Just home - - -

Just home from a great birthday adventure with this crew to the Minneapolis Mega Mall and the St Paul Children's Museum. Below is kind of a before and after of our trip.

Remember all you Purple Baggers - Come in this week and use MY birthday discount - 20% off one item.

Now I've got some catching up to do! I'll post the Chocolate Walk prize winners soon!

A gift ---

Jenny o. made this for her daughter in law's birthday gift. She used our panel, Family Rules, added a border and then traced and appliqued the hands of her daughter in law, son and their two children  in each corner. So sweet.

Purple Bag Quilter Special!

Are you a Purple Bag Quilter? Then come in this week - May 9 through May through May 14, and use MY birthday discount - 20% off one regularly priced item.

And - if you are not a Purple Bag Quilter, this is a great time to join. Our Purple Shopping bag is just $4.95. Bring it in when you shop and each time, enter our monthly drawing. Plus you will be eligible for these surprise pop-up specials!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Mother's Day!

My sister and I share the same birthday, twins 2 years apart. Sometimes it falls on Mother's Day as it did the year this picture was taken.

Based on my height (girl in white) you might guess I am the older one but, you would be wrong!

This is a favorite memory of mine as the crosages we are wearing were from my father. You can tell he picked them out himself as mom would not have ordered flowers for us two girls that were almost as big as our heads.  I'll never forget how special I felt that day.

Mom did, however make all three of the dresses in this picture. I miss her.

Comfort Quilt

As many of you know, we collect 9-patch blocks by color to have on hand for comfort quilts. Lorna C. recently requested blocks for a friend at work with pancreatic cancer. I had these pink blocks on hand so she added the heart blocks and made this comfort quilt. Comfort quilts are a comfort to everyone involved, aren't they?

Thank you to all who contribute these blocks. May the recipient feel the love and caring thoughts stitched in  as she snuggles under it. Nice job, Lorna.

It's here!

The spring 2016 Quilt Sampler!! Hurry in to get your copy. They go quickly.

Crisis Intervention Center request - -

Dear Supporters:

Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center (CIAC) responds to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and homelessness in Adair, Adams, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Guthrie, Madison, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties. The Center offers a safe, supportive, non-judgmental environment in which victim/survivors can receive support, explore options, set priorities, and make decisions as they begin their healing journey. The Center’s philosophy is to empower victim/survivors to claim or take back their right to make their own decisions. 

All of our services are free, voluntary and confidential.  As a 501c3 non-profit organization, we rely on federal and state grants, fundraising and community contributions only.  We hold an annual garage/bake sale fundraiser in Dallas County each summer to raise money so we may continue to serve victims/survivors in your community.  Our sale will be held on June 9^th, 10^th and 11^th at the Dallas County Fairgrounds in Adel, Iowa.

We are asking you to contribute baked goods to our bake sale.  Items we have found that customers enjoy the most are homemade pies, cookies, cupcakes, bars and breads.  You may commit to donating as many items as you wish on the enclosed flyer.  Please return the flyer in the envelope enclosed.  All baked goods may be delivered to the Dallas County Fairgrounds in Adel, Iowa on Wednesday, June 8^th or the morning of either June 9^th or 10^th.  All donations are tax deductible.

 

If you have questions, please contact me at 515-993-4095 ext. 201 or megan@ciac91.org.  Thank you.

Together we can make a difference,

Megan Hockemeier

Volunteer Coordinator

Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center

P.O. Box 40, Adel, Iowa 50003

Office: 515-993-4095 Ext. 201

Spring Quilt Retreat Day 3

One of the most fun parts of retreat is helping each other. Several weighed on the arrangement of Nancy S's blocks in this Turning Twenty quilt.

Nancy S has also been making wallets and she brought these to show. She will be teaching this class in West Des Moines. We will post more details when we have them. Perfect little graduation gift to hold a check for the graduate. The inside boasts credit card pockets, zipper pocket and a large pocket for dollar bills as well as a pen holder.

Val and Carolyn came together and are standing here by some of the equipment that was spread throughout the room

By Day 3, quilt tops are really starting to come together. This was a really interesting project that Janet D. was working on. In each star, half of the units are covered with black tulle. This effect is called shading. You don't really see the tulle but it adds a lot of color dimension to the quilt.

This is a quilt Valerie M. started many moons ago. It has been a very good teaching quilt for Val. By the end of retreat, she had all of the Seminole borders pieced and ready to stitch to this Double Irish Chain quilt. It will be a beauty when she finishes up.

This is not the first retreat that Lois has brought this batik beauty out to work on and it won't be the last. So fun to watch it grow and worth the wait!

Lonnie is packed and ready to head out. Some of the gals brought enough equipment and supplies with them to require a small moving van. We love our tools!

We had a great time and I want to thank all the folks at the Lake Panorama Clover Ridge Conference Center, Gayla Wasson for the great massages she delivered and all of our retreat guests for a very nice weekend of stitching. Shall we do this again next spring?

Spring Retreat - T Shirt quilts

There was a lot of T-Shirt quilts coming together at this retreat. Tis the season. 

We are considering doing a retreat next spring including a lecture on T-Shirt quilts. Send me an email if you might be interested.

Here are two t-shirt quilt Abbie A. has just finished up. Nice, right?

Another by Abbie for a granddaughter that loves Monster High. This is not a t-shirt quilt because no t-shirts were cut up for the making of this quilt. It has the same feel, though. Abbie couldn't find Monster High fabric so she bought sheets and cut them up. Good job! One lucky little girl will get this quilt.The striped flange in the binding is really a nice touch as well.

Sue R. got this one put together at retreat featuring camo fabric and bright orange, a special request. Looks great.

Nancy J. worked on these two quilts for twin graduating sisters. Cute.

More fun things to do in Adel this weekend!

While you are in Adel for the Chocolate Walk on Saturday, check out this great plant sale!

Spring Retreat Day 1

Carolyn S. finished this Thimbleberries quilt top. Really nice and she was so happy to call it done!

These two quilts that Carolyn is making for her sons and sons-in-law. She will be making a total of 5. Won't they love these?

This is a mystery quilt put together by Janet D. You never know how a mystery quilt will turn out but Janet really liked this one! Cute.

 Valerie M. brought a couple of quilts to show, made at post retreats (above) and in a series of classes in the shop (below).

Very nice.

We have a couple winners!

Jennifer Buttolph is the winner of our Block Stock basket. Jennifer wins a basket full of goodies valued at $75.

Also, our monthly drawing for the Purple Bag Quilters goes to Kimberly Scott!  Kimberly wins a Dream Quilter's Batt.

Congratulations, gals!

Spring Ladies of the Lake Quilt Retreat

It was another great gathering of quilters and friends. Here is the first post. There will be more coming!

Given our retreat theme, "Holy Scrap!" JoAnne S. offered to do a presentation about organizing our scraps. She shared how she cuts and organizes by size and then uses these pieces to put together donation scrap quilts.

This is a series of lap quilt tops JoAnne has put together from her scrap collection. These will be finished and donated to a variety of charitable organizations.

JoAnne completed her presentation by teaching us this block, Scrappy Trips by Bonnie Hunter. This block is made from 6,
2 1/2" x 15 1/2" strips, sew together in a tube and then un-sewn to stagger and arrange into this block.

Our retreats always include a charitable quilt project. We ask each to bring a variety of 2 1/2" x 15 1/2" strips of red, white and blues. Then we all shared and each made a few Scrappy Trips blocks.

As blocks were made, they were laid down. It was fun to watch our quilt grow.

I brought these blocks home and we plan to put it together for a Quilt of Valor. The work of many hands - - - - 

Our out-of-state kids

Gabe flew in from Texas and I drove over to Chicago to meet up with Brook for a weekend. Here we are at the Chicago Cubs, my first trip to Wrigley. It was fun, even the beer spilled by the not-so-sober girl behind us. Part of the whole event, right?

More new stuff

These two bolts are just in from Dear Stella, one of our favorite designers.

 Here are the critters clothes. We ironed fusible fleece to the wrong side of this fabric and then cut the little clothing items out, just like paper doll clothes.

Here is a closeup of the little critters. We quilted a rectangle of this for a childs floor mat. See below.

Here is a close up of a couple of the critters, dressed in their new clothes. Hours of fun for the little ones.

New Shop Sample

Lonnie made this "guys quilt" just in time for Father's Day! This is a quick and inexpensive kit because the brown rectangles are all cut from a layer cake packet (pre-cut 10" squares). We added a few green rectangles to match the border.

This close-up shows the flannel backing. I bet you know a guy that needs this quilt!

Sunday Sewday

This past Sunday was a beautiful day for some yard day but I also finished up the last two blocks for our Grunge Sampler Block of the Month.

I hope to have the finished quilt ready to show you in the next couple of weeks.

April Quilt Circle of Friends

 We had another great gathering in our Quilt Circle of Friends this week. Let's start with series of pictures of projects we are working on to sell at our outdoor quilt show in June. This is our annual fund raiser for the local library.

Barb made this little quilt from the strips and squares she won in our quilters poker game at our holiday party. It will make a great little dolly blanket for some little one.

Deb made these adorable pin cushions from small tea cup and saucer sets (above) and a basket (below).

Lonnie made this purse to donate to our fund raiser, the Twist and Shout bag.

Nancy took this stack of blocks home from our donation box and made this little quilt to put in our sale.

Joyce "shopped local", finishing up bits and pieces from her own stash to make these two donation quilts - above and below

Theresa took home two of the woven mats that Sue Denny donated and finished them up with binding.

This was another of Sue's donated mats, a pin weaving using ribbon. I stitched it into a travel bag with pockets inside and a zipper across the top.

Nancy took home these 4 blocks from our donation box and made this runner. She "de-constructed" one of the blocks to use in the runner triangle ends.

She also finished up this runner from her own stash (above) and made a pillow (below) from a block she found in our donation box.

 Marti did not actually volunteer to take this box of pieced triangles home to create something with but, she did ask to look at them and we just never took them back. We can look forward to what she makes with these!

Next is a couple pictures from members that have received comfort blocks from the club.

 These gals made quilts from the Comfort Blocks QC members made for them. Lonnie (above) when her mother passed and Nancy (below) when her father passed. 

Then there was our regular show and share - - - 

Barb just finished this big beauty.

Deb has a family birth coming and made this non-gender specific quilt for a gift.

This is a quilt top that was donated to Deb's non-profit, Iowa Comfort Quilts. The quilt top was pieced by member Joyce S. and Deb quilted it. Now it goes back to Joyce for binding and then back to Deb to deliver. 

Lonnie shared this "found and finished" quilt. She "found" it in her own sewing stash and now, it is done! Very nice and will look great on her round table.

Another fun quilt Lonnie finished up this month.

These are turtle blocks that Joyce's mother made. Joyce brought them home and made them into a quilt for grandchildren.

Another finished up by Joyce above and yet another below! I think we have all been busy getting things done before the winter is officially over.

You may have seen this one before but now it is all quilted. If you could see it close-up, you would notice the each row features animal print fabric, same as the animal in that row - - sheep prints in the row with the lamb, pig prints in the row with the pig - etc. So cute.

Celia has fun finishing up little projects like this.

And how pretty is this? The back is one of Celia's signature fleece blankets making it extra snugly.


Our youngest member, Madelyn, has not been sewing much because she has been busy being a teenager. She shared this picture of herself and a friend at the Adel prom last weekend. Such pretty dresses on these pretty girls!

Lorna has been busy with her 60 degree ruler, making these table runners from border print fabric - above and below.

She also finished up this lovely French Braid quilt.

Bonnie offered apologies for not working on her Get Er Done quilt but she has good reason. She has been making these seat pads for her grandsons boat.

We closed the evening with a demo of the pattern, Basket Lattice  by  Sheri Pape. It is an interesting piecing technique of building vertical rows and using partial seams.

After a quick cookie, we called it an evening, another special one spent in our Quilt Circle of Friends.

Special thanks to Jackie O for taking pics and sending them to me for posting.