Just Friends - and a Quilt

Just Friends is an adult day services program in Columbus.  I'm on the Board and am pleased to be associated with this program, even in a small way.  With the completion of Mill Race Center, a new community center for active adults, Just Friends moved into one wing of Mill Race Center.  This move came after a temporary stay of only 22 years at the First Lutheran Church!  The Church has been a wonderful supporter of the Just Friends program since its inception, letting us use their space, their kitchen, their pots, their pans and their dishes.  See where this is going???

So, with the move to a new facility, we decided to hold a Kitchen and Bath Shower to welcome the program to their new home.  Although Thursday was a rainy, dreary day, we had lots of laughter and fun with the shower, with over 50 people stopping in to see the new digs.  Take a look at the fun we had!

Look at the wonderful space the nurses now have in their office.  There's also a quite room for participants about the same size, very comfortably outfitted with recliners.  Okay, so this isn't showing much fun yet - but it's exciting to have this new space! 

People starting to arrive, being greeted by Marilyn Clerc, Executive Director of Just Friends.  Marilyn's in the white blouse.  You can see the hat rack in the foyer - a really charming accent piece that is part of Just Friends' logo. 

Judy, standing, talking with a group waiting for a break in the buffet line.

Two quilters (left) are holding a quilt they and a group of their friends made for Just Friends.  Liz introduces them as staff members stand by to accept the gift.

Their idea is for each participant to embellish a square so that it becomes a true memory quilt.  The colors in the quilt complement the pain color nicely - a happy coincidence.

Vickie (left) assisted in opening the presents.  She's handing Marilyn a box of kitchen towels and potholders that will come in very handy as food is prepared.

Don got in on the action, too, and opened his fair share of presents.

Waunita reacts with excitement as a gift is opened.  The wonderful thing about Waunita is that she was excited about EVERY present that was received - all useful and necessary items for the program's operation.

Linda made the table decorations - just lovely.  You can see the expanse of space available for activities.  Just beyond the lockers on the left is the serving counter with the kitchen behind it.  To the right is an expanse of windows that let in lots of light.  At the far back of the room is the administrative office.  

A good time was had by all.  The food was delicious - especially the sausage rolls and desserts.  Donors were generous and ensured that Just Friends has the equipment needed to continue providing a safe, secure environment where social, emotional, physical and intellectual activities are provided to our loved ones who need this day care to remain in their home setting.

Cheers!
Margaret

Longarm Group Meeting

Despite all of the rain, we had a great time yesterday.  There were eight of us that met at Jamie's house for one of our periodic longarm group meetings.  Her home is set in a picturesque area of Ripley County and includes a wing built using logs from a dismantled log home.  

We started off with Show and Tell.  Carolyn had two wonderful quilts, one of which had the corners cut off at an angle so it was less bulky on the bed.  Great idea and it looked beautiful.



This is another of  Carolyn's quilts.  You can see the feathered vines in the light areas and all of the beautiful colors in the quilt, expertly pieced.

This is the back of Carolyn's quilt.  The quilt is gorgeous but  I was enthralled with the quilting.  In particular, I like the mix of fills around the straight line quilting emphasizing a square block on the front.  She develops her own designs to  fill the spaces perfectly.  

 

Another of Carolyn's quilts.  You can't see it here, but the fills around the baskets are all different. 

We moved on to unfinished tops.  Several of us had tops and everyone chimed in with ideas.  Several of the tops had applique so ideas for fills around the applique were a hot topic. 

We used an acrylic sheet on which to audition quilting designs.  Harriet had developed a wonderful quilting design for one of the dark squares in the stripe but was unsure how to complete the triangle areas outside of the square.  Several ideas were offered.  We'll look forward to seeing this beautiful batik top quilted.  Don't forget to look out the doors to the view of Jamie's back yard.  Although rainy and gray, it's still a beautiful scene.

After lunch, it was upstairs for hands on play.  Jamie had drawn two different applique possibilities and we had several ideas for fill around the applique. 

Gloria working on one possibility for a fill around the applique.



Here's Harriet's idea for a fill - feathers around the applique on one side of the vine with piano keys on the opposite side.  What a great mix of texture and design.

Another possibility - outlining and adding a leafy shape around the applique and adding swirling ribbons in between the leaves.

We also experimented with embellishing the Terry Twist idea and discussed how to address issues if the block is actually made up of quarter triangles rather than a single piece of fabric.  You can also see the meandering feather that was started toward the bottom of the picture.

Another idea for a border fill - easy and fast, particularly if there are blocks that can be used as registration lines for starting new fern fronds.

 Driving home, we all were reenergized and ready to put ideas into practice.  As soon as I finish this, I'm off to quilt.

Cheers!
Margaret



Quilts for Kids

The local Quilts of Valor group has developed a special relationship with the mother and widow of one of our servicemen, Jeremy McQueary.  As we near the first anniversary of his death, we held a special ceremony during which two quilts were given to Jeremy's son and niece.  The quilt for his son, Hadley, was primarily blue and white while the quilt for his niece, Olivia, was red and white.  Both quilts incorporated pictures of Jeremy and other family members.

At a brief ceremony on Monday, the quilts were given to Hadley and Olivia.  During the ceremony, it was mentioned that Jeremy had received the quilt made for him after being injured while in Iraq.  We had even received a note from Jeremy thanking us for the quilt and letting us know how much it meant to him.

Hadley (left) and Olivia (right, holding her sister) with their quilts.

QOV members enjoyed the antics of the kids after they received their quilts.

A brief reception following the ceremony during which QOV members talked with family members.

Jeremy's sacrifice, and the efforts and sacrifices of all members of the services, will never be forgotten.  We are so appreciative of all they do for our country and citizens in the countries they serve.  May Hadley and Olivia always know how much Jeremy means to our nation.

Margaret   

New Year - New Tools

Well - it's really February but the fact is that I just got two cool new tools.

One of my favorite places to shop for quilting tools is the hardware store.  Fun to look and think about the different ways to use various tools there.  One of the critiques of my quilts from judges has been that my corners should be square.  I've gotten much better about cutting accurately and sewing accurately.  Once a quilt is quilted it sometimes has a tendency to not be quite as square as when it was put on the quilting frame - perhaps due to the density of quilting across the quilt and perhaps due to a quilt fairy playing tricks on me.  Anyway, blocking a quilt once quilted can be done to help pull the quilt back into shape.  To do this, you need a big expanse of floor or table on which to secure the quilt and a tool to make sure it is square.  Enter my new tool - a T-square!

Doesn't look like a T-square yet - but this makes it easy to store.

Useful not only for finished quilts but also to check how out of square a backing might be.  The length of the T-square is laying along a seam where two pieces of fabric are joined.

 My other cool tool came in the mail yesterday.  Red Snappers, developed by Renae Haddadin.  Renae is an award winning quilter and very inventive when it comes to developing tools to assist in quilting.

The small clamps are used to hold the material in place.  You can see that they are gripping the edge of a leader into which a small tube of plastic has been inserted.

Long snappers are then put in place, securely holding the fabric to the leader.  To attach these, you can lay the leader on the table and press the snapper in place but in my case, that means a long reach - hard on the back.  An alternative is to press the snapper while holding the leader against the belly bar - a somewhat slippery option requiring hands that are stronger than mine.  I've found that holding the fabric in place and pressing the snapper in place against my thumbs works best.  Won't need the painter's tape to protect me from the pins on the leaders!

 Loading quilts in preparation for quilting has taken anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour and a half.  The other watchout was all the pins used to pin fabric to the leaders.  And if I had to rotate quilts, it took quite a bit of time.  So these Red Snappers are not only great time savers but finger savers, too!

Cheers!

Margaret