Catch Up Time

So many things going on these days - hard to keep the straight!

Gabrielle has started a Saturday morning quilt group.  We gathered in February to share completed projects and talk about different finishing techniques.

JayDee is holding a beach towel to which she's added a fabric "sleeve" at the top.  This sleeve goes over the top of your lounge chair to hold the beach towel in place.  Love the bright fabrics.

Here's a completed basket quilt - was it Kay's?  Beautifully completed.

 Also in February was the Guild's annual auction.  Just look at the items waiting for eager bidders.  We raised over $1,100 at that meeting.

 We did have Show and Tell but I couldn't tell you who made these two T-shirt quilts.  I like the way solid fabrics are interspersed with the T-shirts to help fill out the quilt.

Another reason I've been busy has been my new job - Executive Director at the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic.  We just held our Phil!Tastic fundraising event.  Love the decorations and the colors used in the decorations.  We had both a Silent and Live auction to raise money for the orchestra. 

 Entertainment was The Singing Hoosiers.  What a wonderful group of talented, young people.  This was the only shot I got of them but they had a few dance routines and at the end of their performance, they came down on the dance floor and got people up and dancing.  It was a super fun event.

 Finally, back to quilting stuff.  Deb, Kathy and I made our annual foray to the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington, Indiana (not Bloomington, IL as Bonnie Hunter posted on her blog).  There weren't as many quilts this year - don't know why - but the quilts on display were a wide mixture of techniques and designs.

 Birgit Schueller had this eye-catching quilt.  Her quilt last year had concentric circles in the piecing that were very restful.  This really makes you take a step back, doesn't it?

I loved this quilt with the penguins marching among the rocks - or seals!  Look closely and you can see their cute faces among the rocks.  I see at least 5 seals - how many can you see?

Of course, there were fabric purchases involved.  Now to quilt!!!

Cheers!

Margaret

A Fresh Start

This year has gotten off to a running start ... busy, busy, busy!  Our Guild met on the 9th and we had a great turn out.  Lots of show and tell!  I thought there wouldn't be too much because of the holidays.  Boy, was I wrong!  Take a look.

Susan is showing a gorgeous quilt top.  

Sara showed the cute Snowman Santa quilt she had completed.  I think she used it as a door hanger.

Here's Lillian's Block of the Month she completed.  She did this through Sharynn's Quilt Box in North Vernon.  Harriet Carpanini quilted it for her and did a fabulous job.  It was gorgeous!  Harriet is a HandiQuilter Educator and you can see why they have her teaching about longarm techniques.

Jamie had these applique blocks - I think she bought them from an antique store.  She set them in this quilt and then had an Amish friend of hers hand quilt it.  Beautifully done.

Here's another of Jamie's quilts.  Don't you love the scalloped greenery?  I forget the story behind this but it certainly is  wonderful to see.  I really like the green binding - helps frame the quilt.

I moved when I took the picture but you get the idea.  Hard to believe that this was the first T-shirt quilt done by Kathi!

Here's Harriet hiding behind her granddaughter's quilt.  She designed the quilting design and then had her computerized HandiQuilter do the quilting.  What a lucky grandchild to have such a talented and loving grandmother.

When Show and Tell was over, we had delicious treats.  We were then treated to a program by Lois Griffith titled "I Can't Draw a Straight Line therefore I Can't Draw!"  She show us the way to overcome the creativity block that we often run in to when designing patterns for our quilts.  Lois is an extraordinary teacher and even helped me!  I know I can draw a straight line (using a ruler) but she helped me see how other simple shapes can be combined into the more complex shapes that look so good when appliqued.  It was a great start to the year.

Cheers!

Margaret

Christmas Exchange

Our Guild has a Holiday Block Exchange that is a great way to showcase the variety of talents in a single meeting.  To participate, you prepare a block of your choosing and size, wrap it up and bring it to the Guild meeting.  There were over 50 blocks exchanged but I only managed to get a few pictures.   But what a wide variety of styles and designs there are.  I'm proud to be affiliated with this talented group of women - and now men!  We have a male quilter who joined late this year and we're delighted to have him with us!

Beautiful applique on this block.

All this needs is some batting, backing and a little quilting to make this into a lovely wall hanging. 

Cute little Santa delivering packages at night.

And here's a present - all ready wrapped!

This beautiful redwork took quite a bit of time - what a lovely block.

Cheers!

Margaret

Rug Hooking - I'm Hooked!

Pat Probst was the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Columbus Star Quilters Guild.  Pat is also a quilter and does fabulous painting on eggs (there's a name for what she does with egg painting that escapes me at the moment).  She's quite a talented lady.

I found her talk quite interesting.  She didn't describe the rug hooking technique and mentioned it only in passing.  She talked briefly about her introduction into hooking and what she looks for in classes (teachers that assist with technique and use of color, not so much on completing a pre-specified pattern).  She focused on where she gets her inspiration for the rugs she's hooked through the years.  Those stories and the things she learned about using different types of wools were what made this a fascinating program.

Not a clear picture but Pat is holding the first rug she hooked.  She found this at  Sans Souci - a local thrift store.  It was a partially completed rug that she finished.  She shops at Sans Souci quite often for wool skirts, pants and other items that she can cut into strips for her hooking.

The larger rug in the center of this picture is one that was an inspiration from a turn of the century shawl she owns.  Wonderful color and placement with designs that she created for use in this rug.

This gives you an idea of the variety of rugs, seat cushions (the round items), mug rugs (small square items) , wall hangings and rugs that she's hooked.  Because this picture isn't focused on a single item, the thing that strikes me is the range of colors that she's used in her hooking.  Pastel colors as in the larger rug toward the top right, blues and greens in the rug on the left, and darker colors in some of the smaller pieces.  She overdyes alot of the wool that she uses - a lesson for another time!

While I don't know that I need to add another creative endeavor at the moment, Pat's work and her talk really has me thinking about getting into rug hooking.  The only thing is I'm going to have to figure out how to get those woolen items before she does!

Cheers!

Margaret  

CSQ Quilt Show

The Columbus Star Quilters Guild biennial show was a huge success.  Despite the rain and the detour into town, we had an excellent turnout and a great time.  We added several new features this year, including a preview night for members and spouses - well attended and with delicious treats.  During the show we had several scheduled demonstrations on various topics - from hand quilting to rug hooking to making batiks.  Thanks to Sharynn's Quilt Box, we also had a longarm and a midarm quilting machine on display that generated interest.  Of course, there were lots of quilts, quilters and non-quilters who visited during the two day show.  If you missed it this year, put October 4th and 5th 2014 on your calendar!

Guild President Sue Paris making some opening remarks during the pre-show Reception.

Columbus Mayor Kristen Brown came to the evening reception and selected Susan Wilson's quilt, Four Into One, for the Mayor's Choice ribbon.  One of the things that Kristen liked about this quilt was that Susan did all of the work on this quilt.  Susan did a fabulous job on it, too.  

Carol Walp's quilt, Paducah Block of the Month, won Best of Show.  Carol's getting ready to tell me something.  I had the distinct honor of quilting this for Carol.  The gridwork in the center was tedious but the result is stunning.  And Carol's applique is wonderful.

The theme for our Challenge was "Into the Woods."  There's quite an assortment of designs around the theme.  And some lucky Guild member will be able to bid on these blocks when we have our Auction in 2013.

I was thrilled when my good friend Kathy's quilt Filmstrip won a ribbon.  I just love the black and white filmstrip border around the vibrant colors in the center.  What you can't see in this picture is the variegated thread flame quilting on the black border.  I credit Kathy and another friend, Debbie, for getting me so involved in quilting.  

Jan's quilt Ice Cream Cone Flowers was my personal favorite of all of the quilts in the show.  Jan's a great fiber artist - dying fabrics, painting fabrics and using all sorts of other interesting techniques to create quilts.  Her quilt won the Viewer's Choice - Art Quilt category.

Dottie did a beautiful job on this New York Beauty quilt, titled Let's Do New York.   I couldn't convince her to let me keep the quilt when I was done with the quilting.  These really are my colors - especially the blue border she used.

Jeannette, Lois and Jamie enjoyed some time doing some hand quilting.  It was a  nice way for them to  share their love of hand quilting with others at the show.

Jamie's quilt, Sedona Reds, was made with fabrics she purchased while visiting her daughter in Arizona.  It's a gorgeous medallion quilt with an interesting collection of red fabrics.  In particular, I loved the fabric in the two skinny borders that has yellow spikey things on a red background.

Thanks to Kay, who led the Quilt Show Committee in our efforts this year.  She had everything very well organized and things went off like clockwork.  Thanks to The Republic and photographer Andrew Laker for the wonderful full page spread of pictures of the show.  It was a wonderful weekend of all things quilty.

Cheers!

Margaret

Quilt Show Frenzy

This week has been Quilt Show week.

Monday saw me driving to Grand Rapids to observe in the judging room prior to the West Michigan Quilters Guild.  Andi Perejda and Beverly Fine were the judges.  Having taken a design course taught by Andi and Beverly at NQA in June, I was looking forward to observing their judging.  The only picture I was able to take was of Andi and Beverly signing the judging forms - couldn't take pictures of the gorgeous quilts as they were being judged and I wasn't able to stay for the show.  If you're in the Grand Rapids area this weekend (Oct 6-7, 2012), it's worth a visit to this show at the Delta Plex Arena.  They have fabulous quilts, lots of vendors and you'll be in for a real treat.

Andi (on the left) and Beverly getting ready to review the judging forms.  I think I caught Andi with a cookie in her mouth - the treats prepared by members of the West Michigan Quilters Guild were delicious.

This weekend is also the Columbus Star Quilters Guild and the Evening Star Quilters Guild Biennial Show.  Early this morning we loaded all of the poles (I provided the pickup truck - the supportive spouses loaded the poles).  Observing in the judging room at our show was interesting, as well.  There was just a single judge and she was meticulous and thorough.  It may be odd to say this since I'm a machine quilter, but I was pleasantly surprised at the number of hand quilted quilts.

Kristen Brown with the quilt awarded the Mayor's Choice.  You can see the special ribbon with the Columbus  "C" on the blue background on the right edge of the quilt.

We had a reception for guild members this evening with a special award - the Mayor's Choice.  Kristen Brown spent over an hour walking through the show, talking with guild members and learning about quilts.  She selected this quilt as her choice - beautiful applique and wonderful piecing.  On a personal note, it was fun to talk with Kristen about her parents.  My office was next to her Dad's office for several years and her mother is one of the nicest people I know.

The Best of Show award went to Carol Walp, president of the Evening Star Quilt Guild.  Her quilt is absolutely gorgeous and deserves this recognition. 

I'm on the left; Carol is on the right.  Her quilt is a beautiful medallion quilt with a variety of quilt blocks surrounding the quilt.  She does impeccable work and her quilt is certainly deserving of the Best of Show award.  She invited me to stand in the picture because I quilted her quilt.  Why didn't someone tell me I had my glasses hanging from the neck of my shirt?!!

Carol and Ann are at the Quilter's Boutique.  We have many unique gifts this year, reasonably priced and Carol has done an excellent job of preparing the Boutique for the onslaught of shoppers.

This year's Challenge was to design a block depicting a scene based on the theme "Into the Woods."  What a lovely collection of blocks using a variety of quilting techniques.

So - if you're near Columbus, Indiana or Grand Rapids, Michigan this weekend, make sure you stop by to see our quilt shows.  They'll be a treat and are certainly worth an hour or two of your time.

Cheers!

Margaret

Quilt Connection Guild of Greenwood Show

Friday afternoon, Deb, Kathy and I took off to see the quilt show sponsored by the Quilt Connection Guild of Greenwood.  Here are some of the items that caught my eye.

I had made a presentation to the guild about the Fractured Quilt technique earlier this year.  I was delighted to see that at least one member of the guild attempted a Fractured Quilt.  I love the look of this quilt.

The note with this pillow said the material had been purchased on a trip to Hawaii 18 years ago.  What a wonderful way to showcase the material and the Hawaiian applique.  Maybe this is what I'll do with the 2 and one half blocks that I've completed with a Hawaiian applique motif!

I loved the beading along the bottom of this fanciful quilt.  Great embellishments.

They also had a display of some antique quilts.  This was a lovely way to combine some examples of quilt history with contemporary quilts.

Of course, there's also the fun quilt - this was a hoot!

There were also several vendors and I couldn't help myself - bought a Hallowe'en table runner kit from In Stitches.  Cathy carries the greatest kits and panels.  Deb bought one of the kits, too, and she sent me an email this morning saying she had finished the table runner.  What an over achiever!

Cheers!

Margaret