Roundup Quilting Day!

January 9, 2010

Cross Country Piece Makers meet the second Saturday of every month. It never varies and those that can make it show up. This group was started by a few enterprising young women in 1993. I joined in 1994. It is a wonderful group...people move away, friends die (which is the hardest of all), and new ones join all for the love of quilting! I have learned so much by going to these gatherings. The "girls" are all so willing to share what they have learned in classes, have given classes, and we have ALL profited from each other's mistakes. Most of all we laugh a lot and pray for one another and are there no matter what. I have some pictures from today.

One of the sayings of one of the charter members is, "Quilting together is cheaper than a psychiatrist." I am sure that doesn't take into account all the fabric, notions, well, enough said...

One of the fun things for us from Jordan is that we get in lots of visiting going and coming and solve lots of quilting dilemmas...
This quilt is called "The World's Easiest Quilt." I, for one, am here to tell you that is a bald-faced lie! I have made two of them, and it did not get any easier. Cathy Kombol has made seven of these I think she said. She said, "They are so easy!" I don't know whether to try another one or not. The last time I did one, I said, "Never AGAIN!" It is all in how you place the squares that have been cut twice and that is what makes the design. Clear as mud, huh??

Here is the fabric that she started with. I think we cut 15 or 16" squares. I can't remember and I am not going to look up the directions for you. Cathy thought that some kid would like this one or an old lady, namely her. One thing it is, bright and cheery.

Here is part of the group hard at it. Some of the retired ladies quilt every Wednesday, so they bring hand projects to work on during our Saturday meetings. A few bring machines, depending on projects at the time.

We are doing two different "block-of-the-month" projects. This snowman is one and each month will be finished so that is will be like a calendar where we change monthly. I didn't have mine done, I wanted to see some of the others and what they were doing. Most of us are excited about this one as we can use up scraps and it will reflect our personalities.

This is Leah's up close and personal...

Roma is always working on something that takes my eye. Today it is a black and white and that yummy lime green. I can hardly wait to see it done!
Laura F. got Leah's Snowman quilt done and it is so cute! The quilting is exquisite. The next picture will be a close up of the quilting. Laura has a long-arm machine and says she loves to quilt and she has an artistic flare. She makes up her quilting ideas.
One of the other block-of-the-month projects will be different star blocks. I decide I would do both, can't be left out you know. Maybe it is the overachiever mode I get in! ha! I picked out of a hat from the color wheel--I am doing monochromatic and the color I picked out of the hat is purple! Perfect!! I have lots of purple. I will use scraps and I need two darks, two mediums, and two lights in my blocks.

Another project on the burner after today is sewing together 128 light squares on top of 128 dark squares and see what we get. Mark them down the middle, sew on both sides of the mark, cut on the mark, and voila!!! Two blocks! Eleven of us decided to do this project and so we all had to cut 128 6 1/2" squares of light material and 128 darks. Then we walked around the table and took one off of the top of the dark piles. When we got them all picked up, we walked around and did the lights until those piles were gone. Whew!!!

I have enough projects to keep me out of trouble for a long time!! Not that I am prone to trouble...