2013 is off to an excellent start!

The Choo Choo Quilters held their first meeting of the year on January 18th, and we had a big start to the year. Team Sherry started off the year with a program on Lasagna Quilts, with instructions for making one in several sizes. But even more impressively, they had an entire basket of jelly rolls ready for sewing. Everyone present was able to pick a jelly roll all ready for sewing.  We are to make up a cuddle quilt and bring it to the February meeting. Word on the street is that valuable prizes are involved!

Happy Birthday, Choo Choo Quilters!

And in honor of Choo Choo Quilters 21st birthday, we had extra special refreshments.  Not only did we have some delicious lasagna in honor of our program, we had a lovely birthday cake to celebrate! 

Our show and tell in January included some beautiful creations by our members. We had one quilt made from a program back around 1998 - a series of borders added to a central block of our own choosing.

Nancy brought a quilt she plans to donate to the Quilts of Valor program. According to their website, "The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover all combat service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor."




Remember, Team Sherry is also providing the program for February, and we all have our homework to do!  Each of us is to sew up our jelly roll into a lasagna quilt and bring it to the meeting.  The winner of the Viewer's Choice Award will win fame, fortune and even a prize!  We'll see you at the meeting on Monday, February 18th.

Turning 21 at the January 21 meeting

Happy 20th Birthday, Choo Choo Quilters!

The Choo Choo Quilters have "turned 20" so we're kicking off our 21st year with a birthday stripping party. It's not as risqué as it sounds, but we're planning to have a fun evening and we promise it will be Rated G.

The program will be a demonstration on how to make a "Lasagna Quilt," using 2.5" strips, along with ideas for modifying the recipe to make other strip-set variations. We'll use this lasagna quilt technique to make Cuddle Quilts for the guild's community service project.

Members are asked to bring the following to the January guild meeting:

• Fifteen (15) coordinating fabric strips cut 2.5" wide by width-of-fabric (approximately 42" long). Roll the strips together in a jelly roll fashion and secure.
• paper and pencil for notes;
• your singing voice.

Choice of fabrics:
Consider a color scheme, children's prints, brights, etc. that would be appropriate for a child's quilt. Roll the 15 fabric strips up and secure them with a fabric tie, band or ribbon. Note: if you want to use fat quarters or scraps to make strips, sew the pieces end-to-end so they make strips that are 42"long.

To coincide with the theme of the program, we'll have a baked entree (can you guess what it might be?), beverages and birthday cake for dessert! Feel free to bring a party hat to wear, and don't forget your singing voice. We'll have to sing Happy Birthday to the guild... now, won't we?!?

Plea for Pillowcases

In response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week, here is a "Plea for Pillowcases" for the children in Newtown, CT. It is being coordinated by two quilt shops. 

Pillowcase made with Bugalicious fabrics from Blank Quilting.

Send pillowcases to the following locations by the deadlines listed:

By December 23,  send to: 
     Log Cabin Fabrics, 1145 Route 9W, Selkirk, NY 12158  or
By December 27,  send to:
    Quilter's Corner, 312 Danbury Rd., New Milford, CT 06776.

Please contribute as you are able.