February 2016 Meeting

For the first time in many months, all Bees were able to attend our February meeting at Helen's house. Dinner consisted of savory spaghetti sauce served over spiral-cut zucchini "pasta" brought by Peggy. Everyone agreed the zucchini was a delicious pasta alternative, and Rita brought a beautiful fresh salad to accompany it.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, March 29 at 5:30 PM ***

(Note that this is the last Tuesday of the month)

Queen Bee: Dawn

Food: Margie - salad;  Randi - main;  Helen - dessert

Business Meeting

Tricia was Queen Bee for this meeting. We began with Linda showing us a "fidget quilt" she made for her step-mother who has dementia. It is similar to the Alzheimer's lap quilts made by Dawn a few years ago. The quilt contains fabrics of many interesting textures to fidget with. The conversation evolved to discussing donation quilts, and it was brought up that it has been awhile since the Bees as a group participated in any of those projects. Margie then brought up the issue of dues, which we had been paying when were members of the Nevada Quilt Guild and that she is still holding for the Bees. We decided we would use that money to buy fabric for fidget quilts and then be reimbursed from our dues at the next meeting. Rather than have a workshop, each Bee will make her own quilt, to be completed by the May meeting. We will then decide where and how to donate the quilts.

Show & Tell

Here is Linda's fidget quilt.

Peggy showed an adorable fishy quilt that she made for a friend's newest grandchild. Look at that beautiful and creative quilting!

Tricia made yet another purse.

Randi brought a crocheted bedspread that she made many years ago. The picture doesn't come close to doing it justice. It's truly an heirloom quality masterpiece. (And look at Randi's halo!)

Dawn shared a patriotic quilt she made for her brother who is a Vietnam vet. The quilting doesn't show in the picture, but again, Dawn's skill at free-hand, free-motion quilting is impressive!

Tools Sharing

As Queen Bee, Tricia asked the Bees to bring some of their favorite quilting and sewing tools to share, and we came up with quite an interesting collection.

Linda showed us a pincushion that she marked up with sections for used lightly used sewing machine needles, making it easy to find the right size to use later.

Peggy showed a little tool for finger pressing, which she uses all the time. In fact, Peggy seldom irons seams anymore while piecing.

Helen showed a tool for cleaning the bobbin area of a sewing machine that looked like a little toilet brush. It's actually a pipe cleaner with a fluffy, brush-like end. She also showed us an Easy Half Square Triangle Template from Sewing with Nancy. (I know Helen is a Thangles fan; I wonder if she likes this template even better.)

Randi recommends the Add 1/4 and Add 1/8 rulers, and she is also a big fan of Mary Ellen's Best Press.

Margie likes the little clipper scissors that look like a hedge clipper, and Tricia is very fond of her magnifying glass that helps her to read the writing on gently used needles. (Tricia isn't as organized as Linda about storing them.)

January 2016 Meeting

Finally, after a long break, the Bees met again at Helen's house with everyone but Dawn attending. Dinner consisted of two delicious salads -- a chicken Caesar from Peggy and a gorgonzola/cranberry salad from Margie. Helen made a fabulous pasta fagioli soup, and both the soup and Margie's salad have been added to the Recipes section of our blog.

Business Meeting

Linda was Queen Bee for this meeting. We really didn't have any business to discuss, but after Linda showed us the T-shirt rug she is making (see Show & Tell, below), we spent some time talking about crafts we used to enjoy as children. We reminisced about woven potholders, and someone (Linda, I think) said that those looms and kits are still available on Amazon. We also talked about the various types of yarn-crafts and crocheted rugs, afghans, and clothing we used make, including granny squares, daisy looms, and hairpin lace. Tricia said she tried to crochet a baby blanket a few years ago but couldn't get past the row of chaining. She would like to relearn how to do it.

Idea: Maybe a Bee who still crochets could hold a mini-workshop.

Demonstration

I think it was Helen who introduced us to the Star Serendipity quilt she was working on. This is an interesting pattern that creates a main quilt and then a secondary "serendipity" quilt from the scraps cut from the blocks of the main quilt. Helen showed us some squares and tried to describe the process to us, but some of us (who are spatially challenged) were having trouble picturing it. YouTube to the rescue! We were able to watch a video on Peggy's phone, and here is a link to the Missouri Star Quilt Company's Serendipity Quilt video, and here is a link to printable instructions.

Here is a picture of the main quilt and the secondary "serendipity" quilt.

 

Show & Tell

Linda showed us a T-shirt rug she is crocheting. I think the Bees offered to bring her old T-shirts. Please confirm, Linda, if you would like us to do that.

Peggy showed the quilt top of a mystery quilt she just finished. (Now it goes into the queue for quilting.) This is the end product of a Queen Bee demo she did quite a few months ago on a product called Triangulations. (You can look that up in the blog index if you're interested.)

Tricia made a quilt for her daughter's birthday. This is the same pattern as the first quilt Tricia ever made about 15 years ago, a Christmas quilt, which she gave to her daughter. It has been used a lot over the years and is now threadbare and torn. Her daughter requested a replacement, and Tricia was happy to oblige.

Randi showed a quilt made by one of her Girl Scouts named Heaven, who pieced the quilt top. It was then quilted by Randi.

December 2015

We were never able to come up with a date for a holiday get-together, so we didn't have a December meeting.

November 2015 Meeting

With our meeting place temporarily unavailable, the Bees didn't meet during September and October, so Queen Bee Rita arranged for us to meet for dinner at the Ole Restaurant at Gold Dust West. It was a cold, stormy, and icy night that evening, so only the more local Bees, Margie, Helen, Peggy, Tricia, and Rita, were able to make it. We enjoyed excellent service and surprisingly good Mexican food, which along with some wine and margaritas, made for a very jolly time.

I didn't take notes, so I don't remember much of the conversation. I know we discussed planning an after Christmas holiday party for late December or early January.

Show & Tell

Margie brought a quilt she made for the 3-year old child of her good friend in Oregon.

September & October 2015

No meetings.

August 2015 Meeting

The Bees met at Helen's house on August 25. Dinner was a fabulous Mediterranean chicken brought by Tricia (Peggy's recipe), couscous, and a multicolored salad from Randi. Linda brought brownie bites for dessert. We missed Dawn, but all other Bees were present.

We didn't have much business to discuss, but Randi brought a ruler called the Easy Circle Cut Ruler from Sharon Hultgren, and she gave us a quick demo. This is the ruler she used to make the hexi quilt she showed us last month, and it's available at JoAnn's.

Show & Tell

Randi showed a picture she received from a friend named Stevi Kittleson, who lives rather primitively (as I recall Randi's story) on Hornby Island in British Columbia and who makes her artwork from photos she takes of recycled junk. She has a website called Junkyard Byrds, where you can see a lot more of her work. This picture of a bee is completely fascinating, and we spent quite a bit of time passing it around and examining it, trying to decide what all it was made from.

Randi also shared a quilt she made for some friends from Girl Scouts.

Peggy showed a fabulous quilt she made from a Ricky Tims design. It is called Lady of Shallot. 

Rita showed some woodblock prints with quilting. 

Helen made a purse and a puzzle quilt she's been wanting to make ever since she worked at Sierra Sewing.