Thursday, February 20, 2014

Annual Cuddle Quilt donation

(Left to right) Director, Paulette Acord accepts a Cuddle Quilt donation from
 Choo Choo guild representatives, Sherry Reed and Nancy Allen. The Choo Choo Quilters
provided 53 lap-sized quilts for the children at Chambliss Center for Children.
Thanks to the generous spirit and talent of the Choo Choo Quilters, an additional 27 Cuddle Quilts were dropped off at the Chambliss Center for Children this week. This donation was in addition to the 26 quilts that were given to the Center last April. Great job, Choo Choo Quilters!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Poor Man's Stack-and-Whack program

Our next Choo Choo Quilt Guild meeting will be Monday, February 17, 2014. The program will be Poor Man's Stack-and-Whack presented by Team Dawn.

The team will demonstrate a technique for using large scale prints to achieve an easy kaleidoscope effect for your quilt block. If you want to participate in the demonstration, bring the following supplies to the meeting:

Supplies:
  • 1-1/2 to 2 yards of a large scale print. The ideal fabric would have several prominent colors, a regular repeat, and enough variation in the design to allow several different block designs. Bring 2-3 pieces of fabric and the team will help you choose which print will be best for this technique.
  • Cutting mat
  • Acrylic ruler
  • Rotary cutter
Team Dawn will provide a sewing machine and an iron to demonstrate the piecing needed for this block. You will end up with your fabric cut at the meeting, and you'll be able to do the remainder of the piecing at home on your own machine.

Last Call for Cuddle Quilts!
If you have any completed cuddle quilts, please bring them to the February meeting! Nancy Allen will be collecting the quilts, and Sherry Reed will be making our annual donation to the Chambliss Center for Children later in the week. If you are unable to finish all your cuddle quilts before February 17, don't sweat! We'll be continuing our cuddle quilt donations for next year too, so we will accept contributions at any time.

And now... Show and Tell from our January Meeting!
As always, we had a wonderful collection of quilts, bags and clothing on display from the talented hands of our Choo Choo members. Here's proof:
A baby quilt made of hand embroidered doggie blocks.
And the neat envelope on the back to hold extra fabric
should they ever need it.
Our first completed quilt from our 2013 Brown Bag Challenge!
Our first completed quilt from our Brown Bag Challenge last year.
This was made for the Quilts of Valor program.
A red, white and blue sampler quilt.
A collection of handmade purses to be sold for charity.
And yes, you can make clothing to show off a precious collection of kimono fabrics...
Kimono pieces made into a shirt.
… or with a new collection of quilter's cottons.
Rachel Clark vest pattern made with a new fabric collection by Blank Quilting.
Left: The end result of playing with strip piecing.
Right: More original design from Delores. She does good work!
A Christmas present from one of Cristy's son's students in Japan—
all hand pieced and quilted.
A baby quilt made for a client
A beautiful Christmas Sampler.
Made with fabrics collected on Nancy's Indonesian travels!
A colorful Sampler quilt.