The January 30 Zoom Retreat had 32 participants and it was a great day for sewing and visiting. The guest presenter, Anita Zobens from Ontario, provided excellent information and tips on thread and needles and she answered all our questions. Below, Anita is demonstrating the parts of a needle using her large sample.
Above is a photo of some of the Zoom participants during the presentation by Anita. Congratulations to Shelley G. and Jaynie for winning the Heart blocks.
The next Zoom Sit and Sew Retreat will be on Saturday, February 27 and this month the Block Lottery will be a 12 1/2″ block that uses a Crazy construction.
February 2 Guild Meeting on Zoom
We had a great number of guild members and guests participate in this guild meeting. Following a brief meeting, Show and Tell, and a super Book Review by Shelley G., a guest Laura Hennebery provided an interesting presentation on a quilt designing App, PreQuilt, that she along with her partner Gar Liu have created. Information can be watched on http://www.prequilt.com with interesting You tube videos.
Show and Tell
Our creative Jaynie made the art shown below for the national Fibre Art Network. Participants were given two paint swatches and they were to create something following closely the colours. The green item is made using a satin stitch on the applique, while the yellow one uses a loose raw edge stitching for the applique. They are 12″ x 12″ and are mounted on stretch canvas.
Michele, who also belongs to the national Fibre Art Network, had turquoise and orange paint swatches and below you can see her work. She will finish the framing. It looks like Jaynie and Michele have fun creating their pieces.
Michele also showed an 8 x 10 inch piece of fibre art that she created for a western exhibit that had a “Touch” theme. Michele, taking on where we are and being asked not to touch one another, longs for the days when we can touch each other and we will get out of the shadows. The colourful figures are made of felt.
Dot stitched the wall hanging below and it is made by paper piecing from a pattern by Laura Heine. Dot hung it in the common area of her condo that is called ” City View”. Dot thought the wonky designs fitting for her kind of town, hence the name. Dorothy embroidered the title and Colleen did the long arm quilting.
Shirley M. has been busy and she showed five quilts. The first quilt is a lap quilt that she made using the 60 degree ruler and eight panels. The design is a “one block wonder”. What an interesting effect!
The second quilt was made for her friend’s daughter’s wedding four years ago. It is a large quilt about 8 feet x 6 feet. The tree is made with satin and the sides use lace from the wedding dress. What a beautiful quilt!
Shirley M.’s third quilt is a flannel quilt she made for her brother-in-law. It is a Disappearing Nine Patch design.
Shirley also showed a “Valentine” quilt that she made for her granddaughter. The three hearts on the top are pockets, and Shirley likes to put pockets on all the quilts she makes for her grandchildren to give them a place for their treasures or stuffies.
A few years ago Shirley M. made this colourful quilt shown below. Following our presentation by Terry Aske, where she showed the use of bias seam binding, this quilt uses fusible bias seam binding around the fusible appliqued pieces. Shirley noted that the fusible seam binding is quite expensive, but it really is pretty on this quilt.
Trudy H. was very keen on the “Rainy Day People” from Terry Aske’s presentation. Since Terry was fine with anyone replicating her piece, Trudy set about making this small wall hanging the day after Terry’s presentation. Her hope is it will bring Spring, and with it rain! Well done, Trudy!
Trudy H. also made this blue “Wanda” quilt which is from the cover of the Stripology 2 book arriving soon for the Guild library. For this pattern there are several videos on You tube with tips and it is a very efficient use of fabric. Trudy has made this quilt for her great-grandson expected this month. She said it was a fun quilt to make, but the sashing was quite tedious.
Jill is also working on a “Wanda Quilt-Along” quilt, (a GE Quilt Design.com) but it is not finished yet. There are twelve blocks on the front and she had four extra blocks and so she used them on the back. Jill used charm packs and she was limited with the amount of sashing that she had. The blocks have no waste.
Shelley H. made this bag for her 9 year old granddaughter, Maggie. The embroidered squares were done by the talented Melanie Hiske. Pictures do not do her work justice! Each square was first sewn on three sides, stuffed with a little poly stuffing, then closed. Seam allowances were then folded inward and sewn again with embroidery thread. Each square also had a little extra stitching on it to create a little texture and bring down the “pillowing”. Then all pieces were sewn together to create this bag. Everything was related in someway to the Harry Potter stories. This idea came from Teesha Moore who is on You tube and Pinterest. Shelley thinks most of her pillow squares are created for journal covers. Shelley also made a small velvet drawstring bag to hold Maggie’s eraser and other pencil topper characters. Shelley said it was fun to make, but time consuming. No need to square up much!
Joanne thought she needed to do something with the thread/fabric scraps that she had accumulated, so she recycled a set of flannel sheets to make the ELEVEN kitty pillows for the Humane Society! Thank you, Joanne!
Joanne quickly transformed this cute mermaid tulle into a dance skirt for her five year old granddaughter. The pleats are done with a fork (Fork pleat method — very easy! You tubes are great!) and the sparkly waistband topped it off.
For the apron below, Shelley G. used the reversible apron pattern by The Paisley Pincushion. Her son’s girlfriend loves to cook and she had admired the aprons Shelley made for the grandkids for Christmas so Shelley made her one for her birthday. Adding the machine embroidery is a great personal touch, and Shelley makes a great model.
After making place mats for gifts Shelley G. finally made some for herself! The place mats are the Take Four pattern that calls for four fat quarters but Shelley only had a layer cake so she made adjustments to make it work with layer cakes.
Marg also used the Take Four place mat pattern and made a set of four mats for herself. The plan is to make four more for when we can finally have our kids home for a meal!
After making a heart block for the last block lottery, while Marg had her red fabric out, she made a mini wall hanging for Valentine’s Day and then she made a St. Patrick’s Day one. The St. Patrick’s one is a pattern from Patch Abilities. They are just 6″ x 20″.
Peggy is a prolific quilter and she makes a lot of quilts to donate for charity. The beautiful quilt below is one she is donating to our Guild. Colleen quilted it with a digital design on the long arm with a design called Surf, using gold thread. Debbie will do the binding. The fabric choice is scrappy with the colours of red, green, gold and ivory, and she brought it together with burgundy sashing and ivory corner stones. The backing is flannel.
Adeline is working on the quilt below. She purchased some half square triangles and she then put them together and added borders.
February is passing quickly and the days are getting longer.
Stay warm, stay safe, and until next month, happy Quilting!
Weyburn Crocus Quilt Guild 