Life Happens and I Get Way Behind!

Once again  life gets in the way and throws me way off. Better than the alternative, I guess. I haven't updated since early November, but found November's Show & Tell I had already uploaded, but not posted. Here they are.

SHOW & TELL

I needed a place to display Cherie's applique project from QSC retreat so I could take a picture. I warned her to pay attention! Just ignore the plaid borders. That's actually her shirt! Sorry Cherie....couldn't resist! The little Halloween wall hanging is really cute!

Cherie's making a Tic Tac Toe with x's & o's

Joanne made this wonderful pastel baby quilt for a G. grandchild.

Oh Judy, what do we have  here? Judy made this from something she saw on Alex Anderson's show quite a while ago. She's now embellishing it with beadwork. She took a beading class at QSC retreat.

A sample of stitches Judy learned in the class

Another of Judy's class projects. See the dangles on the bottom?

This was another of Judy's projects from a mystery quilt class at QSC.

The stockings were all made by Christine. She said she calls them trash stockings because they're all made from scraps she fished out of other quilters' trash cans!

Our newest member, Nadeerah, made this gorgeous quilt! Her color choices are wonderful!

Time for the Emma portion of Show & Tell. We're beginning to think she never sleeps! This is a finished prayer quilt she made from sale fabrics bought a week ago!

Emma didn't make this one. She just quilted it and put the binding on for someone else!

Jo created a monster when she demonstrated English paper piecing last meeting. Now Emma is hooked. We'll probably see a finished Grandmother's Flower Garden in the near future.

Emma made 2 bags from a pattern she got at QSC retreat.

And she SMOCKS, TOO! This is Emalia's Christmas dress.

Angie's QSC beading class project. She 's got dangles, too!

Angie's sample bead stitches.

A block Angie did to play around with shadows.

This wasn't actually supposed to be part of Show & Tell. Angie had her other things packed in it. This was from Priscilla Hair's New York Beauty class. Angie got bored after a few blocks and made a bag instead of a quilt. We like it!

This is my bag from Ginny's workshop in Heath Springs. This one I'll put away til next summer.

News From October (and some of Nov!)

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

Seascape by Barbara

Jo's stripper

Barbara's workshop charm quilt

Judy's wall quilt from a Camden class

Mary Lou's flip flop quilt. Her husband hand quilted it!

Spool quilt, also by Mary Lou

Emma FINISHED her stripper quilt!

Emma made this cutie from a panel.

Seems to be no end to what Emma's been up to. This is a stack & whack.

Angie's showing this for Janet. Janet's sister, Barbara made this cute rooster for her!

This one's made by Janet. Nothing will keep her from quilting!

Another one by Janet. She did some stripping, too!

Back side of Angie's Halloween quilt showing Edna's exquisite quilting detail...spiderwebs!

Another stripper for Janet.......queen size this time!

The front of Angie's Halloween quilt

Angie's project to embellish at QSC retreat

Angie's paper doll stripper

I had trouble identifying this one, then realized it was mine. Duh!

A gorgeous bag!

Another of mine....a quilt as you go technique

Jo did this Halloween quilt with hand embroidered black blocks

Cherie's stripper. She divided her quilt in two pieces, added borders and made two baby quilts!

Edna's stripper quilt

Alice got busy and made 2 stripper quilts. Oops! the other picture didn't upload. Maybe next time!

Alice made this gorgeous black and white bag.

That's all for today! I hope to see you all at the meeting on Thursday.

Magic Needle News from September

OOPS!! I'm running way behind getting the news updated. Sometimes life interferes with the best laid plans and we just have to put some things on hold. Here it is time for another guild meeting and I'm still trying to get caught up. This post may be short and sweet, but I promise to try to post more frequently and not get so far behind.

SEPTEMBER MEETING
Hopefully, you all received your minutes from the Sept. meeting. We had a great meeting and attendance was good. Our 2011-2012 officers were officially installed.
Some of our monthly programs are "Members Teaching Members."  Angie was in charge of the program and provided members with kits and directions to make hexagon scissor fobs. Thanks Angie!

SHOW & TELL
Sept. Show & Tell was wonderful! Here are the pictures.

Three table toppers by Christine

Emma finished her jacket!

 Barbara made this gorgeous table topper and doggie art quilt.

 Nadeerah made this beautiful Tennessee Waltz quilt.

                                                            ALS quilt top by Mary Lou

 Edna finally finished her two color applique!

                                                    Here's a sample of a block Edna
                                                    is scheduled to teach at the rec center.

 More ALS quilts. Thanks to Edna for her longarm quilting. All of our ALS quilts will be added to a special page on the blog as they are finished. Look for these to be added in a few days with the makers' and quilters' names.

 Alice made this wall quilt.

Alice also made the pumpkin wall hanging

                                                   Cherie made a Trick or Treat bag.









SEPTEMBER 29TH SPECIAL EVENT UPDATE

Our Special Event was a HUGE success! Participants were not told in advance what they would be doing. They were given a supply list and told to please be on time. I sent reminders and little teasers throughout the month to keep the excitement level up and when the day finally arrived.......almost everyone got to the senior center before I did. A lot of guilds and quilt groups are doing the same type of project we did, but we decided to really "rev" it up a notch. It was based on the Jelly Roll race. We called our race the Stripper 1600 and nicknamed our room at Prime Time for Seniors the Primetime Speedway. Janet, Cherie and I decorated the room for race day and set up a finish line. Each participant started with 40, 40" x 2 1/2" strips. The qualifying round was sewing the strips together end to end diagonally. Using a stopwatch to keep track of each person's time in the qualifying round, they were divided into teams of 2. One sewed and the other worked as pit crew, keeping the strips straightened out during the race. Two race heats were held and the roles were reversed for the second heat. The person with the best total time was declared the winner of the race with second, third and 4th place prizes awarded also. Alice was our top winner. She was awarded a $25 gift card to Mary Jo's, a winner's crown and a very special trophy. Second place was Joanne. She also got a Mary Jo's gift card. Third place winner was Emma. Her prize was 12 fat quarters. Jo came in 4th after having mechanical problems and having to borrow a machine to finish. She also won fat quarters. She sewed so fast she ran her machine hot! Every one enjoyed a wonderful lunch of smoked sausage and potato chowder with homemade bread made by Janet's husband, Ron. There were cakes, cookies, and lots of chocolate and coffee. I don't think any one left hungry! Every one had an amazing time and left with a beautiful quilt top. Here's a link to the instructions for making this top from jelly roll strips and a video of an actual jelly roll race. This is where we got the idea for our race.
http://www.quilt-video.com/2011/02/18/jelly-roll-quilt-race-lasagna-quilt/

Here are a few pictures of race day!

 A display of all the finished quilt tops!

 Supervised by the Quilt Police

 Our winners! Emma, Jo, Joanne, and Alice

         




                              Alice is now the Stripper 1600 Queen!











I've set up a permanent page of photos from the Stripper 1600. Just look for it at the top left of the blog!

Til next time!