April 2014 Meeting

We met at Helen's house on Tuesday, April 22, with Peggy, Helen, Linda, Margie, Dawn, and Tricia attending. We missed Randi, Rita, and Ellie. Peggy brought delicious chili, which was accompanied by Dawn's gluten-free bread and a salad made by Helen. Margie brought an assortment of ice cream, sherbet, and sorbet, which were enjoyed later in the meeting.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, May 27 at Helen's house ***

Rita - main dish;  Linda - salad;  Margie - bread;  Helen - dessert

Queen Bee:  Tricia

Business Meeting

Linda was the Queen Bee for April, so she chaired the meeting. We discussed the Carson Valley Quilt show, which will be held on June 7-8 at Carson High School as well as the Sewing and Craft Expo at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno on June 12-14. Both events are shown on our Bees' calendar along with some additional information about times and links to their websites.

We mostly discussed the quilts for Mackenzie. Helen made a quilt top from 15-inch trellis blocks as an example of a square that showcases large prints.

We didn't make a firm decision on when/how/who would purchase fabric, but left with a resolve to search stores and websites for rose fabrics, possibly in purples or reds.

Later in the meeting, after Show & Tell, Linda shared an idea for organizing scraps by color from a book called Sunday Morning Quilts. She showed us how she has started putting the idea to use in her own sewing room with baskets overflowing with colorful scraps. Linda had a shelf mounted over the window in her sewing room to store the baskets for easy access. Best of all were the tags she made from the fabrics that provide a "visual" of what is in each basket. Many of the Bees agreed they would use more scraps if they were sorted and easily accessible.

Show & Tell

Dawn made a Linus quilt from fabric she got in a children's fabric exchange. Randi finished a UFO baby quilt made with "Stars by Magic" blocks.

Helen showed a "golden anniversary" quilt top she made while working at Joann's, which she gave to Linda. That gives Linda plenty of time -- five years -- to finish it for her 50th anniversary

March 2014 Meeting

We met on Tuesday, March 25 at Helen's house with Margie, Dawn, Helen, Linda, Tricia, Randi, and Peggy attending. Dinner was a scrumptious Tuscan soup made by Linda, salad from Randi, and lacy cookies (Trader Joe's) from Tricia.

Next meeting

*** Tuesday, April 22 at Helen's ***

Peggy, main dish;  Helen, salad;  Margie, bread;  Randi, dessert

Queen Bee: Linda 

Business Meeting

Dawn was the Queen Bee for March, so she chaired the meeting. She did a demonstration of "blendable curves" (from a book of the same name), and everyone took a turn cutting and sewing a curve. It was actually much easier than it looked both to cut and piece the curves, and each block ends up looking just a little bit different.

We discussed further the idea of making a quilt for Mackenzie, the girl Linda knows who has cystic fibrosis. Linda read from Mackenzie's Facebook page so we could get to know her better. She is clearly a young woman who has goals and dreams, and we hope and pray she will be able to fulfill them. 

We decided to make two quilts -- one for donation and one for Mackenzie. Linda said that Mackenzie is particularly fond of animal prints and purple, so we will keep that in mind for her personal quilt. Margie was looking up colors for cystic fibrosis on her phone and stumbled across an article about "65 roses"; it's a story about how a little boy thought that was the name of the disease when he heard his mother talking about it. The name "65 roses" has become synonymous with cystic fibrosis, so we decided to incorporate fabric with a rose pattern into the donation quilt. Helen presented an idea for a block that would showcase a large print, and she will make some samples to show us next month. Everyone else, please also think about ideas for both quilts. 

We discussed some ideas for other donation projects we could do individually and Dawn distributed instructions for the Alzheimer's quilt. Other members are always welcome to bring ideas for donation projects. 

We decided that a quilt show would be too much work and could end up being expensive, so we discussed the idea of having a trunk show instead. Peggy will look into the possibility of have a trunk show for the residents of Sierra Place, the assisted living facility where her mother lives. She will report back at the next meeting. 

We discussed the date of the next Shop Hop, which will be September 4-7. Tricia will add the dates to the Bee's calendar, which can be viewed by clicking the Calendar tab at the top of the blog page. Tricia tries to keep that calendar updated with local events. Please be sure to let Tricia know if there is a quilting activity of interest to place on the calendar.

Show & Tell

Linda finished a baby quilt for a little girl who is now one year old. She also made a surprise quilt for Dawn's grandson, Owen. The squares are from Owen's baby shower and were drawn onto fabric from color book pictures.

One of Peggy's friends, whose mother recently passed away, asked Peggy to make "memory bears" from her mother's PJs and nighties. Peggy's friend plans to give the bears to her family as keepsakes.

Helen finished six quilts: a baby quilt for her daughter's friend and five quilts to donate.