Newsletter Changes Are Coming

Ladies - doing the blog and the newsletter is my pleasure, but it takes time, and I'd rather be quilting.  So until someone volunteers to take over the newsletter, I am submitting to you the pertinent info found in the newsletter in spots around the blog.  Need to know when a Friendship group meets?  Check the left sidebar.  Is it your month to bring goodies?  Check the left sidebar.  What date is the next meeting?  Check the monthly calendar under the Dates/Doings tab. Need to know and plan for the next sew day - check the yearly calendar at Dates/Doings also.  Want to know the latest BOM?  Check out the tab that use to be Newsletter and is now BOM, Etc.

This is not a unilateral decision - we would like to have your ideas at the December meeting.  Your input is important!

You can also leave a comment on this post.  Please let me know what other parts of the newsletter you'd like to see on the blog or how you feel we could handle this.

Thank you,
A Nudge, webmistress & newsletter editor for now.

As Requested

Here is the link to our post that has the video for the crocheted fleece blankets.
http://raincrossquiltguild.blogspot.com/2011/01/making-fleece-blankets-with-crochet.html

Members: Who Has a Blog?

If you do, send in your URL and I'll post it.  We like to know what you're up to.

Member long arm quilters - this is a good way to let potential customers know what your work is like.

And we love eye-candy!

November Newsletter

Joan W won the Oct Mystery Box Congratulations, Joan!



is a bit late as I was in Houston.  I actually had it ready to post while I was away, however I forgot to upload it to google docs and so couldn't do it from my cousin's house.  Mea culpa.  And guess who I saw there - another RQG member, Karen Hundley and former member Elaine.  They were on their way to a class so didn't take a photo, darn.  If you'd like to see some of the gorgeous quilts that we saw there, go to http://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/2011/11/quilts-otherwise-known-as-eye-candy.html   Follow the instructions in the post.  Enjoy.

Oh yes, the newsletter is now up. 

See you next tuesday for the meeting!

Here's the Raffle Quilt!

Here's the raffle quilt!  Tickets are only available at Goeske.  See previous post for details.

Free Online Mag

Although a lot of the advertisers are Australian - (it's from Australia!), it still has some very nice free projects, block instructions, and contributions from quilters from around the world.  Wonderful article about free motion quilting in the latest one. Give it  a look see:

Click on the photo to go to the website to sign up for it.

And the Winners are:

We saw and voted on the two-color challenge last night.  I wished I had had tickets to vote on all of them.  They were great!  Here are the winners:

In first place:  Andie Babbe

In second place:  Deanna Baldwin and Angie Nudge

In Third Place:  Debi Gneckow

They were all wonderful.   More pictures to follow.

Member News 10/19/11

As most of you know, Alice took a fall coming to the meeting.  911 was called and both the Rescue Squad and an ambulance came.  Debbie Warner was helping till they arrived.  Debbie said to Alice:  "Well, one thing about this is you get to have all these young, handsome, firefighters here for you."  So when they asked her how old she was, Alice promptly said  "16".   That's our Alice!    BTW:  she spent about 3 hours at the emergency room, and then they gave her the okay to go home.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for her!

It was good to see two members back after health related issues.  Christie Fowler and Christine Sharp were there last night.  Christie was walking a little gingerly after her back surgery.  Christine was there with the neatest hairband.  She is half way through her chemo and feeling great!  It was great to see you both again with us.

On a sad note, Linda Hicks lost her son in an airplane accident.  Linda, we send you quilty hugs for you and your family and also our deepest sympathy on your loss.

We've got Pictures!

Chris Kerns, one of the hostesses for this year's sewing room tour, has sent us some photos of the fun day!  Thank you for sharing thses with us, Chris.  Now we who weren't able to attend this event can see what we missed.  Click here to go see the album.

Sew Day Fun!

Here are some photos of a fun day.  Look forward to seeing them at the next meeting!
Jeri's sample

Another sample:

Works in progress:

October Newsletter is Up!

Have a look.  Click on the Common Thread in the tab marked newsletter at the top of the home page.

BTW:  the BOM to turn in at the October meeting is the one in the September issue.  The one in the October issue will be turned in at the November meeting - This is for all the new members.

Sewing Room Tour Here Soon!

Don't miss the sewing room tour, Oct 8th.  Five houses are scheduled for this fun activity.  Members are free, guests are $5.00.  Please let a board member know if you are bringing a guest so we can plan for them.

Meet Oct 8th in Sears back parking lot at 8:15am.  We will be caravaning.  Lots of fun!  PS the  shelves on the left aren't in any of the presentor's rooms - just showing a stuffed shelf.

It's Not too late to Make your Blocks!

for the Block of the Month - Fallen Dishes and the great table topper we are going to make at the Sew Day is in the August Newsletter.  Don't miss out!  Winners of the drawing will get a free completer kit.  Remember it takes only one block and one extra light square to win.  Meeting next tuesday, Sept 20th.  See you then.

September Newsletter is Posted

If you missed the August newsletter, you can find it under previous issues.  Click on August 2011 to go to it.

Dog Pillows - Cat Quilts - Charity Quilts



http://www.etsy.com/listing/19696309/custom-black-toile-pet-dog-cat-bed-crate

 Ginger's Quilt Shoppe has generously supplied space in their shop. Their patrons have been saving and bringing in fabric scraps and batting scraps for us to use in our charity projects. I have bags and bags of scraps and batting pieces, and no time to do anything with them. What I usually do is sort them out, keeping the pieces big enough to use in charity quilts aside, and cutting up the smaller pieces for dog quilts. If you are interested in taking some of these bags off my hands and processing them, please contact me.  My number is in the guild directory. I will be happy to deliver them to you, or I can bring them to guild. If I am unable to get volunteers to help with this,  I will have to tell Ginger to stop collecting for us. Thank you for your time, Karen Dunivent.

August Newsletter is Up!

It has the instructions for making the Fallen Dishes blocks to be turned in at the September meeting.

It's Pincushion Sew Day!

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=46368.0

Won't you join us?!  We're meeting at Goeske on Saturday, Aug 20th  from 9-4pm.   Bring your supplies, a potluck luncheon contribution (something for the salad), your sewing machine if you decide to do one of the pincushions that requires sewing.  Didn't get a supply list?   Go here to obtain one.  If you missed the day and want to make the donut pincushion, click on the link below the photo to go to a tutorial.  Have fun!

Meeting Tomorrow! August 16th.

Don't forget your items for the Annual Member Yardsale, a bit of change for your customers, goodies if it's your month, your BOM blocks, your show n share.   See you there!

What your quilt could look like:

Here's Debi's quilt using the BOM block for August!  Make a couple and you could win blocks toward a scrappy quilt of your own!

Armchair Travel with

Dana - go to her website,  http://danddadventures.blogspot.com/  to see what she and Dan are up to.  Great pictures.

From our Challenge Queen, Christine!

The second challenge for this year has begun, and it is a two color quilt.  Start now and bring your finished quilt top to the October meeting.

A two color quilt can have just two fabrics, but it does not need to.  You may use many different fabrics, but you are limited to just two colors, i.e. reds and white, blues & greens, purples and yellows.  Use your imagination.  I know it is often difficult to find prints with just the two colors.  Many will have a little bit of a third color, and I'm fine with that.  It's your quilt and you have to love it.  As long as the quilt as a whole reads as two colors, we're flexible. 

Please make the quilt a minimum of 36" X 36" and as large as you like. The pattern is your choice.  Have fun!

Click on the photo to see where it's from.

From a past member:

Hello,  friends and family.  I just wanted you to know I think of you often and wanted to share with you all just a bit of what I have been doing this last year. So if you have the time and are interested, go to
http://quiltersplayhouse.blogspot.com/ and see what this gal has been up to.  Take care my friends..
I would love to hear from you.
 Psalm27:14
 Judith :~)

Bom for August

is brought to us by BOM Queen, Debi Gneckow.  

You can find  this Really Spilt Nine Patch

 at Marcia Hohn’s website The Quilter’s

Cache.  Here is the link for the block:
Note:  Make your squares 5" in first cut and true up to  assure you of the right size of HST to make the unfinished 12 1/2" block.  Just a suggestion.  AN

http://quilterscache.com/R/ReallySplitNinePatchBlock.html

Terms and condition of use do not allow us to print the instructions.  You need to make a copy at the website. Thank you.

Debi showed us the a finished quilt with this block pattern.  Turned out fabulous!

We still have room!

LONG BEACH QUILT SHOW Our guild will be attending on Friday, July 29, 2011 via charter bus. Please see me at the guild meeting, or contact me about purchasing your bus trip ticket. I have already sent in the order for the show tickets, but you can still join us on the bus for fun, prizes, the best ever company (since we are all quilters) and curb side service. The bus trip is $32, and you will be able to purchase your show ticket in Long Beach ($10 general admission, or $8 Senior). Please contact me with any questions. We currently have 15 seats available.

Thanks!
Susan the Treasurer

Newsletter is up for July

Please pass the word on.
Thank you!

July Show N Share is Christmas!

Our July Show N Share is of Christmas Quilts!.  So if you have  a favorite one in your closet, bring it along and share with us.  Of course if you have a ufo or one you've finished after the meeting, we'd like to see that eye candy, too.  But do plan on showing us something Christmasy. Hey, how about making a quiltlet of one of those steal game blocks we exchanged all those December meetings ago?

Look forward to seeing a spectacular XMAS show n Share at the July meeting.

Meeting next Tuesday - 6/21!

Isn't this a great Ohio Star Quilt?!  Love the border fabric.  Gives it a medieval tapestry look.

Look forward to seeing the Ohio Patriotic Stars that will be turned in at the meeting.

A Quilt Show for you

View this quilt show if you didn't see it on the program The Quilt Show.  Click on Lovely quilts by Gwen Marston.

May Guild Program

Quilter's Haven's Raylene(in photo on left), her husband, daughter and friend came to our guild to bring us a presentation and their traveling shop.  They also have a website called http://www.justnotions.com/  If you missed out on some of their great products you can go there and see them and order.  Her presentation was about her Mom's, Charlie's, great quilt pattern - Less than Traditional.  What a lot of possibilities!!  Here are some of her versions:

These and more can be found at Charlie's website:  http://quiltingwithcharlie.com/  These are her photos & her samples.  Do go and see all the great things she has on her website  including a great video on her method.



Mystery unveiled

If you haven't finished the mystery, read no further.  Since the third and final clue had a layout of the quilt it has been revealed to those who are working on it or seen the clue so here is the first top shown to us of the mystery.  This was shown by Florence:

Wonder what all the others will look like.  I'm sure some will change the layout.  Love the colors in this.

Mystery Solved

You can go here to get the last clue for the mystery.  The tops will be shown in June - we look forward to them.

My Strip Challenge entry

is here because I had to give it to the professor last Saturday.  I won't win, but I wanted you to see that I did one.  I designed it with EQ and used the Jacob's Ladder block and a Roman stripe block to fill it in.  He was delighted with it.  In fact I heard him say:  "Wait til my wife sees this!"   He was the only one who knew that the center of the quilt says Yahweh in Hebrew.  This quilt is entitled "God Calls and His People Hear in the Books of Old". 

May 17th

is our next quilt guild meeting.  It is sure to be fun with our Strip Quilt Challenge voting and Quilt Haven's trunk show and sale.  Be sure to bring quarters for the voting and money for the sale.  Look forward to seeing you there!

And speaking of quilt meetings, last quilt meeting was a lot of fun, too.  I enjoyed the demos:  Joan's shadow quilting, Brenda's machine embellishing, Julia's review of the blog and Chris's double sided binding.

Here you see the table runner Chris was using as her sample. Red binding on front and green binding on back.  Isn''t that cool?!  If you missed/lost the handout go to 2bindsheet for a copy.

May Newsletter posted.

Just click on the tab marked Newsletter and then The Common Thread and you'll find it.  If you want to print it , click on file under GoogleDocs in upper left of page, not the file in your tool bar of browser window.

A Couple of Reminders

We will not be having a Show N Share at the May Guild Meeting as we have two events scheduled for the evening:
1.  Strip Quilt Challenge voting - be sure to bring your quarters to vote.

2.  Quilter's Haven will be visiting us - be sure and bring your check book!

It promises to be a fun meeting, May 17th.

PS:  Have you signed up for the bus trip to Long Beach?  See Christie Fowler.

Hours
July 28: 5-9 p.m. (Preview Night)
July 29 & 30: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
July 31: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Ticket prices:
$10 daily adult/$8 senior & student/Children 10 and under free with paying adult
$10 Preview Night (includes one free additional day)
$25 Full Show Pass (includes Preview Night)
Advance online printable tickets will be available here beginning in April 2011.

International Quilt Festival/Long Beach
July 29-31, 2011
Long Beach, California
Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center

Monthly Calendar

for May is up.

Ladies, we need BOM Queens - contact Angie if you are interested - she'll help you out - it's easy!  Here is the BOM block for May as showcased by Rebecca Slaughter in March's show n share. 

Work around for blogger Comment problems

Blogger is having difficulties with the comments section.  Until it is fixed, please go to our contact/forms page and send us an email (ie:  if you want to be in the drawing for the four fat quarters and can't leave a comment, use contact us).  Ditto if you want to offer some comment, suggestion on a post, or something else.

Hopefully, this will be fixed shortly.

2ND Mystery Clue Posted

Here's the second mystery clue.  Click here to get it.  Next clue in May and then we'll see them in June at the potluck.  Thank you for participating and helping with the Soldiers'  Angels project.

And here is one you can read about at http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/Patriotic_Quilts_Through_Time.html


Enjoy!

Versatile foot demystified

This is worth a look-see.  Lots of uses for a machine foot I hardly use.  I'll be using it more.

Go to:
http://badskirt.blogspot.com/2010/07/edgestitch-foot-demystified.html

and most machines have this foot:

Happy quilting and sewing.  I can see using it for stitch in the ditch in my next quilt.  And thanks Nikki Roberts for bringing this to our attention.

4 Fat Quarters- You could win!

Hi!  Welcome to our free blog website. And to mark our new venture, there is a giveaway of 4 fat quarters to add to your stash. What do you have to do to win? Just leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win. Winner will be chosen and announced at the May meeting. Feel free to use anonymous to leave your comment, but be sure to add your name so that if you win I"ll know whose comment it was.

Happily in stitches,
your webmistress

Here are some members raptly watching last month's show n share - it is always filled with such wonderful eye candy.  Next one April 19th.  Don't miss it!

It's here!

Our April Newsletter is now posted.  Please click on the Newsletter tab to access it.

Are you working on your UFOs?  I'm trying!

Three weeks to make it

These would look great on point.  All it takes is a few scraps and you could win a batch of these.
Thanks Katy for being our April BOM Queen and chosing this block.

First Mystery Clue Posted

Hello, if you missed the meeting and did not get the first Soldier's Angels mystery quilt clue, it's posted under community service.  Just click on the tab Community Service and you'll see the link for it.

Thank you for your continued help and dedication to this worthy cause.

Not our mystery, but a patriotic one:
And you can see more about this quilt and the accompanying article here .

Will there be a box next month?

Our mystery boxes have been a great hit!  You seem to like them as we've had a lot of monetary donations from you.  Thank you!  If the trend continues we'll be able to do another 200 bags for this coming Christmas.

Many of you also donated items for the bags last year.  That was such a wonderful thing you did!  It made us deliver wonderful bags to those children at the Loma Linda Children's Cancer Center.  We would really appreciated your doing it again if you feel so inclined.  Needed are crayons, stuffed animals, books, puzzles, cards, etc.

Again, thank you for your continued help with Community Service - we couldn't do it without you.

Are you doing the Challenge?

Here's Christine - our Challenge Queen for the Year.  She's having two opportunities for us to challenge ourselves and do something "outside the box" (well, maybe for some of us).  First and due in May is the Strip quilt challenge - whereby you make a quilt that has 2 1/2" strips in it in any pattern you want.  The goal here is to demonstrate how many strips quilts there are out there.  What fun.  And there are monetary prizes for this one!  We get to vote with quarters.  Woohoo!  You pick the size, color, pattern, fabric.  Needs only to be a flimsy to participate.
PS:  Don't you just love her name tag?  All those pins!

Correction to April Block of the Month

To get better accuracy when making the the Half Square Triangle units, use 4" squares instead of the 3 7/8ths called for, says Katy.  Below is the corrected part of the instructions.  All the rest are correct.  Look forward to seeing your blocks!

Good Time had by All

And the winner is.............

at our March quilt guild meeting that is.  Lots of good food - thank you, Ladies!!  Wonderful show n share, and a great mystery box, that a mystery person won (I'm blushing that I don't know this member - If you know who it was, please leave a comment and let us know - all I do remember is that she does beautiful quilting.  Then we'll know who to ask about the great items she won and how she likes them).  And we had Tool-Time Tilly as our guest speaker.  That was fun, we learned some things, and there were prizes!! - that was an unexpected bonus.

Tilly shared a lot of tips about the quilting process and some of the members helped by also giving us some.  If you remembered one she gave us (I was too busy taking pics to jot them down), or know of one not mentioned and you'd like to share, leave a comment to this post.  We'd be thrilled to learn more.

Moda Challenge

Click here for the Just One Star campaign block pattern by Moda.  Read all about it here.

And here's the quilt pattern they are going to use.  Moda wants to have 100 quilts made by June 1st so that they can turn them in on Flag Day, June 14th.  Your block would be much appreciated as one of the 1800 they need.

The Steal Game

Click on the photo to see the table runners. Enjoy!

Making Fleece Blankets with Crochet Edges

The demonstration is done with worsted weight yarn and a size G or H crochet hook. It is possible to use other weight yarn and a different size hook though, it just depends on what style you prefer.