Monday, 7 July 2025

Guild Day, Tuesday, May 20, 2025

 Today we had 13 members coming and going throughout the day. Four comfort quilts were pin basted, one of which was quilted and had binding applied, thank you Lynn, for the quilting and Susan for the piecing. Another was put under the quilting needle by Sandra S. She spent the better part of the day doing free motion quilting. One of the final two is a bit larger than the others. It is a flannel  Five and Dime pattern with the blocks being pieced by Judy and joined by Susan, then Marg F. pieced the flannel backing and finally it was pin basted by a group of our members and will be longarmed by Heather. The fabrics came from Marg H’s stash. A truly collaborative effort! That leaves only one to be taken home and quilted.


                                    Sandra is contemplating her next pattern for free motion.



                                    Susan is sorting and matching fabrics for more quilt tops.

                     Here we see the group of members working on pinning the Five and Dime quilt.


Comfort Quilts:

This quilt was pieced by Sandra D. and Rae, then quilted by Heather. Rae and Sandra get together on Wednesdays and work on comfort quilts. This one was made from a cloth book panel. The pages are meant to be backed with batting, then joined to make a child’s soft book. They separated the pages and put them together with sashing to make a story quilt. The trickiest part was assuring that the pages were in order! This quilt with its soft purple is meant for a little girl.

And the little boys are not forgotten! This story panel of dinosaurs was made for a boy. The pantograph Heather chose is called Crisscross Applesauce. You can see how the lines of quilting switch from vertical to horizontal.


This is the Plus Pop top put together from the blocks that members stitched. The yellow binding finishes it very nicely.


This small hanging/table topper was pieced and appliquéd by Marg H. and was quilted and bound by Donna. Very attractive!


                            This happy quilt was pieced by Susan and quilted and bound by Lynn.


Marg used painter’s tape to mark this quilt. By stitching down both sides of the tape you can add eye pleasing appeal to a simple grid quilting pattern. The fabrics have different textures.


          Another simple pattern both in piecing and quilting results in a very attractive child’s quilt.

We now have twenty-two comfort quilts, one Quilt of Valour and three Hug Me quilts in the buckets.

Rae reported on her delivery of the Quilt of Valour to Jack Larson for his 99th birthday. He was very pleased to receive it and replied,  “Thank you everyone for coming and I’ll try to hang on till next year so you can come to my 100th”.

We were given a preview of our Fall Raffle quilt.  The pattern is called Butter Tarts and was written by Kathy and Lori of Highway 10 Designs. The fabrics for the top were chosen from the stash of Marg H.


                                           This will be a beautiful quilt for someone to win.


Show and Tell:


Marg stitched this beautiful hanging from a kit she had in her store. The flowers are three dimensional and add depth to the pattern. Beautiful, Marg! She had another similar hanging but I neglected to get a photograph as she had it already hung as part of our decor for the hall. I will do my best to remember to take a photo at our next meting. My apologies, Marg.


              This quilt by Marg is a beautiful example of English Paper Piecing. It is all hand quilted. 


Marg crocheted this Temperature quilt. The colours for a temperature quilt are chosen to represent the daily highs for a period of time, usually a year. With crochet it would involve a lot of colour changes!


This flimsy is one Marg constructed from the crumbs of another temperature quilt she was working on. No fabric bits go to waste!


Marg’s final piece was quilting of a different sort. While spending her winters in Arizona she spends a lot of time in the woodworking shop at their park. This bowl has an attic window pattern on it, which is of course a quilting pattern, the woods she used were wenge, oak, walnut, sepia and maple.


This is Heather’s completed retreat project. The quilt  pattern is called Bear Camp and she quilted it with a pin stripes quilting pattern.


This table topper is one Heather made from orphan blocks she had. The topper will be used at her workplace.


                  Zoey completed this quilt for her younger brother whose favourite colour is orange.


This quilt has a lot of triangles! Zoey did a lovely job of colour gradation from light to dark. Very well done, Zoey!

The last show and tell was Rae and search as I might I could not locate the photos! Perhaps I am losing more than just photos. Again, my apologies. My notes tell me she made two little doll blankets for a little girl to whom she gifted a larger quilt. I will see if I can get a photo.



Sandra made some pillow shams from the leftover bits and pieces from the memory quilts she made for her sister. She credits her no waste, Mennonite background with the idea of making the shams from the pieces that were left.


This quilt was Sandra’s entry in the Northern Juried Art Show. It was a recreation of family lore passed down over the years.In 1958 in Paraguay, a bolt of lightning struck a tree, her dad, and a cow. Her dad was the only survivor. Her quilt beautifully depicts the story.


Demonstration:

Marg demonstrated the 6-Hour Quilt to us. This is a quick and easy way to put together a quilt, small or large , and use up scraps of fabric, batting, polar fleece  or whatever.


This comfort quilt that Marg donated was made using the 6-Hour method. I will add the instructions she shared with us. Thank you for the pattern.





Quilter’s Corner:

In tonight’s quilter’s corner, I shared the method I used to put a scalloped border on my bird quilt.


This border was made using the Creative Grids Scallop Template. As you can see, the border has a waved edge rather than what I call a “bumped” edge. This is a fairly easy to use ruler and has deeper waves also. Keep in mind that when using a scalloped border your binding must be cut on the bias so it will curve neatly on the wavy edges. Once you have a measurement of the edges there is a chart telling you how big a square of fabric is needed to cut the amount of continuous bias binding you need.
If you decide to purchase the ruler, there is a very good set of instructions with it that tells you exactly what you have to do to get your border completed. 

This particular post took a long time to complete what with wildfire evacuations and all the ensuing confusion. Hopefully our summer will be uneventful!

Welcome back everyone and Happy Quilting!
Gladys


Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Spring Retreat, May 2nd and 3rd, 2025

 Everyone was anxious to get going on Friday morning! Promptly at nine members were moving in and picking their favourite spot to create. There was a hum of activity as machines were being unpacked and set up, sewing tools placed at the ready and fabrics unfolded for cutting. A number of people had their fabric already cut  and jumped straight into the sewing. Then there was me who had a project partially done (from last fall’s retreat) and had to take most of the morning to figure out how to do the fiddley little thing, because of course I couldn’t remember the procedure! Perhaps I should have prepared more? Eventually I got started and got into the rhythm of the job!


Donna was working on a baby quilt. The pattern was in a book that had belonged to Marg H. Donna needed another quilt for her “tickle trunk” so that when one is needed for a new little one for friend or family she has a gift at the ready. What a great idea!


           Sandra and Myrna are busy with their projects while Evelyn is doing some hand stitching.


                         Audrey, efficient as ever, has her station set up with everything in easy reach!


                                         Beverly is busy chain stitching her HST blocks.


Cindy is at the pressing stage. This part is very important in order to get the blocks to fit together as perfectly as we want them to do!


                        Marg is nearing completion of trimming 730 HST’s for her Temperature quilt.


            Lynn has her blocks completed and is now joining them with sashing and corner stones.


                 Donna is taking a short break as Lorna is working on quilting her Detour place mats.


During the day we took some time off from our own projects to make up some key fobs and lanyards to sell at our booth during the Cranberry Portage markets when we will be selling tickets for our fall raffle quilt.


Heather finished her flimsy (quilt top only). This beautiful piece has large half square triangles
 and goes together quickly. Waiting, now, to see how you will quilt it!



Lynn completed her top as well. She used Art Gallery solids for her fabric. The colours all have the same tone so match up really well. The two patterns in this top are interesting, a pinwheel with a black centre and a pinwheel within the sashing squares. 


         Patty put together this I Spy top as well as working on a quilted jacket. Lovely work, Patty!


                                           And here is Heather with another top completed!

We had a very successful retreat! Eighteen members were sewing and sixteen shared a delicious supper catered by Tammy. 

Now we are looking forward to seeing all the completed work that was started this weekend! See you all on our next Guild Day, May 20th!

Happy quilting!

Gladys


Tuesday, 22 April 2025

Guild Day, Tuesday, April 15, 2025

 Spring is starting to rear its head after a very snowy winter. Our snowbird members are beginning their return to our area. Welcome home Bev and Myrna, so nice to see your smiling faces and hear your winter stories.

We had sixteen members out today and continued with our guild day tasks of pin basting, laying out and joining squares and always looking for more projects to complete.



This is one of the six quilt sandwiches that was pinned. By the time we reached six we ran out of pins. We hope to get a number of quilted pieces returned next guild day so we can get the pins back and start on a new set of sandwiches!


                                           Putting together squares for a Plus Pop quilt.


                                                                   This is a Plus Pop!


Some lovely batik squares courtesy of Marg H’s stash. Her bequest to the guild has resulted in many quilts so far and many more to come.


Good pressing is very important in the construction of  a quilt. You can see how warm it was outside resulting in the open door for fresh air!

Comfort Quilts:


                        Rae’s sunflower quilt is complete and ready to be added to the donation bins.


                              This quilt was pieced by Phyl and is also ready for the donation bins.


This beautiful springy quilt was pieced by Rae and Sandra D and quilted by Heather. She used a lovely shell pattern which shows up beautifully in the white background spaces.

In the buckets we now have three Hug Me quilts, sixteen comfort quilts and one Quilt of Valour. We have 36 tops either complete or ready to join plus ten tops pieced by Marg H. We have decided that at least one quilt has to be basted and ready for quilting every month, more if possible!

Besides the QOV in the bucket, we are presenting a Quilt of Valour to Jack Larson who is the last surviving WW 2 veteran in our area. The quilt will be presented to him on Sunday at a tea for his 99th birthday.

We have decided to sew Quilts of Valour and present them to veterans in our area rather than send them to Winnipeg where they will be presented to veterans we do not know. This will also ensure that our veterans each receive a quilt.

Quilter’s Corner:

Donna spoke to us about the method of making a Double Diamond border or embellishment for pillows or table runners or whatever you may desire.


Here we see a pillow top with a double diamond border. The border can be made wide or narrow as we see  in the black and red examples. Donna has the rulers for making the Double Diamond but these are not an essential tool. She supplied us with two templates (made from X-ray film thank you to her nursing background) along with a copy of clear instructions which we can use to make our own double diamonds.


 This table runner is another example of how we can use the Double Diamond as a border. Thank you, Donna, for introducing us to a new technique!

Show and Tell:


This is a Midi bag. I’ve had the pattern and the 2 1/2” squares for some time and finally got it put together. The squares are fused to a set of prepared interfacing panels which makes the project quick and easy. The larger version of this bag is the Mondo bag using the same fusing technique.


Sandra backed her quilt with flannel which she doesn’t usually use. She has found it to be very snuggly. Heather did the quilting using Wonderfil thread.


This is a Canadian pattern called Glorious and Free, a beautiful two colour quilt, stitched by Sandra and quilted by Heather.


Lorna pieced this 100”x 120” quilt for her niece as a wedding gift. The couple chose the pattern and the colours and picked which colours would be paired in the squares. The result is this gorgeous batik quilt which was all fabric from Lorna’ stash. The pattern is a Jelly Roll Weave. Nadine supplied the backing and longarm quilted it with the Tickle pantograph.



Myrna also made a bag. This one is very similar to the one I made, but the squares are larger. This one is called a Bucket Bag.


This table runner was a bonus to a brown bag mystery. She made this in honour of her Mom whose favourite colour was purple. Beautiful, Myrna.


Lynn stitched this beautiful wall hanging for her cabin. The birds and insects are all paper pieced.  She said it involved a lot of picking out and redoing, wearing out of paper, perhaps a bit of hair pulling but the end result was well worth it. The border fabric of flowers is perfectly suited to the theme of the piece. 


Rae completed this Block of the Month project from 2013. She said that this was during the time that she was crazy about polka dots! This will be gifted to her niece’s six year old for her birthday.


Patty stepped away from her quilting to stitch up this New York City coat from fabric she had purchased some time ago. The coat fits beautifully and will be a lovely addition to her wardrobe.


                                                                        Good job, Patty!


Program:

The program for this month was presented by me. It was the Whirlwind block, a free pattern from SewCanShe. There are eight pieces in this block that measures 11 1/2” square unfinished.


                                        This is a fairly simple block that stitches up quickly.


This completed our evening. We hope to see all of you at our Spring Retreat on May 2nd and 3rd. If you wish to take in the catered meal on Friday please let Donna know by April 25.

Until then, happy quilting!
Gladys