What a SHOW!!

All the members surpassed themselves by bringing lots and lots of show and share items for our entertainment tonight. Thanks for making the effort.
Our next guild project is a display at the University campus lobby for the months of March and April. There was a shortage of quilts listed tonight on the sign-up sheet. We had plenty of full size bed quilts but because of lots of zig zag walls and small spaces, we always need more small quilts. I counted 13 on the list , but we often are able to hang 20-24 pieces- so please think of a new small quilt that you would be willing to loan.
Call Barb MCC for information if you are new to the guild .
A team of helpers will hang quilts on Wed Feb 24th at 10:30. Quilts can be brought to the guild on Tues morning ( Feb 23rd)

February Program 2010

Remember your show and tell for this Thurs’s Meeting!

Demo night( Feb 18) will be taught by Susan S. and will be embroidery stitches. If you are not interested in traditional crazy quilting, open your mind and think of all the other applications these stitches could be used for enhancing your hand work.

Our Sat workshop(Feb20) will be Invisible Machine Applique. Now if you are not fond of pansies, remember that these skills can be used for any applique and the skills you will take away from this day are valuable for future projects. Think how they can be adapted to your needs.

Wall Hangings for Olive Devaud Residence

As some of you may be aware, Community Quilts has requested members donate (or loan) small wall hangings to be used at Olive Devaud to brighten up and give interest to the stark walls there.  Sherrill has invited members a few times to come along when these small quilts are taken to them.  I rummaged around until I found a couple of small wall hangings that had been taking up space in my linen closet.  Even though I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give them away it sure didn’t make sense to have them stored away either so I donated them.  I finally decided to take 10 minutes out of my day and met with Sherrill and Shirley and I’m very glad that I did.

Sherrill was right, you can see the enjoyment in their faces as the quilts are passed around.  Some just enjoy looking at something pretty and others touch the fabrics, comment on them and eagerly reach for the next one .  I even noticed at least one gentlemen there.  (OK – I’m not too sure if his enjoyment was of the quilts or being surrounded by so many lovely ladies

The activities director asked if it would be possible to have some Valentine theme quilts   to put up or maybe some lively spring colours.  We said that we would try.  I’m sure that   the Guild membership can come up with something. If you can, please bring something to the business meeting in February and one of us will make sure it gets to where it needs to be.

To Sort or Not To Sort

At the String Quilt class, we had a discussion about sorting scraps or winging it with the next bit that you picked up. I am in the sorting category , as I like my brights and lights separate from my earthly, somber shades. I like my really busy crazy prints separate from my solids, and tone on tones.

I think there is new appreciation for scraps and what can be done with them. I have heard that a few students have gone crazy and made dozens of blocks since Sat.so we should see some projects completed.  Alice thinks the family needs new throw pillows on the couch , and Lo was sandwiching her project for the community quilt bin on Tues.

Donna used the straight squares design.

Gay used the double diagonal design.

Joan used the diagonal variation.

Alice used a double diagonal with two colourways.

Marlene used batiks in this square variation.

Lo’s square variation.

Shirley’s diagonal variation and as you can see Shirley is a strong believer in NO sorting!!

Kathy’s diagonal variation using blues with a hint of lime!

excellent fun with strings

Enthusiasm, sharing, and glee over a small 18 inch string of pretty pastel print. Some non-quilters would have considered us mad, but we found some of our best fun at yesterday’s workshop, was in sharing the perfect bits and pieces found in the bottom of the guild cast offs.
Below are the class samples that I have worked on for the last 8 months. Tune in again tomorrow to see the student’s work.

strings by Shirley

THIS WEEK! demo and workshop

Thurs Night Jan21,2010 come for coffee and treats, enjoy some conversation and enjoy a 60 minute DVD on Ricky Tims technique of Strata piecing. He is an excellent instructor and has a beautiful Kaleidoscope design.

Sat Jan 23,2010 – all day workshop on String quilts. There is still some room for latecomers. Just let me know so i have handouts for all students.
Go to FiberWhimsys blog and see class samples if you haven’t done so already.
I will have some links to websites that have lots of string examples as well.
You’re invited to try any of the patterns you wish. I’ve got 4-5 books with pattern ideas that I will bring on Sat.

FiberSpeak meeting

We had a great turnout of 10 people to our fiberspeak meeting.
Besides showing and shareing of new magazines and books, there were Gay’s lovely puffy and beaded star fish, as well as samples of the up coming silk fusion workshop. We asked questions about the workshop and Y. will be bringing a colour swatch card to the next meeting so we can choose our kit colours. in the meantime, you can go to Treenway Silks website and drool over the luscious colours available and dream about what you might like to make.

Y. is also placing an order from Opulence for the fabric paints that we used in Eileen Neil’s class. We will save on a bulk order of the base product and each of us is ordering the colours of pigment that we wish.

We enjoyed looking at issues of the Quilting Arts Gift issue. There are some excellent gift ideas such as small cube beaded ornaments, portfolios and gift envelopes that could be made from silk paper and the one that caught my eye is the beaded and embellished cuffs or bracelets.

Field trips were planned to the yurts in Madeira park and we enjoyed the evening immensely.
We hope that now that Christmas is over, we will be more productive and we will see more show and share at the next meeting.
Thanks everyone for such an enjoyable evening.
Nina

Happy New Year!!!

Our first guild meeting of 2010 will be this Thurs Jan 7th.
Remember to ease our secretary’s chores by bringing a typed or written report, tuck you name tag in your new writing portfolio and be eligible for a prize from the membership gals.

The first demo night of the new year will be a DVD video loaned to us by Carol F.

Ricky Tims is host of “The Quilt Show” and has developed a neat method , using strata units to creat a Kaleidoscope effect . I have watched a short segment on this technique on The Quilt Show program and am interested to see the longer DVD for more hints.
If you are interested in this DVD, we could ask our librarian to order one for the guild.
Ricky will soon announce a new book release on this same technique. In the meantime,here’s a link to see what the excitement is all about.

http://www.rickytims.com/kaleidoscope_quilt_gallery.html

UFO weekend is productive.

Don't know whose sewing machine this was - but it looks like productive chain piecing.

Shirley's gift of a hug completing the quilting

janet's Block of the Month is going together nicely

Barb's been busy making dozen's of placemats- aren't these neat?

This large quilt is for a grandson that loves african colours

I popped into the guild hall this afternoon and had a chat with the gals gathered there to work. About 12 of our members took advantage of the space and time to focus on some work. There were several people working on the Mystery Quilt,BOM projects, quilts for hugs to friends, and old class projects.

Here’s a few pics of their progress………

new learning curve ?

a closer view of guild member's fiber art

Have you pledged that you would learn something new this past year ? Are you planning to teach yourself something new, research, study,or conquer a problem this coming year?
I have pledged to learn how to add photos from my camera to my computer and then to the blog, so i can share more quilt related photos with all of you.

The photos above are of our Fiber Speak display at the Arts Alive in the Park weekend , held last August. The Fiberspeak group were kind enough to not only bring quilts to display , but stayed to talk to the public,and encourage participation in our “make A Mark ” project, with stamps,paints and crayon rubbings.