Guild Day April, 16, 2024

 Today was one of those rainy, turning to slushy, snowy spring days for northern Manitoba/Saskatchewan. Despite the bad weather, or maybe because of it, we had a good turnout of up to 14 members during the day. Too rotten to work outside, let’s quilt!

We sewed, hand-stitched, pin basted, and whatever else came along.

These ladies were busy hand-stitching the binding on several of the comfort quilts. We now have a mix of hand stitched and machine stitched quilts. The hand stitched bindings are beautiful but the machine stitched ones are much quicker. Everyone has their own preference.

The Juki machines were both busy. Audrey was working on “Frankenbatting” and Bev was back from her winter holiday. Welcome home! I expect we will be seeing more returnees next month.

Susan and June were busy pin basting a three yard quilt. If you like this pattern it’s called Roman Holiday and we have it in the guild library. This pattern was also used as one of the choices for the beginner’s class.

Lynn and Sandra are laying out the squares for our fall raffle quilt. Members took home kits made up by Lynn and stitched the various squares. After the squares were laid out, Lorna sewed them together. By day’s end the top was complete except for one border.  Welcome back from your winter holiday, Lorna!

             At our evening meeting we had quite a number of comfort quilts to share with members.

This is a baby quilt that Audrey stitched. The cotton lace eyelet ruffle she sewed into the binding added a lovely bit of interest to a simple quilt. I’m sure she’s given us ideas for other embellishments we can use. It’s a good way to use some of those odds and ends that are kicking around our sewing rooms!

Here she has another idea for embellishing a simple quilt. Audrey has added a strip of rickrack to every plain row on this quilt top. Do you have some rickrack hidden away in a corner that you thought you have no use for? Put it on a quilt top!

This is another of the Emergency Services quilts that Audrey has been working on. It is now complete and ready for donation.

A good way to use strips and scraps is this Jelly Roll Race quilt. This is another Emergency Services quilt complete. We also pin basted another for the same purpose which I am sure we’ll see next month. Audrey is a prolific quilter!

Bev pieced and quilted this baby quilt from flannel which was donated to us. It’s such a bright and happy quilt.

This creation of Bev’s started with a panel which she sliced into strips and added some other matching fabrics and voila! A very creative and interesting child’s quilt. Great work, Bev!

I demonstrated a block called Circle of Friends last fall. I must admit it was not the best of choices for a block as it had many seams and HST’s but everyone struggled through it and we had enough squares to make up this twin size quilt. The yellow and gray coupled with a white background worked out well. I was pleased with the final result after I finished the quilting and machine binding. I have to admit that hand stitching binding is not my favourite part of constructing a quilt. Thank you to the members that completed blocks.

We now have six completed Emergency Services quilts and twenty-four comfort quilts. Our members have been doing fabulous work! We should have a good number for donation by November.

Show and Tell:

While in Arizona this winter, Bev completed her paper bag quilt. This is one she started quite a number of years ago and wasn’t sure how to finish. Marg F. helped her out and she was able to complete it. A lady in Arizona did the longarm quilting for her. Beautiful!

Bev’s husband, Randy, created his own version of a quilt. He was learning wood burning techniques and this is his quilt! Congratulations, Randy, you learned well!

Audrey made this table runner with a Block in a Box which she had purchased from Faktor’s and added onto.

                                        Audrey used Christmas fabrics for this star pillow. 

Lynn presented a program on straight line quilting. She had lots of good tips and all those who have tried this type of quilting added to it from their own experiences. All in all, it was very helpful. 

It’s nice to see so many of our members trying their hand at machine quilting. 

A reminder that there will be no UFO on May 4th as the 3rd and 4th are our retreat days. If you want to attend the catered supper on May 3rd, please let Lynn know by April 27. Lynn will have a small project for us to work on Saturday at 11:00 am.

See you all on May 3rd!

Gladys

Guild Day, Tuesday, March 19, 2024

 Our turn out today varied from eight to ten members throughout the day. Many of our members are still on their winter break. Even though our numbers were small we accomplished a good deal. As a matter of fact, I got so involved in pinning and making binding that I forgot to take pictures! Shame on me!

Sandra S. was working on quilting a previously pin basted quilt and Moira was hand stitching binding with Evelyn. I was making binding for the gray and yellow Circle of Friends quilt while Bev and Audrey were preparing quilt sandwiches for pin basting.

During the day we were able to pin three comfort quilts as well as two emergency services quilts. June, Susan, Patty B. and Donna were lending a hand with the various projects. 

Donna updated the inventory and a copy has been put in the library.

Unfortunately we were unable to get a vendor for our Spring Retreat on May 3rd and 4th. Lynn will have a small project for us to work on at the retreat. Tammy will be catering a meal for us on the Friday evening.

We had a good number of Show and Tell items.

Audrey stitched this comfort quilt from poly/cotton strips. She added some rick rack strips for interest.

This quilt was started by Val Whitbread. She was unable to complete it so Audrey finished it up and Val graciously donated it as a comfort quilt.

                             The emergency services quilt from last quild day is now completed.

Another quilt for emergency services is ready to go. In total, Audrey has 11 quilts in various stages of construction. She is one busy lady!

Susan put together this Propeller block that caught her eye. This looks like something that might work well for a comfort block in the future!

Sandra was going through her trunk and found examples of various types of projects she had done in different stages of her life. This one is an example of liquid embroidery.

This example is stitched with embroidery floss. I’m sure most of us remember embroidering tea towels and pillow cases, dresser scarves and quilt squares!

This project is one Sandra is currently working on. It is a memory quilt she is making for her sister using t-shirts which belonged to her sister’s husband who has passed away. She incorporated the shirts as well as a sheet which belonged to her mother. 

                              The back of the quilt shows off the machine quilting Sandra has done.

              Charlene is one of our beginner quilters. She did a fantastic job with her three yard quilt!

For backing Charlene used the picnic table cloth she got from her mom. Cutting, piecing, basting and quilting, great job, Charlene! Welcome to the world of quilting!

          Patty shared her wall hanging of the Station Museum and the old train. Beautiful work, Patty! 

My great grandson is seven months old now so I stitched an I Spy quilt for him. We are going to see him on Easter weekend so will be able to gift it then. Thank you to Evelyn for passing on a set of object blocks to get me started.

We completed the day with Audrey’s program presentation of the Economy block, a square in a square block which will result in another beautiful comfort quilt.

                                                                       Thank you, Audrey!

Our next UFO day is April 6th and next guild day is April 16th. We look forward to seeing you then!

Gladys

   

Guild Day Tuesday, February 20, 2024

As usual, we had a productive day. Twelve members came out to help with our latest projects. Completed quilts were turned in, comfort blocks were handed in and plans are under way for our raffle quilts for the fall and the Christmas craft sales. Lynn shared with us the fabrics she purchased to fulfill part of our wish list as well as fabrics for our raffle quilts for which she also had the patterns.

Nadine quilted “It Takes a Village” which we are donating to the pool fundraising committee. She also provided the batting and backing. The pantograph she used sets off the little houses beautifully!

Patty was busy piecing a backing for a baby quilt. Thanks to all the flannel donations we received, we will have a good number of baby quilts in November.

                                        Moira, Iris and Evelyn were busy stitching bindings.

                                      Lynn and Beverly were busy cutting for more projects.

         Evelyn, Judy and Audrey are stretching and clamping a quilt in preparation for pin basting.

                                         A total of four quilts were pin basted today.

                    Lynn prepared the kits for these blocks which will be used for our fall quilt raffle. 

This is the quilt the three members pin basted. When completed the quilt will be donated to the emergency response teams in our communities. We hope to complete twelve quilts, six of which will be donated this year and the other six will be held to replace any that have been given out by the teams. A big thank you to Audrey who is spearheading this effort and putting together the tops.

                                        Beverly completed this three yard comfort quilt.

                                Iris put together this rag quilt from the flannel stash we were gifted.

        This rag quilt was put together by Lynn. These baby quilts were kitted up at our last guild day.

     Another completed baby quilt. Unfortunately none of us could remember who stitched this one!

We had a fairly small Show and Tell this month. Heather started it with her tragedy. She stitched this lovely quilt for a friend who is fighting cancer. The pattern is called Nomad. When she completed it, she washed it before gifting it. When she was taking it from the dryer, she heard popping sounds. Upon investigation she realized that her threads were breaking. She made some sample patches and quilted them with different thread brands and pulled them this way and that, no popping. Then she examined her quilt more closely. Many of her blocks are bias cuts and all her quilting is also on the bias. The stretching of all these bias lines is making stitches pop with each tug! She demonstrated! Scary! Now she has to decide how she can stabilize the work. A lot of work and expense, truly a tragedy!

Heather’s second piece was the lovely Trailing Star. She had some difficulty with the background pieces but got it solved when she realized the pieces had been cut wrong. The fabrics are beautiful!

Heather’s final piece was a body pillow she made using the Berry Bushel block that was demonstrated by Myrna.

The final Show and Tell was a quilt I put together from a fat quarter bundle gifted to me by my son and daughter-in-law. The pattern is called Three Step and was purchased from Annie’s. The narrow strips are navy and set the colours off nicely. The binding was supposed to be navy but I was short on fabric so used 5” pieces of block fabric to make a flange. Because the flange is fairly wide , I top stitched it down. All in all I was quite pleased with the end result!

Our next UFO/beginner’s class is Saturday, March 2nd. Don’t forget our Spring Retreat, May 3rd and 4th. Tammy will be catering the supper.

Gladys

Guild Day, January 16, 2024

 It’s hard to believe another year has passed and we must now write 2024! I remember clearly the world wide panic about Y2K and all the terrible things that could happen at the turn of the century. Truly, a lot of terrible things are happening but none of it has anything to do with Y2K!

We had a good turnout for guild even though a good number of our members have departed for warmer climates. After a day like today, I’m quite happy to be here in Creighton/Flin Flon!

We were able to complete six quilts today that were in various stages, some needing quilting, others binding and so forth. Three quilts were unpinned and then repinned  using the new clamping system that makes them so much smoother to quilt. It made for some extra work but is well worth the effort.

Most of the afternoon was spent sorting through flannels and cutting pieces for more baby quilts. A big thank you to those who destashed and donated to this effort.

Lorna and Audrey worked on some Thimbleberry blocks to go with the blocks we had. There should be enough blocks for another comfort quilt.

    

 Judy and June are cutting and preparing flannel to make up kits for members to take home.

                                Susan is sorting flannel squares into colour/pattern piles for kits.

             Sandra is quilting the last of the batik quilts. This was one of the quilts that was repinned.

A baby quilt of flannel was stitched and quilted by Sandra and had the binding hand stitched by Moira and Iris.

This three yard quilt had been pin basted for quilting and was taken home by myself for quilting. I attached the binding totally by machine. This is done by sewing it to the back of the quilt then folding the binding to the front and top stitching it. We have been using this method more frequently as it is quicker and less labour intensive.

This is the quilt Sandra was working on. She was able to finish the quilting and do the binding before end of day. 

Sandra completed this three yard quilt at home since the last guild day. She used variegated thread and a decorative stitch on her machine. For the binding she added a flange for extra interest. Very attractive!

I must confess I do not remember the details of who completed this three yard quilt. This is a beautiful pattern. The three yard quilts are easy and quick to sew. They are not overly large so are much easier to quilt.

This is not a three yard quilt! Marg gave us a lesson in cathedral windows and this was the result. Sandra did the quilting and binding on this one as well. She has been a busy lady!

Lynn was the lone member who had a show and tell to share with us. These beautiful cushions were meant to be Christmas gifts but time ran out so now she has a head start on next year!

Our next UFO/Beginner class day is February 3rd. The dates for our Spring Retreat are May 3rd and 4th, 2024. We will be having a catered supper and hope to have a vendor in attendance. Mark your calendars!

Gladys