April Meeting 2012

 Cindy, Diane B., Sylvia look on as Meg helps to arrange the strips of "bricks" made by each of the quilters in advance of the April meeting. The trick here is to get the colors just right.

 Diane P. and Debbie work on the "brick" strips while Dolly and Cindy watch Dolly's granddaughter's, Charlie, "help" with some of the strips.

 Ta-dah! The brick strips have been pieced into a quilt top! Dolly will take this home and put borders on it, and it will become a donation quilt. There were enough strips for a second quilt top, too!

Mozelle is holding up a quilt made by Meg using fabric that Meg hand-dyed. Meg has offered to teach us fabric dying on the Saturday after the July meeting. Sign up now for this class--it's only $25 and you'll get seven yards of hand-dyed fabric to take home.

We all loved Linda's stained glass quilt. It would also look great using hand-dyed fabrics! Diane P. suggested that we could have a Saturday sew-in to learn how to cut and piece this quilt.
                                                                                                                                       

  This is Eva's sampler. The picture does not do it justice. In reality the colors are stunning, and the brown/gold lattice sashing, combined with the nine-patch cornerstones is very effective in separating the blocks so that each is clearly delineated from its neighbors. 

                                                                                                         

Wow! This baby quilt looks like sherbet! These large pinwheels form a secondary pattern that will provide a lot of visual stimulation for a baby. Who says that baby quilts have to be made using pale pastels?

Meg has been very busy finishing up quilts that she had cut or started some time ago. This is a pink and purple lap quilt that uses the "night and day" star pattern. It's not hard, if you don't mind paper piecing!

Another baby quilt that Meg finished.

And another one. This one has embroidered butterflies. The border looks pieced, but it's a print.                                                                                

    

Meg saw this quilt pictured in an ad for a quilt kit.  The kit was made for 8 inch blocks, but Meg wanted 12 inch blocks, so she drafted out the pattern for 12 inch blocks, and chose her fabrics from her stash. There are actually 6 different blocks in this quilt, and they have to be arranged just so! 

Novelty print nine patches

             
These nine patch squares were made from the novelty print fabrics that were donated to the Sassies. Aren't they colorful! They will make wonderful donation quilts!                                                                                           

March Meeting

The March meeting of the Sassy Quilters was held on March 8 at Mozelle's house. The hostesses were Lola and Linda, two of our new members. Everyone was present except Eva and Estela. Susan took the pictures, and as you can tell, there were lots of quilts that were completed in the last month.

Meg is seen holding up a lap-sized quilt made by Estela and quilted by Meg. This is a donation quilt that will be given away at the end of the year when the group decides on a suitable recipient organization or individual.



Estela used the same pattern for this second donation quilt. The lap-sized quilt was made using 4 fat quarters cut into half-square triangles that were then sewn together. A border was added to finish the quilt out to about 38 x 38 inches. Meg quilted it.


Since I wasn't at the meeting, I don't know who this quilt belongs to, but it is lovely. Very colorful! Looks like it would be a great stash-buster!


This is another donation quilt. The blocks were pieced as a group effort at the January meeting of the Sassies, then quilted by Meg. The pattern is one taught to the group by Mary Ann in November of 2011.


This little quilt also uses the same pattern as the one above, but the blocks are set in straight rows, rather than on point as was done above. Notice how orientation of the blocks gives it a totally different look. This looks more like a basket weave pattern.


Beautiful star quilt! And look at the colorful border! The pieced border adds a lot of movement to the quilt because the blocks are offset a little rather than simply pieced in a straight row. Very creative.


Essie turns our quilt after quilt! She always has something for show and tell. This baby quilt is adorable in pinks and greens.

Meg is showing a Christmas-themed lap quilt that Estela pieced as a donation quilt. Meg quilted this also.


Looks like someone's ready for St. Patrick's day with this quilt! The yellow really perks up the color scheme here!


Debbie is another prolific quilter. This red, white and black quilt utilizes blocks that are the same size, but they look different depending on whether they are framed in red or in white. The quilt is very lively and will definitely be a well-received gift. Or is Debbie going to keep it?

Mozelle is holding up a pretty table runner that uses colorful squares of "blender" fabrics. It's a simple way to use up small pieces of leftover fabric--notice that there are no duplicates in the bright colored squares!


Not sure who pieced this large "trip around the world quilt." It looks easy, but piecing this requires attention to detail, to make sure the "trip" doesn't go astray!


More of Essie's little quilts. I believe these are donation quilts? These little star quilts utilize the same pattern that was used in the pink and green baby quilts, but the fabric palette gives them a completely different look!

Linda is holding up a little quilt that she hand-quilted. Remember when Diane P. showed us how to make this pattern? Mozelle says that Linda did a terrific job of handquilting--nice small stitches!


I don't have any information about this quilt. Is it the back of the quilt shown above?


Another little stash-buster, this one using a four-patch set into a square. Very colorful!


This is Dolly's sampler quilt, which she decided to sash in brown fabrics. I think Dolly is the only person that used the fish block that was in the original sampler.


Susan made this jewel-box quilt for a sister (or niece?). It's quite a jewel, even if Susan didn't especially like the fabric choices.

Susan made this lovely little baby quilt for a baby whose gender is not yet determined. So, she used pink, blue, green, and white, with lots of machine embroidery.
I love this little quilt--hearts and houses. Home is where the heart is, and this little quilt will make any house a home!

Estela made this little quilt for a grand niece expected to be born around March 20. The white blocks have cartoon-like animals embroidered on them, and the embroidered block alternate with pink/green four patches.

Meg's newest quilt! She's tried to explain several times that the pattern in this quilt comes from the sashing and not the block. But it's hard to tell where one starts and the other ends!


Another of Meg's quilts. This one is called Monkey Business. It looks sort of like a snail's trail, but not quite. Still, the arms of the monkeys seem to flail around like a whirligig!
Meg's Hunter's Star quilts using some gorgeous lavenders, purples, and violets.

Diane P is showing us her courthouse steps quilt. Great way to use up your narrow and short scraps of fabric!

Susan made two handbags. It's hard for me to describe, but the handles are attached in a way that lets them help hold the bag closed when the purse is hanging from your arm. Very clever!

February Meeting

The Sassies met on February 9 at Mozelle Wilson's home. We celebrated a birthday, had some show and tell, and learned various methods of sewing binding on to finish a quilt. Here's a picture of Dolly looking at the many fat quarters she received.



Estela turned in a little lap quilt to be quilted as a donation quilt. We will be making donation quilts again this year, but have not decided on who the recipient group will be. We know that we plan on making some bed-sized quilts to have on hand for whenever we hear that some family has lost their home to a fire or in a natural disaster.



Eva is showing us the pieced back of a quilt that she made.



This is the front of the quilt that Eva made. She used blocks that were hand-embroidered by Diane Purcell's mom. This would make a great quilt for a child who loves farm animals.



Debbie Vaughn almost always has a quilt to show, and this month was no exception. The pattern is called Mexican star, and is done in some lovely blue fabrics.


Essie is another one of our very productive quilters. She made this quilt using the pattern that Diane Purcell showed us last year. The block is first pieced, then cut, and you get two blocks at the same time. When the blocks are sewn together, they form a pinwheel pattern and a secondary pattern too.


The Sassies put together a lovely box of fat quarters for Estela to show their appreciation for her having been the group's leader last year. The box is beautiful, too. This box is a smaller version of the box that Mozelle used to hold the goodies that went into the "mystery box" that was raffled at the group's Christmas dinner. Estela was the winner of that box, too! And she loves all the goodies in it.


Here's a picture of a beautiful hand-made card crafted by Susan Moore and signed by all the Sassies. The card accompanied the thank you gift given to Estela.


Speaking of Susan, here's another of her gorgeous quilts. This one is done in browns, turquoise, and cream. The pinwheels in this quilt also form a secondary pattern. Beautiful!

Most of the meeting was taken up by the lesson given by Susan, Meg, and Eva on how to make sharp mitered corners on binding, and how to join binding ends when finishing a quilt. I didn't take any pictures of the lesson in progress, but it was a very useful exercise.

Sassies' November Meeting

The Sassies met on November 11 at Mozelle's house. And it was a full house! The pictures shown below are not in the order that the meeting went, but here goes. Susan showed us three Christmas cards that she made. They are so elegant!

This picture does not show the "sparkles" that Susan added to this lovely tree.

Cardinals are so cheery, especially in the dark of winter, when tree branches are bare and brown, and suddenly you see the flash of red as they dart about.

Meg showed us this little baby quilt that she made, using machine-embroidered blocks.

Eva and Estela are experiencing some health issues, and the Sassies surprised them with prayer shawls at this meeting. Estela was teary eyed when she read all the good wishes and prayers inscribed by each of the Sassies who helped make the shawls. Some time ago Eva designed a block that she hopes to get published in a magazine, and that block was used to make her prayer shawl. It's obvious the Sassies know Eva and Estela well, because the colors picked for each of their shawls reflect the recipient's taste so wel!

These are the prayer shawls, being held out for all to admire.

Susan has finished her sampler block, and decided to sash each block so as to set it apart and keep it from blending into neighboring blocks. The quilt top is gorgeous!

Below, Susan is holding up the back side of a quilt made my Essie. The quilt back shows a cowboy about to draw his six-shooters. Some lucky grandson is in for a warm winter!

This is the front of Essie's quilt.

Debbie made doll clothes for her granddaughter's baby doll. That will be a well-dressed dolly!

Debbie also made a backpack for her granddaughter.

Even after all the time spent in making doll clothes, Debbie had time to make this star quilt. The star is appliqued in the center. Love those colors!

Mozelle and Dolly are holding up two more lap quilts for our donation project.

Mozelle shows off her Tree of Life block that will go into her sampler quilt. Not all the quilters attempted this block--the half-square triangles are small, and require careful piecing in order to make up the right dimension. Beautiful!