TREE OF LIFE

One of the fun things about being VP of my guild is that the VP is in charge of finding out what classes the guild would like to have for the year and then getting teachers to fulfill those wishes.  Sometimes our teachers come straight from our own group.  For instance, we have had the snap purse, a lovely bargello and applique Christmas table runner, and Painless Cathedral Windows taught by our own members.  In the next few months, we will have classes on making a market bag, a beach bag, and fabric bowls by various members, too.

We are also fortunate to have access to outside instructors who stimulate our creative juices.  Marilyn Doheny and her 9 degree ruler, Sharon Stewart and her wool applique,  and Mary Nielsen introducing us to the Tri Recs tool have all graced our quilting efforts this guild year.

This Wednesday, Debbie Lou Powell will be showing us how to make the stunning Tree of Life quilt.  We have all loved these when we see them at shows, but making them has always been a challenge.  Working with bias in diamonds and sewing in Y-seams have always been challenging, to say the least.  Debbie runs an eclectic quilt shop about 30 miles from here called Miss Lou's, and most of us have already made it a favorite haunt.  Now she is coming to teach us her slant on this quilt, and I am very excited about it.

The actual Tree of Life pattern will be coming from the technique of Nancy Johnson Srebro, which makes it unnecessary to worry about piecing diamond shapes or Y seams.  I'm all for that!  To help us sort out how we want the colors to distribute in our trees, Nancy recommends making a mock up with fabric scraps, which are much easier to move around than any full size strips we might be using.  I don't know her technique, but above is my mock up, and I'm ready for Wednesday!!!

INDIANA AID

By now I'm sure that most of you will have heard about the tornados in Indiana nearly wiping out whole towns.  What you may not have heard yet is that for some reason, the state did not classify these devastated areas as disaster areas and therefore they are not eligible for funding for rebuilding.  Something about having met their quota.  How can that be possible?  What about the years when they DIDN'T meet their quota?  Where did any excess apportionment go?  Sounds to me that certain politicians need heart transplants....

That touched the hearts of some of our quilting guild members, who sent out an appeal for quilts for these victims. So I went to our collection of 2 1/2" strips that we had gleaned from donated material a few months ago and found some brightly colored children's fabrics and put together this Road Block quilt.  Others of us are making their own quilts for these kids.

Some of the local churches are collecting basic supplies, like soap and water and clothing and sending it on.  There's a problem we have found with sending the quilts:  so much damage was done to the towns that we don't have a contact person yet who will administer the distribution of the quilts to the children.  Sometimes it's an issue of trust and sometimes it's an issue of available (wo)manpower, but our guild is working diligently on finding someone who will do the job fairly and quickly.

Just a note on the fabrics:  the main body of the quilt was from the strips we had made from donated material to the entire guild.  The backing was whatever larger pieces of flannel I could find in the donated fabric, and the binding was a cheerful stripe I had bought years ago, thinking to make just this very sort of thing someday.  I used a floral pantograph to hold it all together. 

Now all we need is that one volunteer to receive and give out our quilts.

COMMUNITY CLEAN UP WEEKEND

I live in a lakeside community of about 90 homes and several "future build" lots.  This year we decided that we would pitch in to clear the right of way shoulders of small trees and overgrowth.  Two of our neighbors spent a couple hundred hours cutting off branches, removing fallen trees, clipping off weedy shrubbery and the like and stacking it at the edge of the woods along the two plus miles of road loop and culdesacs over the last year or so.  This past weekend, several of us finished the job.  We rented a chipper and walked both sides of those two plus miles, dragging the cut branches and trees to the chipper.  On Saturday we had 13 men doing that while 8 women raked the debris and swept it from the road as well as prepared a scrumptious feast for lunch and ran a golf cart back and forth with water and juice and coffee as needed.  At the end of the first day, we were down to 9 men and 5 women, and we had put in almost 8 hours nonstop working in teams.

This is Nancy, standing in the road at the rear of the entrance to the development.  She also walks the roads every day, picking up trash in the neighborhood, and she was among the hardy lasses who chipped in during the cleanup. 

On Sunday, we started with 11 men and 5 women.  That day we also added a leaf blower to the tools to help sweep debris and sawdust off the roads.  The chipper threw the ground up branches back into the woods, but both days had a brisk breeze that sometimes blew it back at us here and there.  Again we made a yummy lunch and had cold and hot drinks for our workers.  By the end of the day, we were down to 7 men and 4 women, and we had worked another 8 hours using two shifts at lunchtime.  Each person's contribution was invaluable, whether it was cooking or hauling branches or sweeping or whatever.  We also added a bucket with ibuprofen, acetaminaphen, naproxen,enteric coated aspirin and Tums to the "refreshment" offerings as the day wore on.

And we finished the job! 

Today I hope to get back to some quilting.  Something nice and quiet and not so taxing on the muscles.  But the weekend weather was wondrously sunny and pleasantly cool, and we all slept like babies from being outside all day long.

PRECISELY!

One of the things I really like about quilting for others is that I get to know all their secrets, i.e., those that are usually hidden from view on the back of the quilt tops.  It brings me to my knees -- not in defeat but in admiration -- when I see someone's work that is square and neat, well pressed, and flat.  I love it when I don't have to "quilt it out" and can just enjoy the process.

Well, Joyce T is such a quilter.  And she is fast as well.  Only about two weeks ago we were on a road trip to a quilt shop so she could get fabric for this quilt, and here it is, all done and just as straight and true as you please.  That's pretty fast work!  This Log Cabin is stunning.  Sometimes when I do things fast, I make mistakes or cut corners or otherwise sabotage a perfectly lovely project.  And then there are others, like Joyce, or BFF Mary, who can sew like a whirlwind and it comes out great!  So here's this 90" x 90"  quilt top that Joyce made for a raffle for a good cause.

I would have a hard time donating this one -- it's so pretty with its fall colors.  So I used feathered leaves in a pantograph across the entire quilt.  Their shapes can be seen best in the lighter areas.  The thread is variegated fall colors.  I hope her cause sells lots of tickets!

LONE STAR DONE!

Sisty gave me this quilt months ago.  In fact, it was so long ago that I forgot that I had it, and at one time, I even asked my guild whose quilt this was!  Then, finally, sisty came to visit me, after four years of being here, and she saw the quilt and asked when I would have time to do it.   Talk about egg on my face!  So I made a promise to myself to do it immediately after I finished my contribution to the Outreach Program quilts.

Missy has been quilting for over 20 years.  I'm a rank beginner compared to her.  She started quilting before the time of rotary cutters, when you had to cut each individual triangle or whatever with scissors. She had tried to get me interested in quilting at that time, but I just was not going to survive the painstaking efforts it took way back then. 

The first picture shows her Lone Star quilt, straight off the frame.  The second is a close up of some of the feathers in the open spaces in the quilt.

When I saw the Lone Star, I thought of Texas, of course, and the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas", so I put feathered hearts in the corners.

Of course, when it comes to all those rhomboids in the points of the star, the only quilting that really shines is CC, or continuous curve, so I spent HOURS doing those for her.  And today, I finally finished it!  As soon as I find a suitable box for this quilt, it will be in the mail to her!  Hurray!

WATCHA DOIN'?

The embroidery on this wall hanging was done by my BFF, Mary, many moons ago.  I had always intended to frame it with plaid and hang it with an interesting twig.  So I framed it and bound it last week, but when I went to go outside to get an interesting twig today, it was raining.  Our home is on a lake in a woods -- peaceful and beautiful.  We have always called the rec room downstairs "The Lodge", so Mary's embroidery was wonderfully apropos.

No thunder or lightning today, so I sequestered myself in my lurkim and quilted Joyce T's Outreach Program quilt for her.  I love McTavishing but my freehand doesn't look much like the real thing, so I used my IntelliQuilter to do this pantograph.

People don't seem to realize how nice it is to have some plain areas in their quilts so that the quilting can shine through.  This quilt had plain medium blue borders, so I used a variegated thread and gave it a little pizzazz!

Our Outreach Program quilts this month will be going to the VA Hospital in Durman, NC.  Just another way of saying Thank You to our men and women in the armed forces.

So what did you do today?

CARIBBEAN CRYSTALS

In November, sisty and I went on a lovely Caribbean cruise with Bonnie Hunter and Pat Sloan.  Bonnie taught us a pattern she named Mai-Tais in Paradise.  I decided to call mine Caribbean Crystals, since I just couldn't see mai-tais in mine.  One of the punch colors in the border is a bold lime green, so I backed this quilt with lime green flannel.

The McTavishing is a little dense for this quilt, but I used a variegated thread, and everything blended in nicely.

Tomorrow I will put the purple batik binding on this quilt.  I also have a small wall hanging that I will finish and show you as well.  Stay tuned.

And don't forget to leave comments so I know you've visited!