Wednesday, March 20, 2019

3/14/19 CCLQ at Ruth B’s

The Cherry Creek Lane Quilters welcome you to another weekly meeting with lots of beautiful quilts and sewing projects.  This week thirteen lucky quilters plus one lucky junior quilter met at Ruth B’s home. Hope you find inspiration and maybe a quilt idea or two from reading this blog.  Feel free to write a comment in the comment section at the end of the blog to let us know you enjoy this blog! Remember if you click on a highlighted word or phrase, it should automatically take to a related website, so you don’t have to google it yourself.  Nice feature, right?


Margaret showed the colorful Quilt As You Go (QAYG) donation quilt!  This was a group effort and turned out quite nicely. Group members made two twelve-inch blocks and Margaret sewed them together!  
Back view of the QAYG quilt
Margaret also provided a wonderful resource for QAYG quilts. Click on this link to go to a Pinterest page on Quilt As You Go Quilts.

Margaret sold three quilts at the DOQ pop up art sale! Click on this link to see Margaret's three quilts:


DeeDee created two mini art quilts.
Believe it or not, these delightful mini art pieces were made from left over baby wipes used to clean the printing surface, dried of course, and with added embellishments. 
DeeDee shared this new wool pressing mat which is great for  pressing small projects and works great for getting creases out of fabric that has been folded in your stash for a while.  We all have some of that kind of fabric. 
DeeDee's table topper for Family House. 
DeeDee made this colorful donation quilt from Ella's fabric. 
Joanna made this verdant table topper for Family House. 
Ruth has completed two bathroom remodels in her home, so she has been busy busy. Ruth showed the beginning of her charming table topper.  
Ella had fun sharing her wonderful fabrics from the Pineapple Fabrics sale.  
Wonderful greens and aquas
Ella's inspiration fabric
Ruth S brought a gift of flamingo fabric for DeeDee's birthday.   Happy Birthday DeeDee!
Lynda worked on the binding of her bubble quilt.
Ruth S made this cheerful baby quilt for her niece.  Our jr. quilter liked this one.


Ruth S added binding to this clever donation quilt. 
Jean made two terrific table toppers for Family House.
Close up of Jean's decorative stitching 
Jean found this gorgeous contemporary quilt and has drafted a pattern for it. It's for a friend from the UNC Dental School program. She is opening an orthodontic practice in Chatham County. Jean is making this quilt for the new office. 
The quilt is made of silk fabric and this is a photo of the beginning pieces that Jean has made.
Deborah's table topper for Family House 
Deborah is adding the binding to the Bargello quilt which will go in her guest room.  Another UFO almost done!!!
Cheryl sewed some binding to her Ella Quilt. 
Gayle finished this lovely beach quilt and is adding the binding today!
Gayle has finished this whimsical appliqué quilt which will hang in the sun room of her new house. 
The jr. quilter had fun today!
Here's Candy's wonderful donation quilt from Ella's fabric.
Candy made this table topper and was so happy to collect a bunch of table toppers today for Family House. 
Jean had these labels printed for the Family House Table Toppers and other Family House projects. 
Candy showed this dramatic donation quilt. 
Border ideas for Candy's quilt


Joy sported her lucky St. Patrick's Day jacket and showed this intricate mug rug expertly made with tiny half-square triangle that form tiny diamonds. It's a surprise for someone. 

The group dined at the Refectory Cafe in Durham.

Until next time, feel lucky!

"You got to try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not know it."

Jimmy Dean











Tuesday, March 19, 2019

3/12 - NT Nights - March Extra

Welcome to the March "Extra" meeting of the Nimble Thimbles Nights Bee!! One guest, Kathryn, visited with us tonight. Somehow managed to miss getting a picture. She wants to learn how to quilt. By hand!  Her hope is to make a bed quilt for her son in time for his November birthday.  She's got her work cut out for her!

Welcome, new member, Alita!  There were 6 other members in attendance.  Let's see how the evening progressed.

Show and Tell...

Margaret worked on binding a quilt:



Karen worked on finding the blog on her phone:


Alita prepared to make broccoli:


Karen worked on her Cathedral Window quilt:


Kirsten brought a Santa cross stitch project:


Is it broccoli, yet?  Alita casts on the required stitches:


Joy pressed the Bonus HSTs from her Pecking Order quilt:



Sherry worked on a hand quilting project:


It's coming along nicely:


Cheryl B. joined us near the end of the night and worked on a few Prairie Points for one of her Blooming 9-Patch quilts:


Next step?  Time to get trimming, Joy:


This is the quilt that Margaret worked on binding tonight:


Here is another look at Karen's Cathedral Window project:


By the end of the evening, Alita had knit broccoli:


Until next time...
Come craft with us!!!

Sunday, March 17, 2019

3/9/19 - NT Sew Day @ SECU Family House

WARNING!!!  PHOTO HEAVY POST!!!

Welcome the March meeting of the Nimble Thimbles Quilt Bee!!  This month, Candy arranged for us to have a Sew Day at SECU Family House.  Thanks, Candy!  Thank you, Ruth S. and Kirsten for volunteering to host the event.  Thanks to all who brought items to round out our meal.

Upcoming Events...

April 13th @ Ella's
May 11th @ Gayle's NEW House
June 22nd @ Dee Dee's (for an Art Event?)

Show and Tell was mixed in throughout the Work Day...


Joanna planned to complete this green version:


Carol's Table Topper was in the cutting phase:


Ruth S. completed her Table Topper with a sewn binding:


Margaret prepared for her Quilt-as-You-go tutorial:


You can see a completed row in the foreground below:


Gayle happily received a package of strips to make a quilt:


With pattern in hand, Ruth S. contemplates a new project:


Here is a preview of what our completed quilt will look like:


Linda prepares to attack that pile of fabric strips:


Another Table Topper, this one ready for sewing:


Carol made progress on her Table Topper...


Then she moved on to another project:


Jean design labels for Family House projects and will share them:


Joanna worked on additional Strippy blocks for the QAYG quilt:


Margaret is stacking up rows with sashing strips to be sewn:


Cheryl K. stitched down the binding on her "Ella" quilt:


Britt enjoys a morning snack before getting down to business:


Kirsten is sewing Super Hero rows:


No notes were taken, here's another lovely Table Topper:


This is Margaret's Dino Quilt from Pineapple Fabric Donations:


Oh!  Here's Margaret and I think that mystery topper was hers:


Ruth S. shared her completed "Ella" Quilt:


Oops!  Nearly completed, as the binding isn't quite done:


Gayle finished the this for the "bird room" in her new house:


She explained how this fabric never seemed to play well with others.  It made lovely placemats for her table:


She finished this Table Topper for the Family House event:


Gayle has been practicing free motion quilting on her home sewing machine and really misses her longarm quilting machine.  So much so that she announced that she will be setting it up in the garage:


Gayle then showed off this gorgeous Quilted Art Piece.  A collaboration with Jean, who emroidered the sea creatures.  Gayle quilted the piece and added it to artist's canvas, then painted the coral that you see.  It mixed her two loves beautifully:


I don't recall Jean's story, but these fabric strips ended up in my bag at the end of the day:


Britt is cutting strips for the last set of QAYG blocks:


Linda is busy cutting:


Helena brought leftover Hexie parts from her Daybreak quilt:


Jean is working on an embroidered Christmas Quilt:


HOW MANY of these will she need for the borders?!  Yikes:


Cheryl K. held up her "Ella" Quilt for a photo op:


Britt poses for a picture with her new Thread Catcher:


Joy show off the base of her Altered Rainbow Basket:



THE PROGRAM...

Special thanks to Margaret for taking the lead on this project!!  We were pleased to learn a new-to-us technique.   

First, Margaret held up one of her completed rows...


... And explained a little about QAYG's varied methods:


These are patterns purchased ages ago made using the method:


Then, Margaret went to the machines to demonstrate:


She explained the importance of pinning the layers:


A machine with a narrow foot (Featherweight) is ideal for this part of the QAYG process.  Her basic Janome came with such a foot:


Next, Margaret went to the second machine (with a wider foot) set-up for stitching the back of the block pair:


Once the demo was over, members were encouraged to give the process a try.  Here is Cheryl K. at the first step:


Next, Ruth B. gave it a try...


... Then went back to her other donation project:



BACK TO WORK, EVERYONE...

Helena cut strips for the blocks that Britt was working on:



Kirsten showed off her first sewn row:



Cheryl K. went back to her hand work:


Margaret shared her Pineapple Fabric Table Topper:


Candy showed off two Family House Table Toppers:


Gayle with her Table Topper:


Since Candy forgot that Dee Dee wouldn't be here, she brought candles for Dee Dee's celebration.  Alas, Dee Dee had other plans for the day, but Joy ordered everyone into the kitchen for a photo with Dee Dee's (gluten free) birthday brownies.  Candle included:




After a delicious lunch, we got right back to work...

Linda switched gears and is now working on this pattern:


Candy is working on another Family House Table Topper:



She also got some work done on this "Ella" Quilt:


Joy started a Family House Table Topper with fabric strips donated by Pineapple Fabrics:


Helena was kind enough to do the hand stitching to finish up Joy's little (secret sewing) project:


Margaret showed off a completed pair of QAYG rows:


This is what the back looks like:


Carol has switched gears and is starting a new scrappy project:


The top of Candy's "Ella" Quilt is complete, sans borders:


Kirsten completed the main portion of the top of her Super Hero quilt and will add the two partial rows for finishing at home:



Here is a closer look:



We have another BIG thank you to bestow upon Margaret.  She volunteered to lead our QAYG charity project.  We learned a LOT!

After the QAYG project was underway, another charity project was established.  Many of us have now made Quilted Table Toppers for a Family House event or have them in the works.  We are pleased to be able to give back, since they are SEW gracious in hosting our Sew Days here at Family House.

Until next time...
QUILT!!!