Divas at Quilt Camp 2012

Two of the Basement Divas helped out this week at Quilt Camp at my church.
We have 13 young people ranging in age from those going into 6th grade to one who will be entering college. They are fun to work with and the whole experience is rewarding. Divas Lori and Kathy came to help. Kathy's sister Margie came all the way from Madison Indiana to help us. Margie is an honorary long distance Diva.



Quilt Camp 2012 Participants and Adult helpers



 Lori couldn't come on Friday so she didn't get into the group photo but I found one of her earlier in the week. Lori is in the front on the right putting her precise cutting skills to work at our central cutting station. The others in the picture are Beth and Betty, two of the ladies from our church group and Emily, one of the young quilters.

Lori and Kathy and Margie all volunteered; I did not coerce them into helping us. They made a big difference; all week long the ladies in our church group kept telling me how much they appreciated having them and how nice they are. I hope they had fun and that they are eager to come back next year.

Near death of a diva

You may not know this about me but I insist on being the center of attention. You may not know this either but God has a weird sense of humor.
So we are at quilt camp, in Ruth's church. Lunch time came and we were eating and chatting. Ruth made the bold statement "I never hit anyone", Well, we all know that is a bold faced lie  exaggeration  of the truth. I gasped. Did God in his own house strike Ruth?  He tried and hit me. I sucked a piece of raw carrot into a place it did not belong. Then the choking started. I sounded like a squeeky toy. Margie was panicked as a good sister should be. Lori moved her lunch in case I hurled, Betty, what a dear lady, got me some water. Ruth? Ruth said "if you are wheezing, you are breathing and will be ok." Eventually I was, of course. I was actually embarrased enough by the noise  I was making that I hoped I would just die.
Lesson. Don't mess with Ruth. She has friends in high places.
Another lesson. No more healthy foods.
The quilting has been going really well.What a nice bunch of quilters. Friday can't come soon enough. I am getting too old for this stuff. I hope next year's quilt is easier.

Branching out

This week, some of the Divas have branched out and gone above ground. Ruth has her church Quilt Camp and so Ruth, Lori, myself and a sometimes basement Diva, my sister Margie are working with the young and impressionable. Margie and I are in charge of some lovely 11 year old twin sisters who are doing a great job with their first time at a sewing machine. Ruth will be posting pictures, I am sure.
We are working of a split rail fence quilt.
more to follow.

It doesn't get any better than June Basement ...

What a great day we had!  There was so much activity in the Basemen this month!  Amazing how much everyone seemed to be getting done.  I know many of us are stressing over some of our common deadlines like Friendship, the Wildwood challenge, Gifts Sew Special, and the show and others have some pretty daunting things like the Wildwood raffle quilt (thank you Mary Ann and Laura!).  I’m glad that you have all found ways to lighten your workload with this block of sewing time once a month. The input and problem solving skills in this group really help us all get through some of the hurdles, I think, even if we just need a nudge along our own path. 

I’ve been really struggling with a co-worker who makes no bones about the fact that he’d like to see me fail. Last Thursday was a really rough one for me.  The Basement sewing is one of the few things that can pull me out of the work stress 100%.  You guys remind me that there are supportive people out there and it really makes a difference!  Thanks for that.

Along those lines, I’ll cover some of the highlights from my view.  Thanks to Ruth and Kathy for catching on to a lot of the fun details that I totally missed. I was still in my work tailspin a bit and I off my game as a result.

It’s always a highlight when we have an appearance from Candy.  She always leaves us with interesting questions like “who WERE those kids?”   I am sure she told us but the audio was challenging given the crowd.

We made great headway on Tina’s blocks thanks to contributions from Jan and Syd.  Next month, we plan to work on putting the blocks together.

We had a lovely array of delicious food, as always.  For those who want the recipe for the enchiladas, here’s a link.  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cheesy-chicken-enchiladas-10000001891956/  Some of the dessert sampler plates that hit the table were works of art.  I knew I should have snapped a picture of at least one!

Mike and Brady had a good time as usual. For sure, Brady’s highlight was when Judy fixed his blanket. Yeah, Judy! Great job! We call the blanket the “Magic blanket” and he is calling the hole the “magical hole”. No joke. I am sure imaginations will be running wild when he’s talking about that at daycare tomorrow.

Also, just before Dianne and Judy left, Brady noticed the warnings on the folding chairs.  He was over the moon with excitement!  It was pretty wacky.  Judy put a cherry on top by moving one of the stickers to his shirt.

Kathy asked me to jot down my cheat sheet for the circles so here goes.  This is Dale Fleming’s idea that I followed.  http://www.hgtv.com/crafting/pieced-curves-so-simple/index.html

1. Iron pattern to wrong side of background square
2. Cut out the center of the circle, leaving a ½ inch seam allowance
3. Clip seam allowance to 1/8” all around the circle
4. Apply glue stick to the paper, around the edge of the circle and press the seam allowance to glue
5. Put glue on the right side of the seam allowance “tabs”
6. Wrong sides up for the base and circle fabric, put the circle fabric on top and press
7. Release the paper pattern
8. Press again to set glue again
9. Stitch in the crease, almost in the ditch, using a zipper foot
10. Trim seam to approximately ¼”. 
11. Clip seams again around the circle
12. Press towards or away from the circle

Our next meeting is Saturday, July 21.  Looking forward to it ...



Frabjous Day

Color really is everything. Jan mentioned she had seen a fantastic green camera at Costco. It even took pictures under water but most of all it was shiny green. I mentioned I had seen a snappy red camera on TV. Well Howie and i had to go to Costco anyway and I scampered right over to see the green camera. Frankly, if Jan thinks it's good that's a big thing. Howie proclaimed it a good camera and hard to destroy. The kind of camera that the lens cap has to open or the lens moves in and out are why I don't have a camera now. The world traveling kid had taken my last two  after volcanic dust, the ocean and such had rendered his useless. It's not like I was going anyplace.
Color is everything but this camera did not come in red. It did come in shiny blue and was on sale.
Now I can, eventually, when I figure it out, take and post pictures too.
Oh Frabjeous Day! Callhoo, Callay.
Thanks Jan for being my personal shopper.

A fun day

It was a fun day with almost everyone there. Yes, we did miss Lynn. Everyone in the group adds something from their own unique personality and when someone isn't there, something is missing.



Fran's Bargellografix

 We all added our input for the borders on Fran's quilt. I love this quilt and can't wait to see it finished.






Gwen working on her Halloween quilt



 Gwen was working on her Halloween quilt. She was adding some blocks with fused machine applique patches that she cut from a Michael Miller panel. The triple 4 patch blocks made with Halloween fabric are from our Friendship group.

Judy is overseeing Gwen's work while she takes a break from her paper pieced Ezekiel's Wheel



A few more Halloween blocks



Judy's sections for her Ezekiel's Wheel blocks

Maryann putting together the auction quilt for her guild

 Every time I looked Maryann was sitting on the floor doing something with her quilt.  I know she did some sewing because she made good progress on the quilt.

  Laura was very productive too. She put borders on her breast cancer quilt and binding on her other quilt.    

Laura's Slash a Stash quilt for her niece




Laura's breast cancer quilt



 

Auditioning borders for our group quilt.

 

Jan cutting a circle with her high tech tools



Check out Jan's fingernails. I am envious.

Syd working on Friendship blocks for Lori and Kathy

Syd didn't seem to have any problems putting her Friendship blocks together like some of us (me)but she never seems to get things mixed up. 

It was a good day! Good company, great space to work in, good food and today we even accomplished something after lunch.





crash bang boom

June 16, 2012
Such a meeting today! Everyone was there except Lynn and we missed her.
Let's see. Laura worked on binding a beautiful slash a stack. Judy kept right on working on her fantastic paper piecing. More importantly she  fixed Brady's favorite blanket that had grown a hole. Yeah Judy!
Mary Ann was working away on the raffle quilt for Wildwood, God bless her.
Lori was making circles and gave us another demo.
Syd was there and doing friendship blocks for the "Tina" quilt. Jan was doing Judy's friendship blocks. Ruth and Dianne plugged away at the fantastic group quilt we started a couple of years ago. The asked for input and got plenty of that. Gwen was getting an excellent Halloween quilt together and now we all want a Halloween quilt. Fran asked for help and advice on her bargello graphix quilt. I helped a bit with that, mostly encouragement and Dianne and Ruth came up with lots of good ideas.
For the life of me I can't recall what Sue was working on. She must have not asked for comment. And Candy visited via Skype.
Lunch great, as usual. Mike sqeezed fresh lemonade. He and Brady were wonderful hosts.
So things were accomplished. Plans made. Food consumed. Who could ask for more?
Oh, the crash I referred to involved the two fewer glasses Lori has now. Ooops. I think we may need plastic.
k

A diversion

Hi everyone,

I have to say that I've been distracted from circles.  Distracted by a wedding quilt.  Thanks to Ruth for making the foundations (is that ironic?).  I tried to channel my friend's taste to do the fabric selection.  It is 80 blocks of solid white and Anna Maria Horner.

I may decide to work on quiilting my circles piece before I fnish this one.  The wedding is on 6/22 but there's some flexibility in the gift deadline I think. 

I hope to see you all on Saturday.

Lori