Monday, February 25, 2013

Camp Asbury Retreat

        No snow storms this year, just grey and cold.  Good weather to stay inside and sew!
First thing everyone has to do is move in and get set up.  Some take longer than others.  But once it's done- It's time to sew!


And walk around chatting with your neighbors!
Eula amused us all with the "nurse" sayings on a panel she bought at our quilt show last fall.















It's so nice to have help with projects on retreat!  Mary Kozub's One Block wonder really took shape when Tracy, Kathi and Melanie gave her some suggestions!






Pat Gardner had these fabulous blocks from her "Amish with a Twist" project with her.



Judy Piscatello needed more borders to get this stack and whack quilt top  to the size she wants.













Connie Grimsley's sister Jenny loves Kaffe Fasset, and was making backs for her tops with the leftovers

The backing for this one wasn't ready for viewing yet
On Saturday, Judy started making a backing with her leftovers.


Elaine got her blocks made for the row robin.  (Yummy!)









So she started working on some blocks similar to the "Old Italian" blocks shown by Anita Grossman Soloman.
Saturday night there were games- and dancing!

Those who brought fat quarters took part in the "Left, Right, Center" game in groups of ten. 
Eventually all of the fat quarters end up in the center but one- and the last to have one wins!!!



For the first round, the lucky winner was "Vinnie" Tjhung!!!! (doing her happy dance)
After lunch on Sunday, before people had to start leaving, we had a final show and tell.
I apologize for blurry pictures.  I snapped (literally and figuratively) as fast as I could!  If you have better ones, send them along and I'll replace them!


Shirley Lapp's strip pieced project was a popular pattern request!
Alex Hammon got a top made for a special man in her life.

Mary Ellen Ames switched to a kit she found easier, using stonehenge fabrics.

Carol McNally liked Terry McGuire's bag so much last week, she made her own!


Sylvia Hebell made this sweet little top as a gift.  (She and Carol were working on a much more fabulous project I hope we get to see soon!)

Chris Kuehl finished her baby quilt top.

Emmy revived an old project- paper pieced blocks that only needed to be assembled.  Plus she got help planning borders for it!


Dorothy did some hand work, making a wool felt owl hanging. She promised his head will be sewn on very soon!

Melanie is also working on something for a special man. (so don't tell him!)

Tracy is making these very pretty blocks one at a time, due to the way the pattern is written.  Patience, Tracy!



Tracy also assembled the wool felt projects below- all ready for her next quiet evening!

Susan worked on several lovely projects!
On the left are some circle appliques I can't wait to see in the project.
On the right is a project she is designing to use the bleach discharged animals she created.
Working from the book Quilted Symphony, Susan began assembling these amazing leaves. 
So many projects I can't wait to see again!!



Peggy Dibble was battling the double sided binding on her "cotton way" placemats.






Peggy also finished piecing this sweet little baby quilt for a lucky little one!

On Sunday Morning, Elaine was playing with batik charm squares and a circle cutter.  SO cool!
Mary Lee's finished (?- since she found a few unused blocks after) One lock Wonder quilt.
Pat Gardner was working on a quilt as you go quilt
Jeri got 29 or 39 of these fishies put together- more than halfway there!


Judy ran a little short of fabric on her backing.

Along with baggies full of parts for a mystery quilt, Connie played with some scraps!
Eula finished the top for her nursing reunion quilt.
Vinnie got two baby quilts finished, for twins!


And another baby quilt to be donated to community service.


Eileen got her stack and whack blocks back out when she got tired of the log cabins blocks ( below)


It took her all weekend, but Martha got three of these blocks pieced from start to finish.  (the first one had been done since the class we had with George Siciliano in 2010)

Monday, February 18, 2013

February meeting- IMPORTANT news

 Before we get to show and tell, there are two pieces of news we need to make sure everyone gets.

First, and most important:  The MARCH meeting will be held at the Genesee County Nursing Home, 278 Bank St, Batavia.  More specific information will be in your newsletter.

Second:  A HUGE thank you to Connie Grimsley and Ann O'Geen, who have volunteered to be the  chairs for our 2014 quilt show!


 And now for the pictures!  (Isn't that why you visit most of the blogs you read?)

Kathy did some more snow dyeing.  First on an apron she found at the second hand store.















Then with better results once she remembered you have to allow the snow to run off using a grate of some kind.





Kathy had sent this photo of her daughter's fiance's daughter to Julie Brandon for printing.  Isn't she sweet? 
 This piece will be a gift for a retiring co-worker.  Kathi advises us not to work on such fine applique late in the day.
 Tracy Jachimowicz made this sweet table runner
 Emmy Hartwick.made this holiday log cabin quilt for her husband.
 Melanie and mary Anne inspect the inside of terry McGuire's new bag made to carry her rotary cutter mat.
The pocket says "Finished in Better than Perfect!".  Terry also mentioned that there is now a quilting group meeting at St James church.  The next meeting will be March 3rd, right after services - around noon.  Fellow member Kathy Belluscio is also a member of this group.
 Ethyl Sojda made the deer quilt for her son, who is a hunter.  The lovely scrappy quilt is for community service.
 Ethyl made this chicken quilt for her other son.  Both the deer and the chicken are trapuntoed.
 Kim Sherman finally finished her first quilt- the one that started it all- with the prairie point edging.


 The Art C Girlz showed the results of a fabric challenge.  Mary Kozub provided each member with a fat quarter sized piece of ice dyed fabric to play with. 

 Mary saw ladies hiding in her piece.  She calls this "Guardians"












Susan didn't see anything in hers, so she cut it up and made exotic fish!
 MaryEllen Casey also saw ladies in her fabric, but hers were doing the can-can- Toulouse-Laytrec style.


Elaine saw stained glass windows in her fabric, and used the opportunity to try thread sketching
Martha intended to try bargello,  but something else happened.  She based her colors on a picture from Badlands National Park.






Chris Kuehl was preparing for retreat by making a cover/ carrying bag for her iron.


New member Mary Lowe presented this 3-d quilt she made.  Below is a close up of the spider she created in the center.

Martha finally found time to turn one of her doodles (zentangles) into a quilt!

Elaine made a lenten banner for her church.  They weren't sure she'd have any purple.  :-)

Ann Renica- the overachiever- had a blast with a new block she found and her Scrap Therapy squares.  All of these will be donated to the ministry Anne works with. (sorry, Anne, I missed the name)





After all of this, guest presenters (and new members!) Julie Brandon and Val Schultz shared some of their quilts and tools for collaboration with us.

 One of  Julie's digitally printed quilts, which Val quilted.
 There was a mistake in this printing. The actual quilt is currently part of a touring exhibit.






 This was an audience participation event.  Volunteers were chosen at random and given crowns!










The winners were narrowed to four participants, who were given paper and playthings.  Using audience suggestions, the papers were drawn on, colored, glued and otherwise altered.


 (the music was fun, too!)






 The results will be scanned and Julie will play with them a bit before printing each one out for the participants to play with!



This is a sample of the results from a previous class.












Many thanks to Julie and Val for coming back to see us!  Don't forget you can send images to be printed to Julie at Red-Dog Enterprises, Inc.