February Meeting Highlights

Sorry for the delay in getting these photos up!

Here are two baby quilts that Bev put together and quilted and bound with the fish blocks made by our members.  The quilting looks great and is a stitch that her Husqvarna machine does with her walking foot - very Effective.  Thanks for your hard work Bev!

Here are a few of the pieces from the workshop that Dawn led.  The pattern is Moonrise by Hollis Chatelaine.

I try my best to get good shots of everyone's projects, but sometimes that doesn't happen.  Use your imagination to see the really interesting fabric Dawn purchased from Spoonflower to make this cute purse.  She loves it and couldn't stay still when telling us all about it!

 
 Thankfully I did get a few better pictures of Dawn's latest original art quilt - "Waterhen Mermaid".  Dawn has a cabin located in Waterhen, Manitoba and this mermaid is surrounded by wonderful freshwater fish.  Stunning!

Karen and a simple but very effective quilt based on two easy blocks a snowball and a nine patch.

Cheri and her version of the Rock Candy pattern by Jaybird Quilts.  (Pattern and specialty rulers available in our library!)  Check out her fancy quilting!  Just beautiful Cheri!

Joan and her One: Quiltwork.com Leaf Series runner.  I love the echo quilting around the leaf.  Sometimes simple is the most effective.

Sandra's quilt made from the "Hello Luscious" fabric line.  So pretty.

And another finish by Sandra "Antique Rose" made from some fat quarters that were "ripening" in her stash.

Hiding behind this quilt is Bev.  I didn't get a close up of the quilting.  The crosshatching in the brown triangles was really a nice touch.

Gloria is hiding behind the next two quilts.  The first things we have seen come out of her studio since the arrival of her new longarm.  This one is from the guild stash of fabric.

Great work Gloria, can't wait to see more!

Keystone Quilts & Canadian Quilt Talk

Brandy Lynn hosts Canadian Quilt Talk on her Explore Fibre blog every week.  This week she interview Leslie Gislason of Keystone Quilts in Winnipeg about starting up her business. You might here another familiar name or two during the interview :)!

http://brandylynndesigns.blogspot.ca/2015/01/episode-068-canadian-quilt-talk.html

Leslie just launched a new website for her store located in Winnipeg.  Check it out at http://www.keystonequilts.com/


Lori

January Show and Tell

There was a nice but of show and tell at our January Meeting.

 Sherry's blue scrappy string quilt.

Beth's thread catcher.

Gloria and her star block.

Genny and some cute seasonal table runners.

Genny made this one with the fat quarter she received at the Christmas party exchange.  Can you believe the red focus fabric was just one fat quarter?  We were all amazed!  Genny will be teaching this runner as the program for our February meeting.

Reneta has been busy!  Here are a few of the projects she still had on hand.

Reneta had also given away two tree skirts and this Quarter Sections quilt.

And I had my Alpine Wonder wall hanging and my sister in law's sampler to show.

Remember that is you have show and tell that couldn't make it to a meeting, I am happy to post pictures if you send me one!


I have come across a new online Canadian quilt store that offers free shipping on all orders - no minimums.  Check them out here.

I have noticed that a few of you have started using Bloglovin' to follow some blogs.  Here are a couple more to check out:

My dear friend Kathy at Tamarack Shack
Michelle at mmm quilts
Amy at Free Motion Quilting Adventures

Blogs for Inspiration!

I thought I would post a few highlights from the discussion we had about the easiest way to follow blogs and learn new things and be inspired.  If you run into any problems feel free to give me a call or drop me an email.  The more you play the easier it all becomes!

Leaving comments on blogs:  My recommendation was signing up for a Google Account.    Once you have that set up you can go to blogger.com and check your profile settings to make sure you have the "show my email address" box checked.  You should then easily be able to leave comments on blogs and hear back from the blogger.  If you want to test your settings, leave a comment on this post and I will reply to you - I promise!

A great time saving invention that I talked about was Bloglovin - this reader checks for new content on your favorite sites, so you don't have to go to each site and check individually.  Go to bloglovin.com and sign up for an account, and then start adding your favorite blogs.  It will take a little bit of playing to get used to the features on the site, but it is well worth it!

One thing I forgot to point out is that many blog owners have a handy little button on the side of their blogs that makes following them as easy as one click of your mouse!  Look for something like this along the side of the blogs:

I will start you off with a few sites that I think you will enjoy:

1. http://theinboxjaunt.com/ - Lori quilts on a domestic machine and has loads of tutorials.  (I am sorry you wasted the rest of your afternoon checking out all her wonderful content!)
2. https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com  - Wendy also quilts on a domestic machine and her work is fabulous.

Cheri shared these links with me:

1. http://sweetp-paulette.blogspot.ca/ - this is new to me, but looks interesting.
2. http://six-white-horses.blogspot.ca/ - another site Cheri enjoys, and she found the link to the block pattern that Gloria showed us.  http://six-white-horses.blogspot.ca/2012/01/lone-starburst.html

If you are interested in trying it for yourself, the free pattern is there to download.

And one more great thing that Vanda shared with me.  She finished and donated 2 lap quilts from the donated panels that we had.  Way to go Vanda!  (Maybe I will get mine done for next year!)

If you have show and tell that can't make it to a meeting, or a blog you would like me to share please drop me an email!

Rock Island Campfires

Here is a little bit of surprise show and tell from Pat.  She is giving this quilt away this weekend so we won't get to see it in person (boo!), but a photo is better than nothing at all!  This is the first one she had machine quilted.  The pattern is from the 2200 series of Fons and Porter and is called Rock Island Campfires.  I love Pat's color palette!

If you are gifting some items that haven't made it to a meeting please feel free to email me a photo or two and a little bit of info and I will share them on our blog!

November 6 Meeting/Sewing Day/Show & Tell

We had a really great day on Thursday with a good group sewing through the day.  There were a lot of the placemats finished and you can see some of the spread below.  By the end of the meeting (when people who had taken some home from the workshop in Ochre River returned finished placemats) we had a total of 81!! YEAH everyone we have reached our goal and now have enough for the Meals On Wheels Program both from the hospital program and the Seniors Program.

Many thanks to Joy Hillhouse for making the labels for all the placemats.  There were wonderful and added the finishing touch.

We also had a fabulous Show & Tell at the meeting with Dawn Piasta showing her wonderful 10 minute block blue and yellow (gotta love that combination) quilt.  The picture does not do it justice.   

 Dawn then showed her own creation from photos enlarged and then using the outline to create a quilt for obviously a hunter (I believe it is for her son).  Absolutely stunning work and sure to be loved!

 We then had Cheri Bourns showing off her quilt that as she said "kept growing" because she added another row around and then it was really big.

 I really love the strip in the back made of blocks left over from the front.  Really accents the and coordinates the back to the front.

 Karen Pryce then showed her pumpkin wall-hanging perfect for the wonderful fall we have had.

 And her runner.  She says there is a mistake but for the life of us we could not figure out where!  Why do we as quilters feel we need to tell people this?  Even as quilters we could not figure out what the "mistake" was and it should really be called a design choice instead!

We then had Amy Lone show an amazing KISS quilt made for a really lucky guy.  He didn't wear the T-shirts anymore and they were put to spectacular use and made into this fabulous creation of love backed by super soft cuddle up fabric.  I believe it was quilted by Lori Suss.  

 We then had a double treat of Bev Prestayko and Pat Milburn showing off the finished wall-hangings from a previous workshop I believe that was taught by Dawn.

All in all we had a great meeting, great show & tell, and great sewing day.  The next workshop will be on January 17, 2015 with Dawn teaching the denim wall-hanging.  This was a preregister class so hope you registered in time.  

November Meeting this Week

Just a friendly reminder that our November meeting will be happening this Thursday November 6th!

If you are free during the day Karen and Bev will be at the Old Fire Hall from 9:30 on.  There is lots of work to be doing on our place mats for Meals on Wheels.  If you can't spend all day, any time you can spare would be greatly appreciated!  Working with others is a great time to pick up hints or learn a new skill.  Curious about how to do something - ask away!

Our regular meeting will start at 7:00 p.m.  I believe there will be a new comfort quilt block handed out.

Don't forget to bring your show and tell!  I hope someone takes lots of pictures as I have to miss the meeting but don't want to miss out on all the eye candy!

Lori