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!

Diva's at the Quilt Show

 Sunday was the Wildwood Quilt Guild annual quilt show in Mentor, Ohio. Many of the Basement Divas are members of the guild and there were many quilts there representing the Basement.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera but a friend from my church group had her camera phone and got some shots for me.

This first group of photos is from their very clever challenge. The inspiration for the challenge  piece was  to come from a food package.
I am not sure how many of these were from the Basement divas but I know for sure that the one close up on the lover left was made by Lori. Those little HST's finished  at 3/4 inch. Her package was from Lipton Tea.

There was also a corner with the Diva "Made fabric'' challenge. I missed our last 2 meetings so I didn't get  so see them before the show. In the top row on the  left is Kathy's and on the right is Maryann's. Lower left is Gwen's and lower right is Jan's.

Lori also had a piece with houses using made fabric but my friend with the camera apparently didn't get that shot, however the owner of one LQS posted it on her Facebook page and you can click here jellen's facebook to see it.
There were others for which I have no photos but maybe someone in the Basement Diva's group has some. It would be nice if they could post them.




I bought some raffle tickets and I won this Princess basket. I saw it when they were putting it together a couple  months ago and I thought I was just too cute. It is loaded  with things to make a little princess happy. The little pink and purple tutu is waaaaay too small for me, as are the wings but I have a plan for this.