Reminder!!!

The Purple Bag Pop Up Special ends tomorrow, October 1. Lots of selection yet at just $5 a yard. Not in the Purple Bag Club? This would be a great time to buy a bag for just $4.95 and fill it up!

New Shop Sample Quilt

This flannel quilt was made for us by Jenny Osler. It's called Fractured and we will be cutting kits soon. As I look at it now, I think it's hanging here sideways. Jenny said it was a fun and easy project.

Retreat Vests!

The vests for our October Ladies of the Lake Quilt Retreat at Lake Panorama have arrived.

If you ordered a vest, you may pick it up in the shop. If you do not pick up, we will deliver to you at the retreat.

Sister Trip

These three sisters from Tennessee, Wisconsin and Arkansas meet up once a year to tour quilt shops. This year finds them in Iowa and we are very happy they decided to visit us! Come again, girls.

Serger for sale

Terry Byer is moving and selling her Pfaff Serger. She bought it new for $900 and has only used it one time. She also has $100 worth of accessories that go with it. She is selling it all for $600. If you are interested, call her at 515-418-4331.

September Sisters of the Cloth

Sister's of the Cloth meets three times a year - - - third Saturday in July, September and November. We gather to share quilt stories of the past generations and enjoy vintage quilts. There is always a program and, of course, refreshments along with pattern hand outs, prize drawing and sewing supplies for some optional hand work. 

There is just one class left this year and you are welcome to join us November 19 for a class fee of $15. Please call to pre-register.

Every gathering of quilters includes show and tell. Here are the quilts we appreciated at our September meeting.

A Six Pointed Star/Tumbling Block quilt made by Diane W's mother. The Six Pointed Star is the block we have been making in this class.

We provide the supplies for those who want to do a little hand work while enjoying our program. This year, our project is the Six Pointed Star block using diamond shape templates. Members also bring 3 1/2" squares of Civil War era fabric to exchange so they can have even more variety in their blocks.

Pat S. shared this family heirloom.

Kay C. showed this quilt top. It formerly had a back and had been tied. That has been removed and it is just a quilt top now. A cousin gave this to Pat, thinking she knew who made it but she does not. It's a different kind of mystery quilt.

LaRue S. showed us this sheet. Someone has embroidered nursery rhyme characters on it, much of which has faded.

Carol P. bought counted cross-stitch patterns from our July speaker featuring Barn Quilts and she has them all stitched up. Aren't these cute?

Nancy K. shared this contemporary quilt she made. This pattern can be found at Missouri Star quilts. The machine quilting on this one was really nice. 

Nancy also shared this whole cloth quilt she made using an automated quilt machine program. Still a lot of work to design, set up and align. Very pretty. 

Isn't this a pretty old quilt? Shown by Sue Denny, this is a Double Irish Chain handed down to her.

 After a snack break, we re-grouped to listen to a program presented by Jeanette Harms. Jeanette's mother passed two years ago so some of the family decided it was time to clean out the attic of the home that had been in the family for several generations.

Guess what they found in the attic? Jeannette does not think her mother even knew these quilts were there. They found them rolled up and stashed inside feedsacks. What a treasure!

They also found this wedding gown. When Jeanette first pulled it out, she thought it was going to be drapes. She has a picture of the Great Grandmother that wore this dress.

For her program, Jeanette also shared quilts made more recently by her family. This Grandmother's Flower Garden and Attic Window was made by her mother. The following 5 quilts were made by Jeanette.

This quilt was made as part of a group exchange. Each quilter in the group made a row, one for self and one for each of the other members.

This treasure is a Baltimore Album made for Jeanette by her secret sister. Each month, she would receive a block. At the end of the exchange her secret sister (Carylon Magnani) finished it up for her. 

The take away from this class was the importance of labeling our quilts. These quilts found in the attic were all well documented with labels. Here are a few.

It was another very fun gathering and I am already looking forward to our November class. Now I am off to start making some labels!

Again!

Another photo bomb! Who is this quilting elf, floating around the room and sneaking into pictures?

I've been photo bombed!

Do you see someone in the background of this pic?

New Shop Samples

Diana W and I collaborated on this one. It's actually started as "Convenience Cloth." The red flowers and green leaves are appliqued on. After quilting, I went along the vines with a button hole stitch to make the vines look like they have been appliqued on as well. This kit comes with a free pattern so is just $36. Flannel on the back makes it a quick and snuggly gift.

This is the fabric on the bolt. It's running yardage, not a panel. This picture was taken inside so not as bright as the quilt pic but, same fabric.

This runner is related to our 2016 Row by Row. It is 3, 12" blocks rather than the 4, 9" blocks used for our Row. Add a border and it makes a very pretty runner. 

Volunteer opportunity

Help make pillowcase dresses for Africa this Saturday,  Sept 24 at Gloria Dei Lutheran church,  8301 Aurora in Des Moines. 

The hours are 10 - 3. Volunteers are invited to bring a sewing machine but tasks will be available for people who don't sew too.

It's a Purple Bag Pop Up Special!

Good afternoon to the members of our Purple Bag Quilter's Club.

September 23 through October 1, all fabric on the Bargain shelf is $5 a yard. FOR THE FIRST TIME, this includes a selection of batiks, making them nearly 60% off!

Here are close ups of the batiks. Great opportunity to get backing fabric or just treat yourself.

Don't have a Adel Quilting purple shopping bag? Get one for just $4.95 and fill it up with these great buys.

Quilt Circle September meeting

We started our evening admiring the heart blocks we gathered for a couple members who recently lost a husband/grandfather.

Then we shared the blocks we are making for our Barn Quilt Block BOM.

Here is Margaret's Block #2

These blocks finishs 16", oversized to mimic barn quilts. Lonnie is holding my block #3 here.

Lonnie's Block #3. She is using teals, purples and black in her blocks.

Lonnie - Block #2. For this month, we did 4 sets of Flying Geese units using the FGx4 method which netted us 16 units. We used 8 in this block and have 8 more to use in future blocks. Notice we used two of the extra units in block #3.

Here is Diane with block #2. She is making her blocks with Shot Cloth. What is Shot Cloth you ask? It's woven cotton created with one color in the warp and another in the weft. It makes for a very subtle woven look.

 Then it was time for everybody's favorite - - - show and share.

Marti shared a poster for the Des Moines quilt show, coming October 5 through 8. This is the Des Moines Guild raffle quilt, meticulously machine quilted by Marti herself!

Lonnie shared these two shop samples she has just made. They are both from the book, Seasonal Skinnies. This book is full of small wall hangings and is just $12.95. Very good value. We have kits available for both of these cutees. You will be seeing more samples from this book.

Just as marathon runners have decals honoring their mileage run, Trish has this one for her sewing room. LOL

Retirement has been good for Trish's quilting productivity. This is a ribbon winning mini she entered in the Iowa State Fair.

Trish is using her half square triangles, collected in our exchange, to make this quilt. This is just one of the large blocks. We look forward to watching this quilt grow.

 

Trish also shared this T-Shirt quilt she made for her husband. Cute.

These small quilts, above and below, are by Nancy H. She's having fun getting things done! The quilt below uses some of the half square triangle units she gathered in our exchange.

and another baby quilt done for her Baby Maker stash.

Teresa made this quilt using the Snowball Blocks from our group exchange. We have all agreed to work through some of these collections before starting another one!

Here is a close up to show Teresa'a machine quilting. She went through the quilt with a gentle meander and then started over, echoing her first stitches to make this very cool ribbon look in the machine quilting.

Diane shared this baby quilt she just finished that is a reproduction of a baby quilt her mother made - - a few years ago. Very special.

Diane also shared this quilt top she found when out junking. We found a near replica of this in a quilt history book, dating this top to 1875 - 1900. She bought it for $15 from someone who obviously did not know what they had. It will be well taken care of now.

Jackie O made another quilt for her charity honoring Adel Alumni. Nice.

Marti shared this farm quilt she has been working on for a bit. So fun and so much to look at.

A closeup shows the flange she used with the binding to separate the plaids in both border and binding. Great idea.

She also reported on a fun class she took recently on value and color placement. This is her class project.

I did a demo on a block featured by Missouri Star Quilts, the Hidden Pinwheel Block and the Hidden Hour Glass Block. Kind of squint to see this is a large pinwheel that has been cut into a 9-patch.

Rearrange the pieces to make this block - no waste.

This block was originally an Hour Glass block. It's been cut into a 9 Patch and rearranged to make this fun star. You can google these blocks to see an online video at Missouri Star Quilts. Very fun and absolutely no waste.

Before having a snack, we did some prize drawing. Nancy was thrilled to receive this pattern for a yo-yo jacket. We look forward to her modeling this for us soon.

Thank you as always for volunteering as our photographer, Jackie O!