Guild Day Tuesday, March 17, 2025

 We had another productive and interesting guild day. Fifteen members came out to take part in various tasks and spend some time visiting with friends.

Moira and Iris were working their magic on the binding of this quilt. Hand stitched binding is very nice, but I find for myself that my hands don’t like it very much, arthritis reminds you that you are getting older!

Lorna is clipping thread ends and picking up loose threads. This is a necessary job when there are a large number of white pieces as a dark thread can show through and stand out like a sore thumb, especially if you don’t spot it till after it’s been quilted. Should this happen you have to go searching for your number 13 crochet hook to try and fish it out! 

Sandra is perusing the layout of the Jewel Box squares to see if anything has to be switched to another spot.

This Quilt of Valour has been quilted and is now waiting for its binding which is being cut , stitched together and pressed by Rae and Sandra D.

This red maple leaf fabric will make a very appropriate binding for the three Quilts of Valour we have in progress.

By end of day, the Jewel Box top had been stitched together, the Quilt of Valour had the binding attached and two more bindings prepared for the other two QOV, as well as backings being found for some of our finished tops, some kits made up for members to take home and work on, and another top from squares made by Rae and Sandra was laid out for joining.

Comfort Quilts:

                    This lovely pastel quilt was pieced, quilted and bound by Sandra, Rae and Heather.

                                Phyl pieced this beautiful quilt and Judy did the machine quilting.

                               Rae pieced, quilted and bound this colourful quilt. Thank you Rae!

Rae set out to piece this Yellow Brick Road quilt, but found that somewhere along the way she had made a mistake that she couldn’t figure out, so rather than abandon the project she chose to use it as a backing.

And this is the front of the quilt! This panel with its heavy equipment borders and a flange binding match the yellow backing perfectly, a reversible quilt! Great job, Rae!

This beauty was pieced by Rae and Sandra with Heather doing the longarm quilting. The turquoise border goes so well with the shades of gray.

The minky backing is from Sheri and really shows off the quilting. Heather did a beautiful job of the quilting as minky can be tricky on a longarm because it is very stretchy.

This is the Twinkling Stars quilt made from the block demonstration several months ago. As the blocks came in and were laid out, it was decided to make more to increase the size of the quilt, then borders were added and the binding which is the same fabric as the backing.

The backing makes one think of the night sky where all those stars are twinkling. The quilting was done by Nadine. This quilt will likely be set aside as a hug me quilt.

Here is the completed Quilt of Valour. This is the one that had the oops in it last month! Nadine did the quilting with a beautiful red backing, very Canadian! The black and red maple leaves in the binding are perfect!

Rae pieced the top for this Plus Pop quilt. She has been trying to reduce her stash and we are the lucky recipients of her efforts. 

Rae pieced this top and when she laid it on her bed, decided she did not like it. She asked her husband’s opinion and he concurred, he didn’t like it either, so guess what, we now have another hug me quilt! Heather did the quilting. Thank you Rae!

This lovely little polar bear quilt was in our blog last month. It was pieced by Phyl, thank you for letting us know! It was chosen to be donated to the Library Coffee House to be used for their fundraiser.

And speaking of Phyl, we received a note from her (she is now in Osoyoos) along with this lovely quilt top which she pieced. The fabric for the border and sashing was donated by Yvonne H. Thank you ladies, this is a lovely pattern.

Quilter’s Corner:

Rae and Evelyn demonstrated how to measure our quilt tops for borders with tips on attaching them so that the end result would be a squared up quilt. They also talked about sashing and using cornerstones to keep the sashing straight when attaching the rows. Phyl’s quilt top was a perfect example of sashing and cornerstones and an excellent visual for some of our newer quilters.

Heather shared information on threads with us. She showed us examples of thread, Wonderfil brand from a Canadian company. It comes in many colours and a number of different weights and spool or cone sizes as well as prewound bobbins. On a personal note, I like their prewound bobbins which I get at Mami’s in Duck Lake. They are bottom weight and last for a long time before the bobbin runs out! 

Show and Tell:

Today is Lynn’s birthday so she was first up with this lovely table topper she made for her cabin. Happy birthday, Lynn!

This is Sandra’s Bunny quilt. She took great care to make sure the bunnies in the border were all upright. Heather did the quilting.

                                      This oversize bear paw quilt was all fabric from Sandra’s stash.

                                          The backing shows off the quilting very nicely!

Rae purchased the kit for this beautiful winter quilt from The Empty Bobbin quilt shop from Swan River when they were here for our retreat. She had Michelle from Mamis do the longarm quilting.

Heather stitched this very large quilt for her husband. He is tall, therefore the size of the quilt, as well he is a gamer which accounts for the panels and symbols. This is a very intricate and interesting quilt. She, of course, did the longarm quilting. A beautiful piece, Heather!

The pattern for this quilt is a Zig Zag Fan. It was written by a black designer so Heather used all African fabrics. The backing is called super wax which is a somewhat different type of fabric than the regular quilting cotton.

Audrey completed her Lone Star quilt and shared it with us. The fabric she used was a collection so the colours works super well with each other. Beautifully done, Audrey!

Our demonstration this evening was done by Audrey. This is the square for the Butter Tarts quilt which will be our fall raffle quilt. The fabrics are almost exclusively from Marg H’s stash so this project will be a lovely tribute to her as well. The pattern is from Highway 10 Designs.

Audrey was also the lucky winner of our membership draw!

Our Spring Retreat will be on May 2nd and 3rd. There will be a catered supper on Friday evening and a sign up sheet will be at April’s guild day. 

Happy quilting,

Gladys

Guild Day, Tuesday, February 18, 2025

   Welcome back for another edition of our blog. We had as many as 15 members at various times of day, pin basting, hand stitching, cutting, joining squares and whatever else needed doing. Two tops for Quilts of Valour were sewn together, two quilt sandwiches were pin basted and one quilt had the binding partially stitched. Moira has taken it home to complete for next month.

The cutting table was kept busy with the ladies working on the pieces for our fall quilt raffle. These will be packaged and ready for members to sew up after next month’s demonstration of the block.

Hand stitching a binding and enjoying a morning coffee. The Ott lights we purchased make hand work so much easier.

Assembling squares for the Quilts of Valour, one person sewing, the other removing pins, making sure the blocks are in order and snipping threads as needed. Putting together a quilt top is a team effort.

Rae is pressing the seams between the blocks as well as checking that the other seams in the block have been properly pressed.

             This is how the blocks are laid out ready to be pinned together, then sewn and pressed.

Taadaa! The top is put together. Oh oh, that last row looks a bit wonky! Even a whole team can make a mistake! Time to break out the stitch ripper and rotate that block! At end of day the oops was repaired, both tops were completed and they were on their way to the longarmer for backing, batting and quilting. Once complete they will be sent out for distribution to our Canadian veterans.

Susan and her group are stretching the backing for a quilt they are going to pin baste. The PVC pipes on the table legs raise the table to a level that prevents the basting group ending up with sore backs.

After the backing is stretched, the batting is laid over it and smoothed down, followed by the quilt top. It is necessary to arrange the top so that horizontal and vertical blocks and lines are straight. Once everything is satisfactory the sandwich is pinned with curved safety pins. The curve in the pins make it easier to push the pins through the fabric without moving anything out of place.

Rae and Sandra have a new stripology book with patterns that can be cut with this specialty ruler. This is just one example of a stripology pattern. And bonus! We found a fabric that will make a great backing as well as the binding. (I see that I have not mastered the art of getting my fingers out of the way of my camera lens!)

Comfort Quilts:

This quilt top was pieced by Lynn using fabric left over from some of our previous raffle quilts as well as some extra fabric to finish it.

                                                 Audrey quilted this lovely little quilt.

This pretty toddler quilt was pieced by Rae then quilted by Sandra. Rae then applied a flange binding. Sandra will be tutoring us on flange binding in tonight’s Quilter’s Corner.

Not sure who pieced this one, but the free motion quilting was done by Sandra S. The technique she used was echoing the shapes on the fabric. On the polar bear blocks she stitched around the polar bears, around the moons and stars on others, around the trees on the tree blocks , then stitched meanders on the plain blocks. This is a simple way to quilt and looks stunning when viewed on the backing especially if the bobbin thread contrasts with a plain backing. This method can be used as well if the backing fabric has an interesting pattern and you echo around it doing your quilting on the back of the quilt rather than the front.

Back in early 2024 I demonstrated the squiggle block asking for bright colours. The members answered the call and we were able to arrange the blocks in a rainbow pattern. Because I did the demonstrating I felt it was only logical that I do the block joining, borders, quilting and binding.

The panel for this quilt was one of several in the stash of Marg H. We sent it to the longarmer for batting, backing and quilting and our hand stitchers applied the binding. This quilt is being donated to a family who lost their home in a house fire.

This quilt top was another gem in Marg H’s stash. It was also completed by the longarmer and hand stitchers to be included in the donation to the house fire victims.

Show and Tell:

First up tonight was Lorna. This is her presidents’ quilt from her term as co-president with Sandra D. Her choice of block was the friendship star for which she supplied the yellow centre with instructions to make it look like a flower. She then added the little leaf blocks and “soil” pieces. She ran into a snag when it came time to add the yellow border. It was supposed to be the same as the flower centres but when she went to find the fabric, it was gone! She searched through her stash and every place she could think of to no avail. What to do? She ended up purchasing new fabric, not a perfect match, but doable. She had the border all sewn on when one day picked up a bag of some hand work she wanted to continue and lo and behold! There was the missing fabric! Of course the substitute border was removed and the right one put on. The end result is a beautiful, bright and cheerful quilt she has titled “Friendship Garden”. It is all hand quilted by the group of quilters (of which Lorna is a member) called Threads of Friendship.

Zoey is one of our new members having joined the guild by taking our learn to quilt classes. This is her first quilt, likely the first of many. She did a beautiful job. Congratulations, Zoey!

                         Cindy shows her love of vibrant colours in this table runner she put together.

Patty started this throw at one of our retreats. The basic pattern is Pat Sloan’s “Oh My Stars” with her own twist in the smaller stars. She made this from the scraps left from an earlier quilt and did the quilting herself, a beautiful pattern of concentric circles.

Sandra made this bag for her youngest daughter. The fabric is pretty unique with skulls and all associated figures. This was not Sandra’s choice of fabric! This bag would be a perfect size for an airline carry on.

The plus signs in this quilt along with the polka dotted background are formed from just one block. It’s amazing the patterns one can form just by placing a single block in different orientations.

This quilt is Wintery with the colours of a winter sky. This quilt as well as the plus sign quilt were quilted by Heather.

Heather started her strawberry quilt at our October retreat. She used AGF flannel on the back and the lanterns panto to quilt it. When putting on the binding she had difficulty keeping everything in place so glue basted her binding. It worked beautifully. AGF is art gallery fabric.

Audrey recently attended a retreat at which the time was spent exploring and trying new ways of working with fabrics. Fabric weaving was one of the projects and this basket was the end product.

Another technique resulted in this little mat which will fit in the box used as a bed by her daughter’s cat!

Cathedral windows was another project. You’ll notice that the binding she is going to use is a flange binding.

The fourth project was another type of fabric weaving. These small projects gives one a chance to try new techniques and then enable a person to make a more informed decision as to whether you really want to use this for a larger project.

The final project was quilt as you go. These pieces will be used to make a pouch that will join the pieces with French seams so there will be no raw edges.

Quilter’s Corner:

Sandra D demonstrated how to make a flange binding. This binding is made with two strips of fabric which when folded in half give you your main colour binding with a small matching or contrasting edge that will show as a two colour binding when attached. This type of binding is sewn to the back of the quilt, then folded around to the front and machine stitched down. You can see the result when checking the photos where I have mentioned flange bindings.

Comfort Blocks:

Sandra D and Rae demonstrated two comfort blocks for us tonight. The first is the Plus block which we saw in one of Sandra’s quilts.

Kits of precut fabric were handed out for members to assemble. The blocks will result in a Plus quilt.

Rae had another simple scrap buster block for us to try out.

The pieces are small so can incorporate a lot of those smaller bits and bites left over from other projects. The illustration shows the order in which the pieces should be sewn together to make a 9 1/2” square.

This is a top Rae stitched to show us how the block works. The result is a very scrappy top which you can make completely random or more structured if you so wish.

We concluded our evening with many more ideas churning through our minds! Don’t be afraid to try something new and different!

Happy quilting,

Gladys