Great Guilds, Scrap Books and a Giveaway!

Diane Harris of Quiltmaker magazine recently posted on Quilty Pleasures about finding a new quilt guild. It's a fun post. Check it out!

She is also hosting a giveaway for a bundle of new quilting books. But hurry, this giveaway is over on Midnight, Monday, Feb 21st!

Also, do you have a favorite book about scrap quilting?

There are so many GREAT books.  I have all three of Bonnie Hunter's books.  I have found that although my color choices are often radically different from Bonnie's, her patterns are perfect (of course) for scrap quilts.  Her books also contain great common sense advice that are helpful to those of us that have been making and loving scrappy quilts for years as well as those new to scrap quilts.  My only warning about Bonnie's books are they use a variety of sizes so if don't have a lot of scraps already cut up, be prepared to do some cutting! But then, we do that for non-scrappy quilts all the time don't we.  Bonnie's books are:

• Scraps and Shirttails
• Adventures with Leaders and Enders
• Scraps and Shirttails II

The book Diane recommended is by Kim Brackett.  I don't yet have her latest book, but Kim also has a previous book called Scrap Basket Surprises  Unlike Bonnie's book, Kim heavily favors  2 1/2" strips and simple sewing instructions.  That makes her book excellent for new quilters, those who haven't yet built up an inventory of scraps, and anyone looking for a super quick pattern.  Scrap Basket Surprises is one of my 'Go-To' books for quick gift projects.  I can't wait to check out Scrap Basket Sensations!  Thanks for the recommendation Diane.

• Scrap Basket Sensations
• Scrap Basket Surprises

For using pre-cuts, there is also the book by Carrie Nelson called Schnibbles Times Two  This book, like Kim's book is great for those who love scrappy quilts and those who are new to scrap quilts.  Unlike Kim's books, this book has patterns for 5" and 10" squares. 

• Schnibbles Times Two

Two final books I recommend are Stash Buster Quilts by Lynne Edwards.  In this book Lynne presents her patterns in clear, easy to read directions and usually in more than one colorway.  Her book, like Bonnie's books, don't focus on any one size cut but offer a nice variety.

• Stash Buster Quilts

Also, Cozy Modern Quilts by Kim Schaefer.  This isn't a scrap quilt book per say, but the patterns in this book lend themselves brilliantly to using scraps.  The other thing I've found that makes this an ideal book is that the simple modern designs are very attractive to the young people in my life.  Those that don't have the same appreciation I have for more traditional quilting styles.  I can always find a quilt in here for my young college-age cousins.

• Cozy Modern Quilts

Okay, that's my list.  Check out more of the discussion at Quilters Club of America: Scrappy Book Discussions

Have you been to the Quilters Club of America website yet? It's a great discussion board and gallery that I recommend. You will have the option to upgrade to a paid membership, but the basic membership is FREE!

I have a free membership, and LOVE it!

Cheers,

Dionne

Quilt Club Show n' Tell

So here is a little show and tell from my last quilt club. (We aren't a guild, there are guilds for that sort of thing). This is just us girls who get together and sew, we have common projects and individual projects. I've been sharing our common projects every month, but here are some of our individual projects.



Snowman Hand Embroidery Quilt top:



I wish I had taken a better picture of this, the beautiful hand embroidery doesn't show up very well, but the snowman is fabulous.



Feathered Friends Redwork:




The redwork was all done by hand. What is difficult to see is where she hand embroidered the name of each bird in neutral. The block above says "Sparrow"




Below you see the entire quilt. It took her six months to complete the piecing and the embroidery and then she took a weekend to finish the machine quilting.






This is a Roxanne Carter Block of the Month:

This pattern is Brave New World by Fons and Porter:

Finally this beautiful quilt is from Jennifer Chevarini's sampler pattern from the Elm Creek Quilters:

It's 140 six inch blocks, all with sashing, hand quilted. I wish I would have had my camera with me and not just my phone! It's quite stunning in person.

Cheers,

Dionne

My Day with Bonnie

If you haven't heard me talk about Bonnie Hunter on this blog before, either you are a completely newbie to me ~ in that case WELCOME! or you are just skimming the words and only looking at pics ~ in which case you aren't reading this now, so... oh, well.

I recently had the opportunity to spend the entire day with Bonnie at a workshop hosted by the Washington Stars Quilt Guild in Olympia. Yes, I did have to drive 2 hours to get there, and yes, I did have to wake up at 6am to make it on time, on my day off. But it was well worth it.

The workshop was her Star Struck workshop and she had several copies of her book, Scraps & Shirttails: Reuse, Re-pupose, Recycle! The Art of "Quilting Green" with her.

Bonnie was great with so many tips and tricks, as well as funny stories. She also just hung out and chatted a lot with us. The ladies of the Guild were also so very nice. It was great to hang out and sew with everyone, especially considering I didn't know anyone. You'll see everyone's work taped to the wall, I love seeing how different fabrics make the same pattern look so different.

My work isn't pictured here, I forgot to take a picture of it! And actually, I left several of my blocks taped to the wall, I had driven half a mile when I suddenly realized I had left something behind and had to turn around to get them!

A few of the guild ladies and Bonnie were all going out to dinner between the workshop and the evening lecture. They were kind enough to invite me along, however, my dear sweet husband had a very challenging day with the children (who are very well behaved) and I figured I ought to get home. After all, I got about 5 calls that day (not all from him mind you)

But as soon as I pulled into the driveway, he was all smiles ~ "Oh, you should have stayed. We're fine, go back, have fun," he says.

"It was in Olympia, I can't." I'm devastated, I could have stayed. Why didn't I ask to see how things were going!? I'm kicking myself mentally at this moment!

He turns and looks at me incredulously, "You drove two hours for a quilt class?!" Then he turns to walk in the house. "You should have stayed."

I should have stayed.

If you have the opportunity to go to dinner with Bonnie Hunter ~ go!