What's going on at our February Meeting

I had to put these up first, it was February, the Love month!!! 

This was the mug rug swap this month.  Aren't these all just so cute!  Good job, ladies!  If you want to participate, make a mug rug with the month's guidelines, bring it to the meeting and you will go home with someone else's mug rug.  Look for the mug rug guidelines on the sidebar under labels....I think Sharon said next month is a four letter word.  Yeah, yeah, not what you are thinking, these are good words that lift you up.....Love, Yeah, Lift, Hope, Care, etc....you get the idea, right. See, there's another one...Idea. The list could go on and on....  Now, get busy and have fun!

This is a monthly swap that Sharon and Bev came up with.  Sharon sent us the instructions and we signed up at the meeting.  So far, there are 13 people signed up for this swap, if you are interested in participating in the swap, please email or call her and let her know. It is made with Civil War fabric and the blocks are not too hard.

This is the summer block.  Sharon and Bev are also in charge of this one.  They passed out instructions only at the meeting.  You use your fabrics to make the block.  Here's the front of the block.

Here's the back of the block showing the pressing directions.

This is going to be the church quilt this year.  Irene, Ruth and Carolee are in charge of this.  They passed out instuctions along with the background fabric. You put the block together using your colors from your stash.  They asked for Autumn colors.  You can make more than one if you want to....contact them.  These blocks need to be turned in as soon as possible so we can get started putting the quilt together.

This is going to be the swap this year.  Helen has chosen another cute quilt.  More info will be coming along on this one next month. If you want to swap fabrics for this one, there will be a sign up sheet and Helen will let us know how much to swap....Stay tuned for more info.

This month we had our first guest speaker of the year, Donna Abel. a professional machine quilter, presented "My Quilt Journey with Wilber the Moose."  I'm sorry I did not get a picture of Donna, but this was just a sample of the great quilts she had to show us.

Donna started off her program with this beautfil quilt and her touching story. This was a quilt made by her Grandmother. Donna picked out the fabrics and her Grandmother started the quilt. She passed away while making the quilt and her church friends finished it for Donna.

This trunk show showed Donna's progression through her quilt journey.  I did not take all of the pictures she presented.  Like all of us, she started out very basic and grew from there.  These are the

hi-lites.

Machine Embroidery quilt

A Row by Row Christmas quilt

Wilber the Moose!  This was a round robin quilt that went all over the country.  Her group had alot of fun with this quilt. 

This is a crayola quilt.

A Stack and Whack quilt done through her small group.  Everyone used the same border fabric but chose different backgrounds.

A quilt made for her cousin in honor of her friend's passing.

Jelly Roll String Quilt

Her Braid quilt

Half square triangles.

Her half square snuggle quilt.  She said this quilt had magic powers. Every time she used it it would put her to sleep!

A little Halloween quilt.

A beautiful paper piecing quilt.

Another paper piecing quilt.  This is half the quilt.

This had sayings on the quilt, sorry, I didn't get close enough to see what they said. She said she made several of these and gave away as gifts.

A quilt made for her late husband.  He was a true cowboy.  This quilt now belongs to her daughter.

Her new husband's quilt. Very manly.

Their wedding quilt made for her by her friends.

A close-up of the border.

She made four memory quilts.  This one is her daughter's quilt and is has pictures of her late husband, the daughter and herself.   She made 3 others and gave to each of her step children in memory of their Mother.  Each quilt was a little different but the same too.  The quilts were personalized by having pictures of their Mother and themselves too.  These were given to each child (they are grown children) this past Christmas and she said it helped make them a family.  It was a very touching story. 

Hmm, I think she said this was a Quilt of Valor quilt but I might be wrong on this one...I don't remember, any thoughts????

Great trunk show, huh!  Now for some show and tell from our members!

This is Joyce's beautiful Civil War quilt.  Patterns were available each Saturday on-line from Barbara Brackman....I'm still working on mine!

Judith's beautiful little wallhanging.  I think she said this one will be for the Dallas Miniature Quilt Auction.  It's lovely, Judith, I hope it brings in lots of money!!!

A quick baby quilt by Judith using the pattern, Will Work for Fabric.  This is one of my favorite baby quilt patterns...

Judy H's beautiflu One Block Wonder.  The picture does not do this one justice.  It is lovely!

Judy H and some of her blocks she is doing her wool work on.   She's having fun with this!

Martha L. made this beautiful One Block Wonder!  I think this one is her 5th or 6th one and they are all just stunning quilts.  Martha said she bought sale fabric for this one and it had stripes too!  Simply beautiful!

This one is Sharon H's quilt.  This was a friendship block quilt.  A few years ago we made blocks for each member on their birthday month.  Sharon chose this block and provided the fabrics and pattern.  We made them and returned to her for her to make this cute quilt for her nephew.  (I think she said that was who it was for!!!) Anyway, she's giving this cute quilt away and I think it's great!  This pattern was a Eleanor Burn's pattern out of her book, Victory Quilts.  Fun, quick and easy! 

These are all mine. I missed last month due to family illness and didn't get to show my Row by Row with everyone else but I did get it finished and I enjoyed this little quilt alot!  Thanks, Martha, for helping us along on this project.  It was fun!  She's already got another one for us to try too.  I put a link up on the side of the blog....

Here's my Christmas present quilt.  It's all together except for the final border.  The pattern calls for just a plain small border but I was playing with my left-over 2 1/2" Christmas squares and decided I would do a border with those.  I don't have enough so I'll be collecting Chistmas the rest of the year and hopefully, this little quilt will be finished by this Chistmas!  If you have any 2 1/2" Christmas squares just laying around your house, I would gladly take them off your hands or trade for them!!!

Here's my Snowman quilt.  There were 10 of us involved in this little swap. Some from this group and some outside the group.  We each made two different snowmen and exchanged with each other.  Martha and Dee showed theirs a few months ago.  These quilts will be on display at the Mesquite Quilt show in June, 2012 as a special display. Come see the cute quilts...

I made this for Valentine's Day. I was in a blog hop to promote the Accuquilt Go Cutter and Dies.  I made three different little projects for Valentine's Day. This is the first one.

This is the second little wallhanging I did.  I follow a blog by Kathleen Tracy. She is a quilter and an author too. She does little quilts and they are mostly geared toward Civil War but this month she also had a red and white quilt in honor of Valentine's Day. 

This last project was a quick tablerunner.  I saw this on the internet before Christmas and just didn't get around to making it.  You can use this pattern for any season or any fabric you love and don't want to cut into...It is very simple and quick too.  Here's a link to the pattern and I'll put in on the side of the blog too so you can find it easier. 

Well, that's all for this month, if you missed the meeting, you missed a good one.  Please come next month and bring your show and tell.  Til next time, happy sewing!

A Quick and Simple Way to make Half-Square Triangles

This was Martha's quick tip for February, I've done this before and it works great. I was always guessing about the size but with this info, no more guessing.  Great tip!

A quick and simple way to make half-square triangles

1. Layer 2 squares of fabric right sides together and pin.

2. Sew ¼" seam around the entire square, stopping ¼" from each corner and pivoting with the needle down to sew the adjacent side.

3. Line up a ruler corner to opposite corner and cut the square diagonally. Being careful not to move the square, now cut diagonally in the opposite direction.

4. Open each of the four squares, press seam allowances toward the darker fabric, and trim the dog ears. Edges on these units are on the bias, so be careful not to stretch them as you press and sew.

How big should the squares be? Whatever size FINISHED half square triangle you want, add TWO inches to that measurement. For example, if you want a 2 ½” half square triangle (finished size 2”),you would cut your squares 4”.

2” finished – 2 ½” unfinished = 4” squares

3” finished – 3 ½” unfinished = 5” squares

4” finished –4 ½” unfinished = 6” squares

5” finished – 5 ½” unfinished = 7” squares

Make one set, cut them and measure to be sure your quarter inch seam is correct and they measure exactly what you want.

If you spray starch these or use Best Press by Mary Ellen, there should be no problem with bias edges or cut your squares to begin with on the diagonal. You will have bias edges one way or another, so just be careful and don't stretch.