Christmas and Wintery Ideas

We just finished another great Christmas party and thank you to those who helped make this a success.  Also, a thank you to Tracy's Place for the great food.

I do like seasonal quilts and this quilt really caught my eye.  Not sure if it's the subtle coloring or the lovely snowflakes.  Winter Joy available for sale at Border Creek Station would be a wonderful project this winter.

England Design has a lovely bird and birdfeeder pattern for sale.  Those who love to paper piece will enjoy this project.

I love these little trees.  Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter has a very nice tutorial on her blog to show you just how to make them.  What a nice way to use up some of those Christmas fabrics.  She has a lot of other ideas on the same page so poke around a while.  Hope you are getting some cookies made and catching up on Christmas projects.  Diana

November Meeting Activities

Our November demonstrations were wonderful and so well done.  I have personally used some of them already.

 Carol did a lovely tablerunner.

 Sue made gift bags.

Kay demonstrating her folded ornaments

 Deb made a stuffed and folded ornament for us.  Below are some of the beautiful member quilts we get to see each month at our show and tell.

 Here is a special picture of Rhoda.  Do you know one of the quilters she is standing next to?  Remember the name and be prepared to put it into a prize drawing at our December Christmas party.  Good luck on your Christmas preparation and shopping and see you at our party.  Diana

Let's Talk Turkey

Well, this might be a little late but here are some fun Thanksgiving projects.  You will find a whole pile of free patterns collected for you here at Quilt Inspiration.  Grab a hot beverage and check them all out.
This idea I found from some creative folks in Alaska.  It looks like a lot of fun.  It doesn't have any instructions, but the concept is simple.  So while your family is gathered around this Thanksgiving, why not get out your fusible web paper and trace your families hands and make something like this.  A project you can all take part in and bring out for many years to come..it would be an awesome family keepsake.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Laurie

October Meeting & Turning Leaves

As we enjoy the last of our fall leaves, it was fitting at our October meeting that Diana did a demonstration on the Turning Leaves quilt from Cloud 9 Fabrics.  Go check out this wonderful website and be sure to check out all of the wonderful free projects offered there.  There you will find the Turning Leaf quilt pattern as well as many many more!  It was an enjoyable demonstration and it was fun to see how many more projects she was able to make from her fabric scraps left over from the quilt....all the way down to pot holders and mug rugs!

Here  Diana shows the smaller version of her Turning Leaves quilt.

Show and Tell was very nice as well, and here is a sampling of the projects that were brought in.  Enjoy!

 

A couple months ago I had put some donated fabric together in bundles for whomever might like to take them to sew some Community Service quilts.  Thank you to Sheila and Barb  S. who have already brought in some lovely quilts below!

Laurie

Book Review and Show & Tell From September

I'm not in the habit of buying many quilt patterns or books but sometimes there a book or tool that really tempts me.  The patterns of Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson from Sew Kind of Wonderful were just that interesting.

While at the Quilt Expo in Madison this month, I tried to find their patterns or ruler but the opening day of the Expo was really packed with viewers and difficult to get into the vendor booths and look around.  We did stop at Nancy's Notions in Baraboo on the way home and there I was able to find a book and ruler by the Sew Kind of Wonderful ladies.

 The book is Contemporary Curved Quilts and it came with the ruler which you do need for the patterns that they design.  There is a free pattern on the ruler which I did first.  My first two curves were terrible but got better after that and they do say to practice.  It is a nice gentle curve and you do not need pins.

This was my first piece, I picked some Christmas fabric that I was not going to be upset over if it didn't turn out and I made it into a long table runner.

This is what the ruler looks like.  There is a slot for your rotary cutter and various measurements for the patterns.  It makes short work of cutting those curves.

The next piece I am working on is the Crazy Eights Pillow.  I cut too many pieces and can now make two pillows, oh darn!  Here's something that I'm not sure why I didn't think of before.  The pillow form for this pattern is a regular bed size pillow not those expensive pillow forms that are usually square.  I love the bed size pillow, it's what we'd prefer on our sofa anyway.  When these are complete, I will bring in to show.

This is what the shapes look like on part of that pillow.  It came together well, not perfect but fun.

So far with my experience with this book and ruler, I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to sew something different, pushing your skills a bit and maybe wanting a more contemporary quilting experience.  I am seriously looking at more of their patterns on their website.  The other thing that I found helpful was their blog which has many tips and videos about their patterns and use of the ruler

September was great month for show and tell and our members produce!!!  Here are some of the beautiful quilts.  If your quilt is not here, it's because of a fuzzy or bad photo not a slight.

These last two photos are of Donna Kallner a fiber artist from our area who did a wonderful demonstration of low immersion dyeing for our group.  We all loved the beautiful fabrics she is able to create and she is a fountain of information.

If anyone has a book or tool that they would like to review, just tell me and I'll get your review into our blog.  Any pictures would be good too.  Diana