Wednesday, January 22, 2025

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.