Bus Trip Proposal

 

Joyce called today with exciting news about our idea about having a bus trip together.  We now have a contact number for a driver who is a volunteer with Bonsor Community Centre's senior's trips.  The buses hold up to 19 people and the cost could be as low as $13 per person for the whole day.  That seems unbelievably inexpensive but if we tripled or quadrupled it it would still be reasonable for a day's outing.

Our next meeting will already be June so we need to get working on this quickly.  Please think about where and what you would like to do, whether you are interested and if you have any quilting friends who would be interested in coming along to fill up the bus.  You can contact them before next Tuesday to get a tentative yes or no.  Joyce and I were thinking of a shop hop in the Fraser Valley to visit some of the new quilt shops we haven't visited such as Chitter Chatter, Cozy Cottons and Carola's with lunch and a farmer's market visit as well.  Probably too ambitious an itinerary but the driver can probably help us with that.  If you email me your ideas it will help us have a plan in place by the end of our meeting next Tuesday.  I'll email this info out as well since there are some in the group who are not visiting the blog.

Update from May 28 get together

 It was a small group today:  Joyce, Betty, Colleen and I, with entertainment provided by Charlie, the cat.

The discussion was all about brainstorming ideas for the baby quilts we are making for the Heron's Nest pregnant and parenting moms program for September.  Right now we need to make four baby quilts for girls who are aged 10 and 14 months and there are three babies due later so we will have to also make some quilts for newborns which would include maybe some quilts that would work for boys and girls.  Because the babies are not newborns we can consider a wider variety of patterns and sizes.

In the end we decided that we will make some of the quilts as group projects with an individual in the group doing the planning and being responsible for the finishing of that quilt.  Joyce suggested that we put together "kits" with fabric and instructions so that group members can take home a kit and make some blocks for their contribution.  We could even treat them as "mystery quilts" and not reveal them till they are finished.  Participation in that, as always is optional depending on how much time each person has.  

At the same time, if anyone wishes they can make an entire quilt from start to finish without asking for group members to help out with the piecing.

We looked at some patterns and fabrics.  Betty donated a big bolt of white flannel with pink spots and Joyce had a large piece of navy plaid flannel which Colleen thought would be suitable for lap quilts for men.  Betty also brought a large panel which was actually for constructing a fabric book of The Three Little Kittens.  Charlie approved and you can see her testing the fabric for comfort in one of the photos below.  Maybe this could be made into a play quilt for the day care at the Heron's Nest.  

So, between now and next week anyone that wants to participate in the baby quilt making should have an idea for a quilt and some fabrics in mind.  If you need to fill in any gaps in colours or prints, let us know and we can check our stashes.  We can treat this as our summer project.  If you want to participate but can't decide on a quilt we will have some baby quilt books for ideas next week.

On another subject, I brought the unique sewing machine to give everyone a demo but unfortunately forgot the power cord and foot pedal.  However, I did find a video tutorial on Youtube so should be better prepared next week to give a demo.  Just to refresh your memories, this is a Brother CS1850 sewing machine that was given to me by my friend, Margaret.  It needed a repair which has been done (I hope).  Because it is only 11 lbs, Betty suggested we keep this as a group machine that anyone can borrow for travelling or as an additional machine to use when we are meeting, if needed.  The unique thing about this machine is that it threads itself automatically, including all the tension discs and needle.

More news, Betty's friend and former colleague, Lane would like to join our group and it sounds like she will be a welcome addition to the TAQ's with all her quilting and fabric experience.  She also lives in Surrey so she and Betty can commute together.

Next week Joyce will be bringing any of Arlene's remaining wall hangings and quilts that have not been claimed by the family.  We can choose what we would like and the remainder will be donated.

I'm sure I have forgotten some key information so, please let me know and I will update this post.

Perfectly Flat Seams

 Betty shared this tutorial with us today.  If you want your seams to lay flatter or are bothered by seams flipping the wrong way when you are chain piecing this is the solution.  Click on the link here for the full tutorial.

Quilt Cat

Baby Quilt Using Nine Patch and Panel

Charlie, the cat at Joyce's House

next picture

Option 3

French braid

which is the better arrangement? 

Option 1--Colours grouped together

Option 2--Colour groups divided up

Easy Baby Quilt Pattern

This little quilt came up on my Pinterest feed today.  It's a quick and easy modern  baby quilt that could use up lots of those odds and ends in your stash.  It also looks like it could easily be made bigger without any difficult math. Click here for the full instructions. 

Burnaby Village Quilt Display

 On Saturday, May 25th I volunteered with the PSQG at Bell's Dry Goods Store at Burnaby Village Museum.  I took some of our quilts for the display.

The Orange Peel quilt looking good next to the marigolds

The green I Spy quilt

The Heart Quilt at the entrance to the bedroom

The Zipper Quilt and Orange Checked Quilt

Zig Zag Scrappy quilt.  I'd like to make one of those Spiderweb quilts one day.  

Michi's Birthday

We met at the Double One Restaurant in Burnaby to celebrate Michi's birthday.  The food was as good as ever and the Mango Cake was beautiful and delicious, too.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the spread or the cake but I did get one of the birthday girl.

Discussion re Quilt Donations

Lately we have been discussing donating quilts to the Young Parents Program at Burnaby South High School.  This is a program that "provides a supportive environment for pregnant and parenting students while they continue their secondary school education".  Unfortunately, the coordinator, Man Wing Chor told me that this would be the last year for the program since they had lost their funding from the Ministry.  She asked if we would be able to donate a quilt for the one mom and baby that are in the program right now.  She recommended that we contact the Heron's Nest Education Centre which is jointly operated by VSB Alternate Education and the YWCA daycare.  It is located at 23rd and Carolina Street, across from Charles Tupper School.

I talked to the coordinator of that program, Adrienne Beaton and she was enthusiastic about receiving quilts for the babies in September.  She put in a special request for a mom with two children, a one year old and a two year old.  She will be graduating this year and Adrienne asked if we would be able to donate some quilts to this student only before the school year ends.  We are awaiting a full listing of the number of students and the age and gender of their babies before we can commit to supplying quilts in the fall.

Those present at the meeting today (May 21) were in favour of donating a quilt to the mom and baby in the Burnaby YPP program and chose the green and blue Zipper quilt for the mom and the white/blue/yellow quilt for the baby.  Colleen, Marybeth and Penny volunteered to present those quilts, depending on the date.  We have not made any final decision yet re the Heron's Nest program as we are still awaiting details.

May 21 Meeting Update

Six of us attended the get together today at Marybeth's:  Betty, Colleen, Penny, Sue, Marybeth and me.  

Betty brought the five yards of Warm and Natural batting that she purchased for us from Fabricana.  That was a great deal at 30% off the regular price.  Marybeth is keeping that at her house and there is some 505 spray there as well if anyone wants to spray baste a quilt.  Please let Marybeth know ahead of time if you want to use her table on her deck to do that.  There will be people to help if you are new to spray basting or just want a hand.

We paid for the batting from our kitty ($67) so we will need to top it up very soon.

Betty brought her braid quilt to lay out.  It's the second quilt she is making from leftover fabrics from her original log cabin quilt.  

Lots of strips to choose from

Row #2 and #3 was laid out after.  Laying out on batting meant Betty could roll it up and not disturb the arrangement.  Great idea, Betty.

Betty said she is planning to put sashings in between the rows and will probably alternate the length of the rows.

Penny brought two quilts in  process to show us.  One is the cute panel that could be a wall hanging or baby quilt.  My closeup wasn't good enough to show the quilting detail but Penny quilted along all the lines of the lettering and along every third ray from the sun.  Still more quilting to come.

This is quilt #2, also made from a panel.  Penny's completed the quilting of all the alphabet letters and hasn't decided yet how she will quilt the rest.  Marybeth donated some fabric for the binding which looked like lush prehistoric vegetation.

Marybeth put the last stitch in her lovely Tree baby quilt.  This is sure to be a hit with the parents who asked for a modern quilt and non gender specific.

Beautiful quilting, Marybeth.  Perfect for this modern quilt.

Label all finished as well.

Colleen had two projects along.  This is her Concrete Jungle wall hanging.  The top is all finished but Colleen hasn't decided on a backing fabric yet.

Her second project is a table topper that is getting some applique before she is ready to show us.

Colleen's Concrete Jungle

CQA Quilt Puzzle

Try this quilting puzzle from the CQA 

New Tutorial for Quilt Planner

 

See Tips and Tutorials for short video on how to make book covers for any size book or journal.  Takes about an hour for everything including the quilting.  These were quad ruled soft cover quilt planners I made for PSQG prizes.

Outside quilted cover

Inside quilt planner cover

Modern Take on the Chicken Pin Cushion

 

Purchased at the Boundary Bay Quilt Show

Progress in Sue's Garden

Sue must be getting a real workout judging by the amount of work that has been going on in her garden.  Everything looks great, Sue.  

Here are some photos of the front:

This is the "Before" pictured followed by three current pictures of the same area.

This and the three following are the back yard.

Marybeth's Tree Baby Quilt

From the May 14 meeting.  Just a little more binding to stitch and this will be done.  Looks beautiful, Marybeth.  This is sure to be just what the new parents wanted.

braid quilt in progress

Colleen, your Cathedral Window pillow is beautiful and the fabric is perfect!!

A Recent Trend

There were a lot of comments from friends I bumped into at the Langley show about the tendency lately to "overquilt" quilts, especially when sending them out for longarm quilting.  These professional quilters are producing amazing work which obviously takes hours and hours to do but it seemed to compete with rather than complement most of the exquisite quilts on which it appeared.  Here is an example:

Beautiful hand applique overpowered by elaborate machine quilting.

Too much texture?

Here is another quilt, quilted in the ditch which lately seems to be frowned upon.  I loved this quilt and the story behind it.  Julia Nutter, the quilter found its inspiration in a bag of small triangles found at a thrift store.  She liked the colours so turned them into hourglasses and then built them up from there adding from her stash as needed.  She said she enjoyed making something coherent from so many tiny scraps, most of which were someone else's discards.

The final photo is of a prize winning collaboration from eight quilters who were each given a vertical slice of a photo and asked to produce a vertical panel representing what they saw in the photo.  Here is the result of this fun collaboration:

Two Innovative Flange Bindings

 As Colleen always says:  Every day is a school day. I learned some pretty interesting things at quilt school this week.  I love this flange trick I saw on an elaborate quilt at the Langley show on Friday.  I have no idea how this bobble effect was achieved but I am guessing it was done by applying the flange binding with a buttonhole stitch.  I will do some experimenting when I get a moment and report back.

Flange binding possibly attached with buttonhole stitch?

On Thursday at the PSQG meeting the North Van guild had their raffle quilt on display.  Not only was the design stunning but there were several innovative techniques in the quilt.  The flange binding was cut extra wide and served as a border as well as a binding.  In the same photo of the binding you will see a very easy walking foot quilting pattern that appears to be free motion.  This is just done by sewing alternate curved lines from point to point along the rows of blocks.  Instead of trying to make them all even and symmetrical they are a little wonky which is very pleasing with the overall design of the quilt.  

This entire quilt was quilted by walking foot.  

Colleen's Cathedral Window project

Colleen made this pillow top using the method that Joyce found which we think is the method that Sharon used on her quilt and pillow which Sharon reports that Nancy Chan taught her some years ago.  Colleen thought that this was the method she had used on her Cathedral Windows project from the past but after making this project she says it isn't.  Seems like there are at least three methods for making a Cathedral Windows block.  This looked really good with very neat corners and can be entirely sewn by machine.  Colleen reported that the center square measurement as given in the tutorial is too small to cover the background so you should cut it about a half inch larger all around.  You have to look really hard to see that in the corners of Colleen's blocks, though.

  

Tame that binding

 Look at this for a brilliant way to keep your binding feeding smoothly while you sew it on to the edge of your quilt.  You only need an empty Aurifil thread spool and an old CD.  You probably need the right spindle setup on your machine, too.  Otherwise you might have to improvise something.  The full tutorial is in the Tips and Tutorials tab.

Batting sale prices

testing

This is now a post from my phone.

Trying to upload a picture