november 11 meeting

We had a great meeting at Pris' home for this month's Piece Makers meeting: Shannon, Harriet, Pris, Flora, Miriam and Patricia were in attendance.

Show & Tell
The meeting started with Patricia showing two quilts tops sent by Maurine that were made by her friend Marty. They are wonderful batik compositions—one will be finished by Flora for a girl YF quilt. The other will get paired with a back and be finished for a boy YF quilt.

Patricia showed a sample yukata quilt that she is uber-stitching by hand. She also talked about a master quilt she is planning to make in the coming year.

Flora shared a sixties-colored quilt that she finished for Plymouth House of Healing. She also raved about her previous weekend weaving workshop. Hosted at her home, a group of native weavers learned from the renowned Salish weaver Susan Pavel. The Friday and Saturday event completely energized and inspired Flora.

Pris showed us her progress on the bird/fish quilt she is making for a 13-year old niece. As she described the quilt, it is filled with unplanned perfection and imperfection.

Pris is cogitating about making a quilt for Emily's  (nee Hanson) husband who just got out of Iraq. A series of N-Sid-Sen t-shirts have been collected. Emily and her husband met at N-Sid-Sen at camp and got married there last summer. Plymouth people don't know many people in the military and we should honor them.

Miriam turned 87 on 11/11/11! The birthday girl brought a Christmas teddy-bear that she made with poinsettia and holly fabric. (We can use the bear as a giveaway at church or for an auction.) She's finished her YF quilt already—it's a perfectly wonderful jean quilt that was widely admired by all. Both Patricia and Shannon asked to be on Miriam's blue jean quilt receiver list. Miriam also brought us all gifts—gourmet soaps by Sierra Nevada Soap Company.

Shannon brought two huge piles of giveaway fabric leftover from a friend's garage sale. She has not been feeling well recently.

Harriet and Rob are just back from a trip to Europe where they visited a niece in Rome and took a cruise to the eastern Mediterranean. In her Big Bag, she packed:
    a quilt with big circles for her great niece
    a checkered quilt for Plymouth House of Healing
    a YF quilt for Kristin, Brigitta's daughter who graduates in December
    a quilt for a great nephew who is an outdoorsman

october 11 meeting

Tonight, Miriam’s home looks festive and bright with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and apple cider to delight. Miriam and Flora are the only Piece Makers who were able to make the meeting. They had a lovely time together.

Miriam’s first quilt is a small, pastel bargello design inspired by the technique Flora shared last year and made with donated strips of fabrics at one of our meetings that Miriam hung on a broomstick to arrange in the pattern you see, then stitched, and quilted. The spring florals used in this one make for a perfect table topper or a small  wheelchair quilt.

The second quilt you see was also done by Miriam who quilted the diamond pattern top she brought to last month’s meeting and it was made out of more donated fabrics from Piece Makers too.

Flora brought four quilts. The first was made in the bargello style last year from men’s shirting (not shown).

The second is made from a top that Janet Saulsbury donated earlier this year that called out to Flora to quilt. The backing was made from fabric donated by Maurine and other Piece Makers at meetings past.

The third is a memorial quilt made from T-shirts from a young woman’s collection who was an aspiring actress—just graduated from the Las Vegas School of Performing Arts—and was killed by a drunk driver in 2005. Danielle was Flora’s second cousin, the daughter of her cousin Stuart who she was raised with in Graham, WA.

The fourth is a baby quilt for Flora’s soon to be born grand-godson.

Maurine did not feel well enough to come tonight after all. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues in her healing process.

Guess who bought a Gammy?
Janet bought a 12' long arm for a great price. It’s so big that it only fits in her basement.

sept 11 meeting

A busy group of quilters met at Patricia's house tonight. Refreshments were Theo caramels—yum.

BIG NEWS—We have two new quilters joining our group. (1) Karen G has pledged to make a YF quilt. We'll make a pilgrimage to Karen's home on Vashon Island one spring Saturday with brown bag lunches and a side trip to Island Quilter—the renowned store with 7000 bolts. (2) Merrily M has decided to learn more about quilting. She is a 4H gal who knows how to sew and has a project that she's already started.

Janet made it! She's been plagued with health problems since the spring. She's taken major time off for sick leave as she tries to find her way to health. Retiring earlier than planned is beginning to sound like a possible idea. Living close to Value Village, Janet has been picking up soft sheets that she'll upcycle into  future quilts. Janet brought a charming creative piece that she finished as an exercise in a design book.

Harriet recently traveled to Colorado where she visited a nephew, his wife and two daughters (12 an d16 years). The two girls were delighted to receive two of Harriet's masterpieces. She also talked about a homey quilting store in Estes Park that was filled with quality cottons and a welcoming owner. The hospitality encouraged Harriet buy an armload of inspirational fabrics. She brought along a tie-dyed cotton that she twisted into a wrinkle texture at Grunewald Guild retreat this summer.

Miriam has been a busy quilter and sewer. In the last month she made 10 coloring book bags per a request from Brandon. She brought two tote bags for June to give to wheelchair ladies (they are quite flowery). Plus a pretty comfort quilt. And a big surprise for Jane. (Be at Plymouth on Sunday  to see.) Miriam is our hero!

Patricia told the tale of working for a month to make an online store for her yukata cottons and then deciding that she didn't want to run an online store. She showed a project she is working on with 23 patterns pieces and yukata fabrics. She is also spearheading a fundraiser for the La Conner quilt museum this coming Spring called StashFest.

Pris shared a photo of Julie Thomas' quilt on her dorm bed. It looked like something out of Martha Stewart magazine. Pris has a young teen relative in California who coveted Julie's quilt so Pris is making a remarkable quilt for this girl featuring bird fabrics. It is an awesome production, all with hand sewing.

Please pray for Maurine who was not able to make it tonight. She is struggling with severe pain as her back is still not healing.

august 11 meeting

The hostess with the mostest was Flora for our August meeting. Five quilters gathered—Maurine, Miriam, Patricia, Harriet and Flora, with Flora's houseguest Marianne.

The evening started with giveaways—plastic bins of fabric, a box of denim pieces, and an unfinished quilting project. Thank you to Miriam, Harriet and Flora for being such great fabric foster parents.

We talked about our commitment to Plymouth House of Healing. We have managed to give a quilt to every resident and companion at the house. Our new idea is to give every companion a quilt and supply every resident bed with a quilt. To keep up with demand, three generous quilters made the following commitments:
    Maurine—one quilt, quite soon
    Harriet—one quilt, by the end of the year
    Flora—one quilt, by February
We'll need to keep up with making twin bed quilts for this group—and also remember that some of the residents and companions are men.

Show & Tell
Harriet wowed us beaded mini-quilts that she made while attending an embellishment workshop with Larken Van Horn at Grunewald Guild in central Washington.

Maurine managed to almost finish a twin-sized quilt with a top she adopted at another meeting. It looks great and just needs a little more sewing on the binding.

Marianne talked with us about her PhD thesis project—an urban studies focus on the art glass movement in the Pacific Northwest.

Flora displayed two pieces of hand-dyed fabrics made by Elin Noble. They were bought at a trunk show at CQA after Elin made a presentation about her life as a fabric dyer.

Miriam shared a lovely thank you note she received from Kira Miller for her YF quilt. With a pack of modern fabric squares, she made a contemporary quilt top that is a great beginning for a YF or House of Healing quilt. Her finale was a set of counter quilts, for drying dishes by the sink.

Patricia has gotten crafty with a set of napkins she's made out of yukata fabric—to go with Japanese plates—for a wedding gift. She also showed a lap quilt top, made with five yukata cottons.

july 11 meeting

This month's three of us gathered over herb tea and raspberry squares.

Show & Tell
Susan is truly our quilt expert as an appreciator, historian and collector, as well as a maker. She was in New York at the end of March for the incredible exhibit "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts." Staged at the Armory, the five-day exhibit was funded by Joanna S. Rose. It was an eightieth birthday gift from Joanna’s husband—the opportunity to see her whole collection, 650 quilts, at one time. It was also a gift to New York as admission was free to the public.

The weekend before Susan traveled down to Portland for the summer meeting of the Columbia Willamette Quilt Study Group. Read about the meeting and TImeless Quilts exhibit at the Oregon History Museum at cwqsg.blogspot.com.

Sally Wagner, an original Piece Makers member, joined us for the evening. She attended a workshop at Grunewald Guild this summer. In the last 20 years, she had taken one workshop a summer there, with only a few years off. See www.grunewaldguild.com for more on the Guild.

Patricia reported that her sewing space has become more transformed. Before she used to sew in her dining room. These days, you can dine in her sewing room.

Diane Roubal sent three bins of quality quilting fabric to the meeting in Patricia's car. Sally took one home to give to a friend on welfare who loves to make quilts. One looks like it has Miriam's name on it and the other has Flora's.

june 11 meeting

We celebrated another great year and the completion of the YF quilts at Harriet’s lovely log home in Brier. Our evening started with a potluck dinner—with great rolled sandwiches, side salads and a fluffy lemon dessert with cookies. Yum.

Show and Tell
Harriet showed us two ambitious quilts she made for two great nieces.

Patricia had two unfinished projects in her bag—a baby quilt for a co-worker and Finn Ostrem’s YF quilt (yes, it is late!!!).

Maurine reported on how much the kids love their YF quilts. They really do appreciate them more than we think. Emma, the recipient of Maurine’s quilt this year, is planning to take hers to Germany for her one-year exchange program.

Flora included a card in both her YF quilts. Jasmine wrote back with a lovely note that included a photo. That meant a lot to Flora. Both Flora and Jasmine intend to stay in touch.

Also, Flora boldly donated a table shawl she made to the Duwamish Tribe Gala. It earned $250 for the cause and validated Flora’s northwest native artwork.

Diane has been busy working on her home. She commented that she loves the YF kids and makes the YF quilts out of her heart—in response to an idea of finding out what the students would like.

Susan has been busy. She is getting her downstairs floor finished and prepping a craft room for herself. Earlier in the spring she sold a family home on the Oregon coast in the tsunami zone. Good work!

Miriam brought back an Amish-style quilt that needed binding. Now finished, it will be given to June for a baby or home-bound parishioner.

Shannon recently finished a pillow for a friend who helped her with her garden. Currently she is fostering two adorable kittens that will be ready for adoption in mid-July.

a great day

On June 5, the graduating high school seniors were wrapped with quilts made by the Piece Makers. Of the fourteen names on the list, seven were actually there that Sunday. It was a colorful and high-energy time.