january 09 meeting

show and tell
Flora says that she got slowed down during the holidays due to a houseguest, but her huge bags of projects belied that comment. She brought a pristine table runner, a button robe she made for the Burke Museum, a quilt top made with little houses for YF (when finished), a quilt top made with lots of novelty fabrics for a young friend, and a plush quilt for a nephew with an ocean/sky motif and bold black stripes that she just finished on her longarm. Phewww.

Pat showed us a quilt top made with green squares that she made for her group’s Adopt-An-Apartment. Then she got out her crazy quilt samples—a vest, Christmas stockings, and a tea cozy. Her level of stitching and ribbon embroidery is remarkable and crazy.

Shannon joined us—which was lovely! She's been busy making cards and knitting. She gets her sewing fix making samples at work—the Bernina NW store.

Patricia displayed the fabrics she bought in Tokyo over the holidays and a baby boy quilt with primary colors and an asymmetric pattern.

Diana joined us for the first time. Never having attended a Piecemakers meeting before, she assumed it was a sewing session. With a bag full of memory clothes from her family, Pat gave Diana a demo for making a crazy quilt square on the set-up sewing machine.

Miriam is another busy bee. She showed us a yellow and red quilt she made for YF. Then she produced a table cloth, napkins and a gorgeous matching quilt that she made for another Adopt-An-Apartment. (As Miriam didn't have an apartment in mind, Diana was given the set as her Boy Scout troop is working to furnish an apartment with the $200 it raised.) Finally Miriam had a bag of plump ruby grapefruits to distribute to us. Yum.

november 08 meeting

show and tell
A small group of us gathered at Diane’s house. There were nine boxes of giveaway fabric on table tops in Diane’s dining room and living room.

During the meeting Diane had two major projects to show us—a blue quilt featuring Don Baker’s new collection and a remarkable quilt she has been making for her sister (see three photos) that will be finished by Christmas.

Harriet brought two impressive projects. One is for Plymouth--for either a youth or a Healing Communities companion, and one is for her home. The lavender quilt is actually a back!

Patricia brought a doll quilt in blue and white that she made for a three-year old friend.

Flora brought Maurine a home-made heating pad with straps. Diane gave the rice-filled tube a quick blast in the microwave so Maurine could try it out on her lower back.

The last photo is Flora with a large shopping bag. Flora, Harriet, myself and Janet all hauled bags and boxes of fabric home. Diane daintily picked out a few choice pieces. And Maurine, who donated most of the fabric, didn't need any of it back at her condo. When the evening was over, only three boxes of fabric were left.

dr. hilton’s quilt

To celebrate three years of leadership at Plymouth by Dr. Rev. Allen Hilton, the Piece Makers created a memory quilt. This is the presentation of the quilt in Hildebrand Hall on his last Sunday.

october 08 meeting

show and tell
Look at Flora’s mind-bending, sparkling blue labyrinth wall hanging! She also made a mini-version for the group quilt.

Harriet showed us quilt after quilt that she has finished. Also, she impressed us a suitcase full of wonderful fabric finds from her travels.(Wait! Isn't that Harriet with an armful of floral material in Sarah’s store!)

Janet moved ahead and finished the FY quilt with the fun lime-green squares.

Patricia showed the final piecing of her Little Man baby boy quilt.

Miriam had two projects to show us, the most noteworthy being the "green" quilt.

Sarah proudly displayed a quilt, inspired by the seashore, that her older sister made for her.

As the evening came to a close, we descended into Sarah’s basement store--Ruby’s Daughter. It was filled with an exception selection of delightful quilting fabrics.

august 08 meeting

show and tell
Miriam made us all cloth grocery pages in wonderful fabric with trim details. We each seemed to find one that matched our personalities. Miriam also showed us a YF quilt project made with the pattern that Maurine shared with us in June. She is about to head off to Norway for a birthday party. What a jet setter!

Maurine had just completed two quilts for Plymouth Healing Communities as well as the two family quilts made of her deceased nephew's Hawaiian rayon shirts. They were deluxe with extra soft velour backings—see photo. Maurine also shared some of her hand-dyed threads with us.

Janet created a remarkable piece of jewelry that she presented to Maurine as a Thank You for being such a generous soul. The silver pendant framed an American stamp of a Gee's Bend quilt, with a fun drop-bead detail. Check out that attached photo for the look on Maurine's face when she opened her gift.

Pat, our newest member, showed us project after project. A remarkable hand stitcher, her most impressive project was a Crazy Quilt made with gorgeous velvets. She also had some unfinished projects that others adopted for potential YF quilts.
Patricia showed an unfinished YF quilt with central pieces made by Maurine in a Nancy Crow workshop. She is hand quilting it together . She is also working on a simple table topper made from hand dyed fabric bought from Elin Noble at Quiltfest plus a very un-babylike baby quilt.

Flora had two table toppers made with precise star piecing. And Harriet came to see all the inspired projects and join in the great conversations.

february 2008 meeting

Harriet brought three tops that were pieced together with Chinese Coin craziness. They are bright and quite suitable for young men--which could help with our Youth Forum needs this spring. We need to discuss how best to finish these up.

Mary, who has been busy at the QFC pharmacy, brought her quilt-as-you-go project. She commented that working on small squares makes for a lot more work with the long pieces (sashing?) that pull it all together.

Janet let us know that she is caught up with a long-standing, hand-quilted project at home. It is all one huge piece of white (beige?) fabric that is finished with just hand stitching. Hopefully she will bring it to our next meeting to show us her progress.

Miriam, our oldest quilter, brought a fluffy and fun baby quilt for a Plymouth baby. We learned that Miriam likes to get up early in the morning and quilt for about three hours, often by hand, before she gets started on her day. Tremendously prolific, Miriam admits that she was born with a sewing machine in her arms.

Patricia showed progress on her YF quilt that is made with bold pieces of South African fabric. So far she has finished freestyle quilting half of that quilt-as-you-go piece. On the side she has been making a "quilted afghan" for her living room. Composed of graphic squares of green, gold and brown fabric, Patricia showed strips of piecing ready to sew into the final top.

the founding of piece makers

Maurine in Ohio with a quilt she made with vintage squares, 2009.

Maurine Noble, a nationally recognized quilter and teacher, founded Plymouth Piece Makers in 1989. Its initial focus was to make quilts for new babies born to church families. If enough quilters joined the group, Maurine hoped that quilts could also be created for the new House of Healing ministry. An ad was put in the Herald newsletter, inviting quilters and would-be quilters to join the group.

Participants in early meetings included: Emilie Adams, Sue Bechtold, Rosetta Elliott, Inge Freund, Helen Gorsuch, Shannon Kahn, Ruth Kiemle, Maurine Noble, Diane Roubal, Caryl Trager, Sally Wagner, Susan Underwood, Marcia Almquist, Karen Gwilym, Jane Alley, Julie (does anyone know Julie’s last name?), Bertha Hanson, Jackie Mampel, Joan Davis and Carol Fick.