August Quilt Weekend Part 1

I'm fortunate to belong to two quilt groups. Both are "home-grown", non-guild groups that have evolved from groups at now defunct quilt stores. I meet weekly with my Thursday friends at the Hampton Inn and monthly with my Sunday Brown Bagger friends at the Courtyard Marriott.

Brown Baggers was originally at The Quilter's Nook in West Roxbury, MA. We met on Friday nights after work. There was also a daytime group. They brought their lunch in "brown bags", hence the group name. We used to go eat dinner at Friendly's afterwards...maybe we should have been the Friendly Quilters. Anyway, the Brown Baggers have been together almost 18 years. I used to write a monthly newsletter...Kim brought in Volume 1, Issue 1 along with a couple years worth of others.

Volume 1, Issue 1, a real collectible!

We had a good time reading through them and remembering old times and old friends. We started off with 10 members. We still have seven of the original ten, and we're currently at around 20. Our room at the Courtyard only holds 16, but luckily we never seem to be in the same place all at once.

Last weekend, we held our annual August weekend (the Brown Baggers have 6 each year--3 locally and 3 away). We had 14 attendees.

Here is our weekend in pictures, which will tell the story better...

Kim and Karen roll in for the weekend. Yes, this is typical of how much stuff we bring!

Everyone hard at work

The view from the other side

 Kim and Karen brought a box of quilts that Kate and Justin Mitchell had quilted for some of the girls. The first three quilts below belong to Nancy D.

This quilt belongs to Nancy D. It was a birthday block quilt. Everyone in the group who participates gives you a block on your birthday. This is Christmas colored pinwheels!

A blue basket quilt

Nancy bought this as a kit in Houston one year. It has rose fabric in it and Justin quilted it with roses. The colors are soft and feminine. Nancy--you should keep this one for yourself!

This is Joann's scrappy trip around the world quilt, also quilted by Justin Mitchell. It is a free pattern on Bonnie Hunter's website http://www.quiltville.com/. It is also the class that Joannie, Sue and I took with Bonnie in Vermont, which I blogged about previously. I have two blocks made. Joann's quilt is considerably bigger.

More of the quilt above. We're handicapped in that the room is too small to back up and take a picture, plus we're all short!

Another beautiful quilt by Joann. This is a 4-patch posy that our friend Terri taught to us at our old Natick quilt group. As usual, Marion has finished her 4-patch posy quilt, and my 65 blocks are in a box.

This was a birthday block exchange that we did a few years ago. Joann made a LOT of extra blocks to make it bed size! (You guessed it, Marion's is finished, and my blocks are still in a box, although I did make two smaller versions of this same pattern that ARE finished.)

Valerie clocked in with the first finished project. I didn't get a photo of the front, but here she is finishing the binding.

On Friday afternoon, we surprised Jim with a quilt. Nancy D. was the organizer.

Jim works at the front desk of the hotel where we meet and he's been there for a long time. So have we! We've been meeting there since 2004. Jim LOVED his quilt. Isn't it gorgeous?

We had cake too! It was a great afternoon!

Here are some photos of the girls and their projects...

Kim's seven sisters quilt.

JoAnne E has her quilt on the design wall

Debbie is working a lovely Patriotic quilt which will be donated to Quilts of Valor. Quilts of Valor gives quilts to veterans. http://www.qovf.org/

Remember seeing the Apple Quilt in my Berkshire Trip blog? Joannie decided it needed a scalloped border.

Here is the finished quilt.

I will write more on Sunday. Mike and I are supposed to be packing to go away for the weekend. Hopefully this photo-filled post won't blow up your computer.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy