July 2013 Meeting

Everyone was present and accounted for at the July meeting! With vacations and various family obligations, it had been months since we'd all been able to attend, so it was great to get to catch up and all be together again. We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner of chicken salad sandwiches, which Margie re-created from a dish served at a favorite restaurant, and Linda brought a tasty and healthy kale salad to go with them. Later during the meeting, we enjoyed key lime pie ice cream sandwiches from Randi -- yum! That was a surprise taste to bite into.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, August 27 at Helen's ***

Food has not yet been decided.

Meeting

Again, we didn't have business to discuss, so instead we celebrated Linda's induction into Medicare. She showed us her card and ran us through the process of signing up online. That reminded Tricia of how excited she was to get a lifetime senior pass to the National Parks for only $10.00 on her recent trip to Yellowstone. So many benefits to being a senior citizen -- sigh...

 

Then, to continue the festive spirit, and maybe just to be silly, Linda shared with us a hilarious game for which she had brought the necessary equipment, consisting of toilet paper rolls and toilet plungers. Let's just say it would be hard to describe, but here is a video of some people (thankfully not the Bees) playing the game.

We adjourned to a park across the street from Helen's house and gave it a go (except for the party poopers Dawn and Ellie). We didn't draw a crowd, but we noticed a few passers-by surreptitiously edge closer to see what we were doing. That gave us a good laugh, and we even got a little exercise. By common agreement, no photos of that activity will be posted. 

Show & Tell

Peggy made trick-or-treat bags for her grandchildren. 

Randi's Helen made a very cute tote bag from the quilted bedspread samples we received last year. We all agreed that was an exceedingly creative and clever way to use the samples. Randi asked if anyone had more of the samples in that particular design, and no one knew for sure. Tricia later discovered that she has some and will try very hard to remember to bring them to the next meeting. 

Linda finished a quilt she started five years ago for the mother of a 16-year old boy named Drew who was killed in a car crash. The quilt is made entirely of the young man's T-shirts, which clearly portray a picture of his life and interests. What a brave and compassionate project for Linda to take on. Although the pain of such a tragedy will never go away, we all hope that with the of passing of time, this quilt will be a comfort to the young man's mother.

June 2013 Meeting

The meeting was held on June 25 at Helen's house with Ellie, Helen, Rita, Randi, Linda, Tricia, Peggy, and Margie attended the meeting. Helen and Ellie made scrumptious tostadas, and Randi brought a fruit salad that everyone raved about. It turns out that her secret ingredient is a little bit of cinnamon, which really brings out the fruit flavors and, surprisingly, goes particularly well with watermelon. Who knew!?

Next meeting: July 23 at Helen's. Margie will bring chicken salad sandwiches, which are a re-creation from a favorite restaurant (sorry, I don't have the name or location of the restaurant, but I think it's a place she visited on vacation). Linda will bring a salad and Randi will bring dessert.

Meeting

We really didn't have any business to discuss, but Rita mentioned that Donna Greenwald, a well known art quilter, is starting an Art Quilt Club at Fabric Chicks. I checked on Fabric Chicks' website and didn't find any information, but hopefully Rita will keep us updated.

This is a quiet year with every Bee just doing her own thing. Just a reminder that our only "goal" is to finish up our memory box quilts from last year and bring them to the Christmas party meeting in December.

Show & Tell

Peggy's quilt, called "Go Bloom," was accepted into the American Quilters Society's quilt challenge. It will start in Paducah, Kentucky and then travel to shows throughout the country for a year.

Peggy showed her "cruise quilt," which was designed by one of the McCall's magazine staff as a special project for the cruising quilters. It is certainly colorful and evokes memories of Caribbean. Great job, Peggy, in finishing up that project in such a timely manner.

Instead of attending this year's sewing expo and adding more fabric to her stash, Peggy pulled out a collection she purchased at an expo several years ago and made a log cabin throw for her couch. This was Peggy's first log cabin project, and she had a great time arranging the blocks to form a pleasing design.

 

Rita finished her sweatshirt jacket and got buttons for it at the sewing expo in Reno. She is having a hard time deciding which button to use and how to do the closure. Of course the Bees all had great ideas to share with her. She also finished a wall hanging for one of her friends. It quotes a Bible passage from Jeremiah, who is known as the "weeping prophet."

 

Linda finished baby quilts for boy and girl twins. What a great idea!

Randi completed the quilting and binding of a quilt top made by her granddaughter Zoe. Surprise, surprise -- this is another project made from those infamous 6-inch squares. Zoe designed and made the quilt top herself when she was 10 years old; she is now 13. That just goes to show that we quilters don't really forget about our projects, we just get sidetracked.