april 11 meeting

Believe it or not, Flora baked up confetti cupcakes for our quilt meeting. Thank you!

SHOW AND TELL
Miriam brought a slew of projects. She produced a pillow with the Colorado flag, a patchwork baseball cap and a finished lap quilt for June to give to a Plymouth member who’s infirm and needs comfort. Plus pot holders crafted from small finished blocks made by Maurine.

Pris told the story of working on a quilt top by hand during her California trip—made with hundreds of 2.5 inch squares. While there, she befriended a young girl and they went fabric shopping together. There will be more on that story later. Pris is also working on her YF quilt made with greens and purples, music and animals.

Shannon is balancing two big projects—the auction for Ingraham High School and her YF quilt. The auction will be over at the end of the month, then she can focus on her wonderful YF quilt filled with dotted fabric.

Janet’s health has been challenged with good days and bad days. She was kind enough to make a quilt for a co-worker who’s about to become a dad. The fancy-cut alphabet squares are surrounded by fresh yellow sashing.

Patricia has been to New Zealand and back since our last meeting. In early May she’s going to Salt Lake City for Spring Quilt Market—with two fabric collections in hand.

Non-stop Flora showed a heirloom quilt, made with the Around the World design, that a friend from Cincinnati sent her way. Then she displayed two remarkable memorial quilts, one made from a shirt and one from a t-shirt. And a carrier she made for her new specialty sewing feet.

march 11 meeting

PHOTOS FROM THE MEETING CAN BE VIEWED AT KODAK. CLICK HERE.

Flora was gracious enough to host the March 15th Piece Makers’ meeting at her home. She reported on Sewing Expo at the Puyallup Fair Grounds she attended last Sunday for 9 1/2 spell-bounding hours. The Expo filled the whole large exhibition hall and spilled over into another space. Flora conducted a tour of her vast basement studio that showcases her many artistic creations including a wall hanging shes still working on that depicts her journey through life.

Janet showered us with fabrics donated to her by one of her coworkers whose mother had passed away. She also shared several old pieced tops that were in the collection. One was an intricate hand-stitched top made entirely of plain red and white geometric pieces. Another was a “crazy quilt” constructed of luxurious velvets and satin-like fabrics hand-finished with elaborate decorative stitching. Janet completed another of her striking quilts made of men’s shirting fabric that will be given to a YF male. It was inspired by a Kaffe Fassett design of small squares inside of larger squares.

Mariam had a productive month and arrived with a large bag of her delightful creations. They included a completed YF quilt pieced in an “off cross” pattern on a luscious pale raspberry background. She gifted each attendee with a hot pad quilted from one of Maurine’s samples. (Don’t worry. Mariam has several hot pads in reserve for members who were unable to attend.) She plans to use the “quilt-as-you-go” method to construct a whole quilt with more of Maurine’s samples.

Harriet brought three finished quilts. Two of them were completed from tops brought to the last meeting. The third one was a YF quilt of turquoise, orange, and rust colors made also in the “quilt-as-you-go” method. She exhibited an African wall hanging—mostly of burgundy, white, blue, and lime green fabrics that were donated to the Piece Makers by Marilyn Bumpas. We discussed where it could be most usefully displayed. Suggestions included somewhere at Plymouth, Mary’s Place, and Plymouth Housing. Further discussion to follow.

Susan shared an intricately hand-stitched 1920-1930 era quilt she purchased from an antique shop. It was made from a kit and featured glorious orange poppies appliqued on a pure white background and a scalloped edge. Susan brought a book depicting the kit and many other quilts from the era.

feb 11 meeting

One day after Valentine’s a group of seven quilters met at Patricia’s home. It was a fun evening of sharing and caring.

Show and Tell
To start, Patricia gave us an update on Maurine. She’s at home, getting around gently with a walker and cane, and still healing. There’s still distance to go to be 100%. All the same, Maurine ordered up air tickets to get to the grand opening of Quilt National in May to celebrate her daughter’s acceptance in the international show.

Patricia had no quilts to show as she just dropped her recent creations off at a photo studio to get documented. (See those photos above.) She did show us her recent acquisition—a full set of DMC machine embroidery thread for free-motion quilting.

Pris has returned! She showed us a wonderful quilted pillow that she made for fun with hand stitched piecing and quilting. The back is a pretty fabric filled with little birds—all of God’s children.

Miriam reported that she has almost finished her YF quilt! She brought a fun fabric composition of the Colorado state flag with a rick rack detail.

Ingrid has been busy learning about her Bernina—a commitment that included going to the Bernina Conference for four and a half days. She showed us photos of finished projects so we could see the quilt she whipped up for a teacher in June, a quilt she made in five days for a new couple, and her Girl Scout cookie quilt.

Janet wowed us with the beginning of her YF quilt—made with some of the shirts she collected last year for her YF quilt. The bold design is from a Kaffe Fassett book.

Harriet, with her new swish haircut, has been thinking about the Stiers quilt. She brought a remarkable collection of African fabrics in yellows, warm tones and blacks, and sold us on the idea of a dramatic quilt for classy Brenda and her farm-boy husband. She and Flora are going to sew together the top to get that project started.

Flora amazed even herself with a nightgown she made with a worn-out nightgown as the pattern. Then she pulled out four fun baby tops out her bag made with fabrics that were sitting around her studio. And gave us an update on her needlepoint project.

The evening ended with some chocolate nibbling and the adoption of giveaway fabrics sent over by Diane. One of the tops found in the pile will be finished up by Flora for a YF quilt.

january 11 meeting

Our stalwart group of quilters met at Miriam’s home in North Seattle for our January meeting. Thank you M for all the goodies and hot drinks.

Show & Tell
Patricia kicked off the evening with her newest quilt in progress made with yukata cottons. This nap quilt, entitled “Healing Garden” is for a friend who’s recovering from brain aneurysm surgery two months ago.
Flora, who sadly missed last month’s meeting due to a mix-up, brought some exciting new work. The first was a finished quilt for Plymouth House of Healing with bright red and white on the front and a perfect pattern of blue and white on the back. Maureen, while at the rehab center, was recruited to hand stitch the binding.
The second project was a memory quilt for Lyla who lost her husband John recently. Flora “channeled” John through the Great Spirit while working on the quilt. The inspiration was a beloved over-the-head tropical shirt that was a favorite of John’s. (The sunflower covers the hole.) Lyla cried when she saw the piece.
At a craft fair over the holidays, Flora picked up a petite little boiled wool dachshund for Patricia. Black and tan, it’s spun so that there are no seams.
Harriet brought two huge quilts. The first one, with wildlife animals, was made for a lucky nephew. The second, with horses and a kaliedescopic pattern, will be for a niece when she graduates from high school. The fabric was stunning—from her Alaska stash.
It was good to see Susan at the meeting. She was kind to come and bring news of a fabulous quilt shop on Vashon Island with a big selection of fabrics. Who wants to go?
Janet finished the quilt she was making for Baby Eisenstein. Many of the pieces are printed with contributed quotes from co-workers. It will be a wonderful gift, filled with so much care and attention.
Miriam showed us how her YF quilt is coming along—with its unexpected combination of fabrics that work so well together. She also had some batting and silver cord to give away to whoever could use them.
Shannon brought a quilt top she just finished. Originally started in a class led by Laurie Shifrin, the piecing was impeccable. Shannon is going to keep this beauty for herself.

december 10 meeting

We gathered at Shannon’s Christmas-decorated home for our December meeting.

Show & Tell
Our first topic of conversation was Maurine. She’s still in rehab and expecting to be there until the middle of January. Each day she works hard to get stronger and is exhausted from her efforts.

Shannon told us about an altar table shawl she made for Bethany Church. It was grey cotton with camelias painted on one side and a bright green pattern with butterflies on the other. Shannon finished the shawl with shallow scalloped edges. It was presented for Bethany’s 10th anniversary.

Although she hasn’t started on it yet, Shannon showed us her collection of dot fabric for her YF quilt.

David and Christopher joined us for a few minutes. We chatted and shared our tiered plates of holiday cookies.

Miriam has been busy with Christmas kitchen doilies. She’s also started her YF scrap quilt. She got the dotted purpley background fabric from In The Beginning. Her selection of scraps include everything!—Christmas, golf balls, plaids—the beginning of a true Miriam signature piece.

Miriam helped an English policewoman get the quilting bug. Already her friend has made a nine-patch by hand! What an inspiration.

Diane has been MIA so we’re thrilled to see her back. Her wonderful piece was a cross-stitch pillow for her sister. All around the chicken are half-stitches which are twice as fast as a full stitch (easy math!). Throughout the meeting, Diane was hand stitching on another project. Always busy hands!

With the kids gone, Diane is getting ready to paint inside her home. Go Girl.

Janet and Kelly made a baby quilt together! Kelly helped pick out the fabric and pattern, and cut out the pieces. Janet stitched the quilt together—a gift for a work associate of Kelly’s.

Janet took 20 of her necklaces to a craft sale at work and sold 16! That was affirming. She is also making a fun “quote” quilt for a baby at her work.

Patricia showed us two projects that she’s finishing up for display in Fabric Crush to promote her Japanese fabric Trunk Show in early February. She also talked about an ambitious fundraising project she’s going to produce in 2011 for the La Conner Quilt Museum.

The evening ended with a look at Barry Kahn’s art in Shannon’s home and in a retrospective book. Barry, David’s dad, died when he was 42. He was a prolific artist who made very intense pieces. Our discussion brought him back to life for a few minutes.

november 10 meeting

We did a quick hostess shift today as Janet was not feeling well. At the last minute, the group was redirected to come to my house. Five of us gathered and Pris almost joined us.

Show and Tell

Susan came back after a departure of many months! In June she traveled to England and Wales on a Deb Robert's textile tour. The highlight of the trip was a remarkable exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum showing quilts from the 1700s to 2010. Susan brought the book to show us the full collection.

A pleasing part of the trip was traveling with appraisers, authors, collectors and conservators. Susan gained just as much from her companions as she did from the places they all visited.

At a Long Beach antique store Susan bought a delightful hand-stitched quilt. She'll be using it in her guest bedroom.

Shannon bumped into Pris when she first stopped at Janet's house. Pris handed off her Plymouth House of Healing quilt that she just finished with copious amounts of hand-stitching. Feeling overwhelmed, Pris headed home and skipped the meeting. Thank you Pris for finishing up your ambitious project.

With some superfun fabric she bought at Fabric Crush, Shannon made a sunny baby quilt. It will be for a lucky and modern Plymouth baby, once it gets a label.

Flora brought a huge red basket filled with giveaway fabrics. Some pieces got new homes and Harriet took home the basket. Flora also showed us some vintage fabric squares and quilt pieces she has recently received. The small squares of old fabric were heart-warming.

Harriet came empty-handed but told us about a quilt with horses and a bright Southwest theme that's on her wall. Flora saw it at a neighborhood dinner at Harriet and Robert's and reported it was fab. The quilt is being produced in three big pieces, quilt-as-you-go. It will be given to a relative.

Patricia showed a small quilt made with big chunks of yukata fabric. The top has four corner blocks made with curvy piecing. It will ultimately be a sample for a class she hopes to teach about simple pattern making.