January 3rd Guild Meeting

We don't appreciate our hard-working executive enough. Treasurer Colleen Roy couldn't make it to the meeting, but here is a photo of secretary Kathy Williams and president Gloria Scaddan. Thanks for all you do.

Before I show you the show-and-tell, let me tell you about some exciting events that are upcoming for the guild. Jill and Colleen S. are hosting a scrappy Strip Twist class in the Junior High home ec room on January 21st starting at 9 a.m. You can contact them to sign up and to get the details.

Jaynie told about a class she will be running on Saturday, February 11 at 9 a.m. in the Junior High home ec room. It will be a class where attendees learn and practise various thread techniques. You can contact Jaynie to sign up and to get more details.

Jaynie showed samples where she had used various techniques on postcards and artist trading cards. The inexpert photographer set up the shot and has one of the cards upside down. Can you spot which one it is?

The third exciting announcement was that the second Crocus Quilt Guild Retreat ("Dam Good Stitchin' 2012") has been booked for September 14th to 16th. There's a handout with lots of information which you can get from Colleen S. or Bonnie or you can pick up the sheet at the next guild meeting which is February 7th. Cost will be around $100.

And now let's move on to show-and-tell!

Michele made a vibrant quilt out of charm packs and some coordinating fabrics from her stash. Beautiful!

Debbie, one of our new members, showed an exquisite quilt using vintage doilies, embroidery, and other needlework. I wish I could show you every block in detail so you could pick your favorite block. That's what I was trying to do as the quilt was displayed.

Not only did the quilt feature this neat idea, but it was carefully hand quilted. Debbie, thanks for sharing.

Colleen S. showed the following quilt and explained how she had machine quilted it in three pieces with the entire backing attached, but the front added as she went. It sounds like a great idea. The idea came from a book that Jan had lent her.

Jaynie has done a challenge piece for the Quilt Canada show which will be held in Halifax in early June. Lucky Jaynie going to attend the event.

Marlene showed us two creations which didn't get finished for Christmas 2011. How lucky is she ... she has a jumpstart on Christmas 2012!

Vera showed a piece she created which has beautiful echo quilting.

Adeline created a table topper which we could easily picture in pride of place as she told us it would be on a table which is partnered with chairs that have lime coverings. I should have taken a closeup of her binding stitch. She used decorative stitches and variegated thread which completely the topper professionally.

Donna, another new member (Welcome, Donna!) made this sweet, cosy quilt. She was given the advice to use 1/2 inch seams when using minky. I didn't know that ... I think a lot of us welcomed that advice and will adjust how we sew with minky from now on. If you are like me, you totally love stripes and polka dots together.

Kathy showed a quilt that originated in a class by Chi Chi which a number of guild members had taken some time ago. It's beautiful with the floral chain.

When Kathy makes a quilt, we expect to find flawless hand quilting. Did she disappoint us? No, she did not! Well done, Kathy.

Our quilt show on April 21 and 22 will come quickly. I hope all of this meeting's show-and-tell will reappear there and that all of us are sewing, sewing, sewing so that this, our fourth show, will surpass the shows we're had before. Happy quilting, everyone!

Odds & Ends on December 29th

Did any of you find quilty gifts under your Christmas tree? My dear sister, who doesn't sew a stitch, gave me all these red/white/black fabrics. I love them all. I've been browsing magazines, books, and the internet to figure out what I want to do with them. Any suggestions?I forgot to mention a few things from our Christmas party and I missed showing you a few photos too. First of all, Kathy announced that Christa Millions of Weyburn (now Christa Kurtz of Estevan!) won the beautiful quilt which the Khedive Quilters created. I saw Christa before she got the quilt, but she was extremely pleased to be the winner. Congratulations, Christa!

While we were having fun at the Christmas party, Jan and Elaine were in Regina as they had tickets to Stuart McLean. Since they had made their stockings, they decided to exchange with each other. Here they are with their stockings.

I missed showing you a few photos from the guild Christmas party. I guess I wasn't waiting long enough for the photos to download. You'll forgive me for that if I show them to you now, won't you? First of all, there is this very pretty one of Leona playing the sock game.

Then I mentioned Barb H's quilt in the blog, but the photo was missing. Now you get to see her great quilt.

You also need to see the quilted UFO that Jaynie got back from her online exchange. Wow!

And, finally, here is a close-up of the little quilt I made for Jesus. He was cozy and warm for the rest of the holiday season.

Our next guild meeting is on January 3rd and I hope to see you there. Our program says I will do a demo with wool, but I know that's wrong as I haven't had a chance to do much work with wool. My good intentions in the summer didn't turn into a good lesson for January. You'll just have to turn up for the meeting to see who will do a demo and what it will be about.

And don't forget that quilting at the library resumes on Monday, January 9th. It's always interesting and fun so come on out.

A Very Merry Quilt Guild Christmas Party

Our guild Christmas party started with a delicious catered meal. No party happens without careful planning and for that we can thank our chair Gloria, and Bonnie whom I saw working right alongside her.

Shelley and Verla, the entertainment committee, made sure there was fun and games. Thanks, ladies!

That sock game had Donna W. in stitches. (Now there's a good sewing pun!)

And then the show-and-tell began. Colleen S. delighted us with her hilarious story of buying a UFO package ... like she doesn't have enough of her own???? ... and then getting the last laugh by creating not one, not two, not three, but FOUR projects from it. Well done, Colleen.

I showed the two square inch quilt I made for baby Jesus who had been shivering in my Nativity for years. 21 pieces in 2 square inches! Yes, I am proud of that.

Jill finished the binding on this quilt just in time to show us. In January she and Colleen S. will be leading a class featuring this scrappy pattern.

Jill was clever to use leftover squares on the back of the quilt.

Marion showed three memory quilts made of tee shirts and photos. We know these quilts will give comfort and warmth to the bereaved recipients this Christmas.

Bonnie displayed this lovely underground railway quilt.

We got to see some of the handiwork that she has accomplished on the new machine that she, Jill, Lynne, and Colleen S. share.

Here's another project that Bonnie completed.

She also completed this table topper using a pattern from Lydia. They both say it's easier than it looks!

It may be easier than it looks, but Joyce showed her unfinished one and said it wouldn't be done for Christmas. Joyce looks a little perturbed by this, doesn't she?

Barb created this quilt and told us about what a quick turnaround time it had from Terry Whitman. We were all reminded that if we want Terry to longarm quilt any pieces for the quilt show, that we should book her soon.

Donna L. showed us this cozy quilt which will go to Germany to keep her son warm.

Marg created this beautiful, seasonal piece which has a stand rather than a hanger. What a great idea.

Joyce showed us this piece that she's working on. Jaynie showed us this art piece that she has been working on off and on for several months. A photo does not do it justice as it has many textures happening that can't be seen here.

She also showed us this piece which was a UFO of hers. She sent it into an exchange and someone else completed it. You might remember from a earlier meeting that we saw the one Jaynie had been sent.

Then it was time for the Left/Right. I have posted photos from it in another blog entry ... the blog entry directly following this one if you want to check it out.

And so ended a wonderful evening with wonderful quilting friends. Fun was had, inspiration was rampant, and memories were made. So to all of you I say as Christmas approaches, "God bless thy year! Thy coming in, thy going out. Thy rest, thy traveling about. The rough, the smooth, the bright, the drear. God bless thy Year!" (Old English blessing)

Crocus Guild Left/Right Game for 2011

Here is the second part of the blog from our Christmas party. Lots of members participated in the Christmas stocking gift exchange. The "lefts" and "rights" were fast and furious. Below are photos of some of the charming stockings.

Some of the ladies said I should post our left/right game here so that's what I'm going to do. If I did it right, every one of our members was included in the story.

2011 LEFT/RIGHT GAME

Almost RIGHT on time Santa's elves were preparing for Christmas. Good elves Marlene, Elaine, and Jan had done their job RIGHT so that RIGHT now the quilting treasures they had made were carefully stacked to the RIGHT and LEFT of Santa's sleigh. However, the lazy elves Bonnie, Vi, and Helen had LEFT their quilting gifts unfinished and the pieces were strewn to the LEFT and RIGHT of the main workbench.

Santa should have fired them RIGHT then and there, but there was too much work LEFT to do before December 24th. Therefore, he hired some new elves - two Colleens, Dot, Renee, and Karen who left their jobs as Walmart greeters work alongside the lazy elves.

Santa was panicking because there was so much to do. He looked at his "naughty and nice" list. He put check marks to the RIGHT side of all the quilters who had been nice in 2011. That list included Marion, the two Shelleys, Adeline, and Jaynie. Then he put an X to the RIGHT of all the naughty quilters. Wow, was that list long! Those Xes went to the RIGHT of Verla, Eileen, Tammy, Debbie, Michele, Joanne, Lynne, Eva, Jill, Judy, Dorothy, and all the Donnas. Santa looked at the others left on the list: both Barbs, Rose, Yvonne, Leona, and Lydia. They had all been both naughty and nice. Should he put a check mark to the RIGHT of those names or an X to the RIGHT of those names?

He asked his good wife Gloria ... who, incidentally, divorced her first husband Vern so she could marry Santa ... he asked her which was the RIGHT mark to put beside those names.

She replied, "it should be LEFT to you, dear, since you are wiser than I am."

"Huh," thought Santa. "Have I heard RIGHT? Gloria actually admitted the truth, that I am smarter than she is." With hesitation he added a check mark to the RIGHT of the names of those who were both naughty and nice.

Eventually all the work got done and Gloria packed Santa a bag of LEFTovers to eat on his trip around the world.

On December 24th he harnessed his reindeer to the sleigh. Oh, you might be interested to know that he retired his old, old reindeer and replaced them with spritely, nimble, young reindeer. He harnessed four of his new reindeer Joyce, Darlene, Vera, and Kathy to the RIGHT and he harnessed his other new reindeer Marg, Tannis, Elma, and Sharilynn to the LEFT. Then he harnessed his newest, his best, his brightest reindeer of them all - Brenda - to the front. He LEFT the North Pole to deliver fat quarters, sewing machines, stitch rippers, and more to the quilters of the world.

Hiatus from Quilting at the Library

At the library this morning, I got the binding on my last two projects to complete before Christmas. The first, a Christmas runner, is being inspected by my new dog Finn. The second has ended up sideways here and I can't figure out how to change it around. It's a baby blanket made with the most hilarious animal fabrics ever. Whew, they're done!

We have decided to suspend quilting on Mondays at the library until January 9th. So feel free to use your Mondays to get ready for Christmas!

Have any of you started decorating for Christmas yet? Since yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent, I put up a little fiber optic tree in my kitchen; it's decorated in birds! 'Tis the season!

Thinking about Christmas

The weather sure isn't saying that it's a month until Christmas, but the calendar is. Did you all get Jill's email? Just to recap: the guild Christmas party is on Tuesday, December 6th with supper at 6 p.m. in Upper Grace Hall. Rebecca Olson is catering the event at a cost of $12 per person. If you can bring the exact amount of cash, it really helps Colleen out.

There will be entertainment and show-and-tell and the Christmas stocking gift exchange. The stocking above will not be in the exchange, but I've seen some that will be there and they are very clever and cute. Remember that you don't have to participate; it's totally up to you. That's all for now as I have to finish writing our left/right story.

Quilting at the Library & Festival of Trees

Ladies, don't forget that the library lets us use their program room every Monday from 9:30 until 3:30. It's a lot of fun there as advice, compliments, and gossip ... oops, I mean chat ... are exchanged. I've seen some wonderful projects down there and some might even be done for Christmas ... Christmas 2011 or 2012, I'm not saying.

We keep an ironing board, iron, cutting mat, and ruler at the library so you don't need to bring any of your own when you come.

The Family Place Festival of Trees is now open in the Co-op part of the mall. The Festival area is lovely with black curtains, snowflakes, and mini-lights.

We Crocus Quilters donated a wonderful quilt that a number of our ladies worked on. Unfortunately it is displayed in a bundle so that the Festival goers don't really get a good look at it.

However, you can see a good photo of it below. Thanks, Jaynie for emailing this image to me.

Jaynie has donated a quilted piece to the festival too. Here's how it looks on display there; I wish I could see it all.

I also spotted a tree skirt donated by Lydia...

and a tree that Jill's family decorated and donated in memory of Jill's niece Kim. Looking at it, I was awash with memories of Kim as I had the opportunity to teach her. I bet it will bring in huge $$$ for the Family Place.

... and a wonderful, frothy tea table which any child would love donated by our Barb Porter.

If you have a chance, get over there to see the spectacular, themed trees and many, many silent auction items.