11/21/15 - NT @ Joy's

It was a VERY happy day as 12 members of Nimble Thimbles Quilt Bee met at Joy's house.  Thank you to Joy for hosting, Lisa for taking time out of her American holiday to visit, and everyone who brought treats to share.  It was a crisp, clear autumn day and here we sat talking quilts!!

Lisa was here from England (and she brought Scottish Shortbread over on the plane!):

SEE?!?!  She was REALLY here!!  (Not just a TINY image on an iPad!!):

Gayle showed off her hexi design:

She has decided to work with a larger scale.  She increased the size and plans to do the work by hand.  There will be a rainbow of color surrounding the flower basket:

NOTE:  Britt recommended Faeries and Fibres Blog, as a source of information and inspiration when contemplating a Hexigon Quilt.


Gayle also completed her Happy Village Quilt inspired by the work of Karen Eckmeier:

On a side note:   Ruth S. is looking for recommendations for an iron.  Please forward any ideas to her email address.  Thanks for your help!!


She reported that she is finished with making bed quilts and is moving toward art quilt and wall hangings. HERE is one for each side of the TV, using Philip Jacobs fabric:

Close-up of one...

And the other:

Next up was Britt, with her Repro 16 - Patch:

The border has a story.  It's from the CCLQ Lancaster Shopping Trip and Britt didn't think there would be enough...  Enter Deborah, with her handy-dandy cell phone, who determined that Britt DID, in fact, have enough fabric for this sized border.  The narrow inner border was fussy cut, followed by a "pinch and stitch" treatment to make it not look out of place:

Britt also shared her Little Lobelia Quilt.  Its a small version of the quilt that she made for the Wildflower of the Year program for the NC Botanical Garden:

The Fox Quilt, made for the DOQ Paint Chip Challenge:

Britt used copyright-free clip art as a jumping off point and her husband helped her with a few modifications.  THIS is a close-up:

And a close-up of the Little Lobelia:

Ruth S. added tabs and hung her miniature quilt on a "mustache mirror":

She brought her "Bargain of the Century" 30's Quilt:

It's made of HSTs set on-point:

Ruth B. has layered her Woven Quilt:

Ruth B. also had a TELL - She's shopping for a NEW sewing machine and has mixed reviews about shops within a 30 mile radius of the area.

Linda had a TELL - Her daughter, Margaret, is moving out.  What does this mean??  Linda will FINALLY be setting up her sewing room.  Congrats! Linda.

HERE is Linda's Shot Cotton Quilt, just back from being quilted by Gayle:

Linda used a Fons and Porter pattern & template.  It made the quilt super easy!  Gayle said that the fabric is an absolute DREAM to quilt through.  Here's a different perspective:

Cheryl K. has the borders on her Shadow Box Quilt:

Gayle informed us that there is a similar pattern on Missouri Star Quilt Company called Illusion Quilt.  (The rectangles on that quilt are all the same size.):

Cheryl K. also had a TELL - She is working on FIVE table runners for the holidays.  Three out of the SALE Christmas fabric that she THOUGHT was a kid print and two out of bird fabric.

Lisa had a finished crocheted shawl to show and was working on another.  The pattern is called Wingfeathers Shawl and can be found on Ravelry:

Candy has been busy in her sewing room:

With a knitting bag for Dana...

A baby quilt for Lilly...

Here is a close-up of Candy's quilting inspired by Jacquie Gering:

And a larger quilt for Lilly and family:

Jean also had a number of items to share...

Yoga Quilt made using hand dyed, hand painted:

And a special product (Citrasolve) to create the figure:

She brought the first of MANY block pairs for her newest Kitchen Quilt:

The way she started the blocks created a design challenge, but Joanna and Joy came up with a solution at the Thursday Group this week:

Jean showed a VERY different use of Shot Cotton fabric.  Hers were Oakshott Cottons that she had some fun with in her Wet Studio... dyeing, stamping, painting, etc.:

It's her most recently completed Kitchen Quilt:

Joy brought down the fabrics from the CCLQ Lancaster Shopping Trip.  These were the "Bag" fabrics (minus the one that she gave to Lisa!):

Joy insisted on a Group Photo before lunch:

DH did the best that he could with all of the camera phones that were presented:

Please know that if YOU are a member of the Nimble Thimble Quilt Bee, but weren't represented in this photo, you were truly missed.

Until next time...
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

11/19/15 - CCLQ @ Jean's

Today, the members of Cherry Creek Lane Quilters met at Jean's house.  She had coffee and pumpkin scones waiting when we arrived.  If you weren't with us... YOU missed a real treat!!

Joy WOULD have shown this Crumb Block (if she had remembered to bring it!):

The fabric was compliments of Candy's scrap pile.  Thanks, Candy!!

Jean had her Autumn "kitchen quilt" hanging:

Her husband took this photo years ago and Jean made this art piece a while back:

Joanna has made not ONE...

But TWO of her Escher-inspires quilt blocks:

These will be turned into "stand alone" wall hangings, if memory serves me correctly.

Ruth B. did a bit of knitting:

Ella did a bit of cutting:

Gayle made some progress on the hexi prep:

Deborah brought out Grandmother's Star quilt this week:

Cheryl had a stack of fabrics:

Joanna worked on the binding of her Colorful Yarn Vest:

Candy shared Lilly's competed quilt:

Here is a close-up of the front...

And of the back:

Ella completed the quilting on her Binding Tool Quilt:

This is a close-up of the quilting:

Joy did a bit of knitting:

Ruth S. finished the top of Simon's Quilt:

What a FUN pattern:

Joanna made another wall hanging.  This one was paper-pieced:

Ruth S. did some stitching on one of her Bluff Blocks:

Dee Dee did some drawing:

Cheryl K. worked on some knitting:

Jean completed Ella special vest:

She even found a PERFECT button:

Jean also shared a needle-felted scarf that she made from a kit:

Dee Dee showed off her newest fabric dying experiment:

Jean showed how the prints were accomplished:

And Dee Dee showed a number of the prints that were created:

Then Jean took us up to her Wet Studio to demonstrate the process:

Here are some of the prints that she made:

You get a print from the bottom glass also:

Then she spritzed the remaining paint and made another print from each piece of glass:

An example of the technique using white paint:

Today's print on top and the "ghost print" on the bottom of a previously dyed fabric:

Jean took us into her Dry Studio to she her next Kitchen Quilt:

She asked for solutions to a design issue:

After suggestion from several of us, the meeting concluded and of us seven of us went to Pittsboro, anxious for a delicious lunch...  Only to find that Angelina had blown out her knee and Angelina's Kitchen was closed.

:o((

She recommended Small Cafe:

It's has good food and interesting folk art that Dee Dee will be sad that she missed:

Here is the artist's card:

There was even a QUILT hanging on the wall:

It's a fun little place, but we're hoping that Angelina heals up before our next visit:

Until next time...
Be flexible!!!