Cogs and Gears Class

Friday found a group of Q2 guild members enjoying a class taught by Carolyn Freeman at the church that hosts our Sit and Sew group one Tuesday a month. What a fun class, Carolyn, and what pretty cogs and gears were put together.Lots and lots of tracing and cutting. Old paper doll addicts like me were enjoying cutting the pieces albeit they were intricate and a little hard to get started. I am not going to try and put the names of the makers to the different blocks but will say that all of them are just beautiful. Great choices were made in colors by our ladies.



Some beautiful bright colors.


Don't we have guild members with a remarkable ability to pick and choose color and fabric?

Gorgeous choice!

Another gem.

This one will be a stunner, also.


Carolyn overseeing some of her students who are all concentrating on their job at hand - cutting.

You have to look up once in a while!
Still more of our cutups!

I notice that several of the girls turn sideways on their chairs to do their cutting.
All caught up in the job at hand.
A good day - and I think the results that will come out of this class will be outstanding. Thanks for a fun class, Carolyn. (Click to enlarge)

May Featured Quilter

Deb Lichtman shared her Personal Assistance Options (PAO) fundraiser quilt at our May meeting. PAO has held an Annual Celebrity Art Auction for four years now. Local “celebrities” partner with local artists to create something unique for the auction. This year Deb worked with Alan Oman, Supervisor of Early Childhood and Family Services at ESA (yes, Jewels hubby) to create a lovely wall hanging dedicated to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Alan wanted something colorful and focused on reading for children. After talking to Alan, Deb created the theme and layout for the quilt. Both worked on purchasing the material, and Alan even had an opportunity to do some sewing (his comment to Deb – “I want to know what it is my wife gets up to”). The finished product turned out great and did well at the auction to….Thanks Deb for sharing your story with us!

If you would like to be a Featured Quilter let us know - we would love to share your work and stories!

Come to Sit and Sew Tomorrow

It's time for our monthly Sit and Sew Session. Hope to see you there - read all about it at the bottom of the left sidebar! Bring along whatever you are working on - machines welcome - and a lunch, if you wish. Someone usually goes out to eat or brings something back. If you have never joined us, please do. It's a good group and a good way to get acquainted. Stay the day (10:00 to 3:00) or part of the time. Hope to see you there!

Travelling Iron Pad Tutorial

For all you quilters going to Sit and Sew and other events where you need to take an iron...here is a (JUST CLICK ONCE) cute pattern on how to make your own mat! Enjoy. Jewels

May 2010 Q2 Guild Meeting

Busy meeting last night - many items to be taken care of and a really fun program given by Shirley Rajewski of The Stitching Well in Bay City.

Showing odds and ends of photos in no particular order. Shirley brought lovely examples of crazy quilting and our members also brought along items they had that were crazy quilts or embellished pieces. A great display!

Shirley had also brought along books, threads, embellishments, and lots of other goodies that we all love so very much.

Aren't these all lovely? Lots of talent in Q2.

Before the program was given, Julie Oman gave a report on our very successful quilt show held the end of April and first two days of May. We had the largest turnout ever and had a very successful bazaar and blind auction. She recognized the members who gave so freely of their time and talents to make the show such a success and also passed out the Viewers' Choice awards. The complete list will be in the Midland paper soon. I am not going to try and list everyone as I know I would not get it right. Needless to say, we had our usual beautiful quilts displayed for everyone to enjoy.

Nancy Stanley conducted the door prize and fat quarter giveaway. We voted on officers for next year - and again I will not try to list them but feel that you all will be notified of the people heading up our group next year.

Looking over the examples of embellished and crazy quilts.
Close up of an old top embellished with yarn.

A beauty!


This quilt is appraised at $4000 - just exquisite.

Some Show and Tell by Caroline Freeman with Nancy Stanley, our president, assisting in holding the piece up.

Thank you, Shirley, for a great program. It was enjoyed by all. (Click to enlarge)

Check out the new slideshows on the right sidebar.

We Need Your Help!

Know of a great show coming up? How about a tip you would like to share (or point us to)? Great quilting stories you've seen or neat web pages, favorite stores you visit ....let us know about them and we would be happy to post! At our May meeting we will be asking for volunteer "guest bloggers" - you can share your recent works of art and tell us what inspired you, new techniques you might of used, comment on the fabric - whatever you would like to share with your fellow Guild members. Remember, this is YOUR blog and everyone has a story (or two) to tell...

Your roving reporters - Jewels and Fun Old Hag

It Takes a Guild...

...to make a Quilt Show work!
Like Mary Ann who worked on prize ribbons...(apparently while sick on her couch)

...and ballots - do you believe we ran out and she had to go make more!

And Jean - a first timer who took on the big task of managing all our entries

JoAnn and Ann who made our Blind Auction such a success
And Karen, who distributed posters, worked with the Newspaper to get our great story done, and took care of Radio spots
Carol too, who with her trusty glue made sure our very popular Give Aways stayed "stuck" together
And Johanna who made sure shifts were staffed, we had the supplies we needed, posters were made and covered general duties through the three days.
Janna who, every year, seems to figure out the best way to display everything ....she IS the Master Hanger!
Our Featured Quilter, Robyn, who graciously volunteered to have her collection on display for all to enjoy.
Spouses who helped set up and break down - all the heavy lifting

It takes volunteers who help to hang quilts, set up the Bazaar, man (or lady ;->) the Admissions and Bazaar tables, answer questions on quilting techniques used and take head count (one of the tougher jobs!)... And Earlene making sure the money gets to the bank!

It takes all of our quilters who entered their lovely pieces of art into the show...

It also takes great partners like the Midland County Historical Society who have allowed us to use this wonderful venue for so many years..the weather may not have been that nice, but the grounds sure looked pretty...
... and new partners like the Max Carey Blacksmith Guild - what a fun bunch of folks - they had a great time to.

THANKS to everyone who helped to make our show such a success this year! We have lots to report at our May meeting so hope you are able to come and hear the news on how we did and our Viewer Choice award winners.

And please come with your ideas, suggestions and feedback for next year (we have some already in mind) - we can only get better....
Cheers to all of you, Jewels

What a Wonderful Show

This past weekend, Q2 had it's seventh annual show (I think that's right) and from the numbers I hear, it is our most successful show to date! The official number I don't have but I do know that is was over 400. We all owe a big thank you to Julie Oman and her hardworking crew that were responsible for this great event. I am not going to try and list all of the girls who worked so hard since I would be sure to leave some out. However, in a later post, they will receive the credit that is due. There are so many that put so much time and energy in our show - above is how the hall was set up to receive the quilts. A crew came in Wednesday evening and did all the assembly of the partitions.

After the girls did the hanging of the quilts on Thursday, the hall looked like the above picture.

We had many, many gorgeous quilts and innovative ways had to be put into practice to get all of the lovely pieces on view. This beauty goes around a corner to be displayed.

The onset of the bazaar - an extremely popular part of our show and a big money maker for us. Our members made many fun, useful items that were very popular - pin cushions, fabric bowls, thread catchers, purses, and other great things that shopping quilters enjoy. Also, the books, magazines and fabric that were brought in were very, very popular. Some of our showgoers head to the bazaar first, then enjoy the show at a leisurely rate.

An eyecatching display in a corner of some of the items in our "other" category to cover pieces done by our members that are not quilts or wallhangings. The lovely collage in the antique picture frame is by Julie, our "Mother Hen" for the quilt show. And the adorable doll is by the very talented Ann Ward - how does she do it? Her work is just plain wonderful.

We also had a blind auction that featured items made by our members and also by the Blacksmiths who were holding a demonstration of their work in the building next to us. That was a very nice feature. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful place to hold our show and do owe the Historical Society our sincere gratitude for being able to use the wonderful facilities.

Can't wait for guild to hear all the news - the winners of the different categories, the final figure of show goers, the amount of money brought in.

Thank you so much!! See you Tuesday. (Click to enlarge)


P. S. The slideshow is up on the right sidebar. I didn't get good pictures on Thursday (had my camera on some goofy setting, I think) but I did get back in time Sunday afternoon to get a few more. Enjoy.