Friday, August 28, 2015

Flaunt Your Finish: August 2015

August is such a busy month in Oklahoma!  Summer activities begin winding down, the kids head back to school, and Fall extracurriculars begin.  Can you believe we're already mentioning Fall?  I find the end of summer to be the most difficult time to get behind the sewing machine.  Luckily a few of our members have found some time to squeeze in some fabulous finishes.

If you finished up some sewing projects this month we'd love for you to strut your stuff by linking up below!


First up is Agnes, who has been quite the busy bee!  She has three finished projects to share.  First up we have a completed charity quilt.

I am the third one to work on this charity quilt, RanetteTownsfeld started it (excellent color pairing!), then Shana Gray had it for a while, I finished one more row and went to town with a really dense quilting. 
It is gorgeous, wouldn't you agree?


She also completed an iPad case, and wins the prize for most genius use of a Dollar Store accessory.

I prepared this iPad case for an August birthday present. So glad I had my hand-dyed indigos and luscious Essex linen at hand. They go together well. (orange elastic is actually a hair accesory from the dollar store).


And last, but not least, from Agnes we have a little Christmas decoration.  Good for her for planning ahead.  I'm usually finishing up Christmas decor after the New Year!  Agnes bought the ruler and pattern from Oklahoma Quiltworks, and is finding these blocks very addicting.


Dee Dee has also been hard at work:

This is a quilt I started at the Prairie Quilt Retreat in June and just got it completed last week. I have always wanted to do an orange and pink quilt and I thought it turned out very cute.

We are in total agreement Dee Dee!  It's cute as a button!

And, to round out our August finishes, Shirlene is sharing a super sweet baby gift.

This is for my bestie who had a girl.  Jen Kingwell's "What Color is your Elephant."  This was fun quilt with big stitching, prairie points, ticker tape, and appliqué.  Thanks to my guild mates for the skills shared over the past years.  Couldn't have achieved this quilt without you! 

That quilt is going to get so much love.  Doesn't it look so soft and cuddly?!

Well, that's it for us, but please link up your August finishes below. We love seeing what you're working on!  And for those who have kids or are teachers...Happy Back to School, and we wish you a wonderful year!


Sunday, August 16, 2015

Meeting Recap: August 2015


We had another great turnout at our Guild meeting Monday night. We started the night off with a presentation from The Anna's House Foundation. A big thank you to Darcy, who spoke about the needs and goals of this wonderful foundation. We even had a few more quilts to give her! Keep your eyes and ears open as we discuss additional quilt opportunities for Anna's House.



A few members created a "Klee's Trees" small group. They met during the week and each created their own versions of this great pattern found over at A Stitch in Dye.

I believe Agnes started the craze with this table topper.

Agnes then went on to make a larger, hand-quilted version 


This one was made by Ellen M...

...as well as this one. 

Debbie shared her big version...It's amazing how different they all are!

 Ann changed it up even more with her quilt. The front...(quilting by our own Beth)

...and the back of Ann's quilt. Amazing!

Beautiful work ladies!

This adorable table topper was made by Karen. Look as all those slices of luscious free-motion quilting!

Another quilt by Karen.

You can't see them, but Beth had some help from her two daughters quilting this one...

and this one. Both quilts are being donated. Good job, girls!

Beth is a professional long-arm quilter and she quilted this king-sized quilt for a friend.

What's not to love about this quilt made by Chanda? It's a baby quilt for a teacher and we give it an A+.

Emily just moved up from Austin and we're so glad to have her. This quilt is made from antique sheets that she's been collecting.

Another new member, Jazmin, just moved here from Hawaii! Yes, we all gasped and asked her why :) This quilt has some amazing piecing and she's taught classes using this pattern.

Another amazing quilt by Jazmin.

Jana is another one of our professional long-arm quilters and it's always fun to see what she's been working on for clients. I love her straight line quilting in this one!

I'm starting to feel left out of the "Sew Together Bag" craze. This vibrant version was made by Dana.

And apparently, Dana has a little "mad-scientist" in her. She made this amazing skull! Seriously.

It was so great to see Robin who recently gave birth to her second child. This quilt is in the works for him.

And finally, this beautiful succulent pillow from Agnes. Pattern by Material Girl.

Those who participated in the mug rug swap with our sister guild in Budapest, Hungary received their mug rugs. Of course, that wasn't all as each package contained other goodies and homemade cookies!



Thank you to our Hungarian friends and to Agnes for always being willing to keep us in contact with them.



Sunday, August 2, 2015

Flaunt Your Finish: July 2015


I had the great opportunity to visit the Norman Area Quilters Guild this month and give a presentation on modern quilting. I took about 20+ amazing modern quilts graciously loaned to me by several of our members. Our Guild president, Shirlene, came with me and we had a great time!

After a presentation, I love when it comes time for Show & Share and I hear an audience member excitedly point out an aspect of a quilt being shown as 'modern'. Of course, there was that one time at another 'traditional' guild when a woman gave a slight gasp and said, "I'm modern?!", like it was a bag thing. I think we quilters crossover back and forth between 'modern' and 'traditional' more than we realize.

Here are some projects our members finished this month. If you completed a project in July, please link it up below!


Agnes' obsession of the month has been succulents! She made several of Amanda Castor's patterns into a variety of pillows...and still has a tote bag in the pipeline! Agnes just can't get enough of these cute plants!

Agnes also totally fell for this new fabric called Kraft Tex: not quite paper, but once washed, it is a lot like leather or fabric....endless possibilities! 

Agnes is still experimenting, but so far she has made a folding wallet and a zip pencil case adorned with Japanese candy wrappers.

This next quilt was originally Bonnie Hunter’s Easy Street mystery a few years ago. Brigitte made a few units each week as the clues were released. Unfortunately, she didn’t like the final quilt when it was revealed it so she put it all up and walked away. A few months ago, a group Brigitte stitches with on the About.com quilt forum started a ‘Nesting Robin’. Unlike a traditional round robin, they chose their center and applied each round themselves to their own quilt based on the challenge presented by their leader. Brigitte didn’t do the last two rounds as she chose to stop with a baby quilt. The quilt was for a friend of her husband, so he insisted on a pink camo backing…Not her first choice, she says, but it’s cute and she hopes little Isabella Grayce likes it…

For Robyn, this TieDyeDiva peasant dress has quickly become her go-to pattern for baby gifts. This one is for Robyn's niece who turned 1 year old in April. She used Oragami Oasis fabric by Michael Miller and skipped the ruffled bottom this time.

Cassie's brother and sister-in-law have three boys and they are moving into a new house...  Amber (the sis-in-law) does not sew and said she's always been in love with triangle quilts...and could Cassie make one for their middle sons new room?  Of course!  Cassie had always wanted to make one and now she's hooked!


Here's a Life Lesson from Trina: Don't let your kid pick the quilt pattern! Trina's oldest son wanted the gigantic foxes (currently at the quilters) and of course little brother wanted foxes as well. But he wanted ALL of them. 80 to be exact. Trina used Cotton & Steel fabric for the faces on a Kona Cotton Coal background. It is backed and bound with delicious Kona Moss.

Ann's grandson moves into his next level class soon and needed a kindergartner-style nap mat cover. He and his mom picked out three great little fabrics at Oklahoma Quiltworks, and then Ann added some gray minky. She pretty much eye-balled a pattern from other photos she’d seen while researching covers. Ann had very little remaining from the quilting cottons. Close call!

This is Ann's little man testing out the results. I think it passed!

Flaunt your July finish by linking up below!