Wrapping up a year of stripping

After kicking off our 21st year as a guild with a program on lasagna strip quilts, and our annual Cuddle Quilt workshop that featured 2.5" pre-cut strips, the Choo Choo Quilters wrapped up the year with a quick demonstration of yet another strippy possibility.

Beverly shows the block layout for her  Jelly Roll Jam quilt.

We also enjoyed a diverse Show and Tell from our talented and very prolific guild members.

Becky's 3-dimensional turkey wall hanging is perfect for the season. 

Kim showed this festive little holiday dress with an embroidered ribbon sash.

This is one of a series of art quilts that Delores has created. 

The blocks for this album quilt were a surprise gift to Joanna.
She hand quilted this quilt and the backing and batting are both wool.

Veronica shared a quilt that she free-motion quilted for a local quilt shop. 

Vista created tree ornaments by repurposing men's neckties.
A wonderful memento. 

The following photos from past Show and Tells illustrate the inspiring array of quilterly eye candy the Choo Choo Quilters share and enjoy at monthly guild meetings. From antique and vintage finds, treasured heirlooms and rescue quilts, to modern, contemporary and art quilts, the quilts and projects shared during Show and Tell showcase a variety of hand and machine techniques in styles from traditional to trendy—and everything in between!

This antique log cabin quilt top dates from 1903.

Left: Guild members examine the hand workmanship and variety of fabrics.
Right: the back of each of the log cabin blocks is dated.

A label that was sewn to the back, documents the quilt:
"Mary J. Stagner, 426 W. Gorham St. 1903"
"729 different pieces"

Another vintage "Trip Around the World" quilt.
Take note of the zig-zag border.

Dawn (left) shows her version of the quilted basket.
Dawn (right) rescued this colorful little quilt from a yard sale.

Juanita (left) shows us her quilted table runner.
This tree skirt was made by Ginny (right) for a niece.

This modern style quilt top was made by Janet (left) in a Denyse Schmidt workshop.
The blocks were free-form cut with a rotary cutter—but without a ruler!

Veronica used free-form strip piecing techniques to create this quilt.
It is free-motion quilted.

The Choo Choo Quilt Guild is a friendly, low-key guild that tosses traditional meeting protocol to the wind (sorry, Mr. Roberts and your book of Rules). Our membership is comprised of beginning quilters as well as those with more experience—all willing to contribute, share, support and assist each other. Member teams take turns welcoming visitors and presenting monthly meeting programs—so that no individual member is overwhelmed (or overburdened) with all the guild responsibilities (we like it that way!)—and everyone has an opportunity to share some aspect of the quiltmaking experience with the group. Visit our Blog Archive to see what we've be doing for the past 4 years and stop in at a future meeting for a visit. Until then...

Happy Holidays from the Choo Choo Quilters! 

See you in 2014.

Cuddle Quilt Workshop, August 17

Our annual Cuddle Quilt Workshop is fast approaching! Next Saturday, August 17, the Choo Choo Quilters will meet at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church, 3204 Hixson Pike, from 9 am to 2 pm. to work on cuddle quilts for the Chambliss Center for Children.

Pre-cut eighteen 2.5" strips for the CQ workshop.

Do you have your eighteen 2.5" strips cut? There's a little cutting pre-work to be done so you can put the pedal to the floor to make the Cuddle Quilt Mystery quilt. Our masterful CQ Leader, Sherry, has got it all planned so everyone can get a quilt top made, layered and spray basted on Saturday. "Brunch treats" will be served to fuel your creative sewing juices.

The guild will provide batting and have some backing fabric available. Feel free to donate backing fabric if you have extra. Bring an iron and ironing pad to use beside your sewing machine, if you have one. Several boards and irons will be provided if you don't. Fill a few extra bobbins ahead of time. A station will be set up to spray baste the quilts. (Read about how we spray basted 27 quilts here.)

Here is the Mystery Quilt pre-work instructions:

1. From 18 different fabrics, and cutting from selvedge to selvedge, cut one strip 2 1/2" wide from each fabric.  This will result in a 36" x 36" quilt.  If you want to make a longer quilt, you'll need 24 different fabrics to make a 36" x 50" quilt. A jelly roll can save you some time if you have one to donate to the cause.
2. Separate your strips into light and dark, 9 strips in each category. Medium hues can go either way, so just separate out the obvious lights and darks, and then just divide the remaining medium hues into one or the other. You'll just need to have 9 strips in each category.
3. Pair up a set of one light and one dark. Use the darkest darks to pair with the mediums that ended up in the "light" pile, and the lightest lights to go with the medium hues that ended up in the "dark" pile to have a nice contrast for each pair.
4. With each set of 2 contrasting strips, snip off the selvedges and cut each strip set into 4 pieces: (3) 11" pieces and (1) 6 1/2" piece. After you have cut them, keep each set of contrasting strips together. Continue until all strip sets are cut.

It promises to be a great workshop. Come and join us next Saturday and invite a friend!