Christmas in July What a FUN Party!

Over the years we've come up with a variety of group challenge projects. This last December Mary and Sherrill were sent on a fabric buying outing to choose five fabrics for us to use in our challenge. The party, Christmas in July, was the culmination of all our hard work. I must admit to working on it until the morning of the party!

The party was held at Shirley's house. She is our true Southern Bell Hostess and cooked and led the "entertainment" with jokes and games for us to play. THANK YOU SHIRLEY. We are truly blessed to have you in our group. Your willingness to share your quilt knowledge and home, is inspiring.

The dogs, Gus and Rosie greeted us. They seemed to know they were not long for the party and clung to Dot so they wouldn't be put out.

The day began with visiting and seeing a member we haven't seen in a long while. Evelyn came for the party and it was so nice to see her.

Shirley did a little warm up with some of her quilts she is working to complete. She is a quilter's quilter and has numerous projects and ideas swimming around her head. Quilts are everywhere and the warmth was apparent.

Lots of fun stories were told today. Everyone had a little something to say about their quilts. I can't remember them all, but, I remember laughing a lot. That is the secret of life and good quilt groups, generosity and laughter.

The ladies used this as an opportunity to have Show and Tell. Here are just a few of the quilts that weren't included in our CIJ display.

The Christmas in July showing began with our smaller quilts first. Natasha has been very busy, besides her show and tell quilt, she also made this for CIJ. Sheelah is a long time member , this is her first quilt she's done. It's really quite something for a first quilt. Ginny showed us here, she won the prize for the most creative label. Carol's quilts are always something lovely to look at. Dot and Pat got theirs finished in a very quick time. Marie, one of our newer members got into the spirit, but, didn't have time to complete the quilt, but, showed this very nice block. Sheilah V made a neat table runner. Mary's quilts are always superb. Betty and Deloris make some really pretty quilts

Quilting update and Schedule Change

First, our lazy days of summer have found our group busy on all fronts, finishing bindings and Betty and Ruth are almost finished with the Tuscany Village that we started a few months ago.  The embroidery is next and what a creative experiment that will be as we all are planning different embellishments for our projects.  

Schedule Change to the Calendar:

August 4th, no meeting in the room.  We are going on a trip to Salem, Indiana, to one of our favorite little quilt shops, Craft Town.  It's actually a pretty big quilt shop with lots of fabric fabulousness.  Meet at the back of the church parking lot and we will carpool, leaving at 10:00 and returning around 2:00 or 3:00.  Lunch will be at Christies, it's a nice place just around the square from Craft Town.  

July 28th will have our Christmas in July party at Shirley's house.  We are to be there at 10:00.  People new to the group, don't need to worry about bringing their finished quilts, but, you gals that got you fabric in the fall, should come ready to unveil.  It doesn't have to be quilted, a quilt top will do.  

Happy Quilting!

Movers and Shakers Oh My!

Movers:

One of our beloved members, Joan, has moved on to Florida.  Boo!   We will miss her.  Joan came to us by way of another member.  Now this is a word of warning to you guilds out there.  It just so happened that Joan and Shirley visited another guild before they found NQF.  The other unnamed quilt guild was very rude to them.  Apparently there was a drawing and you put your name tags in the basket to draw a winner.  Well, they pull our most wonderful girls' name tags out of the drawing in a dramatic way, stating the prizes are for members only.  Shirley then grabs Joan and says, come with me, I know of another group that we need to try.  And much to our gain and their loss, both the Wonder Kids, came our way.

Every quilt guild has a few members that pick up the lion's share of the work and support of members and the guild at large.  Joan is/was such a member.  She organized us for learning new techniques and she gave sage advice to almost everyone in the room.  Whether it was in quilting or life.  

But, life changes and moves on, like the stitches in a quilt.  

Shakers:

We made our way to the lovely Lavenders Fabric Store.  It's at 1280 S. Fork Ridge Rd, Liberty Kentucky.  They are having a sale until June 13th, so you better get there quick!  All the material is $2.75 a yard.  

The Bread of Life was very good this time.  It seem they were pulling everything fresh from their garden nearby.  It was quite different than before, when the food was pretty starchy and heavy.  This is a restaurant that supports the Galleian Home for children.  It is at 546 Middleburg St, Liberty Ky  42539

Kings Department Store gave a very informative tour of their facility.  They die cut many block designs and also are some leather goods.  It is as 546 Middleburg St, Liberty, ky 

This is a store that's been in business for over 50 years and is still run by the same family.  Half of the store is farm supply and the other half is fabric.  It's a 2 1/2 hour drive from Louisville, so we all knew where we needed to go first.  

Now, really it's not about the money saving, which isn't that much when you add up the gas and time.  It's about having a good time and during this economy, spreading the wealth around.  

Toothbrush Rug Class and Busy Quilters

The quilters in our group have been busy.  We predominantly get together to encourage each other to finish what we have started.  Along those lines, this is Mary who finished a top for her nephew; Shirley finished a quilt that is a pattern from a book that her friends in South Carolina wrote; Dot is not to be outdone as she got this quilt ready for binding.  My own contribution is a bible cover for my daughter's friend and our latest contribution to the group is from Pat, who has made this great recycled shirt and tie quilt.  

The Aunt Philly's toothbrush rug class was a huge hit, almost all the ladies wanted to make one.  This is a no sew pattern that has been around for a very long time.  If you have a lot of material, as we have had donated to our group, this is a fast, easy way to use it up!

First you must tear all your strips and Carol and Ruth are helping each other with a tug of war to rip this seemingly wonderful fabric, the color was right but the sizing was too heavy.  You must prewash fabric, as we found out.  Sometimes donated fabrics are donated for a reason, they had a problem with it!  Oh well, this is a project that has lots of forgiveness and so trial and error will lead you to the right mix of material and rhythm to weave your rug.   Natasha didn't work on the rug, but generously helped out and cut or tore all the strips needed for a rug.  

Tuscany Village-what fun we had...smile

Our quilt group meets every Tuesday from 10:00 to 1:00 and it would be impossible to have a learning opportunity every week.  This last Tuesday, the 14th of April, we learned how to make the Tuscany Village.  This is the center block for the upcoming 2 more borders to be added.  The June 2009, McCalls Quilting Magazine, has the pattern.  The next 2 patterns will be in August and October.  

This is my take on the pattern and how I instructed the ladies that day.  Of course, quilting is such a long term, solitary activity that it is up to you to make the process enjoyable and find out what fits your personality best.  The instructions in the magazine suggested you cut everything out at once, I'm not big on doing everything all at once on my quilt patterns.  I think in case I make a mistake, I haven't messed the whole thing up and it will still be salvageable.  

First you enlarge the patter and draw it out on freezer paper and fabric.  Here are the lovely ladies of the Northeast Quilting Friends doing just that.  It was so nice to see them engrossed in a pattern.  

Next, I suggest you fold the fabric and loosely lay it out on your pattern.  This gives you an idea how the quilt will develop and helps you to direct the eye around the quilt.  There will be a lot of embroidery embellishing to be added later, so you can also use that to enhance your quilt.  There is even hanging laundry-to hide mistakes!  

These are my preferred tools to use, a hand held iron and very sharp scissors.  You need these to make the openings in the windows and doors nice and crisp.  Also you will be putting the freezer paper on the right side of the fabric.  This is totally opposite of some of you applique people, that would normally put the paper on the wrong side of the fabric.  But, trust me, it works just fine.  

Last but not least, you need to invest in a roll of parchment paper (Thanks Ruth!) or a teflon sheet that I'm using here.  The tape from the freezer paper and the glue from the glue stick you use to make the openings, will stick to your iron, so you need something to keep your iron clean.  

Happy Quilting!