Quilting in the Park

Today was the Columbus Star Quilters Guild "Quilting in the Park" day.  Lois Griffith graciously offered her home, the park-like setting of her back yard and screened porch for our gathering.  Today, with temperatures hovering in the mid-90's and the heat index well over 100, we opted to gather inside.  There were people working on quilts - sewing the binding, doing hand quilting, others doing some rug hooking or crochet, several working on applique projects. 

Kay and the Birthday Girl (Cathy) were less than thrilled to have their picture taken.  Didn't stop me!

Susan, Dottie and Jamie had a wonderful window seat and the natural light for their work.

And then there were those flitting from place to place, talking, laughing, eating and just generally having a good time. I was one of those flitting - and what fun I had!  I also learned several things in between the hilarity.  I brought one of my baby quilt tops made from blocks I've had for at least a year.  I love sashing between blocks but have had trouble lining up the sashing in subsequent rows.  With all of the experts in attendance, I knew I'd be able to find the answer as to how you could line those blasted sashes up.  And answers there were!

1. The smarty-pants answer was, "Well, if you are sewing a perfect quarter inch seam, they should all line up perfectly."  Right.  Hard as I try, I know my seams aren't always perfect.  And that presumes I cut the fabrics EXACTLY right, too.  There's an awful lot of perfect that's needed for that to come out correctly.
2. Another answer was in the form of a question.  "Do you square up the blocks before you start the sashing?"  Well, I've been known to do that in the past but I hadn't done that this time.  And I distinctly remember a quilter extraordinaire tell a class that they shouldn't have to square up the blocks if they had cut them and sewn them precisely.  (Again, an awful lot of perfect on my part needed for that to happen.)
3. Another suggestion was to use cornerstones.  I had thought of this possibility but that's extra work cutting the cornerstones and matching the seams.  Sometimes I'm just too lazy to do extra work.  And if the sashing is all the same color, I really would rebel at cutting cornerstones just to sew them together again.
4. Then Jamie suggested measuring and marking with pins on each side of the connecting sashing to get them to line up.  Well, DUH!  Why didn't I think of that?  It's such a logical and simple answer now that I know it!

With that burning question answered, I flitted around for a while more, collecting items for our Quilter's Boutique.  Several guild members brought in items they had made.  Some were the completion of items started at our July Sew Day.  Others were items they made for the boutique.  Just look at the fun and fancy things that were donated...

Carol had seen some faces at boutiques she saw at other quilt shows - and one showed up!  There were also two photo albums, several jewelry keepers, a book cover and a lovely table runner and a lovely poinsettia wall hanging.

Then it was on to the eating and chatting.  Here are Jeannette, Linda and Janet hovering around the M&M's.  There were also delicious pastries and birthday cupcakes to keep us fed until lunchtime!

It was also great to meet Jan, a newly retired teacher that I hope we'll see at future guild activities.  She had been working on a rug hooking project and Lois provided her with some additional instruction.

I also learned a few binding tricks from Alice.  She has received praises on her bindings from quilt judges and she was working on the binding of a quilt.  I remembered her saying she tied a knot every 10 binding stitches to help anchor the binding in case a part of it was accidentally ripped loose.  While I thought I could guess how that was done, it was so helpful to have her show me her technique.  My guess wasn't even close!  I also have struggled with completing the binding when I get all the way around the quilt.  She and Dottie chimed in on how I should be ending the binding stitches.  There's lots to be said for getting that information from knowledgeable sources and being able to actually see it being done. 

Becky, Sara and Melissa were so industrious, they didn't even look up when I took their picture.

Lucky for the rest of the guild members that my camera battery died!  That's the end of the pictures (sob!).

All in all, a fun day.

Cheers!
Margaret