March 2025: Making Kits for Donation Quilts

 With a well-attended meeting, we made lots of kits for ourselves to make donation quilts.  Thanks to everyone who brought fabric from their stashes.

First, Show & Tell

Sandra P made this quilt at the request of her husband.  The Tumbling Blocks (aka Baby Blocks) were hand-pieced.  Originally the quilt was supposed to fit a Full size bed, but it took long enough that it needed to fit a Queen, hence the big borders, and the calicos made a second appearance in the corners of the middle border.

Jean S got a new pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful, and a ruler for it.

Patti either got this at our UFO swap, or from the Auffle, and finished it.

Leslie put last year's BOM blocks together, duplicating each, with pinwheel cornerstones.

This is Ruth's first modern quilt and a finished UFO!

Ruth made this zipper bag as part of last year's demo, and she wanted to show us how perfect it is for minding the quilt clips that are so popular.

Lydia won a collection of silk-screened crows at a retreat and put them together as a wall-hanging/banner.

Lydia also made this very easy Villa Rosa pattern as a gift.

Leslie was the only person who brought finished blocks from last month's meeting to show.  Look for her animal-theme fabric in all of them.

2 of her own Cat block

2 of Ruth's Tulip Lady Fingers

2 of Terry's Storm at Sea

Next Month 

For Leslie's magic binding, bring your sewing machine, a quilted project to bind and prepare the binding as follows.

1.  Choose two fabrics for your binding.

2.  Measure around your project.

3.  Add 10 inches to the total.

4.  Cut a strip from one of your binding fabrics, 1 1/4 inch wide.  "Color 1"

5.  If you need to sew your strips together, end-to-end, use a bias seam.

6.  Cut a strip from your other binding fabric that is 1 1/2 inch wide.  This is the flange. "Color 2"

7.  Again, use a bias seam if you need to sew strips together to make up the needed length.

8.  Sew the color 1 strip to the color 2 strip, right sides together, along the long edge. Press seam toward the narrower strip.

 

9.  Fold the strip in half, wrong sides together, aligning the long edges.

For Terry's slipper demo, bring your sewing machine. 

February: 3 blocks of the month

Our meeting was poorly attended on this cold night.  

FOR MARCH:  Remember to bring 6 1/2" squares to make kits for donation quilts.

Show & Tell

Only Jean S had something to show.  She made this pillow from a Krista Moser pattern called "Heart Cookies".

Blocks of the Month

Leslie brought us a set of cat faces based on free cat patterns from Elizabeth Hartman. 

This pattern is 3 pages:

 

Ruth presented Tulip Lady Fingers.  The pattern is from Quilter's Cache.

Terry presented Storm At Sea. This pattern is also from Quilter's Cache.

FOR MARCH:  Remember to bring 6 1/2" squares to make kits for donation quilts.

January 2025 planning meeting

 This was a very well attended planning meeting.  Thank you, everyone who came!  Special thanks to those who volunteered to lead activities!

Business

    We voted to continue having dues and to let our bank account subsidize our rent on this space.

    Dues for this year will be $20-$50, on a sliding scale.  Pay what you can to remain a member.   Lydia will accept cash or a check made out to "Needle and I".  The March meeting is the deadline.

 

SHOW & TELL

Sandra's cousin's wife made this to celebrate Sandra's 80th birthday.

Leslie made 3 quilts for donation.  One was from the kits distributed last summer.

This is an I Spy pattern.

                    It's hard to see in the photo but this kit's fabrics contained lots of animals.

                                    Fabric from the Auffle and her stash when into this one.

Patti's friend had a house fire and the quilts his wife made were smoky.  She has been laundering them with soaks in white vinegar and using Mane & Tail shampoo as the soap.

Ruth showed us this quilt that she demonstrated in a meeting several years ago.  She's brought it back to remind us of how easy a donation quilt is to make.  

Gail will donate this top when it's quilted. 

Gail also heard from a previous member, Marilyn, who had shared with her some Christmas decor, including an exceedingly cute ornament made by another former member, Janet Kime.  That adorable sheep is knitting from its own wool coat.  

                This is Marilyn's Christmas tree that she made by macramé. 

THIS YEAR'S PROGRAM

 

January	Planning		Bring hand work.
February	Demo Blocks	Ruth, Leslie, Terry	Bring sewing machine.
March	Quilt Kits	All	Bring [options]. See below.
April	Skill Class	Leslie, Terry	Bindings, Slippers
May	Demo Blocks	Charlene, Patti, Sandra P	Bring sewing machine and fabric.
June	Open	Need volunteer(s)
July	Making Donation Quilt	Jean R	Bring sewing machine.
August	Dessert Pot Luck	Everyone	In the park
September	Make Snowmen Ornaments and Gift Card Holders	Barbara, Lydia	Bring sewing machine.
October	Auffle!	Everyone	Bring your unwanteds.
November	Open	Need volunteer(s)
December	Holiday Party	Justine, Marlene, Sandra O

Notes:

1. There will be 6 mystery blocks presented this year, in two meetings.  Instructions for cutting pieces for these blocks will be supplied ahead of the meeting.
2. We need people to volunteer to present an activity for June and November.  Remember that participation is what makes this guild fun. 
3. March: Optional ways to participate. 

• Bring 2 yds of contrasting fabrics to cut at the meeting. 
• Bring your fabric precut in either 6 ½ “ or 8 ½ “ squares (for exchanging with others).
• Bring a Ziplock bag to hold your finished fabric kit. 
• Bring sewing machine to sew the precuts. Bring rotary cutter and mat and ruler.

December holiday party

 We gathered for food, a tea towel exchange, and Show & Tell.

Show & Tell

Linda brought this quilt that her husband's grandmother had hand-pieced and hand-quilted sometime ago when it was in awful condition.  Leslie saved it!

Marlene made this for her step-daughter, who requested these colors.  Leslie quilted it.

Sandra O. made this seasonally appropriate quilt.  Leslie quilted it.

Leslie got these Trip Around the World blocks from the Auffle.  She's put them together and quilted them.  This is for donation.

Leslie also got a bunch of 2.5 inch and 4 inch squares of Hawaiian fabric in the Auffle.  They were tough to put together, being such different sizes.  She quilted it and will donate it.

She said she has more of these Hawaiian squares if anyone wants them.

Tables

As we did last year, we decorated 3 tables. 

Here's a closer look at the figurine at the center of the table.

This table holds the wrapped tea towels from the 10 people participating in the exchange.

Food

There were two tables of food.

January meeting

Planning -- bring ideas for activities that you want to participate in next year

Handwork -- it's a thinking meeting, so bring something to occupy your hands

November: quick gifts

About half our number came to this sharing of quickly made gifts.  We made key fobs as directed by Jean and zip bags from Lydia.  Photos of each are below.

But first, Show & Tell.

Jean brought 3 quilts.

Lydia brought this one.

Ruth took a trip to Bali and came back with a bag, a table runner, and fabric

Jean S lead us in making these key fobs.  

Lydia lead us in making these zip bags.