Guild Meeting April 24, 2012

 Program day at SVQG and the hall was a buzzin'. Here are the Steeves ladies chinwaggin' about the BuzzSaw quilt they were basting in preparation for Helen's foray into machine quilting a full size quilt. It is going to a cancer patient that Helen knows. Quilters are so very generous.

Sandra Carter bought some fabric, some patterns and some pattern books for sale. A lady going in for open heart surgery decided to clean out her stash. The proceeds are going to the new roof fund of the lady's church...quilters are always open to adding to their stash.

Henrietta Squirrel , designed in a BOM by Ann Sutton for Bunny Hill Designs. This one was appliqued by Susan Snyder...perfecting her technique....seems pretty darn close to perfect as far as I am concerned.  We will want it for the quilt show in September...so get crackin' Susan.

Marilyn Wynn did the $15.00 quilt from the Fabric Cupboard in Moncton.....I think she may have added a few fabrics and some borders and maybe some applique.....I think so, don't you???

 Bea Elliot ...got 'er done!  A gorgeous scrappy BOM.. machine quilted lightly to make it comfy , cozy.  No one told her that scraps multiply in your stash when you're not looking.

I can't begin to tell you how stunning this is in person.  Those are hexagons .....I think Irene Humphries said there were over 9,000 hexagons in this quilt....I'm going to take her word for it....I'm not going to count them. It is amazing....guess who doesn't go out in the sun when she's in Florida?

 Leigh is back and full of wonderful ideas. These are two ...this little snowman is darling and looks like it would be so much fun to do. The table runner that Betty Stewart is admiring is an Anita's Arrowhead...a slick technique found in a Quiltmaker magazine. Leigh put it together on the bias and made a very attractive runner....guess who might be teaching some programs this fall??

Baby Quilt time.  A cutey...appliqued and pieced and the picture does not do it justice.

Here's another little beauty.  Believe it or not , this is made from left over jeans and fleece.  Gilliane James cut out the duckies from the fleece and appliqued them on the front and then blanket stitched around. Such sweet baby quilts....makes you want to be a grandmother awful bad.




Before Show and Tell, Marilyn Wynn demonstrated a quick and easy three dimensional block under the title "10 Minute Block".. We had seen it at the Gathering of the Guilds , although it was slated as  part of our program for this month.  It's one of those techniques that enables you to make it just about any size you would like. Fun and easy...a beginner would love it since it looks complicated.  Following this demo, I showed the ladies two of the techniques we saw at the Gathering....the "No hand sew Binding" and the coffee filter circles and semi-circle for Drunkard's Path or Devil's Puzzle.  After, and while some were munching down on cookies and tea, some of the ladies played a game of "Strip Poker" Lillian Kyle has bragging rights for the next month ...won all the strips, she did...lucky her.

Guild Day 10 April 2012

 Morning finds the keeners at work putting another quilt in the frame to quilt.  This was was donated by Mary Lawson and is called "Jumping Jacks"...a gorgeous scrappy. Here we find Sherry Maxwell marking the jumping jacks, Vera Turner is basting the quilt in place. Ann Snider is marking piano keys and Cheryl Adair just couldn't wait for the rest, she got down to it and started quilting....bless her.

Susan Snyder is a member of the applique group and one ambitious appliquer. Here she is tracing the patterns for the 12 Days of Christmas that she plans to applique over the summer. We'll miss Susan for the next few meetings and over the summer as she is occupied elsewhere...she'll be back in the fall for sure and wow us with her work....again!

 Lunch is over and more quilters have descended. At this rate, they'll have this quilt all finished and ready for another in no time.  So many quilts, so little time.

Nothing like a good old fashioned chinwag...here are Gillian James and ReBecca Patterson catching up on all their news...

 Gillian is our resident knitter and here she sits with a huge bag of wonderful yarn that Brenda Long decided she should have.  That'll keep her busy for a while.

 A small crowd this meeting as you can see.  There's a large contingent off to the Villa Madonna for the annual retreat. It'll be great to hear their stories when they get back...should be a few giggles we'll hear about.

 Here's Ellen Henderson's contribution to show and tell. It's a good thing she's been busy...some of us haven't been.

 Gayle Rodgers made this comfy quilt. It's got fleece on it ....it's one of those quilts you'd just love to have on a rainy , cold day.

If you're wondering what this is....this is that smartie, Sandra Carter with her kiddie's elastics that are perfect for keeping thread under control. She thinks of the neatest things.

 Diane Brown did this gorgeous table runner with a placemat to show us. The fabric are beautiful and the pattern is perfect for it.  That's Vivian Hayward conducting show and tell.

A Closeup of those elastics...can be found at the dollar stores and they are great for bobbins  and for spools.  Such a snazzy idea...wish I'd thought of it then I could claim it and you'd all think I was the smart one.

We're Celebrating!!!

We're getting ready....






















 Brenda Long made this gorgeous cake.  See the bottom right hand corner...that was my piece. I was right in line as fast as I could get.....love icing. I always say I don't have a sweet tooth but cake icing spoils that for me every time.....yummy!!!





This is our raffle quilt called "Turning 25"  an appropriate title don't you think?







 Some of the pictures and albums showing the history and some of the funny stories about our guild.  A lot of quilting, sewing, tufting, retreating and good fun has gone under the bridge...many more to come.








Muriel did a wonderful job as emcee...here, she and Marg check over their notes and reminders.







 Here's Judy Steeves chatting with some of the founding ladies of the guild that came from afar to celebrate with us.  Sure was nice to see them and hear their stories.






Muriel Gilbert chatting with Sandra Alston, her mother and Vivian.

Here's the other side of the room, quilters anxiously awaiting the start of the fun and games. 

Judy Steeves holding up one of the first challenges of the guild...beautiful, isn't it?








 Sherry Maxwell showing her sweatshirt jacket...looking mighty fine.

 

Sewin' & Chattin'

I forgot my camera....wouldn't you know it. So I asked DH if he would be so kind as to bring it to me before he went out on his treks...like the sweetie  he is, he brought it along and then, of course, he just had to tease the quilters some. Even his sister can't keep him quiet...he's a terrible tease.

Here's Carolyn Lockhart , probably telling me, just like the rest of us, she hates having her picture taken. If you will notice, her sewing machine is a Brother...the old models used to be known for their reliability and looks like the new ones have inherited that trait...it has some really nice features.

Judy Steeves, like myself, is a die-hard Pfaff person. She came in the morning with the intention of staying only a short while and ended up staying most of the day....took her project home to finish, though. I imagine we will see it at show and tell next meeting day.

 This is Jean Thompson, industriously cutting fabric and batting for the sewers. Isn't that a gorgeous vest she's wearing. She always comes to guild with the nicest quilted clothing...such good taste.

 Susan Snyder working away on her cuddle quilt...what a happy smile...wonder if she whistles while she works.

 There's that DH of mine, bugging Gilliane  while she is busy ironing the flannel handles for my anti-ouch pouches. Obviously, he didn't upset her too much, she doesn't look annoyed and she continued to assist me in my endeavours. If I had known having an assistant would be so much fun, I would have put her to work ages ago.

 I caught ReBecca with the light shining on one side and got a shadow on the other side. She was lucky, she got one of the sturdier tables to sew on plus she got some bright sunlight to aid her vision.  Not only that , she got to spread her 'stuff' all around on the big table.  Wonder who she paid off?

And here's the lady that keeps us all organized. Ethel Raymond came with fabric, some precut and ready to sew and then she organized the fabric not all ready cut ...got us just whirring away on our machines in no time.  Always a pleasure to see that sweet smile. We had a great day....should have some pictures of all our efforts soon. It's always a fun thing to do, sewing and chatting....a cup of tea now and then didn't hurt either.

Quilt Show Vendor "Books For You"

The first Vendor has been booked for the Quilt Show. Books for You carries a large arrangements of Fibre Art books, Embroidery, quilting, lace, dyeing, so many techniques both traditional and contemporary. Carole is  very good at finding the most difficult books which I discovered a few years ago when I (who thinks myself at very good at finding books) couldn't get an out of print book and exhusted all the know venues , Carole was able to get it for me. She will be at the Sussex Vale Quilters' Guild Quilt Show & Sale Sept 20,21,22 2012 Sussex Legion. Email me for more information  Sweet Threads of Life

We've been meeting again...

 I've had the good fortune to belong to three different guilds over the years and I have to say that Sussex Vale Quilters' Guild is without doubt the most generous, hands-on and busy guild I've  participated in.

This gorgeous 16 patch with piano keys borders is a comfort quilt. It was put into the frame in the morning and  these ladies were the first...not the only quilters to work on it..

Vivian's birthday was today....and I charge you with the task of guessing her age.  I would have said maybe early 70's...owing to the white hair, wouldn't you agree.  That unlined happy face hides 95 years...yeah you read correctly.  95....wow , hunh??? AND, she is still very active as you will see if you continue to keep reading.

 This neat quilt is one of five that will be going to a local family that has suffered a home fire and lost everything.  A young family with three children and twins on the way.....a hardship time for anyone, particularly harder with little ones.  Judy made this one and decided it should be included in the quilts going to this family.

 This is one of the five as well. Marilyn pieced it, a tad larger than the previous one and it , too, is going to that young family as well..  See what I mean about a generous guild. I could have included the other quilts but find that blogger sometimes does not cooperate when there are too many pictures.

 Marilyn showed us this piece of fabric. It's not pieced...this is what's left of the fabric she purchased. With her uncanny ability to see the potential in a fabric she bought it home and went to work.

 And this is what she made...neat, hunh????

Remember the birthday girl?...this is one of three squares she brought to show and tell.....it is part of the block of the month programme for this year.  You can't see it very clearly but there are candles in the window...I can't wait to see the finished product, she does amazing work...so well finished.

And last but not least this is the comfort quilt I posted at the beginning after a morning and early afternoon of quilting....One more morning and it will be out of the frame and waiting for some family that needs it. I hear tell there are more tops just waiting to be quilted.