Quilts of Valor - 3rd Sew Day

 Today was our last scheduled sew day for making the "Quilts of Valor".  It was a very fun day. Here are a few of the finished quilt tops that will go to the long arm quilter.

Thank you to all of you that donated money, fabric, and your time to this project!

December - 30's Mini Group

The 30's Mini Group decided instead of having a Holiday Party they would have a Sew Day for "Quilts of Valor".  Making a quilt using the pattern "Disappearing Nine Patch."

They started by making a nine patch block with 5" squares. Each 9 patch was made with a red square in the middle, white squares around it and blue squares in the corners. They stitched the squares together to form a traditional nine patch. Then each block was cut into four equal pieces by cutting through the block vertically and horizontally.

 

There are many free patterns for this quilt block.  Click here to find one of them. This is from "Popular Patchwork" website.

 

The phase disappearing nine patch suits the method perfectly, because to make the quilt blocks a simple nine patch block is sliced apart -- it disappears and is replaced by four smaller units.

 

There are a few ways to lay this block out.  This is what the group decided on.





Members of this group were asked to make the nine patch blocks at home and bring them to the meeting.  The group of 10 ladies were able to complete 2 quilt tops and 2 more almost completed tops in about 3 hours.  What talented members we have in our guild!



Lullaby Quilters - Article featured in the West Central Tribune

For the last five years women from the Country Quilters group — many of them moms and grandmothers — have volunteered their time and talents to make “lullaby quilts.”

Anyone interested in quilting is invited to attend the monthly sessions.

Photo by Carolyn Lange

Volunteers make hand-made connections of love and support to babies in Kandiyohi County

By Carolyn Lange on Dec 13, 2013 at 11:15pm

 

 

You can read the whole article here http://www.wctrib.com/content/volunteers-make-hand-made-connections-love-and-support-babies-kandiyohi-county

 

Marking your Quilt Rows or Quilt Blocks

While working on the Quilts of Valor on Thursday, Colleen shared this fun tip with me.  She puts numbers on her quilting pins and keeps these pins in a separate pincushion. She uses these pins to mark her quilt rows and blocks while she is piecing her quilt top.

This photo shows how she marked these two quilt blocks. 

Smitty also shared a similar tip with me.  She puts the number of pins to match the rows.  Row one has one pin, row two has two pins, row three has three pins, etc.

I love these tips, thanks for sharing them!

Quilts of Valor - 2nd Sew Day

December 12th was our 2nd-Sew Day for Quilts of Valor at the Community Center in Willmar.

This was another productive day. There were 15 quilters and they finished approximately 11 quilt tops.

Our next sew date will be December 19th, 10:30 at the Community Center in Willmar. We hope to finished the ones that were started along with making backings and binding for these tops. The following photos are a few of the completed quilt tops that will be sent to long arm quilter to be quilted.

The finished quilts will be going to the Minnesota National Guard's 849th Mobility Augmentation Company that were deployed to Afghanistan in July. While deployed, the unit will be tasked to conduct route clearance missions to ensure mobility of coalition forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Card Trick Block

Pat challenged us with the card trick block pattern.  You can download the pattern here.http://www.mccallsquilting.com/qb/mccallsquilting/pattern_902/index.html

Pat suggested to make this block into a simple table runner by making 3 blocks, or you could make it into a pillow. She challenged us to use our imagination to come up with a creative way to use it.

Here are the instructions:

Card Trick Cutting InstructionsBackground... Piece A - Cut two squares 4 7/8" x 4 7/8"; sub cut diagonally to make a total of 4 half-square triangles ... Piece B - Cut one square 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"; sub cut diagonally to make 4 quarter-square triangles

Block Size: 12" FinishedBeginner Level

From each of FOUR different prints (purple, green, magenta, and dark blue), cut the following:... Piece A - 1 square 4 7/8" x 4 7/8"; sub cut diagonally to make 2 half-square triangles
... Piece B - Cut one square 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"; sub cut diagonally twice to make 4 quarter-square triangles (Note: 2 triangles will be leftover for each print)

Piecing the block
Sub Unit A. Using Diagram I as a guide, sew background fabric, Piece A to one each of the print fabric, Piece A. Make 1 pieced-square unit for each fabric combination.

Diagram I

Sub Unit B. Sew background quarter-square triangles (Piece B) to one each of the four print fabrics. Sew Piece A prints to each quarter-square units, using Diagram II as a fabric combination guide.

Diagram II

Sub Unit C. Referring to Diagram III for fabric combination, sew print fabric quarter-square triangles (Piece B) together to make square.

Diagram III

Assembling BlockUsing Assembly Diagram as a guide, piece sub units together to make rows. Piece rows together to make Card Trick block.

Assembly Diagram

December - Quilt Haven on Main in Hutchinson

Bonny Hartung and Connie Lindmeyer from Quilt Haven in Hutchinson gave a wonderful trunk show and talked about the shop that Bonny owns and Connie manages. It's located in a great historic building in downtown Hutchinson. Inside is a quilter's paradise, fabrics, patterns, samples and more everywhere the eye can see.  They handed out many door prizes to our members. They also had some quick last minute projects that you could still finish in time for Christmas.  You can check out their website here http://www.quilthavenonmain.com/

Some of the show and tell projects from our members.

Quilts of Valor - 1st Sew Day

On December 5th a group of quilters met at the Community Center in Willmar to make quilts for the Ninety-five soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard's 849th Mobility Augmentation Company that were deployed to Afghanistan in July. Of the 95 Soldiers leaving, 78 of them will experience their first deployment and 54 will be leaving behind at least one dependent. While deployed, the unit will be tasked to conduct route clearance missions to ensure mobility of coalition forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Here are a few of the completed quilt tops.

November - Darlene Zimmerman "Feedsacklady"

Darlene presented a wonderful lecture on "From Ho-Hum to WOW". Creativity in quilting can be learned! We can't re-invent the wheel (or quilt patterns), but we can be creative in the colors, settings and border we use. A wonderful trunk show of new and old quilts will inspire you to view quilts from a different perspective and re-evaluate all the quilts you are currently making. Learn to take your quilts beyond ordinary to extra-ordinary! 

To learn more about Darlene you can check her website out at http://www.feedsacklady.com.



A few of the show and tell projects.

September - Sherri Falls "This & That Patterns"

This & That Patterns was founded in 2004 by Sherri Falls.

Sherri began quilting in 1994. She enjoyed trying to put patterns together in different ways and experimented with designing her own patterns. In 2000, Sherri started a machine quilting business.

Since 2004, Sherri has designed many patterns and a book for the Holly Taylor fabric lines. In addition, Sherri has designed charm patterns and other fun patterns for jelly rolls and layer cakes under the “Little Scraps” and “Breakfast Club” lines.

Check out her blog at http://thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com

A few of the show and tell projects.

August - Sewing Seeds Quilt Company

Jackie Forst, Cindy Wendinger and Ann Wendinger, the owners of Sewing Seeds Quilt Company provided us with a trunk show and told us the story about how they opened their new shop in New Ulm.  You can check out their blog here http://sewingseedsquiltco.com/category/blog/

Some of the show and tell.

July - Annemarie Yohnk "Quilts Remembered"





Annemarie Yohnk, designer for Quilts Remembered, has been quilting since 1980. Her passion for quilts has drawn her into the new endeavor of creating a historically based pattern line. She has combined her fascination with, and knowledge of, antique quilts with her teaching experience. Using reproduction fabrics to center the new pattern line, Quilts Remembered connects to the beloved patterns of the past.

The lecture she shared was called Tell Me About Your Doll Quilt. This lecture included the history of Doll Quilts from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. Included was a trunk show with approximately 75 pieces. Most were antique quilts, also some doll beds & stowaways.

 

You can check out her website here http://www.quiltsremembered.com/index.htm



Some of the show and tell.