WISQ October 2009

WISQ was at Mary’s house in October.  Here are the pix:

WISQ August 09

Our meeting was at Cathy’s this month out in Buffalo.  It was fun as always, with lots of guests:  Bonnie, Diane, Judy, Ruth, Rita and Rita.  Did I get that right?

I’ll get right down to our show and tell.

Love those polka dots!

Ooh Lah Lah

Who's that hiding behind that quilt, Mary?

Shoes,

shoes,

and more shoes.

We had dessert (of course). It was sherbet with cookies. Yum, great summer treat. Thanks, Cathy.

WISQ July 09

WISQ was at my house this month.  Since it’s summer, I decided to invite people over early for dinner.  So about seven of us ate Chicken Caeser Salad and cherries (from Cathy)  and bread (from Cindy) on the deck on a beautiful Minnesota evening.   Others brought cookies (was it Claudia?)  Anyway, it was a lovely way to start the evening.

When the rest of the members arrived we gathered on the porch for the usual chatting, and laughing, and sharing.  It was great as usual.

Claudia’s embroidered block.

Mary Beth’s beautiful quilt.

 

The most difficult quilt Karen has ever made.

 

A sock bag to carry your knitting around or many other things.  Find the pattern on Terry Atkinson’s blog.

Cathy’s scrap quilt.

 

Cathy’s Leaders and Ending Quilt.  Find out more on the Quiltville website.

 

 

 

Look at the progress on Mary’s Little Women Quilt.

. . . .and Cindy’s.

Our guest Kari – “my hip.”

. . . . .  and my guest Geri, a good quilting friend.

Dessert was strawberries (or raspberries or both)  on vanilla pound cake with ice cream and whipped cream. My favorite.

WISQ May 2009

May’s meeting was at Mary Beth’s house.  Here’s some show and tell.

 

Claudia’s Hawaiian Block

 

 

Mary’s Jo Morton Little Women’s Quilt in progress

 

 

Shopping at the Chicago Quilt Show

 

June meeting coming up soon.

WISQ April 2009

Tonight I headed up to Shirley’s house in Anoka for our April WISQ meeting.  Our group was a little smaller than usual since some members were traveling, but we still a fun time and great show and tell.

Cathy has been knitting up a storm using up Karen’s leftover yarn.  She’s making what she’s calling “black toed socks.”  

 

She also made a quilt with lots of quilting quotes.  

Cindy made a library bag for her granddaughter.

Deb brought an Easter runner with the cutest backing.  Who could resist all those little  bunnies?

Karen finished the latest Glad mystery top, Log Cabin Shuffle.  It’s in gorgeous brights, just right for her 5 year old grandson.

Mary Beth finished last fall’s Glad mystery.  It’s called Friends Forever.  Look at all those great right-handed friendship stars.  

Shirley invited her friend Suzanne to be a guest.  She brought some beautiful quilts to share.

This one is her “Grand Marais” quilt.

Another is for a friend in Santa Fe.  

Shirley had the most show and tell of all.  She brought a fabulous quilt that she made from blocks originally made by her grandmother.  It was the first quilt she ever brought to the group back in the old days when she didn’t even sew.  It  looks fabulous.  

Look how far Shirley’s come.  Here’s the rest of her beautiful stuff.

We’re continuing to sew blocks for our 2009 – 2010 charity quilts.  We collected another 100 and some tonight, no thanks to me I regret to say. Most were done by Cathy, some by Shirley I think.  Karen reported we have enough for 13 tops so far, not counting these new ones.  

Lots of fabulous prizes and brownies with ice cream finished off the evening.

Charity Quilting

Each year, our WISQ quilt group takes on a charity quilting project for the year.  We choose a pattern, make blocks throughout the year, and then meet in February for a Saturday of sewing.

This past year (2008-2009) our charity of choice was Quilts of Valor.  In 2003, Catherine Roberts of Seaford, DE, started the Quilts of Valor Foundation when her son and his 630th MP Company were being deployed from Germany to Iraq for one year. Piecers and longarmers volunteer their materials and time to make wartime quilts of valor to comfort U.S. wounded soldiers.

The blocks we used were Easy Double Four Patch from Mary Johnson.  Each month, the quilter who hosted our meeting chose a color.  We then pieced blocks in that color with fabric that came mostly from our stashes.  Karen collected the blocks and grouped them into sets that would make complete quilts.  

On the first Saturday of February we met to sew the tops together.  As of now, we have completed  19 tops.  Most of those were, or will be, dropped off at Fat Quarter Quilts in Coon Rapids, MN – an official drop off site.  A few were also dropped off at Glad Creations in Minneapolis

 

I took one of the tops home to quilt on my longarm.  Since I’m a newbie, I thought the practice would be good.  I tried a pantograph pattern for the first time.  It turned out okay.  Even looked pretty good once it was completed.

The Quilts of Valor (Midwest) web site states that they’ve donated 15,000 quilts to date.  You can also check the site if you’d like to support this worthy cause.

We had so much fun, we’ve already started blocks for next year.

 

Jan

Email me

WISQ March 2009

We were greeted by Lucy, Sue’s dog, as we arrived for our March meeting.  Sue knitted her the cutest purple sweater.  Look at her pose, just like a model.

 

After everyone settled in with something to drink and munch on, Sue started things off by sharing a Glad mystery quilt she finished.  Although it wasn’t her favorite quilt ever, she got lots of ooh and aahs when she unfolded it.  ”I’m sure someone will take it off your hands Sue.”

 

Cindy shared her Ramblin Rose Quilt.  It was a block of the month program from Fat Quarter Quilts in Coon Rapids. It’s a design by Marti Michell using templates.  — Okay, I’m going to weigh in on this.  I did these blocks too, and I am totally not a fan of using templates. — But . . . .  didn’t it turn out to be beautiful?

Here’s a runner by Cindy.  The pattern is Jack’s Favorite by Perkins Drygoods.  It would look great in my house!!

Cathy is the Queen of scrap quilts.  Here’s a log cabin she pieced and quilted from numerous scraps.  It turned out looking gorgeous, which just confirms what I believe.  Sometimes the more fabrics in a quilt the merrier.

If Cathy’s the scrap queen, than Shirley is the runner queen.  Here’s a runner that’s maybe more of a topper.

Another great runner (that again would look great in my house) has a “cheater” backing.  

The next one is a real stunner –  lots and lots of oohs and aahs.  Shirley made it specially for her grand niece.  Lucky girl!

 

Mary shared the cutest little star quilt that she made for Jo’s Little Women Club. Several of us attend this monthly meeting at Four Season’s Quilts in Plymouth.

Karen started off by sharing a beautiful leaf quilt designed by Heather Mulder Peterson.  I love the black background.

Here’s a big block quilt, also by Karen.

Finally a fabulous pink and brown quilt Karen made from a Debbie Caffrey mystery pattern.  She says it’s one of her most favorite quilts ever ( but Karen has lots of beautiful quilts and lots of favorites).  I think it’s superb.

 

It was a great night of fun and show and tell.  We are good!

I almost forgot the most exciting news of all. My tell . . . . . . . . . I’m going to be a Grandma!!

WISQ Winter

The winter has been long, and I have not posted for a while.  So to catch up and show you a bunch of the fun stuff We’re in Stitches Quilters were up to this winter, here’s a Smile Box slideshow to view.  Enjoy!

PS If you’d like the slides to move a bit faster click the forward button on the bottom right.

 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

WISQ October 2008

Our October meeting was held at Claudia’s house. Here’s our great show and tell.

Karen's Runner

Another Runner

Yet Another Runner

Still Another Runner - Sunwashed Stars

Karen's Winter Banner

Karen's Miss Rosie Quilt

A Tree Skirt or a Protective Covering?

See those feathers?

Ramblin Rose

Adele - It's Finished!

Mary Beth - Is that you behind that quilt?

Bag Friends

Shirley's Quilt

Suduko Quilt

Claudia

Paper Pieced Blocks - WOW!

WISQ – September ‘08

Shirley, the prize winner

Okay. Now that I finally posted our August meeting, I’m allowing myself to move on to the September meeting. Mary was our hostess this month. Again, there was lots of fun, both quilting and otherwise. There were jokes, OPN (old people news from Mary Beth), and a read-aloud from Cathy ( a retired Kindergarten teacher). We always enjoy when Cathy reads out loud to us, but this time was even more special since she wrote what she read. This wasn’t just her usual great writing, this was her get-paid-for great writing. She’s going to get published in a magazine. Isn’t that awesome? We’re proud of you Cathy.

We laughed a lot, which is one of the many great reasons I love belonging to this group. I ALWAYS say I get my monthly supply of endorphins. I’m not sure that’s absolutely true. I’ll have to do some research on that one of these days. In any case, it sure makes me feel good.

We had some fabulous show and tell.

Karen - Glad Mystery Winner

There were several quilts. Karen showed us her Glad Mystery Winner’s Circle, quilted and bound. It’s beautiful. Diane had a really nice seasonal quilt and a red, white and blue beauty. Claudia had a yellow scrappy brick quilt, that everyone oohed and aahed over. More to come on that one later. Shirley brought the cutest cat quote quilt. (Try saying that three times fast.)

Claudia - Scrappy Quilt

It was also a big night for runners, one of my personal favorites. Take a look at a one of the many great ones that Karen brought. The tulip beauty belonged to Claudia.

Karen

Claudia

Bags, bags, bags! Are you salivating Adele? Adele is our official bag lady. She brought a couple of them. It seemed the blue and brown one was a hit. It’s gorgeous. Cindy made another of our favorites from This and That Designs. Karen made a neat one from textured batik fabric. But, I think Diane won the prize for biggest bag that night.

Our Guest - Diane

We were happy to have Diane as our guest this month.

Mary served a dessert everyone raved about. She shared the recipe with us.

Spicy Apple Bundt Cake

1 spice cake mix 1 can apple pie filling
2/3 c sour cream 2 eggs
4 T butter 1/3 c brown sugar

Oil bundt cake pan. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar ( optional 2/3 c chopped pecans).
Mix cake mix, pie filling, sour cream and eggs until well blended. Pour into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Let cool in pan for five minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack. **Watch that 5 minutes very carefully. Otherwise the top of the cake will remain in the pan

Thanks, Mary, for a great evening.