May 10, 2014 Meeting - In Pictures! Charm School

The May Milan Quilt Builders meeting was held at the Norwalk Masonic Hall, rather than the Old Milan Town Hall because of a special sewing event - Charm School. 

Following are a variety (and a lot) of pictures from the meeting as well as the sew-in. Enjoy!

The meeting was short and sweet - just like some of our officers!

Roberta has been a busy quilter! And she has her very own Vanna to help her show the fruits quilts of here labor! Thanks Pam!!  :-)

Fran's Sew and Tell may have been small, but it was big on BEAUTY!

April's wall hanging is also beautiful and really cool, especially if you see it close up.

Doris just never ceases to amaze me with her creations!

Our newest member Ann (my sister - and Jerry's too!) showed us the umbrella that one of our sisters (Pat) made for all of us girls at Christmas. Pat is going to show Ann and I how to make these and I'm thinking a workshop just might be in order.  :-) 

Isn't Deb's quit striking?

A couple of quilts of valor... (Sorry! I'm not sure of the makers.)

And then school began! 

Ahhhh, sewing with friends. It doesn't get much better than this.

The groups all got busy planning and the machines were soon humming away. Oh what a beautiful sight and sound!

The groups all soon realized that each of their projects would begin with a simple disappearing nine patch. Of course there were twists and turns to each of these, but to be sure we all started the same way, Joanne did a quick (so quick that the picture is blurry!) demo on cutting the blocks. 

Of course there was food involved. Thanks Eileen! Everything was DELICIOUS.

And then we went back to work. The layouts began and the quilts began to take shape. This was so much fun to watch. (It's like we're watching our children grow up all over again.) I love it when multiple people start "playing with the block layout. 

Fortunately, with our quilts (unlike at times with our children), we can fix things before they get stuck in with the wrong crowd.

And just like the quilters, the stars begin to shine!

And then they multiply!  

At times I felt like I was a foreman in a sweat shop. So many machines purring away and the quilts just began to grow and grow.

Production at it's finest!

Of course some quilts take a bit more planning for the layout.

Don't we all get excited when we reach a milestone with blocks or at least get one done? This is beautiful Martha, Donna, Pat and Judy! It got cut in half (both directions) again and then the fun really began. 

All ready to sew together!

The original Color Splash on the right and the newly created one on the left. AWESOME!

The newly created Quilter's Symphony (on the right) looks stunning!

This Disappearing Act is wonderful with the blue background!

I'm not sure, but I make like the new one better than the original. 

I like the original Charming Stars in red, white and blue, but I love it in red, cream and green! Wouldn't it be awesome to add a Christmas fabric border to this?

I love the Split Level quilt, which was selected by Doris when her name was drawn for the BIG door prize.

Ok, just because I want to you be healthy and get exercise, please stand on your head to see the combo picture of the original and new Split Level quilts.

Just in case you are afraid to stand on your head for fear of hurting yourself, here's a somewhat better shot of the two quilts. With the light behind them, I think they look like stained glass.

Thanks to all who joined us for this little Charm School experiment. I had fun and learned a lot. I sure hope you all did as well.

April, 2014 Meeting Pictures - Penny Haren

We had a full house at the April meeting.

Our speaker was Penny Haren and she was awesome! She brought LOTS of samples and it was just wonderful eye candy for all of us quilters.

Thanks Rachel and Judy for being tall  holding up all those quilts. I tried to be kind while editing and not have half of your nose in a picture, but as you can tell, it wasn't always possible. :-)

I also tried to take pictures of everything Penny showed us, but I know I missed a few things. She also asked that I not get her in the pictures so if you see a hand or arm with no body attached, it's probably Penny's. 
I know you'd just figure it was my less-than-wonderful photography skills that resulted in these random hands, but it was done on purpose. :-)  Really, we do need someone with camera skills to volunteer to take pictures, although if I continue to do it, I don't show up in the pics. Mmmm, I have to think about that.  :-)

I'll warn you now that this is a very heavily-pictured post. You might as well just go to the bathroom now then and grab your drink on the way back to the computer because you'll be here a while.

Look at all the eager faces!

Ok, I got Penny in this picture, but only because I wanted to show our guild members from the back.

The the quilts come out to play!!

Simple block construction and big applique pieces. Looks great and easy too.

Again, big and easy block construction but see how wonderful this looks withe just a bit of wee-placed applique? Wonderful!

This is a really bad picture! (DUHHHH!), but I have some close-ups to follow. This is a cute quilt.

I love how these stars look!

I know the picture is light, but so is the fabric so I'm blaming that for the lack of quality here.  :-)

I love how this log cabin looks. Check out the detail in the next picture.

This is adorable and so are out quilt holders!

This quilt is just stunning!

This is fabulous and if you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see the awesome quilting.

This is a beautiful mix of fabrics!

This is fun and the back is perfect. (See the next picture.)

Again, simple piecing and big applique is perfect.

Check out these hexagons. Gorgeous!!

This little quilt sure does pack a big punch!

This picture does NOT do this quilt justice It is stunning!

Again, little quilt, big impact.

Really bad picture (as if you couldn't tell), but a beautiful table runner.

This is another example of big simple blocks making a BIG statement.

I know the green fabrics bothered some people, but I LOVE this quilt. I couldn't figure out a way to put it in my bag and oops! take it home with me.  :-(

This is FUN!!

Beautiful T-Shirt quilt!

Beautiful sample of blocks using Penny's pieced applique technique.

Here's just one of the technique boards Penny showed us for how to construct her blocks.

Judy is holding the technique board while Rachel is holding the table runner in which the block is used. I love how this looks. 

Rachel and Judy are peeking out from behind a beautifully pieced and quilted Christmas quilt.

I must have liked this quilt an awful lot because I am showing it again.  :-)  Oops!!

Beautiful little placemat!

Followed up by a stunning quilt. Check out all those pieced borders.

Speaking of borders. This is one of Penny's Border of the Month projects.  There are 7 pieced borders on this quilt and each one is just fabulous.

Here's a closer view of these borders. I think Rachel is deciding whether or not she's going to do something like this. 

And here is the quilt that I saw that made me fall in love with Penny's work. It is GORGEOUS and I love the fabrics.

And Judy is sharing one of the technique boards for the above quilt.

Isn't this beautiful? I love everything about this.

And now for our members' sew and tell...

Kathy has been a very busy quilter! Here's her Lovers Knot.

Here's Kathy's version of Totally Decaffeinated, last year's raffle quilt.

And because she's that good, Kathy made some small pieces too.

Check out what she made on her embroidery machine!

Queen Doris W. made this adorable quilt to share.

Carolyn shared some post cards she received from her daughter.

Donna has made another OSU quilt and they just keep getting better and better. She's still adding the binding, which is a wonderful striped fabric, cut on the bias. PERFECT!!

This dress is adorable, Donna!

Doris G. finished her retreat challenge quilt. It is wonderful!

And last, but not least, Eileen has completed yet another wonderful memory quilt, using shirts.

Thanks everyone! You continue to inspire me.

See you at the May meeting, which will be held at the Norwalk Masonic Hall because we'll be sewing. If you need information on how to get to the hall or what to bring, give Joanne a call.