Just Another Day In Paradise

Back on Friday the Thirteenth, I enjoyed good luck with the Friday Quilter's at The Golden Gese Quilt Shop on 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire.

We were celebrating the return of our favorite "snowbird", Sue, seen below. Welcome back, Sue!

Barbara was showing her "puzzle quilt" that is made from panels that create a tree when correctly assembled. What fun that tree filled with birdhouses is!

Claire was hand hemming her minky-backed dinosaurs quilt and was soon to finish it. Way to go, Claire!

There was a new-to-me lady whose name I believe was Mary, please forgive me if I'm wrong.
        -Ed. Whoops! My bad memory, her name is Nancy, I apologize for getting it wrong.

 
 She brought the most beautiful 1930's reproduction fabrics all done up in these lovely pineapple blocks.  Wow, these are awesome!

Jan was working on quilting up a set of pretty placemats for a gift.

Maureen, seen below pressing her Rhombus quilt, had made us a thoroughly decadent pecan pie that was made with her son's excellent New Hampshire Maple Syrup. It really changed the flavor!

Even better was the Bourbon-laced whipped cream topping for the pie. Sorry no photo of the pie, we were too busy devouring it! Thank you, Maureen, for the tasty treat!

Beverly, seen below, was making a few more of her microwavable dish protectors.

She uses a special microwavable batting inside these. So pretty and so practical!

We all had fun and when I got home, I was sick of sewing blocks into rows for a while, so I played with my favorite Sawtooth Star blocks instead.

I have so many of these leftover from the Barbara Brackman sew along last year called Stars In A Time Warp, that I want to do another big quilt of them. So far there are 44 made in the  "leftovers" pile.

The Flying Geese for the star seen above were made with the bonus HST's. Who can resist these little pinwheel blocks?

After pondering whether or not I'd choose to use more Quarter Square triangle blocks for the setting, I gave up and went outdoors to clear my head.

Miss Emma Lynne and the kitties joined me for a pleasant sunny tour of the backyard.

My favorite sight was the Alamata Crabapple in bloom. It is pretty and fragrant, too.

Hope you are enjoying what's around you.

Happy quilting!

New Room For The Sunshine Club

On Tuesdays, I enjoy the Continental Breakfast at the Alton Senior Center with the other quilters in the Sunshine Club in Alton, New Hampshire.

The Tuesday before the last was our last meeting in the "old" room and we had a great time!

In the photo above, you can see the stack of blocks that this group made over the course of the past month. The 48 blocks will be set 6 by 8 for a generous couch potato throw. Diane, seated on the right above, had generously volunteered to assemble the blocks for us. Thank you, Diane!


Sue was dealing out volumes of fabric that she got for a song at a local yard sale. Way to go, Sue!

Look at all this!

We also welcomed a new gal to our group named Mary. Mary, seen below, got a very brief lesson on how to hand hem the back of a binding. She got it right away and did a great job on the little, small dog mat, or cat mat.

I was hand hemming, too!

This week, our group met in the "new" room of the new addition that was put onto the Senior Center as you can see below.

The lighting is better, the room is bigger, as is the table, and the chairs are all "wheelies!"

Bev, below, was working on her tee shirt quilt.

Sue had a new project of a couple of small charm packs that she'd like to make into a baby quilt.

I say, small charm packs because there are only 30 five inch squares in each one, rather than the standard 42 squares. Undeterred, Sue played with some layout ideas for just how wide she might like a sashing to be.

The colors are really cute!

As for me, Sue and I worked hard on doing the layout on the floor of my long-stalled Easy Hourglass quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company's video. Link.

We were both so tired from bending and stretching as we laid out my blocks that I forgot to snap a picture. But, afterwards, here are all the blocks all stacked up and pinned with a Row label.

Thank you so very much, Sue, for all your help in arranging those blocks so that they are ready to sew into rows!
Please notice the empty candy wrapper, LOL! Chocolate is the answer to all questions!

Remember that Diane had said that she would sew those string blocks together? Well, bless her heart, she did do it and she did a great job of it, too! Thank you, Diane!! You were sew fast!

Now it's my turn to cobble up a backing, whee!

If you are interested in making string blocks, here is the most excellent website for instructions! Thank you, Maryquilts.com! Link.

This 60" by 80" throw quilt will be a community quilt that will be raffled off to benefit The Senior Center.

It is nice when doing what you love is a benefit to your world.

Linking this post to Whoop Whoop Friday, Link.
Linking to Oh, Scrap!Link.
Linking to Moving It Forward Mondays! Link.
Linking to Love Laugh Quilt, Link.



Happy quilting!

Keep Your Sunny Side Up!

The gloomy grey weather was broken by one gloriously sunny day and I reveled in it!

The quilty news was fun at The Golden Gese Quilt Shop on 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire as Maureen showed us her sewn flimsy or top.

This was done from the Double Square Star video on Missouri Star Quilt Company. Link.

Maureen auditioned several bolts from the shop's huge supply for the borders but I forgot to photograph the winner. It was a glorious red!

Here is Maureen, below, with her newest started project, also from Missouri Star Quilt Company's videos. Her blue Rhombus has 4 rows sewn already! Link.

Beverly was sewing her Black and White blocks seen below.

Barbara finished her sweet Cupcakes pillowcase and I apologize that the camera failed to flash.

Claire has finished the top and borders for her dinosaurs quilt all in batiks, such fun for a little boy!

Claire's daughter, Lil' Claire, had two tops to show on Friday! Way to go! Here is the black and orange one:

And my favorite, the spring colors of chevrons with the turquoise border:

Marianne was making a quilt sandwich of her pretty Orange Peels quilt. Looks great, Marianne!

My project was less impressive with my spending my time carefully lettering my label for Matthew's quilt, Midnight Blues. I always iron my light colored fabric for the label onto the shiny side of freezer paper to stabilize it for the hand drawn letters. If you do this upside down, you can avoid getting plastic onto your iron's face plate.

When I got home, I discovered that I needed to make up a new batch of my starch recipe.

I love this stuff and use it all the time on my blocks. The cleaned out empty cranberry juice jug holds a double batch and lasts about a year. It needs no refrigeration.

I just refill my spray bottle and I'm good to go! The clouds of fragrance are optional but I love them.

My log cabin runs of 16 blocks are still in progress as I drop the blocks onto the strip and sew.

I'm just a wee tad further along on these than halfway, so you can expect to see many more pictures of these blocks.

I'm having a ball making the Log Cabin blocks using my beloved Civil War reproductions that make my heart sing!

Hope you can enjoy your day!
Linking up to Oh, Scrap! Link.
Also linking to Em's Scrapbag. Link.
And to Love Laugh Quilt! Link.

Happy quilting!

Keeping On Track

Last Friday, I enjoyed seeing all the gang over at The Golden Gese Quilt Shop on 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire.

Marianne held up her marvelously scrappy 5" squares quilt top. I took this picture just as she was trying to fold it back up, sorry Marianne!

Barbara from Maine had brought in a quilt rescue from a Florida quilter who has passed on and left this legacy in yellow.

There is just a bit of hand quilting to complete and Barbara will apply binding.

Perhaps you can just make out the still-threaded needle near the center of this block. Click any picture to enlarge it.
Beverly, below, was working on her blocks with the black and white and a red accent.

They look so classy!

Those are small pieces and Bev must truly pay attention to their placement as she goes!

Nearby, Maureen was working on a patriotic table runner that looked really sharp!

Below you can see Maureen had gotten the red borders all onto the piece. Nice work!

As for me, I poked along and was able to get more logs sewn onto my next batch of 16 Mile-A-Minute Log Cabin blocks.

These still need to be starched and pressed, but they are sewn and eight inches. It will be for a big project so I hope that I can keep my motivation going.

Happy quilting!