Good Friends = Good Conversation

Sometimes few in numbers, means more chances to talk with everyone.

And that is what this month proved true.  Boy, can five women really do the talking. hahaha

Pat had her hand quilting with her, but enjoyed so much the talking,  that she never got it out.

Donnis can do TWO things at once.  She brought in finished projects to sew the labels on and she accomplished it while keeping us entertained with stories of the past.

Leila was the hardest worker.  She saw this quilt in a magazine and thought of all the possibilities.

She is going to do Lemoyne stars - AND all by hand.  

Leila showed us some tips to make the star go together easily.  Look at her stitches.  Wow!

Leila has found out that you want the center triangles in before you tackle the squares in the corners.

This is a quilt that we all will be excitedly waiting to see to completion.

Shirley is trying to get ready for her trunk show on July 18th in Clay Center at the First Baptist Church for the Piotique Quilters Guild's meeting.  Make sure you mark your calendars - this is one program that none of us will want to miss.

Do these blocks look familiar?  This is a pass the box project that the group was doing when some of us came into the group.  Having a dead line has really inspired Shirley to work on some UFO's.

Little bit of a problem though - see these three blocks - WHO DID THEM?

Shirley had slips of paper on the backs that told who had made each block - except these three.

Donnis has her quilt done and has the names of those involved on the label, she wishes she had put down what block they made.

So if any of these look familiar - please give Shirley a call and let her know.

Now you all know that you can not bring in a bunch of blocks and not get assistance from everyone there on how they think they might be put together.  hahahaha  Shirley had lots of help from all of us.

Biggest obstacle was that there are 10 blocks.  Finding a layout for that number - well, one is going to have to go on the back.  So here is the winning layout for the nine remaining blocks.  Now it is Shirley's task to figure out how is she going to put them together and get this all done by July.

Good luck Shirley!

Lunch was leftovers.  Vevia had brought in some things that she had frozen from the Piotique Quilters tea on Saturday, and added some cheese and crackers.  Even had gluten free crackers in case Esther was back.

After lunch was Show 'n Tell.

Poor Lisa was trying to run in and NOT get in the picture, it did not work.

Donnis saw this in a water color quilt book that she has and with a little help from her daughter Jan, she finished it up.  What a great idea on how to use log cabin blocks.

She also finished the baby quilt and we got to see the final project.  Love how 3 colors give it another pattern - disappearing 9-patch of course.

Vevia brought in her take, on the "Chicks of the Month" blocks that Susie had introduced to the embroidery group to at the Piotique Quilters Guild.

Hopefully Sis is not looking at the site - here is her 60th birthday gift.  These are embroidered blocks that Vevia presented to her sister, Elizabeth, over 9 years for birthday presents starting on her 50th, then last year got the blocks back, sat them together and then this year will present the finished quilt on her 60th.

Judy had brought some quilt magazines into Vevia and here the ladies are checking them out.  Thank you Judy for sharing.

Next month we will find out how many want to participate in the Block Swap and if there is enough, then we will decide on what block we will make to swap and how many.  Even Pat said that she might join us - IF - it is a simple block and - IF - Deb will take her shopping for some fabric.  hahahaha  Heck we will all take her shopping.  hahahaha  Pat states that she is not a piecer, she only likes to quilt, so she does not have a "Stash".

Well everyone - be thinking about it.

It will be scrappy, so you do not have to go buy special fabric.

Have a safe spring and don't work too hard in the gardens.

See you in May.

:)

Finally! The weather permitted a gathering - YEAH!!!!!!!

Does it seem like it has been forever since we last met in Morganville?  It was last year after all.

Fortunately the weather held true this time and some of us were able to get together and have a blast.

And.........

some little elves had been there ahead of us and some changes were made.

If you have left your coat on a chair and then left without it and someone happened to see it and was able to bring it to you - you were blessed.  Now we have a rack to hang them up on and hopefully they won't get lost down in between chairs.

The kitchen was the biggest shock.  Cupboards have been cleaned and things stored away nicely.  Remember the yucky and collection of who knew what?  Well - gone.  They are still working on sections - but what an improvement.  Even that old nasty broom closet is clean and now has shelves.  Congratulations to the crew - they have made a difference.

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First things first - go over to the restaurant and order lunch.

Second thing - get to work.  Vevia thanks Machelle and Donnis for being such a great help on her UFO project she brought in.  Sorry we had to blur out the image and leave you in question as to what they were up to - some UFO's are gifts and can not be revealed ahead of time.  hahaha

It was great fun to hear how others tie and to see the progress made by many hands.

Deb has a new string quilt in mind, so she brought her scrap bag and got to work on making those strips - user friendly.

Susie learned how to and how not to on a project for the PQG Tea.  Great learning experience for everyone.

We all learned that you can stuff small projects with pieces of wool batting pulled apart  -  but the stuff compacts, not fills.   So buying the poly stuffing makes sense as it bounces back and fills in quicker.  Thank you Susie for finding that out for us.  And thank you Machelle for loaning your chop stick to the project.  Some stuffing bags are now including a stick.

Esther started a quilt and rats!  She does not have enough fabric to make it the size she wanted.  So she packed up all of her pieces and brought them to the meeting for a confab of minds.

Had to get a close up to see the lovely fabric.  No, it is no longer available.  Another reason for immediately using what you buy.  UFO's or fabric sitting on the side line for too long - does not give you a chance to go back and buy more.  And we all wish that Esther had more of these fabrics.

So Esther started to audition this.......

then Susie auditioned that................

Deb came in with an almost...................

Ah!!! with everyone's input, much better.  Isn't it fun to mess around with someone else's projects.  Not only does it help them, but it stirs up your own creativity.  Don't you just love those pastel plaids?  Not available anymore either.  Several of us would have been glad to take them off of Esther's hands.  hahaha  Esther, you did check that they were ALL back in your box before you left - right?

Deb is checking out how many squares it takes to go along the side.

Before you knew it - time for lunch and a break.  Boy did the morning fly by.

And then..............

Time for Show 'n Tell!

Machelle's sister (or one of her family members) took this box of grandmothers and thought they might do something with all of the yo-yo's.  Decided they never would and gave it to Machelle.  Boy did we have suggestions of how she could use them - or......she could make the doll.

This is one of my favorite ways to use them.  It's enough work just to make yo yo's, why not show them off.

Click here - Pinterest to go get some ideas of all the possibilities.  There are several boards of ideas.

Donnis got a pattern from Pat and look at the cute baby hat she made from it.

And Donnis has a new little one coming - what a lovely quilt for a little girl.  Donnis is a very busy woman - makes me feel like I should be doing more.

Esther finished her Bargello.  Definitely out of Esther's box - but oh so pretty.  I just got a visual picture of a slinky going down the stairs.  A very active pattern.

Thank you again Donnis for sharing your tips with us. 

Esther is also making a tuck it under the mattress - storage sleeve for a grandson.

May not have the title right, hope it explains itself.  Things that Esther has learned - make the part that goes up under the mattress perhaps a little longer and incorporate the pocket fabric higher up so it blends under.  Perhaps even quilt that part.  One of the ideas given was if it is for a twin bed, make another pocket section on the other side.  We all are interested in hearing how it worked out for him when Esther gets back. 

Hold on to your hats?  Click on this picture to blow it up so that you can see some of the work that Susie put into this quilt.  Only two years and she had it done.

Here it is in full regalia.  Isn't it fantastic.  Boy you could look at this one for hours to see all that has been put into it.  Anyone interested in making one - see Susie.  Picture it in wool.  Wow!

Susie's mom loves to embroider and is always giving Susie some blocks.  Here Susie took them and alternated the two block styles and made this wonderful throw.

Susie loves her twilling.  This is her latest quilt that displays beautifully her hand work.

Not only did she twill, but look at the quilting.  What fun to make all those pebbles - NOT!  hahahaha  Susie did everything free hand, feathers also.  She gave a quick demo to us on how she makes her feathers.

Here is another block so you can see how that close quilting with the pebbles, makes the twilled section come alive with depth.

Course the back is as much of a beauty as the front.  So could you call it a reversible?

Deb had brought in this tiny eye glass that when you look at one block through it - you see the possibilities of what a quilt would look like with many blocks.  Do you know that we all goof up our mouths when we are sighting in.  You can not close one eye and not lift that lip.

Having grandchildren sure makes life fun.  Look at this darling ball.  They brag on it for babies, but Deb tells us that it becomes a wonder toy after they reach one, then the fun begins.

This is the pattern.  And we all can tell you - it is fun - even older "kids" can have a toss around.

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Great to see everyone.  Missed those that could not make it.

See you all next month - Lord willing and the creek don't rise and nothing bigger than a chipmunk happens.