Guild Meeting

The guild met Monday night at the Senior Adult Center in Benton.  Here we are meeting and greeting one another.

Sondra taught our 5:30 workshop and introduced 2 new blocks for our 1930's block-of-the-month:

Several in the group brought the blocks they had completed.  Check out all the

different color choices:

(Beulah used needle-turn applique for all her applique blocks.)

 

Fay is making the blocks too but instead of 12 inches, hers are 4 inches and she is assembling her quilt as she makes each block!!




 

Our program was given by Marguerite Spears who introduced us to tinted embroidery.  She gave a wonderful tutorial on how to do this technique and also brought samples of her work.  

Here are the basic steps:

1. Select an embroidery pattern.  This may one that is purchased or something you draw yourself.  (An Internet search will bring up all kinds of resources.)  Marguerite had several lovely pieces she had created using patterns by http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/
2. Trace the design onto your background fabric.  Marguerite recommends using a brown Micron Pigma pen.
3. Color your design with crayons.  If you slip a piece of fine sandpaper or the plastic netting from produce bags under your fabric, you can create texture as you color.  It is very important that you start coloring lightly on your design.  You can always add more color, but once you put too much color on, you can't remove it.  Another tip that may make coloring easier is to iron freezer paper to the back of your fabric.
4. Press your design to set it.  Be sure to put something on your ironing board to protect it and something on top of the design to absorb excess wax.  Do not re-use the absorbent material as it will transfer color to other parts of the design. 
5. Embroider your design.  Marguerite recommends adding a piece of muslin to the back of the fabric on which you have traced the design before embroidering by hand.  Note: If you plan on doing machine embroidery, this should be done before you color the design.



This quilt by Jane Hammonds was

 machine embroidered before

she colored all the blocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Marguerite made the two quilts

(layered on top of each other and 

pictured below) for an elementary

school.   The designs were all

machine embroidered and then

the students were allowed to use

 crayons to color the pictures. 

 

Many of the patterns for this technique call for the largest box of Crayola crayons (120 count) because there are so many colors available for fine tinting.  The patterns will tell you which specific color goes where. 

 

 (Editor's Note: Did you know that you can go to the Crayola website and order

a custom box of 64 colors of your own choosing? Seriously.)

 

More samples of the tinted embroidery technique:

 

After the program, we had show and tell.  Several people brought their completed color challenges.  (I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this challenge.  Many thanks to Pat Wade who organized it for our Quilt Mania retreat.)

Brenda's table topper.

Brenda's sweet little owl quilt.

Fay's color challenge.

Missi's very own design for a John-Deere-themed baby quilt!

Fay's quilt that she finished at Quilt Mania.

Pat's little teacup pincushion that she made in Gwen's class.

Carolyn's quilt.  Blocks made using patterns from Charlotte's annual 5-dollar-block promotion (Pinwheel Fabrics).

Linda's wedding gift---a personalized casserole carrier.

 

Linda's hot pot holder and matching crock-pot carrier.

Sharon's quilt top she finished at Quilt Mania.  She also used blocks from Charlotte's 5-dollar-block promotion.

Beth's colorful quilt.

Jane's color challenge (from Quilt Mania).

Charlotte's color challenge for which she won an honorable mention ribbon.

Myrna's color challenge.

Judith's quilt made for a young baseball lover.

Judith's quilt made for an avid fisherman.

A completed charity quilt by Cely.

The back of the charity quilt by Cely.

Another charity quilt by Cely.  Both of these quilts were hand quilted.

Jean is holding her color challenge (from Quilt Mania).

For participating in the color challenge, Jean won a kit---which she then proceeded to piece and quilt!!  (This was done over the weekend!!)

Jean's completed quilt that will be donated to UAMS.  This was all hand quilted.

Another quilt top by Jean that will be donated to UAMS.  She will hand quilt this one also.





 

I love seeing all these projects that have been completed by our members.  Thank you for showing them and allowing me to take pictures for this blog! 

 

Until next time~~~~Gwen

 

Quiltmania!

The highly anticipated Quiltmania retreat has finally arrived.  This three-and-a-half-day event occurs annually and is held at the Ferndale 4H Center.   Registrants are treated to goody bags, games, prizes and lots of fun.  Usually what happens at Ferndale stays at Ferndale, but I think I can safely share some pictures without divulging any critical information. :-)

As usual, when we quilters gather, there is food--and you can see that some of it is healthy!

 

Charlotte brought lots of goodies from her shop and set up a mini-store.  Alot of the participants brought their machines, ironing boards and cutting equipment in order to work on projects. 

 

 

Some brought their own favorite chairs:

 

 

Below is a sampling of some of the works in progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year at Quiltmania, Pat issued a challenge to any who were interested.  To participate, we each drew a crayon out of a paper bag and broke it in half.  Pat kept half and we kept the other half.  We then had to create something using that color plus black and  white.  We could not use any additional colors.  Prizes were awarded based on the number of votes each project received.  Below are the entries:

 

 

 

Third place winner.

 

Second place winner



First place winner.

 

What a great group of creative people! 

 

 

 

Until next time~~~~Gwen