august 09 meeting

show and tell
Sarah is opening her designer fabric store in Magnolia on or before October 1. So far she has 300 bolts of fabric stored in her basement. Her store will also include patterns for home decorator and fashion projects, as well as appliques. (The store will be open Tue-Sat, with classes on Mon and one evening a week.)

She has started a bag made out of some of her new fabric as a sample for the store. With a pieced exterior and a quilted lining, the bag pattern is called Manhattan.

Sarah told us about Carol in Edmonds who is living on the roof of her store, Fabric of Life, until she raises a million dollars. It looks like Sarah will feature batik fabric from Carol's store in her Magnolia store. (see www.upontheroofwithcarol.org).

Flora loves a hand-me-down Bernina bag she got from Maurine. It is being put to good use carrying a needlepoint project she is finishing for a friend.

Inspired by a photo of Seattle she saw at work, Flora is embarking on an ambitious quilting project trying to emulate the image. She has a printout of the photo from a color laser printer and a big plotter. It will be exciting to see how her project proceeds—especially using her new design wall.

Shannon has tendonitis and is wearing a medical boot on one foot. Although she did not bring a quilting project, she has been working on embroidery projects at work. Recently Shannon bought Lorraine Torrance's book: Fearless Design For Every Quilter.

Janet just signed up for a design lecture series, Elements of Design, at Gage Academy of Art. This will help her become more confident in designing her own quilts. She has started on a YF quilt using a pattern called Spin City. Although the pattern shows pastel fabrics, she is using darker colors including fabrics from men's shirts.

Miriam has been making squares with three triangles that are a fun puzzle for her. She also made a wonderful baby quilt, following the nine-patch pattern that Maurine shared with us. Maurine took it home to label before delivering the quilt to Susan Dittig for Plymouth's baby closet.

Maurine attended a three-day quilting conference last week in Lynnwood. The leaders of the group visited Carol's store in Edmonds and spent $1,000. Then they raised another $1000 for Carol's cause by circulating two grocery bags around the room of 500 people.

Earlier this week Maurine was filmed for a community collaboration video. She talked about a quilt she is making with a series of squares Piece Makers produced three years ago with satin-stitching applique. Her story included the recipients—companions at Plymouth Healing Communities.

Maurine's daughter Elin will be featured in a show in Coupeville on Whitbey Island this Fall. The show, at Penn Cove Pottery, opens on October 10, from 10 am to 2 pm, and ends on November 28. The quilts in the show are all made with Elin's hand-dyed fabrics. Let's carpool up to Whitbey to see the show and Elin at the opening!

Harriet is still making little chairs. The newest is eskimo-like with its ruff of white fake fur. This one, made with cardboard, is for dolls or teddy bears. If she makes one with deeper seat out of plywood, a little one could sit on it.

Linda has recently moved into a new condo. She showed us a prototype bag for a project she is working on with homeless women. The next iteration will be made with less pieces, to better match the attention span of her target group. She also displayed a quilt top made for a youth at the New Beginnings shelter.

Deanna, a guest from Portland who is a childhood friend of Shannon, joined us. She has an incredible unfinished quilt with charming cat heads that she inherited from a family member. Deanna was seeking some advice on how to complete the quilt. Good thing Maurine was there to help her.

Patricia brought two finished quilts—a garish red and yellow lap quilt and a pastel baby quilt. Patricia’s big news was visiting the Quilt National show at the Dairy Barn in Athens OH with Maurine. She shared the show book with others.

july 09 meeting

View meeting images at Koday Gallery

show and tell
Pat showed us two paintings on silk produced at a teacher's workshop at the Maryhill Museum. She also shared another of her five-year projects—a huge white quilt with red Hawaiian appliqued motifs. It is completely hand-stitched, including echo quilting around the appliques.

Maurine whipped up a baby quilt last week for the new arrival (named Hendrix) of a healthcare gal who has helped her out over the years. The quilt features Laurel Burch jungle fabric--fancy-cut to show fun animals with colorful framing, sashing and purple flannel on the back.

For Connie Davidson, a former Plymouth member, Maurine produced an incredible quilt of 120 antique squares. The final piece is hanging in Connie's bed & breakfast in Ohio. Maurine, with Patricia, is going to visit the installation and see the Quilt National exhibit at the Dairy Barn in mid-August.

Patricia reported that progress on her fabric-design partnership is getting exciting. She also asked for advice about her upcoming quilt sale in September--and got helpful advice and an offer of some help.

Inspired by Shannon's story of making an apple and pear pin cushion last month, Patricia made an insect pin cushion. She also brought a square-on-square lap quilt made with vintage calicos.

Inspired by a cute kit, Janet is embroidering red snowmen on white squares. The finished redwork and quilted project, which includes red and white printed fabrics, will be given to a friend.

Janet was part of the team that made the banner for the new building at N-Sid-Sen (see below). Other team members were Flora, Harriet, Shannon and Maurine. When the banner was delivered to Kris to take to camp, the whole Plymouth office raved about the wonderful piece.

Flora had some fun making a stuffed chicken. She also brought a collection of gorgeous lace from a friend's mother. It may someday be made into a special project for her friend.

At home, her nephew is helping Flora with all sorts of projects. He added 4" of height to her long-arm machine so she won't have to bend over her work.

n-sid-sen banner

A special team of Piece Makers made a remarkable banner for the new lodge at Camp N-Sid-Sen on Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho. Thank you Flora, Harriet, Janet, Shannon and Maurine for your creative energy and craftsmanship.

june 09 meeting

show and tell
Sarah was inspired by Flora's demo in May. She is making a quilted throw for herself with classic pink and sorbet green fabrics. Planned with a crisp white border adorned with applique vines, the feminine quilt is bound to avoided by the three Stine boys. Remarkably Sarah, an Etsy store owner who sells fabrics, bought some fabric for her project!

Shannon ran a race to finish Niko's quilt in time for the senior send-off on June 7. She has made apple and pear pin cushions for the Bernina store where she works. Shannon sold her old Bernina and just bought a 450. Lucky gal.

Pat brought some projects that she has been working on for many years. One is a remarkable king-sized Baltimore quilt with four big squares in the middle and 20 smaller squares bordering them. She is also hand stitching a old-fashioned hexagonal quilt with a white background. The long drives to Goldendale give her time to stitch this involved top.

Harriet solidified the adorable little chair she made out of our exchange fabric with long screws through the legs. She is making another version of the chair, this time with a black and white narrow-wale corduroy. This week she whipped up a tooth fairy pillow for the Daniels family.

Patricia used her hand-dyed fabric to try out some new techniques—oil stick stencil art, curved piecing and a particularly wavy edge with bias binding.

Miriam sported a patchwork vest made out of the exchange fabric. With natty red and white buttons, it is delightful. Miriam brought a baby blanket that she made from a kit that Diane gave her. She returned the fabric to Diane as a finished product that will be added to the Plymouth baby quilt stash. Also Miriam made mini coloring book bags with outside pockets sized for crayons--for Plymouth kids to use during the service.

Flora is working on a gorgeous wall hanging with a repeated vertical pattern of verdigris stems and leaves. She will embellish it with pins, solo earrings and other fun things in the shape of bugs, flies and more. Flora has committed to making a very girly quilt with lots of flowers for Cory Hubbard, a 2010 senior.

Janet is playing with our exchange fabric, making graphic circles within circles—using freezer paper for her applique technique. The colorful double circles are centered on a collection of beige background fabrics. The idea comes from a book that shows interesting stitching added to each square.

Maurine has made our first YF quilt top for 2010! It is quite large at 68" x 80". Triangles of Kaffe Fassett striped fabrics make bold squares outlined in black with a handsome wine background. She has enough striped fabric to use on the back. Shannon has put dibs on the quilt for her graduating firstborn.

Diane enjoyed a wonderful trip up north with Jon that included shopping at fabric stores, lunch at the Rhodie Cafe on Chuckanut Drive and a visit to an iris farm. She picked up a pattern for making a purse and instantly created a perfect multi-pocketed masterpiece with cordova and designer fabric.

Pris has has been a busy hosting meals for large groups of people—a dinner for a visiting youth choir, the Plymouth choir party, and a pie social at Horizon House. Pris was the Piecemaker ambassador who delivered the lavender baby quilt to little Sophia—a welcomed gift and gesture. She recently made nightgowns for her two granddaughters.

youth group seniors get quilts!

This Sunday, the high school seniors of the Plymouth youth group were given quilts made by our group. These gifts are meant to remind our youth of who they are and where they came from, as they head out into the world.

may 09 meeting

Sarah, our online fabric retailer, hosted our May meeting in her Magnolia home. Our evening started with a few shopping sprees in her inspirational basement store.
The main event was stitching personalized labels in 15 YF quilts. With all of our contributions, we had 18 quilts--so we have three left over.

Kris and Bertha, both Magnolia neighbors, visited for awhile. Bertha, a closet quilter, stitched on a label for us. Kris swears that she has no aptitude for hand sewing. That’s okay as we know she has a few other gifts.

Miriam delivered a lavender baby quilt to the group. Pris is going to give the quilt to a ex-choir member and Plymouth friend who has a little girl.

april 09 meeting

show and tell
Flora In need of business advice, Flora showed us her first commercial project. After 20 hours into fixing, quilting, binding and hemming, she was wondering how much to charge for a beautifully finished queen quilt. Not under $250, directed Shannon. We'll see how Flora does with this money challenge.

Miriam Showing us a quilt she made for her great grand-daughter in 2002, Miriam reminded us of the power of hand prints. Miriam has patterns she made over 40 years ago of her family member's hands so she can make another quilt in the future for another generation.

Miriam also revealed to us the beginning of a mauve-themed quilt inspired by a trip to the Lavender Festival where she bought a set of fat quarters. With squares sewn on point, the final quilt is unassigned right now.

Patricia I brought a baby quilt that is my favorite piece to date. It is a scissor-cut composition with a motley collection of mismatched fabrics. My other project was a hand-stitched table topper for a family friend on the East Coast who is being a second mom to my Victoria.

Diane Always a busy gal, Diane brought three projects in progress. The first was two squares of a handkerchief-applique quilt. The second was a square of squares made with a secret quasi-repeat pattern. The third was a bright quilt top that Diane finished for a friend who started the center portion years ago.

Pris A spirited hand-stitcher, Pris produced a remarkable quilt entitled Stars and Stripes for a member of the graduating YF class. Made with an assortment of plaids, Pris got from the fabric from the giveaway at Diane's. There are no stars in the layout but that is because the quilt is not yet finished!

Bertha A nearby neighbor, Bertha came to Piece Makers tonight to meet Emmanuel. She took up quilting a while back and brought one of her creations—an artistic and beautifully crafted quilt. Retired from quilting for now, we hope she will be inspired to return to the fold.

Shannon Although Shannon let us know that her Bernina bag was empty , she was kind enough to join us for the evening. And she generously brought fabric for our special creativity project.

Sarah Sarah brought one square of the quilt that was not meant to be. She shared an unusual story that involved the auction of goodies from a seized OR quilt store. After waiting for hours for bolts of fabric to go up for bid, they were all bought by one woman for $7,000. Sarah and other quilting pros were not pleased with the deal. So Sarah a bought another sewing machine at the auction.

Janet With a splitting headache (yuck, yuck), Janet showed us progress on her quilt-as-you-go project with freestyle stitching. The going is slow but the results are looking good.

Janet also reported that N Sid Sen is opening a new lodge and the camp wants a banner from each participating church. There are parameters such as size and the background fabric. It is hoped that the new banner will travel to Idaho with our church folks in July. Any banner makers out there who want to work on this project? Janet has the paperwork, so please contact her at jsaulsbury@path.org.

Emmanuel A 28-year old Liberian, Emmanuel is a Fellow from the iLeap organization and a refugee leader working with women in Ghana. To help these women--who have lost their loved ones, homes and country re-build their lives, Emmanuel is involved with a quilting cooperative. He brought pictures of the people and one of their remarkable quilts.