In Stitches Quilt Guild

January 9, 2010

2010-01-11T22:00:00.045-07:00

In Attendance: Anna, Debi, Kristine, Rose, Tresa, Chris, Cathie, Marla

We met at Debi's house this month. Thank you for allowing us to invade.

Charity Quilts

We've made lots of progress on the quilts for the Burn Center.

To date, we have 20 lap/twin size quilts in progress or completed. All supplies and materials were dontated by guild members. Way to go ladies!

The charity quilts for 2010/2011 will go to the George E. Whalen Veteran's Home in Ogden. The quilts will be done in red/white/blue and we have a variety of patterns to choose from for these. This leads to our next topic.....

Snowman Collector Opportunity Quilt

This quilt is absolutely georgeous! Ladies, you did a fabulous job. Everyone contributed a block, Debi pieced the blocks, sashings, and borders, Cathie did the quilting, Marilyn made a beautiful embroidered label, and Linda stitched the binding. That's a group effort!

We are raffling it off to raise money for quilts for the George E. Whalen Veterans Home in Ogden. Debi created a flyer. Marla designed, printed, and distributed the tickets for which we are requesting a dontation of $1.00 per ticket or $5.00 for six tickets. Money should be turned in to Laurel and you can pick up additional tickets from her or Marla as you need them. Proceeds will purchase fabric, batting, and supplies for the patriotic themed quilts. Funds raised above the amount needed for this will be donated to the home. The drawing is scheduled for November 1, 2010.

Debi's Monthly Quilting Lesson

Debi's lesson on "Value - Color not Price" was very informative. She was able to pull together a half dozen or so beautiful sets to illustrate value from her fabric wall. I want her wall!

Debi's demonstration in February will be "Quilt As You Go"

2009 Block Of the Month

Kristine provided this fun and easy BOM for the month of January. Here's Rose displaying the finished block.

Everyone should have 11 blocks now. A picture of each will be posted later this month. We'll be meeting at Debi's again next month for the final BOM for 2009 provided by Chris.

Retreat 2010

Cathie made the announcement that she will not be able to organize the 2010 retreat because of a very exciting opportunity that she'll share with everyone next month. Unfortunately, nobody volunteered to take over the organizing of this activity so there will not be a retreat at the Sages Creek Retreat at Bear Lake this year.

The good news is that Marilyn is willing to host a retreat at her house this summer. Debi & Marilyn will open their fifth wheelers for extra beds and Marilyn will provide her home for sewing, eating, and gabbing. What fun! And so much closer and cheaper than our usual retreats! More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Show & Tell

Remember those "I Spy" quilts Debi was putting together at the Heber retreat in 2007.....? Here are two of them, completed by Debi standards (which includes quilting, label, and binding - some people have such high standards) Way cute!

And she's become addicted to the disappearing 4-patch pattern! This one used layer cakes.

and this one used charm squares. OMG those are tiny squares!

Finally finished by Cathie's not-so-high standards (pieced and waiting to go on the longarm some day) is Antitude in Blue. It only took a year or so to get this far, what's another year or two waiting to quilt it?

And Cathie is hooked on the Laps from Fats classes at Thimbles and Threads each month. November was a set of table runners.

Any chance they'll be quilted and ready to go for Valentines Day this year? NOT!

This one was from the 2nd class Laurel and Cathie attended in May or June, I think.

Kristine provided a fabulous lunch of chicken salad on croisants and to die for brownies for desert. And of course there was a plethora of munchies to snack on too. Thank you!

No, it's not your eyes. This one is a little out of focus but it's the only shot I had of the group!

Next month's meeting will be at Debi's house on February 6th from 11:00 - 4:00. Hope to see you there!

November Meeting

2009-11-09T18:35:00.019-07:00

November 3, 2009 BOM/Guild Meeting

In attendance were Tresa, Kristine, Chris & Laurel (you can just barely see her hair)

Anna, Marilyn, Rose (& Cathie behind the camera)

and of course, our host, Marla

Thanks to Marla for hosting a fun block of the month and providing delicious soup and tasty snacks! Loved the homemade crackers with goat cheese :)

The block Marla provided was "Card Trick." Here's a snapshot of the block for those who didn't get it put together on Saturday.

and Laurel with her finished block.

Anna had show & tell, next month she and Robert will be cuddling together under that snuggly quilt!

Our annual Christmas dinner will be at Rickenbacker's Bistro on Thursday, December 10th at 6:00p.m. Here's the link to their web site where you can find the menu and directions. http://rickenbackersbistro.com/

Cathie is checking out available June 2010 dates for a Sages Creek retreat at Bear Lake. The RDO weekends for that month are the 11th and 25th we are waiting to hear if either of those are available.

Marla passed around her draft for the raffle tickets. Looked good to all. Now we just have to print fliers and sell tickets!

We talked a little about charity quilts. It was proposed that next year's quilts be done in red/white/blue and donated to the new Veterans Retirement/Nursing Home in Ogden. Also mentioned was quilts for children for Shriners (??? - I forgot to write down the organization)

Without our fearless leader present, other business just fell by the wayside.

Hope to see everyone at Rickenbacker's Bistro in December.

October Meeting

2009-10-05T10:11:00.001-06:00

Laurel, Marla, Tresa and I had a great time at Anna’s. Lunch was delicious! The block was fun and easy to make even though it looked more complicated!!! My favorite kind!!! Tresa also completed her block from Linda and Marla worked on a BOM from Sew and Save! Anna, Laurel, Tresa and I also worked on some charity quilt blocks. I passed out enough for each person to make a quilt. Cathie and her daughter stopped by to drop off a few things and I gave her a couple of completed charity quilts to quilt. Laurel also took 2 of these for Marilyn to quilt…I have plenty at home!

The opportunity quilt is finished…including a beautiful label made by Marilyn! If you haven’t seen it completed, I have it at my house! Laurel has taken pictures which she will forward to Marla. Marla has the tickets ready to go and is making a flyer to go with these. Thanks for everybody’s help to get this underway. We can start selling tickets in January. I know I’m going to buy some. My hairdresser is also going to post the flyer in her shop and sell tickets for us for a couple of months. Marla is going to print up about 500 tickets initially. We all have to be responsible for any tickets we take to sell as you will be expected to return a minimum of $5 for every 6 tickets…along with ticket stubs. Does anyone have a large popcorn tin? This would be good to put ticket stubs in. The drawing will be 6 Nov 2010 at our meeting. Who wants to keep and account for the money collected? I can do it…but I don’t want to be thought of as the control freak! It should at least be someone that comes regularly to meetings since we’ll need to turn in collections and ticket stubs at least once a month. Also, anyone that gets a shop to sell tickets needs to be responsible to check with the shop regularly and collect from them.

December’s meeting has always been dinner somewhere – and has been the first Thursday instead of Saturday. We need to decide where we’re going and get reservations made as this is a popular time. This is also the time we reveal Secret Sisters…and choose new ones if we’re going to do that again. I, for one, don’t think I’m going to participate next year. I haven’t had as much fun with it this year since we have to mail everything and, in all honesty, I haven’t really done much. Our participation at meetings has also fallen down so I’d like some suggestions to develop more interest. I know some of you have other things going on the week end…so maybe we need to look at a day change. I’m open to pretty much any ideas.

Retreats – Cathie is running the retreat thing this year – destination I believe is Bear Lake! So closer to home. We’ll need to decide on a date soon, though, so we can get the time reserved and other plans can be made around this. Maybe it would help Cathie if we told her the dates we just wouldn’t be able to go (if you’re planning to go at all). Also, I haven’t requested a refund of the deposit at Teton Patchworks since I was thinking some of us might want to do a second retreat there…or even go up for classes. Give me some feedback on this!

I am putting in a Connecting Threads order. If I get an order totaling $50 or more there is no shipping. So if you need anything from them, let me know ASAP. I’m hoping to get the order in by the end of this week. If you need to look at a catalog, you can do so on line or stop by my house. We’re already close to the $50 mark…in fact if I don’t get any more orders I’ll just get more thread to put us over the mark!!!

The November meeting will be at Marla’s on the 7th… same time. I probably won’t be there as I’m scheduled to teach the Tresa Shoulder Bag at My Heritage in North Ogden that day…provided at least 3 people sign up to take the class!!!

2009 Retreat at Teton Patchworks

2009-09-08T12:42:00.031-06:00

We had another fabulous retreat at Teton Patchworks. Barbara & Nancy came from California to join in the fun. Debi, Anna, Laurel, Kristine, Cathie and new guild member Theresa were the locals who attended. As usual, Lea and Jim were terrific hosts. We did a lot of visiting, a lot of quilting, a fair amount of eating, and visited several quilt shops during our 5-day trip.

Laurel's "Laps from Fats" Pinwheel in progress.

Debi's big Wacky 4-Patch

..................and her little one

Theresa worked on her Christmas tree skirt panels which she is going to quilt on her machine. Good luck Theresa!

Anna spent the first night and part of the first day piecing the back for the Buggy Barn Star quilt she made several years ago. The back looks terrific - you should see the top, it looks even better!

Kristine finished her Tresa Bag - love the jeweled bug dangling from the zippered pocket!

And Cathie's finished a wall hanging using coffee blocks from a panel and a paper pieced kitty wall hanging. Go Cathie!

Anna got the layout done for her "Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder" quilt (taught by Lea in April) - looks amazing. Who would guess it was made from the scraps of 8 quilters.

And ta da! Laurel's finished pinwheel quilt. Notice the little tiny pinwheels she added in the borders. Too cute!

Kristine finished getting the blocks togther on her stained glass quilt.

Don't tell Robert but Anna made him this wonderful snuggly quilt for curling up in the recliner.

Nancy made several trips to the quilt shop to get the fabrics for this beautiful french braid.

Laurel cooked us sliders on the barbie!

And Cathie finished yet another wacky four-patch, this one using wine bottle fabric. These things are addicting!

I don't have pictures of the disappearing 4-patch quilts Nancy and Barbara made or of Barbara's hand stitching she worked on. If anyone got photos of these please e-mail them to Cathie to be added this posting.

As usual, this was a fun, relaxing, and very productive stay in Tetonia. Can't wait until the next one!

August Guild Meeting

2009-09-08T12:18:00.004-06:00

I fail as the volunteer blogger for the group. I took terrible notes for the August meeting and waited too long to post them so I am having a terrible time remembering what was said and done. That's what I get for staying up so late the night before the meeting! Please make any corrections or additions as you see fit.

BOM/Guild Meeting Notes
The meeting was at Cathie's house. Thanks to everyone who made the long trek to Sandy for the 2nd time this month. The BOM was a 3-D pinwheel which had most everyone mumbling under their breath if not out right cursing. It was definitely a challenge!

Debi taught the lesson on Tools, Notions, & Equipment. She'll have to post her notes because mine are awful! For example, Rotary Cutters - DON'T CUT YOUR FINGERS. Well, duh!

Show & Tell
Most everyone worked on their Wacky 4-Patch. We'll have to get pictures at the October meeting. Lots of fun to see everyone's partially finished and finished blocks.

Upcoming Events/Activities
August 29 thru Sept 2 - Retreat at Teton Patchworks
September 19 - Old Saint Nick Class @ Debi's, 11:00am - ?
Saturday, September 26th - Laps from Fats Class @ Thimbles & Threads, 1:00 pm - 4:00ish (Charity Quilt Day, originally planned for this date, will be rescheduled)
October 3 - BOM/Guild Meeting @ Anna's house, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

June 6th Guild Meeting

2009-06-28T13:51:00.029-06:00

This is the first meeting I've been to in a few months so there are no meeting notes for April or May. Hopefully someone else can fill in blog entries for those months.

Thanks to Tresa for hosting our June meeting and providing the delicious chicken taco lunch. The weather cooperated and we had a lovely morning/afternoon quilting on the back patio. Tresa had a really fun block for the BOM.

New Projects Debi taught her Foundation Pieced String Block technique. Instructions are in the next blog entry.

Marla, Laurel and Chris worked on quilting their purse fabrics in preparation for next Saturday's "Tresa Shoulder Bag" class. Debi and Tresa are publishing the pattern for this bag under Sew Can You Designs and will be marketing it at local quilt stores. We have entrepreneurs in our midst. Best of luck ladies! Please remember us when you're rich and famous.

Show & Tell
Lots of fun projects to share!

Tresa has been very busy! Here is her Fall Wall Hanging class project - this is the first one I've seen finished - can't wait to see the rest!

And her beautiful oriental vase. I would love to learn how to make this one. Sounds like a great activity for retreat........

Ant-titude, all quilted and ready to be bound.

Marla's "Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder" quilt started at a class at Teton Patchworks in April. This beautiful quilt was made with "ugly" scraps from 6 friends, triangles on a roll, and a good eye for contrast and value!

Cathie & Debi with their "Quilter's Wash Day" paper pieced wall hangings. Debi's (bottom) is quilted and bound finished, Cathie's (top) is pieced finished, just waiting for time on the longarm to be quilted.

And last, but not least, Debi's May "Laps from Flats" quilt. She and Cathie attended the free (yes, FREE) Laps from Flats class offered the last Saturday of the month at Thimbles and Threads. I think this will become a monthly excursion for any who want to join in the fun. It's a great way to start using up those stash fabrics.

Debi's Topic of the Month - Pressing

To prevent warping fabric during initial ironing, press parallel to the selvage.
When pressing blocks, pay attention to both color and construction. Avoid creating bulky intersections.
Set seams by pressing stitching in place before opening block and pressing seam in desired direction.
To fix a stretched bias, spray with sizing and gently press.
Press blocks on a firm surface.
Press applique on a soft surface.
Always press your quilt top and back before sandwiching and quilting.
Steam can stretch fabric when pressing, use carefully.
When pressing curved seams, press in the direction the fabric wants to go.
If you pre-wash, use sizing when pressing to put crispness back in fabric.
To expand your ironing board surface, simply cover a board cut to the size you desire with batting and cover that with plain muslin. You can secure the batting and muslin on the bottom side of the board using duct tape.

Upcoming Events/Activities Closer to Home

"Tresa Shoulder Bag" Class, 11:00am - 4:00 pm @ Debi's house on June 13

Retreat Deposit Due - Teton Patchworks Retreat deposit is due to Debi by June 15 with remaining balance due July 15.

2009 Wasatch Front Shop Hop June 17th-20th This year's theme is "Around the Town" Visit wasatchfrontshophop.wordpress.com for more information.

Laps from Fats Class Jun3 27th, 1:00pm - 5:00ish @ Thimbles & Threads in Draper

Charity Quilt Day July 24th @ Debi's house, 11:00 am - ? Bring something for our pot luck lunch and spend the afternoon as part of our quilt assembly line. We'll put together as many blocks and quilts as we can squeeze into the afternoon using the "Disappearing 4-Patch" pattern . Instructions posted in another blog.

Lea's Wacky-4 Patch Class, August 7th, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm @ Cathie's house. Lunch is provided.

Guild Meeting/BOM - August 15th, 11:00 to whenever, Cathie's house

Teton Patchworks Retreat - August 29 thru September 2, caravan from Debi's house at 10:00 am on 8/29

Utah Quilt Guild Annual Quilt Festival "As Ye Sew, Sew Shall Ye Rip" - September 22-26, Davis Conference Center, Layton, UT www.utahquiltguild.org

And for the truly dedicated quilter

Sisters 34th Annual Outdoor Quilt Show - July 11, Sisters, Oregon http://www.sistersoutdoorquiltshow.org/

Innovations 2009 - September 16-19, Tacoma Convention Center, Tacoma WA http://www.mqinnovations.com/

Pacific International Quilt Festival - October 15-19, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara CA www.mancusoshows.com

Road to California Quilter's Conference & Showcase- January 14-17, 2010, Ontario Convention Center, Ontario, CA www.road2ca.com

February 7, 2009

2009-03-02T08:53:00.005-07:00

Thanks to Rose for hosting our February meeting and providing the block of the month. Everyone loved the Chinese chicken salad she served for lunch and she'll be posting the recipe for all to enjoy.

Attending
Debi, Chris, Rose, Anna, Laurel, Linda, Tresa, Marla, Kristine, Cathie

Show and Tell

I would like to start posting pictures of show-and-tell projects each month. Everyone brings such beautiful things to share but by the time I get home I am afraid I have forgotten half of them. Since I am usually late to the meetings, is there another member who would like to volunteer to take pictures?

This month Tresa had a gorgeous cherry blossom wall hanging in oriental fabrics. I would love to have a class on this quilt!

Debi's January class shared their Star wall hangings - it was fun to see how different each turned out.

Rose shared the pillow she made at a recent class. She will be teaching it at our March meeting. If you would like to make one, supplies needed are 1¼ yards material or, if you want two different fabric colors, you will need ⅝ yard each. If the fabric you pick needs to be matched please get ¼ yard more of eachpillow formtwo “Buttons to Cover” available at JoAnn Fabrics
thread.

Rose also made beautiful apron. The pattern is by Indygo Junction and is called Bon Appetit. It is available at their web site http://www.indygojunctioninc.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=271

I know I've forgotten some of the show-and-tell projects and I apologize to anyone I left out. (We really need pictures!)

Block of the Month

Thanks to Rose for a very pretty block for February.

Susan will moving to Ohio for her new job (Congratulations and best of luck Susan!) so the March 7th meeting will be at Marilyn's house. Cathie will provide the block of the month pattern. If you are still looking for a block pattern for your month McCall's has quite a few free 12" block patterns http://mccallsquilting.com/qb/ also http://www.quilt.com/Blocks/AlphaBlockList.html

Charity Quilts

This year we will again be making quilts for the Burn Center. The pattern we will be using is Snuggle Up http://quiltmaker.com/patterns/snuggle/ At the March meeting we will schedule some dates to get together and work on these.

Teton Patchworks Retreat

We got our 4th half-week volunteer for the August retreat. The 4 attending half-weeks are Cathie, Kristine, Chris and Marla. The other 8 attending the full week are Debi, Anna, Laurel, Tresa, Linda, Karolyn, Barbara, and Marilyn.

Upcoming Events

HMQS 2009 Show
May 7-9, 2009
South Towne Exposition Center 9575 So. State Street, Sandy UT
DEADLINE FOR CLASS REGISTRATION IS APRIL 25TH
http://www.hmqs.org/

34th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show™
Saturday, July 11, 2009 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Sisters, Oregon
http://www.sistersoutdoorquiltshow.org/

Utah Quilt Guild Festival 2009
Sept 22 - 26 2009
Layton - Davis Conference Center
http://www.utahquiltguild.org/annual.htm

Pacific International Quilt Festival XVIII
October 15 - 18, 2009
Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California
http://www.quiltfest.com/activities.asp?id=7

Debi's Class News

Ant-titude will be February 28th from 11:00-4:00, lunch will not be provided but Lance will run out and pick up sandwiches if anyone is interested.
I'm actually finishing this post after the class. Debi (on crutches with a broken toe) taught a terrific class as usual. Karolyn decided that needle-turned applique was never going to be on her list of fun things to do. Everyone has selected some really fun fabrics. It will be so much fun to see everyones finished quilt.

Bounty will be March 14th from 11:00-4:00. The class fee is due February 14th.

Wash Day has been rescheduled for May 9th from 11:00-4:00.

Nostalgia (the August class) has been cancelled.

See you at Marilyn's house on March 7th.

January 3, 2009 - Meeting Minutes

2009-01-08T10:41:00.002-07:00

In our effort to lighten Debi's load, we've distributed the various duties associated with running the guild among the members. Cathie will distribute the minutes via the Blog each month so please send any additions or corrections to her.

This month's meeting was held at Debi's house and we thank her for the use of her home, the delicious ham & bean soup, and a really fun BOM pattern. In attendance were Linda, Rose, Debi, Cathie, Laurel, Marla, Marilyn and Barbara.

SECRET SISTERS - Secret Sister names were drawn at the December meeting. For those participating (Debi, Linda, Tresa, Chris, Anna, Laurel, Marla, Kristine & Marilyn) here are this year's guidelines:
1 - Gifts around $10 for Birthdays & Christmas
2 - Small mementos otherwise
3 - Mail or hand deliver
Debi will e-mail the updated spreadsheet with birthday, anniversary, hobbies and other important Secret Sister info.

OPPORTUNITY QUILT - Debi finished piecing the Opportunity Quilt - absolutely beautiful! - and passed it off to Cathie for the machine quilting. Cathie will have it ready for Linda to bind at the February meeting. Marilyn will complete a label on her amazing embroidery machine, also ready for Linda at the February meeting. Once completed, Laurel will take photos and Marla will create flyers and raffle tickets. Marilyn has agreed to contact venues (HMQS and QuiltFest) to see if we can set up a booth to display the quilt and sell raffle tickets. Anyone visiting a quilt shop or with quilt shop contacts should see if we can post a flyer and sell raffle tickets through their shop. Raffle tickets will sell for $1 each or 6 for $5. The drawing for the quilt will be November 1, 2009.

BOM - This year's Block of the Month will be hosted by a different guild member each month.
The host is responsible for providing pattern, instruction, and quilt-shop-quality fabric for each participant for that months block. Fabric colors are black and white with yellow accent fabric. Blocks will finish at 12" square (so the blocks will measure 12.5" x 12.5" before sewn into the quilt)

January - Debi
February - Rose
March - Susan
April - Marilyn
May - Laurel
June - Tresa
July - NO MEETING
August - Cathie
September - Linda
October - Anna
November - Marla
December - HOLIDAY DINNER, NO WORKING MEETING
January '10 - Kristine

My notes say 12 participants so I am missing someone - please let me know if you're missing!

2009 Teton Patchworks Retreat - The retreat is on for August 29 thru September 5, 2009. Right now there are 14 on the list to attend:
Marla, Cathie, & Kristine each attending for 1/2 week
Barbara, Anna, Tresa, Linda, Laurel, Debi, Marilyn, Chris & Karolyn

That is 1/2 person too many so one of the full-week people will need to volunteer to become a half-week person. Please let Debi know if you wouldn't mind just doing the 4 day session instead of the full week.

Debi will have the final cost per person at a future meeting. 50% will be due in May/June with the balance due in July.

If you haven't been to Teton Patchworks before, check out their web site http://tetonpatchworks.com/index.html tp://tetonpatchworks.com/index.html

Barbara is off to California to spend time with her Mom. We'll miss her at upcoming meetings, but she'll be back for the occasional visit throughout the year.

If I've forgotten anything I apologize. Just pop me an e-mail and I'll put in an update. Check back each month for the meeting minutes, information on Debi's quilting classes, and updates on the 2009 Retreat.

See you at our next meeting - Rose's house on February 7

October 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-08T12:25:00.000-06:00

We met at Laurel's house this month - lots of space! Thanks Laurel!

1. The project bags had not come in yet; however they did come in on Monday, the 6th and I picked them up in Heber on the 7th. I will deliver them to all who ordered on Thursday, the 9th! I am willing to sell some of my extras (2 large and 2 small) at my house on 1 Nov if you didn't get in on the order although I will be adding $1 to the cost of each bag to help cover some of my gas expenses. I also went to the quilt shop in Midway while I was in the area...small but very cute...with a gift shop too.

2. The opportunity quilt: I am willing to complete the top with fabrics from my scraps but will take any donations (fabric scraps - not money). Cathie says she will provide the batting and back and do the quilting!!! I will provide the binding and sew the binding on. If we decide what we want on the label, I will generate it on the computer (I have some label software). If someone else could pick up the tickets (I'm told you can get rolls of these at Zurchers), that would be great! I'm trying to have the top finished by the end of November 2008 so I can get it to Cathie. I'd like to have it ready to raffle by the end of January 2009. We'll also need to get some pictures of it printed. I want everyone that visits a Utah quilt shop to ask if they would be willing to sell tickets...or if we could show the quilt in their shop on a Saturday and sell tickets ourselves. I am also going to ask Utah Quilt Guild if we can hang it at Quilt Fest and sell tickets...and ask about displaying it in the lobby of the Sandy Convention Center during HMQS. If this is acceptable we will need volunteers to sit with the quilt on these days (the more, the better - we can take shifts!) We decided the raffle date would be 1 Dec 09 and we will ship to the winner! Proceeds will go towards our retreat!

3. Speaking of retreat... We decided we'd like to book a week for the retreat in 2009 - 29 Aug - 5 Sep. This has been done! Cathie will be taking to Lea and Jim about some possibly sharing the week...that way more can go and some may not be able to get that much time off work - or want to take it. We'll know more about that when Cathie comes back from her November trip up there!!! Wish I could go - but California calls! We also decided that we'd like them to provide dinner and we'd fend for ourselves for breakfast and lunch. They are working up the cost for this and I'll let you all know as soon as I hear. We'll have to work out what's fair for earning from the opportunity quilt on this...assuming we do sell tickets!!!

4. Plans for next year. I need feedback from everyone! This is what was discussed at our meeting:
a. Secret Sisters - it was voted that we do this again in 2009. If you don't want to participate, let me know (not everyone has to).
b. Block Exchange - we decided NOT to do a block exchange in 2009.
c. Block of the Month - we thought it would be fun to do a block of the month. Since I don't want to be stuck prepping for this every month and no one else volunteered...we decided it would be fun if everyone took a month. When it's your month you would provide the pattern and fabric for your block. We can do the block at the meeting...or take it home to complete it - your choice. If you don't make the meeting, but are participating you will still receive your pattern and fabric for the block. We will need to vote on fabric choices so the blocks will all go together in the end. If we have more participants than months, we can just roll over into next year or double up on some months. We might want to consider providing one extra for our next opportunity quilt (if we want to do this again)!!! I am willing to help anyone when it's their month with amount of fabric needed. Also, I am several books of just blocks - so your welcome to browse through these if you like.
d. Charity Quilts: This has fallen through the crack this year. I have a tub full of donated fabrics for this purpose. In 2009 we may want to have a few days where we get together to just work on charity quilts (3 or 4 times during the year). We can discuss this more in November.

5. Classes with Debi (me)!!! I worked up a schedule of 8 classes for 2009.
10 Jan 09 - Constellation - a 27" X 35" wallhanging that you can hang year round. I have 5 signed up so far (Tresa, Linda, Laurel, Chris, and Marla). I have 5 more slots. Payment is $25 - due the last week of Dec 08.
21 Feb 09 - "Ant"titude - a 50" X 56" quilt with some applique. I have 6 signed up so far (Tresa, Cathie, Laurel, Chris, Linda, and Marilyn). I have 4 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 7 Feb 09.
14 Mar 09 - Bounty - a 52" X 64" quilt that looks like overlapping squares. I have 6 signed up so far (Tresa, Linda, Chris, Cathie, Laurel, and Anna). I have 4 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 1 Mar 09.
18 Apr 09 - Quilter's Wash Day - a 15" X 20" wallhanging that would look great in a laundry room! This is paper piecing. I have 3 signed up for this class so far (Tresa, Cathie, and Marla). I have 7 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 4 Apr 09.
13 Jun 09 - Lady Louise Purse. I have 6 signed up so far (Tresa, Cathie, Chris, Laurel, Linda, and Marla). I have 4 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 31 May 09.
15 Aug 09 - Nostalgia - a 56" X 70" sampler quilt...shown in reproduction fabric from the '30's. It can be made more contemporary if you choose. In any case this makes a great baby quilt. I have only 1 signed up for this class so far (Linda). I have 9 more slots. This will take more than a single day (possibly 3), but I'm keeping my fee at $25 - due 1 Aug 09. If you'd like to take the class, but the date is bad...let me know...I might be able to move it into the end of July.
19 Sep 09 - Old St. Nick - Just in time to get ready for Christmas. A
26 1/2" X 30 1/2" wall hanging. I have 7 signed up so far (Tresa, Cathie, Chris, Linda, Laurel, Marilyn, and Marla). I have 3 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 6 Sep 09. Some requests that I teach this one at retreat...if all are going to be there and willing to give up one day for this, that may be an option.
14 Nov 09 - Contra Dance - a 54" X 68" quilt. This is a new method of puting a quilt on point - without set in triangles. I have 3 signed up so far (Tresa, Linda, and Cathie). I have 7 more slots. Payment is $25 - due 1 Nov 09.

Some classes may be taught at Laurel's house - making it more convenient for most. If so, Laurel's fee will be waived since she will be doing the set up and clean up. I need at least 7 in the class for this to be cost effective for me.

If you were in a class of mine and need help finishing your project, there is never any further charge for my help. Please let me know when you want to get together to do this. If you purchased a kit from me, but did not pay a class fee and need help with it, I will require the class fee be paid (to keep it fair for everyone).

6. Bingo - since there are still so many prizes left we will be playing Bingo at our meetings...3-5 games...except for December! Winners this month were Cathie, Marilyn, and Linda (hope I got that right since I didn't write them down)!!!

7. Secret Sisters - We opened our gifts from our secret sisters. All got great stuff...I can see why we want to do this again!!! From my perspective - it's just as much fun thinking up what to give as it is getting neat new stuff!!!

8. Shop Hop this month. The Holiday Shop Hop is 15-18 Oct. There are 4 of us going...Barbara, Linda, Laurel, and me. The shops start in Roy and go as far south as Payson...these are all different shops from the shop hop in June...so should be fun!!!

9. December's meeting is dinner at Corbin's in Layton - 4 Dec at 6:30 pm. Linda has secured reservations so we're all set! We'll guess our Secret Sister and pick new ones for next year. Otherwise it's just dinner and chatting!!!

10. Next meeting is at my house, 1 Nov 08, 10 am. I have a poker game that night...so we'll need to break up around 4:30! I'm thinking salad bar for lunch!!!

2008-02-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

Monday, 4 Feb 2008

Marilyn, we cancelled the January meeting because of the snow. Our next meeting is Thursday, 7 Feb 08 at my house, usual time. It's not supposed to be snowing that day.

I've had a cold, but I'm over it. Just some coughing occasionally.

I have show and tell this time (finally). I've been going through my fabrics and putting kits together with the patterns I have bought and never done! I have fabric "holes" so I'm making a list to complete my kits. Then when I want to make a quilt, I just grab the bag and all the fabric is together! It sounds good in my head. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm trying to use some of the fabrics I've bought at past shop hops.

The Machine Show is in May this year instead of April. I'm ready to go!

Barb

January Meeting

2008-01-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

I went to Barbara's for our meeting and found the house dark and no one there. Did I misunderstand the date/place?

When is our next meeting?

Marilyn

Charity Quilts

2007-10-25T22:09:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone!

I contacted Intermountain Burn Center, and they are very excited to have us visit them. Our appointment is set up for Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 1 p.m. We'll have to decide at the next guild meeting where we are meeting and what time. We should probably allow approx 1 hour for drive time.

See you at guild on November 1st!

Anna

2007-10-07T00:30:00.000-06:00

Meeting Minutes for 4 Oct 2007...

Attendance:
Barbara Conner
Debi French
Anna Adams
Tresa Thomas
Chris Vigil
Marilyn Fowers
Cathie Zimmerman
Susan Donati
Laurel Wolf

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. If so, I assure you it wasn't intentional.

We all sewed on labels for the charity quilts. Cathie took 2 labels home as she has two more quilts at home. It looks like we will have 18 quilts to donate to the burn center! That is fabulous! Anna will be setting up a tour for a Saturday soon. She will let us all know when this will be.

We talked a little bit about our block exchange for December. I will help any of the new quilters that needs or wants it.

There was some mention about the block of the month patterns that I bring each month. This is just a pattern I share. It was never intended that we would make these blocks at the meeting. If you need help, though, I am already working with Tresa and Rose...I can help you too. Get with me for a convenient time!

I do recognize that we have several beginners in our group. For this reason, I would like to start some basic lessons at our meeting...perhaps the second hour so I don't miss any latecomers. I just watched a Fons and Porter show that gave me this idea. In November I will talk about and/or demonstrate squaring up your fabric, pressing (yardage and pieced units), figuring yardage (for back, binding, etc), simple math for getting the right size triangle for half square and quarter square triangles.

In December we will have our block exchange, a pot luck dinner, and I will talk about coping stips and some ideas for putting your blocks together into a quilt! I would appreciate anyone else's ideas about this as well. Remember to put your blocks in a baggie so you can collect yours as well. We can also talk about what we want to do in 2008! As many were interested in secret sisters, we will sign up for this in December!

While I'm thinking about 2008...I need to know if anyone besides Barbara is interested in going to Sisters, Oregon for their quilt show the second Saturday in July. This year they had about 1,000 quilts displayed all over their little town. It's a fun outing, but does require some advance planning as hotels fill up early. I will need to make reservations as soon as possible and need to know how many rooms we might need.

We also need to talk about a quilt retreat for 2008. Was the consensus that we'd just go back to Heber although there isn't much of a quilt store there anymore? I am leaning toward the Labor Day Weekend since Lance and I may be going to New England for the fall colors late September/early October.

Gossamer Petals People: Does anyone making this quilt want to get together for a sew day to do these blocks? It will have to be after the 23rd of this month if I am going to be there! Let me know via email if you're interested and I'll set something up. We can meet at my house...or if anyone else would like to host, I'm willing to travel! We can all bring snacks and make a fun day of it!

Marilyn will want to take orders for our guild shirts at the next meeting. She is going to embroider a needle pulling thread and write In Stitches Guild above or below it. You will need to tell her what color/size you want for your shirt. She hasn't given us a cost yet - November meeting!

If I've forgotten anything, please feel free to post your comments. I'm doing this from memory.

Well, that's all for now! I hope everyone enjoyed making the quilts for charity as much as I did.

By the way...Susan flew back to Sacramento this week end because her mother was hospitalized with what is presumed to be a heart attack. They are watching her closely, but she isn't out of the woods yet. There are plans to do an angiogram on the 7th.

Take care,
Debi

Meeting Minutes

2007-09-22T00:50:00.000-06:00

In Stitches Guild Meeting Minutes - 13 September 2007

Attendance:
Susan Donati
Cathie Zimmerman
Anna Adams
Karolyn Linger (and friend)
Laurel Wolf
Tresa Thomas
Marilyn Fowers
Debi French
I'm sorry, I don't remember Karolyn's friend's name. And if I've forgotten anyone...sorry. I forgot to take down names and you know how my memory is!

We met at Susan's house as Barbara had company from California. Thank you, Susan, for accommodating us at the last minute...and for being such a great hostess - complete with goodies!

Cathie taught the "petal" block for the gossamer petals quilt to those that bought this kit. It's a little tricky, but once you get the first 2 pieces lined up it goes together pretty well.

I passed out kits for the stained glass class in November. At this point I just have one extra kit left for ANYONE that may be interested...$25. Remember to have your batik squares in 3 groups of 7 before class. If you have any questions, please call me.

Marilyn brought her books of embroidery designs and shirts. We decided on a simple needle and thread embroidery design with "In Stitches Guild" either above or below the design. I talked to Marilyn again afterwards and told her I thought everyone should pick their shirt color/size. She will bring the books and choices to the meeting in October...so be there to get your order in!

Charity Quilts: I passed out a few more to have binding finished by the October meeting. I have one more to quilt and bind and I will have this finished by the October meeting. I took a preliminary count of these quilts from what everyone said they had at home and those I'd brought. It looks like about 18! That is wonderful. I will make up the appropriate number of labels ("Because we care... In Stitches Guild 2007") and bring them along with needles and thread to the October meeting. We can spend that time applying the labels...then they will be FINISHED!

Quilt Festival: Barbara, Tresa, Marilyn and I went to Quilt Fest. The show is small, but still lots of fun and only $3 to view the quilts! I did notice there was a notice to anyone interested in donating quilts at Quilt Fest 2008 for children with cancer. I think this is a wonderful idea and I plan to make a quilt or 2 for this. If you want to make this a guild project for next year, let me know. If not, I still plan to do some. These quilts must be at lease 40" X 60".

Block Exchange: I have a total of 11 people that said they will do the block exchange for Christmas...me, Barbara, Susan, Cathie, Anna, Tresa, Marilyn, Chris, Karolyn, Laurel, and Rose. If you're not on the list, but would like to participate...please let me know ASAP. Cathie had ordered the focus fabric for those that gave her advance orders. If you didn't order it, there wasn't any extra; HOWEVER, if you want/need this fabric it is available at Lizzie's in West Jordan. I picked up a yard for Susan at her request and there was most of a bolt left. Of course it's about $9 a yard, but it beats paying shipping and handling on top of the $7.50 a yard on line. There is no requirement to use this fabric in your block...but you will need it for your color palette in selecting the fabrics for your block (for this purpose a fat quarter would do fine). For the real beginners, if you need help selecting a block design or fabrics for the block, I will be happy to assist. Since we have 11 participants you will need to make 11 blocks to bring to the December meeting. We can go over this again in October if anyone is still not clear as to how this works! Cathie also wants me to address coping stips again at the December meeting - these will help you assemble your blocks into a finished quilt!

I probably left out some of the things we discussed...but anyone in the guild can add comments to the blog...or volunteer to do the minutes!!!

Our next meeting will be 4 October 2007, back at Barbara's house! So far the only things on the agenda is to label the charity quilts and give Marilyn our orders for the shirts...and any needed discussion on the block exchange.

See you next month...if not before!
Debi

Block Exchange Guidelines

2007-09-20T20:36:00.000-06:00

There are 11 of us participating in the block exchange. Here are the guidelines:

Make eleven 12.5"x12.5" blocks. You choose the design, technique, and fabric for your blocks. Color choices should coordinate with the focus fabric. All fabrics should be prewashed to prevent differing rates of shrinkage in the finished quilts.

You will keep one of your 11 blocks and exchange the remaining 10 at the December meeting. This will give you 11 different blocks for your quilt.

Debi will give a demonstration on coping strips at the meeting. This technique helps compensate for differences in finished block size.

Make additional blocks, add sashing, borders, etc. as needed to finish your quilt. The possibilities are endless! It will be fun to see everyone's finished quilts in January.

Block Exchange Focus Fabric

2007-08-18T09:40:00.000-06:00

This is the focus fabric chosen for the block exchange. You can view the entire line at http://www.pbtex.com/html/florentine.html

Debi is hoping for 12 participants. Each person participating will make 12 identical blocks. Block guidelines will be outlined at the September guild meeting and posted on this blog. Blocks should be designed with the focus fabric in mind. Focus fabric can be used in your blocks, as your sashing, border, or backing. Whatever tickles your fancy! At the December meeting we will exchange blocks so each participant will have 12 different blocks to assemble for their quilt.

If you would like to participate in the block exchange and would like to order yardage of the focus fabric, please contact Cathie before the September guild meeting so she can purchase the bolts.

2007-08-07T06:01:00.000-06:00

2 August 2007

Attendance: Barbara, Arianna, Marla, Anna, Laurel, Susan, and Me!

Add the following to your library list: "The Great American Quilt Revival" (This is a DVD with Georgia Bonesteel and more), Barbara owns it.

Barbara also brought up a great website: quiltchannel.com Click on patchwork place and books. There are new and used books available. Barbara ordered 2 of the used books - they are like new at a fraction of the cost. (I need these titles, Barbara, for the library as I forgot to write them down.)

We need a generic label for our charity quilts. Anna brought up a good point - that we shouldn't put the Burn Center on the label as the quilts will go to individuals. Something like..."Showing we care In Stitches" would be enough. I want to list all of the individuals who participated in this in any way on the label as well. If you have any ideas for the label, please email to the group. One of us can put together a list of the ideas and we can vote on it like we did our name. Also, let me know if you worked on these quilts in any way. I have the following (Marla, Barbara, Arianna, Tresa, Cathie, Anna, Carol, Marilyn, and me.) Let me know if I missed you.

Block Exchange: We decided on a fabric for the focus fabric of our block exchange. If you are still unclear as to what this means, check with one of the members that was present at this month's meeting. Anyway, Cathie will be ordering the fabric; so let her know how much of it you want to purchase so she can judge the number of bolts to buy. If you want to know which fabric was chosen, ask Anna to send you a picture of the selection. We will need a final count of how many are participating in this so we will know how many blocks to make. So far I have: Arianna, Barbara, Marla, Laurel, Cathie, Anna, Marilyn, Susan and me. I am also pretty sure that Tresa and Rose will want to do this. It would be nice to have at least 12. Anyway, I will need to know by the September meeting.

Shirts: Marilyn will bring a catalog to the September meeting so we can decide on our shirts and what we want on them. It would be nice if everyone can make the September meeting so a decision can be made by all.

Quilt Retreat: It was decided that we would try for a quilt retreat in Oct 2008. There was a brief discussion about the "where". It was mentioned that there is a new quilt store in Midway (up near Heber). I volunteered to go up and check it out after I get back from California. If you want to go with me, let me know. (I won't be back until around the 23rd of August and I have plans that week end.) Anyway, if it meets with our approval we'll probably do the retreat in Heber again. This would be Columbus Day weekend in 2008...so mark your calendars. You can ask anyone that's been, we have a wonderful time!

Secret Sisters: The consensus was that we wanted to do this next year. I will add birthdays to our contact information. I will need this info from everyone. Also, let me know whether or not you want to participate. This is not mandatory! Nothing is - the purpose of this "guild" is to get together with other quilters. Beyond that, what you participate in is up to you. Barbara - will you set up the ground rules for the Secret Sisters so we have a starting point for discussion? Thanks!

I didn't get any more of the charity quilts quilted before my trip. Sorry! I will work on these when I get home. Goal is to have them ready to label by the September meeting. I will call on some of you to help with sewing on the binding.

At the September meeting (Sep 13th) I will be giving help in making the block in the Gossamer Petals quilt. If you want or need help with this, be sure to bring your sewing machine to this meeting. You might also consider bringing scrap fabric to make this block rather than experiment with the fabric for your quilt. It would also be nice if everyone had the pieces pre-cut as this will save oodles of time. I will also discuss the math for figuring amount of fabric for the back and binding (for any quilt).

I will be teaching the applique method I used on my bird quilt at the November meeting. This is the same method I taught at our second meeting. If you missed it and want to learn this, make every effort to make this meeting! Remember...any lessons at guild are free!

The December meeting will just be a social get together and a time to exchange our blocks. We should discuss if we want to do something special - like a pot luck or a dinner out someplace. This will also be the end of our first year...so some feedback on what you think would be good as well...maybe some ideas for improvement for next year. I've kind of been "running the show" this year just to keep things going. This is not my guild, it is our guild. I don't mind doing whatever...but I don't want anyone to think they can't step in and do this. Tell me what you want to do! I was volunteered for this "job" anyway! I am happy to continue...or we can choose to change organizers every year. I'm good with whatever we do!!!
Let's talk!

Remember the September meeting was changed to the second Thursday, 13 Sep 07, 6 pm at Barbara's. I will be out of town until 23 or 24 August, but can be reached on my cell phone if you need me for anything!

Debi

2007-07-26T15:20:00.000-06:00

Agenda for August 2007 Meeting –

Work on charity quilts: I will TRY to have all of those I have quilted, squared up, and the binding attached. I will bring these to pass out to everyone to complete the hand-sewing on the binding and attach the labels. I need to know how many more quilts are out there so I bring enough labels. Either call me or email me with this information.

BOM: For those collecting these patterns or working on this project I will bring instructions for coping strips and explain the concept again. I can also talk about different sets if you’d like. If you’re working on these and run into problems, bring them to guild and I’ll see that you get help from someone.

Quilt Show Pictures: I have finally downloaded my pictures from HMQS (Home Machine Quilting Show) in April 2007. Hey – it is still 2007 so I’m doing good. I will bring my laptop so you can all see these. If I can get Lance to download them as a slide show to a DVD, maybe we can see them on Barbara’s big screen TV!

Christmas Block Exchange: Be sure to pick at least one “focus” fabric to vote on for the block exchange – unless you don’t want to participate or don’t care about the choice. I will need a count of how many want to participate in the block exchange. Once a focus fabric is chosen you can choose whatever block you want to make using fabrics the coordinate with the focus fabric. You will make one block for each participant (including yourself)…all the same. These should all be completed by the December meeting (6 Dec 07). If you can’t attend the December meeting, be sure to get your blocks to another member that will be attending. Bring you blocks to the December meeting in a Ziploc bag so you will have something to collect all of your blocks from each member in.

Show and Tell: Please bring whatever you’ve been working on for show and tell. Fellow quilters always appreciate all of your hard work. If you’ve been working on the BOM bring your completed blocks. This is inspiration for those that want to do this but just haven’t gotten started.

Stained Glass Class: I have filled all of my vacancies for this class. I’ll let you know when the kits are ready. I will have 4 extra kits – so if you want one of these, let me know…$25. I will need payment for the class by the time the kits are ready to hold your slot. At this point the class will be held on 3 Nov 07, unless someone has a problem with that. Refunds will only be given if I can get someone to replace you AND you return your kit for that person.

September meeting date: Any objection to changing the September meeting to the second Thursday (13 Sep 07)? Barbara has already said it is all right with her.

Shirts: Would we like to have a guild shirt? I was thinking golf shirt rather than T-shirt. Marilyn can embroider a logo on the shirt. We just need to decide what the logo will look like and a color of shirt.

Quilt Retreat: None this year – I just don’t have time to organize it or attend – too many plans. But we should go next year. How many are interested? When? Where? Non-guild members? I will bring some suggestions. If you have any, please bring them also so we can decide.

Secret Sisters – next year. How many are interested? Who wants to organize this? I can add birthdates to our member spreadsheet if you like.

More on charity quilts: Completion deadline? Tour of burn center and presentation of quilts? Can Anna set this up?

Upcoming events:
- Gossamer Petals block construction (September meeting)
- Applique by hand (the easy way)…many people missed the last time I did this…when?
- 2008 classes will include a class on different methods of appliqué so you can choose the method you like (this can vary by project).
- What else are you interested in learning? I’d like to structure my classes around you! At this time I plan to teach 3-4 classes each year

Block Exchange Focus Fabric

2007-07-07T17:39:00.001-06:00

Visit http://www.checkerdist.com/ax_commerce/shp_browse_L2_fabrics.cfm?category=fabric to see fabrics currently available through Checker.

If you have a focus fabric in mind that is not on the Checker web site, let Cathie know the manufacturer, fabric line, design and color information and she can check availability through other wholesale distributors.

2007-07-07T12:53:00.000-06:00

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

Shop Hop

2007-06-22T08:46:00.000-06:00

Hi, gang! Tresa and I went on the shop hop and had a great time. We covered 12 stores on Wednesday and will finish up Saturday! If you've never done a shop hop...you need to do it at least once. I think I've been every year since my first! We spent lots of money but brought home lots of goodies and got some good deals, too!

If any of you are interested in shop hopping, there is another one in October (different stores). I won't be able to do this one as I will be in California at Pacific International Quilt Show! I can hardly wait!

Maybe next year we can get a big group of us together to shop hop and we can all wear our guild t-shirts (if we get some made)!

I've added a few patterns and books to our library...I'll bring these to our next meeting so you can take a look! I'll also have copies of the free patterns given out at each shop so you can have these if you want.

Anyway...see you all on the 5th at Cathie's house!!!

Debi

In Stitches

2007-06-18T16:29:00.000-06:00

18 June 2007

Hi, gang! I am finally creating a blog for all of us to post to. I will email you with the access and password as I only want guild members to be able to write to this blog. Anything you want to tell all of the members, just post it here. We can all check it at our leisure to see if there is anything new! I will be posting our minutes here after each of our meetings. I will also try to figure out how to post pictures so we can "show off" our quilts.

This week end I finished making the blocks for 4 or 5 charity quilts. I will try to get them put together before our next meeting...5 July. Remember that we will be meeting at Cathie Zimmerman's house. If you need directions, let Cathie know. I think we will still be working on the charity quilts. I'm hoping to have the ones I'm doing up to the point that just the handwork on the binding remains.

Beginning in August I think we need to start on something else. If you have suggestions of what you'd like to do...just post it here. We can make our decision at the July meeting. If we need to do more work on the charity quilts, we can either meet on a week end or work independently. Once we finish these Anna can set up a time for us to deliver to the Burn Center and take our tour!

Also in August...bring any ideas you have for a block exchange for Christmas (colors, size, focus fabric, theme, whatever). We'll vote on it in August...so be sure to attend!!! Also, we will need a good count of how many want to participate so we know how many blocks we have to make!

Well...see you all on the 5th! And have a safe Independence Day!

Debi