Sun + Snow + Soggy Sun + melt....=....a day for everyone!

What a lovely day to get together and see your friends.  Our prayers went out to Donnis and the very recent loss of her husband.  Donnis, you were missed and thought of often during the day.

There were a few other people that were unable to come, and each of you were also missed.

Esther brought in her blocks from January's BOM.  Wow, what a lovely job she did.  Esther shared with us that this block was not one that she liked when she used directional fabric.  Still looks great to us Esther.

Esther also brought in her finger gloves to show us.  She uses these when she is hand quilting, they help push and pull her needle through all the layers.  Machelle had also brought in her ironing finger protectors.  Machelle loves the fact that she no longer has burnt finger tips.

Oh ho!  And who is this wonderful stranger?  Ha ha ha  Yep, Jan made it up from Manhattan.  As we have not seen her since LAST YEAR, it was an extra special treat.  Besides, we had not had any one to pick on for soooooooooo long.  ha ha  ha  

Machelle was presenting the block for this month - Kansas Troubles!  We should have known from the name that this block was going to be very   i n t e r e s t i n g.  Go to the right of this post and under 2014 BOM Project you can print out the pattern and directions.

Machelle had copied the directions from the book.  With her explaining and showing us how - it WAS very easy to put this block together.  Putting it together correctly was a little bit more difficult.

Yep - Deb and Lori came down to visit with us also.  Was so great to see the ladies from Palmer/Linn.

Some of the ladies worked on other projects and laughed at the rest of us as we grunted and groaned sewing tiny triangles together.  Where did those points go to?

Leila is quilting her Hunters Star - remember this picture when you get down to Show 'n Tell.

Lorraine worked on her barn embroidery  for the Piotique Quilters Guilds' 2014 Opportunity Quilt.

And Jan was sewing on binding to a UFO.

Okay, in all fairness to Machelle - the directions were very easy - our carrying them out was another story.  When you are working with 1 1/4" squares and HST's - you just know that you need to be EXTRA careful.

We were lucky to have Lori here, bottom right picture is her showing us the technique to flatten out the seam intersection to make it lay right when we got it all together.

Here you go, finished blocks.  Not going to say who's this is (okay it is mine).  Problem?  When you try to sew a scant 1/4" - that means one thread away, not 1/8" away, you end up with a fat thing-a-ma-jig in the middle, not a pin wheel.  Will have to give this another go at home and no scants this time.

(Please forgive if the wrong names are with the wrong blocks.)  This one belongs to Deb.  Now here is a woman that followed instructions.  Very cool, good pin wheel.

Esther also matched up her points very well - look at that pin wheel.  

Machelle had made a couple - she is not telling if either of these are the first one she made or ones she made afterwards.

And of course Deb and Lori did fantastic.  Machelle said the secret is to TAKE YOUR TIME.  Ahh!  That explains a lot.  Thank you Machelle for a wonderful presentation and for all your help.  Sorry that one of us didn't follow directions as well - nothing to do with your teaching.

Machelle found that going to "Print 5" in Concordia (across from Fabric Essentials) and paying just $3 to have a ring binder put on her "KANSAS SPIRIT" book, really helped in coping and in just the use of the book.  Great idea for all of us.  They charge according to the size of ring you need.

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Show 'n Tell came right after lunch.

We had Deb start, never again.  Lori and Jan both complained about it being a hard act to follow.  Isn't this quilt just scrumptious?  Remember, you can click on the pictures and see them larger.  This one is well worth it.

Custom quilting was done through out and really complimented all the work that Deb had put into it.

We have been after Deb and the crew to send pictures of how their tilted Log Cabins came out.  Deb showed us that it is A-1 okay, still looks the same as the day she joined us and made it.  hahaha

And what is this?  A hunters Star block?  Yep.  Remember what Leila was working on - here is Deb's.

And then here is a whole quilt of the blocks made out of Royal Crown bottle bags.  Okay, a lot of drinking going on or a lot of years of saving?  Did anyone hear the answer on this one?

We did hear though how simple it was to make - because Deb had cut out all the pieces with the AccuQuilt machine.  All dog ears cut off, etc.  Deb gave us an open invite to come on up and use it any time we wanted to.  Leila could have cried - she cut out all of her pieces with templates.  Perhaps we need to take a road trip.

Lori's Show 'n Tell was no sneeze in the wind either.  She has started using coffee/mug mats all the time.  Saves the furniture and looks great.  The one on the right she had given to Deb and borrowed it back for SnT.

Lori also said that her tilted Log Cabin was doing well also.  Course hers is of Christmas fabric, so she doesn't need it done right away.  We could not narrow her down to which Christmas she was aiming for.

Remember all those ripple crochet or knitted afaghans - here is a quilted one in blue jean material.  Lori plans on making a pillow cover out of this one.  Not easy finding jeans in all those colors, but more than worth it when you see the results.  Luv it!

And owls, these are some really cute owls.  Lori is quilting this one and

....she is also quilting this baby blanket.  Did she say this was going to Transylvania? 

She is machine quilting and though you can not see it well, doing a great job.  All those swirls in the pink is thread - she is following the fabric design and really making it stand out.  There are hearts in the printed white fabric.  The back was gorgeous but the picture did not come out well enough to see.

Then of course there are grandchildren and the things you do for them.  Lori made her grandson a bag that will hold many treasures and the three fish purses for her granddaughters seemed okay, cute - that is until she pulled the straps and the fishes mouth puckered right up - WOW!  Now those are precious.  Ask Lori about the "scales" when you see her - there has to be an easier way.

And who is this hiding behind this awesome quilt?  Jan - you did it, you finished a UFO.  And what a gorgeous one.  Way back when - Jan had bought the precut pattern for this wall hanging and even brought it with her one day to work on.  Talk about mumbling somewhere around there.  Well - we can now say it was well worth it - gorgeous.

This is a quilt that is similar in fabric to one that Jan made for a grandson.  This one is for Quilts for the Heart, a project that the Manhattan Guild is involved with (started by our very own Marcella and Bonnie).

Jan wanted us to see the fabric  -  what a joy for any little boy.

Multiplying four patch - multiplied into a wonderful St. Patty's table runner.  Great job Jan and another UFO done.

The tilted Log Cabin is almost finished with the binding - this will be another completed UFO.

And another UFO done.  Jan - love the colors and design in this one.  Your eye runs from one place to another just taking in every aspect.

And another UFO - almost done.  This is from a class taken with Toni Steer way back when she had a shop.  Any one else notice that Jan did not mention the year. haha This will be perfect come this fall - so lively looking.

Ta dah!  And Jan presents the last UFO she is working on for our viewing pleasure.  Look up in her hand on the left and you will see the binding ready to be added.  This is a Christmas table runner.  Is anyone else feeling like they did not accomplish very much this winter - or at least not as much as some people did.  Great job Jan, you out did yourself this winter - now how many UFO's do you have left?

Vevia has been eyeing Machelle's tote bag for her iron and decided now was the time to make one for herself.  Remembering what Dee is always saying about putting those orphan blocks to use - one side of the bag is with bow ties that just were not right and the other side is another block that fell flat of expectations - put them together though and they make a wonderful tote bag.

Inside is ironing board fabric with the insul-bright batting to keep hot irons from burning through.  And there is even an insulated bag to carry the distilled water in - safe from the hot iron edges.

After a year and 1, 889 pieces - Vevia finished another graduating granddaughter's quilt.  This quilt is really wild with color and if you can make out the corner stones - they are the block Vevia presented in January for our 2014 BOM Project.  After making 30 for this quilt, what was one more for the BOM project?

Deb made a "10 minute" baby quilt - however you do it, the mitered corners are done when you are.  Don't quote me - but I think this is like the placemats that she showed us how to do.  Sorry Deb - I missed all the explanations.  Will have to get Deb to show us how.

And then this baby quilt is made from a panel.  Love it, love it, love it.  So bright and pretty.

Tilted Log Cabin quilt - Donnis, would you ever have guessed that your demo would result in such beauties.  Deb, you outdid your self.  So many different looks due to different colors being used.  Great job Deb.

Machelle said that she had nothing for Show 'n Tell, then she remembered - she had made a couple of fabric boxes on her own.  Don't hide behind a great job next time - that smile looks like it was a good one..

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Vevia took a few minutes to demo how to make the fabric boxes and thanks to Dee - she had several to show us.  Dee asked if you could make these boxes with quilted fabric left over from the long arms.  Susie had given Vevia a few pieces from projects - so away the samples grew.  One thing that everyone agreed on was they are not as supported.  The way that the boxes are quilted has something to do with the stability when finished.  So though they looked great - the were not as solid.  Some of the boxes shown here are made with the stiffer canvas type fabric that Susie donated, some of those have batting and some don't.

Some edges are finished, some bound and others cut with pinking scissors.  Some folded one way, some another.    So many ways that you can make the fabric boxes - here is a brief lesson on one way......

After you have cut your 2 pieces of fabric and one piece of batting either 8 1/2", 12 1/2" or 16 1/2" (note the correction in sizes ladies, I goofed  -  no 10 1/2"), and then layer the batting, outside fabric right side up and then inside fabric right side down, you sew a 1/4" around leaving an opening for turning.  Turn it right side out and iron........then you mark the above shown pattern on the lighter side (here it is the inside fabric).  Start with diagonal lines from one corner to the other, then making the lines separated by 1" (try 1/2" for even more stability), lay out your sewing lines.  A Frixion pen was used here so that after the sewing it could be ironed off.

Sew the diagonal lines that are in the middle and then each of the surrounding blocks.  Can you sew the diagonal lines all the way across - sure, give it a try.  Not sure what your results will be - so please share if you try this.  Make sure you sew real close to the outside edge to tack down the area where you turned it right side out.

Then you fold your "hot pad" looking square in half - measure the folded side (this one was approximately  4 1/2"), divide by 2 ( = 2 1/4") and mark a spot 2 1/4" from the point up on the right side and again on the bottom fold.  You can draw a line - or just sew connecting the 2 marks.  Make sure you back stitch at both marks to hold your stitching.

Do this 4 times around until your box looks like this.

Then keeping it wrong side out, (makes it easier to see and handle what you are doing) bring two sewn edges together to one side and tack together and tack down to the box, fold the flap inside and tack down.  As you are going through so many layers, use a larger needle and pliers are also a great help.  Crochet thread is shown being used here. You can use a button on the flap for decoration if you wish.  Tie off and cut your thread.  Do the opposite side the same way and then turn the box right side out and tack down the two alternate flaps, adding a button.  Working with these last two sides is easier from the outside.

When you are done - it should look like these.  Fun to see the different color choices and some with a button and some without.

Enjoy making your boxes - great gift giving ideas.

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See you all in April and thank you everyone for a great day.  Little scary when the snow started falling during lunch, but it was almost all gone by the time the last of the ladies left.  Thank you again Machelle - we really did enjoy doing your block.