Making Kits

Recently our Fiber Junkies group met for an unscheduled meeting to make kits. Mary has been trying to find good homes for a pod full of fabric gifted to her from a dear friend.

 Some of the fabric would make good community quilts. This is one of the projects our PTA group does each year......sooooo.....we decided to make kits for this meeting. We had lots of tables to hold the Accu Quilt machines, places to lay fabric for color selection etc.

 Here we are spreading out and getting ready to do some cutting....

 Meetings would not be complete without a glass of bubbly.

 Denny has the strip cutter along with an electric cutting machine making our work go faster.

 So much fun to see those long strips coming out all at once...

 and Mary our ironing person.

 I think we did a good job putting fabrics together. We wound up with many different color ways which will make into some pretty quilts.

We wound up with 8 kits....a good days work and lots of fun to do with friends.

5 Little Monkeys

My PTA group recently had their Oct meeting...this time a field trip to downtown Weaverville in North Carolina.....The main objective besides the usual talking and eating ...was to visit a new quilt shop! Hooray!

5 Little Monkeys is a wonderful new quilt shop; when first walking in....it was hard to believe it had just opened - soooo much fabric and quilting supplies to select from.

Fabric, fabric everywhere and like Angie said...she wanted to stock all kinds of fabric for every kind of quilter...

and that she did with tremendous success.

Antique cupboards hold fabric and other quilting supplies

and add to the charm of her store.

Angie also has a long arm quilter and provides a quilting service to the quilt community. I was impressed with the beautiful quilting on this piece.

There is a yummy section on batiks and lots more to see....please stop by and say hi...It's a lovely shop...and Are you wondering where the name came from ? Angie is the mother of 5 and yes indeed..they were little monkeys way back when. It has been a dream of Angies to open a quilt store..so glad for all of us, it happened!

and our very happy group...

who ended up at the cafe/bakery right down the block...such a great day!

Community Quilt Day

I love Community Quilt Day in our guild. It's held the first meeting of the year in January. The meeting place changes for this one meeting to accomodate all the tables and machines. Everyone comes ready to sew, sew, sew; there's a lot of comraderie, laughter and great quilts being made. But before we even dive in...we have a quick show and tell.

 This is one of the quilts shown - a darling print and great piecing.

 This beauty had everyone oohing and ahhing. I am so sorry I didn't get names as they went by so fast.

 So the room is quite spacious to fit machines and still walk around to socialize, get coffee or get to an ironing board. The quilts hanging up are right - the raffle quilt and left - the quilts we had to choose from to make today.

 All the quilts are kitted and many wonderful color choices.

 Some hang quilts on a piece of flannel to get placement of blocks...others use the floor.

 Here's Lynne working diligently on a very bright quilt. The stars behind her was Kates quilt. I was the official "iron-er" - a job better suited to me as I'm not the world's best piecer...NOT EVEN CLOSE!

 And Laurie working at another table. When it's time for lunch, the guild treats us to pizza and subs which is a highlight of the day.

 I was tickled "pink/yellow" when I saw this cute little machine on one of the tables.

 This is one of the star quilts we made. The star blocks were already made and in the quilt kit. The sashing which has many pieces was left up to us to put together. It really added a lot of interest.

This was another kit - a more simple quilt kit which made up very cute and colorful.  Quilts were then brought home to be finished. The guild provided batting, backing and binding fabric. A fun and very productive day...will get the count at the next meeting just how many quilts were made.

PTA Community Quilts

PTA met last thursday at my home for the April meeting. We had a busy day planned and I felt like a bit of a taskmaster but it was lots of fun and very productive. 

We started the day with a quick visit, some coffee and wonderful goodies brought by several gals. We then had a quick show and tell to see what everyone was up to. Kate showed us a new piece she finished, started last year at retreat. Kate, Mary and I all did the same pattern in different color ways. We have a show opening this week at the NC Arboretum and will have these 3 quilts as an introduction to the show (more to follow on our show).

 The 3 of us having been finishing up pieces for the show - featured above a piece by Kate....

 and Mary's latest - "Full Moon".

Cathy showed us a quilt she finally finished after it spending years and years on her design wall - a lap quilt made with blues and yellows - my favorite color combo!

 And Mary Berry's latest and GORGEOUS quilt, all hand done...a masterpiece!

 and a detail!

 After lunch, we headed into my studio where we worked on pre-cut kits. The same pattern used for each one, just so cute and easy to do.

 We had 3 machines going along with 2 ironing stations and a big design wall for laying out the blocks.

 Dort became our official "block designer" as she is so good with color, stepping back to get a good feel...

 and Georgia stepping forward to hold a spot on the design wall for the blocks she had just finished!

 I think we pieced together around 5 tops and more kits brought home. This (above) was my least favorite while in the scrap stage...just didn't seem like it would work but quickly became my favorite. I love the pop of orange and the plaid..who would-a guessed!

 and this - another colorful one. We also had some pastel ones - perfect for a child.

Cathy told us her husband doesn't believe she knows how to iron....so here's proof. All in a days work and a fun day it was.

PTA Retreat 2015

Our 7th annual PTA retreat was last week and it was as wonderful as always. I'm late reporting this year as I had to leave the retreat a day early and drive to Florida for my nephews' wedding, another fun time. I just got home and am still playing catch up, both on sleep, laundry and dust bunnies. Our group was a little smaller this year as Georgia and Lynne got sick at the last minute; we missed them and the funny antics they bring to this gathering.

 We had our usual happy hour with plenty of bubbly and lots of wonderful snick snacks.

 We always have our "questions" which are great fun and get us laughing. This year one was - name 3 things people don't know about you, one has to be a lie. So we had to guess the person and also the lie.

 Kate missed our Christmas party where we give "white elephants" as gifts so we decided to give her the whole lot of those that were really "unwanted". They were waiting for her under a cover on her bed. What a surprise. This hat is one that Mary opened and it's actually a heavy paper accordion vase that also works as a hat, looks cute on Kate but a little tight she admits.

So here we are back in the community room where we are more serious or try to be to get some quilts made. Mary, Kate, Gen and I decided to work on the same pattern. This was fun to see how different they looked made in other fabric choices. Mary has a lot of Japanese prints and made her quilt with a red sashing. It was beautiful when done.

 Gen worked on Indigo with a dark blue sashing; I was doing Indigo also but a different look.

 Barbara was working on a funky type block and I will be anxious to see it finished.

 Leigh Anne was working on finishing up several projects one of which is this wonderful piece.

 Kate also worked on the same quilt as ours only using a bigger block - interesting to see it in a bigger version. I really like this pattern, the way it gives the illusion of being woven.

Here is the one I was working on using very dark Indigos and white. I still have to put a border on it but it's off to a good start. I was afraid the white might be too strong but in seeing it sewn up where the strips are now more narrow, think it works fine.
Unfortunately, having to leave a day early cost me the opportunity to see many more finished or further along pieces.
A wonderful time was had by all and we are already booked for next year.