December 2008 Highlights

The Itchin' for Stitchin' guild had their Christmas party at the December meeting. The Christmas committee was in charge of the program and had a fun game for the members as they exchanged Christmas gifts. Gloria Eaton provided the beautiful table decorations. Here are a few pictures from the party:

________________________________________________
Nancy Kessler was the winner for the BOM project and she received a fat quarter. Ruth Lavender was the overall winner for the Block of the Month Project and she won the miniature quilt!!

The next BOM project will begin in January.

________________________________________________
Happy 90th Birthday to Elsie Vail!

There will be a birthday celebration for Elsie Vail on Sunday Dec. 14th from 2-4pm at the Altamont Senior Center.

All Night Sew

There will be an all-night sew at the Quilter's Bin on Friday January 2nd beginning at 4:30pm. You will need to bring: a dish to share, sweatshirt 1 size larger than you wear, 6-7 coordinating fat quarters, 1/2 - 1 yard coordinating fabric to add length. You can also bring your own project to work on if you don't want to make the sweatshirt.

YoYo Quilt Group

There will be an organizational meeting on Monday, January 12th at 6pm at the Quilter's Bin for those interested in forming a group and making a YoYo quilt.

5th Monday Project

Nancy will be teaching a 5th Monday Project on December 29th at the Quilter's Bin. The project is a sewing bag and you will need the following supplies:

Four, 1/4 yard coordinating fabrics
Warm and Natural batting. Approx. 25"x45"
thread for stitching
1 yard beaded trim

See Nancy Kessler for more details.


Show and Tell

Wall hanging by Nita Billman

Table Runner by Nita Billman

Yo-Yo projects by Ruth Lavender

Quilt by Vera Cramer

Stocking hand knitted by Carolyn Green

Yo-Yo sweatshirt shared by Sharon Nelson

Yo-Yo sweatshirt shared by Sharon Nelson

Yo-Yo Santa by Sharon Nelson

Yo-Yo quilt shared by Sharon Nelson

Yo-Yo placemats by Nancy Kessler

November 2008 Highlights

Program

Nancy Kessler presented a program on Paintstiks. Paintstiks are oil based paints that resemble a jumbo crayon. Nancy demonstrated how to add texture to fabric with rubbings. You can use Paintstiks on almost any type of fabric, including cotton, silk, synthetics, suede, leather, etc. They can also be used on walls, metals, glass, etc.

Nancy explained to let your fabric dry once you've used your Paintstiks and then to heat set your project with an iron.

Donation Quilt Update

Peggy Reynolds presented lap quilts to the Presbytarian Manor on October 16th. Jan Strait, marketing director, and Cindy Tapphorn, interim executive director, accepted the quilts on behalf of the Presbytarian Manor.

Jan Strait, Peggy Reynolds, Cindy Tapphorn

Project of the Month

Nancy K. was the winner of the Project of the Month drawing and got to choose a Fat Quarter. The current project of the month will be concluded in December and each member must bring their completed wall hanging to be eligible for the final drawing. The winner of the final drawing will receive a wall hanging made by Gloria Eaton.

Entries for the October Project of the Month drawing


Show and Tell

Rita - Table Runner

Sarah and Nancy - needle felted Santa's

Kathy - fleece outfit for her granddaughter

Tara - her's sons baby blanket

Mary - SW Star Wall Hanging

Ruth - X-Block Quilt

Tara - her daughter's quilt

October 2008 Meeting Highlights

Program

Nita Billman was in charge of this month's program. Nita gave each person a list of scrambled quilting words and the group was given 5 minutes to try and figure them out. The game was enjoyed by all!

Donation Quilts

Several Guild members have been working hard on making lap robes to donate to the Presbytarian Manor in Parsons, KS. So far, over 20 lap robes have been donated!

Quilt Expo

A van will be leaving the Labette County Extension Office at 7am to go to the Quilt Expo on October 24th. The cost is $20. Please contact Nancy Kessler for more information.

5th Monday Sewing Project

Nancy Kessler teaches a fun sewing project every month that has a 5th Monday. The project for September was a 'Grab Bag'. Several ladies came to make a bag and they had a lot of fun!

Shopping Bag Story Challenge

A couple of months ago, Nancy Kessler had a 5th Monday class on how to make a shopping bag. She also presented a challenge to those that made the shopping bag. The challenge was to write a story about how you used your shopping bag. After all the stories were turned in, a very special guest read over them and chose a winner. The special guest was Patricia Pepe (she was in the area and came to visit) and the winner of the story challenge was Mary Ann Vanderford! Mary Ann won a $10 gift certificate to use at the Quilter's Bin. Congratulations, Mary Ann!

Show and Tell

'Clara' X-Block Quilt by Ruth Lavendar

The above quilt was made by Nita Billmans daughter, Rhonda Heston. The name of the quilt is 'Waiting'. On the back of the quilt was the following:

Waiting

"This quilt was inspired by the vast amount of snow
received during the winter of 2008. The fairgrounds
appeared to be "waiting" for summer, for the fair,
and the visitors.

The pieced block is called the Iowa Star.

My huband, Steve Heston, grew up at the Iowa State
Fair and wanted to share the Fair experience with
me. What better way than to put the buildings and
the grounds into a quilt?"

Rhonda Heston
Chariton, Iowa
July 26, 2008

Snowman 'UFO' (unfinished project) by Peggy Reynolds

Table runner by Peggy Reynolds

Karen O'Brien entered this in the 'Recycled' category at the Labette Fair.





Janice Hentzen showed several of her seasonal table runners and wall quilts.

September 2008 Meeting Highlights

Program

Sarah Gilreath presented the September program. Sarah spoke about Heather Bailey, a designer of fabric, sewing patterns and paper craft supplies. Heather offers free patterns on her blog and Sarah demonstrated how to make Heather's Square Deal pincushion.

Block of the Month Project

For the last step in the table runner project, participating guild members were to put the borders on their project. Each person that brought a finished top would have their name put in a drawing for an embroidered table runner made by Gloria Eaton.

Check out these great table runners!









The winner of the embroidered table runner was Tammy Goodyear!

Next Block of the Month Project


The next BOM project is a wall hanging that features the 'Twist and Shout' block. Gloria Eaton showed a sample of this project. You can view it below. Those that wish to participate in this new BOM project must bring 6 finished blocks to the October meeting. Project instructions will be included in the next guild newsletter.




Announcements

Every Monday in September at the Quilter's Bin will be used to work on the lap robes for Presbyterian Manor. The requested lap robe size is 36" x 48".

The guild placed an entry in the Labette County Fair's Celebrity/Character Scarecrow contest and won 1st place.




Show and Tell





Pie mats by Ruth Lavendar



Quilt by Kayla Crabtree



Rooster quilt by Linda Holtzman





X-Block quilt by Linda Holtzman



Wall hanging by Gloria Eaton





Nancy Kessler will be teaching a class on this bag at the September 5th Monday Sew. These are called Grab Bags and you will need two, half yard pieces of fabric to make one bag. (One for the outside and one for the lining.) You will also need thread to match the outside fabric because there is top stitching. There is no cost for this class.



We were happy to have Kayla Crabtree with us at our September meeting. She is the daughter of Nancy Kessler. Kayla and her husband are currently living in Japan.