Together again in September

 Tacoma Lakes quilters showed off their summer stitching at the first meeting for the 2023-2024 season. We are glad to be back together. 

Andrea has been busy paper piecing these pretty square in a square blocks. She used her polka dot fabrics in bright and happy colors. Her little quilt will go on the coffee table where her cat Lottie likes to sleep. We do have to make sure our pets are happy!

Barb's Christmas wallhanging is called Posh Santa from Sew Kind of Wonderful. The pattern uses the QCR Mini Curve ruler. Pretty sassy, Santa!

Barb showed us this jelly roll rug she made. We will be doing a workshop on this one. The pattern is free on the internet.

Barb showed us her tulip and sunflower quilt tops. She used the Mini Wonderful Curves book for these. 

I made another snowball mini-quilt this summer. I used Doug Leko's mini folded corner ruler that Sue Rap demonstrated last spring. Fun and easy to make, I'm sure I will make more of these in the future. 

Betty is rightfully proud of this beautiful quilt that shows off the ladies in the center of each block. Kathy Boudreau long-arm quilted this one. 

Carol collected cardinal fabrics for her striking quilt. 

Can't you just tell this is a Donna M quilt? Those are her colors, all right! The pattern is free on the Robert Kaufman website. The pattern is called Burst of Color and uses Ariga Wilson's charm pack. 

Of course, Donna did not like "all" of the fabrics in the charm pack so she made potholders using the colors she did not think fit with her quilt. Such a good idea; I know there are often colorations in a charm pack that just don't seem all that charming, so potholders are a wonderful way to use those. 

Elly may be smiling but she said she really did not like this quilt. Tacoma members loudly disagreed! 

Judy said this wall hanging was old and done! She took a Judy Barrows workshop and wasn't happy with her fabric choices so she set it aside. She decided to finish it and we all told her how much we liked it. Done feels good.

Leanne belongs to a Quilts of Valor group and made this lovely quilt. The pattern is called "Elizabeth" and is free on the Fat Quarter Quilt Shop website. A lovely quilt that someone will enjoy. 

Various Carol Doak paper piecing blocks that Leanne made. We are all amazed at her expertise with paper piecing. Leanne has conquered the technique!

Meliss made this fat quarter friendly quilt, her own design. 

Sandi has a big smile for this beautiful Delectable Mountains quilt. She got the pattern Bonnie Hunter's quilt blog. 

Sandy made "Zip Zap"from Fons and Porter. Bright and full of movement. Good job, Sandy!

Sharon showed her handstitched apron in pastel colors. A pretty apron to keep your clothes clean while you cook. Nice to see other ways we can use our quilting skills.

Tacoma picnic by the lake

 

Tacoma had another delightful day by the lake at Donna Maxim's cottage. What a treat to be in such a beautiful setting with our quilting friends. We had show and tell, of course, and we got to see what our stitching friends have been up to since last we met.

Meliss made the traditional Roman stripe block done Amish style. Interesting stripe border framing the twelve blocks. 

Andrea showed off her applique shirt that she made years ago. We were all admiring her flowers in the parking lot before we carpooled to Donna's cottage. Andrea is always stylish! Wonder what she said that made Meliss laugh so hard?

I have been busy making small quilts for charity lately. I used a Creative Grids log cabin ruler to make this quilt that features farm animals. I bought the fabric at a quilt group auction some years ago. There are pigs, tractors, cows, and blue skies in this quilt. I'm hoping some future farmer will love this quilt as much as I do!

Another quilt using the Creative Grids log cabin ruler. I like the calming greens in this one. 

I bought another ruler recently after we had a demo from Sue Rap at our last meeting. The ruler is for making folded corner blocks. The ruler was perfect for making this snowball quilt. I chose lots of bright happy prints for the "snowballs". I also tried my hand at free motion quilting on the border using a quilt stencil I have had for years. It was fun to free motion stitch the design and much easier than I thought it would be. Who knew?

Donna had lots to show us, I guess lakeside life agrees with her! 

The Maine themed quilt is from Jane's Quilting and Design Tea Party. 

                                        Donna designed this quilt!

"Dancing Diamonds Gem Bag" from Plum Easy patterns by Bethany Miller. 

Sweet dreams with this sweet pillowcase!

Jean calls this "Woolly Joy" and it is her own design. Good job, Jean, and a nice addition to our Christmas Word challenge. 

Donna W. created another of her fabulous applique quilts. This one is from Yoko Saito called Vases of Flowers. One of the great things about Donna's work is that she finishes what she starts! Amazing, right? 

Speaking of amazing, Leann designed another wonderful quilt using EQ8 software. She calls this "Ribbons of Whimsy". 

Last but not least, Barb designed her own "Christmas Candy" quilt. Who doesn't love Christmas candy?

We all had fun at our midsummer picnic. Here are a few of us enjoying the day. 

Thank you for inviting us, Donna M!

And it's a wrap, folks

 Our last official meeting of the 2022-2023 season. Tacoma show and tell started off with saying good bye to Janet who is moving out of state. She brought along a good sized stash to sell off. There were many who gladly parted with their money to add some interesting fabrics to their own stashes. 

Janet had several quilts that she has made over the years. 

Janet used a rip and tear technique for this little quilt called No More Quilt Police. 

Janet based this on a picture of a 1910 child's quilt that she saw at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Ann used the Nine Wild Blueberries pattern for this beautiful wall hanging. The pattern is by Christy Andrews. Ann purchased the pattern at Bolt during our quilt caravan trip. 

Ann is member of Maine Machine Quilting, too. She made this Welsh inspired mini for a Green with Envy challenge. 

Jean made this very pretty quilt for a baby shower. Love the pink and green! The pattern is called "Playful" by Cluck Cluck Sew. 

Kate showed us some quilts she was working on over the winter months. Asian fabrics look glorious in this quilt. 

And Kate was inspired by a Pinterest post to make this one she calls "African Queens". Not only is the fabric so interesting, there are bead earrings that bounce and glow. 

Leann used the traditional Storm at Sea block as the centerpiece for her quilt. Again, you can't go wrong with pink and green.

"Dinner and Dessert" is what Leann calls this cute quilt. She used fabrics from the 2023 Shop Hop.

Leann really outdid herself with this one! "Prima Ballerina" is a pattern from Pride and Joy. She used a font from Electric Quilt for the letters. Leann is entering her quilt in the judged category at Maine Quilts this year. Look for it and vote for it in Best of Show!

Elly used a Bonnie Hunter pattern called "Jamestown Landing for her blue and orange creation. Lots of string piecing that Elly found tedious but  she kept at it with a great results.

Judy made her strip tube blocks for a charity quilt. Elly machine quilted it for her. Someone will feel very fortunate to receive this gift.

I made this mini quilt after seeing photo of a very old quilt online. I'm going to put this quilt in the Maine Quilts auction to benefit C.R.O.W.N.S., which is the charity for the show and has also been our Tacoma charity this past year. Bid high and bid often!

I bought the Nine Wild Blueberries pattern at Bolt, too! I did not really like the border, although I'm changing my mind after seeing Anne's quilt, so I added a sort of picnic blanket fabric. I'll call my version "Blueberry Picnic". 

That's all for now, have a wonderful summer. See you at the picnic in July!

Christmas in July and more!

Rain, rain, rain. This week we had our next to the last meeting for the year. Wouldn't it be nice to end the year with sunshine, sandals, and thoughts of V-A-C-A-TION? Well, not yet it seems but at least we have our quilts and friendships to keep us warm. 

Sue brought in her Christmas word quilt, our chapter challenge for Maine Quilts 2023. Look for it at the show. Lots of paper piecing which Sue enjoys. Don't you love her little spacer blocks?

 

Barb is making a Christmas candy wall hanging for Maine Quilts 2023. She's giving us a sneak peek with this little block. 

Janet said a fond farewell to Tacoma before she is moving out of state. Here is her disappearing nine patch table runner. 

Elly made her Delectable Mountain quilt with beautiful blues and yellows. Looks like a sunny day in the mountains. 

Elly made this vibrant quilt using Cindy McCoy's pattern called In the Beginning. The pattern was offered as part of an online quilt along at http://needlespot.com/. 

Donna made this darling fall quilt from Bunny Hill. The pattern is 101 Maple Street. A very fun applique project. 

Ramona is so adept at making all kinds of quilt. This is a small table runner featuring 1930's fabrics and hexagons. 

On a trip to Alaska Ramona picked up a pattern that included the animal silhouettes. That was the starting point for Ramona to create this beautiful quilt for her great grandson. Bear paw blocks in the corners and truck fabric on the back. Ramona designed the quilt using EQ8. 

Kate has been away for the winter but made it back to Tacoma. Kate's daughter is a rep for Benartex so Kate gets a lot of fabric from her. She's used those fabrics well in this table runner which will be donated for a church charity. 

Kat made this patriotic quilt for Quilts of Valor. Do you remember seeing Kat work on this at our quilt retreat? The pattern is Patriotic Parade by Ann Johnson for Connecting Threads. Kat said she struggles with patterns but someone will be very glad that she persisted with this one. Lovely.

So Kat has a hard time following patterns but she is a whiz at winging it, wouldn't you say? This big quilt started with the center and just grew and grew. Would you think to put that center on point? It certainly makes a statement!

We had a good showing at our last BOM. The theme was sunflowers and crows. Barbara Duffy was our winner for this last challenge. I hope we get to see some finished quilts at our first meeting in September. Many thanks to Meliss for planning our monthly themes and organizing this fun event.