And the Winners are...

Our Quilt Guild had an Unfinished Object (UFO) Challenge this year. The guild was divided into two groups - the Calicos and the Batiks. The challenge was to see which group would complete the most unfinished quilting projects by our November meeting. The guidelines were pretty loose - the project had to have been started before 1/1/11 and it had to be quilting related - not rug hooking, embroidery or other needle arts.

Rosemary had these leftover half square triangle fabrics and set them with white HSTs for an interesting visual effect. Way to use those leftover pieces!

The challenge picked up momentum through the year. It was interesting to see the projects finally completed - some begun in the early 90's and others as recently as last year. Quilters really got in the spirit this month - cheering teammates on and waiting for the final tally:

Batiks - 126.5 ........... Calicos - 155.5

The .5 related to a quilt completed early in the year where two guild members did equal amounts of work on the project. Rather than split hairs, each team got credit.

Carolyn is modeling her completed quilting project - a jacket she started last year on a quilting vacation with her sisters and completed on this year's vacation.
Colleen had this beautiful string quilt - I love the bright diamond-shaped stars made by the design as well as the alternate cream stars in between the colored fabrics.

It was wonderful to see how projects were completed - the variety was endless. Several orphan blocks ended up in smaller quilts that will be given to our local Firemen's Cheer Fund for distribution with dolls to area children.

Mary delights in working with small pieces of fabric. Her quilt above has 56 different fabrics.

I also liked Mary's comment that they weren't "doll quilts" as much as they were quilts for little girls who had a doll.

We also enjoy seeing the Halloween costumes that are made for the lucky children of some of our members. This year had a back to nature theme...

Anne, modeling her "tree" outfit that she wore to her son's school Halloween party (his outfit was cute but I missed my chance for a picture).
Susannah's daughter had a wonderful earthy type costume - note the headdress! It's wonderful to be surrounded by such creative women.

Cheers!

Margaret

Harmony Quilters

I visited the Harmony Quilt Guild in North Vernon last night. It's always interesting to visit other guilds to see how they operate, to learn about the projects in which they're involved (this group makes quilts for the local WIC program), and find out other creative ideas. This guild certainly had quite a few interesting things going on including a fabric exchange one month and a block exchange on alternate months.

They also have a traveling box, here being opened by Jeanie. There were scads of fun items in the box including fabric, scissors, finger cots, a tote bag from the Chatauqua weekend, hand made note cards that were wonderful and best of all - chocolate! She'll take the box home and at the next meeting will bring it back filled with a different selection of items.

Of course, there's always Show and Tell. I don't remember the name of the lady (on the right) who made this gorgeous top. She said that once the fabric was cut, it went together quickly. I have a large print fabric that I'd like to make into a bed quilt and a relatively simple design like this would be a great way to showcase the fabric.
The Top Hat Quilt (above) was pieced by Norma. It's really visually striking, isn't it?

Jackie had the most interesting item for Show and Tell. Apparently she had seen a thread stand like this at a quilt shop for $69. And I thought $16 for a thread stand was expensive! A friend of hers made this for her and it only cost her a can of pop and a bag of chips! Such a deal. What a cute way to dress up a functional item. So if you know someone who welds, have at it.

A fun time with a wonderful group of women.

Cheers.

Margaret

A New Longarmer

One of the fun things that happened recently was that Becky came to stay with me. She came on a Wednesday to attend the CSQ Guild meeting, spent time in town catching up with friends and spent the night before attending the workshop with Mary Buvia on Thursday.

Becky has been thinking about getting a longarm machine so this was a perfect time for her to try one out and see if she liked working on it. I got several quilt tops from the local QOV group and we loaded one for her to quilt.

She picked it up quickly and I think she enjoyed the quilting experience. She kept saying, "This is so much fun!" She got the entire quilt quilted and it's now back in the hands of the QOV group that she participated in for so many years. Who knows...in the next year or so, when she gets moved into her new home, she might find herself looking for a new longarm. In the meantime, she might be back with one of her quilt tops to quilt.

Cheers.

Margaret

Meeting with the Master...

...Quilter, that is. More on that in a moment.

The Columbus Star Quilter's Guild meeting earlier this month was a feast for the eyes. There wonderful quilts completed by guild members. Here are just a few of the gems brought in this month as we near the end of our UFO Challenge.OK...blogger is acting up and I can't get this picture turned the right way. I can't even delete it so I can edit it elsewhere and start over. But you can see Sara's beautiful Christmas trees on this small quilt. It will grace her home along with the angel quilt she completed and exhibited earlier this year.

Rosemary showing one of the quilts she completed.

Rosemary with another of the quilts she completed. She had at least 2 more and she's been on this kick for several months. She's really taken the challenge to heart. She did say that although the quilts incorporate the simple 9 patch block, they all are quite different with the variety of colors and layouts that are used. And Rosemary quilted them all quilted beautifully.

Joan completed her New York Beauty quilt, quilted by ME! This was a fun quilt to work on as Joan liked the spiky quilting around the spikes and the swirls in the sunbursts.

Lois' birthday is on Hallowe'en and she made this fun quilt as a present to herself. I love the monster's eyes and the happy Jack O' Lantern.

We then had our program, given by recently named Master Quilter Mary Buvia. This award is made by the National Quilt Association to recognize those who have produced a masterpiece work - "work which reflects a consummate level of skill in quiltmaking."

Mary's work certainly exemplifies the best in all aspects of quilting - planning, piecing, applique, quilting and a variety of other techniques. She brought plenty of examples that were passed around so we could see up close the detailed nature of her work.

We also were able to see several of her larger works. She discussed her process starting at the idea stage, talking about how she drafts the patterns, enlarging them to get to a full size pattern. Then, and only then, she shops for the fabric that will be used in the quilt. What, no stash?!
I love the joyful nature of her quilting designs on this 4th of July pillow. She also uses metallic threads and other decorative items to add sparkle to her quilts.
We were also fortunate to have a machine quilting class with Mary the following day. She was full of tips, valuable information about needles, threads and quilting techniques. I came away with several new pieces of information that will serve me well both with my domestic as well as my longarm machine.

Stay tuned - her "Loading Dock" quilt has been selected for one of the top 3 prizes at the Houston Quilt Show coming up in November. I've seen that quilt up close and it is tremendous.

Cheers!

Margaret

P.E.O. and Quilts

I attended the biennial convention of the P.E.O. Sisterhood earlier this month. It was a wonderful chance to catch up with other P.E.O. sisters that I've known through the years as well as an opportunity to meet new sisters and get updated on all that is going on in the organization.

Quilts show up in interesting places - like behind the registration desk at the St. Louis Marriott. I did ask about who made the quilts and was told a local quilter but they didn't know the background. They were visually striking, encased so they kept free from dust and behind the registration desk so it was hard to get a close look at them.

There were a total of four quilts, all made using the same technique. Lots of tiny scraps went into the piecing of these quilts. Looking at the quilt with green borders more closely, it appears a flange or some piping was inserted between the pieced center of the quilt and the borders. I didn't notice that when looking at them.


Here's the P.E.O. part of this post!

Opening night ceremonies features the Parade of Flags. Here are Susan and Mimi, who led the Indiana delegation, with the Indiana flag. One of the exciting things that happened during convention was the invitation to the 2015 convention which will be held in Indianapolis! Y'all come!

As always, the most moving part of the convention was listening to and meeting the women who have received a grant or loan from P.E.O. While they were all outstanding speakers, Dr. Shwayta Kukreti, the Scholar Award recipient, was a particularly eloquent speaker and talked about her involvement in a groundbreaking research and development project - a process using laser scanners to locate biochemical markers for tumors and be able to distinguish between benign and cancerous tumors. This would be an alternative to mammograms, a welcome change for many women. Not yet approved by the FDA, this should be coming in the near future.

One of the more exciting developments was Dr. Rogers' announcement of the three Bachelor degrees now available from Cottey College, the women's college owned by P.E.O. Cottey students participated in several of the workshops. Those young women are poised, articulate and going to do great things in life.

It was a great convention and I had a wonderful time.

Cheers!

Margaret

BIQR 2011

Last week was a beautiful time of year to spend in northern Michigan...Elk Rapids to be exact. Jeannette, Lois and I met Carol and 26 other quilters at Elk Rapids for Gwen Marston's retreat. This year's topic was small studies with the theory being that you can test color choices and design options very quickly using small quilts. Gwen had completed 37 small studies with many different design ideas incorporated in one or another of her quilts.

Here Gwen is shown with a larger quilt based on one of her small studies - you can see the small study 4th from the left on the middle row.

After an introduction to the concept and a few demonstrations of curved piecing techniques, we were off. I have to admit that I struggled with this idea for a few days. It always takes me awhile to integrate new information and this year was more challenging than most. Gwen used solid fabrics almost exclusively. There are a few prints in very small amounts. Well, I brought mostly prints and decided to try the technique with them. Although she cautioned that my composition might end up looking muddy as the prints blurred together, I gave it a shot.

My inspiration was a Van Gogh painting in a children's book, compliments of Carol R. Yes - the two green prints next to each other were somewhat blurred but the other prints showed up nicely. I also did a trapezoidal small study rather than a square one - primarily due to the curved piecing and availability of the sunny fabric used at the top of the quilt.

With that sample completed, I concentrated on other projects, completing two of the quilt kits I had purchased in 2008 and 2009. Yeah!

The last day there was a gorgeous day - bright and sunny, pleasant temperatures and with a slight breeze. I went with our Australian quilters, Ann and Rosie, to Renee's House of Quilting for their annual sale.

Ann and Rosie at the tent behind Renee's, looking for bargains.

After the sale, I walked to town and spent a delightful hour watching boats as they either came home to the marina or left to explore Grand Traverse Bay. Sunny, warm, waves lapping on the shore - what a gorgeous way to spend a lovely afternoon.

As a final wrap up on Saturday, each student had to stand up and introduce their small samples. One overachiever (Carrie - you know who you are!) completed 10! This included attaching the binding and quilting them. There was an interesting collection of small studies with lots of variety. Jeannette is using Gwen's liberated pointer (a stick picked up outside) to point to one of her small studies. You can see my trapezoid and Lois' beautiful study with the graceful curving pieces to the right of my quilt.

The ride home was long and uneventful but very pleasant with Jeannette and Lois keeping things interesting.

Now - back to work.
Cheers!
Margaret



































Here's my result.

Again, Mum's the Word

Again this weekend I took time out from quilting to participate in my P.E.O. chapter's annual fundraiser. P.E.O. is a Philanthropic Educational Organization and Chapter DN has sold mums each fall to raise money for the scholarship programs we support. It involves asking friends if they'd like to add some fall color to their yard by buying mums and then delivering the mums to them.

Things went like clockwork this year. We were able to unload the truck and sort the mums pretty quickly. It's really true that lots of hands make light work. Lots of hands also means lots of talking and catching up with each other - one of my favorite parts of the mum selling and delivering process. I get to catch up not only with members of my chapter but also the friends to whom I've sold mums.

Laura and Jane checking to see what color the mums are before adding them to the grouping in the yard. It helped that all of the mums except the yellow mums had tags this year.

Michael had lots of cool activity books and Colin had really fun boots. The only problem was they complained about being cold! I have to admit, it was cool on the porch.

Once the mums are unloaded, they're grouped so that each sister has her own stash of mums. Friday was also Deb's birthday and we enjoyed hearing about the weekend plans - including a stay at the West Baden Springs hotel. With both of her kids in college, this is a real splurge for her and one I'm sure she'll enjoy.

We also caught up on the latest antics of Julia, who is now keeping Monica awake at odd hours of the night. She's still an adorable little girl - she woke up just as Monica was getting ready to leave so we got to coo at her. Deb even got her to giggle.

As a new P.E.O., Jane has made her mark by selling an enormous load of mums - 76, I think. She managed to get them all in the truck. Hope she got them all delivered.

As always, proceeds from this sale go to support the P.E.O. projects, providing money for women to continue their education in a variety of ways. If you know a young woman who would benefit from some financial assistance, let me know and I can work to see which program would be appropriate for her.

Cheers!

Margaret