Great Quilt Club Start to 2018-19 Year!

Do you belong to a guild?  I do, but I also belong to a ‘quilt club’ – totally volunteer-run.  Every August, a few of us get together to plan something to get the club off to a good start.  Once that happens, we have a calendar formatted so that at the beginning of each meeting, the meeting’s chair calls for volunteers for the upcoming meetings:  chair, lesson, snacks, clean-up, plus quilters who want to have a quilt bee during the weeks when we don’t have meetings (more about that later). 

Our quilt club is called the Happy Quilters and we meet near Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island.

This year, we aimed to choose a project that all the members could try and enjoy – both beginners and advanced quilters. 

What’s a good block to both teach and enjoy?

Well there are many, but we chose the 9-patch and the snowball block.  Think about it – the 9-patch block can end up several ways.

And the snowball is perfect for personalizing a project – with many kinds of embroidery and appliqué.  The snowball block is fairly easy to sew because the quilter can really choose any size of square to sew on the corners (as long as they are consistent!).  We also decided to take advantage of the great light in our meeting hall (the Community hall for Gordon/Barrie Island) and teach some hand embroidery and appliqué.

Some of the old embroidery pattern books available.

First up…hand embroidery (because one of us had obtained a bunch of little booklets from a garage sale).  I used a dry iron to press about a dozen of the patterns on to scraps of fabric I had (you can press one design several times), and threaded about 40 needles with different colours of thread.    No sooner had we planned this session and talked about it, that we found out just how many of us have embroidery floss sitting in a drawer at home!

I started with a butterfly, but wasn’t happy with the results, so I went on to a teapot (good memories of tea with Mom) which I finished and coloured with Inktense pencils (Derwent Inktense )then clear aloe vera gel to intensify the colours.  I’m using in a small box in my sewing kit to hold needle threaders and other small items.  Then I went on to a dragon and I am pleased with this one – more Inktense and gel and it will either be a cover for a sewing machine booklet or my regular needles.  I’ll show it off later.

Our year is off to a great start, with members showing off table toppers, table runners and small quilts using these patterns.

What would you choose as a project that would suit all your quilting group?  

If you are interested in seeing the calendar we use in our quilt club, let me know and I’ll send you a copy!

Re-Starting my Blog

It’s been almost a year – a year of sadness and grief with my sister’s bone cancer getting worse and invading her brain.  I lost my best quilting buddy and sister all-in-one.  She was a fearless quilter – persevering on any project she began until it was finished.  Last year about now, she said she had two quilts left in her (for her great granddaughters), but that didn’t stop her working on a few other projects until she ran out of steam.  One was the 'Elephant and Me' quilt and the other was a Sunbonnet Sue and Sam quilt that her friends quilted and delivered to her hospital bed.

Her best friend, Shirley, and I packed up her sewing room afterwards.  My sister, Lyn, wanted it all to go to a group in her town that was teaching single and poor mothers how to sew.  It was terrific to see the face of the woman we delivered all the boxes to!

This past week, I have been on holiday in the Everything-pumpkin state of Michigan.  I don’t know whether this is true in other states, but when I visit here in the fall, it always seems that this is their favourite food, drink and décor item!  I love it and have finally even tasted a pumpkin spice latte!  Since I drink my coffee black, this took me a long time to decide on tasting one.  Not bad….

The other good thing about this holiday is that I have finally ‘stepped back’ and enjoyed thinking about Lyn and all the other family members and friends who have gone on.  I’m letting memories of them come and go as they like, with some tears, I admit, but no regrets (well, some regrets, but I can strive to be a better person every day!).

So, it’s time to restart this blog and continue with my quilting journey.  I’m not a speedy quilter and don’t finish projects as quickly as Lyn did – maybe because I’m always trying new techniques and I have a tendency to procrastinate whenever I reach a point in a project where I’m not sure how to proceed.  Does anyone else do this?

2018 UFO Project

Happy New Year!

I've been reading online and have seen the great ideas from All People Quilt http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/how-to-quilt/finishing/2018-ufo-challenge and the AQS Creative Organizer http://www.aqsblog.com/creative-organizer-2018, but decided to set up my own organizer.
I've never bought into this idea about organizing and completing UFOs before, but I will soon be at a point where I have more projects than stash!  And that's a shame!
So, here are my 2 organizing pages for this year.  If you like them, try them out!

Corrected blog site addresses for Show n Tell Day

How annoying!
Some of the links in my post earlier today aren't working!  The other bloggers who have giveaways today are:

Cloth and Paper Studio

Just Let Me Quilt

 Moosestash Quilting

 Quilt in Piece

Seams to Be Sew

The Road Home - Show 'n Tell Day 2016

Welcome to Show 'n Tell day for the Road Home Row Along 2016!  Don't forget to sign up for the two special giveaways - a bundle of fabric from Northcott 


and a book by Barbara Dieges 'A Thread Runs Through It'.  Look to the right of this post and you'll find the Rafflecopter areas to sign up for both of these draws...and you only have Tuesday, October 11, 2016 to win these!!

Well....should I start by complaining about the quilting that didn’t work?  Not very interesting, or inviting to readers, I think! I haven't decided whether to hang this up over the entrance or to use it as a table runner.

I have definitely challenged myself to stretch my skills and I’ll bet that I’ll get better with every project.  I’m working on FMQ (free motion quilting, as they put it these days) and am using Wonderfil Invisifil on top and in the bobbin.  I finally worked out the bugs with my Bernina using this thread, but I’m away from home right now and brought my Singer Quantum to use.  So, of course, I’ve gone ‘back to the drawing board’ to try to get my sewing even and easy.  For those of you who haven’t tried this, I’ve seen the recommendations to use this thread for dense quilting.  I wanted to try it so that my stitching wouldn’t be the most visible thing on my quilt.  I’ve followed a number of suggestions to keep the thread from shredding or breaking:

• Change the needle to a smaller one (on my Bernina, I can use Jeans 70/10 quite nicely or Embroidery 75/11);
•  Loosen the tension;
• Re-thread the machine;
• Avoid putting the thread through the final loop before it goes into the eye of the needle;
•  All attempts in, I’m still having ‘shredding’ thread problems, but I'll keep experimenting!

The block as sewn

The block after colouring with Neocolor ii

The other thing I wanted to try was some ‘colouring’ on some of the blocks with Neocolor ii by Caran d’Ache.  I’ve read a few blog posts on this and how easy it is to use to colour fabric and still keep the colour permanent.  I coloured the rock on block 1 of my row to try to make the red look more ‘rock’ like. 

I used several shades of grey on it, then used a brush and textile medium to blend the colours.  I could have used water as well.  I think it worked ‘okay’, but I should have tried harder in the beginning to find the right fabric.  I can say that using these wax pastels does not make the fabric stiff and the colour is permanent.  I also shaded a few other elements in the row (like the inukshuk).  I'm still not sure about my highway rock cuts and I may end up taking then out and replacing the fabric!

The trees in all the blocks are going to wait until I get home – I seem to have left the bag with the rest of my thread at home.

If you look closely at the quilting, you'll notice that some of the other quilting isn't finished either!

I think I have to go back and thread paint the sunset into the water, don't you?

Thanks for visiting!
Good luck with the giveaways - someone has to win them and the prizes are only available today, Tues. Oct. 11, 2016!  And these aren't the only giveaways for today's Show 'n Tell.  Take a look at these other sites and see their final Road Home projects:

Seams To Be Sew
Quilt in Piece
Just Let Me Quilt
Cloth and Paper Studio
Moosestash Quilting

and, this is where you are right now:  WestEnd Quilter

The Road to Home Row Along - Day 10

Well I was very excited this morning because I was going to have a series of photos to show you how I fixed the first block of my row! 

As you can see, my attempt to sew the red granite and white quartz rocks along the highway did not turn out well!  Not even a bit lifelike.  So I have some painting  in mind that will amend the fabric to a more realistic look.  I want to make it look more like red granite and also I'd like to simulate the drill marks made in the rock when they dynamited it to build the highway north.

 But a trip to the hospital, xrays and an air cast for a fracture in my foot took up too many hours!  Life is!!

However, I have my supplies now:

• Textile medium
• Extra fine fabric markers 
• A waterbrush
• And...my secret ingredient, which you’ll see in the next few days when I get a chance to experiment!

The Road to Home Row Along is almost finished (sigh!).  I hope you’ll tune into www.seamstobesew.com on Oct. 11 to see the list of the bloggers who will be displaying finished projects with their rows!

In the meantime, here is the last set of bloggers who are revealing their rows today:

All Things Sewn at http://allthingzsewn.blogspot.com/

Seams to be Sew at www.seamstobesew.com

Quilt in Piece at http://chittenden.co.za/

Just Let Me Quilt at http://justletmequilt.com

Cloth and Paper Studio at Http://www.clothandpaperstudio.com

Moosestash Quilting at http://moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/

The Road to Home Row Along - Day 9

I had the most exciting week last week with this row along!  Thank you very much to everyone who visited my blog!!!

First of all there were all the nerves in setting up my blog so that everything would work correctly on the reveal of my row – no problem with the row because I had finished putting it and the directions together the week before.  But setting up the code for the giveaways and getting it up on time.  And one of the giveaways didn’t get on correctly, but at least I was able to fix it.  If you’ve never participated in a blogathon or blog hop then, from my experience I can offer some views:

• ·         If you’re the type of quilter who likes to challenge her/him self in trying new projects, then try a blogathon (I had done curved piecing before, but in preparing this row, I really focussed on honing my skills)
• ·         If you’re thinking about setting up a blog, then try a blogathon – it will force you to blog regularly and learn more about presenting images and info.
• ·         If you don’t have a lot of quilters in your area, then try a blogathon – you’ll meet new quilters and be able to discuss your projects with them
• ·         If you’ve run out of projects (this rarely happens with quilters, but you never know!) then try a blogathon – on Facebook you can check this page:  Quilt Blog Hops, Events and other Awesome Quilty Stuff! Or follow Marian at www.seamstobesew.com to learn about different blogathons (or blog hops) Or search Google for ‘blog hops’
• ·         If you’re learning to use EQ7 (like me), then join a blogathon to stretch your skills!

Now I am quilting my row so that it will be a small wall hanging in my front sun porch.  I’ll be showing it on Show ‘n Tell day on October 11, so stay tuned to see mine and other final projects!

Today we have 4 bloggers presenting rows that you’ll want to see!  I know I’ll be using these rows as souvenirs of lovely vacations!

Patchouli Moon Studio  at http://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com

Linda Robertus at http://lindarobertus.blogspot.com/

Elm Street Quilts at http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/

Sarah Quinn featured at http://www.seamstobesew.com