october 12 meeting

Four of us gathered at Pris' home with her gluten-free snacks—fresh fruits and Rice Krispie treats.

Show ’N Tell

For Pris, the summer was a time of learning about health challenges and taking time to get better. For someone who has never had anything wrong with her, it was a whole new experience. Now she is doing well and is very thankful. Pris showed us a quilt she is working on. It has fish, feathers, rocks and more—connected together with a fresh summertime plaid. The next thing she has to do is the binding.

Janet is doing better with more and more good days. She drove to Pris' home in the dark which was a big deal! She is in a support group called The Dizzy Group where she is getting information about her "new normal." Janet made a baby quilt for a little one next door. It has huge funny frogs with embroidered smiles. She quilted it on her long arm with fun loopy stitching. She also brought two bags of jeans from a yard sale that she gave to Miriam for her world-famous jeans quilts.

This month Miriam is using her morning creative time to crochet a blanket. It has 48 sqaures. So far she has finished 13 large squares and everyone is different. She has started on her YF quilt that will need 60 squares. She's using some cool fabric that she bought from Sarah Stine.

 Patricia brought one finished quilt named Tangled Garden and one in progress, Bon Odori. She is working on putting together a quilt retreat with Joe Cunningham, a quilter from San Francisco, for Fall 2013.

september 12 meeting

Three of us gathered at Patricia’s home with no-bake chocolate-chocolate cookies and fizzy fruit punch.

Show N Tell

Miriam made an outrageous quilt with 2835 1-inch squares. She got the squares pre-trimmed at a Piece Makers meeting. It was fun to do, working a few hours every day. Youth-bed sized, it will be given to Plymouth for a bed/chair-bound senior.

Her second major project includes pocket squares from Janet and denims from Flora. The quilt is perfect for a 2013 YF senior.

Patricia talked about her struggles of choosing the right sky fabric for her big quilt “Hope Survives.” This discussion grew into a short tutorial on how to make simple pattern pieces with freezer paper. She also showed a quilt with lots of white backgrounds where she transferred the quilt stitching pattern using a screen.

Flora is really enjoying being a member of Quilters Anonymous (QA)—especially with its focus on making charity quilts. She is going to start a satellite group to make quilts for charity auctions.

Flora is going to teach a class to QA members about the tips and tricks of making a t-shirt quilt at a day camp in October. She also designed a quilt for her king-sized bed using EQ7. Flora would like to become an EQ expert so she can teach it to others when she retires.

She made an incredible quilt with butterflies for a friend in California and is finishing up a gingham quilt with fun flowers for a charity quilt. And, of course, she is working on another quilt right now.

august 12 meeting

Five of us met at Flora’s tonight: Flora, Janet, Harriet, Miriam and Patricia. It was a night for watermelon and quilt talk.

Flora was kind enough to take notes on her laptop during the meeting. Thank you, Flora!

Show N Tell

Flora told us about her trip to Maui and the two denim pillow tops she found at Goodwill for Miriam and about her butterfly quilt on the wall downstairs.

Patricia’s quote: “You can never rush a quilt and be happy”

The group didn’t go to Vashon in July due to Patricia’s appendectomy.

Harriett told about a quilt she’s making for a nephew. He brought a sweatshirt with a cartoon character bearing swords and he said he wanted red, yellow and orange, but the t-shirt character was in blue and green. He likes bats. Harriet came up with an abstract pattern of bats made out of multi-colored fabric with black streaks with the cartoon in the center. She has a challenge to figure out how to remedy the zig zag stitches that ended up tearing the fabric.  She didn’t bring it, but will show us before she sends it to Colorado.

Harriet also brought a Queen size quilt she made for her and Rob’s master bedroom in “quilt-as-you-go” style with open seams that were clipped and brushed to appear uniformly ragged. There was a discussion about her wonderful wide binding.

Another quilt Harriet brought is for her sister—a basic rectangle design in batiks with similar colored batiks forming a diagonal design. It’s single-bed sized with a light gray backing so the quilt could be an all-year cover depending on which side is up.

Patricia told a story about pre-washing 100% cotton batting in her washing machine—first presoaking without detergent or agitating, then draining and spinning before fluffing in the dryer.

Miriam reported on the apartment items she is gathering up and what is still needed:

                2 placemats—Harriet

                2 glasses—PB

                Silverware 2 place settings—PB

Miriam produced two shopping bags for giveaways as well as soap she got from the lavender festival. 

Harriet got a miniature die-cast sewing machine from Miriam too, which is a pencil sharpener.

Janet is still working on her double wedding ring quilt and had 95 more football shapes to finish.

She’s also making a pillow for a friend with sheep knitting their own wool and is looking for a black sweater to felt for finishing the other side of the project.

Janet has three Piece Maker quilt tops queued up to practice on her Gammy and three more of her own to get done.

Patricia made the sky pink in her big tsunami quilt and is now starting all over to make it another color

 In August she spent a weekend with modern quilt guild members from Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC. In September Patricia is speaking to two quilt guilds.

The evening ended with Flora taking us down to her creativity studio to view some projects in-progress—a butterfly quilt for a friend and a memorial quilt honoring a young man. 

thank you from yf forum

Greetings Piecemakers,

On behalf of all the seniors and future seniors, I would like to thank you for all the love and effort you dedicate to each quilt. Every teen looks forward to receiving your wonderful gifts. It is a highlight of their transition into adulthood. Thank you for your generosity! God calls us all to share our talents with the world, and you certainly do!

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." —Matthew 5:16

Thank you,
Robin Mallory

july 12 meeting

Patricia and Shannon also attended.

why i love my quilt guild

By Flora Daglish

I attended my first meeting of UCC Plymouth Piecemakers in 2002 at the founder of the group’s beautifully and abundantly appointed home studio in Ballard (Seattle), Washington. I was ready to fashion all the fabric scraps I had been saving for years into quilts I imagined making since childhood. Little did I realize what a big part this experience and these women would play over the next 10 years in my faith journey and arduously slow recovery from post traumatic stress, several devastating losses, and a few faith-testing personal setbacks.

In my youth I spent long periods of time at my Grandmother’s log home in rural Washington happily immersed in the comings and goings of my family and 4 generations of aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors. There’s no returning to those sparkling days except to visit the cemetery where most of their spirits now reside. But as Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds me, every ill may be an unrecognized blessing, and that a loss leaves room for a new situation more conducive to character growth.

As a result of the time I have spent with my quilt guild, I am a healthier, happier, stronger woman, a better quilter, more stable, confident, knowledgeable, generous, adventurous and creative. I feel connected, respected, cared for, included, and missed when I am not able to attend. I laugh more and share the joy of collaborating on quilt projects for our church community, our own families and friends, and other charities-with newfound sisters, aunts, cousins, moms, grandmothers and great grandmothers all learning from each other. I am part of a family again. And the golden nugget at the heart of it all is none other than our founder, master quilter, educator extraordinaire, and author, Maurine Noble. How much luckier can a quilter get?

june 12 potluck meeting at harriet’s