Show & Tell January 25, 2014

 Eileen (Tall) Navikas - wonderfully made Fidget Quilt with an awesome Crazy Patchwork backing.  And yes, it was fun to listen to Eileen's description of the artistry she put into this beauty.

 Becky Chianese - shared first Organza Art of the day.  Beautiful and Becky even managed to "scorch" the edges in the artsy way with her grill starter.

 Lu Karatza - shared her Organza Art that she made entirely by hand and she fancied up her edges with paint.  Very pretty!

 Trudy Muramoto - One of new ladies this week, who says she is not Japanese, and was one of Helen Lawrie's sweatshop table recruits - shared a braiding technique that is Japanese!   Ladies, I don't make this stuff up!!  Trudy shared "Kumihimo" that uses a KumiLoom Braiding Disk and 8 threads with beading.  It is really unique and pretty and could have many uses, even with the organza art we've been doing.  Trudy will be doing a demonstration of this technique on Sat., Feb. 8th for us.  Can't wait.

 Judy Johnston - shared an Organza Art she made in a class a few years ago.  The flamingo design looked pretty familiar to me.  When I got up today, I did a search, and un-earthed a pillow top I made several years back and yes, the same design - Judy, you and I were in the same class!!  What a hoot!  And now, Judy is in my Jump Start Sampler Quilt class at Sharkys.  I tell you this is all kinds of fun living here in The Villages.    Guess now I'll have to bring in my flamingo to show n tell - just never liked the finished pillow top all much - should have left it as a wall hanging.   She also brought a lovely fidget quit.

 Jane Swafford - never ceases to bring us a surprise every so often - For her great neice, Jane crafted up our club's NameArt and made "Clara" in pretty bright fabric lettering.  Good job Jane!!

Kathy Jones - shared a beautiful lap-size prayer quilt she made for her Aunt who is a cancer survivor.  And Kathy shared the two Organza Art wall hangings she is fashioning to depict the "northern lights".  Pretty!!

 Pat Pipa - Made a Fidget Quilt with a pretty row of flowers "blowin in the wind".  And Pat finished the baby quilt with the big blocks (that came from my MD days).  Great!! to see them finally used and finished into something.

 Donna Pachy - Finished February Art Hanging for her parents - early!  This is last year's UFO work and so far for 2014, Donna is finishing ahead of schedule each month - Waa Hoo!!  Feb. even got "bling!"  Can't wait for March!

 Lois Rose - 4 more Fidget Quilts delivered to Ocala this week.  And Lois gave me 4 more FQs requested by Mission Oaks to deliver this week.  It's just all good, ladies, the feedback we continue to get about these useful comforts.  Lois also shared 2 Organza Arts!!   Lois continues to excel leaps & bounds!!

  Helen Lawrie - besides the "stunning" doggie bed, Helen loves making Fidget Quilts and shared a gorgeous "bed of roses" one.  Her work is beautiful and it is so obvious that each stitch is made with love and care. 

Show & Tell January 18, 2014

Pat Pipa started this week off with her weekly inspirations of Fidget Quilts and a beautiful red and white churn dash block with pinwheel center square that she made using the disappearing pinwheel technique.  I absolutely love that fun sewing, starts off very easy, a little creative fun, and before you know it, there's a very impressive finished quilt block ready to be a stunning pocket for any tote back, or block 1 of a stunning quilt.  Pat also showed off some beautiful pineapple scrappy blocks she made during Pat O'Connor's Trash to Treasure Bee last week.  Pat & Pat you both are awesome ladies!!

Lucille Karatzas - had creation fun all week for sure - she made her first Fidget Quilt and a baby-size rag quilt.  Neither project is very stressful, so you need to say creative fun.  Fidget (busy lap pieces) Quilts are "no mistakes" sewing and rag quilts - do not involve any tedious seams, triangles, cutting, or quilting - they just turn out squares sewn together for soft snuggly pieces.  Lu - you're a fast learner - terrific stuff!!

 Lois Rose - Lois read a thank you note received from Hawthorne Village for the selection of "busy lap quilts" donated for its memory care unit.  And Lois told us about crafting visit to Mission Oaks last Wednesday.  Besides all that, Lois still had time to make up another group of Fidget Quilts.  It's always fun to see how creatively she uses the applique pieces and scraps of fabrics.

Bonnie Meyer (with a boo-boo arm - sorry!) shared a pretty beautiful table top piece made with border fabrics and what looked like 60 degree angles.  Pretty cool tumbling block effect.

Sue Campbell - wow'd us a bit with beautiful red and purple (yes Red Hats) lap quilt - nicely made! with beautiful stitching and gorgeous purple appliqué hats on the red-as-red-can-be background.

May Kahlow - Showed her stunning birds wallhanging made from a panel of fabric!   So she started with a beautiful fabric panel, added her own sewing stitches and quilting, made a backing and binding and now has a piece of art ready to hang.  It's a lovely addition for any wall for sure!

Tall Eileen Navikas - as always doing her fun sewing - doggie bed and baby quilt.  Then Eileen shared a scrappy strip piece quilt top she has started and how much fun she's having just using up scraps, some short, some long, some from home, some from our club's leftover stash, row by row being added. 

Actually, when you read a little about first days of "quilting", that's kind of what our ancestors did.  They added any piece of scrap fabric, or leftover clothing, or used clothing, etc., and they just kept adding piece by piece.  Eventually the pieces got so cumbersome to work on that historians say that's how quilting block patterns came about.  The ladies would work on the smaller blocks, one by one, and then when they had a bunch of blocks together, they started finishing them in rows and put rows together for quilts.  So often these blocks were made around events, or places, or during certain times, so that's how blocks got a lot of their names and second and third names.  Generally speaking, a block (like a churn dash) will have several version names or even an altogether different second name.  Some blocks like log cabin and drunkard's path have so many variations and versions it is hard to determine all of them.

Sharon Ross brought 3 very creative fidget quilts.  Two were made with fabric from old jeans and the 3rd was embellished with one of her wonderful sea creatures.

Judy Johnson took last week’s callenge to decorate a small bag for the homeless children campaign.     Nice job Judy.

Show & Tell January 11, 2014

  Eileen Navikas ( I kid EN as Big Eileen - not big round - big because taller and big on creativity and sewing crafting abilities!!) Shared another truly great Fidget Quilt with the cutest Yorkie styled after her very own beloved pet Lola the Yorkie - Whatever Lola wants... Eileen's FQ had a lemon tree that came about out of necessity to cover up some fabric boo-boos.  Editor's note: I love boo-boos because I see them as positive opportunity for embellish.  And that's just what Eileen did and when you get a chance, check out the picture in scrapbook.  Eileen was sitting at last table in room, and from my view from front of room, I could see the adorable face and eyes she made on the Yorkie!  So cute!

  Edie Cave - still says she "can't sew" but now no one falling for that anymore!  She put faces on pineapples on a very creative fidget quilt!  Edie gave us update on Carol Planck's battle with pneumonia and oxygen levels.  Let's all keep Carol in our prayers that she'll get over this stronger and sooner!!

 Pat Pipa came in with 2 more fidget quilts this week and a beautiful wall hanging.

 

  Joyce Snyder - shared the 60 bags from placemats she has made ready to use at Homewood and Mission Oaks crafting visits with the assisted living.  Joyce - big WOW!  Thank you. 

  Sandy P - shared two-sided reversible tablecloth created using the farm moo cows fabrics - it's a fun , pretty table toper for sure!  Sandy came by to drop off Fidget Quilt materials.  Thank, Sandy






 

 

Janey Weston - shared pot holders - good way to jump back into sewing!

 

Eileen DiSanto (I kid this Eileen as Little one Eileen because she's one of the few people I can tower over and maybe I should go with Petite Eileen and Tall Eileen!!)  - she's into pillowcases mass production - I lost count how many she had back there and held up to show - Wow factor alert!

Lois Rose - did take the oohs-aahs award for the day - besides the stack! of doggie beds she did during the week, Lois shared a pattern and prototype of a fabric bread basket that is truly one you've never seen before, and you'll want one for yourself.  Lois, get good sleep one Friday night, and come prepared to demo these bowls.  Maybe I can twist her arm for Feb. 1 Demo Day Saturday!  We'll keep you posted on that. 

Bonnie Meyer - this lady's smile is never-ending!  Bonnie made Plarn crochet bags (plastic yarn=plarn) - not so easy on the wrists but they are nice!  Then she shared an Amazing (Did you see Capital A? Very appropriate) Quilt of hexagons she hand pieced and hand quilted.  She laughed that it took her 28 years to finish, but ladies it is a quilt that deserved 28 years to make.   I'm actually speechless (and that takes some doing) because words are short to tell you this quilt's story.  Bonnie - you made a treasure for sure!




 Patti Cooke - Quiet - Sweet as can be Patty - we really left her standing for a minute in the wings, and no worries, Patty happily showed us then her cute as can be name tag baby doll version of dolls we made back while ago.  We still have a couple kits left to sell - they make awesome "name tags".










Helen Lawrie was not able to stay, but we showed off the doggie bed she made this week and Fidget Quilt - both in Helen''s lovingly created way.