Feb. 4, 2013: Guild Meeting & IKEA Repurposed

First things first. How many of you have bought the 75 cent IKEA bag and then realized it' so big that it's only useful to carry a zillion rolls of toilet paper found on sale, or, maybe for Shelley, to lug around Stanley who is her very large Labradoodle. Bonnie and Jill whom I freely admit are much smarter than me, have been carrying quilts in them. I'm not above following trends so I packed up my queen-sized quilt, my overly large wall hanging, my table runner from Jill's class along with various other sundries and headed off to our guild meeting. Everything fit with room to spare.

Really good news was received at the meeting when we found out that Gloria and Marg will co-chair the 2014 quilt show. Let the planning begin! Lots of show-and-tell tonight which is definitely my favorite part of guild evenings. The show-and-tell started with teacher Jill and some of her students showing off their finished table runners from Saturday's class. Barb S went a step beyond and is turning hers into a bag. Good thinking, Barb!

Renee hadn't been able to stay for the whole class on Saturday so Jill caught her up at the meeting.

Colleen showed the progress of the blocks for the quilt for QE School. Leona has taken the central panel home to start quilting it.

Marg showed two pieces - a table runner done from the pattern Lydia had and a cheery March wall hanging. I think Marg knows a secret quilt shop and she's holding out on us because no one selects prettier fabrics than Marg.

I showed a "slightly" larger wall hanging called "All About Me." It's from an Atkinson Designs pattern and I used 58 different fabrics which depict my interests and, perhaps, my personality. Remember, friends, never mention the price of my "cheap" button to Bob. What happens at quilt guild stays at quilt guild!

I also showed my strip-twist which I started in Jill's class a year ago. It's queen size and I quilted it on my Janome 6600.

Audrey brought a number or items and she moved so quickly that some photos I got were no more than a blur. Here are photos of a growth chart she's working on, a microwave potato bag, a purse with wonderful lime green lining, and most spectacularly, a queen-sized oriental quilt which she quilted on her own machine. Audrey warned of the dangers of the potato bag as one started on fire possibly because it was closed too tightly. Her advice: don't leave the room when baking potatoes in it.

Donna L. showed three quilts, two of them made from orphan blocks which Lydia donated to Donna and her students. From the excellent results we can see that none of them are afraid of using minkie.

Donna has also caught the pillowcase bug and had some beauties to show.

Yvonne is completely finished the quilt she worked on at retreat. It's a beauty.

Sharynne showed a painting she did. It's fun to see other types of work besides our quilting but I did give her a kit to make two potholders just in case that infectious bug called quilting has bit her!

The next fantastic quilt is Ethel's. I thought it must have been paper-pieced for accuracy but Ethel said it was pieced in the ordinary way.

Vi always has me in awe of her hand quilting, but now I am also in awe of her applique skills. What a great quilt. Look at the details. Look at the beads, the buttons!

Barb S. showed some projects and I missed getting a clear photo of one of them. My apologies. Here are the others:

Jaynie's big bugs might give us nightmares while at the same time artistically inspiring us.

She showed one of her earlier pieces using cording and then a recent one. Those taking her class will learn this technique.

Shelley wondered why she waited to go last. Best for last perhaps, Shelley?

We ended the evening with video which gave ideas for time-crunch quilts.