January 2013

First meeting of 2013 and we met at Sherry's.  We got a record number of donation squares this month. Maybe it was because Diane had prizes for anyone who donated. We got lots of blacks, whites and bright blues which should make a beautiful quilt.

We also had a wonderful show and tell. Here are the pics:

 Robyn's stake (church group) is having a use up your scraps quilt contest where all the quilts will go to charities in our area.  These first two quilts are made from her scraps and both quilts will be donated.

 We think someone will be very pleased to receive this quilt.

 This is Robyn's "Pizza Box Exchange" quilt. It turned out amazing and she did quite a bit of quilting on it as can be seen in the picture below.

 This is Monica's quilt which she quilted with variegated thread.

Monica made this scrappy pink and green baby's quilt

These are a couple of toppers for Monica's washer and dryer

This is also a quilt made by Monica using some metallic fabric

 Diane is showing off her new glasses she uses for handwork. There are lights on either side and she says they work great. She got them from Seymours Glasses.
While on the subject of glasses, Nancy told us about a great site where we can get glasses of any kind for a lot less. It's called Zenni Optical.

 Diane made this cute baby's bib with armholes from a tutorial online

Diane made these peek-a-boo bags that Corrie showed us a while back. The little bags are made to hold earbuds. They are a free pattern on Dog Under My Desk

 

Sherry made this cute Valentine's tabletopper

 Susan made these wool hangings. She said they were very fast and easy to make.

Susan also made this wool Waltzing with Bears pumpkin rows

This was made from Thimbleberries flannel panels. Susan made it and Carolanna quilted it for her.

This is Carolanna's twister wreath. She quilted the circles with a round plastic template and some in the group today told us a tip to help stabilize the plastic on the fabric while quilting. We can either use little sandpaper dots on the bottom of the template or some mentioned that you can also find the same type stuff at skate board shops and it's relatively inexpensive there. Hot tip-thanks group.

Carolanna's table topper

Carolanna used the Indian Summer fabric line for this cute quilt. She said it turned out more like a Valentine's quilt, so she'll be using it in February. 

Carolanna also told us about a quilting class that she's taking online from craftsy.com

Rachel's chicken quilt

Rachel found these old springs from a chair from an abandoned barn. They make perfect stands for her roosters.

This is a bag that Susan made for Rachel for Christmas. Rachel is going to use it as her stitching bag. Lucky Rachel!

 This is called a skinny quilt that Rachel made from the Skinny Quilts book.

Rachel made this quilt for Christmas for a woman she visit teaches each month. She actually visits two women and has already given another quilt away that was very similar.

Close up of Nancy's quilt

Nancy is also making scrap quilts for church as donations. We also learned some new quilting vernacular from Nancy. Since this quilt is made using scrap fabrics, Nancy calls them "old boyfriend fabrics"-the ones we don't care for any more. Also instead of calling it a quilt top (what we usually refer to before we sandwich the quilt together), Nancy calls it a "flimsy".

Nancy made this mostly from old sheets. It reminded her of her grandmother's wash line so she's calling it Wash Day. The pattern is made using 1/2 square rectangles. The tutorial for making them can be found here at the Modern Quilt Guild.

Nancy's niece gave her this sewing bag

 Kathi saw this ironing board/storage shelves on pinterest and decided to make one for herself. She uses the oversized big ironing board on top and loves that it has wheels to move it around when needed.

Now for the luncheon. Thank you Sherry for such tasty food.

 These are pretzels dipped on either end and wrapped in a personalized printout to make them look like crayolas.

Sherry's homemade bread was a big hit. She also made a wild rice chicken soup which was perfect for our cold, snowy day.

These were a fun dessert made using Rolos on top of pretzel squares. After they are melted, you just add whatever color m&m's on top. Warning-they can be addicting. :)