November 9, 2017

The year is winding down and so are our meetings. There will be no workshops in November or December because of the holidays. The last meeting of the year will be on December 14th. This is our Christmas party where we will exchange our signature blocks we've all been working on since the first of the year. Instead of our regular potluck, each member is asked to bring their favorite holiday snack to share We will start at our regular time of 7:00 p.m.

But before our last meeting of the year we have the Hometown Holidays on December 2nd. Set up is in the ambulance building again this year. If you are planning on helping set up, you will need to be there at 8:00 a.m. If you have any items to donate and you haven't brought them to a meeting, please bring them in so we can add them to the table. Please have a price in mind so we can get them priced before the door opens at 9:00 a.m. Also have your items for the raffle basket there early enough so they can be added to the basket. This will be raffled off at the end of Hometown Holidays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the table for .25 each or 5 for $1.00 with tickets given out with every purchase.

Our first meeting of 2018 will be on January 11th with the new officers presiding. Officers elected at our November 9th meeting are as follows:  Co-Charimen - Yvonne Westover & Chris Porter, Secretary - Pat Cole, Treasurer - Yvonne Westover. Workshop meeting for this month will be January 27th. This workshop may become our finishing class for the beginning quilters, work on quilts for Teen Challenge or start working on another project. You can always bring your own project to work on if you wish.

Our quilt show is this year on April 21, 2018. We have set that date with the church. Set up will be Friday, April 20th from 4:00 - 6:00. So get your quilts ready and if you know in advance what quilt you will be showing, get the information to me so I can get labels ready ahead of time. We need quilt name, pattern by, pieced by, quilted by, quilt method, owned by, year quilted. You can show any size and any number of quilts you like. These will be displayed in the church sanctuary. Times will be announced later.

Remember if we have snow days I will put it up on facebook, send an e-mail and we have people assigned to call members. I will also text everyone. I think everyone has a cell phone with texting, if you don't, let me know. Cancellation will be by 5:00 the evening of the meeting or the night before for workshops. Or you can call me if you're not sure. We don't want anyone to feel obligated to come if they feel the roads are too dangerous.

Here are the show and tells for this week:

The above quilt was done by Sandy as a donation to the Flying Horse Farm for children with serious illnesses. She also did the I Spy quilt pictured below.

Below is Pat's finished One Block Wonder quilt. She did a great job!

Martha did this Star Spangled Liberty patriotic quilt you see below.

Martha is also taking a class at a local quilt shop and is playing with her decorative stitches on her machine. Can't wait to see the blocks pictured below added to the others she's completed.

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and we'll see you in December!

Chris

October 12, 2017

Our October regular meeting and workshop have come and gone. Just like our warm days of summer/fall. With the cooler weather upon us maybe we can all find time to get some quilting done! I know on these dreary days nothing cheers me up better than quilting and a warm beverage.

We had our beginners quilt workshop on Saturday the 21st with 9 students, 3 were young girls and we were glad to see them! Great turnout! I think everyone learned some things they will find useful. We're thinking of offering a finishing class after the first of the year to those students who don't get their blocks assembled and quilted. Guild members, keep in touch with those you brought to the class to see if they are needing any help.

November 9th regular meeting is our election of officers. If you would like to have an office please speak up. It's not a very demanding job. We will also finalize the basket for HH and set up a work schedule for that day. We already have a mug and packages of hot chocolate for the basket. Please think of something different. We don't need everyone to donate the same thing. I will also have the form you need to fill out for any quilts you will be displaying at the quilt show in April.

No workshop meeting in November because of Thanksgiving.

December 2nd is Hometown Holidays. We will again be set up in the ambulance building like last year. Hours are 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. with the raffle at that time. We should plan on being there when they open so we can set up our tables. I think we were there at 8:00 a.m. last year.If you have items you have been making, please bring them at this time or to any of the meetings or workshops prior. Have a price in mind, remember this is a donation and keep your price suggestion low. We are planning on selling raffle tickets at that time only. Tickets will be .25 ea or 5 for $1 with a free ticket with every purchase.

December 14th our regular meeting will be our Christmas potluck. This year it will start at 7:00 and it will be bring your favorite holiday snack instead of a potluck meal. We will also exchange our signature blocks at this time. If you haven't received a block "kit" from those who are participating, be sure to ask. This is the last meeting for 2017 with the holidays at the end of the month, there will be no workshop.

Our first meeting of 2018 will be on January 11th with the new officers presiding. Workshop meeting for this month will be January 27th. This workshop may become our finishing class for the beginning quilters.

Our quilt show is this year on April 21, 2018. We have set that date with the church. So get your quilts ready and if you know in advance what quilt you will be showing, get the information to me so I can get labels ready ahead of time. We need quilt name, pattern by, pieced by, quilted by, quilt method, owned by, year quilted. You can show any size and any number of quilts you like. These will be displayed in the church sanctuary. Times will be announced later.

Remember if we have snow days I will put it up on facebook, send an e-mail and we have people assigned to call members. I will also text everyone. I think everyone has a cell phone with texting, if you don't, let me know. Cancellation will be by 5:00 the evening of the meeting or the night before for workshops. Or you can call me if you're not sure. We don't want anyone to feel obligated to come if they feel the roads are too dangerous.

Pat brought in her one block wonder and is still deciding what the perfect outside border will be:

Here are some pictures from our beginning quilters workshop:

See you at the November 9th meeting!

Chris

September 14, 2017

Hi all!

Happy National Sewing Month! September is National Sewing Month so let's get busy!

It seems like we've taken a vacation from the blog this summer. Hopefully we'll get back into the swing of things.

We didn't have a lot going on the last few months. Instead of our regular meetings we had workshops on those nights. This was due to a scheduling conflict, but we'll be back on schedule for the rest of the year,

Speaking of which our next workshop is on September 30th from 9:00 a.m. - appr. 1:00 p.m. Bring a sack lunch or snack if you're planning on staying the whole time. We will be going through our items we have for Hometown Holidays. The plan is to make up a raffle basket to be given away at the end of the event. If you have a suitable container we can use as a "basket" that you don't want or need, please bring it along and we'll see what we can come up with. If you like we can work on more Teen Challenge quilts, your own project or we can talk about another project for the Piggy Back Foundation in Norwalk. This group helps family members of individuals who have a serious illness to help them have a normal life. They have a shop in downtown Norwalk that every item is donated and sold to raise funds.If you have a chance to stop in to see them do so. They have some very unique items and reasonably priced too. The workers are all volunteers that take donated items and refurbish them if need be for resale. Their shop is called "When Pigs Fly" and is on the north side of East Main Street in the second block.

October 12th is regular meeting night. At September's meeting I passed out Ohio Star block patterns for members to practice on for our beginners quilt class at the workshop on October 21st. Please let me know how this went and show us your blocks. If you didn't get a pattern and want to practice before the beginners class, let me know at September's workshop, I'll have extra copies.

October 21st is our beginners quilt class. We will be showing them how to cut and piece a Ohio Star block in their fabric choices. If you have someone you know is coming I have a supply list for them. Please see me at September's workshop or October's regular meeting. The class will run from 9:00 until whenever they get done. We may need to schedule another evening, maybe our November meeting, to show them how to quilt and finish their block. They can do 1 or they can do more than 1. The supply list has enough fabric allowance to do 3 blocks so they can assemble them into a table runner if they so desire.

November 9th regular meeting is our election of officers. If you would like to have an office please speak up. It's not a very demanding job. We will also finalize the basket for HH and set up a work schedule for that day.

No workshop meeting in November because of Thanksgiving.

December 2nd is Hometown Holidays. We will again be set up in the ambulance building like last year. Hours are 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. with the raffle at that time. We should plan on being there when they open so we can set up our tables. I think we were there at 8:00 a.m. last year.If you have items you have been making, please bring them at this time or to any of the meetings or workshops prior. Have a price in mind, remember this is a donation and keep your price suggestion low. We are planning on selling raffle tickets at that time only. Tickets will be .25 ea or 5 for $1 with a free ticket with every purchase.

December 14th our regular meeting will be our Christmas potluck. This year it will start at 7:00 and it will be bring your favorite holiday snack instead of a potluck meal. We will also exchange our signature blocks at this time. This is the last meeting for 2017 with the holidays at the end of the month, there will be no workshop.

Our first meeting of 2018 will be on January 11th with the new officers presiding. Workshop meeting for this month will be January 27th.

Our quilt show is this year on April 21, 2018. We have set that date with the church. So get your quilts ready and if you know in advance what quilt you will be showing, get the information to me so I can get labels ready ahead of time. We need quilt name, pattern by, pieced by, quilted by, quilt method, owned by, year quilted. You can show any size and any number of quilts you like. These will be displayed in the church sanctuary. Times will be announced later.

Remember if we have snow days I will put it up on facebook, send an e-mail and we have people assigned to call members. I will also text everyone. I think everyone has a cell phone with texting, if you don't, let me know. Cancellation will be by 5:00 the evening of the meeting or the night before for workshops. Or you can call me if you're not sure. We don't want anyone to feel obligated to come if they feel the roads are too dangerous.

We had some really great show and tells:

This one was done by Marlene. It is a Missouri Star Quilt Company

pattern called "Grand Adventures". These were all scraps from her stash.

Marlene showing her July and August BOM.

These are BOM's that Martha is doing at Sewing Connections.

Love the purples.

This is Pat, presenting our September BOM. She's done a great job of

challenging us with her blocks!

This antique quilt was hand pieced by Chris P's, husbands grandmother.

She never had it quilted before. This is a treasure that will be passed down to family.

Hope you get a lot of sewing done. See you all at the workshop on September 30th

June 24, 2016

We had a small turnout for our workshop today. But thanks to those who came we were able to start another Teen Challenge quilt and got quite a bit of fabric cut up to continue piecing it together.

Don't forget the next meeting on July 13th. We will be breaking up into a couple of groups.

One group will be planning our October 21st (note the date change please) workshop which will be the beginner's quilt class. We already have interest from some of the ladies that attended our beginner's sewing class. This group will decide which block we will be using as a starting point, how much fabric will be needed, if we have the fabric in our stash or if they will need to bring their own and a lesson plan.

The second group will be working on the wall hanging we have been planning to give to the church for letting us use their facilities. You will be  preparing the appliques, cutting them out along with other pieces of the wall hanging and assembling the top. This wall hanging can be done one of two ways, either as one unit or as three separate units.

Another project I would like us to do if we have enough members show up is to go through our sale items for Hometown Holidays. We need to sort out what hasn't sold in the last 2-3 years we have been doing this show. Last year we set up two tables and kind of took over the corner we were in. I feel we need to cut down our collection and concentrate it into one table only. Also we decided to have a "basket" raffle for that day and we can use items from this stash for this. Any other ideas for a "basket" would be appreciated.

And we can always use people to work on the Teen Challenge quilts. I know they have quite a few graduating soon and will need quilts for their stash. You can work on these on your own too. If you're like me, you have plenty of 2 1/2" strips to work with. If you need a reminder of how these are constructed, e-mail me and I will send the instructions to you.

So we will basically be dividing into three groups. Come prepared! Bring you sewing machines and tools needed because you don't know which group you will be divided into.

Marcella brought a row by row quilt she had been working on. She commented she enjoyed this one so much, she hated to be finished with it but also had that rewarded feeling when it was done. Great job Marcella!

Remember no workshops in July or August! We will still have our regular meetings on July 13th and August 10th.

See you on July 13th!

Chris

June 8, 2017

Glad to see everyone that turned out for our June meeting.  Plans were made for our workshop on June 24. Please bring your machines and any tools you may need. We will be working on several things.

Some of us will be working on a wall hanging we are planning on donating to the Alliance church. We have the pattern for the wall hanging plus the supplies needed. The group that will work on this will be doing applique and piecing it together.

Some of us will be working on Teen Challenge quilts. We are in need of WOF x 2 ½” strips. Each section uses 4 WOF strips of like fabrics. If you have fabric you would like to donate, please make sure you have enough for 4 strips. We have scraps for the “bricks” which are 6 ½” x 2 ½”. Each quilt is made up of 14 sections. Each section uses 14 “bricks” sewn end to end and 4 WOF x 2 ½” strips of like fabric with 2 strips sewn end to end then sewn to either side of the “bricks” section.

And some of us will be planning a beginners quilt class which will be our October  21st workshop. Note this date, as we had to change it due to a scheduling conflict. We need to decide on what block we will be doing, how much fabric will be needed and then pass this information on to those attending the class.

Lunch will be brown bag for this workshop.

We had been talking about chartering a bus for the Amish Shop Hop in November but we have tabled that this year. There is a group planning on going down so there will be carpooling and a caravan possible.

July we will have our regular meeting on the 13th, but there will be no workshop for July. The decision was made to participate in Hometown Holidays on Dec. 2. We will need to go through items we have in stock to see what will sell or need to be weeded out. We will also be selecting items to put in a basket to raffle off. This is something we can do after our July meeting.

August we will have our regular meeting on the 10th, but there will be no workshop for August.

If anyone has any demonstrations they would like to present, please let me know.

We had several show and tells.

Marcia is back from the south and showed us this finished beauty.

This one she's keeping for herself!

Another one from Marcia for a granddaughter.

This is made from scraps she had for the first one.

Rachenea is showing her finished apron from last month's meeting.

She embroidered chickens on her pockets.

Rachenea's February BOM.

These placemats are paper pieced by Martha. This was a class she attended.

Marcella has made a great start on her June BOM.

Our BOM leader Pat, is really challenging us with July's block.

See you at the workshop!

Chris

May 17, 2017

We have some great weather ahead of us, get out and enjoy it!

We had our beginners sewing class on April 29th with 7 budding sewists participating. They learned how to thread, clean and oil a sewing machine plus sew 1/4" seam which is used by quilters. Each of them put a 9 patch together, backed it with batting and a backing and after stitching around the edges and leaving a small opening, how to turn it right side out and stitch the opening closed. It all went very well and they all agreed they would like to come again and learn more.

On May 3rd, a few of us traveled to Bellevue to attend the Huron Valley Quilt Guild meeting where the program on Quilts of Valor was presented. Quilts of Valor are presented to military veterans who have served with honor. Quilts can be requested through QOV for a veteran or if someone knows a veteran and wants to make a quilt for that person, they can do that also. For more information follow this link: http://www.qovf.org/ Here a pictures of a few examples of QOV's. They don't have to be red, white and blue, they can be any color but there are a few regulations.

After their program, they had a couple show and tells. This first one was for a guild member's neighbor. The different fabrics represent all the things her neighbor likes.

This next quilt is a quilted apron.

Our regular meeting on May 11th had a short business meeting.  Yvonne reported she delivered a check to the New London Public Library in  of Jean Gross-Mutnansky with the stipulation it was to be used for a quilting book.

At our May 27th workshop, some of us will be working on another wall hanging we would like to present to the church to thank them for letting us use the facilities. The rest of us will be working on plans for a quilting class on October 21st. Hopefully we will have as good a turnout that we did for the beginner's sewing class. Discussed was a jelly roll block or an easy block using Christmas fabrics for the class. These would then be finished into a wall hanging or table runner.

Upcoming schedule changes are no workshop's in July or August due to conflicts with the church's scheduling. We will still be having our regular meetings though, so mark your calendars!

Finally Karen was kind enough to show us a tutorial for an apron made out of a tea towel and coordinating fabric.

Pat and Karen being cut-ups!

Here we all are with our finished aprons. Thanks Karen!

See you at the workshop!

Chris