february 10 meeting

show and tell
Janet arrived with a quilted apron and oven mitt from Flora as a gift for Patricia, and news of her "shirt" quilt. With a brand new design wall, her YF quilt is pinned up on the wall. After reading the whole Twilight series and Three Cups of Tea, Janet is ready to get quilting again in her free time.

Patricia showed the YF quilt she has been working on--with indigo fabrics in the middle and Indonesian ones on the border. She shared parts of her first commission--a quilt for Cindy Anderson's mother-in-law with some outrageous global fabrics. Patricia also pulled out bins filled with Japanese yukata cotton that she has been importing since Thanksgiving.

Miriam delivered a wonderful assortment of finished projects tonight. The first was the baby quilt that was shown at the January meeting. The second, for Plymouth Healing Communities, was a large quilt with pastel squares that came pre-quilted. Then Miriam brought two more small activity bags for the Sanctuary and a knitted lap afghan made by Ellen Germain for Plymouth Healing Communities.

To our delight, Susan Underwood joined us tonight. An early member of Piece Makers, Susan came back after reading our lively emails. She showed us an amazing project -- a 104-inch square quilt that was pieced by her great aunt in Iowa many years ago. Susan took quilting classes over a year-long period to prepare for the challenge of finishing the broken star quilt. It's all hand-stitched ever so precisely. If the first project didn't confirm our belief in Susan's skill, she went on to show us a needle-turned applique square in navy and pale yellow.

The meeting finished with a review of available Piece Maker fabric from Patricia's basement. That was a huge success with two of Jeanne's quilt tops going home with Miriam and Susan.

january 10 meeting

show and tell
Pat stated that she and her husband have moved most of their furnishings into their Goldendale home, but will still be commuting back and forth to Seattle until her husband retires in April. Pat brought a quilt top pieced from fabric she had dyed delicate pastel colors. Some of the fabric was dyed by the Shibori method which involves wrapping fabric around a PVC pipe before dying.

Harriet came empty handed , but enjoyed the cookies, socializing, and seeing the other projects.

Mariam turned in a baby quilt composed of crisp green and white fabrics acquired from Diane. A highlight of the evening was her predominantly lavender quilt she finished as a New Year’s resolution. It will be a tough choice for her to either pass it on to her granddaughter or keep it for herself.

Ingrid presented her daughter Mckenzie’s American Girl doll, dressed in an adorable crisp jumper her daughter (10 years old) had painstakingly made. Ingrid is taking classes on Bernina software.

Flora presented numerous projects. One was a quilted apron made from fabric featuring a San Francisco scene that she may donate to the YF auction or another cause. Last month she had time to practice on her long-arm machine. She displayed several projects in varying stages of readiness including the start of her pink YF quilt, a baby quilt, and quilt tops featuring flannel squares, a log cabin design, and an assortment of plaids. Whew!

Janet displayed three colorful graphic fabrics she’ll make into table cloths for a fund raiser. For the benefit of members who missed the meeting last month, she again displayed her shirt quilt.

december 09 bonus meeting

show and tell
Patricia showed us both the quilts she made for her daughters this Christmas. As they weren't photographed at the meeting, you can check them out on her blog: okanarts.blogspot.com Patricia has recently imported over 35 bolts of vintage Japanese cotton, mostly indigo patterns. The bolts, from the sixties and seventies, are narrow--at 15 inches wide and 12 yards long.

Janet wowed us with her YF quilt in progress, made of men's shirts. It is wonderful, with pockets, buttoned cuffs and even collars showing up in the piecing. Janet also showed us small bags she has been whipping up for packaging gifts and a cigar box a friend personalized for her.

Shannon has been working at Fabric Crush on Wednesday afternoons and is completing a fun quilt for the store. Plans for her YF quilt have begun to get simplified—with her initial star blocks as great corner squares and the rest more basic.

Harriet brought back the large coral/green quilt that she showed in November for Maureen to see. Then she impressed us with her Happy Man quilt, an celebratory composition with bold shapes appliqued to the front and hand-stitching throughout.

Maureen reported that, during her 10-day return to the Northwest, she was in Leavenworth for four days celebrating the holidays with family. She shared the quilt top made with squares produced at granddaugher Sierra's school. Then Maureen regaled us with tales of more school quilts she has made with young students. (Be advised that Maureen may only make one YF quilt instead of two, in case you can take up the slack.)

Flora pointed out a piece of an old crazy quilt that she has hung on the wall. It is a family heirloom from an old friend who lives in Michigan. (See a corner of it in the picture of Shannon.) We discussed the girly YF quilt Flora is making for Cory Hubbard and how she might add appliqued flowers to the design. The quilt top she showed is a fun project featuring VW bugs with fabric pinwheels and buttons for the wheels. Flora is working on the car quilt with a style-savvy 11-year old young friend.

Jeanne, the quilter who has given Piece Makers so many delightful pieced tops over the years, arrived with Janet. Jeanne, bless her soul, had boxes and bags of fabric to give away as well as three small quilt tops. Thank you Jeanne for all your generosity over the years towards Piece Makers. (Fabrics that weren't adopted are now stored in Patricia's basement.)

the k quilt: thinking of you

Diane suggested October 8 that we make a quilt for Rev. Kris Ostrem and seven weeks later we presented a completed quilt at Kris’ last Sunday. The twelve main squares were made with four common fabrics and scraps from personal stashes by different Piece Makers. Sashing, sandwiching, creating the embroidered label, and binding were all handled by Diane. Thank you Diane!

thank you diane and jamie

Hanging in the Sanctuary this Sunday were wonderful new sets of banners.

Thank you Jamie Schilling for the two huge hand-painted ones at the front of the hall. (Who takes care of such high installations?)

And thank you Diane Jacobsen for the smaller purple ones along the walls that reverse to gold for other seasons!

operation : cooperation

Interface from Operation : Cooperation website

Three weeks ago Pris and I went to a video studio on Capitol Hill to make an entry for the Operation : Cooperation contest. The prize: $5000 for a cooperative group.

There were about 100 entries and Plymouth Piece Makers was chosen as one of the seven finalists! Then the race was on for public voting. At 5pm today, the voting closed.

On Monday, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union will announce the gold winner. Although the votes were posted instantly, the numbers are skewed due to automatic voting that will be disqualified. So no one knows who got the most votes.

november 09 meeting

show and tell
Maurine couldn’t venture out because she just needs to be patient and keep healing at home. Although we didn't hear from Pris, we think she was at home voting in the Op:Coop contest. (We did have three laptops out and got some votes in while we met.)

Miriam has been busy with some Christmas sewing—eye wraps made with novelty fabrics. She showed us some squares she made with a kit Diane gave her—it will likely be a baby quilt. Miriam also had a success story with one of her jeans quilts. She showed us a photo of a grandson with his fiance wrapped up in the quilt she had given him. It looked like a cover shot from a J Crew catalog--handsome young people with a gorgeous quilt.

Patricia revealed the fabric designs she has been developing with Naomi Cox. Entitled Edo Rising, the collection has an Asian feel. Diane, our pro, had a few comments and an industry name for Patricia to talk with about the potential of the designs.

Harriet has created a phenomenal quilt out of some piecing she inherited from the group. She likes her project so much that its home will be in the living room of her log home. She also showed us a deluxe pillow she made out of her K square.

Dear Flora lost her cat in the last week. Her feline friend was ill with an unpronouncable cancer for the last year. A good friend and a vet that makes house calls were with her on Saturday when the final moment came. Flora brought a box of pink fabric for us to comment on for the YF girl quilt she is going to make. And she showed us a picture of a fun quilt she is making with an 11-year old with Volkswagen bugs with yo-yo wheels.

Diane hand stitched a gorgeous Hawaiian quilt for a client throughout the meeting. She showed us all the K squares—which are looking great together. The two final squares should be in her hands by Sunday night. Diane also gave us an impromptu lesson on using freezer paper for turning the edges on applique pieces.