November already!

Sharon Costedio was our guest workshop teacher at our last meeting. Sharon taught a workshop last October called "Kylee's Kite". Since that workshop was such a success, we invited her back for another session before she heads home to Florida. Originally from Brunswick, Sharon is a dynamic and patient teacher. This year she guided us in making a pineapple block using the Creative Grids pineapple ruler. At our next meeting, many Tacoma members brought in their pineapple blocks. 

 

Barbara with her tablerunner.

 

Jean made a one block mat and a three block tablerunner. 

Carol finished her cheery red tote bag and a Christmas panel quilt. 

Ann T. finished two bumble bee print blocks. 

 

Donna M. used some of her favorite blue scraps for her pineapple block. 

Wow! Donna M. made this gorgeous quilt using an Edyta Sitar Laundry Basket Quilt pattern called "Alaska Rainbow". 

Leanne made a drunkard's path variation for her Heather Kojan inspired quilt block. Leanne is making up many variations of Heather Kojan's Interweave block for a workshop Leanne is going to lead in May. 

Meliss used one of her Aboriginal fabrics for the back of this quilt for her grandson...

...an eclipse quilt to commemorate that event last year. The pattern is a Miss Make Pattern Maker called Clava. I'm sure he will treasure this little quilt!

 

Kat with her bright and beautiful pineapples. 

Leanne made a quilt for a friend whose husband died. The pattern is Maple Fluries by Judy Niemey of Quiltworx. Foundation piecing, of course. We all liked this one and what a treasure for her friend since she used the husbands shirts for this one. 

 

Susan H. made this very green quilt. Simple and delightful.

 

Donna W. with her pineapple tablerunner. That lime green is one of Donna's favorites. 

 

Diane J. used a quote from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem to make this quilt while "brooding" over the environment. The nest is made of narrow strips of brown fabric knotted together. Very tactile. 

Sue K. with her cheery pineapple block. How interesting to see how this block changes with the fabrics chosen. 

Lori brought in a number of pieces she has been working on. The first is a small desktop organizer. 

Lori with a Christmas tree made of scraps, her own design. 

The Christmas tree really changes with the different fabrics Lori used. 

Our "group shot" of the many pineapple blocks we made.

Barb showed us a number of blocks she has been working on. This one uses the Star 60 ruler from Studio 180. 

These candle mats use the Happy Holidays pattern from Atkinson Design. 

Andrea made 80 red strip blocks to make this quilt for her granddaughter. Bright and beautiful!

Sue R with 2 tablerunners. Aren't they beautiful? The blue one is from Donna M's workshop and the summery buoys was a kit from the Fabric Garden.  

 

Happy sewing everyone! I hope you are inspired by one of these gorgeous quilts!

Sew Chateaux

I heard from several of our chapter members who visited the new quilt shop in Lisbon, so Barbara and I decided to take a trip out there ourselves to see the shop. For those who may be curious as we were, Sew Chateaux is located at 8 Oak Street, but it's actually right on the main street in this lodge building. A sign at the front door directs you to a  side door at the left of the building. 

There are a couple of parking spaces on the main street in front of the building, but if you turn right at the corner of the lodge, there's a parking lot, and that's where the side door is. 

 

The shop is nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be more of a gift shop, but it's definitely a quilt shop--two rooms with lots of notions, lots of beautiful fabrics, patterns, and a few items that you wouldn't expect to see in a quilt shop, like paints. Not sure what those were for. 

Precuts are plentiful. There are no loose fat quarter cuts at present, but owner Michelle plans to have those available at some point in time.  

 

 

A lot of quilt shops have sort of their own flavor, be it modern, primitive, traditional, and so on. Sew Chateaux has its own flavor too, but I'm not sure what I'd call it. There was a big section of bolts of Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements in all the different colorways plus fat quarters bundles; a collection of William and Morris type larger scale prints; a collection of Gustav Klimt's painterly fabrics; background fabrics, Christmas fabrics and Halloween fabrics in non traditional styles and colors. Not many blenders that I could see, but I might have missed them. There were some quilt kits too. I did buy a bundle of Gustav Klimt fat quarters in neutrals, golds and blacks with lots of gold metallic.

 

First time in a quilt shop I've never been to is a little overwhelming, especially if you don't have a shopping plan in mind. Rather, this was an exploratory trip, and I was happy with what I saw. I'll definitely be visiting again.  

October 15

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

     

Leanne started off Show and Tell with a wintry pillow. What's not to love? A dog, a cat, a deer and a golden sparkling tree. Leanne says this is "in hoop" embroidery, Christmas silhouette. 

 

Next is Leann's  Halloween pillow from Emily Taylor collage. 

 Donna M. made a vinyl mesh market bag from Cut Loose Press. Donna says this is a great bag to take to the beach because you just shake out the sand from the mesh bottom. 

 Donna has made a number of these beautiful baskets, this one is ocean themed. Pattern from Aunties Two Camden Bowls. That dress is pretty special, too, don't you think? 

Donna is adventurous with her bags and totes. This pocket book uses cork and is from another Aunties Two patterns-Cork Totes. 

 Donna made a baby quilt using a pattern called Pinwheel Garden. She used fat quarters from Ruby Star Company and an ABC panel for the back. The sashing between the pinwheels makes this simple pattern special. 

 

October 1, 2025

Anne T. showed us one of her Halloween pillowcases that will first do duty as storage for someone's Halloween haul. Does it look big enough? 

Carol made a casserole carrier and

a Nativity. The Nativity is an old UFO that will be sent of to her granddaughter. 

Diane was experimenting with beading on a quilt with this colorful quilt. Diane always has something special to show us. Very creative!

The embroidery was an inspiration taken from a “coloring book” intended for adults - stitched in linen, appliquéd to fabric with a few rounds of quilting stitches. Beautiful!

Jean made a colorful tote bag from a fabric line showing all the colors available. Jean cut off the color names and numbers, leaving only the sample colors. I bet you didn't realize you could make something this pretty from a sample line, did you? 

 

Sandi H. used a panel to make this wall hanging: Footprints in the Sand.

Leanne T. brought in a number of things...first off this turkey..

and a spider web...

and a jack o'lantern. All paper pieced and all from EQ8. 

Leanne will be teaching us this "interleave" technique soon. Leanne learned the technique from Heather Kogan at Maine quilts this summer. 

 Barbara brought in  her seasonal strip wall hangings. Barb made these for a challenge several years ago. We have another seasonal challenge coming up for the Maine Quilt show, so get your creativity on with these examples of what you can do! (Barb is on the left and co-president Ann on the right)