New London Quilt Guild

June 12, 2014

Quite a few members attended for this first meeting of the summer season. Recap of the last workshop was encouraging. A lot of pieces were cut and stitched together for our next quilt donation project. This project will benefit foster children in our area. The plan is to make quilts for the child with his/her name on it so they may keep that quilt for their own. So many are placed with little or no belongings.

Here's a reminder that our next workshop will be on June 28th from 9- 2. We will be making purses. If you are interested but don't have the pattern yet, please contact Carol Schaffer. If you don't want to make a purse, you are welcome to come on that day anyway and work on your own project. If you have the pattern and would like to get a head start, you may go ahead and cut out your pieces beforehand.

Future workshop ideas were discussed. Ideas kicked around were embellishing quilts and fabric folding.

On another note, a member was contacted by a former classmate. Her aunt had passed away and had been a quilter. None of the lady's family sewed so they contacted the classmate. There was so much fabric, she was overwhelmed. After going through box after box and keeping what she would use, she asked the Quilt Guild if they would be interested in what was left. Of course our member jumped at the suggestion. There were 9 boxes of fabric!

Also books and thread.

This was all divided into more manageable bags and the girls went through them at the meeting. It was like Christmas Day!

This donation will be used in future service projects.

We did have some show and tell. Here you go!

This black and white beauty was made by Marcella for her husband Earl for Father's Day.

Around the outside of the quilt she has pictures of his family past and present.

The pictures in the middle of the quilt were from a panel she found that reminded her

of places where Earl grew up.

Here the girls are inspecting a quilted table topper done by Chris P.

Here's another quilt by Chris P. This one was a BOM she did with her sister-in-law.

They each took turns every month for a year and picked out a different block from the

quilt calendar 365 Quilt-Block Patterns Perpetual Calendar: The Best of Judy Hopkins

That's all we have for this week. Get out and enjoy this beautiful weather.

May 31, 2014 Meeting

Hello Everyone!!! How have ya been? Well, we have been completely excited over the move to our new location here at the Alliance Church. Our first workshop at the Alliance church was a delight! We had a great turn out of members, and plenty of work was completed. But before we get too much into talking about our new project, we have some show and tell to share.

Marcella had brought in both of her samplers to share, which just came back from the quilters. What beautiful samplers they are Marcella!

And Rachenea brought in her grandson's graduation gift. A camouflage memory/watch me grow quilt.

This clever quilt is pieced together by matching the print like wallpaper, and the photos of Rachenea's grandson are arranged to blend into the camouflage. The photos were sewn in using a reverse applique like method. Rechenea finished off her grandson's quilt with a duffel bag to store the quilt when not in use.

Our last share is kind of bittersweet. For nearly two years we as a guild have been making quilts for Eastman's Funeral Home. These quilts have brought great comfort to the loved ones of those who have departed. In the past two years we have made five quilts to be put into service and each quilt has been well received.

The last of the quilts to be put into service were two baby quilts. As much as it breaks our hearts to see a little one pass before their time, we recognize that even these little ones need to be wrapped in a quilt full of love to take them onto the next life.

As a guild we want to thank Eastman's, George, for giving us the opportunity to give back to our community. We also want to thank all of our members for devoting our time to make these quilts possible. We also want to thank Chris Porter owner of The Front Porch Quilter for volunteering her time by quilting all the quilts free of charge.

Now onto that workshop!!!!!

As mentioned before we has a delightful time at our new location where many hands made lite work for our new venture of making quilts for children who are apart of the foster care system. All of the quilts made will stay in our community.

We hope that any child who receives any of the quilts we make for them, was made from the love of our hearts and the hope that one day they will have a family of their own and a place to call home for good.

With that said, We are so glad you stop by!

Until next time...Happy Quilting!

New London Quilt Guild

May 8, 2014

This was the first meeting held in our new location, at the New London Alliance Church. We have lots of room and NO steps to go up or down!

First thing covered were the final Eastman quilts. They have been quilted and Yvonne is in the process of binding them. They will then be presented to Eastman Funeral Home here in New London.

The next service project we will be working on will be quilts to be used for foster children. The idea is for the quilts to be given to the foster child for their very own. They will be able to take it with them wherever they may be moved to. We are planning on working on these quilts at our next workshop on May 31st from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the New London Alliance Church. If you are unable to stay for the whole workshop, that's okay, you may come and go as you please. It was also decided that members work on making 16 patch squares (4 X 4 blocks) using 2 1/2" squares on their own and then bring them with them to the workshop. These will then be sashed together into different size quilts. Please use mixed colors, don't try to "match" colors, we want these blocks to look random and gender neutral.

In other business it was decided that the guild would make a donation to the Alliance Church for the use of the room. We have done this in the past with our previous meeting place. This will be a yearly donation.

Ideas for upcoming workshops were discussed, these included embellishing quilts using beads, ribbons, buttons, etc., paper piecing and also the workshop on June 28th which will be the purse workshop. If you need a pattern, please contact Yvonne or another member.

Hope to see you at the next workshop and/or meeting. Remember, quilters never die, they just go to pieces.

2 for 1 post

April 30, 2014

Sorry this is a little late. This blog author was a little under the weather for the lase few days, but enough of that.

Our April 24th meeting was basically a planning and informational meeting for the next few months. Plans were firmed up for our workshop held last Saturday, the 26th for finishing up the last two infant quilts for Eastman's. Unfortunately we were only able to finish one as we ran out of sashing fabric. One member volunteered to pick up extra fabric and get the last top together. Thanks to Yvonne for stitching up enough blocks for the second top.

May 8th will be our next meeting and the first of our meetings at the New London Alliance Church on St. Rt. 162 west of New London. Starting time is still the same, 7:00 p.m. Enter through the double doors off the main parking area. New members are always welcome.

May 31st, will be our next workshop at the NL Alliance Church starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 2:00 p.m. This is a come and go as you please. If we have a project that needs to be done this will be the time we will work on it as a group. If we aren't working on a project, we will still meet and you can bring anything of your own to work on and just enjoy the fellowship. Demonstrations will also be welcome at these Saturday workshops. If you have a new tip, ruler or just want to demonstrate putting together a block, please feel free to do so.

Ideas for service projects were discussed with quite a few mentioned. Also talked about were quilt shows and shop hops coming up this summer.

Our regular business meeting in June will be the 12th with another Saturday workshop on June 28th. This workshop we will be working on a purse pattern. If you are interested please contact any guild member or PM us on our facebook page and we will see that you get the pattern beforehand.

We had a couple of show and tells, one we'll hold back on because it's a graduation present and we're not sure if the recipient knows of it. Enjoy!

Gloria shared this scrap quilt with us. It took her 2 years to collect all the different
fabrics and piece it together.

This table runner was done by Chris Porter.

Here are some pictures from the workshop on the 26th.

April 9, 2014

Yvonne opened the meeting with the question, what feedback did you hear about the quilt show? A lot of people reported they felt it was a great experience. Attendees remarked that there are a lot of talented people in New London (Agreed! Just check our our pictures on flickr.). They especially liked the way the quilts were displayed. Also mentioned was that there were a variety of projects. From full size quilts, to table runners, to totes and pillows. It was deemed a success and ideas on how to improve the show were discussed.

Now for other business. Since there are a few of us who have trouble navigating the steps either up to our meeting room, or down to the basement of the church for our workshops lugging our machines with us, we are changing meeting location and times. Here's the new schedule:

Meeting place, New London Alliance Church, 4635 St. Rt. 162, west of New London, in the youth room.
Starting with our May 8th meeting, meeting days will be the 2nd Thursday @ 7:00 p.m. for a businees meeting and the last Saturday of the month @ 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. for a workshop meeting. The Saturday meeting will be open to come and go as you please. We realize not everyone will be able to attend every Saturday meeting. At this meeting we will be working on our service projects and if we don't have a project going at that time, you may bring anything of your own to work on. Demonstrations will be welcome at the Saturday meeting also. You never know when you will run across a new technique that you would like to share with the group. The Saturday meeting is also subject to change according to the church's schedule and if any holidays fall in there. You will be notified in plenty of time to arrange your schedule.

Now that that's said, we still have one meeting and one workshop scheduled for the Methodist church. April 24th will be our last regular meeting there and on April 26th from 9:00 a.m. to no later than 3:00 p.m., we have a workshop scheduled to work on the last of our Eastman quilts. Bring your machines and any necessary tools needed. Let's get these quilts done!!!!!

Since we were all busy with getting things done for the quilt show, we had no show and tell at the meeting. Looking forward to an abundance of projects for the next meeting!

Enjoy these few days of warmer weather, they say we're supposed to get more of that nasty four letter word early this week. If we don't say the word out loud, maybe it will pass us by.

See you at the next meeting!

March 29, 2014 Quilt Show

The weather held out for our 2014 quilt show "Stars Over New London" . We had over 70 quilts, wallhangings, table toppers, runners and miscellaneous projects on display. Visitors came from Mansfield, Greenwich, Lodi, Amherst, Kipton, Ashland and of course New London. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy and please feel free to visit our flickr page to see other pictures of our guild member projects.

Be sure to visit our flickr page or our facebook page for more pictures. Just click on the round symbol above our events column.

March 27, 2014

We had a record of 13 members present for this meeting. Everyone must have had cabin fever and needed to get out. It seems like it was months since we were together. This weather hasn't been good to us this year.

Here's what we accomplished. Plans were formed up for the quilt show happening Saturday, March 29, 2014. By the time you read this, it will be over, sorry, I'm a little slow this week.

It was brought up that there are a few of us who have trouble getting up or down the stairs, depending on which room we are meeting in that week, especially if we are having a workshop and have to bring our machines and tools with us. So it was decided to explore options for a new meeting place on a ground floor level. A couple of ideas were floated around the table and are being checked out. Also we are thinking of going to one meeting during the week and a workshop on a Saturday once a month. Plans are for the 2nd Thursday and the 4th Saturday. The workshop meeting will run from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. with a come and go as you please attendance. What do you think? Please let us know.

Ideas for a new service project were also kicked about. Discussed were Quilts of Valor, pillowcases for a particular charity and quilts for child victims of fires. Got some idesa? We'd love to hear them.

The next time we get together will be our Wednesday meeting on April 9th. It was decided that for the Christmas secret sister exchange this year, we are going to bump up the yardage to 1 yard of good quality fabric. Please bring a piece of fabric you would like to have made into something for this exchange. Be sure to bring it in a small brown paper bag with your name on a piece of paper inside. You do not have to participate in this exchange if you don't want to.

Here are some show and tell pictures for this week.