Quilt Circle April Meeting

After a few minutes of catching up and sharing quilt news, it was around the circle we go, Quilt Circle of Friends, that is.

Abbie and Sue have been part of a book study group that involved reading this book, Just in Time by Marie Bostwick, and making the quilt that goes along with it.

Here is Abbie's quilt. It's not done yet as she plans to add pieced borders for a larger quilt.

And here is Sue's, done and quilted. 

Jackie, and some of her high school classmates, are making 12 Quilts of Valor to present at their 50th class reunion. Here is one.

Jackie, Nancy and Joyce all worked together to make a bunch of these receiving blankets for a church fund raiser in Pella. Due to a family death, production on the blankets had stopped so, these three stepped in to help get the blankets done in time.

 

Flo showed us her "charming" quilt top.

I showed several little things I finished up for our sale during the outdoor quilt show, June 15. This is our annual fund raiser for the Adel Library.

Lonnie showed this rug, made from strips of fabric and batting plus a whole spool of thread.

Bonnie showed this darling little quilt made for her by friend Marti. As always with these two, there is more to the story!

Kathy brought a guest, her mother Deanna who recently moved to Adel. We hope she becomes a regular member because, as you can see, Quilt Circle is a hoot!

Sue and Abbie showed a couple more quilts to be donated to Warrior Wagons.

Abbie is also sharing parts of her next quilt made on the embroidery sewing machine. This will be fun to watch grow.

Niki didn't bring anything to show but she had a hilarious story to share!  It had to do with a grandson, innocently jeering the opposing team, the Bees -  - - "Booo-Bees" over and over.

Here is Lonnie's Solar Flare. Stunning!

Things are really starting to come in for our library fund raiser. Nancy took home this little applique' piece and made it into a cute pillow.

She also showed us the next block in the grand baby quilt she is making.

Here is Nancy's King size Pineapple quilt! Now, that's a scrap quilt.

Margaret showed this baby quilt made by her church group. It's one of many they have made for a charity they do for Blank Hospital and for members of their congregation that might need a quilt hug.

These three quilts will be wall hangings. They match the quilt Trish made for her new grand baby coming next month.

Trish also shared this great guide for making half square triangles. Lay it on the sewing machine to use as a stitch guide instead of marking lines on the fabric.

Theresa showed us the block she made in class, hand applique' with back basting, taught by Bonnie.

She also showed us two quilts, found in her mother's storage, that got to come home with her.

This one has a special story. It was made for a great-uncle who never made it home from the war after being reported missing in action for 5 years and later identified as a prisoner of war. There is DNA testing going on now that might finally bring him home.

Kathy showed us the 7 quilts she made from one layer cake so far. There is one more to come. All of these will be donated to the library fund raiser.

Nancy found this cute pillow in a box of donation fabric and gave it to us for our library fund raiser.

Marti shared a great story of a Quilt of Valor presentation in Pittsburg she was part of. 

Flo showed us her 3rd pattern featuring the timber animal panels from the Moda'sThicket line by Gingiber. 

These are mats donated for the library fund raiser from Penny White, a former member who was passing through Adel today and dropped these off.

We were intrigued by his idea, cutting a panel and jogging the rows to make a bargello.

I was very proud to share this quilt I framed for my own living room. The pineapple block was a special gift from spring retreat attendees with each contributing a piece of fabric for Nancy J to piece. Very special to me. Thank you so much to all.

Flo made this great collage cow. She helped me do a brief demo on this process for the group. 

After drawing for a few prizes, the group helped taste test the bonbons I'm making for the Tasters Mystery Tour next week.

Terri's Cross

Terri B was requested to make this quilt as a gift for her pastor who happens to like blue. Nice.

Open Sew Pics

Here's a few pictures from Open Sew on Friday. The bigger group was there on Saturday but, the gal taking the pictures was not!

Sheryl finished this denim quilt.

Flo was experimenting with a new piecing and cutting technique. I'm sure we will see more of this.

Nancy was cutting - - - 

Bonnie was hand quilting.

And, it was Bonnie's birthday so Marti brought her a birthday cake.

It was another fun day, sewing with friends.

Need a quilter?

Need a long arm quilter to help finish your tops?

We have a couple of machine quilters dropping off and picking up right here at the shop:

Julia Swallow of Dancing Threads is available for edge to edge with some custom work. You can stop by and visit with her in the shop nearly any Monday. Maybe call the week before to make sure she is on the schedule. Reach her at 515-833-2906.

Also, we have a new pick up/drop off agreement with Lynette Heetland of Hugs and Stitches.

Simply drop your quilt off here and Lynette will pick it up and return it here within 2 weeks. We have her design notebook on file to help you pick quilt styles and thread color. There is also the option of calling Lynette for more detail.

April Drawing

We have a winner for our April drawing. DENISE BIRNEY!

Come in and pick up your prize, Denise, a fun kit valued at $28.00.

hmmmm

Ever have one of these days?

New 2019 Iowa Fabric!

What's your favorite piece?  All of them, you say?

Dashed stitches, two great blenders - one in white and one in black.

These pieces celebrate the bike trails of Iowa in 3 colors.

Each panel has 1 large state of Iowa motif and 2 small ones.  All of he selvages have sayings about Iowa - Tall Corn State - Is this Heaven, No it's Iowa - Field of opportunities - Thankful for my Iowa Roots - and so on.

These pieces list the names of all of the Iowa Quilt Shops participating in the AISH, June 1-30, 2019.

We have 1 bolt of each piece in the line plus extras bolts of the dashed stitches in both black and white.

In May, we look forward to the new AISH magazine that promises to be full of patterns to use with this fabric.

Seredipity Fabric Dyeing

Maggie Howe did a great job, as always, of teaching fabric dyeing in our front yard Saturday. Students died fabric, using all kinds of organic components.

I peeked over student, Nancy Sharr's shoulder as she placed raspberries, sawdust and other organic sprinkles on her fabric base and rolled it up.

Then, to help get the interaction started, she smooshed it all together with a rolling pin. She tied it with string to get a desired striping and now has to wait 3 weeks for the process to be complete. No peeking! We plan to post an unveiling here in 3 weeks. Check back.

OOOOPEN Sew

It's that time again, time to gather with friends at the Adel Library for a couple days of sewing. Drop in for any part of Thursday and Friday this week to join us. Doors open at 10 am each day and close after the last stitch is made!

On Friday, I plan to bring this large layered salad to share. This is a recipe I saw recently in the Adel Living Magazine:

Prize Winners!

THANK YOU to all who came out for the Spring Shop Hop Scavenger Hunt last weekend. Shop owners met to draw for prizes, a $75 value basket of goodies, one from each shop plus 1 Grand Prize, a $50 gift certificate from each shop. That's right, one lucky person won 8 - $50 gift certificates!

The winners of the $75 gift baskets are:

From Adel Quilting - Eileen Hodgson, Urbandale

From Off the Rails, Bondurant - Ellen Rynning, Johnston

From Woodside Quilting - Carole Voss, Ames

From The Quilt Block - Marcy Bugge, Des Moines

From Quilt Connection - Betty Mansfield, Maxwell

From Block Party Studio - Rhonda Kutcher, Ames

From Creekside Quilting - Carol Mather, Nevada

From The Quilt Cupboard - Vicki Speed, Sheldahl

Congratulations to all. Stop by the shop that drew your name (as listed above) and pick up your prize!

And the Grand Prize of 8 - $50 Gift Certificates:

Gwen Tabor, Van Meter. Congratulations, Gwen. You can expect to receive a $50 gift certificate from each of the 8 participating shops by mail in the next few days.

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Beef!

Texas trip

My sister Dawn and I flew to Texas last week to visit relatives. This was just the start of a great trip.

The first day, we visited Texas Tulips, a tulip farm in north Dallas.

Pictures don't do justice to the rows and rows of beautiful tulips. 

This is a bouquet we picked for our next stop - - cousin Judy's.

That evening we had dinner with cousins Judy and Susan. Son Gabe, also a Dallas area resident, and his girlfriend Brooke joined us for the evening.

The next day was a cousins trip to Waco to visit the home of Fixer Upper, Magnolia. Here we are outside of Magnolia Table where we put our name on a 3 hour waiting list and then went shopping.

This is the waiting line for the bakery. It looks like a long wait but really was not. These folks do a great job of crowd management and the cupcakes were worth the wait. Notice the silos in the background. There is actually nothing for the public in the silos.

Here's a sample of the great crowd control. Waiting and it's rainy? Grab an umbrella. We were fortunate to be there on a sunny day.

I'm sure, because of the tourism Magnolia brings to town, there are lots of other great shops. We enjoyed shopping at the Findery.

We drove by Clint Harps workshop and then stopped at Jimmy Don's workshop. For those of you not familiar with the HGTV show Fixer Upper, these guys are the carpenter and iron artist featured on the show. Jimmy Don pulled up while we were there and worked the crowd a bit. Here he is with cousin Judy.

The next day, on our way back to Dallas, we stopped at this gas station in West, TX, known for their kolaches.

And we stopped at Homestead Heritage to tour, shop and have lunch. If you look closely, you will see a road runner we spotted cutting across the lawn.
Homestead Heritage is an agrarian- and craft-based intentional Christian community. Its literature stresses simplicity, sustainability, self-sufficiency, cooperation, service and quality craftsmanship.

Our last day, we spent some quality family time with Gabe and Brooke. It was a great trip. I thank my sister for being a great travel companion, our Dallas family for being such gracious hostesses and the shop gals for covering things back home.

One more day!

Just one more day of the Spring Scavenger Hunt Shop Hop! Discounts - Demos and Prizes.

With the purchase of this Jelly Roll, get a free pattern for this quilt.  The entire top and binding come from just one Jelly Roll! Thank you to Jenny O for making us this shop sample and Deb S for quilting it.

This weekend!

Sew much to do in Adel:

• Fabric dyeing class Saturday morning. Taught by Maggie Howe from Prairieland Herbs. All class supplies provided to dye 2 pieces for class fee of $45. Go home from class with your own unique, hand-dyed silk scarf and a fat quarter.

• Also this weekend- Our annual spring event, Scavenger Hunt Shop Hop! More shops, more prizes. New this year, just 1 question to answer at each shop.

Adel Quilting

Creekside Quilting

The Quilt Block

Woodside Quilting

Off the Rails

Quilters Cupboard

Quilt Connection

Block Party Studio

Shop Hop hours are:
Thursday, 10 am to 7 pm
Friday, 10 am to 5 pm
Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm

See addresses on the website, adelquilting.com

Pick up a Scavenger Hunt form with driving directions at any shop.

Holy Cow!

I just love this. It's a collage quilt by Flo W. The size is 16" x 20"