• 22May
    Categories: Everything! Comments: 2

    We’re recently started a new session of Secret Pal at our guild.  We’re into our second month and I’ve already gotten six blocks!

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    The blocks are sooooo charming!  And Sue is so industrious.

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    She spends a lot of time working on her needlework. I love that there’s a little bit of thread hanging loose!

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    But when Sue needs a break, you can see she takes her Anna Lena shopping bag and heads to the store!

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    The blocks are so beautifully done.  Thank you, Secret Pal!

     

     

  • 21Feb
    Categories: Everything! Comments Off on Show-and-Tell

    Last week was both the Peninsula Quilt Guild meeting and our Redwork Club meeting.  It’s always great to see everyone, but I like the show-and-tell best!

    We’ll start with Guild.  Gloria really livened up this Log Cabin with some beautiful applique!

    She did the same with the border on this star quilt.

    Janet has strip pieced this Seven Sisters block.

    Here’s Cherry’s fun St. Patrick’s wall hanging.

    And a sample quilt she made from shop hop blocks.

    Earlene got another amazing horse block from her secret pal.  I featured them a few weeks ago on another blog post that you can see here.

    It’s always fun to see someone use my fabrics, like Dee did with this At Play quilt!

    Doris’ Christmas sampler blocks look great set this way.

    Randi took a photo of the tile floor at our county  courthouse and is reproducing the design!

    Ann made this pretty quilt…

    …and also this log cabin.

    And now for Redwork, which always includes a lot more than just Redwork!

    Linda made a reversible picnic cloth from my book Quilts From My Garden.  This side is for birthdays….

    …and this side is for the Fourth of July!

    Our Redwork group has started two new patterns.  The first is called Shabby Chic Girl.

    Cortne` is almost finished with her center square.

    Linda has started her border.

    I love the little bits of fabric in the flower petals.

    The other pattern we’re doing is Snow Crazy–a combination of snowmen and crazy quilting!

    Marla has her first block finished.

    Mary’s shared this delightful Valentine from her granddaughter!

    She had also made this cute Pinwheel quilt while visiting her daughter in the Tri-Cities.

    Robin brought lots of goodies to share, including this adorable wall hanging.  I love the addition of the rickrack and buttons.

    She’s been making doll quilts for a reach-out in her community.  These are 1-1/2″ squares!

    She recently quilted this Eye-Spy panel.  Panels are a great way to practice your machine quilting!

    Here’s she showing off her sweet Valentine pillow.

    This is another Valentine stitchery she is working on.

    Robin calls this a Crumb Quilt–just sew all your fabric crumbs together!

    Robin makes wonderful scrap quilts.  This one is 4″ squares.

    Earlene has been working on these sweet Redwork blocks with birds.

    And she’s almost finished with this snowman block.

    Thanks, Ladies, for all the inspiration!

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  • 12Jan
    Categories: Everything! Comments Off on Guild Paint Chip Challenge

    A few days ago, I posted about the Paint Chip Challenge our Guild did.

    This is my table runner.

    Each participating member did a blind draw for a paint chip.

    The goal was to make something using the colors in your chip, like this gorgeous Hawaiian wall hanging Doris made!

    You were supposed to use three of the four colors on your chip.

    How adorable are these elephants!?!

    Renee made this.

    You could add white to your palette.

    Like Cherry did with this pretty pillow.

    Or, you could add black.

    Like Jan did to embellish her vest.

    Some people were able to find a single fabric that had more than one of the paint chip’s colors in it.

    Terri made this.

    The stipes in this border look great against the chip!

    Peggy’s quilt had a whole story to tell.

    And the back is adorable.  There’s even a hidden pocket!

    Participants had no idea what color they would get.

    Nellie had yellows and made a cute table runner.

    Audrey had golds.

    She went the table runner route, too!

    It was harder than you’d think to find just the right shades to match the chips.

    Dianne’s adorable piece showed Sunbonnet Sue on vacation in Europe, and what a vacation it was!  She swam the English Channel, picked lavender in Provence, went nude sunbathing in St. Tropez, and took a steam bath in Baden Baden.  Wow, I want to travel with her!

    Kathy resorted to dying her own fabric!

    She made this clever purse.

    The stripes in this border fabric had all the right colors!

    I love Bev’s seashells in the attic windows setting.

    Here’s another one with black.

    Jo’s quilt was really striking, and the quilting was great.

    You can’t go wrong with feathers and a scalloped edge!

    Lynda made this radiant start quilt.

    Oh, can you say Kermit?

    That’s what Earlene thought of when she saw her paint chip!

    Wow, imagine finding a single fabric that had all the colors!

    Gerri turned it into this sweet apron.

    Dee also found a print that worked with her chip.

    She made an adorable apron with cross-stitch embellishments on it.

    I didn’t get a snap of Janet’s paint chip, but her apron sure turned out cute.

    Glennys’ giant dahlia quilt was one of two winners.

    The other was Dixie’s lavender cat.  Both of them were whisked away before I got a picture of their paint chips, but believe me, they did a great job of matching their fabrics to their paint chips.

    Here are some great neutrals.

    Alas, I don’t know who made this great Quilter’s Roll.  Can someone tell me, please?

    The whole challenge was great fun and the quilts will all be displayed at the Peninsula Quilt Guild Show in March.

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  • 12Oct
    Categories: quilting Comments Off on Guild Show-and-Tell

    I’m a member of the Peninsula Quilt Guild (that would be the Long Beach Peninsula!).  There are about 50 members, which is pretty good for our small community.  The group is very diverse, and one of the most fun things about the meetings is seeing what everyone brings for show-and-tell.  I had my camera with me yesterday, so thought I would share with you, too.

    Joan made this Migration quilt.

    She used a gorgeous fabric on the back.

    She’s been making 6″ blocks, and used 12 of them in this house quilt.

    Becky has been making red, white and blue quilts to donate.

    Here’s another one.

    She also made this snowman quilt using wool.

    Eleanor made this kaleidoscope quilt in a class at Boardwalk Quilts.

    Glennys made the next two table runners.

    She says they’re the same block, just turned different ways!

    She also showed us the peacock sweater she made which won Reserve Grand Champion at the fair!

    Deborah made this in a Paula Nadelstern class.

    Jerene made the next two quilts.

    Beverly made this strip pieced quilt.

    Glennys made this quilt…

    …and this wall hanging.

    Joyce brought this Seven Sisters quilt that was stitched in the early 1900′s.

    Audrey had been experimenting with piecing around a center hexagon and made this Christmas table runner.

    Carol showed off her row-by-row quilt.

    She also showed her recently completed Over The River quilt top, which she plans to hand quilt.

    I don’t know who made this patriotic quilt.  Help?

    Gloria brought this quilt that her mother made several years ago.

    It was a great meeting.  After it was all over, Kathy brought this garage sale find in to show me.  I’m in love!  That’s Anna Lena Land!

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  • 15Feb
    Categories: brilliant ideas, Everything! Comments Off on Guild Baby Quilts

    The Peninsula Quilt Guild is my local guild.  I’m proud to say I’m a charter member of this guild.  Over the last 15 years, our membership has grown to 55 women.  Maybe that doesn’t sound like a lot by city standards, but I live in a very small community.  One of the guild projects is making baby quilts for at risk new moms in our county.  This is Bev.  She’s the driving force behind this project–and many others!

    Yesterday was another “bring your baby quilts” day.  Twenty-two quilts were donated, and I’d like to share them with you.  I don’t know who made them all, but I’ll give credit where I do know.  Please email me or leave a comment if you know who made any of the others, and I’ll add that information.

    Bev made this one.  I think it’s particularly nice because it’s all made with fabrics I’ve designed!  Of course, Bev could make a great looking quilt out of anything!

    Glennys made these three quilts.  She found this pattern in a magazine.  You buy three yards of fabric, do some quick rotary cutting and some stitching and, voila!, you have three baby quilts!

    Andi made this great monster quilt and machine quilted it on her new long arm.  The quilting outlining the monster looks great on the back!

    This is a pre-quilted panel that just needed a binding and it’s ready to comfort a new baby.

    I think Andi also made this quilt with a packed bears print.

    This quilt has cute monkey fabric in it and a print that says, “I love Mommy” and “I love Daddy.”  How perfect is that?

    These two panels are flannel and oh-so-cuddly.

    Quilts From The Heart is another local group that makes charity quilts, and they donated several yesterday, including this one.

    This sweet quilt with its pink and plaid is just the right size for a receiving blanket.

    Ann S. has been in her log cabin period and made these two quilts.  One has a polka dot binding and the other an orange stripe binding.

    Here’s another comfy Quilts From The Heart quilt.

    This is a great, graphic design.  This one is quilted with a variegated thread, which looks so nice on this quilt.

    Nellie turned this Suzi’s Zoo panel into a baby quilt.  She said she’d had it in her stash since the Anna Lena store days!

    Quilts From The Heart made this sweet quilt with a packed teddy bear fabric.

    This strippy quilt made by Ann J. will keep some baby nice and warm.  It’s made with flannel.

    Lynda made this nice bright quilt with an even brighter back and binding!

    Isn’t this a great looking quilt with a very modern feel?  Renee made this one.  I love the colors!

    And the same with this rail fence.  Orange and aqua–what a great combination!  This quilt was made by Mary H.

    I think there will be some happy new moms and comfy babies, thanks to the work of the wonderful ladies of the Peninsula Quilt Guild.

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