Our Quilting Guild turned 20 years old on May 9th

Yesterday, our Quilting Guild turned 20 years old.  We had one Founding member and four Charter members in attendance.  Our current Officers organized quite a celebration.  I had the pleasure to create a 36" x 48" Tri-Fold foam display board for showing pictures of our founding members and the history of how our Guild began.  I loved searching through all my pictures and choosing the ones that I liked best.
Mildred Locke, the Founder of  TVQA was the one who encouraged us to start our guild.  Our first meeting was held on May 13th, 1995 and we formed our guild with 27 Charter members.

I found pictures of our first Birthday party, held on May 11th, 1996.  On that day, Lolita, one of our Charter members gave a Trunk Show of many of her quilts.  That was a grand celebration with 24 members present.

Pictures were also found of our 1st Brown Bag Challenge held in 1996.  Several members in attendance yesterday, found pictures of their wall hangings where other guild members had added fabrics and design details to their quilts. 

Yesterday, the Founding member and four Charter members were given sparkly crowns to wear, along with glittered sashes. What a happy sight we were!  We each received a gift bag of  "32" Moda fat quarters, donated by Old South Fabrics.  You can check out Wanda's website at:  Old South Fabrics.com
The fabrics I received were Moda's Crazy for Red by Minick & Simpson, which were red & cream & tan. 
We also played "Quilto" with prizes for each game won.  Before "Show & Tell", we shared a Potluck Lunch.  What a wonderful day!  

Design Wall Monday

Finished QOV this afternoon and Presentation Case was finished this evening.

Long Arm Quilting by Wanda Chaumont in Kinder, LA

Back of Quilt of Valor

Presentation Case

Will try to write more tomorrow but wanted to get pictures posted.  Jump over to Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com to see what other quilters have been doing this past week.

I Spy 80 Fabrics

Just finished sewing 80 different fabric blocks together for an "I Spy" quilt.  The blocks finish at 5" for a quilt
measuring 40" x 50".  It was fun to add a few tags for extra interest.  Some are cotton and some are fleece.  This will be for Project Linus, since our semi-annual Linus day is coming up in mid May.  Just need to get it sandwiched and machine quilted.  As I was saving this picture, I noticed that I made an "I Spy" quilt top exactly one year ago this month and named it, "I Spy 80 Blocks".

Design Wall Monday

Last week, I started on a Quilt of Valor.  I have enjoyed making the Carpenter's Star before and thought I'd make another one.  Only one red strip will be sewn on each side even though I have 2 hanging on the sides.
The border at the very top would have looked nice but I calculated incorrectly and I don't have enough of the red,white & blue tiny star fabric to make (24) HST.  (I was thinking I only needed 16 HST)

QOV Carpenter Star 2015

Last Friday, a few of us from our weekly sewing group ventured out to the country to sandwich some Project Linus tops   After lunch, we walked over to the barn to see the baby goats.  They are adorable.
Here are the best pictures.  Not all the goats stood still for very long...

What a Sweetie

Shirley is my favorite

Here are some of the Mamas and their kids

                                                                 
Jump over to Judy's at Patchwork Times.com  to see what is happening around the country

Design Wall Monday

Rhyme Time Panel Book Pages

Discovered a fabric book panel in my stash and decided to cut into squares for a little baby quilt.  Jennifer, worked in the university's Business Office, first as a student worker and then as a graduate assistant.  We have kept in touch through the years.
I surprised her with a photo wedding quilt, using pictures from "her Blog".  Her first baby boy received a special quilt with his name pieced into the quilt, so it is my plan to make a surprise quilt for her 2nd little baby boy.
I don't believe she has time to be reading my Blog, so I think it is safe to post this information and still have the quilt be a surprise.  I hope to find a bright blue or navy fabric to use as strips between the blocks and his name, Noah, included at the top of the quilt, like his brother's quilt has.

Check out the designs of others this week, over at Judy's blog at:  Patchwork Times.com

Design Wall Monday

Last Saturday, the 4th, I managed to sort some scraps, pack them into a large plastic container and clear away "one" nice spot to walk around in my sewing room.  This was a wonderful accomplishment!

For the last few Tuesdays, our weekly sewing group have been cutting 3" strips for 1,600 quilts.  However, for me that did not work out as well as I had expected.  The times I sewed together the 2 1/2" strips, the quilts were a nice size with the strips going across the quilt.  My quilt with the 3" strips came out with an odd look with the strips going up & down, narrow and super long (39" x 72").  So, I decided to cut the quilt top in half and add borders.  Here is what I have so far......

The border at the top has 3" squares with 1" strips in between.  There will be an additional border at the top and the squares and border at the bottom.  The sides are complete with just one border, so the backing does not need to be pieced.  Watch for the 2nd quilt in a few weeks.... 

On Saturday, I received a Quilt of Valor back from the long arm quilter in Chattanooga.  I got busy and made the binding and then last night, I was able to hand stitch the binding down one side of the quilt.  I don't want to linger, since there is another QOV in Louisiana being quilted, which will be arriving soon.

Check out what our quilters are creating this week by stopping by Patchwork Times.com

Design Wall Monday

This morning was delightful-sunny and the birds were singing.  The grass appeared to turn green overnight and the trees are blooming.  Spring arrived today not last Friday, the 20th!  Saturday, I cut out more tumblers on my AccuQuilt with flowers and cats.  So far, I just have it up on the Design Wall, ready for sewing.  The goal would be to have it sewn by tomorrow but not sure if I can do it.

Tumbler Blocks March 2015

Look and see what other quilters have designed this week at: Patchwork Times.com