Guild day, Tuesday, September 17, 2024

 On June 19, 2024, the North Star Quilt Guild lost one of its founding members with the passing of            Margaret Harrower. She was a dedicated, active member up until the time that she began having vision     and mobility problems. She requested that her quilting and sewing supplies be donated to our guild, so on Tuesday her family members brought her “stash” to the church. We are grateful to Marg and her family as her generous donation will go a long way towards helping us achieve our goals for the comfort quilts we     make and donate to those in need.                                                                                                                    

A number of members spent the day sorting through the bins and preparing fabric for storage for later use.

            

                                                                                 

While one group of members was busy sorting fabrics, Sandra D and her group were working on the strawberry quilt top.                                                                                                                                 

Marg was working on joining the strawberry blocks after the sashing strips were constructed.

Sandra was working on the sashing.

Sandra S was cutting pieces for the sashing while Moira was cutting usable squares from the donated fabric.

One strawberry top in construction. There will be enough blocks to make another top. We will be sure to share the photos of the completed quilts and hopefully I’ll have a more focused photo!

Comfort quilts:

                                           A flannel strip quilt sewn and donated by Eileen.

Another strip quilt from Eileen. Thank you Eileen! These type of quilts are a good and simple way to use up scraps! We all know that scraps have a way of accumulating.

                         This creation is one of three donated by Marg. Some little one will love this!

                              Creation number two from Marg will be the favourite of a little girl!

                                                Number three is a study in blues and greens.

                                          Heather stitched up these frogs, perfect for a boy.

Sandra D brought back some Arizona fabrics she was able to acquire at a bargain price. I figured the Mahjong pattern would suit the large prints, so I volunteered to stitch the quilt. I added extra borders to give it enough size for an adult quilt. The binding is a flange with the flange part (the white) made wider and then stitched down so it would give the appearance of a double binding.

Marg F donated a number of smaller pieces that will work very well for penny parades or door prizes at the craft sales we attend. We have also been told that at the Cranberry markets we have to have items for sale, not just tickets for a raffle. That is something we will have to work on in preparation for next year.

                                                              Number two from Marg.

                                             Number three, from table runners to placemats.

                                                  Number four is a pineapple table runner.

And finally, number five, table centrepiece or wall hanging. Thank you Marg for all the donations.

We now have 50 comfort quilts in our donation buckets. If anyone still has a comfort quilt at home please try to have it ready to turn in for the October guild day as November guild day is when we make the donations.

We have distributed 11 Emergency Agency quilts and now Audrey is working on quilts to be donated to the RCMP to be placed in their cruisers. 

Show and Tell:

Charlene found some lovely fruit and vegetable fabrics and made some pretty placemats with a little utensil pocket. Each photo shows a different food and colourway.

                                         Blueberries, very appropriate for this time of year!

                                                                      Raspberries.

                                                                           Peas.

               Tomatoes. We can tell you are enjoying your new hobby. Beautiful pieces, Charlene!

This round table centrepiece was a special request from her daughter to fit her round coffee table and match the bowl she sets on it at Christmas time. She specifically asked for the red plaid fabric. 

This 94’ x 94’ quilt is made from 2 1/2” squares with 6” squares for the border. A lovely way to use up those squares!

This is Rae’s version of the Row by Row quilt Sandra S shared with us last month. Coincidentally, one of the magazines that Marg H donated to us has this pattern on the cover!

This quilt is made from a Kaffe Fassette collection using the Highway Ten pattern, Home Quarter. Kaffe Fassette fabrics have very colourful vibrant shapes and colours.

This is the quilt Rae will be selling tickets on at the St. Ann ‘s bazaar on October 26. She completed the top while she was in Parksville for the winter and had it quilted by a longarmer there. 

Plains and Pine had this quilt pattern online as a quilt along. Rae participated and made some extra blocks to enlarge it somewhat. To finish it she decided on a flange binding with the flange as the lime green used in her squares. It beautifully finishes the quilt! She says she is not totally happy with the binding, but we all assured her that it was very nice! Rae is a perfectionist!

Sandra S closed our show and tell with this table runner she made from the jelly roll strips she won at our Christmas party last year. Many were vintage type fabrics and she added some from her stash to complete the runner.

Program:

Bev H and Donna presented the program, a demonstration of the Jewel Box square. Packages of backing 

were distributed and members were asked to donate the jewel squares from their stash.

Each square looks very simple but when arranged with the other squares will give an interesting pattern. A quilt made from this should be quite masculine. 

These are the instructions for the block should you be interested in making one for the quild or for your own use.

A reminder that there will be no UFO day in October as October 4th and 5th are our retreat days. This time the retreat will have a $20 fee to cover our building rent.  Sewing runs from 9 - 4 each day with a catered turkey supper on Friday. If you are interested in coming to the supper, contact Lynn. After the meal, the horse blocks we have been working on will be shown. 

The Empty Bobbin from Swan River will be here as a vendor so if you need some fabric for that special project be sure to stop by. Members of the public are welcome!

There will be an open house from 1 - 4 each day when members of the public can attend and view the comfort quilts we have made and some of our own quilts which will be on display in the sanctuary.

Outlaw Coffee is planning on being present on Saturday afternoon.

Our fall raffle quilt will be drawn for at 4:00 pm on Saturday so if you still have ticket books out please be sure to turn them in on Friday, if possible, so they can be readied for the draw.

Our October guild day is also when our membership fees are due. Fees this year are $50 for the year. 

Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything important! See you at the retreat!

Happy quilting!

Gladys

                      

Guild Day, Tuesday, August 20, 2024

 There were up to 18 members present during the day with several visitors popping in to see what we were up to! We had a productive day as usual with several quilts being pinned, bound or pieced.

Bev is pinning the pieces for one of the Christmas quilts that will be raffled at the Christmas craft shows.

Santa in the trees is the second of the Christmas quilts. Here Lynn is planning the layout of the trees.

Our hand stitchers are always busy with binding. A number of our quilts are machine bound but we still have a good amount of hand bound quilts as well.

Marg was busy sharpening our scissors today. Nothing is better than a sharp scissors when cutting fabric. She did a fabulous job on my kitchen shears as well!

                                            Susan is preparing a quilt sandwich for pinning.

                                     Sandra is stitching the quilt rows that Bev is pinning. 

                             Marg is helping me stretch the backing for a quilt I pieced for the guild.

Strategy meeting! Planning for the October meeting when the new executive will be taking charge.

At afternoon coffee break several of the members took advantage of the trial run of Outlaw Coffee, owned and operated by Sandra’s daughter Melanie and her husband.

Comfort quilts:

My apologies, since I was unable to attend the meeting, I do not know who to credit for the work on the comfort quilts. 

                                  Lorna pieced this quilt and we can see that she loves yellow!

       Heather did the piecing for this quilt but the free motion quilting and binding was done by Marg who quilted words in among the vines and hearts.

                                   Sorry, no idea who to credit for this one. Very attractive.

                        Another of the Emergency Agencies quilts that Audrey has been working on. A total of five emergency quilts were completed but not all are shown here. Eleven emergency quilts were distributed for delivery today.

Show and Tell:

Phyl shared her quilt on our guild Facebook page as it was going to be gifted by today. This is her Brown Bag Mystery Quilt for 2024. The colours are beautiful, Phyl!

This is Rae’s fall quilt. The orange shade is very fall-like rather than the bright orange usually used in Halloween quilts. She purchased the kit for this quilt in Swan River.

This is Rae’s next quilt. The top is complete and ready for the longarmer. The piecing is Rae’s favourite part of the quilt making process. She completed this top as a shower gift for her granddaughter. The blue hearts are made of Liberty of London fabrics.

Sandra has completed her strawberry runner/wall hanging. The two toned binding adds interest and is very attractive. This was a practice piece on her new longarm. The backing and binding are from Tula Pink. This piece will go to her sister.

Another completion for Sandra is her Strawberry throw quilt. Again she used the two tone binding from Tula Pink. This was the first quilt she did on her long arm. It is all freehand and a marvellous job! The runner happened because she made too many blocks for her quilt so she made the runner for her sister and has enough blocks for a runner for herself!

Sandra S. completed this lovely quilt. Thank you for forwarding the labels, Sandra. I’ll post them and they can fill us in on the journey.

Sandra’s son was in preschool at the time she started her quilt and now he is 26. As always she had lots of fun with the quilting. She began quilting the borders with some paper patterns that she had been given but that was not working out so she ripped off the paper and ended up marking her quilting pattern. It is a sentimental quilt as Erva Olson Pearson, who was a close friend of Sandra’s when her children were young, and helped Sandra out many times, cut out the pieces for the quilt with Sandra.

Thank you Sandra D, Sandra S, and Bev for taking photos for me so I could complete this blog post. Thank you to Audrey for taking notes for me.

See you next month!

Gladys

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