April 2024

On April 2, the Crocus Quilters had their regular meeting with 34 members present plus 5 on Zoom. It was a busy meeting with recruiting for vacant positions and committee members; planning for the April 26 and 27 Quilt Show; an interesting program of adding a Minky binding; and viewing “Reveals” of this year’s Challenge’s.

Guest presenter

We were very pleased to have Tanya Robertson come from Sew & Sews Fabric Shoppe in Carlyle. She demonstrated several “Working with your Scraps” items, including this lovely “Star” quilt below that used Christmas scraps (the pattern comes in five sizes).

Below is a colourful wall hanging of Tanya’s daughter’s fiddle that Tanya made using reversed applique. She had “Quilt Seeds” patterns by Lori Holt that could be put together for a quilt or used separately as wall hangings with the example of the sewing machine below.

Tanya sells lots of Regalia items and below are feathers she has made using satin ribbon scraps. The ribbon is sewed in strips onto interfacing and then cut at 45 degree angles and put together to look like feathers! They could be used for applique or hung. Very creative!

Tanya, wearing the lovely “Tamarack” jacket she made, brought a number of notions, patterns and fabrics to sell. Thank you, Tanya, for bringing your items to sell as well as for the donations of door prizes (won by Cheryl G. and Diana S.)

Show and Tell

Always a highlight, we enjoyed seeing a number of lovely items shown by our members.

Charlene showed a very pretty quilt, “Mexican Star”. in the fall Charlene, Diana and Debbie went to Pleasant Pheasant in Crosby, ND for a class to make a wall hanging. Charlene went bigger by doubling the number of blocks and adding the borders, including the lovely ribbon-like one. Terry Whitman did the beautiful longarm quilting. Charlene was the lucky winner of the UFO draw. We are looking forward to seeing Charlene’s work at our Quilt Show as she is the Feature Quilter and she will have a Trunk Show on Friday evening at 8 p.m.

Marg S. enjoys doing applique and she has been making smaller items including this cute little wall hanging “Windy Winter” by Patch Abilities that fits nicely on a narrow wall in her kitchen. She likes to hang something seasonal in that spot.

Getting ready for “Owl Be Quilting” Marg has made a cute little applique owl that can be on a small table stand.

As we look forward to spring, Marg has finished an appropriate table runner, “Tulip Garden” from the book “My Runners Keep Going” by Disa Designs. She used fabrics she has had for quite awhile, purchased because she just liked them. She did applique and stippling.

Deb G. showed a lovely queen sized quilt, “Geese in the Cabin”. Christa M. had shown it when she toured a quilt store and as Deb liked the pattern, she tracked it down in Crosby and then she went from there. She used the Log Cabin ruler. It has a lot of blocks! Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting.

Diana showed a beautiful pastel lap quilt that has been about 30 years in the making when she first started making the cross stitch blocks. Terry Whitman did the pretty longarm quilting. Note the close-ups of the butterflies and flowers!

Leanne A. has been busy preparing for “OWL Be Quilting” and owls are on her mind. What cute potholder sets she has created from seeing a picture on the internet. She said they were a quick and easy owl project!

Adeline showed a lovely quilt “Smoke and Mirrors” that she has finished to give as a grad gift for her grandson. It was longarm quilted by Colleen. It has Minky on the back.

Dorothy B. brought a batik bag that will be given to Charity. There are four Welcome Bag kits available from Ruth.

Donna W. has made two colourful 3-Yard quilts that were used by Colleen and Donna for the Program tonight to demonstrate how to attach a Minky binding with very smooth, flat mitered corners. The Minky binding is cut at 1 1/2 ” strips, attached on back, folded over and just zigzagged on the front. Colleen did the longarm quilting on both quilts.

Roxanne revealed her “Absolute Ambiguity” by Tannis Fahlman that was a Guild Sew Along quilt this year. Colleen did the longarm quilting. This was Roxanne’s first quilt sewing strips together instead of squares. IT has a soft backing.

This year’s Guild Mystery Quilts: “Scrap That X” designed by Tannis Fahlman (Nine shown)

Leanne pieced and quilted her quilt by reversing the colours. It is a warm couch quilt.

Linda K. used a collection of “Kansas Trouble” fabrics which was in her stash. This was the first mystery quilt that she has done and she enjoyed it.

Below is Shelley G. and her quilt.

Judy O. showed her pretty quilt that she quilted herself.

Cheryl G. liked the mystery idea and she was curious to see what it would look like. She did her own quilting and she made this quilt for herself for the couch.

Val B. used up scraps to make her quilt for her husband.

Diana enjoyed sewing her Mystery Quilt and Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting.

Leeann M. has used pretty batiks for her Mystery Quilt.

Colleen S. has used a blue theme and did her longarm quilting with “First Snowfall” design.

Magazine Challenge: In the fall we could take a magazine that was wrapped in brown paper and then find something in the magazine that inspired us.

Leanne A. did paper piecing to make this “Pencil” wall hanging. It was going to be a bag but after moving her daughter, Leanne realized her daughter does not need any more bags! So… instead this piece will hang in her daughter’s class room. Leanne borrowed her sister’s embroidery sewing machine and had fun doing the label plus the words on the front. The larger letters are appliqued and zigzagged.

Colleen made four placemats from the pattern “Every Which Way” and she used Gudron Erla’s GEasy Flying Geese method using her stripology ruler to make very accurate flying geese. The backing is cute “jelly bean” houses fabric from Newfoundland. She did modern wave quilting.

Short of time, Marg thought a simple pillow would answer the Challenge! From “Quilt Trends” Summer 2013 and the pattern “Fabian’s Quilt” Marg used scraps to piece the 2.5 inch squares into a summery pillow.

Joanne, also short of time, whipped up this delightful “Boxed” zipper pouch from Sotak Handmade. She has been wanting to make one of these for awhile and it was a very easy pattern. She used interfacing on both the lining and the main fabric. Next time she will make a larger pouch. She was inspired to make this when she saw a write up in the CQA magazine on pouches. She plans to make more!

Diana really liked the pattern that she found in her magazine — in fact she made two quilts using the pattern. The first one uses a cute purse print and would be great for a young girl. Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting.

Diana’s second quilt is made with cute cat fabric. It has words on it and Diana carefully rearranged the wording so that they all face the same way. Terry Whitman longarm quilted this one, too.

The quilt below is one that Michelle V. finished at the March retreat. The pattern is called “Plaidish 2”. The constant fabrics were black and denim blue (printed to look like blue jeans). The rest are light and medium scraps. 

The colourful quilt below is from a book in our library and Peggy F. just loves this book!! The patterns work with scraps which is her passion. The book is heavily tabbed with page markers. Peggy will no doubt be making more quilts from this book. 

Peggy’s second quilt is a Block of the Month with the theme “Wizard of Oz”. The digital quilt design is “Hot air balloons” done by Colleen. What a cute pattern with some very tiny pieces!

The two pictures below show some of the detail from Peggy’s quilt. Note the tiny half square triangles for the lion’s mane and the dog’s top hair.

Thanks to all who shared their work!

Our next meeting will be our final one for this year and it will be our banquet on May 7!

See you all at the “OWL Be Quilting” Show on April 26 and 27!

March 2024

The Weyburn Quilters Guild met on March 5 at Cecilia’s with 24 members attending in person plus 6 attending via Zoom. Trudi gave an interesting presentation of members’ favourite Quilting shops.

Quilt Raffle

More information was given about the upcoming Guild Quilt Show, and below is the beautiful King-sized Quilt that will be raffled with the draw being made at the Show. The tickets sell for $2 each. This quilt was donated by Eileen Wright and it was one of her original patterns.

Show and Tell

Marg S. has been busy finishing some UFO’s as well as doing new projects. She was the winner of the UFO draw this month. Below are two Christmas items she quilted. The long table runner was a kit “Ripple Runner” that she purchased at Peachtree just before Christmas. She liked the colours and pattern and she thought this pattern would be good to use for fat quarters and to make for other seasons.

The 16-sided table centre was also a kit (Pattern “B’s Sweet Sixteen” by B. Lohman) from Peachtree that she purchased years ago. Marg usually does stitch-in-the-ditch or straight line quilting but she quilted outside of her comfort zone and did circular stippling on both these items.

Marg showed another Christmas table runner and this is the “Jewel Box” pattern that was a 2022 Guild Mystery Challenge that Shelley G. organized. Marg’s first runner in 2022 used a directional background and so she arranged the blocks differently. This 2024 runner is done as the pattern was meant to be. She was able to use one package of “Merry Manor Metallic” Charm squares to make both of her runners.

Below is a table runner that Marg just finished, “Home with a Gnome” by Patch Abilities. It was a kit from Peachtree and Marg thought it was really cute. Marg did the applique and she also did stippling on the background.

After seeing Tannis Fahlman’s program at a Guild meeting, Marg bought the “Jazzy Jelly Roll” pattern and used a jelly roll, “Enchantment” by Wilmington Prints. Marg used a colourful backing from Christa Marcotte, and Colleen did the longarm quilting using a “Joyful with Pearls” design.

Just before Christmas Marg finished the cute “I Spy” quilt shown below that she recently took to Australia for her grandchildren, Jasper and Madeline. It is made with 63 five inch blocks which are all animals including some Australian ones, i.e., an echidna, the only animal her 4 year old granddaughter didn’t know. Marg had fun playing I Spy with her! Thank you to Shelley H. who shared some of her animal fabrics!! The backing is turquoise Fireside, and Susie’s Magic binding was used. Colleen did the longarm quilting with “Puppy Paws” design.

Joanne B. showed a very cute baby quilt “On the Move” and she loves this pattern. The Prairie Points are so much fun for the babies. Hopefully the next family baby (due in April) will be a girl! The “Quilt as You Go” technique is so easy and fast. She started this quilt at one of our retreats and finally has it finished. The backing is Minky and she used the self binding technique wrapping the backing around to the front.

Joanne also showed her completed “Welcome Bag” that she made for Charity.

Ronna S.‘s mother passed away in 2002 and Ronna inherited her clothes. Ronna pieced and hand quilted two quilts for her two sisters and when she gave the quilts to them, her niece cried. She asked if Ronna would make her something and so the quilt below is for her niece. The first quilt was done in 2020 and had no borders, and the first quilts were a queen and a twin. As Ronna did not have enough pieces for a larger quilt, Ronna added the blue border for her niece’s quilt . What a beautiful Memory quilt!

So many unique items! Below are three banners that Joan HM. is working on. She took the April 2023 Feather Class from Christa Marcotte and did the feather appliques. The centre panel is the blue cut-out from the outside feather. Colleen did the longarm quilting using a Feather design and variegated thread. Joan needs more fabric for the borders to join the panels. She hopes to have the three sections joined and ready for the Quilt Show! It will be eight feet wide!

Heather DK. showed a very unique basket made from Batiks and she uses it to hold magazines in her living room. She took a Fabric Bowls Class to learn this technique.

Heather also a showed a colourful quilt that Sherrill Taylor gave her unfinished at a retreat. She also gave Heather hand written instructions for the design. Heather finished the piecing but it is still a UFO.

Heather’s 97 year old mother lives in a Nursing Home and Heather decorates her room with wall hangings for the various seasons. Her Mom said she needed a quilt. Heather bought the “Starburst” pattern and the flannel fabrics from Connecting Threads, and she will give this quilt to her Mom to wrap around her to keep warm.

Charlene W. showed a lovely purse that she really likes and she thinks it would be great for holiday travelling. She shared her cute story that she has two left-over pieces from the pattern!

Our Guild is pleased to have Charlene as our Featured Quilter at our April Quilt Show. Charlene has been busy making items for door prizes at her Trunk Show. Below are some samples: bowl holders and microwave mitts. Great ideas!

Leanne A. showed a UFO — lovely oven mitts that have been in her cupboard for at least eight years and they are finally finished! Yahoo!

Our Guild had a Sew Along and Leanne has finished the “Absolute Ambiguity” pattern by Tannis Fahlman. She reversed the blacks and whites. It was easily pieced and then she tortured herself by using a polyfill and an 80/20 cotton batting with a free flannel backing. She did the quilting on her domestic machine and echoed the design. This will be a very cozy couch blanket – warm and fluffy!

Our next Guild meeting will be on April 2 with socializing at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 7 p.m.

Happy Quilting!

And, just another reminder of our Guild’s April 26 – 27 Quilt Show!

February 2024

The Weyburn Crocus Quilt Guild met on February 6, 2024 at Cecilia’s Banquet Hall. 

We had an interesting presentation by Trudi on workspaces for sewing. We were able to see some of our members spaces as well as a few ideas found online.

Show and Tell

Bonnie started with her Scrap Buster quilt. She started this in 2019 to use up some of her scraps. The pattern gave several layouts but Bonnie chose this great layout. After a few issues with quilting on her long arm she fixed on her domestic machine.

Bonnie`s second quilt is Aurora Borealis. Traveling to Newfoundland with Quilt International they took in a trunk show with Ralph Jarvis. The Guild then organized a zoom class with him to do collage. It took lots of glue and determination to complete. Thanks to Jaynie for the tulle to cover the collage and help keep the pieces together.

Bonnie`s third piece came out of the Owl theme for our Quilt Show this year. Bonnie found an Owl block pattern in Quiltmaker 100 blocks. She added some borders and made a placemat.

Verla is getting ready for Valentines with her Waffle Time table runner. Made for fun and practice.

Leeann made this Rolling Hills lap quilt from a kit she bought at the Outdoor Quilt show at Heritage Park in Calgary. It was quilted by Colleen.

Cheryl wasn`t at the Mystery Quilt retreat but made this using Tanis Fahlmans pattern Typsy Diamonds. She also made some accessories with the extra fabric.

Leanne gathered and cut strips from her stash to complete the Zig Zag strips quilt. Leanne also quilted her quilt.

Leanne made this small bag and the larger owl mondo bag. Second Story quilting had instructions in the blog for the small bag – Thanks Christa.

Leanne`s fourth project is a wall hanging “Made with Love” by Fat Quarter Shop.

Joan showed us several projects. Denim oven mitts.

Mitts to retrieve things from the microwave.

Garbage bags to hang on the bag of the seat in your car. Joan created this pattern herself.

Ginger is in the process of making this beautiful quilt for her 6 year old niece. Her niece chose the colours and then Ginger created the quilt without a pattern. There are several techniques involved including apllique and chenilling.

Ginger`s second flimsy is for another cat loving niece. I think she will be very happy with this beautiful quilt.

Jaynie purchased this beautiful piece in Mexico from a street vendor for about $16. Jaynie was on a textile and culture tour that took them to the State of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Women wore their traditional clothes that varied from village to village. Jaynie particularly liked the style from the village of Zinacatan. The skirt is a hand-woven background with free motion machine embroidery, custom designed by the maker.

Our next Guild meeting will be March 5, 2024!

January 2024

The Weyburn Crocus Quilt Guild met on January 9, 2024 at Cecilia’s Banquet Hall. There were 22 attending in person and 7 attending via Zoom.

This colourful child’s quilt was created by Ruth B. Then Bonnie M did the finishing work of quilting and binding. The Weyburn Cooperative Playschool is requesting items for their online auction fund raiser in February. This quilt will be donated for this organization to auction.

Joan HM is a very enthused beginner quilter. She is not new to sewing (she has sewn for years) but is discovering quilting! This wall hanging is a gift for her friend. Joan quilted it herself, using straight lines that radiate like the rays of the sun. She did not want a binding to interfere with the panel design so she used a facing to finish the edge which is only visible from the back and it stabilizes the wall hanging. At the bottom of the panel, Joan used a technique to create wavy lines which she learned at Tannis Fahlman’s circle technique workshop that she attended in the fall.

This is Joan HM‘s first quilt project. Finished… congratulations! This was a 9 patch design and she created a unique layout, letting the fabric be placed where it wanted to go. This was a project from the beginner class held in the Fall 2022. Welcome to the world of quilting Joan.

Here is an original creation by Jaynie H.  It is called “Dying Light” The idea behind this project is to show her concern for the environment. The fading light and eerie looking background suggests air pollution. The stark black tree adds to the eerie scene. In this project she used the techniques, dying, improv piecing, raw edge applique, fusing and free motion quilting. When she started the project, she didn’t have a plan. She started by sewing fabric together that had similar value.  As she worked on the top it didn’t really appeal to her so…..she dyed it purple! Then she added the large black tree which was black velvet. The black velvet fabric was fused on which helped to control the fuzz. 

Debbie G. is showing some of the details of the bag that she made for each one of her family members as Christmas gifts. The men and women each received one. Debbie has a large family and so she made a bushel of these bags!

Shelley G joined an online Mystery Quilt project led by Melissa Marginet. The mystery revealed these “half-square Quadrangles” In the Facebook group many members tried out different layouts. Most of the fabric that she used was from garage sale purchases. The only thing they have in common is they are batiks. She was pleasantly surprised by how much she liked the finished top. She went on to quilt the top herself. It still needs binding but she wanted to share it before she travelled to seek some sun and warmth. Enjoy your time south!

Judy O. finished this quilt from a fabric kit purchased from Peachtree. She quilted it using her domestic machine. To help guide the quilting lines, she applied painters tape to the top on a corner to corner diagonal. Now that’s working Smarter not Harder!

Judy O created this lap quilt by using fat quarters that she liked. She added some sashing and voila…this beauty was created! She quilted it with straight lines on her domestic machine.

Judy O has been busy. Here is a table runner using the pattern “Bright Jewel Strip Pieced Table Runner ” by Connie Kresin Campbell. Judy quilted it as well with straight lines.

Leanne A. put together the quilt pattern “Dipsy Diamonds” by Tannis Fahlman. This is the second time she has used this pattern and recommends it for a fast quilt to create. She loves the pattern and the way these colours play with the design. This is a great beginner pattern. She quilted it on her domestic machine. She followed the outline of the design and stitched “out of the ditch”.

Leanne A created this quilt from start to finish in 30 hrs! She used the technique, Quilt as you Go. The pattern is called “It’s a Hoot”. Leanne is one of the co-chairs along with Mary Jane V. for our upcoming quilt show. They have challenged the guild members to create items for the show that have an owl in the design somewhere. The Show is called “Owl be Quilting”…. the challenge is on!

Details about the Quilt Show are below

Next guild meeting will be Feb. 6 at 7:00pm  Meet and greet 6:30pm

December 2023

On December 5 the Crocus Quilt Guild had its annual Christmas dinner and meeting. Colleen S. was the acting President and she wore a very cute T-Shirt, along with her Christmas bells earrings! We had a delicious turkey dinner along with yummy desserts and so thanks to Adeline for all the organizing.

Show and Tell

It is always enjoyable to see what our members have been working on and once again there so many terrific items or gifts.

In the photos below, Diana S. shows she is not only a terrific quilter, but she also does lovely cross stitch. These two cute “Winnie the Pooh” pillows will be given as gifts.

Diana also has finished a lap quilt, “Bear Paw on Point” which is a pattern from Missouri Star, and this quilt will be given to her nephew who will be married on February 1. She included a lovely label on the back. The longarm quilting was done by Terry Whitman.

Diana and Charlene W. showed two lap quilts that they each made. The pattern is called “A Walk on the Path”. The technique is checkerboard and the cute polar bears are a panel. Diana’s quit is the one with the white in the border as it is for a boy. Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting. Charlene’s quilt is the one with the pink in the border (for a girl) and it was longarm quilted by Angela. Charlene said her quilt reminded her of seeing a polar bear live. He looked her in the eye and she screamed!

Charlene also showed a lovely Christmas wall hanging that she made. The pattern was supposed to be all “Red work” embroidery, but as she couldn’t do “red” Christmas trees, she adjusted to make her trees green, as well as other greenery. She bought a layer cake from Angela to use for the borders and sashing.

We are happy to see Vera O. back in our Guild and the first quilt we have seen in quite awhile from her is the lovely paper-pieced and log cabin quilt below. The Khedive Quilters including Ronna S, did the hand quilting, and they did feathers between the medallions which really show up in the sunlight.

Denise H. showed a beautiful baby quilt that she made and it is a pineapple design using a jelly roll. It is backed with minkie and she quilted it herself.

Denise also showed a beautiful large quilt that she said was the most difficult quilt she has ever made. The centre block is a “Star of Liberty” block and there is such a beautiful variety of stars as the outer blocks. It was quilted by a friend in Hope, BC.

Below is a very unique baby quilt that Trudi G. is making for a gift. It is a Charleston Farmhouse “Sawmill” block pattern. She loved the fabric and it is going to a baby nursery!

Dot B. showed a cute lap quilt that was made from a fun panel and bright fabrics. There are really cute sayings with each block picture. She wanted the blocks to be wonky to go along with the sayings. The backing is pieced including some of the fabric that matches the panel pictures. Colleen did the longarm quilting.

Joan M. showed a lovely wall hanging that she did with cute little quilts hanging on the line — so appropriate for a quilter!

Using Joan M.’s pattern that uses a specific ruler and instructions, Adeline and Denise showed the table runners that they have finished. It is a “sew and flip” technique.

Below are two table runners that Adeline J. has completed. The green one is made from fabric that she bought at the Circle Square Retreat and the pattern is from Mary Jane. This runner will be given to her Mom, to match her living room. The second runner with the four fall leaves is made from fabric that she bought at a quilt store in Athabasca when she was visiting her son.

On November 26 there was an online collage class held in Weyburn and the teacher was Ralph Jarvis from Newfoundland. Jaynie H. used her creativity to make her own version of “Caribou Borealis”, instead making a unique “Deer Borealis”. Jaynie enjoyed the class and learning new ideas in the company of other creative guild members. Her Northern Lights are shiny as she used fused lamee. She quilted it herself.

Leanne A. as always has been busy. She showed a practical lap quilt that she made using recycled denim. The backing is a one-way soft stretch fleece, and she used a twill binding so that it will last better than cotton. She quilted it herself using a diamond design.

Leanne showed a lovely Christmas stocking that is now finished. The story behind this stocking is that Elma McCormick who was a long time member of our Quilt Guild did beautiful quilting and also beautiful cross-stitch. Elma has made a beautiful Christmas stocking for each of her family members but little ones joined the family after Elma was capable of cross-stitching like she used to. Elma started this stocking years ago but she was unable to continue working on it. About 18 months ago the family asked Leanne if she could finish it. Leanne said she tried but failed due to the number of errors, so she out-sourced it and asked a friend, Jeanette Wideman, who was happy to finish the cross stitching for this Christmas. Leanne put the cross stitching into the stocking format and finished the backing and binding. This stocking is for “Bristol”, one of Elma’s great-granddaughters. What a beautiful gesture!

Leanne has created her own designs for pillow cases for her family members’ Christmas gifts. She chose appropriate colours and fabric for each person. She has only three more sets to sew! What a good idea!

Verla B. enjoys sewing “Three Yard” lap quilts, and she made the two quilts below a little longer by adding an extra row. She labelled them and they will be gifts. Colleen did the longarm quilting.

In June our “Sewciopath” Colleen S. went on a Quilters’ bus tour to Newfoundland. Colleen showed a delightful wall hanging that she has completed since the tour. This was a gift from a quilt shop in Newfoundland, “The Cotton Patch”, where Ralph Jarvis presented a Trunk Show. The fabric collection and pattern are by Ralph. The pattern is from “Scrappy Mummers Quilt Block” and this one is “Three on a Spree” and called “Any Mummers ‘Lowed In”. The border fabric is “Nan’s Crazy Quilt” fabric that Ralph designed. Colleen quilted it herself and she put it in this frame that she plans to switch out with other wall hangings. Colleen explained about Mummers who at Christmas go around the neighbourhood disguised with pillowcases over their heads and wearing borrowed clothing. They sing and play music on ugly sticks and bang boots with bottle caps to jingle. She also read a cute poem about Mummers.

Thank you to all those who shared their work with us. It is always interesting and inspiring!

Our next Guild meeting will be January 9, 2024! (Note the date change!)

Merry Christmas to all!

Stay safe, happy quilting, and have a wonderful Christmas season with family and friends!

November 2023

On November 7 the Crocus Quilters met with 24 members in person and 10 on Zoom. Also by Zoom we enjoyed a guest presenter, Ralph Jarvis from Newfoundland. Ralph is a co-owner of a business and book, “The Quilted Stash” and information about their products can be found online by googling The Quilted Stash. Ralph is an artist and he designs applique and collage patterns. Ralph offered a door prize to our Guild and Verla Baillie was the lucky winner, so she has chosen the pattern “Spring Sparrow”. Ralph introduced the class, “Caribou Borealis” that he will be presenting via Zoom on November 26.

Show and Tell

Our quilters have been busy and we enjoyed seeing a great variety of items.

Leanne A. started the display with a huge number of Christmas gift bags. They are all different sizes and are made with a wonderful variety of colours and fabrics. What a great “green” idea and these bags can be used for many years!

In keeping with the Christmas theme, Leanne also showed a table runner that used the “Waffle Time” pattern. Leanne got the fabric from Eileen Wright and Leanne really likes her fabric choices. This was a fun project to make and Leanne loves this border pattern, so she might use it on a large quilt. The backing is similar colours with music designs. She quilted this herself.

Leeann M. finished this interesting lap quilt at the recent Circle Square Ranch Retreat. The pattern is “Rhythm and Blues” and she found the pattern on Pinterest, and the fabric is the Indigo line which she had before she found the pattern. Colleen did the longarm quilting using a border design, “Retro Revolution”. Congratulations to Leeann on being the lucky winner of the Guild’s UFO draw!

Leeann has a very unique husband who surprised her and purchased this “Dragon Quilt” kit at Peachtree by himself (Wow!) for her because he knows she loves dragons! Well done, John! This lap quilt uses a panel and a border print by Robert Kaufman. Colleen did the longarm quilting with a “Pearl Desire” design.

Marg S. has completed a fall cushion called “Count Your Blessings” that was a kit she purchased at The Quilt Patch a long time ago. It is appliqued and hand embroidered. Marg stuffed the cushion with batting scraps.

Marg is preparing for Christmas and she has made these two table runners using “The Big Easy” pattern. The focus fabric on the silver and cream runner was purchased from Eileen Wright and Marg put the same patterned fabric as the backing. The second runner is made with fabric purchased at Sew and Sews in Carlyle.

Marg’s baby quilt is “hot off the press” as Colleen just finished doing the longarm quilting using a “Meandering Star” design. This quilt will go to Nelson, BC for a great nephew to be born in January. The quilt was a kit from Peachtree and it has blue Minky as the backing, and Marg altered the kit by adding the sashing.

Linda K. loves doing half square triangles and she had never used two colour neutrals as a background before, but she really likes the effect. The tree uses different tones. She did the quilting using different threads and free motion using her walking foot. She may add some hand sewing yet. She found the pattern in a Christmas magazine. What a beautiful wall hanging!

Elaine D. has finished this lovely UFO queen-sized quilt. The “Chandelier Quilt” pattern came from Dorothy B. and Elaine purchased the fabric in Edmonton. Elaine’s daughter-in-law picked the fabric and it is a gift for her son and daughter-in-law. Colleen did the longarm quilting and Bonnie M. sewed on the binding.

Joanne B. finished this cute baby quilt that was a “Charm Box” and free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop online. She used up a package of charm squares that she had forever, and she used the extras for the binding and back along with the blue Minky. She used Susie’s Magic Binding. This baby quilt is for no one in particular but she is sure it will find a home soon. Joanne did her own quilting and instead of doing stitch in the ditch, she did echoing quilting, and it looks really nice.

Dot B. has finished two lap quilts using panels. The first one is a pretty mountain view using coordinating blues, greens and browns. Colleen did the longarm quilting using a “Bora Bora” design. This quilt will be going to Arizona for a raffle with her quilt guild there.

Dot’s second lap quilt is another landscape as she likes the colours. She did an interesting border. The backing is Fireside. This one will be donated to go in a hamper. Colleen did the longarm quilting using denser swirls.

Cheryl G. purchased a panel at Peachtree and she added the sashing and border to make this quilt for her daughter. The different angels have lovely affirmations. It is fuzzy on the back.

Heather D. showed a lap quilt called “Painted Ladies” that she made for her older sister as she had visited Newfoundland this year. This quilt is suggestive of the “Jellybean” houses there rather than San Francisco that the pattern referenced. Colleen will do the longarm quilting. Very unique!

Jaynie showed a pretty Welcome bag that she made that will donated to Charity.

Jaynie also showed a very colourful table runner that she made and quilted at a Retreat. She used assorted scraps and she pieced strips together and then cut them into new strips and rearranged them to put them into the final runner.

Bonnie M. told of visiting Signal Hill and visiting the Cedar and Vine store there. Marnell Rasmussen gave Bonnie a tour and she showed how they use a lazer cutter to do the sewing of the linen items they sell. Bonnie was given a tub of scraps and anyone is welcome to use her scraps. (Jaynie dyes and uses linens for her landscape fabric art, for example, in creating grass or fringes.)

Bonnie showed a sample she made after taking the “Curves and Circles Class” that our Guild recently had with Tannis Fahlman.

Bonnie also showed an interesting “Iron Caddy” that she made for a mini-iron that can be taken to a Retreat. The bag opens to become the ironing pad. Very slick!

Next Bonnie showed a very colourful lap quilt, “Strip Twist” that she made to use up some scraps. She quilted it herself. The backing is also pieced scraps.

Below are running shoes Sherrill made at a workshop that Regina guild sponsored. She quilted peacock feathers on the tongues. The soles were attached by hand stitching. She said the runners were very comfortable. They have a very good insole which makes them comfortable. What an accomplishment! Sherrill showed the runners to our Guild at the Tuesday quilt chat. 

Extras

Some of our Guild members will be at a “Sleep in Your Own Bed Retreat” on November 17 – 19 plus there will be the Collage Class with Ralph Jarvis on November 26, so we look forward to seeing lots of Show and Tell at the December meeting.

The December meeting will be our Christmas supper on December 5.

Happy Quilting!

October 2023

On October 3 the Crocus Quilters met and there were 34 attending (including some guests,) plus 6 members on Zoom.

Program Presenter

We were so pleased to have Christa Marcotte of Second Story Quilting as our guest presenter and she showed some of her extremely creative quilting. Her stories and explanations of the pieces were really interesting. Christa enjoys doing Challenges and over the years a number of her pieces have been chosen to travel. Some of her quilting is shown below.

Christa is showing an appliqued “Cat” wall hanging with lots of pieces and very striking eyes!

Christa has participated in a number of “Cherrywood Challenges” over the years and each of these Challenges has a different theme and a bundle of their fabrics that must be used in the quilted item. Christa’s creativity shines through in her Van Gogh night scene shown below and her quilting looks like brush strokes!

Other “Cherrywood” Challenge pieces that have been chosen are “Prince – Purple Rain”, “Bob Ross”, “Princess Diana”, and below, “Graffiti”. Her latest success is “Monarch” which will debut in Houston this fall. What an amazing quilter!

Show and Tell

Once again we had a wonderful variety of quilting shown by our members.

Ruth B. showed a cute “Halloween” wall hanging that she pieced and quilted. The pattern is a Sew-a-long that was taught by Pat Sloan on her You Tube channel. There was a block per week.

Ruth also showed another wall hanging, “The Nativity” from Mount Redoubt Designs that Ruth pieced, did the raw edge applique, and then quilted. This was her first try at free motion quilting. Ruth plans to add some embellishments such as beads and sparkles. Ruth used the suggested colours and she made this for someone who contacted the Moose Jaw Guild.

Continuing with the Christmas theme, Leanne A. showed a cute lap/double size quilt that was a UFO. She had this panel and she wanted to finish it for Christmas. She found a picture of the “U-Turn” Borders and she then gave it a try. The backing is flannel. The quilting is circles and stripes using her Westalee rulers, and she did free motion stars.

Trudi G. has been busy getting ready for Regina’s Winter Green where she will be selling items. We were happy to have a preview of some of her work. She quilted the set of placemats using the sawtooth star pattern. She loves the golds and greys together and the fabric features owls and a woods motif. She also showed some bags that she designed herself. The fabric is her ice dying and the bags could be cases for ipads or laptops.

Trudi also showed a table runner with a sawtooth star design. She is drawn to aqua and turquoise these days and she also likes the more non-traditional Christmas fabrics and colours. This piece is also for her Winter Green sale.

Shelley H. made this cute “Welcome” wall hanging below for friends who were celebrating their 25th Anniversary. It is for their home at the lake, and the lake theme is shown in the dragonfly border and the appliqued pictures. Shelley added some cute embellishments.

Eva Z. continues to keep busy quilting! She will give a quilt to each of her four daughters. The first quilt she showed is a scrappy star design. She used scrap fabrics from her closet. Eva does her own quilting. Congratulations to Eva for winning this month’s UFO draw!

Eva showed two hand embroidered Christmas quilts that she has finished, one with nine blocks and one with ten embroidered blocks. The blocks are such cute Christmas and farm scenes. She added the red borders and sashing to make the two beautiful wall hangings.

Eva’s fourth quilt is a scrappy Christmas one made with octagons of striped triangles to give a very attractive design with the background yellow stars.

Diana S. showed a lovely “Starry Log Cabin” lap quilt that she made for her granddaughter who loves horses. The “Jordan’s Fabric” is so appropriate for the horse theme. The backing is brown minky. Diana’s friend, Jane, did the long arm quilting.

The Guild is gearing up for a busy October with some Sewing Days, a weekend Retreat at Circle Square Ranch and a “Circles and Curves” Class. We look forward to seeing lots of Show and Tell in the future!

The next Guild meeting will be November 7! Happy Quilting!

September 2023

The Weyburn Crocus Quilt Guild had its first meeting of the 2023-2024 year on September 5. There were about 29 members present, plus about 6 members on Zoom. Plans for the year were reported.

The guest presenter was Angela of “Gypsy Soul Fabrics” in Estevan. She demonstrated Paper Piecing and she showed some of her beautiful paper piecing in the wall hangings below. The patterns are from “Legitkits”. What beautiful flowers!

And Angela’s “Blue Jay” is absolutely delightful!

Angela also brought items for sale from her “Pop-up” store. Some of the members enjoyed an opportunity to shop.

Show and Tell

We all look forward to seeing what our members have been working on and thank you to the members who shared their quilting!

A few of our members went on a quilt bus tour in Newfoundland in June and they had a wonderful time. Colleen shared some pictures of the house blocks that they made for a charity quilt that will be raffled to raise funds to assist with the restoration of the historic settlement of Trinity, Newfoundland.

The red house block was created by Colleen.  This is a biscuit box style house seen in Newfoundland.  In the background there is an iceberg floating in the bay.

The next block is a lighthouse block created by Bonnie.  The lighthouse we saw at Cape Bonavista was painted red and white with stripes running vertically.  Bonnie’s stripes run horizontally, and like many of the lighthouses, it is red and white.

The third block is a yellow house created by Shelley G.  This is another biscuit box style house.  She used some decorative stitches to depict the dandelions that were everywhere.

Peggy made three blocks for this quilt. One of her blocks is the lighthouse below and she used 1 1/8 inch squares to make her block! Her other two blocks are of a church (with stained glass windows), and one block of a blue biscuit box style house.

Below is the Quilt top pieced together with  all of the house blocks from the other members on the Newfoundland tour. A lady from Ontario pieced the 12 inch blocks, and another Ontario lady will do the longarm quilting prior to sending it to Trinity for their fundraiser. Can you spot the six blocks pieced by our four Guild members?

Colleen showed a picture of a bargello wall hanging that she created for her sister.  The pattern is called “Twisted Bargello” by Chris Timmins. Her sister picked three fabrics in colours she liked, and Colleen filled in the rest of the fabrics.  There are 21 fabrics in this wall hanging. Colleen long-arm quilted it with the digital design “Drifting Sands”  This wall hanging now lives in Halifax, NS.

Leanne showed her rainy harvest weather project, a pretty baby quilt in pinks and purples. She did the quilting by using the green painter’s tape method to do the straight quilting lines, as can be seen on the pink backing.

Leanne also showed more of her rainy harvest weather projects: a huge number of lovely Christmas gift bags. She used a variety of fabrics and she made a large selection of different sizes of bags. These environmentally friendly bags can be used over and over!

Mary Jane made a table runner to match her home. She found the pattern in a magazine. Angela from Gypsy Soul Fabrics did the quilting for her.

Charlene has been busy sewing buttons! She got this pattern from the “Missouri Star Christmas Box” and there are 146 buttons! Charlene also made the pillow to go inside the pillow cover.

Charlene also made the lovely moose wall hanging that is appliqued.

Using the 60 Degree Ruler, Charlene pieced and quilted the pretty table runner below. She purchased the fabric on her trip to Three Sisters last year.

Charlene showed her lovely wall hanging, “Delectable Mountain”. She found the pattern in a magazine and she bought all the fabric in Crosby. She had started the project before Covid, and then was able to finish it this year after the border crossing opened! Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting using a leaf design.

Jaynie will be participating in “Art Now” at the Hansen Ross House booth in Regina in September. This will be the first time that she will have her work at this event so she is really looking forward to it. What beautiful landscape quilting! Jaynie painted and quilted the fabric, and then glued it to the wooden frames.

Happy Quilting, everyone, and enjoy the fall weather!

Our next meeting will be October 3! Hope to see you then!

May 2023

Weyburn Crocus Quilt Guild On May 2 our Guild had its annual May Wind-up with a delicious dinner at Cecilia’s, followed by a brief meeting plus Show and Tell. Show and Tell Amber showed three grad gifts that she made for her triplet niece and nephews. The three double-size quilts are the “Typsy Diamond” pattern by Tannis Fahlman that was a guild mystery quilt this year. Amber quilted the quilts herself and she used Susie’s Magic Binding. The three quilts are similar but slightly different colouring using the Weyburn Comprehensive School Eagle’s colours. In the corner of each quilt Amber had the embroidered “WCS GRAD 2023” added at Grand Magic in Weyburn. What lovely gifts! Dot showed a very colourful table runner called “Jelly Roll Twizzle”. She liked the curves and decided it was a good use of the beautiful Kaffe Fasett fabrics. Dot did her own quilting. Below is Colleen’s Double-size quilt that was a Melissa Marginet Mystery Quilt, “Building Blocks”. It was an online Facebook group and over eight days, she was sent two blocks a day. For three days, Colleen prepared the fabric that she had in her stash, cutting all the half square triangles. Then she twisted and turned the triangles to make the 16″ blocks. Colleen really enjoyed making this quilt. Colleen did her long arm quilting using the “Easy Orange Peel” design. She added Susie’s Magic Binding and she used flannel as the backing (which helps to keep the quilt on the bed better). Melissa Marginet has put the blocks and construction into a 75 page e-book, titled “building blocks”. There are 75 pages of layouts. The second quilt that Colleen showed is a baby quilt that she designed herself as the fabric was the star! It is a play quilt for her three year old grandson who loves dinosaurs. She did the longarm quilting design, “Dinosaur Tracks”, and she used “Shannon Cuddle” as the backing. She used a new and simple way to bind the quilt with Minkie from a method she saw from Missouri Star whereby she brought the fabric from the back and zig zagged on the front (1 3/4″ flip and stitch). Another cute baby quilt is one that Charlene showed, “Giraffe Twins”. She bought the giraffe fabric twenty plus years ago and finally found a pattern that was fun and easy. The pattern called for one giraffe but she put two. The giraffes are appliqued and Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting. The pattern called for wide rick rack but Charlene made Prairie Points instead on the mane, and she added two flanges in the border. This quilt will be for a “Great-Grandbaby”! Charlene was this month’s UFO Challenge winner. Adeline showed a blue 29″ x 29″ table topper, “Spirals” that she made bigger than the original pattern from online “Designs to Share with You”. She made it for her sister-in-law who likes blue and has a round table. She also showed her blue Mondo bag using 2.5″ squares that she made in a class this winter in Osoyoos, BC. Below is another striking bag that Adeline completed. It is a 14″ x 17″ duffel bag that has three compartments and two pockets. Below is a very interesting “music” lap quilt that Leanne designed herself to give as a gift for her sister-in-law who is very musical. Being scrappy it used a lot of brain power to make up the design. Terry Whitman did the longarm quilting and she put great music detail in the quilting, including the words “symphony” and “orchestra”. What a beautiful and meaningful gift! Leanne took a recent “Aviary Feather” wall hanging class that Christa Marcotte gave in Weyburn and she showed her lovely finished product. The feather is one batik fabric plus the black fabric and it is appliqued. This was a new technique for Leanne. She did her own quilting but she is not sure what to do with this wall hanging as it is a bit big… Jaynie also took the Aviary Feather Class and she enjoyed seeing the different fabrics selected by the participants, as well as the variety of styles shown by Christa. For the feather, Jaynie chose a variety of fabrics in her stash that had different values. Her background is denim and she left the binding as a raw edge. Jaynie did her own quilting, and she said decorating the feather with designs and stitches as well as doing the quilting was fun — note the two feathers stitched in her quilting! Jaynie wore a beautiful embellished Jean Jacket that she adorned by appliqueing used silk scarves and sparkling bits from her stash. How creative, unique and attractive! And last but not least, Jaynie brought a magazine that she was delighted to see had an image of her work as a full page in the spring issue of “Quilting Arts”. The theme in the magazine where her wall hanging was shown was “Sustainability”. Congratulations, Jaynie! The page in the magazine shows the 16″ x 20″ wall hanging that Jaynie made to go into a Manitoba exhibition with a texture theme. The sun print fabric had been in her stash and it seemed to be a good place to start. After stitching the background it needed some details for a focal point. The branch and dragonfly provided the necessary points of interest. The techniques that Jaynie used were sun printing, free motion stitching and applique. Charity items In addition to Show and Tell, the Charity Committee showed the items that our Guild members have completed this year. There were 5 Walker Caddies and 9 Welcome Purses for the Special Care Homes, plus 14 Sensory or Fidget Mats for Alzheimer patients that will be distributed. Thank you to all the Guild members who made these items for Charity, and thank you to Eileen W. for donating fabric for some of these items. What great ideas, Charity Committee! The picture below shows close-up the Purses and Walker Caddies at this end of the table. Pictured below close-up are the Sensory mats. Our Guild quilting year has come to an end and we wish all our members a safe and happy summer! Happy Quilting! Our next meeting will be on September 5!

April 2023

On April 4 the Crocus Quilters had their regular April meeting and we were happy to host a guest speaker, Tannis Fahlman, from Regina. Tannis loves designing and creating her own quilt patterns. She provided a number of wonderful tips along with her Trunk Show. One of her suggestions is to make practice blocks of each block in a quilt, and make blocks larger than needed and trim them down to make them more accurate. To her, a pattern is a guideline! She showed a number of her placemats, bags and quilts that she had designed, including the quilt below (plus with variations). Some of our members made this pattern as a Mystery Challenge. It is called “Typsy Diamonds”.

Another sample design that Tannis showed is her pattern, “Crack the Code”, that is the same block rotated various ways that gives an interesting design.

Show and Tell

Below are six of Tannis Fahlman’s “Typsy Diamonds” made with a variety of colours.

Jill made hers as a wedding gift and it has Mickey Mouse fabric in the squares. It is a larger version of the pattern.

Leeann M. showed two “Typsy Diamond” quilts that she had made with very different fabrics. She fussy cut the flowers in the orange squares.

Judy showed her quilt that she made and it will be a gift. She did her own quilting.

Val has pieced the top of her quilt and she appreciated help given at the Retreat!

Leanne A. showed a second “Typsy Diamond” quilt that she has finished piecing. Like other members, Leanne enjoys making this pattern.

Another of Tannis Fahlman’s designs is the quilt top below that Leanne has pieced. It is called “Jazzy Jelly Roll 2.0”. This pattern can be made in a number of sizes, and Leanne’s is the larger size. Great for Jelly Rolls!

Marlene showed a lovely child’s twin-size quilt, “Farm Life”, that she hand embroidered the farm animals and scenes in the blocks. Marlene had made a quilt for a grandson previously and she stamped a second one so she could use up some of her fabric. All she bought to finish this quilt was the fabric for the border. The fence design on the top and bottom is very appropriate. Marlene started this quilt three years ago and this winter decided she should finish it. Terry Whitman did the long arm quilting.

Barb H. took a Dresden Plate ruler class while she was in Arizona this winter. She felt it was outside her comfort zone but she finished her table runner there, and she did the free motion quilting. It is lovely, Barb!

Another class that Barb took in Arizona was a Paper Piecing one and she made this “Log Cabin Neighbourhood”. The log cabin blocks have very small pieces! By the end of making this wall hanging she felt more confident with paper piecing and she did her own quilting. She felt it was fun!

Marg showed a “Welcome” bag she made for the Care Homes. She added an appliqued sunflower to the front of the bag.

Charlene loves to combine different techniques. The pattern of this wall hanging is called “Snowflakes” and she did the hand embroidered snowflakes. Charlene purchased the pattern in Houston, and she bought the fabric on a “Sisters” trip with Mary Jane. Angela did the long arm quilting.

The second quilt that Charlene showed is a beautiful “memory” quilt. The design is “Storm at Sea” and the pattern is “Our Hearts Will Go On”. Charlene bought the pattern /kit in 2014, and then she sold it in 2020. She then got the pattern back and bought fabric in Manitoba. She started and stopped it several times and finally finished it. She used a thicker batting. Terry Whitman did the long arm quilting and she added hearts and waves in the quilting as well as adding the written names of Charlene’s loved ones, Phil and Brad, in the center of each of the two large blue hearts. What a beautiful keepsake for Charlene!

Adeline showed a practical “Mondo” bag that she made while she was in Osyoos, BC this winter. It is made with 2.5 inch squares and the strap has leather on one side. Adeline added a key clasp inside the back and it also has a pocket inside.

During a vacation to Kauai, Hawaii in November 2022 Peggy visited a quilt shop. The ladies mentioned their upcoming Quilt Show and Mini Challenge in February 2023. When Peggy was told anyone could enter the challenge she was excited. With the registration fee Peggy was given a fat quarter. Conditions were that they had to use as much of the fabric as possible and make a mini quilt no bigger than 18 inches square. Peggy decided to make as many mini log cabin blocks as possible and made a design from that. Her quilt is 12 1/2 inches square, and the log cabin blocks finish at 1 3/4 inches and the logs finish at 1/4 inch.  There is very little fabric left unused.

Peggy was over the moon when she got her quilt back and found that she had won the “Judges  Favourite” mini  quilt award. Wow! Congratulations, Peggy!

While in San Pancho, Mexico this winter Bonnie volunteered at Entreamigos, a non-profit community and educational center working everyday to provide educational opportunities to local children and young people.  The center houses a library, classrooms, play space for children, a second hand store, a recycling center and much more. Jill also helped on a project while there. What a wonderful opportunity to help others!

May 2 will be our year end wind-up and supper!

There are executive and committee positions available if you would like to be more involved with the Guild, so just give Shelley a call.

Happy Quilting! Enjoy the spring!