Each of us Discovering OUR WAY to Applique

Susie - you were missed!

Now that that is said.......

Vevia didn't do too bad of a job filling in - thanks to all of Susie's samples.

Pictured above is the Slave Chain block that Susie chose.

What is the greatest part about it is that you can put on all the pieces or just some of the pieces.

Vevia brought in the block on the right that is called orange peel, or .......... this is another block that has so many names by region or quilter.

Susie chose her 6 1/2" block from Jennifer Chiaverini's "The Loyal Union Sampler from ELM CREEK QUILTS" book. (Block I-8, page 79)  This book was inspired by Jennifer Chiaverini's book "The Union Quilters".  It has so many interesting blocks in it -  click here Amazon preview  to check out what is in some of the pages.

Vevia brought in a few different ideas for applique-ing, along with Susie's samples of the needle turn.  There were also several glues to try, straw and applique needles, freezer paper, and Susie had sent in silk, 50 wt. and a couple other different threads.  Applique is not a one stop shop-boxed in, only can do this way technique.

Here is Susie's needle turn sample

and here is her reverse applique sample Click for directions to print out.

The ladies were off and running.  No matter how involved everyone looks here, we still were able to share the news and events that had been happening in our lives.

Here along side Susie's block, is the first 1/4 of the block of Machelle's done

Judy finished one and is wondering what she will do with just 1/4 of a block.  hahaha!

Donnis tried the freezer paper technique to help her turn under the edges.  Don't think that will be a favorite for her.

We thought her work looked great and we are looking forward to seeing her finished block .

Vevia did finish one section

Deb on the other hand, finished all four.  We told her it was because she does so much hand quilting - kept her fingers agile.

Machelle did finish 3 sections and laid them out with some of her other blocks to see how they were looking.  Love her Christmas fabric theme.

Deb had made Esther's block pattern in some different fabric pieces that she had laying around.  Must say, I would probably never buy the fabric shown on the outside - however - it is fantastic here.  Who would have thought?

After lunch we had Show 'n Tell.  Donnis did not have a current finished project to show, so she brought one of her older favorites.  She uses it as a wall hanging.

AND she had hand quilted it.  Donnis, seeing this was awe inspiring.  Love it, love it, love it.  Thank you.

Judy had finished her daughters living room runners.  This picture shows the two joined squares that will be on the coffee table, and

these are the two rectangle ones that will be on the end tables.  Love Judy's fabrics and how she worked these.  

Judy has really been busy - this is the baby blanket that she has been huffing and puffing over.  Sorry the camera did not pick up the hearts too well, picture below shows them a little better.

Love how this quilt pops with color.  Baby should enjoy it also.

Susie did the quilting.  You can see some of it here on the flannel back.

Machelle had brought in this quilt for a grandson, but at that time did not have it finished.

Here it is all finished, AND Machelle quilted this huge thing all by her self on her little old home sewing machine.  Wow!  

The surprising part was realizing that this is a disappearing 9-patch pattern.  There are 9 fabrics used, each one always in the same position.  When you cut it apart and sew it back together - amazing.  Missed the pattern at first till Machelle explained what she had done.  AND there is a label on it.  Hooray!!!!! 

Vevia and Lorraine were both drawn to a bag that Deb had brought in with her hand work a few months back - Vevia had some Mountmellick work that she did not know what to do with - so - she made a similar bag to Deb's.  Added a couple of pockets inside and now it holds her embroidery work.

Susie and Vevia have been giving embroidery demonstrations to those interested at the Piotique Quilters Guild in Clay Center.  This is the last month and will include satin stitches.  They will be handing out an initial pattern to the ladies and these are the samples that Vevia has worked up to show them how they can use the stitches they have been learning and make their own one of a kind Monogram.  (The bag has a chain stitch, the book satin, and the letter E is done with flowers and leaves)

Machelle brought in her "Primitive Quilts" magazine to share.  Every page has something on it that you would want to do.  Deb brought in her new book from Missouri Star Quilt Co. She signed up to receive each new one they come out with.  Didn't know you could do that.  It is available here MSQC site to where you can sign up and receive it yourself.  (When you go to the site, look for 'BLOCK the magazine' near the top right)

Machelle had picked up these two very helpful sheets - cutting a square to cut out for bias binding

 and then the other side shows what size of a square to cut out for what you need.  Due to the color of the paper and the protection plastic - sorry, not very good pictures.

It was a great meeting - even if our numbers were low.  Had a wonderful time chatting and catching up, and learned a thing or two (remember to draw your big "chain" on the fabric BEFORE you sew on the little "chain").

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We also got to talking about next year and what we would like to do.  Machelle has several slips of paper that people have given her of ideas and we need to go through them and pick out our favorites.  As of today - it seems like strip piecing projects is in the forefront of choices.

Spring Cleaning pattern

Japanese Star Pattern

These are two patterns that Susie has made available to us.  Donnis is working on the Japanese one for a table runner.  So be thinking about January and February possibly working on one or the other, or one of your own patterns and lets see how many different strip piecings we can do.

Get with Machelle about December and what you would like to bring for the potluck.

See you then.

SUNSHINE on a Rainy Day!!!!!

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.