Christmas comes this time each year!

The annual holiday party is always a fun meeting- with so many goodies to sample!  This year we had so much food we ran out of table space!  Kudos to anyone who was able to sample everything!! Nope, no pictures of the food on a cart we found, and a chair, or people with their mouths open enjoying the feast. (You're welcome)

But before we ate, we got to enjoy the usual show and tell from our talented members.  

 Since Martha Lorshbaugh (your blog editor) can't show and take pictures at the same time, this is the best I can do to show the new quilt I finally finished for my bed!!!  The nice name is Anna's Stars.

Laurie Kilbury Taylor made this lovely star quilt- quilted on her long arm.  She's available if you need quilting done.

 Ann Renica made this for a neice.  Note there is no orange- at the mom's request.

 Elaine Lemley put the skills she gained in class with Linda M Poole to good use in this piece, inspired by the Woodward Tower.  It's a gift for a friend.

 Chris Kuehl made some holiday coasters/ ornaments to give as small gifts to friends.

 Sandy Shufelt finished a wool felt piece from a class she took last year.  (Sorry, I forgot the name of the instructor)

Sandy made this bag in a "Just Threads" class with Laura Little.

 Connie found this quilt top all pieced with materials to finish it at a thrift store.  She's finishing it for Community Service.

Challenge time!!!  Why do we wait until the last minute to make our challenge quilts?  Be cause January seems so far away in March when the challenge is announced- doesn't it?   It sure creeps up on us fast, though!  

Only 28  days left!

(I tried to add a timer here, but it's time consuming and I have sewing to do!!)

November reminds us to be Thankful

November was our annual Demo Derby.  Since I did one of the demos, I didn't get pictures of any of them.  I'd like to acknowledge Connie Grimsley for her curved piecing ruler demo, Shirley Lapp for her disappearing nine patch demo, Melanie Tubinis for showing a quick and easy gift idea!  I'd also like to thank the ladies who made such kind comments about my own doodling to quilt designs demo.

I must also apologize for the pictures of show and tell. Among the many things I forgot to bring was my camera.  I haven't been able to edit the cell phone pictures I took.  (my computer and I aren't getting along today, as you might guess)
Hopefully you can still appreciate the great work shown this month.

 Nancy Ellers added the pieced border to this donated top to make a quilt she'll donate to the Lipson Center

 Nancy stopped while she was ahead, before there were mistakes in these afghans, also for the Lipson Center

 Mary Kozub admits she had to go buy buttons to make these sweet little ornaments

 Donna Tomski finally finished her Labyrinth quilt, which is most definitely for her! (but she knows who will et it when she's gone)

 Mary Ellen Casey is trying to use up scraps and make gifts at the same time!

 Jenny Grimsley assures us the paints from the Linda Poole classes last month are colorfast, as she learned when she soaked it to remove the stabilizer.

 These blocks were donated  to Community Service.  They made very nice placemats for the Meals on Wheels collection, which has reached its goal, thanks to all of our members' generosity!

 Terry McGuire made this to donate to a basket raffle in another group.

 Terry made this tumbler quilt using a method she said is super easy.

 Terry enjoyed the process of taking disparate bits and pieces to make this Gypsy Wife quilt she plans to donate to father Ivan's migrant cause.

 Frances Zabawa quilted this quilt top, given to her by a friend who found a bunch of unfinished tops when cleaning out a relative's home.

 Nancy Schrader and Mickey Green finished their butterflies from the Linda M Poole classes.

 Linda enjoyed having a mother-daughter duo in her class, and gave them the kit for the acorn wreath, which they worked on together.  Nancy said the better looking leaves are her mother's work.

 Elaine Lemley also finished her butterfly!

 Elaine made this little quilt to fit a space in her son and daughter-in-law's home.

 Elane made this Eleanor Burns "Quilt in a Day" pattern for a soon-to-be grandchild.  She changed a few of the blocks to fit things in her life.

Melanie found this sweet little quilt in an antique store, and couldn't resist it.

Please remember our December meeting will be one week early- on December 14.  Bring your own place setting and a brunch-type dish to pass, and your holiday spirit to enjoy a nice time with friends!

October Show and Tell

 I wanted our show and tell to stand alone, rather than being a footnote in the post about Linda M Poole.  So, for those who may have missed the meeting, here's what our members were working on last month.

Jenny Grimsley gave both wet and dry cyanotype printing a try. 

Mary Ellen Casey took a class on silk painting

Elaine Ross made this using a picture she created for her photography class. 

Liz Scott is going to be an aunt several times over...

Liz's niece/ nephew #2

Liz designed this one!!!

 Donna Sofokles made placemats for meals on wheels using the samples she made in a class with Philippa Naylor.  She waved them pretty fast, so I only got a couple of pictures, but I didn't want to leave her out.

Eileen Sorochty took this picture of an iron stone fountain (in Ireland, maybe???) , and used thread painting to create it in fabric!

 Susan Rathbun made some placemats with a few things she had in her orphan block stash.

Susan's beautiful Fall table runner.

 Mary Ellen Ames was looking for suggestions as to what to do with this commemorative quilt.  A member who knows the county Historian would like it in her office was happy to take it to her.

Mary Ellen Ames discovered this in some family "archives"

Mary Ellen finished her Summer Solstice, by Judy Neimeyer

Lori Anderson tried some free form stitching...

...and liked it so well, she did it again. 

 For more on this technique, visit http://artfabrik.com/

Kaye Robinson is hoping to help a friend with a naughty dog.

 Sandy Shufelt took a stitching class with Laura Little, and a collage class with Karen Seink, and combined them into a great bag!

Sandy's husband picked out another project for her to make!

The November meeting will be our annual Demo Day!  Always something interesting from our fellow guild members.  Please join us!

National Teacher, Linda M Poole

After much anticipation and planning, it was finally time for members of the guild to enjoy the talents of Linda M Poole for a few days.


On Thursday, the class was the Acorn Wreath.













 Most of the participants showed off their work at the meeting yesterday. 

On Friday, the class was the Monarch Butterfly.














And here are some of them the next day, when some have gone home and added to their work.  

 Linda is a fun and patient teacher...

..happy to sit down and get you started on something you're having trouble with, while making sure the whole class can get the same information.









At her lecture on Saturday, she shared some stories about how she got started in quilting, showed a wonderful selection of quilts made from pictures taken on vacations- made by Linda and other quilters- as well as a great trunk show of her own work. 

One of the fairies from Linda's Quilted Fairy Tales book

This is the ladybug fairy- who gives them their spots!

Linda also wrote a book on using bias tape

From Linda's Turkish Delights book

The technique we learned is from Linda's "Painted Appliqué" book.  She shows some of the projects in both traditional and painted appliqué.  In these two pictures, you can see the same quilt made both ways.  

We are lucky the guild is able to present teachers like Linda!  If you'd like to be there for the next one, it's easy to become a member of the guild!

Pictures of the October show and tell will be in the next post.