Red and White Challenge Revealed!

Thank you to all who sent in pictures for me to share on the blog.  I am hopeful that being able to see what fellow members are up to by coming here makes you feel a little less isolated.

The first to submit an entry to me was Mary Ellen Casey.  The pattern is Feathered Star, so for now it's called Valentine Feathered Stars.

 

  Nancy Schrader made two pieces!

I had planned on having mom and I dress in red and White and present together.  We were at a tea party for my nieces shower.  My sister is on the right, mom is the midget next to her.  Lol her words not mine.

 

Hope you enjoy.  I am sending detail shots because parts are 3d.  This was so therapeutic for me, a precious memory, and I was fearful we would not be alive on reveal day, so I worked like a mad woman.  Made while in lockdown from material I had.

Enjoy my entry #1, "Ladies in Red".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy had a chance to visit her mom for a mini reveal along with her brother.  She shared this picture, saying, "I really like the picture of mom which tells all in these times."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy to finish #1, and sad at the same time because I was replaying our fun together in my head while I made it and still unsure when I would see them again.

Went to empty the trash can fill of snippets and decided to make a 2nd one.  4 layers; mesh, confetti, mesh and a seersucker backing.  Ribbon used in the binding.

Again, I am sending a detail shot.  Back lit so you can see the layers.

Introducing "He Loves Me". Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is Gloria Crittenden, who also made 2 pieces.  She didn't provide names for her entries.

 The following pictures are from the slide show created for the zoom meeting. 

Jenny's piece, tentatively named "Quarantea"- features amazing hand embroidery

The baskets in Tracy's piece are only 3 inches!  She said appliquéing those handles was a real challenge!

Sue's piece features wool appliqué.  The heart is woven wool strips. 

Connie chose a new technique as her challenge- using a ruler by "Sew Kind of Wonderful".  Each color section is quilted individually.

You will have to see the quilting on Val's in person, as this photo doesn't do it justice.  The background is vintage linen.

Carol's "Blessed", features tiny 3 inch paper pieced log cabins.  She used the challenge as an incentive to finish this redwork embroidery.

                     Mary Ellen calls this one "Out on a Limb".

Alex's piece is a cover for a pillow, made so the insert is removable, making it easier for the display when we can hang it!

                       Donna calls this "All Reds Go Together"

Elaine Lemley Collected real leaves that turn red in Autumn to use as the pattern for her piece.  Once the appliqué was completed, she decided to make the whole thing leaf shaped, which was a real challenge to bind! It's called "It's not Easy Being Green"

Elaine used various techniques on her "Falling leaves" piece, including seed stitch, netting and painted lutrador.  The background was quilted before the leaves were placed.

 

 Martha Lorshbaugh based her design on a pattern by Patchabilities.  Instead of appliqué, Martha used techniques learned from Linda M Poole to color her design with colored pencils.  It's called "Vintage Sparkle"

Cynda said, in addition to herself, there are 4 others who contacted her to say they had finished a challenge entry, but were unable to send pictures.  So the exhibit at the library - as soon as the library allows us to do it- will feature more beautiful red and white quilts! I can't wait to see them all!

Monthly Mini and Community Service

 Monthly Minis’ - each month we will provide a link to a free “mini” project for you to try. These will be projects that you can most likely complete in a few hours or less of sewing.  This month’s mini is a Valentine’s Day Mug Rug - because February will be here before we know it, and we all need a special mug rug for Valentine’s Day. Consider making one for a friend to brighten what can sometimes be a dreary month! It’s a larger mug rug - finishing as a 9 inch square. Note that the instructions have you make the “house” a little wider than necessary, and then you trim it to the correct width. I’ve also included a link to a tutorial that has a great binding technique for small projects like this. (Links are located below the picture)

 Enjoy!

 

 

Valentine’s Day Mug Rug Link: https://flamingotoes.com/heart-home-mug-rug/

Binding Tutorial Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWauykQzr7w

 

 LOOKING for a SEW-ALONG?

Border Creek Station Pattern Company has  a “Stashbuster” that they do each year - it’s one block and the suggestion is to do one a week (but of course you can do more.). They give several suggested layouts as well. If you have 52 at the end of the year, you can send in a photo and be eligible to win something. 

http://www.bordercreekstation.com/the-stash-buster-challenge-2021.htm

 

COMMUNITY SERVICE Sew-alongs and Kits

Looking to do some Community Service sewing, but don’t have the ideas or the fabric? Want to “get together” with some friends for a morning of Community Service sewing? Since we can’t get together in person to sew, we will be hosting several Community Service Sew-Alongs via Zoom on the last Saturdays of January, February and March. You can work on something that you provide, or we have kits made up (see pictures) that you can take to make a complete quilt top.  Kits are for lap size or smaller quilts. The first step is to  contact Connie Grimsley to sign up for one of the dates!  If you need something to work on, whether for a sew-along or on your own, just contact Connie.   Happy Sewing!  

 

A "Party" and a time for giving

 I wasn't really in the mood for a zoom "party" last Saturday.  I was feeling sorry for myself because I wanted to see people, give and get hugs, and eat all the yummy food we always have at the annual Christmas party.  But the virtual party was wonderful!  I felt happy afterward.  It wasn't the party I wanted, but we shared holiday decorations and good cheer with each other.  I wish I had thought to take a screen shot of everyone dressed in festive hats and sweaters and blinking earrings (I think).  It all made me smile and warmed my weary heart! (The picture above is Martha Lorshbaugh's show and tell.  She has been knitting fun little creatures who will celebrate the holiday at her house)

We discovered that a slide show show and tell works SO much better than trying to hold things up where they can be seen during the meeting!

Chris Kuehl pieced this beauty recently (I missed where the pattern came from) and is hoping to make friends with her new longarm machine to finish it.

Melanie Tubinis and Mary Ann Watson made this after taking a class.  The embroidery was done by hand.  Mary Ann made the prairie points and Melanie did the quilting. 

Jenny Grimsley is finishing some of the felt ornaments from kits left by her mother.  The round one in the lower picture was made using Sue Spargo techniques.  The bottom picture is coasters originally intended for the boutique at the quilt show, but now gifts for friends. 

Nancy Schrader made herself a gift to celebrate being a survivor! The embellishments were so fun, she couldn't stop sewing things on! (I don't know why Connie is in the picture)

Donna Kaufman has lots of turkey feathers and made this wonderful wreath with some of them. (Pardon the weird lady in the corner- someone forgot to minimize herself before doing a screen grab)

The Community Service ladies have been busy making our holiday donations!

Thank you to everyone who contributed so generously to our Salvation Army Gift Bag project!  We finished 65 filled gift bags and another 130 empty gift bags for the Salvation Army to use. This was two times more than last year!  Below is a just a sampling of the many boxes we delivered.  Thank you again for your donations!

 

 

Community Service recently dropped off 16 quilts and 34 pillow cases to The Foster Closet in Batavia. They had specifically requested quilts for girls for Christmas so these will certainly brighten the girls’ holidays!  Thanks to all who contributed!  

 

Happy Holidays, everyone! 

Monthly minis- group projects for all to make!

 Thanks to Jenny Grimsley for kicking off this new way for us to connect! Each month, links to a small project sill be shared with you all.  If you make one, please send a picture to me, post it on facebook, show it at the next virtual meeting....  Let's stay connected any way we can!

This month, Jenny is sharing a cord holder she and her Sunday night sewing circle have done.  Cute and very useful!

Make your own- or give them as gifts!  Here's how:

http://leafytreetopspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/tutorial-diy-cord-keeper-from-fabric.html

 

November show and tell

 Editor's note:

Blogger has made some changes which are making it very frustrating for me to try and get pictures where I want them.  I apologize for the large blank spaces and descriptions that may not match the nearest photo.  I have neither the time nor the patience to fight with it any further. 

 

Melanie Tubinis sent these in from projects she and her mom, Mary Anne Watson, have been working on.

 

Here are some photos of a quilt and baby book that my mom and I made for my nephew's baby.  

My mom made the quilt top and did the binding.  I quilted the quilt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I made the alphabet book out of a panel and hand-stitched his name into the floor pictured on the back of the book. 

 My Aunt Nancy Lobaugh, my mother's sister and a former guild member for a brief time, had started this quilt for her grandson before she passed away last year.  Aunt Nancy had cut all the pieces.  After she passed away, my mom, stitched the top together. I did the quilting and my mom did the binding.  The backing was a very soft fleece that my aunt had chosen.  We are happy to have finished it and hope her grandson will enjoy it as a memory of his grandma since she chose the fabrics and started it for him.

At the Zoom meeting November 21, I was able to grab a few pictures as well. These first few were sent to Connie  ahead of time- making it so much easier to see the items as well as for me to get a picture!

Nancy Ellers shared these projects:

This quilt and matching bag were made for a friend undergoing chemotherapy.

 

 Nancy decided to use the little orphan woven heart block as the center of this quilt when she found it in her stash.  She was trying to find something to use as a border, since she had no more of the green from the original block.

 

 

Elaine Lemley figured out how to enlarge a phone holder she saw online to make tablet holders for her nieces and nephews (I think)- since they are using their tablets for school these days.  

Martha Lorshbaugh has been busy knitting little critters for the holidays.  She said the reindeer will probably have to tow the sleigh alone, as the antlers are far too fussy!

Please keep sending pictures!  Your fellow members would love to see how you're spending your time!

Catching up a little bit

 I'm so sorry to those few who showed items on our most recent zoom.  I grabbed a few screen shots, that aren't very good pictures at all, and felt it wouldn't make a good blog post at all, so I didn't bother.  

But I guess I should post something every month in case some of you are coming here to see what your fellow guild members are doing.  I don't keep in touch well with anyone from guild, so our monthly meetings were my only place to check in with people.  I hope some of you have closer connections than I do, and are getting together in whatever way is safe/ comfortable for you!

Connie Grimsley, Vinnie Thjung, Jennifer Grimsley and Sue Privatera have formed a virtual Sunday night sewing circle  and it is always fun to see the little projects they have worked on.

These are little cord wraps- for chargers and such.

I think Connie Said Vinnie suggested this leaf

Just in time for Halloween, a little pumpkin mat.

Microwave bowl cozies- using the microwave safe batting!

Nancy Ellers was working on a string quilt, and shared her progess.

The chicken might be by Elaine Lemley- I'm so sorry ... it's hard enough to get screen shots without trying to write down who is showing stuff. 

 

Martha shared a quilt she had hoped to finish for the quilt show.  I'm sure with two more years, she'll get it done- right???

 

The community service committee has been busy!  Six wheelchair sized quilts were donated to the VA- one is pictured below.  We received a thank you from the VA, saying the vets' "eyes just light up and they were so happy to receive them"

Gift bags have been coming in for the Salvation Army annual collection.  You have until November 21 to turn in bags.   For more details, see the guild webpage. 

I'll try to do better after the November meeting- if there are things to share.  Please keep in touch.  We'll be together again!!!