September Sew-in at Anacortes

Once a month a group of quilters - who all met online - get together in Anacortes, WA in a little cottage to sew and eat and laugh.

One thing we do while there is have show and tell - and the fun we have looking at everyone's great work. This month was exciting, as always.

This is Diane's first quilt - gorgeous isn't it? She had started to hand quilt it - then put it away and only recently got it out, and brought it because one of the sew-in members asked to see it. We are all very happy that she brought it and can't wait to see it finished.

Vicki brought a lot of her flimsies ( unquilted tops) to share with us - each one a treasure.

I love the border on another of Vicki's flimsies - the rainbow effect just suits this top.

A wonderful sampler that Vicki made - that girl can sure make quilts!!!

Another of Vicki's UFOs - this one is partially quilted - and wonderful!!! There is an annual tulip festival near Anacortes and this quilt reflects that with the rows and rows of "tulips". The fields of flowers are amazing to see and walk through at the festival.

I tried to convince Vicki that this wallhanging needed to come to my house for a visit - I don't think she agreed with me.

Another flimsy from Vicki - she certainly did show us some fabulous work.

Our group has a tradition of making heart quilts for our members - in times of joy or sadness. We each piece a block, called Jake's block, of a patchwork heart. Someone volunteers to put the blocks together into a top and one of the machine quilters in our groups quilts them and someone else usually does the binding. If someone can't participate in making a block they might send money for the batting, or supply the backing, so it is really a group project. Some of the ladies even make two or more blocks - always in the recipient's favorite color.

This month we presented a baby quilt to one of our youngest members, Michelle, who is expecting on September 26. This is their third baby, and it will make three girls - three wonderful little princesses for their family.

One of the member presenting the quilt to Michelle - we really surprised her!


Diane set the quilt together - a very clever setting for the heart blocks, and JoAnn's husband machine quilted it. He has a longarm business on the side and does fabulous work. We always appreciate it when he does the machine quilting for us. This one was done in pink thread with butterflies - just perfect for the coming princess. Two other members, Sheila and Robin have also quilted some of the tops.


This is the back of the quilt - don't you just adore the pink leopard fabric? And the extra heart blocks are used on the back - so you can see the shape of the block, before Diane set them together for the quilt top.

Daisy - Michelle's mother-in-law, made this darling princess quilt for Michelle's oldest daughter. This was not a surprise - Daisy is making quilts for all her grandchildren.

A close up of some of the princess panels. Daisy has it pinned for quilting.

And that was our day - there were a couple other quilts that I didn't get a photo of - and Diasy's camera wasn't working so she had none to add. It was a grand day - I look forward to next month.