January 2012 Meeting

The Bees met at Starbuck's on Hwy 50 in Carson City on January 24 with Randi, Linda, Peggy, Dawn, Margie, Helen, Tricia, and Rita attending. That's all of us, including Rita, and we are very happy to welcome her back!

  
We gathered around the coffee table, sipping our various beverages and enjoying the crepes that Dawn brought for a treat. We began the meeting by discussing goals, both those we completed in 2011 and our new goals for 2012. All accomplishments and goals are documented on the Goals page of the blog, which you can find by clicking the Goals tab along the top.
  
Service Project: We also discussed ideas for a service project and for a group activity. We decided to keep the service project simple this year, particularly because we (and especially Randi) are still recovering from last year's DragonLord project. We all agreed it was wonderful and worthwhile but that we'd like to keep it simple this year. We quickly and unanimously decided to make quilts for the local domestic violence shelter, Advocates to End Domestic Violence. We will make lap-sized throw quilts with the size, design, etc. being completely up to the quilter. The quilts should be finished by September and then either Dawn or Margie will contact the shelter and make arrangements to deliver the quilts.

Club Project: We also discussed the group activity or "club project" we want to do this year. Tricia brought up the idea of the "box quilt." Last year she thought that sounded like fun, and after seeing Carol's box quilt at the celebration of life, her interest was renewed. It seemed as though that thought and memories of the Bees' earlier times with Carol and other former members renewed the group's interest, and we again unanimously decided on box quilts as our club project. The concept is simple. Each quilter provides a box with fabrics she would like the other Bees to make into blocks for her. Each month, the boxes are exchanged at the meeting and brought back the following month containing another block. Block size should be 12.5 inches unfinished. We will start in February, and each Bee should bring a box to begin the exchange. It was suggested that quilters should initial their blocks inconspicuously with a permanent marker so that recipients will know who made what. Tricia will make a checklist of quilters' names to include in each box so that we can keep track of the rotation. Those of you who have box quilts from previous years are going to bring them to show the group.

Workshop: We discussed having Peggy teach a sweatshirt jacket workshop some time in September. Date and time to be discussed at a future meeting.

Next Meeting  

*** Tuesday, February 21 at Helen's house ***

Margie is going to invite Anita from the DAR.

Food: 

• Randi: Soup
• Linda: Appetizer
• Peggy and Dawn: Dessert
• Margie: Salad
• Helen: Quiche
• Rita: Bread

Show and Tell

I apologize that I don't have notes on the Show and Tell. I'll include what I remember, but please either post comments or send me details in email, and I'll add them to the blog.
  
For Christmas, Linda's daughter made placemats for Linda and her husband. They included drawings made by Linda's grandchildren. Randi made an "I spy" quilt, which she highly recommends as a fun quilt to make for children.

Dawn made a beautiful quilt and Margie made a cute Valentine's Day table runner for her father and stepmother.

  

Peggy also made a beautiful table runner that she quilted with the Jill Schumacher techniques of ditch-stitching and heavily quilting the background (in this case, microstippling, which doesn't show up in the photo) so that the primary design pops out. Peggy has also been experimenting with Zen doodling, a type of free motion quilting she learned from Paula Thompson. 

  

Peggy also made a really cute purse using a new flexible but shape-holding material. As usual, Peggy has been a busy Bee with projects this month. 

Rita, our resident art quilter, is planning to exhibit her quilts in June, and her goal is to have six finished by then. Here are three that she has completed. Rita dyes many of her fabrics and uses many techniques and materials to achieve texture and dimension.

January 2, 2012 -- Holiday Party

Although we missed our Christmas celebration, we met on January 2 to welcome in the New Year with great joy and hope. Everyone was able to attend on January 2 at the First and Ten Bar and Grill in Dayton, which Margie so graciously arranged for us. It turned out that we had the back dining room all to ourselves, which was a good thing because we had so much "stuff." Everyone brought a gift exchange present as well as the traditional homemade holiday gifts we've gotten in the habit of exchanging with one another. All the gifts were wonderful, whimsical, and practical with Bee motifs abounding. Maybe the most creative of all were the custom-designed Bee notecards from Linda.

We had a wonderful lunch--the food was great, ranging from Mexican to traditional American fare. Linda's daughter Molly, along with new baby Willa Rose, attended the meeting because they were visiting Linda for the holidays. Molly's husband, Luke Chivers, surprised us all by treating us to lunch in appreciation for the DragonLord project, and his generosity only added to our festive spirits.

Something particularly special was that Carol Gardner was able to attend the gathering, and most of us hadn't seen her for over a year. It turned out to be a good day for her because Helen had been staying with her and making sure she was taking her pain medications right on schedule.

Our gift exchange was HILAROUS and just happened to start with Carol selecting a calendar from Dawn called the "Quilters' Shirtless Man with Spicy Burrito Calendar." We literally howled with laughter as Carol looked through photos in the calendar. I think all of us can probably say that "Caleb" was our favorite.

  

We planned to meet on January 24 with a meeting place, food, etc. to be decided later.

November 2011 Special Meeting

Our regular November meeting was canceled because Helen was staying with Carol Gardner who has taken a turn for the worse. We don't know the details, but Carol either recently had or is scheduled for surgery to insert another stent. She is in a lot of pain, and Helen is taking care of her. Carol is in our thoughts and prayers constantly.

We had already planned to deliver the angel quilt to the Cancer Resource Center this month and had really hoped Carol would be able to come, but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway, hoping it would bring Carol some comfort and joy in knowing that the project, which was her idea and that we completed in her honor, had finally come to fruition.

The delivery was scheduled for the morning of November 17, and we gathered at the Starbucks on Highway 50 for a brief business meeting before the delivery. Attending were Linda, Peggy, Margie, Randi, and Tricia.

DAR Donation

It's a long story, but Margie met Anita Parker, regent of the Battle Born Chapter of the DAR, while waiting to make a presentation to the VFW in hopes of receiving a donation to defray some of the travel expenses of the Dragonlord project. Well, due to agenda overload at the VFW, Margie was never able to make the presentation, but while they were waiting, she told Anita all about our project, and Anita offered to take Margie's presentation materials to share with her chapter in the hope of raising a donataion. Apparently Anita was successful, and she was going to attend our November meeting to make a presentation on behalf of her chapter. However, even before the meeting was canceled, Anita informed Margie she would not be able to attend the meeting. She did, however, have an envelope for Margie, which Margie handed over, unopened, to Queen Bee Randi. We all waited in suspense, sipping our chai tea and lattes, as Randi slowly opened the envelope and drew out another smaller envelope and a calendar. We oohed and ahhhed over the beautiful quilt-laden calendar, even as we wondered what was in the other envelope. Finally, Randi opened it to reveal a card and a check for $100.00 from the Battle Born Chapter of the Nevada DAR. The Battle Born Chapter was formed in 2004 and is the state's first "working chapter," which adopted a one-hour, lunchtime meeting format to accommodate the busy schedules of working women. We sincerely thank Anita and her sister members for their generosity. Randi will bring a thank-you card to our next meeting for all of us to sign.

Angel Quilt

After the DAR presentation, we left Starbucks for the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center to deliver the quilt to Ann Proffitt, and it turned out that both the current and past managers of the Cancer Center were also available to receive the quilt. (I'm sorry, but I don't have their names, and I was not able to find them online.) They were thrilled and impressed to receive such a beautiful donation, and rather than being hung inside the resource center offices, the quilt will be hung in the main lobby of the Cancer Center. They said to give them a few days, and then we can stop by to see it. (Photos forthcoming next month, hopefully.) Although the quilt was made in honor of our sister bee Carol Gardner, the Cancer Resource Center has touched, and is touching, the lives of our friends and families, so delivering the quilt was a meaningful, moving experience for every one of us. We greatly missed Carol, Dawn, and Helen and wished they could have been there to make the presentation. Peggy will print out photos and send them to Carol.

Business Meeting

After delivering the angel quilt, we met in the lobby of the Cancer Center for a brief business meeting, during which we planned the Christmas party.

Christmas Party -- Tuesday, December 13 -- Hopefully at Helen's house, but Margie volunteered her home if Helen is still with Carol. Agenda for the meeting will consist of eating, laughing, Show and Tell, and the gift exchange, but no business meeting.

Menu -- A Soup and Salad Holiday

• Linda: Hot buttered cider and gingerbread
• Margie: Oatmeal biscuits
• Peggy: Salad
• Randi: Hamburger soup
• Tricia: Baked potato soup
• Dawn: Choice of salad or dessert
• Helen: NOTHING

We will do our usual gift exchange. Please bring a $10 wrapped gift. We will draw numbers and do a round-robin gift selection with each person either choosing a wrapped gift or "stealing" from another person. Gifts may change hands twice, meaning that once it has been taken a second time, that person gets to keep it. The gift may not be taken back immediately by the person from whom it was taken. Traditionally, gifts are somewhat related to quilting or sewing.

We also discussed the donation basket we need to provide as chapter members of the Nevada Quilt Guide. This year's theme will be a Spa Basket. We will take on that project in more detail next year. Members spent quite a bit of money on last year's basket, so Tricia suggested that we use our dues to pay for our annual chapter membership and for the basket because these are recurring expenses we know will come up every year. To be discussed more thoroughly later.

Show and Tell

After our business meeting, we adjourned to have lunch together, along with Linda's husband, at Mi Casa Too. Due to the nature of the November meeting, most of us were not prepared with Show and Tell. However, Margie was carrying hers, a beautiful purse she made from fabrics collected during the Shop Hop. Margie used the same pattern Randi started at the purse workshop, and seeing how well Margie's purse turned out inspired Randi to complete hers. Can we expect to see it at the January meeting?

January 2012 Meeting

Be prepared to discuss old and new goals. We will also begin brainstorming ideas for a donation quilt project and a "club" project we can all participate in. It was fun in years past to "reveal" our work to each other at the Christmas party. Do we want to continue that tradition?

October 2011 Meeting

The Bees met on October 18 at Helen's house. We dined sumptuously on Dawn's chili and Helen's delicious salad -- and for dessert, Peggy made her should-be-world-famous pumpkin pie, which we enjoyed with mounds of whipped cream later during the meeting.

Attending the meeting were Randi, Dawn, Peggy, Helen, Margie, and Tricia. We really missed Linda, who was in Kentucky with Molly, awaiting the birth of the grandbaby -- but we were not disappointed -- Molly's water broke during our meeting and Linda texted us that they were on their way to the hospital. Randi had predicted the birth to take place on October 20, two days away and also Randi's birthday, so it seemed as though the little tyke would come earlier than that. However, little Willa Rose held off and made her appearance on October 20, just as Randi predicted. We all look forward to hearing more from Linda at our next meeting.

***Next meeting: Tuesday, November 15 ***

Randi-main dish; Tricia-salad; Dawn-dessert; Margie-bread

Angel Quilt

The angel quilt is finished, and we discussed when/how to deliver it to the Cancer Resource Center with the hopes that Carol Gardner would be able to come. A firm day and time for the delivery has not yet been confirmed, so hopefully we'll be able to make that decision at the next meeting. Peggy is going to make a framed label to hang next to the quilt. We all agreed that the cancer colors do not need to be documented or displayed. (Click on the images for larger close-ups.)

Christmas Party

The Christmas party will be held on Tuesday, December 13. We will plan the details at the November meeting.

Treasurer's Report

Although not discussed at our meeting, Margie asked me to let everyone know that she is now accepting dues for 2012, so everyone who wants to pay in advance may do so at the November meeting (or later).

Yerington Quilt Show

Dawn put the Bees' "Mom's on the Run" quilt into this show. It is being held at the Jeanne Dini Center, 120 N. California Street, Yerington through December 17. Hours of operation are not known.

We have also been invited by Chris Hutton, president of the Nevada Quilt Guild (of which the Bees is a charter member), to the guild's General Meeting on Saturday, November 12, 2011, at the Jeanne Dini Center in Yerington. (Randi is planning to attend, and it would be fun if some of the other Bees could come, too.) After the meeting, the Yerington Theater Assoc. will be holding a special tea for the quilters and will then give a tour of their beautifully renovated building. They have done a wonderful job of displaying about fifty quilts from quilters in Northern Nevada.

Alzheimer's Study Project

Dawn brought information about making a quilt for this project. (She showed us the quilt she made at the September meeting.) Here are the specifications:

• 36 six-inch squares in a variety of colors and textures
• All fabrics should be durable and washable in hot water
• Assemble the quilt into 6 x 6 rows and columns (resulting in a square quilt)
• Stitch in the ditch to quilt (so as not to obliterate the textures with quilting)
• Bind or tie (although tying is probably not very durable)

Mail the quilt to Jeffree Itrich, Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, University of California San Diego, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite C-227, La Jolla, CA 92037. Ms. Itrich's email address is jitrich@ucsd.edu.

Show & Tell

Peggy took a quilting class from Paula Thompson at Fabrics Unlimited. Paula's free motion technique is free form without marking, something Peggy has never thought she could conquer. Well, the results were amazing, and Peggy is now a budding "art" quilter. She will be taking the advanced class from Paula in December. (Click on the image for a larger close-up of the quilting).

Helen made an adorable table topper from a panel. It really looks pieced, doesn't it?

Randi made a birthday party "big girl" quilt for her little Helen from a "Stars by Magic" quilt top. Although the quilt is gorgeous in its own right, the big deal about this quilt for Helen is the zebra Minkee backing, which Helen just adores. For some reason, we don't have a photo of it.

Randi has a great-nephew who was also having a birthday and who pointed out to her that she had never made a quilt for him. So, with only a few days before his party, Randi pulled together an amazing "Disappearing Nine Patch" in animal prints and backed it, too, with zebra Minkee. The little great-nephew was truly surprised and sagely told Randi that he had been wanting a quilt like that for years.

Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings

January: Discuss old and new goals. Brainstorm ideas for a charity project and a "club" project for the Bees.

February is "Heart" your scraps months. Bring ideas and patterns for using up all our scraps. Does anyone know someone who collects scraps. Some of the Bees might be happy to donate them. Dawn will demonstrate the "double diamonds" tool.

March is "Tools" month. Bring your favorite tool and describe how to use it. We might want to schedule future demos for the tools shared at this meeting.

The Adventures of Geraldine

Because of her work schedule, Dawn had to leave Jerome and Geraldine unattended for many long hours, and look what happened! Little Gigi has now joined our bee mascots' family. The family was sent home with Tricia, who, hopefully, will keep a closer eye on them.

September 2011 Meeting

Meeting was held on September 15, 2011 with Margie, Linda, Peggy, Randi, Helen, Tricia, and Dawn attending.

The Bees enjoyed a delicious dinner of stuffed zucchini made by Peggy and Tricia, Tennessee biscuits made by Peggy, a salad made by Linda, and a carrot cake made by Margie. It was a sumptuous and relatively healthy feast.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, October 18 ***

• Dawn: Main dish
• Helen: Salad
• Peggy: Dessert

DragonLord Followup

The first order of business was a trip report by the Bees who traveled to Kentucky to deliver the DragonLord quilts. Linda distributed certificates from the commanding officer of the brigade to each person who made a quilt for the project. Linda also passed out other "memory items," including newspaper clippings as well as thank you notes from some of the children. It was very touching to read the thank you notes. One of the little girls called Tricia her "angel" and included a drawing of an angel -- so sweet. Peggy distributed goody bags of items the Bees collected on their trip, the most notable being a T-shirt from the National Quilt Museum for each Bee. It was so thoughtful for the traveling Bees to think about their stay-behind sisters while they were enjoying Molly's southern hospitality.

Click to enlarge the image.

Angel Quilt

Randi called the DragonLord project the Bees' "grand opus," but it turns out to be one of two grand opi for this year. Linda presented the finished Angel Quilt, and it is absolutely stunning -- covered with quilting in the Jill Schumacher fashion. (Linda and Peggy started marking the quilt in June while on the quilting retreat with Jill Schumacher, and then Linda took on the task of doing all the quilting.) Peggy did the center embroidery and is in the process of making a label. The quilt should be completed in time for the October meeting. The Bees decided to donate the quilt to the Cancer Resource Center as a wall-hanging, so the label will mention that the quilt was made in honor of Carol Gardner, whose idea it was to make such a quilt. We discussed the idea of having a sign or plaque made to accompany the quilt. I think that Tricia was supposed to propose some wording, but she has completely forgotten what it's supposed to say, so that can be ongoing business for the October meeting.

Queen Bee Business

No one, not a single Bee, was willing to give up our one and only Queen Randi. However, we all acknowledged how much Randi does to keep our group going and vowed to be more helpful and supportive. Next year, we will take turns organizing demos and other items of interest for the meetings. For example, Tricia volunteered to demonstrate Stitch Witchery bindings, Peggy the Twister Tool, and Dawn something to do with table runners. We also need to take leadership of various projects; for example, next year, someone other than Randi should head up whatever service project we decide to take on. Peggy volunteered to compile an agenda for each meeting and send to Randi. Margie will remain treasurer for the Bees. Every single Bee thanks and greatly appreciates the efforts of Randi and Margie, as well as the efforts and participation of each and every one of us.

This was not part of the meeting notes, but I (Tricia) have made an observation that each year we tend to do three major things: 1) a service project, which this year was DragonLords; 2) a club project, which last year was placements; I'm not sure what it is for 2011; and 3) a workshop (this year was purses by Peggy and Tricia). Those seems like a great ideas to continue, and maybe near the beginning of each year, people could volunteer to be project leaders. It seems as though that would offload a lot from Randi and would keep the fun going! What do we think?

Show and Tell

Linda brought the quilt for Dan Kaffer made from Carson River Work Day T-shirts from 1995 through 2011. Linda is the one who was in charge of ordering the T-shirts, and she told us that when she knew she was going to make a quilt, she started ordering shirts in colors that would look good in the quilt.

As usual, Peggy had a busy quilting month. The pinwheel quilt was made with the Twister tool; it's backed with Minkee, and Peggy hopes it will be the "magic quilt" for her baby grandson who is due in January. She found the ruby slippers wallhanging pattern on the shop hop at Quilting Tahoe and just had to make it for her sister. (The embroidery on it says, "Sometimes I miss my sister."

Dawn was busy, too. She made a Route 66 quilt for one of her car club friends, and when her father saw it, he thought it was for him. Very cleverly, she was able to find some more fabric and make another similar quilt for her father -- he'll never know the difference. The quilt with the squares is a special quilt for an Alzheimer's project. It's made of fabrics with bright colors and lots of different textures.

Tricia has been very busy with the start of a new semester, so she is keeping herself happy with little projects. The table runner was made from a charm pack.

Randi's "I spy" quilt is fun and cheerful! Randi also found an adorable baby doll Bee, which she purchased for Linda's daughter Molly. It will be sent to her as a replacement for Jerome and Geraldine, those wayward traveling Bees she's sure to be missing!

August 2011 Meeting

This month, we met at Randi's house on August 9 for a "packing party" of the quilts that will travel to the Dragonlord children in Fort Campbell Kentucky. Randi had all the quilts sorted alphabetically and stacked on her couch in the living room. It was quite a sight!

We set up an assembly line and began packing the quilts. First, both the quilt and the label were photographed and the name of the child was logged on a "packing list" for each suitcase. Then the quilt was folded and packed. As each suitcase was filled, it was weighed, with most of the suitcases weighing in at around 35-40 lbs.

Some of the quilts needed to mailed because the recipients were not living on base. Those quilts were boxed and labeled. Thanks to Randi's amazing record keeping, the entire process only took a couple of hours. During that time, a reporter, Betty Aleck from the Leader-Courier, came to interview us about the project. She asked each of us what we got out of the project. Some Bees said they gained empathy for the children; others said they felt more involved with the military and the sacrifices they make for our country; one Bee said she felt as though this project was a bit of atonement for the behavior of our generation during the Vietnam war when soldiers were treated so disrespectfully. It was an eye-opener to reflect and discover that we are all probably getting back more than we gave as a result of this project.

After packing was complete, with all the quilts fitting into seven suitcases, we went out for a celebratory dinner at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Fernley. The food was great and we briefly discussed a few items of Bees' business.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, September 20 at Helen's house ***

Food: Tricia will bring a main dish; Linda will bring a salad; Margie will bring dessert.

Business: At that meeting, Randi would like to discuss the possibility of rotating the responsibility of "Queen Bee." We also need to figure out how to identify the various angels on the cancer quilt.

Trip to Kentucky

Linda, Peggy, and Helen left on August 17 to deliver the quilts. (Unfortunately, at the last minute, Randi was not able to make the trip due to an illness in the family. ) A full report with lots of photos will be forthcoming when they return.

July 2011 Meeting

We met at Helen's house and shared a delicious dinner of Helen's taco salad, Linda's stuffed jalapenos, and Randi's strawberry shortcake with homemade biscuits. Yum! Former member Rachael (Linda's daughter) also joined us for this meeting. She is visiting with her children from Washington.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be a "packing party" at Randi's house. Note the change in day and time as well.

• Tuesday, August 9 at 4:00 PM at Randi's

As discussed at the meeting, please bring your LARGE suitcases -- at least 26 inches. Here is the suitcase count from the meeting: Margie - 2, Rachael - 2, Linda - 1, Helen -2, Peggy - 1, Randi - 1. That should be enough, but there was uncertainty about whether some of the suitcases would be big enough, so extra large suitcases would be welcome in case they are needed.

After the hard work of packing up all the quilts, the Bees will treat themselves to going out to dinner.

DragonLord Business

Final Count: 73 military children will receive quilts made with love by quilters from across Northern Nevada. Randi has been collecting the quilts, and her house is overflowing. Although a lot of work, this project has been a privilege and a blessing, and we learned many things from the experience. Although Randi is the first one to say she didn't know what she was getting us into, all of us are proud of this major accomplishment and are particularly grateful to Randi for her unflagging leadership and for our wonderful group of Bees who are giving our all to finishing up the project.

Here are just a few of the quilts that will be donated to the DragonLord children.

Quilt Packing and Delivery: As mentioned in the "Next Meeting" section of this month's blog, the quilts will be packed into large suitcases and hand-carried to Nashville by Randi, Linda, Peggy, and Helen where they will be distributed to the children. Southwest Airlines has generously donated four round-trip tickets, and their free, two-suitcase baggage policy is making the trip possible. The journey will begin on August 17 and last through August 22. Linda's daughter Molly, who has been an integral part of the project, will be opening her home to the quilters and has planned some fabulous activities for the quilters to experience Nashville and the surrounding area during their trip.

Purse Workshop

Here are the cute "mini-messenger bags" made by some of the Bees at the June purse workshop. This pattern can be easily made in less than a day. It has lots of pockets and ends up being a very practical as well as attractive purse. The strap hardware gives this bag a particularly professional, finished look. More purses to come next month!