Aren't you excited?  I am.  There are now 15 of us doing the 4-patch exchange.

Yahoo!!!

Okay, so I may be a little goofy - but here is the scoop!

Donnis                         Pat

Deb                            Jan

Esther                          Susie

Shirley                          Vevia

 Machelle                     Leila

Carol                          Janet 

Lorraine                      Lisa

Juanita

Yeah ladies!  These are the 15 ladies that are involved.  Congrats for taking the plunge.

What we are doing is each of us will take 600 - 2 1/2" scrap squares (or strips, or whatever and however you want to do it)

Put them together in twos, and then in fours

For 150 - 4 patches that measure 4 1/2" unfinished

Then you give 10 of your squares to each of the other ladies on the list and keep 10 for yourself.

Wow!  What cool quilts this exchange will make.  Any rules as to color and such - NOPE!

Deadline is not until November, so you have time.  And yes, you may bring them in and hand them out before.

The greatest fun - besides seeing what colors and fabrics everyone uses - will be seeing how each of us put our 150 4-patch squares together in the finished design.

Thank you one and all for joining in.

Now - as to our meeting on Wednesday.

Three cheers for a rousing attendance (think there were about 15 there) and welcome to all the newbee-s that joined us.

(and make sure you click on all the underlined words for the sites and additional info available)

What great fun to see what everyone was working on.

And if you did not have anything to do and came anyway - you had the chance to jump in and help others as Leila did with Lorraine.

There was so many things going on.

Not going to tell you who is working on this - but the start is fantastic, looking forward to the finished look.

Carol worked on twilling and putting on binding.

Some of the ladies brought in there machines and went to work.  Love seeing all the different brands of sewing machines that our ladies use.

Jan found out that if things go all wrong and you can't get started - there may be a reason.

Sewing problems saved her from using the wrong fabric for a binding (or so we told her).

Juanita took the opportunity to copy her twilling work, thanks to Susie who brought in her light box.

Leila helping Lorraine match up her strips.

Janet brought in this soap/wool/lanolin bar she got at Kansas Troubles shop.  If you have never been there - you are missing a lot of nifty ideas.  This "ball" keeps your needles sharp.  They have lots of notions - and of course patterns and KT fabrics, etc.  Fun place to visit in Bennington.

Everyone was busy working on their various projects.

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Donnis had to leave right after lunch for an appointment, so we had Show 'n Tell early.....

Donnis brought in some of the hot pads she has been making.  Love the black and white one.  So easy and next month she will bring in the pattern and show us how she does these.

Lisa showed her paper piecing blocks that she had been removing paper from all morning and the quilt blocks of a Crab.apple quilt she has been working on.

Esther is embroidering her gift from her husband....remember.....

Susie got it printed out for her.  Esther is also working on a disappearing 9-patch.

Susie had gotten a cross stitched table cloth that she quilted up and was turning the backing over and sewing down - wanted to keep the crocheted lace border.

Susie also brought in two quilters slide lock rulers so that we could all see how they work.

Little pricey, until you realize how much they help you cut.  Using suction, they really keep your layers of fabric from shifting when you are cutting multiples.

Besides copying her patterns on to fabric, Juanita had brought in her twilling to show us the blocks she has finished and the blocks she is doing in the paper piecing class that Lisa is teaching.

Juanita is really ahead of the game on these projects.  The twilling is a two year BOM.

Lorraine showed off some of her patches she was able to finish thanks to Leila, Sara and Machelle - I think.  You know how you sometimes forget that you need certain tools - the more of us that come, the better the chances that someone has brought something that you are missing.

Last month, Carol had brought in her blocks that she saved from a deteriorating quilt top that she bought at a farm auction.  After hearing all of our suggestions - this is the finished top that she is sending along with Susie to quilt.  Looking great Carol. 

Carol had a few spots that she was a little worried about, but after looking them over - no problems.

Carol's hunter star quilt was in the process of being bound - had to show it off as there are many that have not had a chance to see it yet.  Lynne Hagmeier (Kansas Trouble designer) has this pattern with the raw edge applique.  Love the border fabric and it was very helpful to hear the tips and hints that Carol shared.

Deb finally got her fat quarter bag finished - AND - her Lola Jenkins workshop portrait done.

Wow and double wow!  Deb, what a fantastic job, love the border.  Worked beautiful with this.  And Deb stated she had the border fabric in her stash.  Don't know about the rest of the ladies that took the workshop - but the border is what has me stumped.

Janet is working on her twilling and doing such a great job of it.  This block is especially tiresome - so much to do on it and as they are the corner blocks - she has three more of the same block to do.

You go Janet!

This is the quilt that Jan was trying to sew the binding up for.  Good thing she had sewing machine trouble............

this is the back and everyone agreed this would make a better binding fabric - more pizzazz on the edge of the quilt.

All things do work themselves out.

However, we are sorry that Jan's machine was so ornery to begin with.

Not only is it a joy to see what people have finished, what they are working on and hearing the stories behind them.........................it's also fantastic to hear about products that they use.

Machelle is getting ready to do a winter quilt with lots of embroidery on it and she was tracing it off on her fabric - Lisa had a few pointers.

These owls are put on the fabric with "Transfer Eze".  You can get it at "All About Quilts" in Manhattan.....10 sheets for about $15.  There are a lot of sites on the web that you can go and learn more about it, or other sources to buy it from.  I picked this one to show you....click here.

What is great is that you print on it, lay it on your fabric and after you are done embroidering - it washes out.

You can also try Sulky's Super Solvy stabilizer or Marathon Threads - Sticky Wet N Melt .  I learned something new from Sulky, when you scroll down and click on the instructions for use tab, you find out about all the products - PLUS - all that stabilizer that you cut away after you are done embroidering and before you dissolve it away - save it.  You can make liquid solvy out of it.  

Thank you Lisa for all the info you shared with us.  

Susie finished sewing down the back to her quilted table cloth.  With quilting up to about 1/2" away from the edge, she was able to cut away the batting and turn under the edge to keep that lovely crocheted lace edging as part of the quilt.

Close up of the cross stitch and the quilting.

Looks good from the back also.  Fantastic job Susie.

We learned a lot at the get together, including information about insurance.......Christian Health Ministries, and - Deb learned not to leave right after lunch - she has really missed some fun times.........but not yesterday.  hahahahaha

All of you have a wonderful month and a great time sewing your projects - no matter what they are.