It was a beautiful drive into our meeting with the sun's rays trying to shine through the fog and with a promise of more rain. Areas around us received 1 - 2" of rain through the night and the day before.
So though we did not bring too many sewing machines - we did bring an expectation for a gorgeous block.
And Esther did not disappoint us. Go to the right of this post to down load Esther's pattern for Oct.
Bless Esther and her husband - our directions were in color to help explain the steps and that was very helpful.
First on the list was using those tiny 1" squares we had cut out to make a snowball out of the middle portion of the block.
Then Esther showed us how to place 8 of our background cuts on the rectangles and make "blades" that would become the petals.
Then there were the "leaf" blocks and the rest of the background to sew together and the most important part - the lay out. In case you were wondering, Esther called the above sample her "headed out" Sunflower. Not all sunflowers are the bright yellow variety.
Here Esther showed us a finished sunflower.
Donnis and Vevia had made theirs before the meeting. This pattern has many ways to "bloom" depending on your fabrics.
Donnis brought in her finished blocks from last months demo for us all to see. The color contrast makes these block stand out wonderfully.
Barb C. had been in town recently and had dropped off kits for all of us to Susie, along with this card.
We might not have had our machines, but we all had brought some kind of hand sewing project so we had needle and thread to get started with in ....
making this adorable pop-up thread catcher. The orange one above is Barb's and the flowered one is Susie's. Now this is a project that after you make a few, it only takes about "10 minutes" each to make more, or so we have heard. Do not believe all that you hear, especially when it comes to that infamous 10 minute story.
Every one got to work with Susie helping us through the steps. For those of you that were not able to be with us, Click Here to get a print out of the directions.
Vevia had to do one or two of the steps a couple of times to get them right, pay attention which side of the bottom you sew the sides to - this shown above is not right.
Perseverance pays off. Esther's is the blue one, Machelle's is the goldish one, and finally by the end of the day - Vevia got hers done correctly. When you first see the thread catcher - you think of 100 people you can make them for and though they are relatively simple, you soon cut that gift idea down to 2 or 3. Barb - thank you so much for bringing us such a wonderful project idea, for the kits and for the laughter we had. Wished you could have been here.
Barb also gave Susie a little purse to show us. Can you believe it - it is made out of a tie. I know - amazing isn't it? Now, where did we put all those fat ties?
Donnis laid out all her blocks to see how they looked. She's not sure if they will all end up in her final project, but what a wonderful start.
Esther is not sure if she will make her project with the 12, add more, take some out or what. Again, a great start.
Show 'n Tell is always the high light. Donnis took Susie's pattern of the oriental lantern and made her self a table runner to see how she liked the technique. Donnis loved it and has decided to make a twin bed version of the pattern.
Vevia took Donnis' teaching of the tilted log cabin and applied the technique to a rail fence block. The yellow and blue one is a 4 rail block, while the other two are 6 rail blocks. So many possibilities.
Judy has finished the wall hanging for her Granddaughter who is to be married this month. Sorry I did not get a better shot of the middle. That is where Judy embroidered in their names and wedding date. The colors are the fall colors that are being used in their wedding.
Judy decided to add to her wedding gift by making them a set of "fiesta" fun table mats. The colors are gorgeous.
Judy had also taken Donnis' demo and made a table mat for her daughter with the tilted log cabin technique - but made it into a rectangle. She quilted it with tilted rectangles and her and Donnis discussed the style and the steps.
Vevia and Susie have been demonstrating embroidery stitches to the Clay Center Piotique Quilters Guild and Vevia took some of the stitches they used and made an embroidery sample book. Inside were cloth pages with all the embroidery stitches they had covered this year.
Susie got a new ruler! This one was from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. and is half of a hexagon. What a lovely quilt to make row by row, no more "Y" seams or partials. Everyone thought this would be a great project to put into a table runner next year.
Got a close up of Susie's quilting as she had used some very expensive metallic thread that really showed off the quilting design. Click on the picture to blow it up and get a better look.
Think Susie said that she started this wool quilt in 2009 - and now it is a finished UFO. It is a heavy quilt with all that wool on flannel. Some of the quilting, Susie took out and redid as she was not pleased with her first go through.
Crazy woman! We think it is all marvelous. The outside has this lovely feather type pattern, the blocks each have a little bit of quilting.
And on the left side of this block, you can see the little bit of the Sashiko embroidery that Susie used on the white sections that compliment the quilts look.
Thank you to everyone for bringing in your work. Thank you Susie for showing us how to make a pop-up thread catcher. Thank you Barb for the kits. Thank you Esther for the block and demo.
Looking forward to next month and seeing all of you that could not be with us for this meeting.
Stay safe.
