August 2012 Meeting

We met at Helen's house on Tuesday, August 21 with Ellie, Peggy, Helen, Randi, Rita, Margie, and Tricia attending. We missed Linda and Dawn but hope they had a good time visiting their families. Dinner was a delicious deep-dish quiche made by Helen and a broccoli salad made by Rita. Ellie brought ice cream Drumsticks for dessert, which were perfect for a hot summer night.

 *** Next Meeting, Tuesday, September 18 at Helen's ***

Food: Linda and Dawn volunteered to bring all food; however, Margie would like to make dessert because it's her birthday.

Business Meeting

Although the minutes are short, we had a lively and very fun meeting. We decided that the reason we don't have a lot to discuss is because we have been so efficient this year at taking care of business. We are now just carrying out our plans with very little fuss and bother. Yay, Bees!

Sweatshirts: At the last meeting, we decided that everyone would get her own sweatshirt(s) rather than asking Rita to take on the task of ordering for everyone. However, after we found out that good quality sweatshirts cost around $25, Rita again volunteered to place an order. Much of our meeting was then devoted to picking colors and sizes, which was accomplished throughout the course of the meeting. At this time, Rita has everyone's order and I believe has also been paid for all the sweatshirts. Please contact one another directly for questions about order status and payment.  

Box Quilts: We showed our blocks and exchanged boxes with very little fuss and bother this month. We all scratched our heads at how difficult it had been the month before making sure everyone got a box she had not yet made a block for. Absentee members can use their imaginations to wonder about that discussion :)

At this point, everyone should have three more blocks to make, including the block for September. We discussed the idea of continuing the rotation of boxes until each quilter has 12 blocks, but didn't make a decision. We will discuss more later when everyone is present. 

Donation Quilts: We decided that the best course of action for the domestic violence quilts is to plan to bring them to the October meeting. Then, if a representative from the shelter is available to come to the meeting, she can take the quilts with her. If not, then Dawn or Margie can make arrangements to deliver the quilts. 

Bees' Logo: Margie brought up the idea of using our Bees' logo on clothing or tote bags. Peggy took on the task of seeing whether she could digitize the logo for machine embroidery, and she is working on that now and will report back at the September meeting. We will also discuss further possibilities, such as screen printing, with Rita.  

Show & Tell

There was not a lot of Show & Tell this month with everyone busy, busy, busy during the summer. 

Randi, however, completed two projects -- her purse from last year's workshop, and she made more placements for the challenge project from a couple of years ago. Not pictured here, although Randi shared a photo, are the messenger bags she made for a Girl Scout outing. 

Peggy made a very cute table runner/wall hanging using the cutwork tool on her Bernina. That tool cuts out little applique pieces and then also somehow saves the pattern for stitching. Very high tech! 

She also showed the Great Jelly Roll Race quilt she made at a class at the Quilt House. That technique involves sewing together all strips from a jelly roll end-to-end on the bias. Then, that very, very long strip is cut in half and sewn with long sides together. That process is repeated about four or five times to form a quilt top. This is a fun and easy way to make a quilt top in only a few hours. The technique can be used with any strips -- does not have to a jelly roll. Before cutting the original very long strip in half, cut 18 inches off of one end to make sure the bias seems are offset from one another.