Our activities shifted into second gear today. We are getting closer to our donation date as well as working on quilts for our Denare Beach fire victims. Those completed tops that Marg H’s family donated to the guild are going to make a big difference in our ability to reach our quilting goals.
Our twenty members had plenty of jobs to work on and were cheered on by two guests. Five quilt tops were readied for Heather and her long arm machine with backing, batting and bindings. In addition, six quilts were pin basted for quilting. Marg will be quilting three of them and I will quilt one.
Marg quilted two today and Lorna quilted two, none of which were from the six pin basted today! Sandra D. worked on piecing blocks that Phyl had put together. She also put binding on one that Marg quilted earlier.
The pinning crew is hard at work.
Marg is busy pressing binding for one of the quilts.
The kit for this Halloween pillow cover was purchased for Heather by her mother when the Empty Bobbin quilt shop was a vendor at our retreat. It’s a Prairie rose pattern and she used the Clamshell panto to quilt it. Heather loves Halloween!
We were happy to see June back at guild day. She and her husband Keith were one of the families who lost their home to the Wolf wildfire that decimated Denare Beach. She was presented this “squiggle” quilt as a token of our concern for her loss. She had a number of quilts from which to choose but this one made her think of waves in water and birds.
Lorna brought a special guest with her to our meeting. This lady is the “Stitch Bitch” and was put into Lorna’s care at the SUN retreat. She is to spend the next year with Lorna and go everywhere with her. The only stipulation is that Lorna must add something to her possessions before she is passed on to the next person. You will note that she has a baby and a suitcase. Because of Covid, the suitcase contains a mask and also a passport so she can travel!
Comfort Quilts:
Audrey gave us an update on our comfort quilts. We have three Hug Me quilts, forty-three comfort quilts and five new ones handed in.
This lovely flannel one was stitched by Susan.
Phyl quilted this one but no one present this evening knew who did the piecing.
Susan did the piecing and Sandra S. did the quilting.
Lorna did the quilting, not sure who did the piecing.
Pieced, quilted and bound by Eileen M.
Another quilt pieced by Susan and quilted by Sandra S.
This is the flimsy that was pieced by Phyl then assembled by the work crew today. When finished it will be an emergency services quilt.
There are many more tops from Marg H. that need to be completed as well as a bag of tops from Eileen. Many thanks to these ladies for their work and generosity.
Show and Tell:
I started this set of placemats and hot pads two retreats ago and finally got them completed.
This is my version of the three yard quilt pattern, Roman Holiday. I did enlarge it so it would fit on our bed. The binding has an extra wide flange and is applied by machine. This quilt was stretched on my table ready for pinning when we were evacuated.
This is Marg’s version of the Oatmeal Raisin quilt pattern. I know this pattern was by someone on Facebook but cannot remember the site. I believe it was a quilt-along and there were many different colour ways. Marg made a beautiful choice of colours and quilting. This will be a gift for her nephew and wife to be.
Bev is part of the quilting group at their park in Arizona. This winter one of the projects required making a quilt from 12 1/2 “ squares they were given. She added some more squares and this was the result. Very attractive!
Bev purchased the kit for this Christmas quilt from 440 before it closed. She liked it so much that she decided to make one for each of her sisters as well. Sadly she was unable to complete all the quilts before her eldest sister passed away. The quilt is lovely, Bev. Evelyn would have loved it.
This butterfly was one of the projects at the SUN retreat. Squares are placed on a grid which is then folded and stitched so that all the seams on the back are enclosed.
Another SUN project was this little pouch. It has several interior pockets and is perfect for carrying a small sewing project. Beautiful choice of fabric, Lorna!
Zoey stitched this quilt from a jelly roll. She did the machine quilting as well. Beautiful job, Zoey!
Cindy was working on this butterfly quilt at one of our retreats. There are 192 stitch and flip corners in this quilt!
Quilter’s Corner:
Sandra demonstrated how she put a facing on her quilt for the Northern Juried Art Show. For some projects a traditional binding finish may not give the effect you may want so a facing would be a viable option. This starts with a triangular (square folded diagonally) piece in each corner, then applying a strip on each side. This is done on the front of your project. You then press the strips outward and top stitch on the strip close to the seam.
After reinforcing and trimming off the corners, you then turn everything to the back of your work. Give it a press and hand stitch the strip after turning under the raw edge. The result is a neat finish for your work without having a binding showing on the front. Thank you, Sandra.
The membership draw was won by Marg. Our Fall Retreat will be on October 3rd and 4th. There will be a catered meal on the Friday and the Empty Bobbin from Swan River will be our vendor. We hope to see you all there!
We will be set up at the Wild Things Market during Culture Days selling tickets on the Butter Tarts raffle quilt.
In the meantime, enjoy our nice weather and keep working on those projects!
Happy quilting,
Gladys
