SEW-AND-TELL and SOME FUN STUFF

A few posts ago I showed you the folded star ornaments that we made at our sew-in in Anacortes, WA. Those are some super talented ladies - and another of our activities - besides eating and laughing and eating and talking - was sew-and-tell. I think that there are more quilters in Washington than any other state - and that is saying something. I know we have dozens of quilts shops - at one time there were 9 of them within 20 miles of my house. They have thinned out a little - but still there are at least 6 still standing.


Karen makes quilts for babies - those who might otherwise not have a quilt - and this lovely colorful one is almost ready to go to its new home. Darling kid prints.



Bright and polka dotty and swirly - this was made by Kristina's 7 year old grandson. He picked the fabrics and even sewed it on her Featherweight, and pressed the seams himself. He will be nice and cozy under this quilt.



Karen again - she belongs to another on-line quilting group of WA quilters. TheY had a swap of signature blocks to celebrate 10 years together - and this is the layout that Karen designed for the signature blocks. Now she has a wonderful memory quilt.


Some extra signature blocks make a nice backing.


SueBee made this fractured nine patch - sometimes called a disappearing nine patch. It certainly looks nothing like a nine patch when you are done. Great colors!


Another SueBee creation - a feathered star wall hanging with a fabulous border. She had been working on getting that border just right for a year now, and finally got it right.


Kitties on a tabletopper - by Sue Bee - aren't they just darling?


This table runner got rave reviews for SueBee. She is quilting it in swirls, with a brownish thread - quilt elegant.


And one more SueBee quilt - she is busy as a Bee. This harvest sampler really has the great colors of fall.

And on the back - more blocks. I'm beginning to like this kind of backing.


Diane takes panels and scenery fabrics and does magnificent things with them. Her quilts will knock your socks off.


The perfect backing for Diane's nature quilt - a sunset.


This attic window setting really shows the fabric to its best advantage - again by Diane. This quilt is even more stunning in person - if you can believe this. I've photographed it before and the picture turned out really good this time.


Diane's jelly roll quilt - made from one jelly roll. The Prairie Points on the inside border really add pizzaz to this quilt - destined to be a little girl's christmas present. She is going to be one happy little girl.


A quilt for Thanksgiving - made by Sheila. The blocks are wonderful and the center is stunning. Don't you just love seasonal quilts?


JoAnn (not me - the other JoAnn) made this One Block Wonder for her granddaughter. The colors are glorious and really keep your eyes moving around the quilt.

I didn't have anything for sew-and-tell, as I have not been quilting for some time now - hopefully one day the urge will seize me and I'll get back to my quilts.

Besides sew-and-tell - and eating - and fun we each got a cute fur trimmed bucket o' gifts from Daisy - our hostess and organizer of all these sew-ins. Thank you Daisy.

That bucket was loaded - needles, pins, marking chalk, needle threader, thread wax, pen, tiny note pad, thimble, emery board, pretty pink hand sanitizer and some candy - now where did that candy go???? I know there were some M&Ms in there at one time.


We also played a Greedy Gift game - having fun stealing and being stolen from - until the game was finally over. My gift was a cute pincusion box - some Color remover for fabrics that had run in quilts, and a cute Gutterman tin - I love tiny tins.


And inside the pincushion - threads, fabric glue stick, pins with white tops, sewing machine needles and hand quilting needles. What a treasure.


We also played a really fun game - each person was given a safety pin with a quilt charm on it when they arrived, to pin on their shirt. If you caught someone saying "quilt" or any of its forms - you got to ask for their pin. The person with the most pins at 3 o'clock, won a big bag full of wonderful things. I was up to four pins - then down to none - but by the end of the game I had 6 - and that was enough to take home the glorious prize bag.

It was really hard for me not to say "quilt" while I was teaching the class on making a quilted folded star ornament. I had to audition every word I said before I said it, just to make sure "quilt" did not come out of my mouth. Everyone was eager to take my pins - but I managed to keep them in the end. After I got the prize bag I said quilt about 10 times - to relieve the stress of not saying it.

A quilt diary, fuzzy christmas sox, an address book, tissue cover, 6" charm squares - mostly batiks, a monkey measuring tape, a deck of quilt playing cards, two quilt patterns, one block kit for a sunflower, a Red Hat purse pincushion, a bag for putting over the arm of your chair to collect snips of thread when stitching, a holiday photo frame ornament, things I didn't get in the photo are three pretty soaps and candle for the holidays and probably a few things I've forgotten. It was so much fun going through the bag with everyone watching and commenting. I loaned the lighthouse pattern to Diane - she is fast at making quilts and will have it done and the pattern back to me before I even start planning what to do with it.

It was a great sew-in - and I look forward to the next one in January - if we don't have any more snow. Thanks ladies for letting me share your wonderful quilts with blogland friends.