The Start of it All

On the left side of my blog, there is a picture of the quilt that was the first piece I ever worked on. The story of the quilt is posted there. I was looking through some of the files on my pc this morning and came across some closeups I took of the quilt a couple of years ago. The neighbor who gave me the blocks remembered having a dress from one of the fabrics (the star to far right in the picture) when she was a little girl. The blocks are probably from 1910-20 as near as I can calculate. She gave them to me in approximately 1975 and she was about 70 at the time. Regardless, they are very old and very well made. (Click picture to enlarge)

September Meeting and ATCs

Tonight was the start of the new year for Quilters Squared quilt guild - what a great turnout! We are growing by leaps and bounds. I want to welcome all the brand new quilters, the ones who have been here for awhile and all the gals who have been here for varying lengths of time including forever and ever. It is hard to get around to everyone at the meeting, but please know that we want you to keep coming back and enjoy with us the joy of quilting!! I urge you to join in the challenges and projects we have regardless of whether you are a veteran quilter or a novice. Each and every one of started out as a beginner!! I feel bad that sometimes I have a time remembering names - but please forgive this old woman!! I eventually get it all together! You are going to enjoy being part of Quilters Squared - it is a very good group of very good women. Nuf said.

I will now post the Artist Trading Cards that four of us are still doing. The theme for September is Kitchen Kitsch. Top row - Julie and Carol - Second Row - Debbie and Claire. What fun!

(Click picture to enlarge)

All Done

Just one more picture - finished the cactus and will post the scan I just did. Came out okay, I think - kind of looks like a cactus. Really looking forward to all the Fractured Fotos - can't imagine what they will look like. Stay tuned! (Click to enlarge)

Almost Done

I have been chipping away at the summer challenge pieces and just about have them finished. Still have to stitch Debbie's but as soon as I decide on thread color that should just take a few minutes. It was an all day job - plus parts of a number of other days, too. Two of the pieces I really like - one is the finished piece that belongs to Dana in my post this morning. The other is a graphic design by Tam which I didn't think I did very well on. Wrong!! This is my favorite after I put lots of really colorful fancy stitches on the seams. So here they are, fresh out of the scanner! Don't worry about the jagged edges - they are bigger than the actual piece to enable them to be sewn together. (Click picture to enlarge)

Q2 Summer Challenge #@!!!**&^(Just Teasing, Lori)

I think this is the third time we have had a "summer challenge" to bring to our first guild meeting in September. Lori (one of my very favorite quilters) came up with a doozey for us to work on this summer--Fractured Fotos. Each participant sent her a drawing or blown up photo approximately 20 x 20 which she cut up into 6 or 8 pieces. These were divied up and she mailed 6 to 8 (I think we all got 8) pieces to each one doing the challenge. Sounds innocent enough, right? She did put tiny clues on the backs of the pieces some of which were hard to tell what they were. Wow - what a challenge!!!!!!!!!! I know I have used a few of my choicest expletives in working on this. For sure, I will be posting them at a later date. I have 7 of mine done ready to be stitched and the last one is all figured out. A group got together one Sunday afternoon and compared pieces - it was very interesting how individuals approached the task at hand. At Tuesday night's meeting, the pieces of the puzzles will be put together and each one will take their puzzle home to assemble and finish. Can hardly wait to see the finished products.

Today I will get my part all finished, by golly. I will put in scans of two of the puzzle parts I have together but not stitched yet. The reason they look jagged around the edges is because you have to leave plenty of room for seam allowances and I figured the owner can just trim the excess off with a rotary cutter. The second piece should be really neat - the instructions for that were to change color every time there was a line. That one belongs to Dana and what a clever idea. (Click pictures to enlarge)

59 Years Ago Today

On September 4, 1949, at the First Methodist Church in Chillicothe, Illinois, Ray Kenneth and Carol Charlene were married at 3:00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. Today would be our 59th wedding anniversary. We actually had 48 wonderful years together and two great kids, Sherry and Bill, who in turn added more members to our family to love and enjoy. Ray's job with the Santa Fe kept us on the move over the years - first to Ft. Madison, Iowa, then Topeka, Newton, and Kansas City, Kansas - and back to Chillicothe when he retired in 1984 after 41 years with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. In 1992 we moved to Michigan to be near Sherry and her family. Ray was able to enjoy 13 years of retirement - which, of course, wasn't enough but he did enjoy the years he had. Ray was such a good man, a wonderful husband and father, and a doting grandpa who could talk like Donald Duck. So I thought I would post a picture of the Funoldhag and her sweetie pie on their wedding day. And all that brown stuff isn't big hair - it's a feather hat!! (Click picture to enlarge)

More Pillowcases

Just finished pressing the rest of the pillowcases I made for the ConKerr Cancer project our guild is participating in to furnish colorful pillowcases to children of all ages in chemo. We are to bring them to our first fall meeting. According to the newsletter there are already 55 so it will be fun to see how many more are added to that number. We needed pieces for children from very tiny to older teenagers so it calls for a vast array of patterns to appeal to all ages. Bless their hearts - may these add a bright note to their lives and may recovery be complete.

(Click to enlarge)