The Cat's Away...the Quilters Did Play

Fascinating photo quilt

It has been quite a busy few months and I have been a little lax. My sister and I celebrate we're alive by going quilting to some exotic shore. This time it was on a ship through the Panama Canal.  Amazing where you can set up a machine, forget the world and sew away.

My sister and friends sewing as we sail

However, while the cat was away, the quilters did play.  The Quilters continue on their journey with the ?mystery quilt?. They have blocks 1,2,3, and 4 completed and will be putting it together soon.
There were two wonderful programs on scrap quilting.  Katherine really excited us all with her "organizing your scraps" program. Made me want to organize my sewing world...right now it is overwhelming, but she made it feel possible.   In essence, fabric organizing has 3 steps. 1. Sort your quilt scraps by size; 2. Keep scraps orderly with boxes, bins, baskets, or tins; 3. Iron every scrap you save. This saves time and energy, makes it feel like you have a precut kit. One of the most common resources is Gayle Bong's book S is for Scraps.

A few scrap quilts from that meeting.

Nancy's scrappy stars

Gretchen's "under the table fabrics" quilt

Nancy continued this theme in May with "Now, what do you do with those scraps".  She lead the group through how to deconstruct a 16 patch into 2 new blocks. Truly was amazing to see the unlikely combinations just pop. 

May Meeting: "How to deconstruct"

The group as we sew the "deconstructed 16 patch"

Nancy showing Linda the cutting

Nancy had her own mimi quilt show of quilts strictly from scraps. Linda brought several of her mother's and grandmother's quilt to show. One double wedding ring had been partially hand pieced.  Each of the quilts were pieces of art...albeit functional pieces of art. Okay, folks, let's get scrapping.