Easter!

In celebration of Easter, let me share the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns:

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley--1739

 

Whatever you are going through today, may the knowledge of our risen Savior fill you with hope and joy!

 

Until next time~~Gwen

Saturday workshop

In our Saturday workshop at the Bob Herzfeld Memorial Library we learned how to make teacup pincushions.  

There were quite a few teacups from which to choose. 

After everyone made their selections, we used a hot glue gun to adhere the saucer to the cup:

Then we cut a circle of fabric (we used felted wool) that was about twice the diameter of the cup.  Using upholstery thread, we stitched a basting stitch all the way around the circle:

Draw the thread up to form a cup:

Stuff firmly with polyfill while keeping hold of the basting thread:

As you pull the thread taut and close up the opening, keep stuffing it with polyfill:

See how the ball fits in the cup:

And when you are satisfied, stitch the opening closed and glue the ball into the cup.  We used hot glue to attach the ball inside the cup but you could use a quick holding tacky glue.

After the glueing, it was time to decorate.  We learened several different methods of making flowers.

Sidney has finished her little cup: 

 Henrietta is working her magic on the construction of flowers:

 

 The whole process of making the pincushions is not terribly difficult and the outcome is quite lovely as you can see:

 

Until next time~~Gwen

Guild meeting

Edited 3-26-13 to add pictures.

The guild met for our regular monthly meeting on Monday night, March 18 at the Senior Adult Center in Benton.  Our guest speaker was Norma McKinnon

 of Hickory Hill Quilts in Hot Springs who gave us a very informative lecture on modern quilts. 

She also brought several things from her store and we all enjoyed a little bit of shopping. 

Sondra introduced 4 block patterns to get our block-of-the-month program started in the 5:30 workshop.  Members can sign up to get the printed patterns at the meeting or have the patterns emailed to them.  I hope we can all keep up!

The show-and-tell portion of the meeting was also a real treat.  I love seeing what everyone has been working on.

Carol shows a quilt made by Beth.

Cathy and Terri show an orange peel quilt.

Terri's progress on a photo quilt made up of hundreds of tiny squares!

Sondra made a large tote.

Brenda finished several projects!

Sharon's quilt.

Eddy's block of the month challenge with the Hot Springs guild.

Margurite's t-shirt for a grandchild.

Marguerite has saved thread snippets and stitched them all to a foundation.  She wants suggestions on how to use this new "fabric!"

Judy finished a hydrangea quilt.

These floral elements are dimensional!

A huge thank you goes to Missy for sharing her photos with us!
Until next time~~Gwen

First Wednesday

Pat hosted First Wednesday at the Herzfeld Memorial Library in Benton.   As usual, it was good to gather with friends and share our quilting projects, recipes, etc. 

 

Fay worked on some little applique flowers for her block of the month quilt (pictured in the previous post).  She said there are a LOT of these:

 

and for a change of pace she worked on hexagons:

Cathy was also working on hexagons:

Sidney finished a blue and white quilt top.  It looks like a "Turning Twenty" with sashing:

Jean brought her applique project:

Henrietta had redwork:

 

Sue brought a block from her Woodland Friends quilt:

and a project she made in an embroidery class--a Christmas hand towel:

 

Sharon finished a baby quilt for her future grandchild.  Yes, there is a vacant spot in the middle.  The name of the child will be embroidered on fabric and inserted there:

 

Jane put the finishing touches on a wall hanging:

Pat worked on her sheep blocks (wool on flannel):

Judy had more of her blocks finished.  These are all made from 1930's fabrics and feed sacks.  She will be sharing a tutorial on how to make this block in the Daytime Stitchers group:

 

Not only did everyone share their projects but several shared recipes which I will try to post on this blog under "recipes."

 

 

All for now.  Next time, I'll try to do a better job of getting the post up right after the event.  Until then--happy stitching,

Gwen



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QA

As you can see, we had a good turnout for Quiltaholics Anonymous on Monday at the Herzfeld Memorial Library in Benton. 

Everyone brought projects.  Fay and Helen are both working on a block of the month they started last year and they are accusing me of getting them involved in it because I sent them the link.  But look how beautiful this is going to be:

 

 

Pat had an assembly line going for her cute little pincushions:

 

Pat also brought some completed blocks for a preview of the sampler quilt we will be working on in 5:30 workshop at our regular guild meeting.  You won't want to miss this. 

 

Jane worked on one of her famous scarves:

 

 

She was also working on this embroidery project:

 



Brenda put binding  on a charity quilt she finished:

 

Check out these cute little angel book marks that Windy is making out of paper clips, ribbon and silver beads:

 

Fay finished her Snowman quilt top.  The photo makes it look like those are printed panels but they're not.  It is all appliqued and pieced.

 

***

This is a good time to bring your problems and let us help you figure them out.  I brought a quilt top I recently finished and can't decide how I want to quilt it.  It is made from a pattern by Sandy Klop and is called Triple Crown.  I used American Jane prints.  There will be a small circle appliqued in the center of the large white "blossoms."

 

Fay recently finished this quilt top and wondered what we thought about the border. 

 

Should she do this? (one border)

 

or this? (two borders)

We recommended finding more of that lightest shade of purple and making two borders.  That way there wouldn't be any of the same color touching the blocks on the outer edge.  I'm anxious to see what solution she chooses.

Won't you join us next time?
Gwen