February Bee Block

Ariana asked for a square in a square block and sent us some beautiful shot cotton to work with (one of my favorite fabrics!).  I added some of my own shot cottons to make the geometric center.  Great block idea, Ariana!

February and April Blocks

Ariana asked for a geometric shape.  I decided on an equilateral triangle made of the three fabrics she included.  It let me play with some angles and practice a y-seam.  The math teacher in me was proud of the result.

Emily N.'s tea-inspired applique block.  I used a Pigma Micron marker (permanent) to doodle the steam.  Fun!

Monkey Wrench (aka Churn Dash block) Pattern

During our meeting last November (how time flies) I introduced my simplified Monkey Wrench pattern and said I'd let you know when it would be available as a free download

The free pattern and instruction PDFs are now on the

 ElnaUSA site bit.ly/AnitasMonkeyWrench

I hope you have a wonderful summer!
Anita

Block Lotto

My lotto block resembles my Iris today.

Using my new FMQ skills

I couldn't figure out how to quilt this colorful block in a quilt for a friend's dad who's undergoing chemo.  I'm not entirely comfortable with my FMQ skills just yet (I haven't been practicing as frequently as Rachael recommends), but I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it out on this small area of a larger quilt.  (It's about 12" square.)

Front

Back

Yes, I opted to go with pebbles (big surprise), since it's what I'm most comfortable with at this point.  I like how it turned out, and I hope Roger does, too.  Thanks again, Rachael!

Got my sewing machine back!

Brought my Bernina to Sewright in Queens (They are wonderful!) and got it back Sunday. It purrs like a kitten. First order of sewiness was the blocks for block lotto. The flash kind of washed out the colors...

Making progress...

Many folks don't like this cold rainy weather, but I don't really mind! I've been making lots of progress adding the last bits and pieces to my favorite work in progress:

I'm really inspired to sew now that I like my sewing bag! Happy "summer" everyone...

Any Collectors Interested?

Open to Museum Volunteers, Staff, Board Officers and Collectors

Collector's Corner: A Free Conservation Workshop Series

Sponsored by the City of Bowie Museums

Helping you determine what your antiques and collectibles are and how to care for them.

QUILT CARE, REPRISE!

June 1, 2:00-4:00pm

Belair Mansion • 12207 Tulip Grove Drive • Bowie, MD 20715

Join Samantha Dorsey, City of Bowie Museums Curator, and Vicki Greisman, Maryland Historical Society Collections Department Volunteer, for a discussion on textile identification, quilt construction, and the care and storage of quilts. Bring your own quilt to show and troubleshoot!

Please RSVP to sdorsey@cityofbowie.org or 301.809.3097 by COB May 29th.

Please, spread the word by forwarding this email or posting it to your announcement board.

Check for future event announcements on the City of Bowie Museums website and calendar, or contact:

Samantha Dorsey

Museums Curator, City of Bowie Museums

Bowie, Maryland

301.809.3097

sdorsey@cityofbowie.org

Judy's blocks

Judy asked us to just sew enclosed strips to pieces of newspaper which she also included.  So SEW simple.... Curious to see how they'll all go together, but whatever way she chooses, I think it'll be a smashing quilt.
Hope this is what you meant, Judy :)

Better Late than Never

Spending the weekend catching up on quilting assignments (a sort of Mother's Day present to myself: the prospect of a little sanity in this crazy month).  This is last month's Lucky Bee project for Margaret.  Will be in the mail tomorrow.  Now, off to see The King and I! 

June Block Lotto

 Our June Block Lotto will be an Amish Buggy Block

 

Very easy!

Cut two strips of contrasting fabric

3.5" X 29"

 

 Sew the two strips together and press.

I like to press open the seams on this one, 

but do it the way you like to do it.

Cut the sewn together strips into 3.5" sections.

You will need 8 two block sections.

 Sew the sections into rows.

 Sew the rows together.

TADA!

You now have a 12.5" Amish Buggy Block.

As always, each block you make gets a lottery ticket

to win all the blocks.

See you in June!

Sunrise/Moonlight Charity Block Tutorial

Description:  A free-pieced fan-style quilt, minus the curved piecing.  

Colors:  Sunrise colors….reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and any variation along those lines

or

Moonlight colors….blues, purples, grays (sample photos to be posted soon)

Size: 6 1/2" unfinished

Notes:  

• Use this tutorial as a basic guide-line for the color-ways, size and basic pattern design.  Within those constraints though, please play.  Add your own inspiration, variation or embellishments.  Improvise!  

• Charity blocks need to be pretty sturdy and functional, so whatever you create please ensure it is child friendly and washable.  

• I found it much easier to use my basic sewing machine foot rather than my 1/4" foot with the diagonal seams of this block.  The 1/4" foot kept distorting the bottom fabric.  

Tutorial Directions:

1.  Cut or gather strips.  I used 7 strips 2 1/2" x 9".  Feel free to use wider or narrower strips, more or fewer, and as many different fabrics as you'd like.

2.  Lay two strips together with right-sides facing.  The top strip should lay along a diagonal of the bottom strip.  Sew a 1/4" seam following the edge of the top strip.  Repeat on the other side of the bottom strip, with the diagonal going the other direction.  (The outer strips should form a slight V-shape when the pieces are opened up.)

3.  Trim off the extra bottom fabric.

4.  Press the growing "fan" open then add additional strips to the outer edge of the block in the same manner.

5.  Square up the top edges of your block to a 6 1/2" block.  (As you will add a HST to the bottom corner of the fan, you may of course leave that edge short.)

6.  Using your favorite HST method, add a HST to the inside corner of the block.  I chose to just cut a 45-degree line across the block where I wanted the inside corner to be and then sewed on a wide strip of fabric to be trimmed down and squared up.

7.  Press, square up and you're done!

These should be fun to play with and try out different layouts.  Can't wait to see what you come up with when we're together in June.

April 4, 2015 Meeting - Show & Tell Recap

Without further ado, a recap of our April meeting!

We started our April meeting by wishing Naomi a very happy birthday! The whole guild sang Happy Birthday!

April's Block Lotto blocks. The theme was "Floral."

Bernadette shared the guild's EPP stars project. To move this project along, we are looking for volunteers to assemble stars outside of the meetings. Please get in touch with Bernadette if you're interested in helping out!

We discussed our upcoming guild retreat in June. Please make sure you get your final payments and roommate selections to Lisa!

Jody shared a quilt she made from bee blocks she received a year ago. The requirements were black and white shapes and free fabric choices in the green. Notice that there are only nine blocks in the quilt when there are 12 members in the bee. ;)

Chris found this thrift shop book printed in the 1980s and traced the designs to use for free motion quilting in the quilt below.

This quilt is for Chris' grand-niece in France.

Susan named this quilt "Stars Over the Brooklyn Botanical Garden" She started it in 1997 when she used quilting templates from a magazines. She hand pieced and quilted the entire quilt and turned under the edges to finish.

Susan made this as a sample for a class for Purl Soho. She used Kaffe Fasset shot cottons and Essex linen for the background. She hand qppliqued the hexagons to the background.

Last winter, Cynthia started this baby quilt, a color study of novelty fabric. 

Brian started these EPP blocks while on vacation in Mexico. He will make this into a baby quilt for his son and daughter-in-law and will most likely applique the pieces.

Anita shared these stnning quilts made by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, which were quilted on a standard (not longarm) machine. See photos below for quilting details.

May Ann shared a few quilts in progress.

Margaret shared another beauty of a quilt that she free motioned using her walking foot on a standard sewing machine.

The pieced back of Margaret's quilt that also includes some shirts.

Judy shared a quilt made of blocks she won from block lotto and added some red patches. The quilt was entered into the Empire Guild show. 

Rachael shared a quilt made for a 22 year old. The quilt is comprised with shirts from sports he participated in from high school through college. Rachael included two layers of batting.

Rachael shared a quilt she made for her eldest daughter using all of her childhood pajamas. Rachael applied Luke Haynes' method for making portraits with fabric. The face is made by fusing fabrics together.

Rachael was conflicted on how to quilt the face and decided to go with bubbles and pebbles.

Karen used a scrap paper piecing technique to make this quilt from 30s reproduction fabric. She doesn't know how she will quilt it yet.

Lisa shared this quilt top she made for the Sizzix Challenge. She purchased a Sizzix Big Shot Pro to cut the meon shapes out.

Kim shared another top made from the Sizzix wave die for the Sizzix Challenge.

For May's block lotto, Lisa shared a block inspired by a quilt she saw at the Empire Guild Show. It contains novelty fabrics build into a nine-patch.

Ivete participated in the Empire Guild's President's Challenge which required you to use your initials to make color choices so Ivete chose indigo and turquoise. The theme of this quilt is shipwreck.

Maureen made this Vintage Spin in blue and green quilt for her nephew in Charlotte.

Hayden made this quilt with her boyfriend as a sample for quilt market for the Timeless Treasures booth. It contains 1,200 2" squares! They will be quilting spirals within the squares.

Aleeda shred this quilt that she entered in the Empire Show which was made from layer cakes and bias stripe binding which she quilted on her home machine.

Aleeda also shared a quilt for the Michael Miller Challenge in which she used a faux trapunto technique with water soluble thread and polyester batting.

A close up of Aleeda's quilting.

Jennifer shared the guild's "Ugly/Round Robin Quilt." Jennifer added the half square triangle border.

Emily shared a quilt that the guild signed in light of her sister, Barbara's passing last November. The anvil blocks and quilt were made by guild member, Victoria, and the back was signed by the entire guild. 

Jessica started this quilt two years ago after attending the inaugural QuiltCon. It is handpieced and machine quilted.

Diana shared this mini that was appliqued and has a made fabric border.

Diana also shared this Sherlock Holmes mini.

Kim shared her first baby quilt that she will be giving it away. It contains cross stich on alphabet sampler fabric. 

\Laura shared a banner her friend made for her out of chalkboard vinyl fabric.

A book made of the same materials.

Andrea shared a quilt made of fabrics from Alison Glass' Handcrafted line. This will be offered as a pattern on Gotham Quilts in the future. 

See you all very soon!