Halloween meeting

We had a very spirited group for October.  Now that the Wildwood deadlines are behind us, let's see if I can remember what we did.

 

Judy was doing some very nice free motion quilting. 

 

Lynn did a thorough and informative demo of her die cutter. 

 

Mary Ann was binding.

 

 

Jan was cutting up several Marcia Derse FQs to make Fat Quarter Totes.  Here she is resisting the overthinking of the fabric combos.

Susie was working on this pattern.

 

Gwen was working on the embellishments for her store front quilts.  The photos don't do it justice but you can zoom to see all of the thoughtful and exquisite touches.

Lynn brought her in-progress braid challenge inspired by the Day of the Dead.

 

.... complete with sugar skulls on the back.

 

Lynn also brought her finished black and white challenge top.  It is a great piece.

 

Susie brought this cute Halloween braid, all layered up.  We can't get enough Halloween!

 

She even fussy cut the stripe on the back.  Cool!

 

Judy brought each of us a Chris-o-ween decoration.  Cute!

 

Judy also found time to make these Halloween inspired snacks, complete with licorice teeth.  These were the closest to dessert this month.  Next month, I plan to try this caramel apple rice pudding recipe ... before fall is gone for good.

MaryAnn made stuffed peppers.

 

There were spiders lurking in Jan's salad.

 

Gwen made pumpkin inspired deviled eggs.

 

Susie's eggs kept staring ...

 

There was lots of productive energy this month.  Hope to see you all in November.

September Gang

We had a small but mighty group for our September meeting.

 

Kathy had show and tell--her braid challenge.  Very impressive!

 

Dianne was finishing the binding on her braid challenge and MaryAnn was also binding.  Fran was demonstrating the art of relaxation.

 

Gwen, too, was finishing a binding.  Such a productive group.

 

Lynn was putting the finishing touches on her black and white challenge piece.  Kathy found the energy to start pinning her  braid.  Nothing like a deadline!

 

Dianne finished the hand stitching!  This beautiful piece is ready for the Wildwood show.

 

Lunch was great, as usual, despite the fact that we had no desserts.  Has that ever happened???  The adults enjoyed Fran's Oreo jello shots, though.

Happy New Year and Happy 100!

Did you realize this is our 100^th post?  Here’s to the next 100!   Speical thanks to Ruth for guilting us into a few of those to get us into the habit.

I have to say, I do a pretty horrible job with quilt photography.  It is always a last-minute recordkeeping task rather than something that is likely to turn out to be a quality photo.  I wanted to review what I’d accomplished sewing-wise in 2013 and decided that a blog post with a few photo collages might be the best way for me to remember what exactly I’d spent my time on last year.  It turns out that I am even less proficient with photo collages so you’ll have to bear with me.  This was only my second turn at it and, again, I put function over form.  Here goes.

 I made a few crafty things last year as well as a few projects that only made it to the block or flimsy stage.  I didn't bother to include the 20 pillowcases I made for Brady's birthday party.

 

I was surprised to see how many charity quilts I finished.  Some of the things that helped me in that area were the Wildwood charity sewing day, digging through Dianne’s leftovers, and a more realistic review of some of my stash (cut up those flannels and big prints I’ll never use!).

These are all of my finishes that were given to family and friends.  I’ve decided that it is silly for all of these tops to be hanging in the closet instead of on beds.  The biggest challenge is that I seemed to really enjoy making queen sized tops for the first few years.  I’m slowly and steadily working through the pile, though, and I’m using up quite a few yards for backs, too.

I managed to keep up with some of the challenges this year, too.  Thankfully, these are small pieces.

Fellow Divas, I hope you are getting your fabric together and revving your engines in preparation for the Jelly Roll Race on February 22.  It’s always a crowd pleaser and, of course, everyone gets a specially chosen prize!

The Reveal

The Basement Divas gathered  in the basement today at the home of Lori and Mike and Brady. There was no sewing today as this was the day to reveal our  pieces for the Black and White Challenge.

Jan and Judy brought appetisers in black and white and orange. They went on line and did a search for black and white food and separately found these penguins. Great minds run in the same circles think alike. The penguins were too cute to eat ........ but we did and they were very good. We enjoyed some of them while we were waiting for the last few people to arrive before we showed our challenge pieces.

There was a lot of visiting and chattering chatting going on as well as
some serious discussion. Diane was hand sewing the binding down on the quilt she started at our meeting in March, there was an audition for borders of a quilt in progress, we met and admired the new Havanese puppy, we discussed and admired Syd's new short haircut and perused books and magazines for ideas for our next challenge. Some people dressed for the occasion in black and white but we are an unruly bunch and there was no way getting everyone together for a photo.

Finally we had the reveal. All but one person had something to show although some of the quilts were not finished.

These were the rules for the challenge that Kathy posted last August. They were amended in October to include a target date for the finish.

The challenge shall be black and white and, if wanted, one other color. Color being defined as a color family. Quilters are to do something they have not done before and no, that doesn't mean finish the thing, using a book, pattern or tool that the quilter already has. Yes, a book that has been used before can be used but not the same pattern in said book. No, it does not mean you can make "that pink quilt you made before, in black and white".There is no size limitation or finish date established yet.
Quilter's should be ready to start, or have started at our next meeting in October.

This is a collage of all of the challenge quilts. There will be  follow up as individuals share the inspiration and how their choices met the challenge rules, along with the challenges they encountered as they worked on their quilts.