Magic Needle Quilting: November 2011

Here's an update from October til now. We had a wonderful meeting on October 13th.

PILLOWCASES
At our September meeting, it was announced that pillowcases were needed for the relief effort in Texas. A total of 33 were made by several of our members and sent via UPS (thanks Edna!).

ALS PROJECT

At our Oct. meeting, we had Show & Tell as the first item on the agenda. Janet was leaving early to go to ALS clinic and taking 19 quilts for ALS patients. We wanted everyone to see the most recently finished ALS quilts before they were donated. A page has been created here on the blog for pictures of our ALS quilts and new quilts will be posted as they are finished.

We are in need of more fabric and batting for the quilts. Any and all donations of cheerful fabrics will be welcome. We still have some fabric, but we've used most of the brightest and most cheerful already. Our batting has run out. Several of us worked on cutting backs and batting for 25 more finished quilt tops since the last meeting. They'll soon be ready for our wonderful longarm quilters, Edna Drakeford & Donna Sawyer!

Kathy Thompson from Quilters Dream Batting Co. had an ALS quilt display at the Houston show again this year. She asked Janet to send another of her art quilts to be in the display with an inspiring story of Janet's on-going battle with ALS. Janet sent "Space Music" this year. I am still in shock, but very honored that Kathy also chose to display "Desert Star", a quilt I donated to the Quilters Dream Hopes and Dreams Challenge in honor of Janet. We're anxious to see pictures of the display in Houston and I'll post the link as soon as I get it.

Please join us in our workroom at Primetime for Seniors. Some of us are there almost every Thursday around 10am. You're welcome to work on your own projects or the ALS quilts. It's a great place to work and socialize with other quilters.

GRANDMOTHER'S FLOWER GARDEN PROGRAM
Our October program was another "Members Teaching Members" success. Jo Hinson provided little fabric kits and gave everyone a lesson in English paper piecing the Grandmother's Flower Garden. Thank you Jo! Hexagons are really making a comeback in the quilting world so this was very helpful and a lot of fun.

QSC PIECEABLE RETREAT
Some of us who are also members of Quilters of SC had a fun filled weekend at the QSC Fall Retreat on Oct 21, 22, and 23. Over 300 crazy quilters gathered at White Oak for wonderful classes, shopping from quilt vendors, no housework, good food we didn't have to cook, no phones constantly ringing, no TV's blaring (except in the lounge when the game was on), no loud radios, lots of chocolate, and more fun than should be legal! If you haven't joined our statewide guild, please do. You don't know what you're missing til you go to Fall Pieceable Retreat! Just go to http://www.quiltersofsc.org/index.html to print out your membership application. You won't regret it!

GINNY'S BAG WORKSHOP
On Nov. 5th, Ginny taught a workshop at Heath Springs Baptist Church that included members from Magic Needle and Piecemaker guilds. We made a patchwork totebag that ended up with the blocks on the diagonal. It was a great workshop. Thanks Ginny! Hopefully we'll see some results of this workshop in the Show & Tell segment at our next meeting.

NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting is November 10th at 10am. We will have a short business meeting, then our guest, Rachelle Apol will be doing a trunkshow and lecture. Lunch will be served after the program. Rachelle will return to us on November 17th at the senior center for a long awaited workshop, "Quilts From Photos."

SHOW & TELL PHOTOS FROM OCTOBER MEETING