Feb. 12th - Great Day with Friends

We bombarded Donnis with company and quilts on Wednesday.

There have been a few days planned here and there to go see her and the weather has not co-operated.

Well yesterday was no different with the weather......

however, a few of us went regardless.

Lorraine was excited to see a couple examples of walker bags that Donnis had.  Gave her an idea for a project she is working on.

We talked about a lot of things and then went right to the fun stuff

SHOW 'n TELL!

hahahahahaha

Donnis' daughter - Jan - always tries to leave her mother with some projects to work on in the winter.  The one that Machelle is holding is for project Linus I think.  Donnis did a great job on this top.

And we all loved the denim and flannel blocks she has been sewing together for either her grandsons or her greats.  One of the boys is around 6'3", so there are a lot of blocks involved.

You can not have quilts without having a snack to give you strength to keep on looking.

So of course we took time out for tea and energy.

Then it was time for us to show Donnis in person what we have been up to.

Lorraine has been doing the most.  So many gorgeous quilts to show off.

And the backs are as exciting as the fronts.

Machelle brought in both of her millions of zillions half rectangle triangle's quilt tops for Donnis to see up close.

Think the one set of rulers is called BiRangles

I have one of these, but can not find where to get them anymore.

Bloc Loc has an A and B ruler, depending on which side you are trimming up.

The cost for these are $45 - $60 for a set depending on the size. 

Machelle did a great job with all the HRT's she made. 

Notice the quilt on Donnis' bed?  She helped put the blocks together and then Jan finished them and here is a quilt for mom.  Love all the colors and the way Jan set them.

Donnis even put blocks together for Bonnie and the Quilts from the Heart project at the Manhattan guild.

Thank you so much Donnis for letting us all come and spend the morning with you.  Did you get to take a nap after we left?

I know I sure wanted to.

Have a blessed day everyone.

February 5th - Lovely snow and plenty of Geese flying overhead!

Wow!  What a day.  Snow here, snow there, no snow, yes snow - but wasn't it beautiful? 

We talked about a lot of things, big stitch quilting, similar to Sashiko, Japanese embroidery.

New Marking pens that iron away.  Click here to go to web site to check them out.  They are on sale at the moment.

Stories about numbered tubs - I have not been able to find out exactly what size a #3 or a #10 galvanized tub actually were as different manufacturers back then - they had their own system.  I did find out that they held a lot of laundry, or oodles of beer and/or watermelons on ice, most families had at least two, and now they are worth a small fortune if they are hole free.

And of course............

we found out who was doing what, when, and how.

A few of the ladies are working on a house quilt, pattern by Edyta Sitar, "Sugar Shack Quilt".

Lots of Batiks and ideas going on.  Looking forward to seeing the finished quilts.

Others are hand working.  Pat is doing the big stitch in quilting, and Deb is working on that gorgeous embroidery quilt of hers.  I love the bikes, and the shower, and the............hahahaha.

Carol and Juanita are house "builders".

Machelle had so many books and things to look at that she wasn't sure where she was at. 

Janet was whizzing right through her houses.

And then there are the windows.  Susie brought in some 'Steam-a-seam2' to share.  Remember, you can click on a picture to blow it up larger to check out details.

Juanita was using the bloc-loc ruler to trim up her half square triangle roof sections.  This ruler has a "groove" to fit the seam in to hold the block still while you trim up.  And some of the ladies were using a turn table cutting mat to make it even easier.  I know - lots of gadgets - but they make the work go so much faster than our ancestors could do with pencil and scissors.

There was even a felted wool piece on the ironing board to help with the pressing.

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And then there was Show 'n Tell:

Mark did a major job of picking out the fabrics, so Susie could make a very bright and cheery quilt for someone headed to a retirement home.  So glad we got to see it before it went off to be quilted and gifted.

Janet got two quilts back from Susie - this one is very patriotic.

Look close and you can see the eagles that fly across the whole quilt.

And this is the first quilt that Janet did and got the idea to do the red/white/blue one.  Both are gorgeous.

Okay!  What happens when you do not count blocks?

This!!!!!

An extra quilt.  

Machelle was getting so good at making half rectangle triangles 

that she went a little over board and it gave her this quilt.

Isn't he cute?

And of course

here is the original quilt that got all those HRT's going.

Gorgeous Number One!!

Though - wow!  What a lot of HRT's. 

Machelle - you are my super hero!!!! 

 Now to get them quilted, bound, labeled and ready to show off in her home.

I had to put in this shot - I think it is when I mentioned - Are you going to put borders on?

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Here is the back to show you that no HRT's were harmed in the adding of the snowman.

Pat had started a "God's Eye" quilt and then unfortunately - someone was in need.

Glad that it is so beautiful and will be a great blessing to it's recipient.

As we can see from the back, Susie got crosses in to the quilting.

I brought in this small quilt that will be offered at the Manhattan Konza Prairie Quilt Guild Mini Auction.  Had a lot of fun putting it together.  Got the pattern out of a Quiltmania Simply Vintage magazine.

Lisa had some things on the give a way table last month and I picked up a table runner kit that had those lovely colored fabrics in it that I used to finish my "Party in the Patch" quilt.

This month - Deb blessed us with freebees.

Missouri Star Quilting showed a video on this wonky star done in 3 ways. Click here to watch.  I tried one of them out and now have a top to donate to "Quilts of the Heart" in Bonnie's name.  It was her fabric.

Here are two houses almost there - Lorraine's and Susie's

Great Job ladies.

Susie brought in an embroidery frame for Machelle to try using on her long embroidery project.

Machelle was having a time - she forgot her needle threader.

But finally - everything is a go and learning a new way to do it.

Have fun Machelle.

See you all next month.

Give a call to anyone that we have missed lately - they might enjoy hearing from us.