What Talent!!
Let’s stir things up
This month was about kitchen crafts. My board contributed some awesome kitchen sewing ideas. Sadly, I forgot my camera/phone and couldn’t take pictures of everyone who shared their great ideas – sorry. But if I remember we had casserole covers, knitted scrubbies, microwave bowl holders, tea towels and so forth. I had to borrow pics from Diana.
Our on time gift was a wooden spoon.
Show and Tell and Block of the Month:
Thanks for the luncheon, Joanna, Kristine, Alma, Beth and Juli. It was totally delicious.
And one of our own, Laura S. showed us how to make the most incredible cinnamon rolls anyone could possibly put in their mouths. If she will share her recipe, I will add it next month.
Thanks Laura, the best cinnamon rolls that I have ever eaten. They absolutely melt in your mouth.
The infamous Witches’ Tea – or I’ll put a HEX on you.
My favorite time of year is Fall. The weather has cooled, the leaves are beautiful, the mountains are awash with color and it’s time for the best holiday ever – Halloween! I put my guild through a grueling amount of witchiness from cackling to doing skits.
We had our event at the Gail Center in South Jordan, Utah.
It is a fun historical museum with a gathering room that was perfect for our Witches’ Tea.
My awesome board decorated the tables.
The luncheon committee, Marlene, Diana J, JoAnn, Jody, Kathy and Leslie decorated the luncheon tables beautifully.
Now some of our witches came incognito (dressed like humans) while others ventured out to the human world quite dramatically. And we had everything inbetween….
We have been exchanging hexies and we got to see what people were making with them and saw other excellent show and tell items.
The Auction!!
Every year we have an auction. The women in this guild make the most amazing things to sell. They are so incredibly generous. The money we make goes towards our Humanitarian projects and operating expenses. This year I chose to rent out the Lone Peak Indoor Pavilion. It was very reasonable, very clean, and we had a microphone. I don’t usually talk in the loudest voice….
Melanie was our amazing auctioneer.
Our food was catered by Linda Mismash.
Fun was had by all and we were able to make a good amount of money for next year.
August – We Must Be Crazy
This month we learned how to sew crazy blocks, embellish with metallic threads and use some of those obscure sewing machine stitches that nobody ever uses. This was the methodology.
(Sorry I don’t know what happened to number 9)
At any rate, we had a big pile of Fairy Frost fabric and a big container of metallic threads.
We were so incredibly lucky to have Vanisha share with us a beautiful hand made and hand sewed, vintage crazy block quilt…..(beautiful)
We also had a black and white mini quilt exchange:
As usual, our luncheon committee out did themselves.
Thanks Nancy, Marcie, Teresa, Laura, Karen and Lori.
Our block a month is continuing….
and as always, although I’m not always able to catch every show and tell, the sharing of what we have been up to:
The big question of the month is, “What is Carolee thinking anyway?”
July –
This has intentionally been left blank – we take July off.
June – Hand Quilting or Serial Quilters, Thimble Pleasures?
Vicky has challenged us to make mini Pillowcases for the Red Cross. What a great humanitarian project.
If you came, you got a thimble. The board prepared quilt sandwiches, thread and needles for everyone to practice hand quilting.
We followed the expert advise and tutorials from Dorothy Russel Quilt Artist. If you haven’t ever hand quilted, then her tutorials will be a great help for you.
And will you look at what Diana G, Lee, Sue, Margaret, Jill and Sandi did for out luncheon table? Gorgeous !!!
People were asked to bring and show quilts that they hand quilted. I showed mine. I don’t love hand quilting but I love how it looks.
The above quilt came from a class taught by Jody Warner a number of years ago, well actually about 17 years ago. Really? That long ago? Wow, I have loved quilting for a long time.
May’s Make and Take it
What an awesome meeting. If a member comes on time, they get a favor. This month they got to choose a darling hand-made penny rug.
They also got a handout of helpful conversions.
Always our show and tell is fantastic!!! We have such talented gals in our group. Some of us are working on a block of the month. They are given a prize when they come with a finished block – please note the size of Marlene’s cute little block… and I wonder what Melynda is thinking about?
Look, it’s prize time.
Janice we love your flannel chest board.
We had an awesome guest speaker come with her awesome quilts.
About Deonn. The long version….
I love every aspect of quilting! I love to design and make quilts, teach quilting classes, hang out in the Quiltscapes studio and do custom free-motion quilting for clients on my longarm quilting machine, Old Betsy! I constantly think about quilting, dream about quilting, talk about quilting, and can hardly wait to get up in the mornings to get quilting! Fabric speaks to me, and I listen… You might say I’m a little bit passionate about quilting….
Quilting is a connection to generations of women in my family. I began sewing as a child, and have many fond memories of spending time in the sewing room with my mother and two sisters. I pretty much grew up under a quilt frame, helping my mom tie quilts, eventually learning to hand-quilt whole-cloth tricot wedding quilts with my Grandma. I remember looking over my Great-grandma’s shoulder as she pieced countless quilts for charity and family.
My first pieced quilt was a log cabin quilt that my Mother had begun shortly before her death in 1999. It would have been her first pieced quilt too. I finished the quilt and gave it to my Dad the next Christmas. It was made with love and tears, and healed my grief with every stitch. I was hooked! And as history has a way of repeating itself, I now enjoy spending time in the sewing room with my own daughters (my son, too!). Each of them are accomplished quilters as well and have received numerous awards and recognition for their sewing and quiltmaking.
I couldn’t take pictures of everything she showed us, so here are a few favs:
She brought each of us a cute pattern for this pin cushion. Please note the eyes – pins!!\
We have an awesome group!
Our Sew Beary Wonderful Quilt Retreat
*thanks for the title Geri.
Spanning Utah and Idaho there is a beautiful lake named, Bear Lake. And sitting on a hill is a gorgeous mansion…this is the Inn At The Lake:
Let’s see….it has 17 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, a pool, a Jacuzzi, and is only 11,500 square feet big. Ha,ha,ha. Only 11,500 square feet?
Diana was the chairman of the Retreat. She spent hours and hours of sewing these cute baskets together before she finally let me help sew on the binding, and let Jannene trim threads.
Then we filled them will all kinds of goodies:
All 50 women got a name tag when they arrived with their room key and earplugs:
My hubby was sure my stuff wouldn’t fit in the Honda – but it did.
He drove me those 104 miles to Garden City just in time to meet Diana and her husband at the front door of our home away from home. Our greatly appreciated men moved out all the furniture just as 22 tables were being delivered. Everyone found a spot to sew.
It just seems like quilters will always go the extra mile. Vanisha made these adorable cookies and
Melanie surprised us with adorable Bears:
I said it was “cozy” – only one said it was claustrophobic (about 100 times).
Geri brought up 2 pacifiers on a ribbon for anyone who complained. Delin found another use for them.
Oh wait, what happens at retreat stays at retreat……
She also brought a guest, who popped up in showers and dark bathrooms. He stared at us through windows and lay in wait in many bedrooms.
Geri, Melanie and Vanisha prepared food in advance and everyone was given a meal to prep and clean up. Aren’t the aprons so cute?
And believe me, the food was delich!! Homemade scones, CafeRio, fresh cinnamon rolls (thanks Laura), Noodle Lasagna and Salads – to name only a few of the wonderful food we got to eat. Every night, we had a social. A cookie night, Salsa night etc. If you are ever going to host a retreat you better make sure you have incredible cooks like ours!
On Friday and Saturday, we handed out these kits. Everyone had a chance to make a pop-up garbage can and a key fob.
So many of the retreat members thanked Diana and myself that I hardly got time to sew myself. A majority expressed a desire to come back to the “Inn at the Lake” next year and every year after that. Thankfully the entire charge of the event was only $150.00 per person. Many who can’t normally afford such an event ($300 to $500) were able to come and really enjoy themselves. (ALL THE MORE FOR FABRIC)
Diana, thanks for making this the best Quilt Guild Retreat EVER. You are the only true and living:
April – Hanging by a Thread
For this month, we learned about threads, tension and needles. A few board members were given assignments from a Video from Superior Threads entitled “Thread Therapy with Dr. Bob.” It was really interesting and everyone learned a lot.
- Nancy covered “Cotton verses Polyester”.
- It is a myth that you must quilt with only cotton.
- Geri explained “Staples and Egyptian cotton”
- Not all Egyptian cottons are grown in Egypt
- Diana told us all about “Needles”.
- The professional use Titanium tipped needles for longer use.
- Choose the needle by what thread you are using.
- Vanisha explained “Tension Disks”.
- Your machine does not automatically “know” what thread you are using.
- It is okay to tighten or loosen your upper thread tension.
- Marcie talked about correct “Tension”.
- If the underside of your stitch is loose – tighten the top tension.
- If the underside of your stitch puckers – loosen the top tension.
- MeLinda talked about “Shelf Life”.
- The threads that are made today will live for hundreds of years.
- If you hear a popping noise when pulling apart a thread – it’s still good.
How Did I become a Quilt Guild President? 