September 2009 Guild Meeting

The Newtonia Battlefield Quilters met for their monthly guild meeting on September 16, 2009 n Newtonia, MO. We had 13 of our members present to enjoy the meeting and evening together.
Pauline won our "Hollyhock" BOM blocks. Our October block is to be the "Sunflower". The background is to be a pale green print or plaid cut in 12 1/2" block. The petals are to be various yellow prints with dark brown center.
We will also be exchanging yellow/gold floral prints 6" squares.
The program of the meeting was book reports on our favorite quilting books. Several were described and new techniques were shared from these. Lucy's favorite book was a great story which she read to us. During show and tell, Bobbie showed us her tablecloth that she made from her fruit and vegetable fabrics for our "Harvest Bounty" Challenge due in October. She will be out of town and wanted to show it to the guild. Very nice, Bobbie.

The Newtonia Fall Festival is Saturday the 26th of September and we will be involved in helping and enjoying this day. Everyone is welcome to attend and take advantage of the activities and food that will be presented there. Come by and see our booth with our lovely raffle quilt and yard sale.
That is all for now.

August 2009 Guild Meeting

It is already September so I guess I need to get on the ball and get August meeting posted before our September meeting arrives.
We met on August 20, 2009 at the Newtonia Community Building in Newtonia, MO. We had several members absent, but enjoyed visiting with the members who were in attendance.
Paula won our "Butterfly" BOM blocks and she received some really pretty ones. Next month BOM is the "Hollyhock" seen here on "country red" background. The flowers are to be made in yellows or pinks and detailed centers with "french knots". Up to 3 flowers can be used, more would make the block crowded. Outline stitch in like or contrasting colors to give the desired look you want.

The "jewel tone" 6" fabric squares were exchanged and we look forward to next month when we will exchange "tone on tone florals".
The program part of our meeting was presented by Rebecca.
She introduced some of us to the technique of "Mola". I can see how this would be a beautiful, but involved project.
This technique involves the layering of different fabrics and the use of needle turn applique'.
It is really pretty when finished, so those that are up to a larger challenge are welcome to try it.
Our Newtonia Fall Festival is coming up on the 26th of September. Our raffle tickets are on sell for the two sided quilt that was made as our fund raiser for the year.
We were also reminded that our "Harvest Bounty" challenges are due in October. Be working on your fruit and vegetable fabrics.
That will wrap it up for now. Our next meeting is on September 17, 2009. Our assignment is to bring our favorite "quilting book" for our annual book report meeting. Check back next month.

July Guild Meeting

Our monthly guild meeting was held in Newtonia on July 16th. We had 12 members and 4 guests there. It was our quarterly Project Linus meeting so different ones brought their sewing machines to work on this or their own projects. We worked on weighted blankets for children with Autism or ADHD/ADD. More information on these blankets and how they can help is available through your local Project Linus Chapter.

Lucy won our Amish Basket BOM blocks. This could be a very beautiful quilt..

Next month's BOM block is the Butterfly. It will be a pieced block.

Vea described how she wanted this block to be made. Pale neutral pastel background, 2 bright pastel colors for the wings and black or charcoal grey for the body. The antennae can be added by machine or embroidery.

We had several Linus BOM Flip Flop blocks turned in as well as the Faux Paper Pieced Star blocks. Very nice.

Before our Linus work meeting began, we shared with the group the Sweet Treat Bags that we made as our May Challenge.

Another challenge that we were given in June was a "scrap bag" challenge. We each drew a number that corresponded with a bag of scraps. We were then to take the bag home and make something with all the pieces. Some were harder to use than others since they were so very tiny.

We then received a new challenge that is due in October. We each were given 4 fat eighths of fabric that were printed with large fruits or vegetables. It is called our "Harvest Bounty" Challenge. We have to use all of the fabric in a project of our choosing. More fabric can be added to it as desired.

The Raffle quilt for the September Fall Festival in Newtonia was finished and we took pictures of both sides. It is a fully reversible quilt and it was machine quilted. Very beautiful. We will be selling tickets to earn money for our guild's needs for the coming year. The top is made of blocks that the guild members pieced. The back is just as bright and lovely. Quite a treat to look at.

June Guild Meeting.

Our June Guild meeting was held on the 18th and we had several members in attendance. We received the word that our raffle quilt is at the quilter's and we should have it back soon to take pictures and start selling tickets.

Rebecca Lesue won our Honey Bee BOM blocks.Our new BOM for July is the Amish Basket. Solid colors are to be used for this and black is to be used for the background.

Our Project Linus BOM is the Flip Flop. We are to make one or more of these blocks to turn in to be made into a linus quilt.

Lucy started our Program part of the meeting with a drawing to give away all the larger prizes left over from the retreat.

Then Rebecca showed us how she does Fauz Paper Piecing. Those that make the blocks and bring them back will get to see how they are set together in a linus quilt.

We had Show and Tell with several personal projects and linus projects shown.

The BOM bylaw rules were reviewed so we better understood when and how often we were eligible for winning these blocks.

Our meeting was adjourned until July 16th.

It was great.... We had our Retreat on June 12th and 13th. It was supposed to be a "mini" retreat, but we had so much to do, I prefer to call it just a Retreat. Several projects were worked on and some were even completed. The most fun was had by those who participated in the Hand Dyeing of fabrics. I may be bias since that is the main thing I did and had a wonderful time doing it.

We had fun with the basics of hand dyeing and ended up with 9 beautiful colors and a black. Each one is unique and beautiful.

We then played with soy wax and tried our hand at "batiking". Some of these are quite lovely and unique too. We stamped the wax onto the fabric with household items such as potato mashers, empty thread spools, cookie cutters, and even a wire whip. After the wax dried, the fabric was placed into one and sometimes 2 colors. After the fabric set for several hours, the wax was removed to reveal the great designs left behind by the wax.

Then we tried a couple of methods using shaving cream. Both of the methods using this were great at giving soft colorful pieces of fabric. The one method has the shaving cream in a layer on plastic and you add the dyes to other shaving cream and apply it however you wish to the shaving cream layer. Then you lay your fabric on top of this and let it set before removing it to dry.The other shaving cream method has the fabric "painted" with the dyes and the shaving cream is added on top of the dye and allowed to dry. Such beautiful fabrics to play with and use in other projects. Just how do you choose which ones and how to use them. Hmmm.

Anyway, we also had a class on making tote bags. Aprons were made, quilts started and some finished. But most of all, we enjoyed getting together, chatting, sharing ideas and enjoying the yummy foods that come with such a group of ladies.

Our next retreat is scheduled for November 6th and 7th this year.

Mini Retreat

Our Spring Mini Retreat will be held on June 12 and 13th. Although it looks to be a regular retreat with the many items we are going to have available to work on. A Scrappy Bag, Stripy Table Runner, Baby Quilt, Large Quilt, and Apron are the fun projects available. Lucy is going to instruct us Friday in Basic Hand Dying. On Saturday, we are going to have fun with shaving cream as we try our hand at this type of Hand Dying as well as maybe some Batik work.
We are also going to have a rummage sell. Everyone is to bring items they want to donate for sale and the money will go into our budget for future projects.
Everyone is to also bring Pot luck dishes for us to snack on as we spend time together sharing fun times and ideas. We will meet from 9 am until 9 pm or whenever everyone wants to go home. The retreat will be held at the community building in Newtonia. See you there.

May 2009 Guild Meeting

On May 21, 2009, the Newtonia Battlefield Quilters met for our monthly evening meeting. School was out for our area that day, so we had a few more members there that had been unable to attend much during the school year. For some of us, summer means that it is time to relax and work on those projects that have been nagging at us all winter. To others, it is the busy time of year with children under foot and outdoor activities calling to us.
The evening was brought to order by our Vice President, Marcene. The old business of the raffle quilt was dealt with quickly as a unanimous decision was made to have it machine quilted by a lady in Anderson who has done some quilting for some members of our group and does a really great job.
New business was discussed such as our mini retreat coming up in June and Project Linus meetings to be held and where.
Our day meeting was set to be held at Lucy's and our evening meeting was to be hosted by Lynn and to be held at the community building. Both meetings were well attended and we worked on the new Linus BOM from Marcene called "Pretty in Pink". Doll dresses appliqued on squares. Even though the one she showed us was yellow and not pink.
Anyway, she was quite busy since our April meeting because she assembled and finished 9 quilts from the "Orphan Blocks" that everyone turned in.
After showing her finished "Kite" BOM quilt made from the March blocks, Donna won the May "Daisy" BOM blocks.
Vea presented our new BOM "Honey Bee" block. She encouraged us all to stretch our imaginations by making two blocks, one to turn in and one to keep. The one we keep could be made by coordinating the fabrics each month so they all have one or more of the same fabrics.
The evening program was on "quilts are not just for beds." Lucy introduced the meeting with her "mini" quilts from different quilt exchanges. Bobbie showed some of her vintage "bonnets", some hot pads, and mini quilts. Pauline modeled her vest made from quilt blocks. Paula showed her guild bag as well as a diaper bag she made for her niece.
We were reminded that our "bag" challenge is due next month and that more details would follow on our Mini Retreat.
We adjourned until next month.

I will try to post some pictures later. Technical difficulties.