Charity Quilt Sew-In

For several years, the January meeting of The Whacky Ladies quilt bee has been devoted to making charity quilts for Capital Quilters Guild in Raleigh, NC.  Sometimes we bring our own UFO's or other projects to work on.  The easiest way is to pick up some kits prepared by the various charity groups of the guild.  The quilts go to neonatal units of local hospitals, rest homes, a shelter for abused children, and other worthy charities.

Thursday was the day to meet at our member Donna's shop, Whatever's Quilted, in its new location at Capital Plaza, 11829 Retail Dr, Wake Forest, NC. 

Donna is not only a long arm quilter, but sells HandiQuilter machines and accessories, 108" wide backing fabric in a rainbow of colors, and lots of other threads, gadgets and notions for quilters.

I arrived late due to a dentist appointment in the morning.  I brought my some of my own fabric to cut in an attempt to do some stash-busting.  Donna offered to show my how to cut five-inch squares on the Accu-Cut die-cut machine.

First, I needed to iron the fabric.  Another new gadget:  the Elna steam-press!

This was very easy to use.  Just lay your fabric across the table, lower the top, and wait until it chirps!

After my fabric was nicely steam-pressed,  Donna showed me how to use the 5" die cutter on the big Accu-Quilt Studio Cutter machine.

This model is larger and more heavy-duty than the smaller model machine.  It can cut through ten layers.  I ended up with hundreds of five-inch squares, perfectly cut in just minutes!

Donna sells both the steam press and the Accu-Quilt machines.

The other ladies had a head start on me, and were almost finished with several tops by the time I finished cutting my squares.  Here are Marilyn, Carolyn, and Lori working on their projects in the back of the shop.

Marilyn's kit featured a farm animal print in a streak-of-lightning pattern.

Donna worked on one of the machines she sells at the front of the shop, so she could keep an eye on things.

Lori was working on a stripy quilt with white sashing.

Lori also finished this Superman panel quilt top, which only needed borders to finish.

Donna was working on this scrappy strip quilt.  She used some of the leftover pieces from the fabric I cut in between the strawberry and floral fabrics.

I didn't sew anything in the shop, but have lots of cut squares to work on at home.  

We each brought something to contribute for lunch.  Mine were salads from Whole Foods, which I purchased on the way to Wake Forest from the dentist office.  It was a wonderful day with good friends, food, and fabrics!

Quilts from the Whacky Ladies

My quilt bee meeting of The Whacky Ladies was fun and inspirational on Thursday night.  I was so proud that most of our show-and-tell quilts are destined to become charity quilts, mostly for the programs of Capital Quilters Guild of Raleigh.

However, the star of the show was this lovely log cabin top pieced by Irene Hardister and several other women for a raffle at St. Catherine's church.  I think they are going to hand-quilt it.  It is just perfection!

Lori has purchased a long-arm, and quilted many tops that she has been storing up for practice.  She and Carolyn worked on the nine-patch quilts at our charity sew-in day in January.

 She also made some of those stack-and-slash nine-patch quilts for charity.

This was my favorite of Lori's quilts.

Mary delighted Irene by making a tote bag for her.  Irene had chosen a tote bag from Mary as her gift in our "Dirty Santa" Christmas exchange.  Some mean person had stolen it away from her when it was her turn.  Not mentioning any names, but it made a great beach bag a couple of weekends ago!  Irene loved her new bag.  And I could not take it away from her this time!

Not sure why my pics are turning sideways today.  So sorry!

Mary also finished the charity quilt that I quilted for her, and it looks great with that striped binding.

Mary made this gorgeous quilt from a large piece of botanical fabric.  Wow!

Carolyn has found that a good way to keep her motivated is to participate in block-of-the-month projects from LQS Wish Upon a Quilt in Raleigh.  The red and white big blocks are looking very impressive.

She is also doing a batik block-of-the-month from them in a smaller block.

Marilyn was knitting a prayer shawl.  These are given to church members at Good Hope Lutheran church when there is a need.

I had a show-and-tell, but can't show it until after today.  We are going to a party to celebrate my daughter-in-law's thirtieth birthday this afternoon.  Should be a fun time!  It is also my oldest son's birthday, #35.    Happy Birthday Bryson, and Happy Birthday Emily! 

Whacky Ladies Sew-In Day

Today was a day of fun and fellowship for the Whacky Ladies, my local quilt bee.  For three years in a row, our January meeting has been a sew-in day to make charity quilts to donate to Capital Quilters Guild.  The guild donates to neonatal intensive care units, rest home residents, children whose families are in a program for  prevention of child abuse, and other worthy causes.

Instead of meeting at Quilts Like Crazy, our LQS, we met at Donna Sontag's new storefront business, Whatever's Quilted.  Donna was formerly housed at Quilts Like Crazy, but has moved just down the street at 1318-156 S. Main St. in Wake Forest, NC.  Donna offers both hand-guided and computerized longarm quilting service, and also is a dealer for Handi-Quilter machines.  She will even train you to use the machines and then rent them to you to quilt your own projects.



 Donna showed us the raffle quilt for the Carolina Longarm Association's next show.  She did a fabulous job using both computerized and hand-guided quilting.

Many members contributed green fabrics and helped piece the quilt top, which has Tree of Life blocks with an applique vine in the outer border.

Donna cleverly extended the outline of the vine into the plain parts of the border.

The alternate blocks have a beautiful feathered design.

She will turn it in at the CLA meeting in Greensboro on Saturday for someone else to bind.

Another show-and-tell was this amazing American Flag quilt top that Kathy Miller and a group of women are working on for the Veteran's Administration Hospital.  It will be used when there is a death of a patient, to respectfully honor and cover the body when it is being moved.  Much nicer than draping a white sheet, yes?  It will be quilted and donated.

Mary made a quilt at home and donated it to the guild.  I think it will be perfect for a Safechild quilt with its happy colors and frog motif.

On to today's projects!  I went through a stack of my UFO's and handed them out.  Marilyn finished a top made from a pattern in Quilts From Aunt Amy.  It is made from muted Civil War reproduction fabrics.  It has free-hand circles cut into quarters, then sewn together with raw edge remaining.  Once it is quilted and washed, the edges will fray, making a ruffled look.  I think this will be great for a rest-home resident as it will have a tactile quality.

Kathy took some of my 5-inch cut squares and made this joyous quilt top for a child.

Two years ago, I made a Yellow Brick Road quilt for Quilts on Wheels, and had lots of leftover blocks and partial blocks.  Mary put those together along with some other fabrics that I cut up for her as needed. 

Lori also dove into her UFO (Un-Finished Object) pile and came up with enough blocks for two quilts.  She made one and Carolyn made the other.  They both have nine-patch and alternate blocks in a scrappy design.

Sharon came late and started putting together a top from some orphan blocks of mine.  Donna got out her quilt tops from our meeting two years ago, and got them started on her computerized machine during our get-together.

It is so much fun to work on these projects together.  In just a few hours we made a lot of quilt tops which will later warm their recipients, body and soul.

Whacky Ladies Quilt Bee- More Charity Quilts finished

Last night the Whacky Ladies met at Mary's house.  Several people brought the completed quilts that they started at our Sew-in Day in January.  It is so much fun to see these projects rolling in!

Irene tackled a hand-quilted patchwork Trip Around the World that we found in my friend Marcia's mother's stash.  It was too small to be used as a baby quilt, so she had to figure out how to add quilted borders.  Mary had the perfect fabric to make a border for the front side.

The back has a colorful map, so Irene devised a scrappy border in bright colors.

I think it turned out to be a delightful quilt!  This will be donated to the Capital Quilters' Guild Quilts for Kids programs.  These are donated to neo-natal intensive care nurseries, or sometimes other worthy causes.

Mary finished the frog fabric quilt that she started at the Sew-In.

How cute is that with those fun frogs leaping around?

At the meeting, Kathy brought a bag of fabrics donated by her church members to make charity quilts.  One of the "fabrics" was actually an indigo African dashiki-style shirt.  Mary cut it up and made this fabulous quilt.

I am honored to be part of such a talented and generous group of quilters!

First Panto Quilt in about Six Years

Okay, so it's back to quilting this week.  Last year I volunteered to quilt a large number of donated quilt tops and backs for the Quilts on Wheels program at Capital Quilters Guild.  I finished thirty!  But the last group of donated tops that I brought home had a problem.  Most of the quilt backings were not large enough to mount the quilt on the longarm.  When you are quilting by hand or by domestic sewing machine, you can get away with the same size or a slightly larger backing.  That won't work when you have to pin the backing to the leaders of a longarm.  I like to have four inches of backing fabric on each side, if possible.


Monday, I spent the afternoon adding eight-inch strips to the bottoms and sides of at least five quilt backings.  None match.  All are now big enough to load up, though!

I also got the binding made and applied by machine to the little blue baby quilt. Navy blue seemed to work the best.   I have it hemmed about a third of the way around.  That's a chore I can do in front of the TV.  Or maybe at my quilt bee on Thursday night.

So, on Tuesday, I decided to start with a St. Patrick's Day theme top,  which might get delivered to a nursing home in time for the March holiday.  Or given to somebody Irish.  Or just someone who likes the color green.

This top was very nicely pieced.  Sorry I don't know the piecer- many quilters just drop off their finished tops anonymously at the guild meetings.That  narrow little border is a striped fabric.  The shamrock border has little lady bugs.

I had the thing all mounted and ready to begin.  I always do free-motion quilting from the front of the machine.  I put in the needle, brought up the bobbin thread, pushed the "go" button...and nothing happened.

Huh?

The light was on, the single-stitch button on the left worked, but the switch on the right handle must have died or shorted out.

I was beginning to think it might be time to spend the afternoon cleaning the sewing room.

Nah.

On the newer Gammills, it is easy to change a switch.  Pull off the cap, pull out the old switch, plug in the new.

On mine, you have to solder the new switch to the wires.  That's a job for Duh-Hubby. I mean Dear Sweet Husband.

Then, I had the brilliant idea that I could do a pantograph pattern from the back end of the machine.  A quick check showed that both switches worked on the back.

Hmmm...what pantograph to use?  Pantos are large rolls of paper that have quilting patterns you can follow with a stylus.  You can lay out the pattern the whole length of the twelve-foot table.  I have a laser stylus that projects a little red dot on the pattern.

I thought, well, I haven't done one in six years.  It doesn't matter which pattern.  I need the practice!  So, with this leafy green quilt, I pulled out the first one that had leaves in the title.  It's by Linda Taylor, and I remember that I chose it for my friend Cathy Carter's quilt.

What was I thinking?  This pattern requires two passes for each roll.  It takes forever!  Look at all that stitching!  It looks like a lovely texture now that it is done.

When I got ready to start, I realized that I had removed the Style-Laser from the side of the machine years ago.  It is mounted near the thread cone, and I didn't see any need for it to possibly get in the way of my thread path.

Guess what?  I remembered where I put it, but it was in pieces.  I tried to put it back together.  Somehow, something was missing.  I couldn't figure out how to keep the stylus from slipping out.

No problem- about six inches of clear packing tape took care of that problem!

I remembered why I dislike doing pantos.  It's kind of boring, sort of like tracing a line for several hours. And sometimes I get seasick doing a long row on a big quilt. And sometimes the thread breaks, but since the needle is on the other end of the machine, sometimes you don't notice and keep on stitching with no thread.

Also, I have this directionality problem.  A couple times I lost my way on this complicated pattern and double-stitched.  If this was a customer quilt, I would be frogging today.  (Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it out) but for a rest home wheelchair quilt,  I think it will be okay.

The backing is a light green and white stripe, although it looks gray in the photo.  I do like the sculptural look of the quilting.

When I finally got this done, I decided to quilt the little green and blue floral star quilt that Carolyn pieced together at our bee's sew-in day in January.  We are meeting tomorrow night, and it would be nice to have it ready to give back to her.  When I was mounting the quilt from the front of the machine, I forgot about the dead switch, and by habit I pressed the Go button.

It worked! 

What?  Come on! 

 No problem at all.  Maybe the switch is not dead, just loose somewhere.  I crossed my fingers and kept going.  Got 'er done!  This quilt is still on the machine, but it looks real cute.l

I'll take better pictures later.  If my switch decides to work today, I'm going to work on Tonya's quilt this afternoon.  If not, I have plans for my personal mechanic tonight!

Sew-in Day with Whacky Ladies

This has been a fun week- with not one, but two days spent with quilting friends.  Yesterday was the annual Charity Quilt Sew-in Day with my local quilt bee, the Whacky Ladies.  We met at our wonderful quilt shop in Wake Forest, Quilts Like Crazy.  They let us use their classroom area and cutting areas, as well as the entire kitchen.  It was very inspiring to work surrounded by great eye candy quilts!

We had two goals for today, besides our usual catching-up chatter.  The first was to start collecting blue and white twelve-inch blocks to assemble into a quilt.  We are going to make a full or queen-sized sampler quilt for the Capital Quilters Guild annual Heritage Days auction in October.  Several people brought completed blocks or whipped one up during the meeting. Marilyn found this pattern in a quilting magazine.

Here is a contemporary "Moon Over the Mountain" block by Kathy.

Our new member, Lori, whipped out a beautiful card trick block.

I was going through my UFOs and found this Bear Paw block left over from a quilt I made for my oldest son.  I started it in 1988 and finished it in 1999!  This may make it into the sampler quilt.

Here is a picture of that Bear's Paw quilt.  It started out as a hand-quilted, quilt-as-you-go quilt.  It ended up with a medallion center with strip-pieced and rotary-cut mountains and deer, and machine quilted borders. 

In addition to the blue-and-white quilt project, we worked on charity quilts for either the Quilts on Wheels or Quilts for Kids program.  Carolyn accepted one of my UFOs and got the top finished before lunch!

I bought the star and nine-patch blocks on e-Bay many years ago, and am so glad this is becoming a quilt. Love the refreshing colors!

Several other tops got completed or almost done, including all the tops that my friend Marcia gave us from her mother's stash.  Anne Vernon, your quilting legacy is continuing!

Many thanks to Donna Sontag and Betsy Jobe from Quilts Like Crazy for hosting a fun and productive meeting!