QC Holiday Party

As a group of busy mothers and grandmothers, we postpone our holiday party until January.

We start as any good party does - - - with a potluck. Then it's on to show and share. Since we pass on a December meeting, there is always lots of S'nS.

Theresa has been knitting hats for gifts, these with little fox ears.

and has nearly completed her flannel brick quilt.

We've been watching this project grow. It was from a class Theresa took. Love the blue and white.

Marti finished this fun Hoffman color-chart panel with a simple border. She made it special, though by custom quilting and adding a variety of quilters pins. That's what the dots are.

Jackie is in a group that makes comfort quilts as needed for Adel Alumni. Always in school colors, see one above and one below.

Nancy shared this pretty little quilt made from a charm pack.

and this large quilt made with exchange strips from an online group.

Nancy requested black and white strips in the exchange and then added this turquoise. Love this combo of colors.

For Christmas, Nancy requested her daughter make her a book documenting quilts she has made. What a wonderful keepsake.

This is Bonnie's interpretation of Flower Box Medley. All done in red and black, there is a tiny strip of green piping in the binding. Just beautiful.

Trish has been making coin purses (above) and blocks for a lake house quilts (below).

Trish shared these blocks at our last meeting. Here it is all set together. I guess retirement is working for her!

Margaret received this as a gift. It may be the inspiration for our Row x Row quilt this year. The theme is Home Sweet Home.

Speaking of Row quilts, here is another from the 2015 event that Abbie has completed. On the dark blue river, Abbie added crystals so the water really sparkles. Really nice. 

and this is a Spider Man quilt for a grandson. It will be delivered with the Frozen quilt she is working on now for his sister. Abbie shared that she had trouble finding a Frozen panel so, she bought a set of Frozen sheets and made her on panel and quilt.

Next, we shared our Get Er Done Archive quilts. This is a challenge we do at the beginning of each year where we designate just one old project and pledge to complete it in the new year.

Marti completed this from her collection of ladies hankies featuring violets.

The blocks included embroidery and coloring with crayons.

Nancy J. shared these quilts (above and below). She has been making one for each grandchild. The blocks are all cut from her father in law's Hawaiian shirts.

I had hoped to complete this applique and embroidery quilt that I started about 13 years ago but in the end was happy to at least get all 12 blocks completed. I have plans to set it together soon.

Janet claimed this cute baby quilt as her archive Get Er Done.

and Bonnie shared this quilt made for her son. In the red border, she has couched thread to spell Dreamin of Fishin in Minnesota. That is her son's retirement dream.

This big quilt was Barb's Get Er Done Archive and, she got it done!

Jackie O finished this large quilt, a request from a relative. Sweet.

Several other Archive Get Er Done quilts have already be gifted. About 75% of members claimed and completed one archive quilt in 2015. Now, that's a success story.

Next, we shared progress on our animal and/or snowball block exchange quilts.

Margaret's is done. So cute!

 

Mine is near completion.

Imagine this as a snowball block. Bonnie cut all of her snowball blocks diagonally in both directions. Then she used those triangles with a black print triangle to create these pinwheel blocks. Isn't that both creative and beautiful?

Marti set her snowball blocks together using a block called "Thrifty" for the offset block. So pretty.

We closed our meeting with three rounds of Quilter's Trade, using strips and squares for our poker chips. 

Now, our challenge for the Feb meeting is to make something from the charms and strips we each collected in this game.

It was another special evening with my Quilt Circle of Friends. Even with the sub-zero temps, we had near perfect attendance. Condolences to Celia who was home sick. Celia, you were missed.

And, as always, special thanks to Jackie O. for taking all these pictures and sending then to me.

Booster Seat

Jenny O needed a booster seat for her granddaughter so, she made one. She used PUL fabric. That's Poly Urethane Laminate. It is knit on one side and laminated with water proofing on the other. Perfect for spills that happen at the dinner table.

Based on this smile, I think Avery likes it!

She started with a 4-patch for the top and sides.

She covered a large piece of foam and inserted a zipper in the side so it can be removed to launder.

On the bottom, she put this non-skid material so the cushion won't slide off the chair.  Isn't this nice? And to think, my poor kids had to sit on an upside down soup pot.

Workshop by the gals from Modern Quilt Relish

The Des Moines Quilt Guild will sponsor a workshop on January 27, 9 am to 4 pm, featuring Jill Guffy and Marny Buck of Modern Quilt Relish. 

They will discuss how value and contrast play a key role in the modern aesthetic. The full day workshop will be spent exploring properties of value, balance and negative space. 

Following two block recipes from their new book, Quilts du Jour, students will analyze choices and create placement strategies with both solid and print fabrics. The book’s settings menu offers endless combinations to make it your own design. New alternative settings to complete your in class block/table runner projects included!

Cost: $50

Please email or call Lisa Zbylicki (zbylicki@mchsi.com; 222-9582) or Judi Smith (judismith2417@mac.com; 225-2678) if you have any questions.

Long Arm Machine for sale

Dianne Corny from Spirit Lake has a 10 year old APQS Liberty machine for sale. If you are interested, call Dianne at 712-320-3348.

All Iowa Shop Hop 2016 Fabrics

Here are the basic pieces for the 2016 All Iowa Shop Hop fabric. There are several coordinates coming from several fabric vendors. These fabrics are scheduled to deliver to quilt shops in May.

I don't know about you but I love, love, love this year's choices.

New Stuff

I just took a little tour around the shop. Here are a few new things I don't think we've shown you yet.

We've had several requests recently for neutral flannels so, here's a new grouping.

Going in the complete opposite direction, a couple fun brights in cotton.

These are even prettier in person with rich black background.

And this is just fun.

Remember the barn panel? Here it comes again but with covered bridges instead of barns.

Here is a close up of the coordinating scattered print, great for the back. We have not even made a shop sample yet but we know it will go quickly.

Ready for a new Strip Club Quilt?

A brand new Strip Club projects starts February 1. This year, we are featuring Cathedral by Villa Rosa Designs.

We have two color-way choices. Above is Fall Batiks. Lonnie made the samples and did just a few blocks to show the intent of this color-way. This is a good sampling of the fabrics and all of the centers will be this same gold sparkle.

Lonnie also made this shop sample. This is the full quilt but folded in half. It is shown in red, cream and blue. We are offering options for the center color on this one.

Strippers may substitute green for the blue, thus making a Christmas quilt or substitute dark tan for the blue, thus making a red, cream and tan quilt.

This project will run through September and is just $10 a month. Each month, pick up a packet (or have us ship) of pre-cut strips and instructions to make blocks. Pre-cut binding strips are also included in the fee.

This quilt finishes 66" x 82" making it a twin size. You can add borders to make it a full or queen size quilt.

Drop by or give us a call to register. We have just one rule for this Strip Club that we never bend - - - keep your clothes on!

Open Sew Progress

It was another pleasant couple days at Open Sew this week.

We stitched in the conference room while the Adel Library celebrated it's 10th anniversary in the new building.

Part of the celebration includes an exhibit of local artist, on display throughout the library and includes several quilts by Quilt Circle member, Janet Volz.

On to our Open Sew progress show and tell. You may recall, this past 12 months or so, Quilt Circle of Friends has been exchanging snowball quilt blocks. The exchange is now complete and it's on to creating quilts with our blocks.

 Celia set her snowball blocks together with out any fancy accouterments. She just let the variety of colors, collected from a variety of quilters, speak for themselves. Celia likes to use a fleece blanket for her backing to make quilts that are both pretty and snugly.

Marti set her snowball blocks together, alternating with Irish chain blocks, to create this wonderful secondary design. She finished up the binding at Open Sew.

Watch for more of our Snowball Block Exchange quilts. They will be featured here and at our outdoor quilt show in June.

 

Sherry got a jump on Christmas 2016, whipping up this little dimensional pinwheel runner.

I recently bought an inexpensive little Brother to take to quilting events like this. It has some stitches my good Pfaff does not so, I practiced doing the machine applique on hand towels, featuring several designs from The Wooden Bear.

Nancy made a Jelly Roll Race quilt for a granddaughter. Rather than use pre-cut 2 1/2" strips, though, she cut strips 3 1/2" from her personal stash.

After finishing her snowball quilt, Celia moved on to this little Valentine runner. Really sweet.

Here is a close up. The hearts are two-sided with fusible web. Then they are top-stitched down the center to the quilt. 

Janet worked on this quilt. She calls it her Open Sew quilt. This week marked the 4th Open Sew she has brought this project to work on. Her consistency paid off as the center is in one piece now. Beautiful!

Spring Quilt Retreat this way comes!

We are now accepting registration for a brand new Spring Ladies of the Lake quilt retreat. Many of you annually attend our fall retreats and have requested a spring retreat so, here we go!

The spring retreat dates are April 28, 29 and 30. Register now with just a $35 deposit. See more details on our website under the Classes and Events tab.

Our project quilt will be TV Dinner as shown below. The project is optional, of course. You may also just want to bring a big basket of unfinished projects and go to town. We support that as well.

This quilt is from Modern Quilt Relish and comes in either a throw size (shown) or queen size. The pattern is called TV Dinner.
Our sample was pieced by Carol Piziali and quilted by Jessie Zeigler. Stunning in mostly batiks and available by pattern or kit.

Darlene's Show and Share

My quilting friend and mentor, Darlene Thompson, brought in these little quilts to show me.

She used up some stash, combining these pretty floral prints. Notice, as with all of Darlene's quilts, this is hand quilted. It really makes a nice bright spot on these gloomy January days in Iowa.

Darlene also has fun creating picturesque landscape quilts. Very creative. Thanks for sharing, Darlene!