The week before Thanksgiving we met for our last regular quilt group meeting of 2019. This year has flown by as have the last 23 years we've been a group! We've made a lot of quilts, had a lot of fun and shared a lot of things along the way and our meeting a few weeks back was no exception - another round of beautiful quilts!
Stephanie bought these three quilt tops at the Block Party Quilt Show. The one in the middle she is going to rework...which makes me giggle. The sashing in that quilt is just wrong and if anyone can make that quilt into something special, Stephanie can! These are her "Obliteride" quilts. Every year Stephanie and her husband participate in the bike ride to fight/obliterate Cancer - hence Obliteride. When someone donates money in her name, she gives them a quilt! It's win/win! Buying these tops will save Stephanie some time, which she'll need if she is going to rework/pick apart the tops she finds!
This is Deborah's Millennial quilt. She started it in 2000, and it has over 2000 pieces of fabric with only one repeat!!! This picture just does not do it justice - it is truly a work of art! Just think about working with all of those little pieces AND creating a complex pattern! Mind blown!
Deborah also brought in two more of her framed stitcheries...for lack of a better word. Every single little stitch is hand done - it's not fabric - it's thread Deborah carefully stitches onto fabric that she has purposely placed...again, mind blown. After all of that stitching she added beads to the edge of the one on the left! Tiny little seed beads! Wow...just WOW! Deborah said she was inspired by Paul Klee, you can check out some of his art by clicking here.
Jenny liked the Halloween quilt Helen made so much (I made one, too, thanks to panels gifted to us from Terry) that she ordered two panels for herself. I like the one on the right best - something about that purple border, wish I'd thought of that! (Halloween panels available from Missouri Star Quilts.) Very cute Jen!
Jenny also made this darling Christmas banner, which is a kit of sorts. The kit includes the background fabrics and the instructions but I don't think it included the wool - maybe so, can't remember. Jenny did such a nice job appliqueing the pieces on!
Janet showed us one of her latest Christmas quilts - we all loved it! Janet sent the quilt off to be quilted and we talked a fair amount about machine quilting and how important it is to have the stitches regulated...sometimes that just doesn't happen and then what do you you?? Of course we all said the person who quilted it should be notified but then what? Do you take quilts to her again? Do you give someone another chance to quilt something you've possibly spent a year or more working on? What do you think? I gave two quilts to someone to quilt for me, they both came back with issues. One quilt was trimmed, into the border fabric, without me asking her to do it. It was only a half an inch for that made a difference to me! I didn't say anything because I didn't want to hurt her feelings, maybe she thought I asked for it that way? Maybe I did and didn't remember? The other quilt had issues with the stitching, the tension was obviously out of whack but either the lady didn't notice or didn't care because she gave me the quilt and charged me full price and said nothing. I didn't really notice either issue until I got home and I was so sick about them I decided I wouldn't use her again - but I didn't tell her...in hind sight I probably should have but to what end?? Was she going to take the quilts back, pick out all of the quilting and re-do them? I don't think so!
This is another one of Janet's Christmas quilts. She purchased a panel and then cut it up and made the quilt - it turned out so nice and I love the music fabric! Two Christmas quilts done - that's got to make a girl feel good!
Several of us missed seeing Marsha's flower garden quilt so she was asked to bring it again - and it is definitely worth another look. If you don't remember the story let me refresh your memory...Marsha started working on her hexies 25 years ago. She began to think she would never get the quilt finished so she gave it to her sister Shelly, who not only finished the quilt, and in record time, but then gave it back to Marsha! Truly a labor of love and it shows just how much Marsha and her sister love each other. Now look at the back of this quilt:
A pink thread was used for quilting and the quilting is just beautiful. This is such a treasure, in so many ways. I'm so happy for Marsha that she gets to have this quilt finished and that she gets to keep it - 25 years is a long time to work on a quilt!
Marsha brought in the baby quilt she made to show us how she finished it. The back is a whole nuther quilt! It is SO hard to get a pieced back on straight but Marsha managed to do it - it's perfect! Way to go Marsha!
I don't know who's foot that is...my pictures makes me laugh...but this quilt is no laughing matter! It was made by Diane for her daughter-in-law and son for their KING SIZED bed!!! This work of art is HUGE! Her daughter-in-law picked the fabrics/colors, which Stephanie described as cottage colors, so she is sure to love this! I love it - it's soothing and is everything a bed quilt should be - soft and warm and made with love. Beautiful work Diane!
Barbara made this very sweet wool picture and framed it. I love the colors and textures! Terry, who has framed a lot of handwork, told us that she uses Alene's Fabric Glue and will take the glass out of a frame, cover it with glue, mount the picture onto the glass, so the glass becomes the back of the picture. I thought that was a very clever idea! It's really nice Barbara, you did a beautiful job!
This sweet Christmas table square was made by Denise. I love all of the fabrics she used - especially those lighter greens. This just needs the binding and it's done and ready to grace her table! Or maybe Denise made it for a Christmas gift...like for our group's gift exchange...maybe...
Lastly, Denise showed us her latest framed stitched pieces. I love them both. I have several things (from our gift exchange) that Denise has made and I love taking them out of the box each to set out - it's like seeing an old friend! Whoever these are for will feel the same way I'm sure!
Jenny hosted us and served us a wonderful lunch - I'm always trying to decide what I like better, seeing the quilts or eating lunch with everyone...it's a toss up for sure! Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving - on to Christmas!
