric is symmetrical, so she tried out a technique by Paula Nadelstern- who will be visiting the guild next October!






After show and tell, we discussed our recycled project, which had originally been scheduled for completion at this meeting.  The idea was to simply make something using recycled or repurposed materials.

Mary Ellen was the only one with a finished project.  This is a tree skirt for her daughter.  Turns out Mary Ellen had a deadline since the daughter's birthday is next week!


Cynda has decided to use up old metal bits to make stars or flowers- depending on your mindset.


A picture of what Cynda is planning.


Lori has some chicken feed bags.  She plans to make at least one shopping bag, and is looking for other ideas.


Chris showed a collection of elegant fabrics she is playing with. She made this clutch purse some time ago using one of them.


Kathy is taking advantage of Martha's tea consumption- using the paper from the tea bags to make hexies!







Isn't it the coolest?














We are also trying to be better photographers, and have been trying to learn creative ways to take pictures, with the help of this book, and Lori's expertise.

 
Everyone has a different camera and different ideas of what we want to learn, so poor Lori had no idea what she was getting into!










After a brief discussion of some books to read, and how Lori learned, we were directed to try some pictures using certain settings on the camera.   We aren't sure where this is going, but we'll try to enjoy the process of learning- without sending Lori screaming into the night. 





We are discussing several ideas for upcoming projects.  Stay tuned.....



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Lino block printing

 There was only one show and tell at the September meeting. Mary Ellen finished her bargello piece from the class many of us took with Marija Vujcic last year at the Museum Quilt Guild meeting.

After that we got right down to the activity of the day- Lino block carving and printing.  MaryLee led members through the process of choosing a design and cutting the design into the blocks.  She even brought band-aids, just in case!







Here Cynda is making test prints with hers.


Beth did a test on paper and decided to refine hers a bit more.


Lori's dachshund design came out pretty well!

Elaine loves to quilt feathers, so a feather stamp makes perfect sense! 

MaryLee's designs were intricate but very pretty!


I think this maple leaf is Mary Ellen's.

Next month we will be enjoying a sit and sew to get the last stitches in our quilt show entries!  There will also be a discussion of the first assignment in the photography book many of us are using to try and improve our skills.