Looking for a custom machine quilter

I made my goal!  Thanks to Vicki's UFO-busting encouragement, I finally completed this top that has been in work for more than 15 years - my goal was to get it pieced by the end of 2016.

Now I need to find a machine quilter to custom quilt it for me.  I'm looking for recommendations!  And also, if you know of anyone I should avoid please send me an e-mail with that information, too.  Thanks.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I've read this book to my children and my grandchildren every

Christmas Eve since 1975.

It's beautifully illustrated and who doesn't love the magic of a good Christmas story.

 

Peace and love to each of you.

☃

10 Questions - Debbie Quitaquit

I've been remiss. I've had this interview done for over a month. Debbie is one of our newer members but has quickly become completely involved with us. She sews with us on Sewing Friday and Saturday almost every month and is going to be providing our meeting program in January.

1. If you live in Hanover (or the area), how many generations of your family have lived here and how did they come to settle here? If you moved here, where are you from and what brought you here?

I moved to Hanover in March of 2015. I was born and raised in Big Stone Gap, Va and moved to Emporia in 1975, where I lived for the next 40 years .  My husband and I moved to Rockville to be closer to our children and grandchildren.  

2. When you were young what did you plan to be when you grew up and what happened with those plans?

I wanted to grow up to be famous like my ideal Gypsy Rose Lee.  At the time I was not sure what she did for a living but she had the coolest name I had ever heard! 

3. What are your favorite things to do in the area?

 I love the shops (quilt shops), restaurants, and visiting with the kids.  I love being closer to the local quilt shops so I can take classes, and run over if I need something for a project I'm working on!

4. Tell us a little about your family

 I am the youngest of 13 children, the "daughter of a coal miner", and my parents favorite(don't tell my sisters and brothers). I  moved to Emporia in 1975 to marry my husband and raise two children .  In the late 80's my husband gave me my first Valentine gift, an 18 year old daughter.  The other stepdaughter moved in with us that June growing our family to 4 children.  At that time we purchased a second house located in Midlothian, where I lived with the children for the next six years.  

This made my five to six trips to Richmond for my daughter’s gymnastics only a ten minute drive and gave the kids much better schools than were available in Emporia!

We moved back to Emporia after my gymnast graduated from high school, and lived there until last year. 

We now have six grandchildren and are looking forward to more, as my son has only been married since last December.

5. What hobbies or activities do you do other than quilting? Where do you do them? How did you get involved with.

I crochet, knit, and embroider.  I started embroidering in my teens, teaching myself from the instructions in books. I started cross stitching in the early '80s, making sure to buy two skeins of thread for each number in the pattern so I would not run out doing the pattern.  I still have some of the thread from the first project I started!  I learned to crochet when I was pregnant with my first child.  I have only been knitting for about five years, and still feel like I am a beginner!

 I would love to learn to tat and may need to take some online courses as I haven't found anyone who teaches tatting.

6. What’s your favorite vacation spot? Where do you want to go next?

I fell in love with the Dominican Republic when we went for my son’s wedding last year!   Would love to go to Scotland and visit the places that my ancestors are from.

7. What saying best describes how you like to live your life?

 At times my life is best described by "Life is a circus!”  Now that I live closer to my kids my life has calmed down a bit so I feel like my life is more "The circus has come to town (country)!”

8. Show us a photo (or photos) of where you create.

9. Show us a photo of the quilt that’s on your bed right now.

10. What is your all time favorite quilt and why?

 I love Bargello quilts!  I have made three and have patterns for several more variations that I would like to try in future.  I think Bargellos appeal to me because of their simple construction but they give such a complex geometric design.

I have included a photo of one I still have so you can see what a Bargello quilt looks like.

Julie's Punch Recipe

As requested, here's the recipe for the delicious punch that Julie served at the meeting.

CHILLED CHRISTMAS PUNCH

Yield:  3-3/4 quarts

Prep Time:  10 minutes

Cook Time:  5 minutes

2 cups water

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon  ground cinnamon

One 46-ounce can pineapple juice, chilled

4 cups can-apple juice, chilled

1 liter ginger ale, chilled

In a saucepan, bring the water, sugar and cinnamon to a boil; stir until sugar is dissolved.  Chill

Just before serving, combine the syrup mixture, juice and ginger ale in a punch bowl or large pitcher.  Serve over ice.

Source:  RecipeGirl.com (via Taste of Home)

Hope you all enjoy and Have A Very Merry Christmas!!  

See you next year, 2017

Julie

Quilts for Veterans on Display

Quilts made by Country School Quilt members to be given to

Veterans are on display at The Montpelier Center for Arts & Education.

Three quilts fill the wall in the library entrance.

 

These quilts will hang for 3 months and then be given to veterans

at the V.A. Hospital in Richmond.

 

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY & SATURDAY SEWING

REMINDER - We will be sewing together on Friday & Saturday, Dec. 9 & 10th.

We sew together EVERY month on the second Saturday/Friday of the month.

Bring your sewing project and lunch for sewing and visiting. Remember we have those nice big tables if you need to layout or baste a quilt.

If you can't stay all day, stop by for a visit!

🎄

December Meeting Information

There's lots to cover before our last meeting of the year!

December 13 is our annual holiday pot luck. This year Julie has a fun ornament exchange planned for us and, as always, we will be collecting food and donations for WHEAT. Don't forget show and tell! Representatives from Hanover Parks and Rec will join us for the meeting so please be sure to thank them for providing our perfect meeting space.

Here are all of the details:

Meeting: The meeting will start at 6:30 but you can arrive as early as 6 to start setting up. Bring your favorite dish to share (appetizer, main, side or dessert).

Ornament Exchange: Bring a handmade ornament for the ornament exchange. There are no rules. The ornament can be made of anything and in any way as long as it's handmade.

 WHEAT Food Drive: Each year we donate a car load full of food to WHEAT.  They operate a bi-monthly food pantry in coordination with several area churches. Everything they do is to help people in need in our own community. If you want to support WHEAT you can bring items from the following list or a donation check/cash to give to Cathy Williams at the meeting.

WHEAT Needs:

• Cereal, oatmeal, pancake mix w/syrup, sugar free also needed
• 1 lb bags of dried beans, rice or noodles. They can break down very large bags if you want to buy in bulk
• Small jars of peanut butter and jelly
• Spaghetti sauce
• Canned soups or mixes
• Canned meats: tuna, chicken, potted meat, sardines
• Canned vegetables
• Canned fruit, including low sugar and sugar free
• Canned beans, any kind
• Coffee and tea
• One-dish meals - Brunswick stew, hamburger helper, etc
• Boxes of mac and cheese
• Pouches of dried milk
• Hygiene products: soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bandaids, razors, wash cloths, hand towels, combs, deodorant
• MONEY to buy perishable foods
• Gift cards to grocery stores

If you belong to another organization that wants to also have a food drive please talk to Cathy Williams at the meeting or get her number off of the membership list. She is the Open Pantry Coordinator.

Tuesday Sewing

We are fortunate to have access to our meeting room 3 times each month:

- the meeting on the 2nd Tuesday

- the second Friday and following Saturday for sewing days 

AND

- the 4th Tuesday also for a sewing day.

At the meeting we discussed that this day isn't used much and determined that's because a lot of people don't know about it!

I'll make an effort to post a reminder here on the blog before the 4th Tuesday each month and this is your reminder that we have the room this coming Tuesday, November 22! 

This is a great room for basting quilts or just to be able to spread out a project. We do have a stand up design wall, cutting mats, a couple of rulers, irons and ironing boards.

Come sew (or baste) this Tuesday of you want.

Our Flickr Site

A big thanks to those who take pictures at our meetings and share them on our Flickr Site. 

It's always nice to go back and take a good look at quilts from our meetings and you do this from our blog.

Scroll down and look in the column on the right until you see the box where you can subscribe to the blog by email (a great way to always get what's posted). Just below the box you will see Our Flickr Site click on that and you can enjoy many months of programs and show & tell. You will see Kitty's name at the top, because she's the one who set it up for us. Thank you, Kitty and everyone for sharing pictures. 

So sit back in your comfy chair and enjoy the quilt show.
                            📷

NOV BOM

Our November Block of the Month will be for another veteran quilt, still keeping with the Red/White/Blue fabric theme. We will be making a simple square in a box. The fun thing about this block will be the variety in the sizes of the square in the center - the more variety the better. 
 
Basic construction: Add strips to a square so your block measures 9" (I will trim them)

Some ideas - various size squares and combinations of fabrics. (Use prints and/or solids, your choice)

 

Sample block

I've cut some squares and will bring them to share. We will need 56 blocks for our quilt, so please, make 2 or 3 blocks and have fun thinking INSIDE the box. The more variety in the fabrics, the better. 

 

 

☕ Happy Sewing!

FRIDAY/SATURDAY SEWING

Sewing is Friday and Saturday (Nov 11 & 12). Bring your own project (and lunch) and have fun sewing and visiting with friends.

Nov. 15 Meeting

Does everyone have their calendar marked for our meeting on Nov. 15?  (Date change, due to election)

The program by Marcy will be
"Consider a Quilt Challenge Group"

From Marcy:

For the past 10 years, I have participated in a quilters’ challenge group. The last 2 years we’ve been doing charity quilts. The numbers of participants has varied from 5 – 7. Organically, the group works like any other group – sometimes it works for people, sometimes not, and we give each other grace a lot of the time! But here’s the thing, I originally asked if I could join the group after seeing 1 or 2 quilts that they had already produced. What I saw for myself was the possibility of real growth beyond projects I might choose on my own. Also, the closest anyone in the group lived was approximately 2 hours away, a “safe distance” – no one would see me fumble around, while I “tried on” different ideas! Depending on your desire to try something new, get out of a rut, or wake yourself up with a deadline, a challenge group can really help and provide so much more in the way of inspiration and friendships!!!!

Marcy will be sharing a lot of ideas and quilts.

 

Please bring quilts you have made with a Quilt Challenge Group (Round Robin style, etc.) to inspire and encourage others.

What a great "Trash and Treasure" sale!

Thanks to everyone who brought treasures for our sale this evening, and to all who shopped.  We made a total of $324.95!  Y'all are awesome!

OCTOBER Block of the Month

We can thank Nancy for our block this month. Her veteran quilt block was made from a Missouri Star Quilt Co. pattern they called Crosswalk.

Nancy's block

 

Spring Vol. 3, Issue 2 - Crosswalk Quilt, page 73

*****************************************************

 

Our block will look like this:

 

Please note, I have changed the size to make a finished 12" block. Let's get ready to make this easy block in red/white/blue. The directions will be under each picture.

 

The cast of characters, keeping in mind to use patriot fabrics.

Use prints or solids, or a combination as in the sample block.

          2 - dark blue strips 21 x 2-1/2"

          2 - light blue strips 21 x 2-1/2"

          1 - red strip 21 x 2-1/2"

          4 - white 5" squares

 

To make strip sets:

          Sew the strips together, being mindful of 1/4" seams,  press seams,

          cut into 4-1/2" units. Fold each unit in half to mark the center of the red.

 

Cut each square on the diagonal - please disregard all the mess at the back of my table.

Mark the half-way point of the triangles - as shown in the close-up.

 

Sew triangles to strip-set, carefully matching up the center marks. Press to the white.
Repeat to make 4.

Trim to 6-1/2".  This is when a ruler with the 1/2" added comes in handy. Use the guides on your ruler to CENTER the ruler, then cut.

Arrange the 4 squares with white in the center and sew together.  Your finished block should measure 12-1/2". Isn't this a great block?  If offers so many possibilities with color placement. We may do it again, completely scrappy next time! 

 

 

 





There was so much going on at Friday & Saturday sewing, including spreading out the stack of blocks I've been sharing here over the past couple of weeks. We had about 50 blocks, so we divided them by color - lights/darks, etc., and came up with an arrangement for each. 

Here's what we came up with:

The 12" blocks will make a nice 48 x 60" quilt by adding sashing and an outer border. We have some scraps, enough I think to make cornerstones, but other fabric will need to be added for the sashing and borders.

We have volunteers to put the first two quilts together. Who wants to put the last two together? I'll bring the blocks and cornerstone fabric to the meeting on Tuesday. They will make such nice quilts for our veterans.

Blocks for Veterans Quilts

This is the last group of 12" sampler blocks from our May meeting. Each person made a block of their choice and some people made more than one block. 12 blocks could be sashed and bordered to make our desired size of 48" x 60" quilts. We have enough blocks to make 4 quilts - do we have some volunteers to put them together? 

 

I tried to photograph every block, but I may have missed a couple. So, if you haven't seen your block(s) here on our blog,

 you WILL see them in the quilts.

Thanks for making our Veteran Quilt Project a success!