Hair Options

Our Once-A-Month Quilt Group enjoyed a lovely fall evening at Jane's last month.  The weather was beautiful, no rain!  That's an inside joke. You see the gatherings at Jane's usually come in the spring and the fall when the weather is rainy and cold.  But this time we were lucky, the weather held out. 

I forgot to take pictures of the show and tells but I did get a few close-ups of Deb's "People" quilt.  Dutchy is making one for herself and is working on the hair.  There's lots of little people on this quilt and she's running out of hair options!

These are a few of the hairstyles on Deb's quilt.  Pig tails, curls, braids . . .
 

Short and long . . .

 
and one poor little girl (in red) with her face sewn to the shoulder of her dress!  Deb says she must have been really tired and nodded off but didn't notice at the time.  Then when she went back to do the hair she realized what had happened.  We say there may have been adult beverages involved ;o) 
 

 

Either way, her hair is FABULOUS!  Deb's leaving it just the way it is.  I think she looks like she's dancing.  It's just one more fun thing to see in the quilt. 

 

Three of the girls each made this fun little quilt and displayed it at the Capital Quilters Guild Quilt Show in 2009.  Deb and Carol each made two sets of the nine patches then swapped with each other to get a great mix of blocks. 

Deb, Dutchy, and Carol with their "People" quilts
(2009 Capital Quilters Guild Quilt Show)


If you take a look at the corners you can see that Dutchy made her outside borders square while the other girls made theirs angled.  Both options came out really nice. I love the repeat of the red fabric used on the inner border on the binding.

This was no quick project that's for sure!  Each of the little people has a different outfit on and different hair style.  The people and their cloths are all fusible applique. The hair styles are done with embroidery floss and/or yarn.  Here's a close up of Dutchy's.  This beautiful quilt was a gift that she gave to the Rector and his wife at St. Paul's School (where she worked) to remind them of their world travels.  They absolutely loved it. 

So after giving the quilt away as a gift the group of girls at the local quilt shop got together and gave Dutchy some beautiful fabrics so she could make a second quilt for herself.  It's still a work in process and she's finishing up the hair.

I hope she uses this one again it's my favorite!

Hope you're inspired to make your own "People" quilt.

March Meeting Of The Once A Month Group

While I don't have any pictures of my own quilts to show you I do have some from the "One Friday A Month" group to share. Our March meeting was held at Deb's new home by the river.   She was gracious enough to have us for an over night quilting/visiting get together. 

We all arrived early enough for a tour before the sun set. Her home is warm and cozy not to mention beautifully decorated! There's a view of the river just 50 feet or so from her back deck and a huge working farm across the street from her front door.

Our rooms upstairs had welcoming beds with plenty of comfy quilts. It was like being at a bed and breakfast.  Nothing was overlooked, from the food to the accommodations it was a feast for the eyes. 

I feel very fortunate to have found a group of women who are all so talented.  I look forward to our monthly get together so I can see what every one's been up to and catch up on the latest news about family and friends.

Speaking of family, that's my sister Dutchy holding up a baby quilt she made for a friend's grandson.  It's a pattern of interlocking Friendship Star blocks.  I had made one when I first started quilting and it took me forever to put together.

Hers was whipped up in no time flat. Turns out that using the two colors along with the white printed background like she did her rather than the multiple blues and yellows like I did (here) made all the difference.  Oh yeah, and having a few more years of quilting under your belt helps too!

The blues and yellows are so soft.  The white background fabric on this one has the cutest little pastel toys on it.  I don't think the picture does it justice but here's a detail shot.  Kind of looks like flowers but it's really toys.  The border and backing were done "envelope" style where you sew all the edges right sides together leaving a small opening so you can turn it right side out.

Jane brought her Disappearing Nine Patch.  That's her peeking out from behind the corner of it.  I love all the colors.  One of the things I always admire when seeing a finished quilt is the personality that comes through.  Whether it's the quilters personality or the recipients personality.  Each one is unique.  I love how the sashing and the borders frame the large blocks.

I can't remember if Jane was finishing up the hand quilting or the binding.  One of these days I'll be ready for a lesson in hand quilting and these are just the people who can teach me.  They all do such beautiful work!

The rest of the gang, Tami, Carol, Deb and I, were all working on hand work.  I was so busy talking I forgot to take more pictures until morning!  Several of them had started a block of the month from our local quilt shop.  I worked on piecing some of the blocks for Mary's quilt and they were very cute. 

Deb, our hostess, was working on piecing a set of blocks embroidered by her grandmother.  They are the state flowers for all 50 states.  The embroidery is just lovely.  Everyone like the patterns so much that one of the girls decided she wanted to make them so she borrowed the patterns.  Wish I'd taken some pictures DARN!  Well, I'll ask Deb to bring it to the May gathering and get some pictures to share with you.

After many hours of talking and laughing we all headed off to bed.  SOME of us were asleep right away but the "Hot Flash Twins" (and you know who you are!) were both fighting with the covers.  One even got stuck in her sleeping bag and nearly melted from the heat LOL!  Oh yeah, and there was that little mishap with the picture in the bathroom - Sorry Deb!

After a short night's sleep we ventured down to the kitchen.  The hot flash twins were already up and trying to figure out how to get the coffee pot to work.  After many attempts and floods of giggles our hostess appeared with the simple answer:  put the special rock on the lid to engage the start mechanism.  HaHaHaHa  Why didn't we think of that!  Once the coffee got going we dug in to quiche, fresh fruit salad, muffins and juice.  Yummy :-)

The rest of the day was filled with sewing, eating, laughing, sewing, talking, walking and more laughing.  It all ended much too soon!  A big THANK YOU to Deb for sharing her home with all of us.

Before I forget, I want to mention that the April meeting was at Jane's home where we were all treated to Jane's luscious brownies and cookies.  Again I forgot to bring the camera so no pictures.  I really want to share the quilt that Jane is working on - it's red work blocks set with beautiful patchwork.  Jane if you're reading this I hope you'll bring it to the May get together so I can take some pictures.

Happy quilting everyone!

Once A Month Quilters

Seriously, we need a real name for this band of friends.  We meet once a month to share some quilting fun and a few laughs.  We've never had a name but if I'm going to be writing about us it's time we had one.  Any suggestions?


In the mean time here's some pictures of our most recent gathering at Jane's house.  My apologies for the picture quality, something was up with the camera that night so most of the faces came out blurry, but the quilts look good!


Tami and Charlene got right down to business with their handwork.  That's my green basket in the forefront.

All of these girls do beautiful work.  We all have different tastes and I just love seeing what new stuff they bring.  I'm the underachiever in the group which is why there are no pictures of my work from that night.  I was too busy taking pictures!


Show and tell is always fun.  It's great to see the finished projects after seeing them in their early stages.  Here's my sister Dutchy with her green alphabet all done.  She's been on a roll lately and finished up three or four projects in the last couple of weeks.   I've never been interested in doing embroidery but Dutchy does a beautiful job.  She takes after our mother who did lovely work.

Now that her grandchildren are getting married she's hoping for great-grandchildren.  So this one and a couple of others will be put away until the next generation starts arriving.  Here's a close up of the blocks, the letters are cross stitched. 

Alphabets are a popular theme this year.  Dutchy was finishing up her blue alphabets and Tami was also working on alphabet blocks.  These are Tami's with a little girl theme.

Isn't this just the cutest rabbit?

Jane's show and tell this month was Cat's.  She's done a beautiful job with choosing the fabrics.  Some of them look like fur!  Check out the butterfly and the dragon fly.

Deb (the other Deb in the group besides me) has been working on this heart quilt for a long time.  It was all finished, even the quilting, but she decided she didn't like the way it came out.  So she took out all the quilting and started over. 

She decided to use cross-stitches of large "X"s between the hearts to give it a bit more character.  We all agree it looks much better.  Then someone, I think it was Jane, suggested that she should quilt around each heart to give them more definition.

And finally she did a cross hatched quilting in the border.  Check out the rick-rack around the inside of the border.  A lot of work but well worth all the effort.  Great job Deb!  We all want to steel her cross-stitch idea.  I even think I could manage to do that kind of quilting.

Just like Dutchy, Deb had a show and tell as well as a new project to work on.  This is her Halloween wall hanging.  Jane's giving her some advice on the quilting. 

Love the colors!  Just in time for fall. 

Last but not least we had to wait until the end of the evening to get a look at what Charlene was working on.  After some much needed TLC and look how it turned out. This beautiful old quilt came to her as a top that had been machine stitched down.  She unsewed pieces and hand appliqued them back onto the top. 

The yellow is truly that bright!  I'm not sure what the design is but Tami took some measurements so we may be seeing one of these from her some day soon.

Here's a close up of it.

Check out those funky fabrics!  Pretty wild for 1930's prints.  I love the open meandering quilting too.  What a great addition to her collection.

The only one missing from the group this month was Carol but she had a great excuse, a new grand baby!  Congratulations Carol.  We all know you were probably busy watching him sleep ;-D  Bring pictures next month so we can ooh and aah along with you.

The time always flies when we get together.  Before you know it the snacks arrive on the table, the needles get put down and we all enjoy another story or two before packing up to head home.  Check back to find out if we come up with a name - suggestions welcome!