Let the June Party Begin!!

In case you've been hiding under a rock and missed the buzz, (or maybe you have been buzzing away at your sewing machine) - - - June 1 is the beginning of the All Iowa Shop Hop "Sew Iowa".

Stop by for a piece of the Iowa special issue fabric. Each shop is also giving every customer a 6" charm of seasonal fabric.

We have made several mini quilts, using charms and the new Iowa fabric as the background:

These first three were made by Lonnie and are from the same pattern, Little Charmers Two.

I made these last two. Above is the Moda Love Star and is available in kit and below is a pattern by Jaybird Designs, Off the Rails.

This event runs through the end of June. Download a passport from the website - www.alliowashophop.com, or purchase the Sew Iowa magazine, a great guide to quilt shops across Iowa that includes the passport along with maps, patterns, shop info and stories.

This is a fun time to be a quilter in Iowa. We hope to see you in the shop soon!

News from the Iowa Quilt Museum

Have I shown you this? It is on display at the Iowa Quilt Museum. As a fund raiser for the museum, Iowa quilt shops were offered the opportunity to make a star block to be featured in this quilt in exchange for a donation of $100 or more.

The request was to make this star block from colors that represent the Iowa countryside. Our block is in the top right corner. Thank you to niece Lindsay for making me the center with her embroidery machine.

I was disappointed that more Iowa quilt shops did not participate but also thought this design was a great way to feature just a few blocks. Nicely done, don't you think?

At the Perry Fiber Arts Festival, I was demonstrating English Paper Piecing and making these fun pin cushions.

One of the gals from the Perry Piecemakers went home and came back with this to show me. Isn't this cute? 

Today, we remember - - - -

Remember these flags? They were printed in the local newspaper for all to save and display in their windows after the 9/11/2001 attacks. This is me telling Frank to stop taking my picture!! I was auditioning paint colors for the shop. Notice, in this pic, the shop is still white and the window still has a product sticker on it.

A few months later, several of us gathered in the shop to make these quilts for a mission that was sending quilts to soldiers.

A very generous gift!

All of this came in a box in the mail this week from Penny White. Penny was a former Quilt Circle member that relocated to eastern Iowa. She made and donated all of these wallets, zip totes and a fur scarf for our June library fund raiser sale. She also donated several quilt books that we will put out for the sale. Thank you Penny!!!

Dallas County Fair Challenge Blocks

We haven't posted an updated picture of our Just One Block challenge in a while. See how it grows!! We need 9 more blocks to complete this quilt. Do you have one to turn in?

Another pretty quilt - - -

Jenny O. made this cute quilt for us.

Here's a close-up for a better look at these fun fabrics. Love it!

May Open Sew

 May Open Sew was another great opportunity for quilters to gather and stitch at the Adel Library. Janet Volz treated to a bit of a trunk show, all quilts she is just finishing up. She is what you call a prolific quilter!

This quilt was fun to observe. When you look at it through a camera lens or as the smaller picture above, you see a circular design, right? But in person, you don't see the circles. Very fun

Thank you, Janet, for sharing.

May Quilt Circle of Friends

Here we go again with another fun gathering of Quilt Circle of Friends.

First up was our Barn Quilt Block of the Month. Above are blocks members made from previous month patterns. Below is the May block.

Isn't it too bad we don't have more fun when we gather? 

Bonnie  got pranked again. Known for her perfect piecing and for always taking it to the next level, it was a surprise to all of us to see this block submitted as made by her?!?  We decided to graciously accept this block, knowing we can "quilt it out". 

Members turned in more blocks for our Dallas Co. Just One Block Fair Challenge. Just as a reference, the 3 made on the right side above are all by Bonnie. As you can see, she can piece. Counting "Just One Block" may have gotten past her, though. Honestly, this is a fund raising community project and we welcome all the blocks we can get!

We also had several more items turned in for our June Orphan Block fund raiser for the Adel Library. Above see a couple zip totes I made from donated laminated cloth and shop sample printed panels. Below is a lap quilt from donated fabric. There are two of these. Plus a little zip coin purse, a small wall hanging by Lonnie, a small pillow made by Diane from a donated Dresden plate block and potholders made by Margaret from donated orphan blocks and orphan remnants of heat resistant backing.

Lonnie just finished this big beauty, enhanced even more with gorgeous machine quilting by Julia Swallow.

Joyce made this as part of a challenge from another group. Members were given three pieces of fabric and the pattern to make this charity quilt. There should be several of these quilts float together by this summer.

Joyce also shared this little table runner. She made it using the pattern she won at our April meeting. Very pretty!

Nancy H. has been busy make Halloween quilts. Aren't these cute?

Lorna is finishing up quilts for her grand kids. Above is Drama Queen and below is Calendar Girls. Nice and DONE!

Diane is making small quilts with a group of art quilters, above and below. She says it is helping her get out of her box.

Margaret shared this lovely Snowball Block quilt. These are blocks she collected in our club exchange.

 

And then it was Abbie's turn. She made several small things for our library porch sale. Above are leftover blocks from a quilt she made with machine embroidery.

And these are little things she made at a machine embroidery retreat. She very generously donated them all to our library porch sale. - - - a zip pouch, a mini quilt and a small covered notebook.

You may have seen Bonnie's quilt last month. This is a matching pillow sham. Lovely.

Celia is sewing up the fabrics she purchased in Hawaii. Isn't this pretty?

She also shared these blocks, belonging to a friend who has asked her to do "something" with them. She gathered ideas from QC so maybe next month we will see what she did!

Maddie stopped by to invite us to her graduation party. Congratulations, Maddie and best wishes for whatever comes next!

Cathy is working her way through 3 lap quilts, one each for her children. Here are two of the three.  Looking good!

She also shared this flannel quilt she is finishing up. Nice.

Sue (sometimes known as Deb) shared a block made by her sister Gloria for our Ladies of the Lake Fall Quilt Retreat. Our 2016 guests were each given a piece of ombre fabric and asked to make a 12" block. So pretty. Thanks, Gloria.

I debuted our new cloth license plate for the 2017 Row x Row Experience and our "row". Starting June 20, the theme this year is "Row by Row, On the Go." We designed our row to represent the brick streets of Adel and our proximity to the Raccoon Valley Bike Trail Loop. For more about the 2017 Row x Row Experience, check out their website.

We drew for a few prizes, snacked on Tuxedo Brownies and called it another great evening.

As always, thank you to my Quilt Circle of Friends with a special thanks to  Jackie O for taking these pictures!