Nimble Thimbles: 12/12/15 - NT Holiday Pot Luck @ Carol's {Christmas} House

Welcome to this month's edition of Nimble Thimbles News!!

As the THE season is upon us, we gathered at Carol's to spread a little cheer. Thank you, Carol, for hosting our annual Holiday Pot Luck and thanks to all who brought treats to share! We enjoyed QUITE the feast!!

Special thanks to Cheryl K. for reminding Joy to "Do Calendar"...

... The bad news is that I forgot to do a "Wellness Check" on email addresses and such. :o((

... and the good news???

Nimble Thimbles meetings are booked through the ENTIRE first half of 2016. :o))

NOTE: Check the sidebar for all the dates and add them to your calendar NOW!!!

Thanks, Quilters!!! I know that it can be a difficult task to book so far in advance, but feel safe in the knowledge that you can always trade with someone, if necessary.

We may have broken some kind of record today. There were FOURTEEN (14) people at the meeting/party! (Even Margaret was able to join us... a first for her.)

All enjoyed an inspirational round of Show and Tell...

Cheryl K. has been busy making table runners. The red one is to coordinate with the new silver table cloth that she bought:

She is using up fabrics from her stash:

The runners were made with a pattern that she got from Candy. Thanks for forwarding the link, Dee Dee! I'm sure there are others who would like to make this pattern:

Zig Zag Table Runner

She also made a wall hanging from fabric that Dee Dee gave her (about 3 years ago!):

She even did some leaf quilting on it, but there is no close-up available. Sorry! Cheryl B. asked about THIS bag (that Cheryl K. re-made.):

HERE is a photo of the interior using more of the pockets from the original bag:

Jill has a new applique project:

She up-sized the pattern from a magazine and is embellishing each one differently with bits of lace and such:

Joy shared the parts that she has been making for the 2015 Bonnie Hunter Winter Mystery:

NOTE: It's not too late to join in!!! The clues can be found HERE. You can print them off and save them for later, if you are too busy to make the quilt now. Don't like Bonnie's colors??? Choose your own!!! It's a great way to make it more personal.

Cheryl B. brought the ONLY quilt that she made this year. It's THIS lovely scrap quilt that some saw at NT Nights:

Her gift to herself has been to work on her own quilts for ONE HOUR before starting work on client quilts. Keep up the good work, Cheryl!! That sounds like a fabulous plan and other professional quilters should adopt it, as well... for the sake of their own sanity (and UFO pile!)

Other than that, she's been quilting for clients and brought along an example (which she hopes to finish over the weekend. The verdict is still out!):

Here is the front of the quilt:

Just LOOK at Cheryl's attention to detail:

The inside of the stars and the 9-Patch blocks remain to be quilted:

Britt had a TELL: She's working on clue 3 of the BHMQ and found 4-Patch Blocks leftover from an earlier mystery that work within this year's color plan. Congrats! Britt, but you made more work for yourself by ripping them back to "two-sies" in order to mix them in with this year's fabrics. Sigh!!!

Margaret used the 20 Minute Table Runner pattern, a quilt panel, and some sherpa fabric that she bought at Joann's to make a really quick quilt. The pattern uses a piece of backing that is 4" wider than the quilt top to make a border. Corners were a bit challenge, but that was a small price to pay:

Here's another tutorial LINK for the same pattern. Sometimes, seeing it made by one person isn't enough!! This is ANOTHER for the same thing and a VIDEO LINK, too. A video that switches it up a bit with a flange or piping (for a bit of added interest) and version2 for a central accent.

Note: Margaret squared off her ends to make a quilt (instead of a table runner.)

Dee Dee brought her DOQ Paint Chip Challenge which she made into a pillow:

Her colors to be used in the project were the teal green and the peach.

The Christmas Truck that she recently completed for a gift:

And... the adorable cat pot holders that Dee Dee made will also be gifts:

Ruth B. shared her BIG TELL: She got a NEW sewing machine. It is a Pfaff 4.2 that she is looking forward to becoming better acquainted with in the New Year.

Congrats, Ruth!!

She had her own DOQ Paint Chip Challenge to show off. She is turning hers into a large pillow for Jamie. Ruth has purchased a 27" pillow form for the project:

The pink and the dark purple were the colors that she had to use for the challenge and she used her own hand dyed fabrics (which will make it extra special.)

Gayle recently purchased an adult coloring book. These are becoming "all the rage" and in hers, she found a design that she wanted to turn into an applique pattern for THIS quilt:

She used Glide thread, a shiny polyester thread that many long arm quilters are using.

Prompted by a question from Cheryl B., Gayle also shared the fact that silk thread disintegrates over time. This, based on comments from quilter, Sharon Schamber, who found it out the hard way... on a quilt that she made which subsequently suffered because of modern-day silk threads which were used in its making. (I wasn't able to find comments on Sharon's Blog.)

Jean started a NEW project:

It's a friend's house warming gift from a pattern in Keepsake Quilting. It is a Dresden Plate quilt pattern that uses both curves and points. She is using bright-mediums on a black background:

Britt was able to get a better photo of another sighting of Jean's Rudolf bag:

Helena shared her Moda Bella Solids color card (which she brought to show Gayle.) She uses it for purchasing the fabric online, as computer monitors are unreliable for differentiating tints and shades:

She brought along a "real" sample FQ, too (as opposed to the TINY swatches on the color card):

Carol made use of some Cathedral Window blocks that her Grandmother made before she passed away. These little swags will be gifts for various family members:

Here is a close-up shot of the blocks:

With regards to this, Cheryl B. and Britt worked out that a number of years ago Mark Lupinski shared tips for easy Cathedral Windows blocks. (You'll have to scroll down to his name, as this is on the Nancy Zieman site.)

Kirsten made it to the meeting (CENTER of photo below)!!! :o))

Linda had no show or tell today, but she was here and that's the important part! (She's on the RIGHT in photo shown above.)

Here is the bird feeder that Dee Dee made Cheryl K. for Christmas: