Guild Day, July 16, 2024

Once again we had a very busy day with 15 members engaged in various activities including machine quilting, pin basting, hand stitching and creating new tops from orphan blocks.

Sandra is finishing the quilting of this sandwich using free motion quilting. She’s using a different design for each block.

Bev and Susan were the basting crew today. They pinned 4 quilt sandwiches which can now be taken by members for machine quilting. This is one of the EMS quilts.

Lorna is pressing one of the orphan block quilt tops. Four tops were created today with  the possibility of another four from still more of those orphan blocks. It’s surprising how quickly those odd blocks can accumulate.

Moira, Iris and Evelyn spent a good part of the day hand stitching bindings on as the last step in quilt construction.

This comfort quilt was put together by Judy and had the binding hand stitched by the “binding” ladies.

Another comfort quilt sewn by Judy and hand stitched by the crew. These are still some of the camouflage pieces donated to us over a year ago!

This quilt was sewn by Rae. The next photo will show the backing which is a lovely Indigenous fabric. 

           This fabric beautifully compliments the yellow top. Thank you for the comfort quilt Rae.

This is the fourth batik quilt we made from our batik leftovers. Susan and I added borders and I took it home to quilt and bind. I wanted to try the technique where you wrap the extra binding to the front after trimming it to the desired width, then mitre the corners and machine stitch it down.

      This quilt and those in the following two photos were stitched by Marg for emergency services.

             Thank you, Marg for the work you put into these quilts. EMS will surely appreciate them.

There are now 18 EMS quilts completed. Audrey will wait till some of the wild fire frenzy is over before she makes arrangements for donating them.

Thanks to Marg and Eileen (nice to have you back!) we have 5 more flimsies ready to sandwich and pin.

Marg made up three animal themed tops and one bird themed one from a bag of assorted fabric pieces she took home while Eileen put together a top from green comfort blocks stitched by members in 2020. Marg donated a bolt of fabric she had to make the backings for the tops she put together. Thank you for your generosity, Marg. Once we have these quilts completed we’ll be showing them off to you!

We made a very special presentation this evening to our fellow member, Donna. During the Sourdough Bay fire she and her family lost their summer home at Sourdough Bay along with all their possessions there some of which were very special and irreplaceable. We know we cannot replace the special things she lost but we hope the quilt we presented to her can offer her comfort in knowing that we care.

This is “It Takes a Village #2” which Donna herself helped to put together. We hope you enjoy it, Donna! 

Show and Tell:

Bev made a set of Christmas placemats for her son-in-law’s mother’s 70th birthday. She used the quilt as you go method, and stitched down the binding with a serpentine stitch. 

Bev showed us the flimsy for this quilt shortly after she returned from her winter stay in Arizona. It has now been quilted by Sheri and bound by Bev ready for use. This was made using the Five and Dime ruler.

Eileen has been busy finishing off projects that have been in progress for some time. She started this table runner in 2020 and has now completed it. She used a very simple and effective quilting pattern, straight lines, close together.

                    Her choice of backing fabric makes for a reversible topper. Lovely, fabric, Eileen!

She calls this her three year project. It’s a wall hanging for her only sister or a table topper if she wishes.

                                    This cute little teddy bear is a gift for her new grand -niece.

Eileen chose the Highway 10 Designs pattern, Washboard Road, to make this quilt for her great-nephew in Iqaluit. The colours are vibrant and masculine.

Audrey shared her third project from the SUN retreat held in Creighton. This is called reversible patchwork known as Punjabi. All the seams are flat-felled so there are no raw edges. This piece can be hung in a window and the flat-felled seams will show as dark giving it a stained glass effect.

Phyl found a piece of pink twill in the guild cupboard. She stitched this bag, embroidered it with her machine and added some handles from Emmaline Bags. This will be for the quild to use as a quilt bag or perhaps for a draw.

Program:

Tonight’s program was presented by Sandra D. and Rae.

                  This block is called the Strawberry Scraps Block adapted from @sewmaryhappy.

Kits with fabric for the strawberries have been made up and picked up by members. Members have been asked to donate the background pieces, low volume in beiges, and creams, but no whites. Once the blocks have been made and handed in they will be put together in an offset way.

               Sandra made up this top for herself to illustrate what the final comfort quilt will look like.

And that is a wrap for this month! Enjoy the summer weather!

Gladys

Guild Day Tuesday, June 18, 2024

 As usual, we had a productive day today. There were 18 ladies coming and going throughout the day and a number of projects were being worked on. Four quilts were pin basted, one quilt which was pinned last month was quilted by Sandra D. and four quilts were having binding hand stitched down.

          Bev and Susan are stretching the backing and batting in preparation for pin basting a quilt.

Sandra S. is pressing sashing while Patty is stitching it to blocks. Sandra D. is quilting  a pin basted quilt.

                             Sandra is pinning the sashing to the blocks so it can be machine stitched.

The sashing is complete, next step is the borders. The blocks were sewn and donated by the members as part of our comfort block programs.

           Evelyn, Moira and Iris are busy at stitching bindings while Audrey is sewing more blocks.

Lorna is making up a new ironing board cover from a piece of canvas print she had. The old cover had been so well used that the scorch marks were staining fabric. Time to pitch it!

                                                                      Pinning in progress!

After a number of quilts tops have been completed and fabric bins have been rooted through, it’s time to resort the fabric into colours and sizes of pieces so it will be easier to find something to match or fit into the next set of tops to be constructed.

Comfort quilts:

There were eight completed comfort quilts handed in today. Thank you to all who did the work.

This leaf quilt was a group effort by our members. Lorna donated the blocks (thank you, Lorna) and the members then stitched them with spacer blocks, borders and binding.

Marg quilted this piece but no one recognized or remembered who did the piecing! Marg turned the extra backing material to the front for binding. That gives me an idea for one of my own quilts!

Lynn went through the batik bucket, added some from her own stash and made up enough kits for members to make blocks for four quilt tops. This is the third one and one more will be ready for next month. Sandra D. did the quilting today. 

This pattern is one of the 3 yard quilt patterns. The name is Roman Holiday and it was pieced by Phyl. This pattern was one of the two that the beginner quilters used.

                                        June did the strip quilting on this lovely baby quilt.

Another strip pieced quilt, this time in pink. These are so attractive and don’t require a pattern. It’s a good way to use up fabric strips that are too small for anything else and the flannel is so snuggly!

                                Heather did the quilting on this one. Did you also do the piecing?

This lovely top was pieced by Judy. She took the kit (put together by Lynn) , figured out a pattern and came up with this! Beautiful job Judy! I am unsure as to who did the quilting.

We now have 35 comfort quilts in the buckets. Five emergency services quilts are in various stages of completion.

Show and Tell:

Patty B’s Lone Star quilt is a gift for her son and daughter-in-law. It was custom quilted by Dixie Thule from Swan River. What a gorgeous quilt, Patty!

Susan made this wall hanging using the pattern for the pumpkins from our fall raffle quilt. She used the opportunity to work on her free motion quilting. Do you see her ghost pumpkin in the upper right corner? This is her first attempt at free motion quilting and it is very impressive!

Donna also used parts of the blocks from our fall raffle quilt for this lovely fall pillow. Beautiful work, Donna!

Lynsie is one of our new quilters. She cut, pieced, pin basted, quilted and applied the binding on this beautiful Roman Holiday quilt. Great job, Lynsie!

Not only did Lynsie make the Roman Holiday quilt, she also made a rag quilt for her daughter to use as her camping quilt. Another beautiful project!

Charlene, another of our new quilters, also chose the Roman Holiday pattern as her learning quilt. A beautiful choice of fabrics and a job well done!

Marg was gifted some special fabric by her friend from Slovakia. The patterns on the white fabric in these placemats are also present on the buildings of the town from which the fabric comes.

                                 The black fabric on this bag was another piece from Slovakia.

The white patterned fabric in these three bags was the third piece of Slovakian fabric she received. The colours are very vibrant and worked beautifully with the solids. What a special gift from her friend.

Marg said this was probably the longest pattern she had ever used, fourteen pages, if I remember correctly. The name of it is Gypsy Wives and there are many, many small pieces and blocks. A very unique and beautiful quilt!

Marg’s final piece was the last quilt from her store. This one has a lot of varying techniques and is a striking example of quilting.

Sandra has completed a second memory quilt for her sister. This one was made from shirts in blue tones. She does such an outstanding job of these quilts. Sandra definitely thinks outside the box.

The back of the quilt is also pieced. The pale blue is a sheet that belonged to their mother. A true memory for her sister!

Last but not least we have Audrey’s project. This is a little bag she made at the SUN quilter’s retreat in Creighton. It’s perfect for carrying all those notions we quilters need.

Lynn ended the evening by demonstrating the Christmas tree block for one of our Christmas raffle quilts. We will be sewing two quilts, one for the Women’s Resource Centre craft sale in Creighton and the other for the Christmas craft sale in Cranberry Portage.

Happy quilting everyone!

Gladys