At our December quilt group meeting we have a fabulous pot-luck luncheon and a gift exchange. This year, the gifts were amazing - and while no one really wants to steal an amazing hand-made work of art from their friend, stealing is what it's all about and it was crazy fun! It seemed to go on and on and the rules were contested at every round - every round where something wonderful was stolen. But I think everyone left feeling pretty good about their gift...I would have to say that all the gifts were great...well, maybe all but one! And I'll take my opinion on that to my grave so don't even bother asking.
Pictured above are three of the gifts that were exchanged...a quilt top made by Helen that she decided she just can't stand...Barbara brought the beautiful stitchery in a frame and the "elf" small quilt was made by Terry - all 3 were valiantly fought over! Click on the pictures to see larger versions.
The red felted bag was loaded with goodies, it came home with me. I wanted to show pictures of all the gifts but my camera lost it's juice just as things started to get good. I have lifted the next pictures from Stephanie's Blog so you can see the quilts that were shown. Stephanie managed to get in a few pics before her camera card said FULL! Next month, we'll both be prepared with backup batteries and cards! The quilt in the middle above is one that Janet made for her granddaughter who loves horses. The horses are panels but the way Janet finished the quilt just enhances them - I'm sure her granddaughter loves this quilt. The quilt on the right is one you've seen before, made by Ardith. She brought it when it was just a top, but now it's finished and Terry did the quilting and it's amazing.
Above pictured on the left is the back of Ardith's red, white and blue quilt - didn't she do a great job?! In the center is one of Ardith's whole cloth quilts - I think she brought in 3 of them to show us but the camera's had died by then - whole cloth quilts are tres French - and beautiful. The quilt on the right is one Terry made for her daughter - it's really a work of art as Terry incorporated her family crests and symbols into this quilt and as always, the piecing is perfect.
Another sock quilt is finished! This one belongs to Denise - and it reminds me of mine still sitting in a basket waiting to be done...maybe this year. The pic in the center is not great - it's Helen's latest creation - a bag that we all coveted - so Helen! And the last pic on the right is of Stephanie's gift exchange that she furiously worked on during our meeting to get finished - it's so wonderful - we all wanted this, too! Maybe next gift exchange we should all make 12 of everything so everyone goes home with 12 wonderful gifts...don't think I can talk them into that but I love the idea!
One last bit of news about our quilt group...Next Tuesday, January 12, 2010, our quilt group is sponsoring a sew day for American Hero Quilts at the LDS church on the Plateau in Sammamish (922 - 216th Avenue NE). Anyone who can sew is welcome to attend. We will start at 9:30 and go until our backs give out...which will probably be around 2:00. We're asking sewers to come, with their machines, and extension cords, and any red, white and blue fabrics that they'd like to donate. Our goal is to make as many quilt tops as fabric and time allow. We will be making scrappy Rail Fence and scrappy 9-Patch quilts. If you can't come but would like to help us out by making a few blocks ahead of time, that would be great! All blocks should be 9 1/2-inches, so they'll be 9-inches finished. We could really use some star blocks that we'll intersperse between the rail fence and 9-patch blocks.
American Hero Quilts takes 100 quilts to Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma every month - the need is still there as we still have returning wounded Soliders and Marines who deserve to be wrapped in a quilt made with love. For Christmas, Sue, the founder of AHQ, was asked to send 100 quilts to Afghanistan for our troops over there and she immediately said yes - which meant her supply of quilts for January went down to zero. So we're trying to help out by sending Sue some quilt tops - and we'd love to have your help!
