Old Red Coolers and Family Trees

My "Family Reunion"applique club was on Tuesday of this week. This is the one that I teach at Quilts Etc. in Sandy. We are into the club four months and everyone is having a great quilty time and all are coming along very well.This is a center tree block almost complete, just the leaves are left to applique. Each leaf has the name of a family member on it.
This months kit is an old red cooler and the word "generations" along with a small stitchery;
"we are who we are, because they were who they were".

Here are appliques for the cooler traced onto freezer paper and then onto fabric, marked around the edges of the paper and cut out ready to baste onto the background for applique.
She's working on the letters now.
Someone else has traced their layout for the generation block. The layout is see-thru and allows her to baste her letters in the correct position onto the background fabric before she appliques them on. Now she's tracing the letters onto the freezer paper.
She has cut the freezer paper letters out and is pressing them onto the right side of the fabric.
Next she will mark her turning line and cut out the letters leaving about 1/4" seam allowance past the freezer paper. She will remove the paper after the letters are glue-basted onto the background ready for applique.

There are about 40 students in this club. Some members come every month and some live too far away to come so the shop sends their kits monthly. Some members just come and pick up the kit and do it on their own.

Everyone stays busy preparing the blocks so that they can try to applique them throughout the month before the next months meeting.

Even though everyone stays busy, we get alot of visiting and catching up in!
We talk alot about the names that we have put on our trees and about family history. Some have shared memories of past family reunions or even reunions they are planning.

We enjoy each others company and also enjoy getting to know those who are new to the club.

The shop has a very nice large classroom with very friendly and helpful staff. I love teaching there and they always have lots of quilts hanging to inspire another project or two.

Well- back to work on block #5!

Clothesline Club

Yesterday I went to my Clothesline club meeting at Quilts Etc.

Sandra Mack is our teacher and is so darling and fun, I really look forward to it every month. We get together and talk about everything 1930's era. Sandra gives us a history every month as well as shows us a project done in 1930's fabrics. Those of us who want to do the project sign up and then she cuts a kit for it to be picked up at next months meeting. This quilt is a beautiful double irish chain. It is destined to be handquilted.

This is an apron finished from last months kit. It's called the

"Housewife Apron". Don't you love how simple and cute it is? It looks like it would come in handy when hanging clothes on the line- Lots of room for clothespins.

Here's my friend Robin showing some old patterns that she got from her aunt.

There was even some crochet left in them! Oh, and we all get to wear aprons

during class!

Next is one of the quilts that we made from a kit that Sandra cut for us. The pattern is called Garden Sunshine. I think yo-yo's will go in the center of each pinwheel flower after it's quilted. Don't you just love that yellow sashing?

Here's my friend Judy with a table-runner that she also did from one of the kits. The pattern is called Flowers for Mama. She is wonderwoman! She started this in the afternoon and had it all pieced, quilted and bound by dinner. Someone should have brought her flowers!









We like to bring lots of things that were our grandmothers or our mothers and show them to all there. These are pillowcases that Helen did for her hopechest when she was a girl. I love them!








Here's another set that Helen made. I think it's adorable that they match her
outfit.








WOW! Look at this quilt. This is Kathleens. It's also one of our past kits and was supossed to be a lapquilt but she loved the block so much that she just kept sewing
and
sewing
and
sewing
until she had 99 blocks complete! Now she has to add 1 more row to fit her bed. She also said she may handquilt it. Fabulous!

Here's a close up photo of her beatiful quilt so far. I'm really wishing my fan quilt
was complete. I've wanted to make one for a long time, sigh:) By the way, all of the patterns that Sandra cuts for our kits are by Darlene Zimmerman.









This crochet butterfly was found in an old cedar sewing box. I think it would be
really cute framed with vintage fabric behind it and maybe even an old photo or buttons.











Here's a vintage apron that used to belong to someones mother! Oh so cute.










Shown here is some vintage fabric that I would love to have in my collection. Lucky her! All in all, it was a wonderful day to meet with friends and share with them some of the things that we love.

Welcome

Well- here I am in blogger-land! I hope you find a comfy chair, make some cocoa and settle in for a good read:) I plan to tell you a lot about my quilting adventures and lots of other fun and interesting things along the way. Feel free to look around and read about the creation of each of my quilt patterns. (buttons to the right) I will continue writing about each one as I get more time. To those of you who are my quilty students, you may click on the club name to see all of the blocks we have completed so far and also information concerning the next month. (such as layout size needed). I hope that you enjoy your stay here and come back to visit often!