December 19th was our annual holiday luncheon. Daryl generously invited us to celebrate at her house this year. She prepared a delicious ham and several of the ladies brought salads. All were delicious. We were a small group but we had a good time. The highlight for me was when Winnie pulled out some old poems to read to us. This led to a conversation about fathers and grandfathers who loved reciting poetry. Marguerite still remembers some of the oft told poems of her fathers' and kindly recited them for us. Later, Sook Rho, the Korean lady who used to come to Nimblefingers joined us. She is still keeping busy working with her husband at their little restaurant. We were all happy to see her but do wish we could see her more often. We talked and talked and ate and ate (Daryl's bon-bons were a hit!) and the time passed quickly. It was a very cosy holiday luncheon.

14 ladies attended today. Agnes brought in a lovely quilt she's making for her Texas A & M student granddaughter in appropriate school colors. Kathy O. was knitting a dish rag, Hattie a sweater, while Alberta had pulled out an old cross-stitch project to finish. Pat was working on her first quilting projects, two mile-a-minute quilts for her grandchildren. There was lots of talk about the upcoming holidays. Next week we will be having a Christmas lunch at Daryl's house. Therefore, we will not meet again until Jan. 2nd, 2007.

18 ladies attended today (one being a 4th grade lady). Marion Parmenter brought in a quilt she has just finished. The original appliqued butterfly pieces were made by her grandmother. They were passed down to her and she put them together into a quilt, embroidered and hand quilted. It will be given to her daughter. It was a lovely quilt with wonderful old fabrics some of which may very well have been feed sacks. In contrast, the crazy quilt that I brought in for show and share was made for a scrap challenge. I was given a bag of scraps and had to make something from them. I made a crazy landscape of an unknown planet. It was fun to make but is very silly. I have been trying to plan for our quilt show in February and am giving weekly handouts to the ladies to gather information that I can make into handouts for our open house. An ongoing process.

Today 14 ladies attended. Anne Bave brought in a prayer quilt top she had made. I checked to see if we had enough batting and backing fabric so that next week we can sandwich it and begin tying. Deb Johnson brought in the fish quilt she is making for her husband and sewed rows together. Ingrid Dispensa had given me a bag of wool yarn to give away so several ladies went home with bags of yarn. Today Joyce Laiosa, the children's librarian, gave me a web site: www.aghines.com. She is a picture book illustrator and a quilter. Her illlustrations are quilted. It is a wonderful web site with free patterns for the quilts in her books plus lots of extras: her journey as an illustrator and quilter, using quilts to teach geometry and/or design, plus a lot more. Take a look at it if you get a chance. It's like taking a virtual tour of a quilter/illustrator's life.

12 ladies were present today--a smaller than normal group. Kathy Olsen brought in the finished lap quilt which we are donating to an elderly person of need in the community. We laid out the blocks for our next lap quilt and I will take them home to sew together. The big talk was of what we were all doing for Thanksgiving. It was a quiet day preparing for the beginning of the busy holiday season.

16 ladies attended today. Our dear Pat Hammond brought 2 pies! Kathy Olson and I sandwiched our next prayer quilt while another group of ladies laid out blocks for yet another. Betsy Hoffman called me today to tell me she hasn't been coming for awhile first because she was out of town and now because of her husband's medical appts. She hopes to join us again soon though. This month we have Betty Smith's quilts hanging in the hallway so we all admired them and congratulate Betty on her first solo art show! Anne Bave had been to visit Katherine Denegar and reports that Katherine is well but very lonely. We decided that this year instead of having a Holiday lunch at a restaurant and a separate party at Darryl's house that we would just have a party at Darryl's. Also, we will not be meeting on Dec. 26th but we will be meeting on Jan. 2nd.

Today 15 ladies attended. Cathy Maikoff brought in her finished Sunbonnet Sue/Suspender Sam quilt to which she had added some wonderful embellishment. Deb Johnson brought in her rescue quilt top--several holes but possibly salvageable. I got out our log cabin raffle quilt and started quilting again. We were a fairly calm group today but with good eats as usual. Someone made some delicious cranberry nut bread--thank you to whoever brought it.

16 ladies attended today. I was gone last week visiting my mother and her local quilt shop which is why there was no entry for last week. Today is Halloween so I came dressed as a quilt book. Fran brought in a beautiful, soft and warm flannel quilt she had made for her grandson and a Christmas table runner. Fran has obviously been keeping busy. I brought in the Sudoku quilt top that I made while visiting my mother. Jean Kallop brought in her Betty Smith pinwheels quilt top. Today was Jean's last day--she is leaving for Florida tomorrow. Alberta has started a very interesting looking kaleidescope quilt. I am eager to watch it grow.

Today we had lunch at Maggie's Cafe on Western Ave. 15 ladies and 1 husband attended. The food was good and we gave the waitress a good work-out. I think we all went home with full tummies. Katherine Denegar was able to come to the lunch. It's always nice to visit with old friends. Next week the book sale will be over and the community room should be cleaned out so we can meet again there. I will not be attending though as I will be visiting my mother in Texas so please enjoy yourselves while I'm gone. I might be coming in with a new project when I return so get ready!

21 ladies attended today. Cathy Maikoff and Anne Kodra played with some of the blocks we have made and pulled some together for another prayer quilt. Marguerite Flint took them home to sew together. Margot continued with her personalized instruction of Edith. Kathy Olsen was back from her summer on the lake. Hope we'll start seeing more of her now. Darryl Webb brought in her finished crazy quilt top. She hopes to start embellishing it soon. Anne Bave brought in a Christmas tree skirt she had made and Pat Hammond had some Christmas ornaments she had made. Agnes Weaver is giving Winnie Childs personal lessons on making the table runner that Louise Claflin taught us this summer. A nice time was had by all. Next week we go out to lunch (although one member informed me that we are out to lunch every week). They will be setting the community room up for the book sale so we will be kicked out. So we will be having lunch at Maggie's Cafe (1186 Western Ave.) at 12:00. See you there!

Today 19 ladies attended. After the partying last week we were a little more subdued today. Margot is still working with Edith on her attic window piece. Pat Hammond needed a demo using Steam-a-seam 2 for iron-on applique so Darryl and Margot helped us do that. Darryl brought in her crazy quilt blocks, laid them out and the group had fun advising her on the best layout. Jean Kallop brought in one of her early quilts, an embroidered cat quilt, which she had tied but now wanted to quilt. Betty Smith brought in some more freebies--Brooks Brothers shirting fabric samples. Winnie was back today with a good report on her husband's health.

Today was our 14th anniversary party! 21 ladies attended. I had some books, magazines and CDs available as gifts/purchases and we had a pretty cake from Nichol's and some chocolate cupcakes from dear Pat Hammond, our favorite baker. We had a very nice little party with pictures to look at and pictures to take. Fran Hahn brought in her beautiful applique quilt that she has been working on for a couple of years. It is truly fantastic! Cathy Maikoff sewed together the blocks and lattice for another prayer quilt. It is pink and wild looking! Margot continued teaching Edith Goldstein how to make a quilt. Her little attic window quilt is coming along nicely. Pat Hammond brought in 1 of 3 mile-a-minute quilt tops she has made. Our old friends Sharon Jackson and Ingrid Dispenza stopped by for a visit as did Sue Reilly. Although many of our faces have changed in the last 14 years...actually all of our faces have changed in that time (big glasses, long hair and I was thin!), nevertheless our little group is still going stong. Nimblefingers has always strived to be a friendly, social outlet for those of us with common interests as well as a place to learn some new skills, improve upon old ones, or to try out some new ideas. Apparently we are succeeding. We've been together for 14 years now and I hope we can keep it up for another 14 years! Our faces may continue to change but our need for friendship and our love of needlework will never change. Happy anniversary and congratulations Nimblefingers ladies! It's definitely been fun!

Today was our 14th anniversary party! 21 ladies attended. I had some books, magazines and CDs available as gifts/purchases and we had a pretty cake from Nichol's and some chocolate cupcakes from dear Pat Hammond, our favorite baker. We had a very nice little party with pictures to look at and pictures to take. Fran Hahn brought in her beautiful applique quilt that she has been working on for a couple of years. It is truly fantastic! Cathy Maikoff sewed together the blocks and lattice for another prayer quilt. It is pink and wild looking! Margot continued teaching Edith Goldstein how to make a quilt. Her little attic window quilt is coming along nicely. Pat Hammond brought in 1 of 3 mile-a-minute quilt tops she has made. Our old friends Sharon Jackson and Ingrid Dispenza stopped by for a visit as did Sue Reilly. Although many of our faces have changed in the last 14 years...actually all of our faces have changed in that time (big glasses, long hair and I was thin!), nevertheless our little group is still going stong. Nimblefingers has always strived to be a friendly, social outlet for those of us with common interests as well as a place to learn some new skills, improve upon old ones, or to try out some new ideas. Apparently we are succeeding. We've been together for 14 years now and I hope we can keep it up for another 14 years! Our faces may continue to change but our need for friendship and our love of needlework will never change. Happy anniversary and congratulations Nimblefingers ladies! It's definitely been fun!

17 ladies attended today. Anne Bave came with about 9-9" blocks so we cut some of our other blocks down, found some fabric for the lattice, gave the whole thing to Cathy Maikoff to sew together, and we will have created another prayer quilt! The easiest one so far! Thank you Anne! Betsey Hoffman gave me a beautiful hand-made card to use as a thank you note to the Friends for giving us the money for the tools (which we used again today to cut out the lattice strips). It is really great to have the tools right here to use as needed. At the last Village Quilter meeting they had many quilt stencils available for the taking. I took them all to be kept here for use by either the V.Q.'s or Nimblefingers. Marguerite and Fran have already taken advantage of this offer. Today I brought in a bug jar quilt made for a friend's granddaughter. It turned out very cute. Pat brought in some super yummy peanut butter-chocolate bars. She promised to bring the recipe next week.

16 ladies attended today. The Friends of the Library gave us $200 to buy supplies with so last weekend I went shopping. Today we made use of the new rotary cutter, cutting board and rulers. I was cutting some of the cloth in our stash to make more prayer quilts. As a result, several people found themselves with assignments for 3 different 12 1/2" blocks. Daryl also practiced her rotary cutting on her crazy quilt blocks. The new supplies are already showing their value. Thank you Friends of the Library! We ate very well today too thanks to Daryl Webb's apple crisp and Jean Kallop's apple cake. And if that wasn't enough, Pat Hammond brought in some chocolates to fill whatever empty space there was in our stomachs. Betty Smith brought in a wild scarf she had made out of some very unusual yarn and very large needles. You can always count on Betty to make something totally unique! Margot was continuing to give some personal piecing instructions to Edith Goldstein who happily completed an attic window block. Congratulations Edith! Fran brought in pictures from her week at Wiawaka and Alberta brought in pictures of the Guilderland seniors 2005 quilt show. Margot brought in her almost completed star fling quilt top. It is a scrap quilt with lots of zing and surprisingly, a little bit of an optical illusion! Good going Margot!

14 ladies attended today with a brief visit from Marguerite's grandchildren Rebecca, Alexandra and Nathan. Louise Claflin came in to say her goodbyes--she's off to Florida for the winter. Julie received a letter with pictures from Katherine Denegar which was passed around. Julie started quilting the log cabin raffle quilt--the first of many, many stitches. Several of us filled out our Wish for the World stars for the library's 9/11 memorial. Betty (who had a birthday yesterday--I think she's 97 now) brought in the final version of her 3 part quilt. It was great! Jan Brennan and Betty brought in our sweet treats for the day. Thank you, they were delicious!

Today 25 people attended. Linda O'Connor brought in a quilt the Village Quilters had made and invited some of their members to help sew on the binding so some of our 25 were visiting Village Quilters. I pulled out our log cabin raffle quilt (not to be outdone by the V.Q.'s) so that Marguerite could again figure out the quilting pattern for it. Hopefully we can actually start quilting it now. Otherwise a pretty normal day. Jan Brennan brought in her finished crocheted baby blanket. She learned to crochet during Nimblefingers and she did a great job on the blanket! Margot brought in her sewing machine to give Edith Goldstein some personalized sewing instruction. Darryl brought in some blanket-stitched butterflies someone had given her. They hadn't finished all the butterflies though so Darryl got some instruction from Pat and Treva about how to do the blanket stitch. She will have a beautiful quilt when she gets it all together. It is made with some marvelous old fabrics. It's quite a treasure she has been given. Margot and I had both received thank you letters from Katherine Denegar for the quilt we delivered to her last week so we had them available for people to read. Margot also gave me a copy of Katherine's story about being a nurse during WWII in the Phillipines. I have just read it again and it is amazing. If you haven't had a chance to read it let me know. She is a remarkable woman with an exciting past.

16 ladies attended today. The maintenance crew washed the carpet in the community room early this morning and it hadn't dried yet so we met in the backyard. We had 2 tables set up plus the library benches. Fortunately it was a beautiful day so it was actually a nice change of pace. Last Saturday Margot and I visited Katherine Denegar and gave her the lap quilt we made. She loved it! She very nearly burst into tears! In return she gave us all of her fabric stash. So today all of the ladies attending sorted through fabric and took some home. Hopefully we will be seeing some projects with Katherine's fabric in them. If you read this, thank you Katherine! You are very kind and generous! Julie asked the group today if they would like to split the library raffle quilt project with the Village Quilters who will begin meeting at the library starting in September. We all agreed that it would be okay if we took turns making the raffle quilt so this year the Village Quilters can donate the quilt and next year we will. Our community is lucky to have 2 groups right here to supply them with chances on beautiful handmade quilts.

12 ladies attended today. Pat Hammond was back and so was her wonderful baking--a delicious cake! It was a quiet day. Agnes had finished her table runner top and it was beautiful! She started Winnie on one at the meeting. Margot put a binding on the quilt for Katherine Denegar so she is going to investigate when Katherine would be up for visitors so we could give it to her. Linda O'Connor brought in a whole bolt of American flag fabric. I thought it would make a good backing for a patriotic quilt if anyone was making one. I took several of the ladies who haven't attended for awhile to the computer to show them the blog. I showed them how to send a comment so send some comments please!

Today 16 ladies and 6 kids attended. The kids finished their ugli dolls and made themselves fleece scarves and hats. While they kept busy with their projects, the ladies amused themselves with their various projects. Those of us who started the applique table runner last week continued to work on that project. Cathy Maikoff brought in the prayer quilt we were making for Katherine Denegar so we sandwiched it, pinned it, and tied it. Margot Hayes is taking it home to sew on a binding. I think Katherine will really enjoy having her very own group made cat quilt.

Today we had 18 ladies and 13 juniors. While the junior Nimblefingers worked on their ugli dolls the seniors, at least some of them, started an applique tablerunner under the tutelage of our own Louise Claflin. It will be fun to see the same runner in different fabrics.
Also today, Marguerite Flint was back from her cruise of the Baltic Sea. She had much to tell us about her trip and about the family emergency she came home to. According to she and her husband Harry, Tallinn, Estonia was the best stop on the trip: very quaint and beautiful.
We all complained about the heat. Very little hot coffee or tea was drunk--they all headed for the lemonade! And Julie was actually feeling ambitious last night and made some rice krispie treats for the group.

17 ladies and 9 young ladies attended. Today most of the junior Nimblefingers worked on an ugli doll. A few of them preferred to knit with Betty Smith and later Cathy Yachup. The senior Nimblefingers continued working on the "Star fling" block. Darryl Webb and Katy Bogart (one of the jr. nimblefingers' mom) each made a star from fabric that Alberta Pahl had kindly cut up and donated.
Alberta and her sister Nancy Hopper brought in a gift from their other sister Edith Kilmer and a thank you card for the prayer quilt we had given her. We hope she enjoys it as much as we have enjoyed her company here on Tuesday afternoons.
Next week Louise Claflin will be teaching us to applique using the freezer paper technique. Anyone who wants to come should bring needle, thread, scissors, freezer paper, and some fabric. One large piece for the background and pieces of green for leaves, gold for the center of a flower, and whatever colors for the flower petals. It should be very pretty.
Winnie Childs and her husband Bill and Betsey Hoffman's husband Bob are all having health problems. Our best wishes go with all of them.

This is just a note to let you know what’s going on in Nimblefingers this summer.

Last week I taught some of you to make my current favorite block, “Star fling.” We will continue working on those this week. I also brought in my shortcut instructions I had prepared for the Village Quilters quilt show. If you would like help making those simple blocks I will be available for help anytime.

Next week Louise Claflin will begin teaching us to appliqué. Louise is a fabulous appliqué-r: if you’ve seen any of her work you know what I mean. She will help us to make a table runner. This will probably take several weeks to finish but you will end up with a beautiful table runner! If everyone could bring in some of the proper colored fabrics we could all share—just in case we don’t all have the right colors. I will pass out the instructions and supply list tomorrow (7/25/06).

Finally, Nimblefingers has a blog! (an online newsletter). Go to the Voorheesville Public Library homepage, http://www.voorheesvillelibrary.org/ click on Adult Services, then click on Nimblefingers News and there you are! Or you can go directly to the blog at http://nimblefingersnews.blogspot.com/. Here you can find out what went on at each meeting in case you missed one. I hope you will take a look at it and leave me some messages. Thanks go to librarian Judie Harren and Lesa Clarke for making our blog look so professional. I think it will be a fun thing to look at and I hope you will too!

14 adults, 14 kids. Today I brought sewing machine and tools and taught the ladies (and 3 kids) to make the star fling block. It was fun but crazy! We could have used more pressing stations, sewing machines, cool air, cold drinks...I was so hot! I'll sleep well tonight!
We gave Alberta the prayer quilt to take to her sister Edith. Louise picked out some fabric for the sashing and backing for Katherine’s quilt.
Junior Nimblefingers appears to be a success today. Three girls worked with Cathy Yachup on knitting, three girls with me making a patchwork block. The other kids, including one boy, worked with Joyce Laiosa (the youth services librarian) on a needle case and pincushion. I think everyone had a good time. I know my ladies enjoyed laughing at me bathing in sweat and running around like crazy. They did make some nice blocks though. We will continue with this lesson next week for those who didn't finish their block, want to make another, or just to show off our blocks. Also next week, I will pass out a list of items to bring to make the applique table runner that Louise Claflin will teach us. Plenty to look forward to! (Photo is Deb Johnson helping Abbey and Haley)

17 ladies attended. This was the first day of Junior Nimblefingers and unfortunately only 2 girls came. Hopefully more will come as the summer goes along. We showed off the quilt we made for Edith Kilmer. It is finished and tied now and ready to be given to her. Her sisters, Alberta and Nancy haven’t come to the last couple of meetings so I hope Edie is still okay.
Julie Stump showed off her challenge block for the Quest for a cure contest and a crazy star baby quilt. Next week she will be teaching the group to make that block. She also invited the junior Nimblefingers to participate.
Louise Claflin was back from Florida today. She will be teaching us to appliqué later in the month.
And we had one new person join us, Jan Brennon, who learned about us at the Village Quilters quilt show last weekend. Welcome Jan!

Hello and welcome to the Nimblefingers Blog! I will be posting news and information about our group including announcements of upcoming events. We meet on Tuesday afternoons from 1 - 3pm and always welcome new members. So bring your handwork and come have a good time with the Nimblefingers ladies!
Julie Stump