Beaver quilt challenge

For the Beaver County Fair, they have a quilt challenge.  You can purchase a fat quarter of focus fabric for two dollars.  Then you design a quilt to go with the theme of the fair.  Rev it up was the theme for this year.  At the time I was there they only had the five entries.  They have had the whole wall covered in the past.  Maybe later on they had more quilts.  I think this sounds fun for our fair.  If not whole quilts maybe just a block challenge.  I would like to know what you all think.  I did think that even a round robin that had to do with the fair would be fun.  If I get some of your input I can make the suggestion to the committee.

Aprils Show and Tell

I love this quilt Bev made.  It was our round robin quilt from guild last year.  She out lined the blocks in purple and added a few filler blocks.  She really did a wonderful job on her quilt.  I love knowing I have a block from each of these ladies that I think so much of.  I just need to finish mine.  Look at the quilting on this quilt.  Each block is different.

I think this is Katherine's.  She got these blocks in an exchange and then added some of her own to make this quilt.  It is so nice.

Sandy made chalk boards for her grand children.  It has a pocket in the back for the eraser and chalk.

These are her blocks for the Block of the Month

She also made this cute bag.

Crystal has been busy.  She made this, I think it was called the Farmers Daughter.  It is cotton with wool appliqué.

My memory is not working today but this was a Pioneer quilt I think.  It is also Crystals.

This is the back of the quilt below.  Crystal just got it back from Connie.  Connie quilted it.

Cheri has been making pillows.  These are for the summer.  She does a wonderful job with the appliqué.

Gwen made this chevron quilt.  It was made with some strip piecing.

Keela's Christmas quilt is beautiful.  

Kay has been busy.  I Love Love this quilt.  

This is darling.  Look how cute the snail is.

Iris made this patriotic quilt.

Claudia is making this for a friend's baby.

Claudia made this one too.

Iris said this is a simple quilt to make.

Angeli finished a couple of the BOM blocks.

Claudia is showing us her block.

Show and tell is the best.

Getting Stuff Done

At guild we are working on a goal each month.  Each of us has our own goals that we are working on.  Those that had projects they finished as a goal showed us what they accomplished.  Have you ever seen a Crown Royal quilt.  This one is a custom quilt made by Claudia.  It is made for a friend of her sons.  She put a load of work into this quilt and this friend put a lot of money into Crown Royal.  It is a nice quilt.  I hope he loves it.

This is the back of the Crown Royal quilt.  I hope you can see the stitching.

This is Angeli's quilt.  It is looking great.

These quilts are Kay's.  I can't quilt remember the story behind them, sorry.  They turned out so beautiful.  

All of you ladies are really accomplishing a lot.  Not all of us are working on just our quilting.  Some of us are cleaning out or working on other goals, but we are getting things done.  Besides, our table of stuff we are sharing has been wonderful.  I have gotten some fun things and have been glad to pass on stuff I wanted to be finshed with.

A Growing Square in a Square

Pat just showed us how to make a growing square in a square.  I don't remember if it is really called that but the idea is very fun.

You start with two squares that match in size.  You sew around the outside edges of the square.  You draw an x from corner to corner on one side and carefully cut on the lines, making sure you have pulled the back layer from the front.  Is that as clear as mud.  I am sure someone from guild could show you if you are not understanding my explanation.

You can keep going as big as you want using this method.  It makes a cute quilt too.

Thanks Pat.  That is a great idea to try.

Our Service Project

This year our service project is making these lap fidget quilts.  Fidget quilts are to help those people with fidgety hands.  The idea came from the Quilters Newsletter June/July 2014 issue.  We are going to make them for our care center and if there are any extra we will send them to another care center.

Workshop: Fidget Quilts

According to the Alzheimer's Association, an estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages had Alzheimer's disease in 2013. This includes an estimated 5 million people age 65 and older and approximately 200,000 individuals younger than age 65 who had younger-onset Alzheimer's. Frequetly, patients with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia get fidgety hands. Fidget quilts are a soothing thing to those patients because the quilt gives their hands something to do. Make your own fidget quilt for the person in your life with Alzheimer's or just to donate to someone in a care center with the simple steps in Quilters Newsletter June/July 2014.

Quilters Newsletter has the issue for sale if you are interested.

The pattern calls for 16 five and a half inch squares of bright textured fabrics, like corduroy, eyelet, pin tuck and embroidered fabrics, Minky would be good too.  

Also it calls for a variety of items to touch and play with like this velcro.  Buttons, laces, ribbons with  texture or soft silky ones will be nice to add to the quilt.  Keys, buckles, rickrack, pockets and things like that would also be nice.  Claudia didn't use batting in her quilt, she used polar fleece to back it and it turned out well.  

If you are coming to guild at Rubys we are meeting at 5:00 on Wednesday, May 18th.  Please bring your machines, your basic sewing kit and any materials that you might want to donate to our fidget quilts.  

Spring Display Quilts

These are the cheerful spring quilts that people brought to display at guild.  They are darling.  I don't know who made any of these but I thought that you would love to see them.

I love the chickens and chicks on this one.  

The embroidery on these flowers looks so pretty.

I love the contrast that the brights have against the black of the back ground.

This is a table runner.  You can't quite see the full effect because of the way it was laid.

This runner has cute little bees embroidered on it.  I have a close up below.

I think this is Pat's pincushion and it too is springy.

Even though this is not quite finished It is beautiful and will be even better when it is finished.

I love the colors on this one and the umbrellas are darling.

Did you notice the snail?

All of the quilts were so nice.  Our displays are inspiring.