Meeting Minutes for 5 July 2007

We have a new member...Laurel Wolf. I will add her information to our membership contacts list and get it out to you. Karolyn Linger is also planning to join but couldn't attend the July meeting. As soon as I can get her contact information I will add both new members before I forward to all members. This information will not be accessed through the blog - it is for members ONLY.

We met at Cathie's house this month since Barbara was on vacation in California - at Disneyland!
The meeting was attended by: Cathie, Anna, Marla, Chris, Tresa, Laurel, and me.

I passed out copies for the BOM (block of the month); so everyone should have patterns through June now. If you are missing any months, please let me know and I'll make copies to bring next month. I have the following people listed for participation in the BOM: Anna, Marla, Barbara, Rose, Cathie, and Laurel. If you're not on the list, but want a copy of these patterns... let me know so I can add you. There is no requirement for those "participating" to finish these blocks by a certain timeframe. Since the level of difficulty varies; some of you may need some help constructing some of your blocks. I can help anyone that needs help; but would prefer to work with a group rather than each one individually. If you haven't purchased fabric for these yet and want to do them as a BOM quilt, initially you will need the following: 2 yards fabric "a" (lightest), and 1 yard of each of the remaining 3 fabrics. If you want to do this as monochromatic (as intended) you will need a range of values from lightest to darkest in the same color. Next month I will talk more about "coping strips" and bring the information for these along with July's block.

The spool dowels that Lance is making should be finished by next month's meeting. He's going to train me on the equipment so I can help. Should be interesting! Anyway, I have orders from Barbara (10 ea), Tresa (6 ea) and Marla (6 ea). These were discussed and ordered at the June meeting. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. They are $.50 each which is about 1/2 what you'll pay in a store if you can even find them anymore. If you don't know what they are...they are what you put on your spool pin so the larger Coats thread will fit. If you are going to be in the stained glass class, this is the type of thread you will get in your kit.

I brought some of my new books to "show and tell". Two were checked out: "Painless Paper Piecing" - Cathie and "Critter Caboodle" - Marla. If anyone else has new books and/or patterns to share, please let me know so I can add them to our library list. (By the way, I don't know if I put my name in the front of these books yet - so if you could do that I would appreciate it...and you'll remember where you got them.)

Charity Quilts... Some of us are moving right along with our charity quilts - good job! I have several to quilt. Cathie has donated batting leftovers for these so there is no cost involved with the batting. I have purchased some fabrics for backs when I didn't have anything on hand that would work. I know that Tresa has also purchased backing fabric. Chris donated 2 new spools of thread. I know Marla also purchased fabric. I would like to discuss the "costs" of the charity quilts at our next meeting. I don't think it would be much if divided among all members (I'm sure under $5) and I don't think it's fair for just a few to carry the cost. (If you're one of the ones that has already spent money on this it will probably mean some back to you.) I do think this is a very worthwhile endeavor and I have had many rewarding hours putting tops together and quilting them. Marla has volunteered to do the hand work on the binding. If anyone else is interested in helping with this, let me or Cathie know so we can get them to you when they're ready. I will make the label's on my computer once we know how many quilts we are donating.

I am having a Stained Glass Quilt Class (fit for beginners) in November. The exact date will be decided when full. I am limiting to 8 students and I have 6 signed up so far. If you were in the previous stained glass class, the method is the same - so you don't need this one. The class fee is $25 and the kit fee (required) is $25. The kit will include 21 batik squares; enough black for leading, sashing, and binding; and thread. This will make a quilt top approximately 42" X 52". You can add a border if you want it a little bigger. (Also, these measurements are with 2" sashing. If you choose to use sashing the size of your leading it will be considerably smaller.) I will have 4 extra kits for the first 4 who request them...at $25 each.

Cathie distributed fabric for the Gossamer Petals quilts for those that ordered the kit from her. The fabrics are beautiful! We are going to use September's meeting to collectively learn the block with the triangles and wedges. Due to vacation schedules we would like to move September's meeting to the second Thursday (13 Sep) if that is agreeable with ALL (especially Barbara). We can discuss this again at our meeting in August.

Block Exchange - We have decided that we want to choose a focus fabric which may or may no be used in your blocks. I don't know yet how many want to participate; but to give everyone time to do this before our December meeting we will need to choose the focus fabric and know the number of participants by September's meeting. Cathie can purchase fabric wholesale...so we might want to choose a fabric on line at the Checker website. I don't seem to have the information on that in my file...so Cathie - can you please post this information to the blog?

Next month's meeting will be 2 Aug 07, 6 pm, back at Barbara's house in Clinton. If you need directions, contact me or Barbara via email. Be sure to bring show and tell. We all love to see what everyone is doing!

Happy Quilting,
Debi