September Recap

What a beautiful day to get together and sew and eat and talk.  We were missing a few Divas today, including some of our more vocal leaders.  Things were a bit lower in volume but we had a lot of fun.  Of course, we talked about all of you.  Lunch was great, as always!

 

MaryAnn was working on her monochromatic color challenge for Wildwood. 

 

Susie was hand sewing the binding down on her Mary Ellen Hopkins challenge piece and Gwen was layering and pinning with help from fellow Divas.

 

Lynn was cutting scraps into useable chunks.  Presumably this photo shows her demonstrating the size of scraps she keeps or uses or maybe it was another topic entirely.  I had to include this shot.  :-)

 

Jan was prepping the ingredients for a Wildwood program for the members to make their own crowns and Dianne was working on more blocks from her July project.

Syd was knitting a shawl in a pretty color combo. 

 

Lynn decided she was “done” with her Heritage F’ing Medallion (HFM) and gifted the nearly done top and box of scraps to Jan.  Time will tell if this is the best gift ever or a penance.

I finished quilting my pixelated piece and was looking for advice on edge finishes.  This one is heavy!

Dianne put together these vintage Easy Pieces blocks she found in her UFO pile.  Lovely color combo!

 We brainstormed ideas for future challenges.  In no particular order …

1.      French Braid Revisited:  Use one of the books for a group workshop.  This was a today’s most popular idea.

2.      Applique: Can be hand, machine or fused.  Can be its own or a part of a pieced quilt. Finished quilt no smaller than 12” square (think Laura Wasilowski) and as large as you’d like.

3.      Quilter’s Playtime or Gwen/Freddie:  Use one of these books as a recipe for a few months in a row.  We have enough copies of these books in our midst that we thought no one should have to buy them.

4.      Make something for you:  could be a purse, a quilt, wallhanging, something knitted, etc.  The idea is that we are always focused on things for others. 

5.      Quick Curve Ruler:  This is the ruler MaryAnn used a few months ago with batiks for a shop sample.  Tutorials are here, to give you an idea:  http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.  We could do hands on working sessions so we can share rulers.

6.      Potholders:  Make a (probably display only) potholder for yourself or we could draw names.  Inspiration from this one came from Kathy’s chicken potholders a couple of years ago at the Wildwood show sale.  Melody exchanged them with her artsy friends a few years ago,  I believe.

7.      Small, art quilt:  No pressure—Dimension limits would be no side smaller than 20” and no side larger than 40”.  Anything goes.

8.      From Ruth’s email (I added a link that shows the houses.  They are really stunning.  Be sure to look at these projects.)

a.      I got this email this morning and Candy Glendening's Holiday Houses was one of the things I was going to suggest for our next project/ challenge. She has a new book that looks like it might have some small projects to work through together.  http://www.candiedfabrics.com/2014/08/25/my-ebook-create-handmade-gifts-for-all/

b.      Another thing I was going to suggest was a collaborative slice quilt. There are some ideas in Quilting Arts Feb/March 2013 and some other Quilting Arts in 2012

c.      Or.. a small abstact (or not abstract) quilt mounted to a painted cradled board like the things Melody Johnson has been doing.

We will take a poll next month and decide on a favorite.