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November - Lori Allison





Lori Allison from Allison Quilt Designs was our speaker.

Lori Allison is a former Home Ec (FACS) teacher who found herself writing full color, fully-illustrated quilt patterns for her students who didn't want to make "grandma quilts."  In 2005 she launched Allison Quilt Designs and has more than 40 patterns carried by major distributors in the quilt industry.  Lori teaches quilting, participates in five quilt guilds, does long arm quilting for others, designs & quilts ribbon-winning competition quilts, and, of course, designs quilt patterns, "For Novice Quilter's Aged 12 and Up!"

To find out more about Lori Allison and Allison Quilt Designs check out here blog here.

September - Chris Hoover - Whirligig Designs

Chris Hoover from Whirligig Designs was our speaker for the September meeting.  She began quilting over 22 years ago and a “new” hobby soon became an all-consuming passion. Sometimes she feels like she think “quilts” because everything she see influences her designs — from color and texture, to architecture and nature. You can check out her website here: www.whirligigdesigns.com

August - Tricia Spitzmueller

We were lucky enough to have Tricia Spitzmueller speak at our August guild meeting.  The title of her lecture was:

Psst ... I Think My Quilt's Telling Me Something

A wonderful run through of Tricia’s prize-winning quilts and the sassy stories behind their evolution.  Quilters know that they are attracted to making a certain quilt.  It often just says “Make me, make me!”  But why?  Learn how to talk to your quilts and get surprising information out of them through color choices, design choices and images.  Fun, humorous and unanticipated discoveries await you!

This is a photo of one of her amazing quilts.

Not only are Tricia’s quilts gorgeous, but her stories of why she created these quilts were amazing.  She told about her inner journey as she was working on these quilts and what she realized after they were finished. There were times during her lecture I wanted to cry, laugh and scream with joy all at the same time.

She invited us to ponder how own inner voice might be speaking to us in unique and individual ways, and consider our quilts as experiments not as quilts. To find out more about Tricia, check out her website http://triciaspitzmueller.org

Here are 3 photos of some of our wonderful Show and Tell projects.

 

Our next meeting is September 11. Our speaker is Chris Hoover - Whirligig Designs. She began quilting over 22 years ago and a “new” hobby soon became an all-consuming passion. Sometimes she feels like she think “quilts” because everything she see influences her designs — from color and texture, to architecture and nature. She will have some of her patterns for sale.



July - Kim Cooke

Kim Cooke, Maple Grove, MN was our guest presenter. 

Kim’s presentation was on “Color, contrast and scale”

and “how to pick the right fabrics for my quilt.”  

Here are a few of our show and tell quilts.

4-Patch Kaleidoscope Class

On July 10th, Kim Cooke from Maple Grove, MN, taught a “4-Patch Kaleidoscope” class from 1:30 - 6 pm.

Several of our Country Quilters Guild members attended this class. Those who took the class really enjoyed it and learnt a lot from Kim.

The Stash---A Husband’s Perspective

By Arnie Werner, with inspiration from his wife, Country Quilter, Judy Werner

My wife comes home from work and says: “Honey, I’m going to build a log cabin with fat quarters and there will be flying geese and grandma’s flower garden and lone stars.”  So, I’m thinking to myself, “This is awesome!  We’re going to buy a lake home with large rooms, we’ll have a garden like my mother’s and listen to nature under the stars,” and then she drops the bomb shell and says, “And, ALL I need is more fabric.”

More Fabric!  You’ve got to be kidding me!!  Let me explain—we live in an older 2-story home and when you come in the front entry there is a closet and you would expect that’s where we would hang coats and hats, but no!  It’s just a place to store material.  Also, on the main floor is a bedroom converted into a sewing room with a closet, also.  Not only will you find stash in this room, but the closet has shelves of fabric.  But, in order to get to it, you must first pull out the shelving in the middle that is on wheels which gets pulled out.  I’ll give you just one guess what’s on those racks!!! 

Moving onward we proceed upstairs to a long, wide hallway with bookshelves on each side and as tall as the ceiling.  Here you will find batiks, civil war reproductions, 30’s, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, patriotic, flannels, florals, baby and children’s fabric, plus all the stuff I forget or no longer can see.  Like many older homes, we have walk-in closets…well, that’s sort of a lie because you no longer can walk into them.  One must be careful when opening those doors as the piles of quilting projects may come crashing down on top of you.  I contacted the TV show “Hoarders”, but they said our home didn’t qualify, stating that we have to be UNABLE to walk through ANY room in the house, not just the closets.  So, be patient, this episode will air eventually!!

Last year I came up with this terrific idea.  I’ll buy my wife a long-arm quilting machine and slowly her stash will fade away.  OH MY GOD!  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  Now that she has this machine, she figures she can do twice as much and, therefore, needs TWICE as much fabric!  Not only do I have to contend with all the stash, but do you know how many accessories they make for these quilting machines?  It’s endless!  Should have gone with Plan B and bought her some historical building and she could have started her own quilt store…heck, she already has the inventory and we could have emptied our house.  The problem, of course, would have been finding a large enough facility.

When my wife and I go on a mini-vacation or away for a weekend, we head to cities and towns with antique and quilt stores.  And, the reason I said “buy her a historic building” is that I find the most interesting quilt stores are those that were once a bank, railroad station, or general store, just to name a few.  What is scary, however, is when the staff call my wife by name when she walks into any quilt store in the upper Midwest; not only that, but they get this glow of excitement and a smile on their face.  Once can hardly blame them, I guess, because they know that sales will now be up for the month!!

Last of all, I’m thinking once my wife reads this, I will be single again.  So, if any of you quilting ladies are interested in a relationship, send me an e-mail and, yes, photos of my half of the fabric stash will be available upon request!!! 

Happy Quilting!!!