Cold hands, warm hearts

 Members of the guild who braved the snowy forecast outside and chilly temperatures inside, came together to work on Community Service projects at the February meeting. Our hands (and feet and noses) were cold, but we still did a lot of good work to help people in need!

Show and tell is, of course, everybody's favorite part of the meeting!

Mary Ellen Ames brought in this top she pieced from a Community Service Kit.  The pattern is called "Fractions"

Kathi Everett made herself a new nametag with bits and pieces and hand embroidery.

Tracy Jachimowicz made this sweet charm/ I-spy quilt and made sure to put Batman near the center!

Tracy added some elements from another project to this panel for her grandson.

Mary Ellen Casey had a picture of her grandson printed on fabric at "Red Dog Enterprises" and turned it into a little wall quilt for him.  

New members are being encouraged to make nametags. Dee Waldruff  is now entered into the nametags basket drawing!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  New member Stephanie Mott used her "Ugly" fabrics to make a fun pillow cover, which she was still stitching on during the business meeting.  

Stephanie bid on a custom nametag at the December auction, and won.  This is what Jen Grimsley made for her!

Elaine Moodie made some orphan blocks into Wee Little Quilts for the consortium.  

Elaine used her embroidery machine to make most of this Valentine's Day table runner. 

Elaine bought the kit for this quilt, titled "If Mary was a Quilter" at the December auction

Terry McGuire took a "10 Sisters" class and made this lucky shamrock quilt.  

Terry finished this charm 9-patch quilt for community Service.

Laurie Kilbury finished this Community Service quilt, made with blocks donated by member Lorraine West.  

Connie Grimsley found a bunch of orphan blocks in the Community Service stash and made them into a very cool quilt!

Sue Chiddy used leftover strips to make some placemats- great idea!

Many hands make light work, as they say- and here we have many hands at work- cutting kits, piecing tops, adding bindings....  And enjoyed the warmth of fellowship as we worked together! (too corny?  Sorry, but not sorry)

This is the only project I got a picture of- pieced by Nancy Mitchell.

Don't forget to go vote for your choices in the Challenge at the library.  The next challenge will be announced at the March meeting.

March speaker will be Kellie Beckwith possibly with fabulous new fabrics to share with us!

Under the Big Top

 The 2025 "Under the Big Top" challenge entries are on display at the Richmond Memorial Library now through the end of February. 

Members are encouraged to visit the exhibit and vote for their choices for awards to be presented at the March meeting.  Categories include Best in show, Creativity/ Originality, Use of Color, Appliqué, Hand Quilting and Machine Quilting.  

All visitors are asked to choose a favorite for the "Viewers Choice" award.  

Pictures don't do justice to the level of creativity and the workmanship on display, but if you can't get to the library, at least you can enjoy the entries!

Kathi Everett's entry, "Little Ringmaster"  is made on a toddler's jacket.  It is hanging so both sides can be enjoyed!

Mary Ellen Casey did an amazing job of replicating the circus tent in her entry, "Leap of Faith" 

Chris Kuehl's "Silhouette" brings to life the audience enjoying the performers

Alex and Kevin Hammon used a drawing by their daughter Jamie for their dancing bears entry, titled "The Music Never Stopped", in honor of other dancing bears.

Sue Privatera's "Irma and Emma" honors the fact that we've all learned that animals should never be made to perform scary tricks for our entertainment.

Connie Grimsley's "Call the Circus" - so named for the number of hours of "call the Midwife" she watched while quilting- also evokes the top of the circus tent.  

Elaine Ross's whimsical entry, "Step Right Up",  uses multiple techniques and fun embellishments!

Jennifer Grimsley's "Sanctuary" honors elephants rescued from the circus and now living out their lives in a more natural environment.

Bonnie Dedo's "Colorful Big Tops" is a colorful homage to the old time circus tent.

Nancy Schrader's "Under the Big Top-Twins" is a different interpretation of the challenge theme, in honor of a niece expecting twins.

Martha Lorshbaugh's "A Few Minutes of Silly" reminds us to take breaks between the events of the day to be joyful and silly now and then.  

Any members who cannot make it to the library, but what to vote for the awards should contact Martha.

Awards will be announced at the March meeting, when the theme for the 2026 challenge will be announced!

Under the Big Top revealed!

 It was so wonderful to have the level of attendance we did at the January meeting.  Chairs continue to be an issue, but we made it work, and enjoyed some games from the programs people. 

Of course the show and tell is always one of the best parts of the meetings.

Tracy Jachimowicz used leftover fabric from the awards for our last quilt show to make this lovely quilt.  The fabric originally came from the Community Service stash, and they got the quilt!

Visiting former/ returning member Mary Kozub spends a lot of her free time at her loom.  If you zoom in on this rug, you can see rows of little people (they're nurses!).

Mary also made this sweet tiny weaving called Martha in the Garden- to see how hard it would be to isolate a single person.  There are bees and kitties in this one along with rows of flowers!

John Roll is trying to use some of his stash (aren't we all?), and made this beautiful quilt to donate.

Elaine Ross finally got her piece back from the Cherrywood challenge after it travelled the country for two years- including time it was lost between shows. 

Elaine took an online workshop where one takes a photo and makes a "sketch" in fabric. Above is Elaine in third grade (with ringlets she hated) 

And this is the fabric sketch.  I wish it was a better picture, but things move pretty fast in show and tell!

Elaine Moodie busted some scraps with this quilt for community service, which she free motion quilted.

Eileen Sorochty was cleaning and ran across this little project- tiny animals in an Altoids tin for her granddaughter to play with on car trips. 

Sue Chiddy used a jelly roll she found in her stash to make this for community service. 

Carolyn Stegman needed some additional instruction, but finished her block from the paper piecing class given by Connie and Jen Grimsley.

Liz Scott made some panels into Wee Little Quilts for the consortium.

Liz finished this "Fractions" quilt for community service.

And, finally, Liz made herself a quilt.  It uses a jelly roll and a pattern called beach bracelet.

Alex made a sweet placemat for a family member to use....

...And a water bottle cozy for her cousin.

Martha Lorshbaugh also made a Wee Little Quilt, using an orphan block she unearthed in her sewing room. 

And then it was time to see what "Under the Big Top" meant to those who took up the challenge.  There will be a separate post with much better pictures of all of the quilts.  Please visit the exhibit at the Richmond Memorial Library during the month of February to vote for the awards!

Apologies to Alex that I missed taking a picture when we could see her face!  Alex, Kevin and their daughter Jamie collaborated on their dancing bears entry! 

                                                  Kathi's is as usual amazingly creative! 

Nancy's is a different interpretation of "Big Top"- reflecting that her niece is expecting twins!

Mary Ellen had to do some creative thinking- and use creative materials-  to create her trapeze artist.

                     Bonnie Dedo found a pattern called "Under the Big Top"- how's that for serendipity?

                               Chris Kuehl imagined the silhouette of the circus under the lights.

                          Jennifer honored the elephants rescued from performing with her piece.

                                   Connie chose a different "Under the Big Top" pattern

Elaine also got very creative with her performing elephant

                                                  Martha made a happy little clown car.

Awards will be presented at the March meeting when the next challenge will be announced.  We're planning a fabric challenge this time- where each member will be required to use a specific fabric in their entry.  

At the February meeting, we'll be working on Community Service projects.  If you haven't signed up for something, contact Connie or Jenny. And if you have a small folding table, you may need to bring it along.