Quilt Guild Rewards!

Do you belong to a quilt guild?

I know there are many complaints 

about guilds (cliques, not enough volunteers, etc),

but what about the positives??

I work from home and my only other

real human to talk to is my husband.

I adore my husband and he listens to all

my quilting whoas but not with the

same empathy and sympathy

that a fellow quilter hears them!

I can't expect him to:)

My biggest positive for being 

a member is all the HUGS!!

If you aren't a hugger, I am sorry!

You are missing out on a quintessential 

human experience that I revel in.

There is an endorphin rush that we

humans need for survival and I get mine

from hugging whenever appropriate.

This month I was recovering from a cold

so no hugging-WHAAAAA!

Where else can you go and share a story

about a stupid thing you think only you did

and have a room full of people giggle and

acknowledge most of them have done it too?

That feeling of inclusiveness and not 

being alone is also necessary for our 

mental survival.

How about joining a guild in your 40s and 

being at least 20 years younger than everyone?

Time to be amazed by these women IF you 

take the time to listen and get to know them.

Being in your 70s is so different 

than a few generations ago and 

their vibrancy is very inspiring!

I have been the leader of my guild off and on for 

4 years now. It has truly been an honor getting

to know them, laugh/cry with them, teach/learn

from them, share moments with them.

There is a community there that is crucial

to my well being and I do hope they have 

received some of the same from me.

The picture at the top of the post shows my spoils 

from the lovely 'Thank You' gift card 

they gave me for being in charge this year.

They have no idea how much fun I have being up

in front and making them laugh!

I look forward to being their dancing monkey

again in the future:)

THANK YOU HIDDEN STITCHES!!

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com 

for more blogs to follow.

ROUND ROBINS

First let me say that I have NEVER done or participated in a Round Robin for this reason, I am a Control Freak!  The idea of putting some fabric in a box and letting someone else make my quilt decisions for me and add other fabrics just makes my brain seize up. I have seen some lovely ones and some not so lovely ones too.  The idea intrigues me and seeing the reveals is inspiring but the need to be involved hasn't taken root.

Then I read somewhere about a controlled one and that made me want to do one:) Since I initiated this in my guild, I made up the parameters as shown in the first image print out.

I will say that participants didn't want anything

 too large so that limited my round sizes.

Here were the rules in case you want to do something similar in your own guild.

-This is a Round Robin personal challenge where you will make your own individual quilt using specific parameters given in 5 rounds

-Play along to make a gift for a friend, a charity donation, or just because it is fun to be a part of something and be challenged a tiny bit.

-There will be 5 rounds with one and two given together so that it will run for 4 months.

-Techniques will include applique' (by hand or fusible) and piecing with the finished size being roughly 48" square.

-Make it any color way that you love so that you will be excited to work on it.

Round 1: A 12" (finished) block with any applique you choose. 

I chose the tulip logo of our guild, Hidden Stitches.

Round 2: A 2" (finished) border to your center block. 

Border must feature at least one applique element from the center block. You can use any element, more than one, repeats in any way you choose.

Round 3: A 4" round of any pieced blocks.

Round 4: An 8" round with ANY triangular element (flying geese, half-square triangles).  Any combination of piecing and applique.

You can see that my big red tulip 

blocks will be cut to triangles.

Round 5: Another 4" round of any pieced blocks. The 4" was a minimum and they could go bigger if they chose.

You can see by my sketch that I made it way too complicated even though it is way cool (especially on a small computer screen:)!!

You see how far I got:)  I loved doing the applique but also became extremely busy in this time frame so the piecing was put on the back burner so to speak!

Now some of these ladies may hate me for posting these pics when I didn't catch them smiling and I can only hope I am forgiven when I say how much I LOVE THEM!!

They are members of my first 'Applique' guild, they are quilters, they share their stories and lives with me, and they are my friends and I love seeing them every month.

Lastly, they let me experiment on them when I have a new technique or Round Robin idea:)

My life here in Florida wouldn't be the same without these Amazing women!!   

We didn't all finish but the starts are pretty cool too! 

Cindy S. Love her flower and can't 

wait to see the rest.

Pat O. That birdhouse is darling!

It makes a sweet small piece the way it is.

Marva G. does amazing applique' work!

Again this could be done the way it is.

Jean R. used a block we had experimented with

 in a meeting and used it as her start point!

She even used the tulip as her 

quilting in the outer border.

Barbara D. did an amazing job! 

There was that sound in the room 

when people are impressed.

Lynn T. did the cutest kitty quilt and off setting 

border fabrics gives so much movement!

Then we come to our overachiever, Miss Liz M.

Above is the back of her quilt:)

Below is the front!

And I thought I had designed a lot 

of tiny bits for my borders!

THANK YOU all for being such great sports about trying out my Robin's Round Robin!!
I loved seeing every one of these and hearing about whether you loved or hated the process.
~Keep stitching

Heritage Stories: Bowties

I have written before about why I am a Heritage Architect

and here is another one of those stories.

 

This quilt came to me because the quilter had taken a class, made the top, and started hand quilting only to realize that it just wasn't her thing and so it sat in a closet for 20 years.  Instead of trashing it (after all that work!), she found me via a guild member from my guild at the fair- Thank you Karen!

Unfortunately she no longer had the template for the flower in the red blocks she told me.  NO Problem!  I can recreate that star-like flower out of freezer paper and away we go.

This simple and sweet Bowtie block really just needed some outline quilting with the flower to accent the red blocks and a lovely quilted throw was completed for her to give to her son!

What son wouldn't want a warm snuggly throw

made by mom on a chilly winter eve?!!