I’ve been delinquent again on my blogging and we’ve had a bunch of show and tells so I need to get busy. Yesterday we had a good crowd. Jo Anne, our Halloween fairy delivered some Halloween treats to us and to the library staff. She is a super gift giver.  Christa had an outstanding show and tell. A beautiful 2 sided red, black and gray quilt. She is a fantastic quilter. Her work is always technically and artistically amazing. I realize now that I didn’t take a picture of Betty with her finished neck piece. She was very pleased with it and plans to make more. She is getting ready to head South again where she won’t need heavy coats, boots, etc. This little scarf will be just enough. Elaine is ready for the last step of her Christmas placemats. She just needs to sew the opening closed and sew around the edge. They should be ready to use this year. Winnie is disturbed because this is the first year ever she thinks she won’t bother voting. She takes this responsibility very seriously but doesn’t like either choice. I have the feeling she’s not the only one in the country with this dilemma.  

This is the front of Christa's quilt. Sorry it's out of focus

 

 This is a close up

 This is the back

 Darlene and 3 of her cousins participated in a round robin. This is Darlene's addition to the quilt belonging to one of the cousins.

 Darlene has been very busy this month. This is a piece that she hand-pieced. Some of the pieces were very small which is why she sewed it by hand.

 And this is a scrap quilt Darlene put together. It is a utility quilt, tied. She had sections which were UFO's and she sewed them together to make a finished quilt. It will keep her warm this winter.

 This is a quilt for one of Ethel's grandchildren. Very colorful!

 And Pat finished another of her beautiful wool pieces.

20 ladies attended today. Tina was back from her summer up north. Kathy O. probably won't be back for awhile yet. But pretty soon our snowbirds will start flying south. Every season brings changes. I haven't kept up with the blog as usual. Last week was exciting--Ryan's Case for Smiles joined us and hosted a pillowcase event. They brought fabric, we had sewing machines, ironing boards, and cutting mats ready and we finished 30 pillowcases! These pillowcases will be given to sick kids at AMC, Ronald McDonald house and many other places. It was a lot of fun so we are going to do it again in March. Then last weekend was the library book sale. 9 of us brought items to sell. Even though it seemed quite slow most of the time, we earned about $800 total. The Friends of the Library get 10% of our sales so we all came out ahead. We ended up with $29 not accounted for so we decided that I should use that money to buy a backing for our next raffle quilt. I'll start looking at some sale fabric to see what I can find. We had our display set up Friday afternoon and all day Saturday but decided to skip Sunday. We were all tired and it was supposed to rain anyway. We did pretty well even if we did skip Sunday.

Today at Nimblefingers we had some great show and share. Pat L. is almost finished with her walrus quilt (Wally) that she is making for her grandson. He drew a picture for her of what he wanted and she has done a great job of recreating it. He wanted it to have his favorite things on it: a walrus and donuts. What a kid! It's a really cute quilt. I don't know if she'll have it for our show or not. She'll probably give it to him for Christmas though.

Darlene brought in her top of her round robin quilt she did with her cousins. She made the center garden block and the picket fence border, the other borders were done by her cousins. It's really cute too. I love the phases of the moons in the corners. Then Jean brought in her finished Christmas wall hanging. So even though we spent much of the day discussing the money from the sale we had a special show and share.

20 ladies attended today--a big group! I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures though we did have quilts shown that I could have taken a picture of. Darlene had whipped up a pretty little quilt out of some of the fabrics that Jo Anne had brought in. The bright colors made it a happy quilt. She's giving it to Rose who really liked it and wasn't able to come to Nimblefingers on the days that Jo Anne gave away fabric. Diane finished making the little Benartex pack that I had given her. With the collection of 5" squares it made a pretty little wall hanging. Again, very colorful. I finished sewing the binding on a quilt which I am giving to the Friends of the Library to sell in a silent auction. Joyce was sewing the binding on her red, white and blue quilt. Elaine was back from her vacation to Montana. She had lots of tales to tell. Several of the knitters are working on turquoise scarves. That is such a beautiful color that it's hard to decide which is prettiest. Pat L. suggested that we need a new address list. Pat H. suggested we have a time when people can share tips, tricks, ideas for their craft. I'll work on that idea because I think we all could learn these little things from each other. We will be meeting next week, the day after labor day.

I missed writing in the blog last week. We had a big crowd--about 19 ladies. Joyce brought in her finished red, white and blue quilt. She purchased the fabric at the Joyful Quilter when the Village Quilters helped on the Quilted in Honor show. The pattern was on the Quilted in Honor website. Her daughter-in-law did the quilting on her long arm.

This week Diane brought in her turkey table runner and quilt but the batteries in my camera were dead so I couldn't take a picture. Maybe I'll see if she could bring them again next week. Today we only had 14 people. It seemed small in comparison. Linda came in towards the end. We haven't seen her for awhile since she's been feeding the Knox seniors. She's going to start doing some string art and macrame so she says we'll have some variety in the 2017 Feb. quilt show. That's nice. I like variety. So today I was sewing the binding on a lap quilt I'm hoping the the Friends of the library will raffle off. Diane was making yo-yo's which she hopes to turn into a table runner. Another bit of variety for our show. Rose was working on a round robin quilt. She and 3 of her cousins, all quilters and one of whom is Darlene, are doing this round robin. The one Rose was working on was really nice (where's my camera when I need it!) She and Darlene showed me pictures of the other beginning blocks in the round robin. They made some very decorative blocks. They should all end up with beautiful quilts. Pat L. says we should do a round robin too. I'll have to start thinking about that and figure out how to time it. Rose told me a nice story about her cousins. Rose lived in Schenectady before moving to Albany. She belonged to Q.U.I.L.T.S. So did her cousin Darlene. At one meeting Rose heard a voice that sounded familiar. She followed it and it turned out to be Darlene who she hadn't seen for a long time. They got together occasionally after that but now, with Nimblefingers, they see each other every week. I think that's a great story and I'm so glad that Nimblefingers can play a part in bringing them together. Family is so important. And when you share a common interest like quilting it's wonderful to be able to do it together. They both regret not getting together sooner with their other quilting cousins to share their love. Since my family is all on the other side of the Mississippi River I'm always envious of those who have family right here or nearby. So, for those of you with family nearby, see them often. Enjoy being together. Share your interests, feelings, thoughts, etc. Life is fleeting so take advantage of the time you have.

Today we had 15 ladies. Jo Anne has had a professional organizer help her get her sewing room in shape so today she brought in 2 big bags full of fabric. It was mostly kid oriented so we pulled out all of the 1/2 yard and larger pieces and put them aside for the pillowcase people, Ryan's case for smiles. They will be coming to Nimblefingers on Sept. 13th so we will give them the fabric then. Jo Anne can probably get a tax deduction if she asks. The picture is after the rush. I should have taken a before and after picture. Oh well. We also had lots of food today--a real spread.

Darlene brought in a quilt made by her aunt.  It's a victorian lady pattern only recently quilted by someone in Pennsylvania. Very nice.

I brought in my latest to sew on the binding. It's a paper piecting pattern by Jennifer Sampou called Elephant and I. I bought it on the shop hop last year. It seemed like something a little different for me and I liked it. I started the paper piecting at one of our sew days. I kind of like it but now I'm out of pinks. Gonna have to buy some more.

On Sept. 17, 18, 19 Nimblefingers will be at the Voorheesville Library book sale. We will be selling our stuff. If you have items you want to sell please join us.

Today we had about 17 ladies--some came quite late but we ended up with a good sized group. Pat OR brought in the Sunbonnet Sue quilt made by her ladies at her apartment complex. Jo-Anne's partner, Terry, won it! She only buys raffle tickets in his name because he is always lucky--she's not. He won another quilt at a dinner one time, a big queen sized quilt! He is very lucky! Jo-Anne was pleased. She's planning on keeping it for herself.

We had lots of good food today. Two kinds of brownies, cookies, and lemon bars. Yum!

Tara from Amelia's Garden had given me a bunch of patterns that she no longer wanted so I brought those in as giveaways. And I'm trying to get rid of some magazines so brought those in. Unfortunately, I ended up taking a lot back home with me. I will probably take them for the Delmar guild's mini-mart in September if I can't get rid of them before then.

Today Pat and Fran were working on wool pieces. Christa was knitting a beautiful purple scarf, Ethel brought in her finished purple bag (I thought Winnie might walk home with it since she loves purple) and a block that will be made into a pillow for her granddaughter. Darlene was sewing the binding on a service quilt. Betty brought in a finished quilt for Albany med plus a couple of giveaways. On was a wooden tool. No one knew what it was until Ethel suggested that it was for darning holes in the fingers of gloves. Rosalind took it home to add to her collection of darning eggs. Rose was still making fancy dresses for her Victorian lady applique blocks. Jean brought in a crazy fan block. She started making this quilt in 2000. A UFO whose time had finally come.

We decided that we would once again sell items at the library book sale in September.

Lots of fun today.

13 ladies attended today. Pat L. delighted us all with a preview of her walrus quilt which she is making from a drawing done by her grandson. His 2 favorite things in the world are walruses and donuts so this quilt will have both on it. She's working on the walrus now and start looking for some donut fabric in the meantime. It's going to be really cute. I didn't take a picture. Maybe next time she brings it in. Joyce was sewing the binding on the quilt which she and I made in the Iron Quilt challenge. It will be displayed at the Village Quilters quilt show in a couple of weeks. I was sewing sleeves on a couple of my quilts that will be in the show. Jo-Anne is still plugging away at her turquoise scarf. Jean is making a reverse applique schoolhouse block. It will be fantastic when she puts the whole quilt together. Can't wait to see it. I really need to get down to the other end of the table because I don't see what people at that end are working on. Today I was concerned with getting these sleeves on though. After Nimblefingers a local man, John Davis came in and talked to us about his quilt which is a crazy quilt made by his great grandmother. It is from the 1890s, has phenomenal work and is still in good shape. He invited us to come over to see it.

It was amazing. The colors are vibrant, the embroidery is exquisite. There are 4 large fans in the corner and many small fans throughout the quilt.

There was some ribbon embroidery and some of the thread was a chenille.

The photos don't do it justice. Especially my camer which can't focus correctly. But the stitching was truly accomplished. His sons house was also very interesting. It was an old farmhouse which they have fixed up. It was very nice. And Mr. Davis' granddaughter had made some truly delicious mint brownies for us which we ate with iced tea on their very comfortable porch. It made for a really nice visit and we appreciate Mr. Davis' willingness to share his quilt and his sons home with us.

I just read an article about how important blogs are and why you should be diligent about keeping it going. It shamed me into sitting down and just doing it. I need a kick in the pants quite often these day. We have a bunch of new pictures to show  since I haven't written for awhile. The first is Darlene's darling (sorry, I couldn't resist) needlepoint of our very own Nipper. Sue, Betty and Rosalind are in the background.

This is Fran's birthday present for her husband. (Sorry, I don't know how to turn the picture right side up).

The is the front of a 2-sided service quilt that I made. The Delmar guild makes lots of service quilts. They had all of these plaid fabrics cut into 10" squares. I like plaid quilts so I took them and sewed them together. I love the plus sign pattern and it is one I could make without having to do any cutting.

This is the back of the quilt. Again, I didn't have to do any cutting. I still had a bunch of plaid squares leftover. Then I did a silly thing--I told the service person that I would take the whole box of plaid fabric that the guild was trying to give away. I think I spoke without thinking. She was overjoyed (they are desparate to get rid of all of their fabric) and in spite of having broken her shoulder in 4 places, she had someone deliver a box full of plaid fabric to me. I added it to my already almost impassible sewing room saying to myself: "what was I thinking!?"

 

This is Betty's 90th birthday party. Congratulations Betty! This summer she moved into her new apartment. Needless to say the moving was a real chore and getting used to a new place is not easy either. I'm sure that eventually she'll be very happy about the move though.

Next picture is the t-shirt quilt Daryl made for her granddaughter.

And finally, Pat OR taught some of the ladies at her apartment complex to sew. They wanted to learn to quilt so she taught them to applique the sunbonnet Sue and overall Sam blocks. They raffled off the quilt when finished. I need to ask her who won. Pat and her ladies both did a great job. Isn't it cute! I'll try to keep up with the blog better  so we don't have so many pictures at once.

I finally took all the pictures off of my camera so now I need to do a retrospective post of all that's happened since I last wrote.  We've been busy making prayer quilts. One for Winnie, Cathy M., Cathy Y. and Marguerite. I've told my ladies now..."No one else can get sick!" I hope they take my advice. I have 2 pictures with us tying the quilts. Three pictures of the finished quilts. Then I took a picture of Cathy M. with her quilt when Pat OR and I delivered it to her. The last picture is the one we delivered to Winnie. Marguerite's quilt is getting the finishing touches (binding) right now but I hope to give it to her next Tuesday. Her quilt is different: it's not purple (Winnie's favorite color). We made hers from the block that Kathy O. taught us at our open house last February.

 

 

 

 Here are some more pictures. The first is two of our new Nimblefingers members with some visitors to the quilt show in the background.  The next is Marian and Rose with a table runner. The third is Pat OR's wool table runner (with my feet). Last week we were very busy. I brought my Accuquilt Go to the meeting so Agnes, me and Jeanne K. cut fabrics for the prayer quilts we will make. We passed out pre-cut pieces to everyone. Yesterday they all brought in their finished blocks. We have enough for the 3 quilts I wanted to make, for Winnie, Cathy M. and Cathy Y., but I think we should also make one for Marguerite so we might work on that one Saturday at the National Quilting day program. We will be getting together then to teach how to make a quilt, or in this case, a simple placemat. I'm not expecting a crowd of beginner quilters, so I think we'll have plenty of time to work on our prayer quilts. I have also scheduled some retreats. The only one that is on the library calendar at the moment is on Saturday, March 26th. So Nimblefingers will have that whole day to meet, sew and have lots of fun. I also wanted to schedule a  day in April and May so I'll check on those. The library is only open on Saturday mornings in June through August so no retreats during the summer.

 

17 ladies attended yesterday. It was quilt show takedown day. It's always amazing how quickly the show comes down compared to how long it takes to go up. We also counted up the votes on our table runner challenge. Winnie was the big winner with 13 votes. Congratulations Winnie! Her blue and white table runner was indeed beautiful.

I thought over the weekend that we have currently got several members who have been sick lately so I thought we should make some prayer quilts. I planned some at home, told the ladies my plans and passed out some fabric triangles for them to use in making 6" squares for a charm quilt. I will bring in my Accuquilt Go! next week to cut fabric for those who would prefer to use a precut than cutting the triangle themselves. I have another plan for a 3rd quilt which I will bring in next Tuesday as well. We haven't made a group quilt in awhile so I'm hoping that we can get these made in a relatively short time.

Nimblefingers and the Village Quilters alternate making a raffle quilt for the Friends of the Library. We made the last raffle quilt which went at our Open House for our show. The Village Quilters will make a raffle quilt for 2017. That means that we have 2 years to make another raffle quilt. I will start planning one soon so that we can get started with the piecing.

Last week Jeanne Knouse and I did our Save our Stories interview here at the library. This is a project of Quilt Alliance which hopes to document, preserve and share the stories of quilts. We took pictures of our quilt which we made together then sat down with librarian Michelle Reilly who asked us questions about our quilt and our quilting experiences. It was an interesting procedure. I am eager to listen to the interview once they get it posted. The interview should be available as both a written and an audio document. If you are interested in doing an interview, just let Michele know. Check out http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/ to see examples of quilt stories.

Another project on my to do list is the program at the library for National Quilting Day, March 19. I hope that this week I can come up with a list of jobs which members can sign up for so that they have some idea of what they will be doing. 

Clearly we have a lot going on now. Plus we need to pick out a new table runner pattern for next year! So little time, so many projects!