October 2012 Quilt Weekend

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post written. I think I was worn out from my big weekend of sewing bindings onto quilts http://pugmomquilts.blogspot.com/2012/10/to-finish-line.html. Seven old UFOs finished, plus two fleece blankets. I already gave the dog blanket to my friend Cindy who was quite thrilled to get an early birthday gift. I gave one of the Asian wall quilts to my friend Susie at work who has spent the past week auditioning it in every room of her house.

Anyways, I digress. We had 14 people at our quilt weekend. It is always a lot of fun to see what everyone is working on. Karen E., who was part of our defunct Natick quilt group, joined us. It was fun to catch up. She was pregnant the last time I saw her, and now her little boy is 2! He is just adorable and came to visit us on Saturday with her husband. Jennifer and the Divine Miss J also came to visit us.

Kim P. clocked in with the first finished project of the weekend on Friday morning. She made this beautiful black and white Schlep Bag as a birthday gift for her friend Carol. If you look closely you can see the cute daisy print she used for the lining.

Kim spent the rest of the weekend working on her Orca Bay Mystery. Isn't it stunning? It has a zillion pieces! This pattern is in Bonnie Hunter's newest book, String Fling http://quiltvil.startlogic.com/store/page5.html.

Here is a close-up. The quilt is just chained together vertically right now. The next step is for Kim to sew the rows together horizontally. Next weekend, we are going to the Cape for our annual November quilt weekend, and perhaps Kim will have it all put together.

Kim G., below, clocked in with the second finished project of the weekend -- a cute little Dr. Seuss print zipper bag. When not sewing with us last weekend, Kim kept busy by taking conference calls (she runs her own business); hosting a dinner party (boo hoo, she didn't bring us any left overs) and ferrying her high school age daughter back and forth from various social events. When I first met Kim, Clio was an infant, today she is in high school. My how time flies!

As usual, a couple of the girls were working on the same project. Great minds think alike! Or is it imitation is the most sincere form of flattery...

Here is Valerie working on her Monteray Medallion.

She got her top finished by the end of the weekend. FABULOUS!

This is Debbie's finished Monteray Medallion. Also FABULOUS!

I think that it is so much fun to see the same quilt made up in different color ways. Often times they look completely different. Marion is also making this quilt. She just finished making 40 star blocks and is now ready for the last step. This quilt is from Terry Atkinson http://www.atkinsondesigns.com/. Please note that I couldn't find the book on her website. Perhaps it is out of print, but you could contact Terry or try your local quilt store.

The next pattern to sweep the room was the Tankini table runner, also by Terry Atkinson of Atkinson Designs. http://store.atkinsondesigns.com/stores_app/browse_dept_items_ws.asp?Shopper_id=29021012102172902&Store_id=913&Page_Id=17&Categ_Id=2&Parent_Ids=0. If you've never tried a Terry Atkinson pattern, you should! Her patterns are fast and easy! And very well-written!

Joann E., Debbie, Lexine and Nancy D. were all making Tankinis. Marion liked it so much that she bought the pattern on Saturday when we took a field trip to the Quilters Stash http://www.quilters-stash.com/

Our field trip to Quilter's Stash. From left to right: Kim, Joannie, Pat and Marion.
Smiling faces anticipate lots of goodies waiting for us inside the store!

Lexine and Debbie with Tankini in progress.

Here are some Tankini table runners in two different sizes. The mini, shown at top left, will fit on top of your toilet tank, hence the pattern name.

Debbie was also working on this cute little witch quilt. The witches have dimensional legs. Valerie and Lexine are making it too, but they didn't bring it to the weekend. I think that Lexine's may be finished already.

Pat could only join us on Saturday, but she made these two cute pillowcases for her yoga instructor.

Marion finished two quilt tops. The first one is called, Nest. We started this in a class at the Button Box http://www.buttonboxsewing.com/ a couple of years ago. Mine is in a box somewhere. As usual, I like Marion's better. Maybe I should just have her pick out my fabric too. I think the second quilt is called Asian Magic. Marion bought the pattern years ago when we were at a quilt show in Connecticut. Yep, I've got this one in a box too. What was that I was saying about imitation...

I love BOTH of these tops. They are so lovely and so different from each other. Great job Marion!

Does this next quilt look familiar? JoAnn S. took the Kaffe workshop the day after Marion and I did http://pugmomquilts.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-weekend-with-kaffe-and-brandon.html. Here is her beautiful quilt top in progress. I bet Kaffe liked HER quilt.

JoAnn finished her quilt top by the end of the weekend, but I didn't get a photo! I am quite annoyed with myself--it was divine. Maybe she will bring it to the Cape...

Here is one of Karen E's projects. She bought this as a kit a couple of years ago.

Sally spent the entire weekend working on cafe curtains for her sun room. She was making them out of painter's drop cloths that she bought at Lowes. I think this is a cool idea. I had seen this idea on a quilt blog somewhere where the author slipcovered a bench. It is an inexpensive way to buy fabric! And you could probably paint them or dye them since they are 100% cotton.

Sorry! No finished curtains to show you yet! There is a lot of cutting and measuring involved!

Joannie must be planning to host a Halloween Banquet--she made 24 Halloween placemats! She still has to sew binding on them. Keep sewing Joannie--Halloween is next week!

Joannie is making this Yellow Brick Road quilt
(again a Terry Atkinson design) as a
Christmas gift for her Mom, Pauline.

Joann E. kept changing the projects on her design wall faster than I could photograph them. Here she is working on a photo memory quilt for one of her husband's army friends featuring photos from when they served in Vietnam.

This lovely quilt top belongs to Debbie.

Here is Joan S. working on a flannel quilt.
This will be nice and toasty when it is finished.

Here is Lexine with her diamond quilt in progress.

I love quilt weekends! I am so fortunate to have found a group of people who enjoy making quilts and shopping for fabric as much as I do!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy