MVQU meets Tuesdays at 12:30pm in Hollin Hall Senior Center, 1500 Shenandoah Road, Alexandria, VA 22308. For more information click here.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Show and Tell - December 14, 2010

Another great show and tell

Pat Alfredson thought of this "Hickory, Dickery, Dock" quilt while considering options for the challenge. Unfortunately it could not be compressed to 24" by 24"

Ann Poulin showed her log cabin quilt.



Bert Garino prepared the "You are the Gift" quilt on the left for Key Center. It was made with a raggedy reverse applique method

Bert also made the quilt on the right for an elementary school auction. The quilt was designed with EQ7 and included pieces of a school uniform in some of the blocks.





Gigi Corbin presented "O Tannenbaum" which was hand quilted.










Mary Downey was an ambitious quilter. She brought 5 wonderful quilts to share.
  • Snuggle Up - from a book Peace Quilts - a wedding gift for a great Niece and her husband
  • Faberge - Jinny Beyer kit for her husband's daughter
  • Bear Tracks - from Quilt Patch Progressive Quilt Class
  • Let Me Surprise You - from a Charlotte Angotti lecture and class
  • One Heart - from an Australian Quilt Magazine - for her granddaughter who just recently married






Nancy Barkume displayed this great quilt - The back is as clever as the front.












Carol Allen prepared the autograph quilt on the left for her parents 70th anniversary

The pillows are for her daughter and friends who walked in the two day Avon Walk for Breast cancer





Joan Bingman made this "Windows" quilt for a Christmas gift.


Laura Geiser showed her "Crazy Quilt" (left). It is her first quilt which she embroidered for 25 years.

On the right is her "Upholstery Quilt" which she created on one week using all remnants from Hancock Fabrics.


A happy Lynne Fishburn shows her "Scrap Happy Sunflowers" which was pieced by Libby Dudley, quilted by Lynne Fishburn, and had the binding applied by Pat Alfredson. This quilt is a Thank You to Lynne for service to Cardinal Quilters.


Carol Conahan brought her tree skirt featuring "PeppermintTwist" blocks and two table toppers from "Art to Heart"





Dotty Eisenhour shows off a few of the 60 Peppermint Twist blocks she won.

Jim Melton showed a group of fabrics he purchased while on a cruise - here is his description and five of his fabrics are shown at the bottom

What do most passengers do when cruising on a superliner? Some passengers read, sleep, sun themselves, swim in pools, pay for body rubs, drink heavily, see movies, go to trivia quizzes (for example; what was the name of General Custers horse?), when docked take expensive ship sponsored bus tours, or buy necklaces or expensive blouses and shirts made from loud flowery cotton prints, or just relax.

What do quilters do on superliner cruises when not quilting like me? As soon as the ship docks I ask and search for fabric shops. I first ask from the ship staff about the location of fabric shops. The majority of staff have no idea of what you are talking about. But most local people do and direct you to a shop. I visited Tahiti, American Samoa, French Polynesia . New Zealand, and other small islands on a Princess 30 day cruise out of Sydney , Australia. I was looking for their kinds of printed cotton material and found some, usually located in the shop in a prominent corner. What did I purchase; red and black, black and white moko cotton, circular design (te koripi wae o maui), ti rakau mauri cotton, dark blue and white designs , truly New Zealand 100 percent cotton of sheep, lizards, and bird designs, and black and white classic Tahiti designs. All probably for less than 100 dollars.

I showed some of these beautiful prints to some of the passengers I had met. Some responses were "what is it, what will you do with all of it, and "boy do you have good taste in color and cotton material" so for the majority of passengers who purchased loud flowery cotton shirts and blouses, of which many will never wear at home, let me plan on making something unique in the future as a memory of this long cruise beginning at Sydney, Australia and ending at Los Angeles in October and November.







Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Show and Tell - November 23, 2010

What a great Show and Tell!

Angie helps Max to display his quilt

We started even before the meeting. Our special guest exhibitor was Max Gainer. The Eight Point Star quilt he brought was started by his Grandmother Dobbins in about 1925. She completed the star blocks but then fell ill and was unable to complete the top. The blocks were passed on to his mother but she had no interest in finishing the quilt. His late wife purchased one muslin and started to sew the top, but did not complete it.

Max pondered what to do with the blocks until he went to Clarksburg West Virginia and met two ladies who were willing to complete the quilt. When they saw the blocks, they decided that the muslin used in the spacer blocks should be replaced with antique muslin to do justice to the star blocks. The gal who was doing the piecing proceeded to take the quilt apart and replace the blocks. When the piecing was done, the second lady quilted it on a long arm quilter.

I think you will agree that Max has reason to be proud of this heirloom quilt which took 85 years to complete.


Carol Conahan displays a few of the "You Shouldn't Have" blocks she won in the "Have you tried this?" raffle at the November business meeting.

Bert's "Black? White? French Braided" from French Braid Obsession by Jane Hardy Miller.

Bert shows her "Christmas Dreams I". The quilt is based on an Alex Anderson pattern but the trees are appliqued not pieced.

Barbara Zygiel presented her "Hanging Stars" baby quilt.

Pat Albertson wowed us with her "day Lilies". The quilt is hand appliqued and Machine quilted. The pattern is by Pacific Rim.

Barbara Dove shared her latest creation. Just fantastic!

Joan Peake has obviously been a busy quilter. She brought this wonderful 10x10 quilt to show. She used all repro colors in the fun project that was quick to complete.

Joan also brought this Blue and Brown quilt which was from a design by Robyn Pandolf.

And to complete her presentation Joan shared this Country or Folklore quilt which was a Block of the Month quilt designed by Jan Patek.

Lynn Eccleston was another busy bee. Her "Daliahs" was made from a Kathy Lincoln workshop at the QU show. After Lynn took a class on embellishing at the Vermont Quilt Festival with Mary Stovi she embellished it.

Lynn's "Bright Zig Zag" was made from a Quilter's Quarterly pattern designed by
Diane Henry (Springfield QU)

One of Lynn's "Bargello in the Round" Christmas skirts. She made two from the Valerie McMickle workshop.

Lynn completed "Busy as a Bee" which was made from the Bees that our members made and pieced by Beth and Rhonda.

Gigi Corbin brought her "Steffi's Choice". This wedding gift for her niece was based on a Kay England design.




Ro Coller demonstrates the steps for the "Interlocking Pinwheels" quilt on the right which she made at a Didi Salvatierra class. The quilt starts as a simple quilt with a border as shown on the left. The center picture shows the cutting lines. After cutting, repositioning, and sewing the blocks back together, and some borders - voila - the final quilt. Intrigued? Ro is trying to schedule a class for the summer - plan to attend.

Ro also brought her quilt made from Tonga Batiks.

This is Ro's Chinese Coins quilt made using the blocks from the Quilt-In. The quilt features Greek key sashing and a floral border.


And this is Ro's Blue/Lavender Sunflowers made from donated blocks which she reworked and bordered.

Patricia Bolton brought her Map quilt which she made for her grandchildren.

Patricia also showed us her Card Trick Steelers Quilt.
I hope she will also share her secret on getting these done while also completing all those backpacks.

Angie Miller brought one of the favors she made for her parents 50th wedding anniversary party. The packet features her parents wedding picture.


Dotty Eisenhour (with help from her friends) displays three charity quilts she completed.