plymouth piece makers

jan 12 meeting

2012-01-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

This month’s meeting was hosted by Patricia with guests Harriet, Miriam, Janet and Pris. The evening featured a birthday cake from Bouteloua Bakery in Ballard to celebrate Maurine’s 80th birthday. Regretfully Maurine was not able to join us.

Show & Tell
Patricia went on and on about StashFest, a fundraiser for the La Conner Quilt Museum. As the coordinator, she is working hard to coordinate many different parts—a bevy of fabric presenters, a Book Sale, a Flea Market and exciting quilting Experiences—all to sell at the two-day event.

Janet was well enough to join us! She has been home-bound for months and tonight she drove to the meeting. We were all thrilled to see her. In the last few months she bought a top-of-the-line Gammill long-arm and she has been quilting up a storm. Her very first quilt will be given to Plymouth House of Healing. She had a baby quilt with a top pieced by Jeanne and delightful butterfly stitching. Janet also had the batik quilt top from Maurine that she is thinking about how to quilt next.

Pris made a set of napkins and a table runner with a rooster theme as a Christmas gift. She is knitting a sweater and still finishing up the fabulous bird quilt for her niece in California—which she is hand-stitching five hours a day! She has two other quilts in the works—her YF quilt and one made with tiny squares adopted from Shannon’s friend.

Miriam brought a big bolt of fabric with red swirls on white—15 yards total—that she is prepared to share. She brought a fun baby quilt with cutesy jungle fabric. The big splash of the night were two blue jean quilts she produced for Patricia and Shannon—absolutely fab and fun!

Harriet gets the title of professional carpetbagger with her huge bag stuffed with quilts. She made two jazzy scrap quilts—one for a neice, the other for a nephew; a burgundy and green quilt for Plymouth House of Healing; a square-in-square quilt for Kristin Remole; and a quilt with outdoor scenes for another nephew. Whew!

november 11 meeting

2011-11-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great meeting at Pris' home for this month's Piece Makers meeting: Shannon, Harriet, Pris, Flora, Miriam and Patricia were in attendance.

Show & Tell
The meeting started with Patricia showing two quilts tops sent by Maurine that were made by her friend Marty. They are wonderful batik compositions—one will be finished by Flora for a girl YF quilt. The other will get paired with a back and be finished for a boy YF quilt.

Patricia showed a sample yukata quilt that she is uber-stitching by hand. She also talked about a master quilt she is planning to make in the coming year.

Flora shared a sixties-colored quilt that she finished for Plymouth House of Healing. She also raved about her previous weekend weaving workshop. Hosted at her home, a group of native weavers learned from the renowned Salish weaver Susan Pavel. The Friday and Saturday event completely energized and inspired Flora.

Pris showed us her progress on the bird/fish quilt she is making for a 13-year old niece. As she described the quilt, it is filled with unplanned perfection and imperfection.

Pris is cogitating about making a quilt for Emily's (nee Hanson) husband who just got out of Iraq. A series of N-Sid-Sen t-shirts have been collected. Emily and her husband met at N-Sid-Sen at camp and got married there last summer. Plymouth people don't know many people in the military and we should honor them.

Miriam turned 87 on 11/11/11! The birthday girl brought a Christmas teddy-bear that she made with poinsettia and holly fabric. (We can use the bear as a giveaway at church or for an auction.) She's finished her YF quilt already—it's a perfectly wonderful jean quilt that was widely admired by all. Both Patricia and Shannon asked to be on Miriam's blue jean quilt receiver list. Miriam also brought us all gifts—gourmet soaps by Sierra Nevada Soap Company.

Shannon brought two huge piles of giveaway fabric leftover from a friend's garage sale. She has not been feeling well recently.

Harriet and Rob are just back from a trip to Europe where they visited a niece in Rome and took a cruise to the eastern Mediterranean. In her Big Bag, she packed:
    a quilt with big circles for her great niece
    a checkered quilt for Plymouth House of Healing
    a YF quilt for Kristin, Brigitta's daughter who graduates in December
    a quilt for a great nephew who is an outdoorsman

october 11 meeting

2011-10-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Miriam’s home looks festive and bright with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and apple cider to delight. Miriam and Flora are the only Piece Makers who were able to make the meeting. They had a lovely time together.

Miriam’s first quilt is a small, pastel bargello design inspired by the technique Flora shared last year and made with donated strips of fabrics at one of our meetings that Miriam hung on a broomstick to arrange in the pattern you see, then stitched, and quilted. The spring florals used in this one make for a perfect table topper or a small wheelchair quilt.

The second quilt you see was also done by Miriam who quilted the diamond pattern top she brought to last month’s meeting and it was made out of more donated fabrics from Piece Makers too.

Flora brought four quilts. The first was made in the bargello style last year from men’s shirting (not shown).

The second is made from a top that Janet Saulsbury donated earlier this year that called out to Flora to quilt. The backing was made from fabric donated by Maurine and other Piece Makers at meetings past.

The third is a memorial quilt made from T-shirts from a young woman’s collection who was an aspiring actress—just graduated from the Las Vegas School of Performing Arts—and was killed by a drunk driver in 2005. Danielle was Flora’s second cousin, the daughter of her cousin Stuart who she was raised with in Graham, WA.

The fourth is a baby quilt for Flora’s soon to be born grand-godson.

Maurine did not feel well enough to come tonight after all. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues in her healing process.

Guess who bought a Gammy?
Janet bought a 12' long arm for a great price. It’s so big that it only fits in her basement.

sept 11 meeting

2011-09-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

A busy group of quilters met at Patricia's house tonight. Refreshments were Theo caramels—yum.

BIG NEWS—We have two new quilters joining our group. (1) Karen G has pledged to make a YF quilt. We'll make a pilgrimage to Karen's home on Vashon Island one spring Saturday with brown bag lunches and a side trip to Island Quilter—the renowned store with 7000 bolts. (2) Merrily M has decided to learn more about quilting. She is a 4H gal who knows how to sew and has a project that she's already started.

Janet made it! She's been plagued with health problems since the spring. She's taken major time off for sick leave as she tries to find her way to health. Retiring earlier than planned is beginning to sound like a possible idea. Living close to Value Village, Janet has been picking up soft sheets that she'll upcycle into future quilts. Janet brought a charming creative piece that she finished as an exercise in a design book.

Harriet recently traveled to Colorado where she visited a nephew, his wife and two daughters (12 an d16 years). The two girls were delighted to receive two of Harriet's masterpieces. She also talked about a homey quilting store in Estes Park that was filled with quality cottons and a welcoming owner. The hospitality encouraged Harriet buy an armload of inspirational fabrics. She brought along a tie-dyed cotton that she twisted into a wrinkle texture at Grunewald Guild retreat this summer.

Miriam has been a busy quilter and sewer. In the last month she made 10 coloring book bags per a request from Brandon. She brought two tote bags for June to give to wheelchair ladies (they are quite flowery). Plus a pretty comfort quilt. And a big surprise for Jane. (Be at Plymouth on Sunday to see.) Miriam is our hero!

Patricia told the tale of working for a month to make an online store for her yukata cottons and then deciding that she didn't want to run an online store. She showed a project she is working on with 23 patterns pieces and yukata fabrics. She is also spearheading a fundraiser for the La Conner quilt museum this coming Spring called StashFest.

Pris shared a photo of Julie Thomas' quilt on her dorm bed. It looked like something out of Martha Stewart magazine. Pris has a young teen relative in California who coveted Julie's quilt so Pris is making a remarkable quilt for this girl featuring bird fabrics. It is an awesome production, all with hand sewing.

Please pray for Maurine who was not able to make it tonight. She is struggling with severe pain as her back is still not healing.

august 11 meeting

2011-08-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

The hostess with the mostest was Flora for our August meeting. Five quilters gathered—Maurine, Miriam, Patricia, Harriet and Flora, with Flora's houseguest Marianne.

The evening started with giveaways—plastic bins of fabric, a box of denim pieces, and an unfinished quilting project. Thank you to Miriam, Harriet and Flora for being such great fabric foster parents.

We talked about our commitment to Plymouth House of Healing. We have managed to give a quilt to every resident and companion at the house. Our new idea is to give every companion a quilt and supply every resident bed with a quilt. To keep up with demand, three generous quilters made the following commitments:
    Maurine—one quilt, quite soon
    Harriet—one quilt, by the end of the year
    Flora—one quilt, by February
We'll need to keep up with making twin bed quilts for this group—and also remember that some of the residents and companions are men.

Show & Tell
Harriet wowed us beaded mini-quilts that she made while attending an embellishment workshop with Larken Van Horn at Grunewald Guild in central Washington.

Maurine managed to almost finish a twin-sized quilt with a top she adopted at another meeting. It looks great and just needs a little more sewing on the binding.

Marianne talked with us about her PhD thesis project—an urban studies focus on the art glass movement in the Pacific Northwest.

Flora displayed two pieces of hand-dyed fabrics made by Elin Noble. They were bought at a trunk show at CQA after Elin made a presentation about her life as a fabric dyer.

Miriam shared a lovely thank you note she received from Kira Miller for her YF quilt. With a pack of modern fabric squares, she made a contemporary quilt top that is a great beginning for a YF or House of Healing quilt. Her finale was a set of counter quilts, for drying dishes by the sink.

Patricia has gotten crafty with a set of napkins she's made out of yukata fabric—to go with Japanese plates—for a wedding gift. She also showed a lap quilt top, made with five yukata cottons.

july 11 meeting

2011-07-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

This month's three of us gathered over herb tea and raspberry squares.

Show & Tell
Susan is truly our quilt expert as an appreciator, historian and collector, as well as a maker. She was in New York at the end of March for the incredible exhibit "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts." Staged at the Armory, the five-day exhibit was funded by Joanna S. Rose. It was an eightieth birthday gift from Joanna’s husband—the opportunity to see her whole collection, 650 quilts, at one time. It was also a gift to New York as admission was free to the public.

The weekend before Susan traveled down to Portland for the summer meeting of the Columbia Willamette Quilt Study Group. Read about the meeting and TImeless Quilts exhibit at the Oregon History Museum at cwqsg.blogspot.com.

Sally Wagner, an original Piece Makers member, joined us for the evening. She attended a workshop at Grunewald Guild this summer. In the last 20 years, she had taken one workshop a summer there, with only a few years off. See www.grunewaldguild.com for more on the Guild.

Patricia reported that her sewing space has become more transformed. Before she used to sew in her dining room. These days, you can dine in her sewing room.

Diane Roubal sent three bins of quality quilting fabric to the meeting in Patricia's car. Sally took one home to give to a friend on welfare who loves to make quilts. One looks like it has Miriam's name on it and the other has Flora's.

june 11 meeting

2011-06-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated another great year and the completion of the YF quilts at Harriet’s lovely log home in Brier. Our evening started with a potluck dinner—with great rolled sandwiches, side salads and a fluffy lemon dessert with cookies. Yum.

Show and Tell
Harriet showed us two ambitious quilts she made for two great nieces.

Patricia had two unfinished projects in her bag—a baby quilt for a co-worker and Finn Ostrem’s YF quilt (yes, it is late!!!).

Maurine reported on how much the kids love their YF quilts. They really do appreciate them more than we think. Emma, the recipient of Maurine’s quilt this year, is planning to take hers to Germany for her one-year exchange program.

Flora included a card in both her YF quilts. Jasmine wrote back with a lovely note that included a photo. That meant a lot to Flora. Both Flora and Jasmine intend to stay in touch.

Also, Flora boldly donated a table shawl she made to the Duwamish Tribe Gala. It earned $250 for the cause and validated Flora’s northwest native artwork.

Diane has been busy working on her home. She commented that she loves the YF kids and makes the YF quilts out of her heart—in response to an idea of finding out what the students would like.

Susan has been busy. She is getting her downstairs floor finished and prepping a craft room for herself. Earlier in the spring she sold a family home on the Oregon coast in the tsunami zone. Good work!

Miriam brought back an Amish-style quilt that needed binding. Now finished, it will be given to June for a baby or home-bound parishioner.

Shannon recently finished a pillow for a friend who helped her with her garden. Currently she is fostering two adorable kittens that will be ready for adoption in mid-July.

a great day

2011-06-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

On June 5, the graduating high school seniors were wrapped with quilts made by the Piece Makers. Of the fourteen names on the list, seven were actually there that Sunday. It was a colorful and high-energy time.

a note from Liz Twiss

2011-05-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Pris was kind enough to give a lovely baby quilt to Liz when she moved east to be with her daughter and granddaughter. Here is a thank-you note from Liz:

Dear Plymouth Quilt-makers,

Shamefully belated but most sincere thanks for the beautiful quilt. It is absolutely gorgeous and a very welcome reminder (not that we need one—we think of and miss Plymouth constantly) of what we will always think of as our foundational church. The quilt arrived just before our Australian grandchildren arrived for a prolonged visit, and it was a wonderful base for the two older children (4 and 6) to play with the baby: when on the quilt they had to observe the special baby rules.

The church I'm attending here (founded in 1661) has hanging in the sanctuary a quilt its quilt-makers made for a departing minister in the 1950s, returned by the minister’s children following the death of his widow. I like the sense of connection you provide with “my” [not really—I’m still a Plymouth member] new church and Plymouth.

Fondly,
Liz Twiss

may 11 meeting

2011-05-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

We did it! We made 14 quilts for graduating YF seniors and had two extra for companions at Plymouth House of Healing.

Although Ingrid and Patricia were at the May meeting, they are not shown in the above photos. And the photo of Shannon and her quilt was taken when she delivered her quilt at a later date.

Here is the list of the students and the quilt makers:
Andrea Augustine-Diane Roubal
Emily Bristow-Ingrid Riley
Emily Buckner-Harriet Naf
Mahlon Dunnell-Janet Saulsbury
Lizzie Gore-Diane Roubal
Jasmine Isaacson-Flora Daglish
Emma LeValley-Maurine Noble
Kira Miller-Miriam Breidenstein
Finn Ostrem-Patricia Belyea
Kate Pattison-Shannon Kahn
Catherine Sandstrom-Sarah Stine
Henry Thomas-Flora Daglish
Julia Thompson-Pris Orr
Dan Zook-Harriet Naf

april 11 meeting

2011-04-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, Flora baked up confetti cupcakes for our quilt meeting. Thank you!

SHOW AND TELL
Miriam brought a slew of projects. She produced a pillow with the Colorado flag, a patchwork baseball cap and a finished lap quilt for June to give to a Plymouth member who’s infirm and needs comfort. Plus pot holders crafted from small finished blocks made by Maurine.

Pris told the story of working on a quilt top by hand during her California trip—made with hundreds of 2.5 inch squares. While there, she befriended a young girl and they went fabric shopping together. There will be more on that story later. Pris is also working on her YF quilt made with greens and purples, music and animals.

Shannon is balancing two big projects—the auction for Ingraham High School and her YF quilt. The auction will be over at the end of the month, then she can focus on her wonderful YF quilt filled with dotted fabric.

Janet’s health has been challenged with good days and bad days. She was kind enough to make a quilt for a co-worker who’s about to become a dad. The fancy-cut alphabet squares are surrounded by fresh yellow sashing.

Patricia has been to New Zealand and back since our last meeting. In early May she’s going to Salt Lake City for Spring Quilt Market—with two fabric collections in hand.

Non-stop Flora showed a heirloom quilt, made with the Around the World design, that a friend from Cincinnati sent her way. Then she displayed two remarkable memorial quilts, one made from a shirt and one from a t-shirt. And a carrier she made for her new specialty sewing feet.

march 11 meeting

2011-03-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

PHOTOS FROM THE MEETING CAN BE VIEWED AT KODAK. CLICK HERE.

Flora was gracious enough to host the March 15th Piece Makers’ meeting at her home. She reported on Sewing Expo at the Puyallup Fair Grounds she attended last Sunday for 9 1/2 spell-bounding hours. The Expo filled the whole large exhibition hall and spilled over into another space. Flora conducted a tour of her vast basement studio that showcases her many artistic creations including a wall hanging shes still working on that depicts her journey through life.

Janet showered us with fabrics donated to her by one of her coworkers whose mother had passed away. She also shared several old pieced tops that were in the collection. One was an intricate hand-stitched top made entirely of plain red and white geometric pieces. Another was a “crazy quilt” constructed of luxurious velvets and satin-like fabrics hand-finished with elaborate decorative stitching. Janet completed another of her striking quilts made of men’s shirting fabric that will be given to a YF male. It was inspired by a Kaffe Fassett design of small squares inside of larger squares.

Mariam had a productive month and arrived with a large bag of her delightful creations. They included a completed YF quilt pieced in an “off cross” pattern on a luscious pale raspberry background. She gifted each attendee with a hot pad quilted from one of Maurine’s samples. (Don’t worry. Mariam has several hot pads in reserve for members who were unable to attend.) She plans to use the “quilt-as-you-go” method to construct a whole quilt with more of Maurine’s samples.

Harriet brought three finished quilts. Two of them were completed from tops brought to the last meeting. The third one was a YF quilt of turquoise, orange, and rust colors made also in the “quilt-as-you-go” method. She exhibited an African wall hanging—mostly of burgundy, white, blue, and lime green fabrics that were donated to the Piece Makers by Marilyn Bumpas. We discussed where it could be most usefully displayed. Suggestions included somewhere at Plymouth, Mary’s Place, and Plymouth Housing. Further discussion to follow.

Susan shared an intricately hand-stitched 1920-1930 era quilt she purchased from an antique shop. It was made from a kit and featured glorious orange poppies appliqued on a pure white background and a scalloped edge. Susan brought a book depicting the kit and many other quilts from the era.

feb 11 meeting

2011-02-16T18:03:00.001-08:00

One day after Valentine’s a group of seven quilters met at Patricia’s home. It was a fun evening of sharing and caring.

Show and Tell
To start, Patricia gave us an update on Maurine. She’s at home, getting around gently with a walker and cane, and still healing. There’s still distance to go to be 100%. All the same, Maurine ordered up air tickets to get to the grand opening of Quilt National in May to celebrate her daughter’s acceptance in the international show.

Patricia had no quilts to show as she just dropped her recent creations off at a photo studio to get documented. (See those photos above.) She did show us her recent acquisition—a full set of DMC machine embroidery thread for free-motion quilting.

Pris has returned! She showed us a wonderful quilted pillow that she made for fun with hand stitched piecing and quilting. The back is a pretty fabric filled with little birds—all of God’s children.

Miriam reported that she has almost finished her YF quilt! She brought a fun fabric composition of the Colorado state flag with a rick rack detail.

Ingrid has been busy learning about her Bernina—a commitment that included going to the Bernina Conference for four and a half days. She showed us photos of finished projects so we could see the quilt she whipped up for a teacher in June, a quilt she made in five days for a new couple, and her Girl Scout cookie quilt.

Janet wowed us with the beginning of her YF quilt—made with some of the shirts she collected last year for her YF quilt. The bold design is from a Kaffe Fassett book.

Harriet, with her new swish haircut, has been thinking about the Stiers quilt. She brought a remarkable collection of African fabrics in yellows, warm tones and blacks, and sold us on the idea of a dramatic quilt for classy Brenda and her farm-boy husband. She and Flora are going to sew together the top to get that project started.

Flora amazed even herself with a nightgown she made with a worn-out nightgown as the pattern. Then she pulled out four fun baby tops out her bag made with fabrics that were sitting around her studio. And gave us an update on her needlepoint project.

The evening ended with some chocolate nibbling and the adoption of giveaway fabrics sent over by Diane. One of the tops found in the pile will be finished up by Flora for a YF quilt.

january 11 meeting

2011-01-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

Our stalwart group of quilters met at Miriam’s home in North Seattle for our January meeting. Thank you M for all the goodies and hot drinks.

Show & Tell
Patricia kicked off the evening with her newest quilt in progress made with yukata cottons. This nap quilt, entitled “Healing Garden” is for a friend who’s recovering from brain aneurysm surgery two months ago.
Flora, who sadly missed last month’s meeting due to a mix-up, brought some exciting new work. The first was a finished quilt for Plymouth House of Healing with bright red and white on the front and a perfect pattern of blue and white on the back. Maureen, while at the rehab center, was recruited to hand stitch the binding.
The second project was a memory quilt for Lyla who lost her husband John recently. Flora “channeled” John through the Great Spirit while working on the quilt. The inspiration was a beloved over-the-head tropical shirt that was a favorite of John’s. (The sunflower covers the hole.) Lyla cried when she saw the piece.
At a craft fair over the holidays, Flora picked up a petite little boiled wool dachshund for Patricia. Black and tan, it’s spun so that there are no seams.
Harriet brought two huge quilts. The first one, with wildlife animals, was made for a lucky nephew. The second, with horses and a kaliedescopic pattern, will be for a niece when she graduates from high school. The fabric was stunning—from her Alaska stash.
It was good to see Susan at the meeting. She was kind to come and bring news of a fabulous quilt shop on Vashon Island with a big selection of fabrics. Who wants to go?
Janet finished the quilt she was making for Baby Eisenstein. Many of the pieces are printed with contributed quotes from co-workers. It will be a wonderful gift, filled with so much care and attention.
Miriam showed us how her YF quilt is coming along—with its unexpected combination of fabrics that work so well together. She also had some batting and silver cord to give away to whoever could use them.
Shannon brought a quilt top she just finished. Originally started in a class led by Laurie Shifrin, the piecing was impeccable. Shannon is going to keep this beauty for herself.

december 10 meeting

2010-12-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

We gathered at Shannon’s Christmas-decorated home for our December meeting.

Show & Tell
Our first topic of conversation was Maurine. She’s still in rehab and expecting to be there until the middle of January. Each day she works hard to get stronger and is exhausted from her efforts.

Shannon told us about an altar table shawl she made for Bethany Church. It was grey cotton with camelias painted on one side and a bright green pattern with butterflies on the other. Shannon finished the shawl with shallow scalloped edges. It was presented for Bethany’s 10th anniversary.

Although she hasn’t started on it yet, Shannon showed us her collection of dot fabric for her YF quilt.

David and Christopher joined us for a few minutes. We chatted and shared our tiered plates of holiday cookies.

Miriam has been busy with Christmas kitchen doilies. She’s also started her YF scrap quilt. She got the dotted purpley background fabric from In The Beginning. Her selection of scraps include everything!—Christmas, golf balls, plaids—the beginning of a true Miriam signature piece.

Miriam helped an English policewoman get the quilting bug. Already her friend has made a nine-patch by hand! What an inspiration.

Diane has been MIA so we’re thrilled to see her back. Her wonderful piece was a cross-stitch pillow for her sister. All around the chicken are half-stitches which are twice as fast as a full stitch (easy math!). Throughout the meeting, Diane was hand stitching on another project. Always busy hands!

With the kids gone, Diane is getting ready to paint inside her home. Go Girl.

Janet and Kelly made a baby quilt together! Kelly helped pick out the fabric and pattern, and cut out the pieces. Janet stitched the quilt together—a gift for a work associate of Kelly’s.

Janet took 20 of her necklaces to a craft sale at work and sold 16! That was affirming. She is also making a fun “quote” quilt for a baby at her work.

Patricia showed us two projects that she’s finishing up for display in Fabric Crush to promote her Japanese fabric Trunk Show in early February. She also talked about an ambitious fundraising project she’s going to produce in 2011 for the La Conner Quilt Museum.

The evening ended with a look at Barry Kahn’s art in Shannon’s home and in a retrospective book. Barry, David’s dad, died when he was 42. He was a prolific artist who made very intense pieces. Our discussion brought him back to life for a few minutes.

november 10 meeting

2010-11-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

We did a quick hostess shift today as Janet was not feeling well. At the last minute, the group was redirected to come to my house. Five of us gathered and Pris almost joined us.

Show and Tell

Susan came back after a departure of many months! In June she traveled to England and Wales on a Deb Robert's textile tour. The highlight of the trip was a remarkable exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum showing quilts from the 1700s to 2010. Susan brought the book to show us the full collection.

A pleasing part of the trip was traveling with appraisers, authors, collectors and conservators. Susan gained just as much from her companions as she did from the places they all visited.

At a Long Beach antique store Susan bought a delightful hand-stitched quilt. She'll be using it in her guest bedroom.

Shannon bumped into Pris when she first stopped at Janet's house. Pris handed off her Plymouth House of Healing quilt that she just finished with copious amounts of hand-stitching. Feeling overwhelmed, Pris headed home and skipped the meeting. Thank you Pris for finishing up your ambitious project.

With some superfun fabric she bought at Fabric Crush, Shannon made a sunny baby quilt. It will be for a lucky and modern Plymouth baby, once it gets a label.

Flora brought a huge red basket filled with giveaway fabrics. Some pieces got new homes and Harriet took home the basket. Flora also showed us some vintage fabric squares and quilt pieces she has recently received. The small squares of old fabric were heart-warming.

Harriet came empty-handed but told us about a quilt with horses and a bright Southwest theme that's on her wall. Flora saw it at a neighborhood dinner at Harriet and Robert's and reported it was fab. The quilt is being produced in three big pieces, quilt-as-you-go. It will be given to a relative.

Patricia showed a small quilt made with big chunks of yukata fabric. The top has four corner blocks made with curvy piecing. It will ultimately be a sample for a class she hopes to teach about simple pattern making.

advent banner painting

2010-11-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Plymouth people, including Piece Makers Harriet, Flora and Patricia, participated with Kristen Gilje (the artist who created our Butterfly Banners) in painting 16 silk banners in four designs created by Kristen. The designs were inspired partly by two sessions of Plymouth members discussing this year’s Advent texts:

Nov. 28, Isaiah 2: They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Dec. 5, Matthew 3: Even now the axe is lying at the root of the tree; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Dec. 12, Luke 1: The angel said to Mary: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you...and the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God....and Mary said: “my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Dec. 19, Matthew 1: An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David,do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus.’

october 10 meeting

2010-10-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Show & Tell

Harriet finished a wonderful quilt for a great nephew with lots of animals on it. She had photos of Alaskan quilts from her trip to the Great North this summer as well as a pile of delightful fabrics with Alaskan motifs. Harriet admitted she went on vacations to get more fabric!

Flora showed us a jacket with hand-painted silk appliques that a friend wants mended. No one is our group could conceive of how to fix the damage. Flora will see if Diane, the pro, can help. A pretty pinwheel top (for a foster child) and the Plymouth House of Healing top are in her queue for long-arm quilting, along with 15 or so other tops!

Flora got distracted one day by taking a 256-mile ride on a Harley Davidson with a fellow employee of WSDOT. It was a charity ride through three counties and the state capitol. Flora says it was great fun and the driver was a perfect gentleman.

From Pris, we oohed and aahed over a delightful pile of fabrics—from Beach Rocks to the Bed and Breakfast collection. She is finishing up her Plymouth House of Healing just in time for the requested deadline of mid-November.

Patricia brought tales of visiting New York and the Empire Quilters guild meeting. She displayed two quilts blocks made with yukata cottons and freezer paper patterns. Her trunk sale at QuiltWorks NW last month was a resounding success.

Janet revealed the contents of her magic box—silver jewelry made with detailed photos and topped with resin. Her work is charming and appealing to all.

sept 10 meeting

2010-10-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

show and tell

This summer Harriet attended a silk painting workshop led by Kristen Gilje in Leavenworth. She showed us four gorgeous silk scarves that she painted with different techniques.

Harriet also related an amazing discovery when visiting the Kenai Penninsula in Alaska. She, Robert and travel companions were directed to drive 11 miles out of town to find a quilt shop. There Harriet found a picturesque log cabin on a lake packed with wonderful goodies.

Miriam brought an important report with her: 10 Good Reasons for Buying Fabric. She has copies for others for the next meeting. More exciting, Miriam delivered a gorgeous quilt for Plymouth Healing Communities. Check: Number One out of four completed!

Pris camped on the Columbia River with her family in August and attended the Cathlamet Fair. She learned that the quilts she saw on display will be given to EMTs and highway patrol for accident victims. In that vein, she brought a colorful top for a Plymouth Healing Communities quilt. The colorful scrappy creation is titled "All God's Children." Check: Number Two out of four in progress.

Another great story from Pris concerned the contribution of two sewing machines from Flora. They were shipped to adults in need in Romania. Yeah Flora and Pris!

Janet finished up the Gees Bend top she received at the last meeting. She must have worked non-stop to produce this quilt. It will be given to a companion at Plymouth Healing Communities. Check: Number Three out of four complete.

For the last four months Patricia has been hand stitching a small baby quilt. She doodled on the black and white fabric with neon pens to add some color. It will be gifted to an ex-employee's two-month old daughter.

janet’s dyeing workshop

2010-08-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

For one gorgeous summer week, Janet was in Sequim for a dyeing workshop at Susan Nylander’s home. The experience started with wine and cheese on Sunday evening at Susan’s artistic home that she shares with her potter husband.

From Monday through Friday, the class of eight gathered each day for creative learning. The dyeing techniques included parfait, baggie, scrunch, discharge, resist, overdyeing, and stamping.

quilts for companions

2010-08-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

left: Gees Bend top that Janet is finishing, right: Miriam’s bargello top

Plymouth House of Healing needs four twin-sized quilts by mid-November. Responding to the call, Pris instantly agreed to make one. Janet plans to finish a Gees Bend top that Maurine’s friend Martha made. Flora is going to finish a top made by Jeanne. And Miriam has already started on a top in the “bargello” style that Flora showed us last year.

august 10 meeting

2010-08-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Our group met at Flora’s home, outside on her patio for a warm summer night. Fruit, chips and homemade salsa awaited us.

We talked about the need of four tops for Plymouth House of Healing. Over the course of the evening, the Piece Makers answered the call. (See our blog.)

Show and Tell
Diane made a gorgeous jacket for Maureen which she presented at the beginning of the meeting. She also brought books and grids for whomever could use them.

Maurine is heading toward back surgery—titanium rods will be screwed to ten vertebrae to make her a bionic woman. So far she has lost 10 pounds to get ready. More on plans and dates later. Still busy making her fantastic batik tops, Maurine brought the one she’s making for a neighbor’s daughter in S. California who’s graduating from high school this coming year.

To cap her summer vacation, Janet attended a week-long dyeing workshop with Susan Nylander in Sequim. (See our blog for pictures of her projects.)

Patricia brought a little girl’s dress made with vintage Japanese yukata cottons. It’s a sample that will be used at QuiltWorks NW to promote her trunk show in late September. Sarah is talking to Patricia about scheduling a similar show at Fabric Crush this winter for those who don't want to cross the water.

Miriam entertained us with two whimsical stuffed cats. She has made so many patchwork golf caps for her male family members that she’s lost count. (See the photo of our group modeling the caps.) Visit our blog for the quilt top she is making for Plymouth House of Healing.

Diane brought a set of bibs that she's cross-stitching. This summer Diane went to N-Sid-Syn twice—once for Emily Hanson’s wedding and once for Family Camp. Other news: her oldest son Russ, a recent college graduate, is about to buy a home in N. Ballard.

Flora’s friend Celine shared a remarkable quilt made by her grandmother, culturally a Spokane Indian. The quilting on the rustic 95-year old blanket was made with many colored threads, expertly stitched together.

The previous night Flora stayed up until 4:30 to produce a dreamy composition entitled “The Great Red Road.” She also showed us a pinwheel top she started eight years ago, labyrinth quilts that made order out of chaos, and her organization of vintage 2"squares.

welcome luka

2010-08-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

On August 1, Luka Dean arrived to the delight of Tricia and Andy Seery. To show our care, a Piece Makers quilt was delivered to the sweet little one.

Our group loves to stock the Baby Quilt Closet for Plymouth’s littlest ones. More babies please!

july 10 meeting

2010-07-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

A small group of us met at Maurine’s home on Thursday night to share quilt projects and, surprisingly, celebrate Patricia’s birthday.

Earlier in the day, Harriet took a special trip to Trophy Cupcakes at Wallingford Center to pick up the pretty little cakes. While there, she stopped by Fabric Crush and saw owner and Piece Maker Sarah.

The sweet cupcakes, replete with candles, were delicious. Thank you Harriet!

Show and Tell
Maurine showed us the batik quilt she made for her red-headed daughter-in-law with luxurious Minkee backing. The quilt design is one that she's perfecting, with a total of six—complete, in process or in planning. To help others make the same design, Maurine gave us a little lesson.

Harriet continues to make charming country-style quilts. She showed us two new ones and a doll-sized scrap quilt. Plus Harriet some added hand stitching on the youth quilts she displayed last month. To expand her skill set, Harriet is attending fiber art classes at Grunewald Guild, near Leavenworth, next week.

Patricia showed her newest quilt made of yukata fabrics (see her yukatacraze blog) with white wide-wale corduroy on the back.

Janet has been enjoying summer holiday time with her two sisters and ignoring her quilting interests. She displayed a fun set of fabric slippers she bought as a hostess gift as next week Janet will be in Squimm for a week-long fabric dyeing workshop.

june 10 meeting

2010-06-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Once again we had a Summer Soltice meeting at Harriet’s home. For those of you who haven't joined us in the past, Harriet lives in a fairy tale log home in a wooded area north of Seattle. The house is remarkable and the landscaping is gorgeous--especially the flower groupings.

We meet at Harriet's in June so we can make our way down her short dirt road while it's still light outside. Robert was our chef, cooking up salmon filets for our small group. All the food of our potluck meal was perfect.

Show and Tell
Patricia displayed her full-sized stuffed dachshund. She found the pattern online and made it out of fabric she dyed at Pat's Goldendale home last year (see okanarts.blogspot.com). Patricia also updated us on the biennial Japanese show opening on June 30 at the La Conner Quilt Museum. The show will be going until late September and there was a little buzz about a Piecemakers group taking a field trip in August.

Janet showed us a gorgeous quilt that she has been working on for a few years. The ample-sized quilt has a shabby chic look and is completely hand stitched.

Harriet cut into some of the flannels she has picked up on her travels. The youth quilts she produced for her grand nephews are cosy in two ways—the soft hand of the flannel and the delicously puffy batting.

Miriam has quilted longer than any of us and now admits that she's never made a nine-square quilt. So she has gotten busy producing her first set of nine-square blocks.

Flora outdid herself again. She relayed the story about receiving thousands of 2" squares of cotton from the 1930s that she has begun to sort and dream about. The pink ballet top she made for a young dancer is now complete as a gorgeous quilt with a matching pillow case. A baby-sized quilt she made with some designer fabric gave her some trouble on her long-arm machine. Her resolve of the problem was flawless and a funny story. Lastly she sent some novelty fabric around the circle that she picked up on the internet for us to enjoy.

Maurine made a subtle yet dramatic quilt top out of batiks. We are quietly planning to tuck that quilt into our gift closet for a future need. She also displayed the king-sized quilt she is making for her son Lee and wife. Three years in the making, the huge production has hundreds of different fabrics in purples and rusts.

Brave and bold, Ingrid has intrepidly kept working on her sewing skills. She bought an intermediate Fons & Porter quilt kit and finished the top beautifully. She conferenced with Maurine to get tips for sandwiching and stitching this ambitious project that she hopes to give to a star teacher next Tuesday. Ingrid also displayed a colorful photo quilt with images of her family and pets. Her final show & tell was the quilt top she's finishing with girl scout fabric.

“sole bouquet” quilt

2010-06-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Piece Makers started on the quilt for Cory Maclay, departing youth minister, in early March. We shopped at the newly opened store, Fabric Crush, and purchased bright cottons recommended by owner Sarah for a great discount.

Kits of fabric were handed out at the March meeting with simple instructions to create a bold 16" block. Ten quilters created 12 blocks in time for the April meeting.

Harriet , Shannon and Diane quilted the blocks and Harriet completed the production with the pale blue connectors. Then it was back to Diane for the beautifully embroidered label on the back.

yf quilt celebration

2010-06-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Above: Four happy recipients with their youth minister, Cory. Left: Maurine, Piece Makers founder, and graduating senior, David.

For one year Plymouth Piece Makers kept a focus on making eight quilts for the graduating high school seniors. Today we wrapped these youth in love and quilts, to remind them of whose they are and who they are as they go out into the world.

many voices art show

2010-05-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

Click on photos to see bigger images.

A bounty of Piece Makers’ quilts were displayed in the Plymouth Church lounge last Sunday. Harriet and Rob Naf were the key organizers behind the production. Harriet made gorgeous signs and Rob set up a system for hanging them beautifully.

may 10 meeting

2010-05-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

What a lovely evening we had at Sarah’s home. Finishing up the year with a pile of beautiful quilts is a wonderful thing.

Diane prepped personalized labels for all 8 YF quilts and as a group we sewed them on. Almost a quilting bee!

We had a "fashion show" of the YF quilts so we could appreciate them more and get pics of them.

2010 YF QUILT COLLECTION

Pris showed us her remarkable Northwest quilt made with vintage-style novelty fabrics and hand stitched. As we had one extra YF quilt, Pris has chosen to give her masterpiece to Liz Twiss and her husband who are moving to NY state in June.

Patricia finished her whacky quilt filled with global fabrics that will be given to Wiley. Entitled Passport, one fun detail is a yellow square with a big black bug silkcreened on it.

Dear Flora took the day off to finish Corey's bright pink quilt and then quilted the wrong pink top! It was good practice, she tells us. Flora will have the new one finished on time for an endearing presentation to the only girl in the graduating class.

Maurine’s quilt made with Kaffe Fassett stipes will be given to David. To add the perfect touch of loving energy, his mother Shannon stitched on his label.

Linda, so often absent from our meetings, all the same produced a YF quilt! Her use of yellow with the plaid and stripped blocks on point is fresh and innovative.

Janet’s blue shirt quilt will be heading home with Andrew. It is doesn't go to school with Andrew, it would look great in his family’s summer cottage on Cape Cod.

The lucky recipient of Harriet’s bold quilt with black and white fish will be Gab. The skewed windows and rich fabrics are deluxe.

Miriam’s YF quilt includes a fun assortment of novelty fabrics including a pattern with dollar bills. This winner of this quilt is Kane.

The final quilt—orange with narrow plum sashing— was cut by Maurine, sewn together by Ingrid, quilted by Diane and bound by Janet. Miles better like the color of pumpkins!

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Patricia talked with the group about donating to the capital campaign for the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum this summer--to repair its building. The resolve was that we wouldn't donate as a group but will think about doing that individually.

Harriet showed us her progress in putting together the Cory Quilt (SHHHH). It was aptly named Sole´Bouquet by Sarah. The quilt will be a surprise presentation at the send-off party for Cory after church on Sunday, June 6. Be there!

Maurine is back from California and shared some of her newest quilt projects with us.

Sarah showed us some Moda fabric that she's going to make into a skirt (in her spare time!).

april 10 meeting

2010-04-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

We had our meeting tonight at Miriam’s house. Her home is filled with quilts and photos of many family members.

Show and Tell
Janet was planning to join us but she became ill during dinner. Staying home seemed like the best option for the night.

First we all shared our blocks for the special quilt we are making for Cory. Patricia will be preparing the sashing, Harriet will freemotion stitch the squares, and it will be assembled as a quilt-as-you-go project.

Shannon just finished working at a four-day Bernina embroidery show (that Ingrid attended). As the president of her PTSA, she is a very busy gal. Plus she has been working at Fabric Crush.

Flora has been in Pink Land. She showed us three pink quilt tops that are delightful. One is for a late cousin's daughter, one is for a YFer and one is for the Treehouse warehouse. Treehouse supplies clothing and necessities for foster kids. Flora is committed to making quilts for this cause and welcomes any juvenile fabric that you may have. Flora is also finishing up a stole project.

Flora’s friend Diane joined us tonight to show the finished Volkswagen quilt. This is the one that Flora made with Diane's granddaughter. The quilt is filled with memories and healing qualities—fabric from a favorite shirt of a recently lost grandpa and buttons from the collection of a recently lost grandmother.

Diane R, with a sprained her ankle, cross stitched placemats with a strawberry design while we met. She showed us a remarkable quilt made with an eight-person round robin group over a two-year period. Diane had photos of all the quilts made by the group and hers was definitely the winner.

Susan brought a wonderful baby quilt, in progress, that was her first foray into machine quilting. It will probably be finished by the weekend which is even more remarkable as she is in the middle of a major home renovation.

Miriam showed off her Quilting Girl socks before producing her finished YF quilt. She also brought out a whole cloth quilt that contains the WSU school motif—which might be useful for a YFer who is going on to Pullman.

Patricia brought tales of an anime quilt she made for a patient at Children’s Hospital and news of Maurine in southern California. Visit okanarts.blogspot.com to see the anime quilt and Maurine’s most recent quilt project. She also delivered a plaid YF quilt and a high-contrast log cabin House of Healing quilt from Maurine.

Harriet wowed us with another knock-your-socks-off YF quilt. Titled Fish Ladder, it’s a quilt-as-you-go production with wonderful freemotion stitching. On the back of the richly colored quilt is a square patterned fabric that Harriet bought from Sarah at her Fabric Crush store.

Ingrid took a Bernina class with Diane R and showed us her sampler. She also progressed on her Girl Scouts quilt top. Her first quilt, with orange-ish fabric, has been machine quilted by Diane and is ready to be bound by Janet.

david's quilt

2010-04-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye to David Shinn today as Minister of Parish Care, after seven good years. The “Happy Man” quilt was designed and quilted by Harriet Naf. It’s exceptional in its craftsmanship and the bold color palette.

march 10 meeting

2010-03-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

A healthy-sized group of us gathered at Ingrid’s townhouse in Ballard this month. A segue to our evening was the comment "Dont be afraid of color," referring to all the brightly painted walls in Ingrid's home.

Patricia brought 12 kits for making quilt squares for a special project. They were all adopted except for one, which will be mailed to Maurine. For those of you who got kits, please remember to pre-wash the fabric. The outrageous fabric was chosen by Sarah Stine at the new location of her store, Fabric Crush, in the Wallingford Center. She cut the fat quarters and fat eighths plus gave us a fat discount.

Janet has finished her shirt quilt! it's really special. The design, piecing and details are noteworthy and there is additional piecing on the back. (Diane, Janet has a Bernina 153. Please check to see if she has a built-in quilting stitch.)

Susan is still working on her quilt with the Jeanne piecing that she received at the last meeting. She wowed us with a hand-stitched charm quilt top from the 1890-1900s. Susan bought it at an estate sale in Magnolia almost 20 years ago and stores it in an acid-free fabric box for safe-keeping. Some other quilts made during this time included a gold triangle to signal that the quilt maker supported McKinley as a presidential candidate and the gold standard.

Harriet brought back the Happy Man quilt for us all to enjoy again and to hand-off for a label—which Janet has volunteered to handle. She also showed us a large quilt-as-you-go quilt made for a nephew. The workmanship and design are top-notch as Harriet has really been perfecting her quilting skills.

Miriam's book bag was like a magic purse as she pulled out quilt after quilt project from it. First there was a beautiful and bright baby quilt made with a Jeanne top. Then there was a second baby quilt made with some fun strips of fabric that Miriam finished with contrasting borders. The crowd-pleaser was a top she's making for a YF quilt with off-set triangle blocks. This quilt needs to go to a Dawgs fan as it has UW fabric in some blocks.

Pris has been a busy quilter. She made a baby quilt with fabrics recycled from little girls nightgowns, entitled "Sweet Dreams," for a family friend's baby and a delightful quilt for another friend (see pictures of pictures). Pris shared her fabrics and ideas for an ambitious YF quilt that she has started. It will feature NW fabrics with mountains, coffee, fish, lighthouses, horses, apples and more. This quilt will be perfect for a student who is going far from home for school.

Diane made four intricately embroidered sample squares, showing off the capabilities of her Bernina machine, which will be displayed in the NW Bernina shop. She is also working on a quilt, for a client, made with family hankies that also includes crocheted pieces in a dashing composition along the top border. She's been working on this quilt-as-you-go piece for a long time and is focusing on finishing it up.

Ingrid bought some Girl Scout material for a quilt for her daughter. Flannel for the back is patterned with the classic chocolate mint cookies. She’s also about to start a fun quilt for a teacher that requires paper piecing. Ingrid handed over some fabric that Maurine gave her for a YF quilt to Susan, which was a good exchange for both women.

february 10 meeting

2010-02-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

show and tell
Janet arrived with a quilted apron and oven mitt from Flora as a gift for Patricia, and news of her "shirt" quilt. With a brand new design wall, her YF quilt is pinned up on the wall. After reading the whole Twilight series and Three Cups of Tea, Janet is ready to get quilting again in her free time.

Patricia showed the YF quilt she has been working on--with indigo fabrics in the middle and Indonesian ones on the border. She shared parts of her first commission--a quilt for Cindy Anderson's mother-in-law with some outrageous global fabrics. Patricia also pulled out bins filled with Japanese yukata cotton that she has been importing since Thanksgiving.

Miriam delivered a wonderful assortment of finished projects tonight. The first was the baby quilt that was shown at the January meeting. The second, for Plymouth Healing Communities, was a large quilt with pastel squares that came pre-quilted. Then Miriam brought two more small activity bags for the Sanctuary and a knitted lap afghan made by Ellen Germain for Plymouth Healing Communities.

To our delight, Susan Underwood joined us tonight. An early member of Piece Makers, Susan came back after reading our lively emails. She showed us an amazing project -- a 104-inch square quilt that was pieced by her great aunt in Iowa many years ago. Susan took quilting classes over a year-long period to prepare for the challenge of finishing the broken star quilt. It's all hand-stitched ever so precisely. If the first project didn't confirm our belief in Susan's skill, she went on to show us a needle-turned applique square in navy and pale yellow.

The meeting finished with a review of available Piece Maker fabric from Patricia's basement. That was a huge success with two of Jeanne's quilt tops going home with Miriam and Susan.

january 10 meeting

2010-01-19T04:51:00.000-08:00

show and tell
Pat stated that she and her husband have moved most of their furnishings into their Goldendale home, but will still be commuting back and forth to Seattle until her husband retires in April. Pat brought a quilt top pieced from fabric she had dyed delicate pastel colors. Some of the fabric was dyed by the Shibori method which involves wrapping fabric around a PVC pipe before dying.

Harriet came empty handed , but enjoyed the cookies, socializing, and seeing the other projects.

Mariam turned in a baby quilt composed of crisp green and white fabrics acquired from Diane. A highlight of the evening was her predominantly lavender quilt she finished as a New Year’s resolution. It will be a tough choice for her to either pass it on to her granddaughter or keep it for herself.

Ingrid presented her daughter Mckenzie’s American Girl doll, dressed in an adorable crisp jumper her daughter (10 years old) had painstakingly made. Ingrid is taking classes on Bernina software.

Flora presented numerous projects. One was a quilted apron made from fabric featuring a San Francisco scene that she may donate to the YF auction or another cause. Last month she had time to practice on her long-arm machine. She displayed several projects in varying stages of readiness including the start of her pink YF quilt, a baby quilt, and quilt tops featuring flannel squares, a log cabin design, and an assortment of plaids. Whew!

Janet displayed three colorful graphic fabrics she’ll make into table cloths for a fund raiser. For the benefit of members who missed the meeting last month, she again displayed her shirt quilt.

december 09 bonus meeting

2010-01-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

show and tell
Patricia showed us both the quilts she made for her daughters this Christmas. As they weren't photographed at the meeting, you can check them out on her blog: okanarts.blogspot.com Patricia has recently imported over 35 bolts of vintage Japanese cotton, mostly indigo patterns. The bolts, from the sixties and seventies, are narrow--at 15 inches wide and 12 yards long.

Janet wowed us with her YF quilt in progress, made of men's shirts. It is wonderful, with pockets, buttoned cuffs and even collars showing up in the piecing. Janet also showed us small bags she has been whipping up for packaging gifts and a cigar box a friend personalized for her.

Shannon has been working at Fabric Crush on Wednesday afternoons and is completing a fun quilt for the store. Plans for her YF quilt have begun to get simplified—with her initial star blocks as great corner squares and the rest more basic.

Harriet brought back the large coral/green quilt that she showed in November for Maureen to see. Then she impressed us with her Happy Man quilt, an celebratory composition with bold shapes appliqued to the front and hand-stitching throughout.

Maureen reported that, during her 10-day return to the Northwest, she was in Leavenworth for four days celebrating the holidays with family. She shared the quilt top made with squares produced at granddaugher Sierra's school. Then Maureen regaled us with tales of more school quilts she has made with young students. (Be advised that Maureen may only make one YF quilt instead of two, in case you can take up the slack.)

Flora pointed out a piece of an old crazy quilt that she has hung on the wall. It is a family heirloom from an old friend who lives in Michigan. (See a corner of it in the picture of Shannon.) We discussed the girly YF quilt Flora is making for Cory Hubbard and how she might add appliqued flowers to the design. The quilt top she showed is a fun project featuring VW bugs with fabric pinwheels and buttons for the wheels. Flora is working on the car quilt with a style-savvy 11-year old young friend.

Jeanne, the quilter who has given Piece Makers so many delightful pieced tops over the years, arrived with Janet. Jeanne, bless her soul, had boxes and bags of fabric to give away as well as three small quilt tops. Thank you Jeanne for all your generosity over the years towards Piece Makers. (Fabrics that weren't adopted are now stored in Patricia's basement.)

the k quilt: thinking of you

2009-11-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

Diane suggested October 8 that we make a quilt for Rev. Kris Ostrem and seven weeks later we presented a completed quilt at Kris’ last Sunday. The twelve main squares were made with four common fabrics and scraps from personal stashes by different Piece Makers. Sashing, sandwiching, creating the embroidered label, and binding were all handled by Diane. Thank you Diane!

thank you diane and jamie

2009-11-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Hanging in the Sanctuary this Sunday were wonderful new sets of banners.

Thank you Jamie Schilling for the two huge hand-painted ones at the front of the hall. (Who takes care of such high installations?)

And thank you Diane Jacobsen for the smaller purple ones along the walls that reverse to gold for other seasons!

operation : cooperation

2009-11-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Interface from Operation : Cooperation website

Three weeks ago Pris and I went to a video studio on Capitol Hill to make an entry for the Operation : Cooperation contest. The prize: $5000 for a cooperative group.

There were about 100 entries and Plymouth Piece Makers was chosen as one of the seven finalists! Then the race was on for public voting. At 5pm today, the voting closed.

On Monday, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union will announce the gold winner. Although the votes were posted instantly, the numbers are skewed due to automatic voting that will be disqualified. So no one knows who got the most votes.

november 09 meeting

2009-11-17T00:37:00.000-08:00

show and tell
Maurine couldn’t venture out because she just needs to be patient and keep healing at home. Although we didn't hear from Pris, we think she was at home voting in the Op:Coop contest. (We did have three laptops out and got some votes in while we met.)

Miriam has been busy with some Christmas sewing—eye wraps made with novelty fabrics. She showed us some squares she made with a kit Diane gave her—it will likely be a baby quilt. Miriam also had a success story with one of her jeans quilts. She showed us a photo of a grandson with his fiance wrapped up in the quilt she had given him. It looked like a cover shot from a J Crew catalog--handsome young people with a gorgeous quilt.

Patricia revealed the fabric designs she has been developing with Naomi Cox. Entitled Edo Rising, the collection has an Asian feel. Diane, our pro, had a few comments and an industry name for Patricia to talk with about the potential of the designs.

Harriet has created a phenomenal quilt out of some piecing she inherited from the group. She likes her project so much that its home will be in the living room of her log home. She also showed us a deluxe pillow she made out of her K square.

Dear Flora lost her cat in the last week. Her feline friend was ill with an unpronouncable cancer for the last year. A good friend and a vet that makes house calls were with her on Saturday when the final moment came. Flora brought a box of pink fabric for us to comment on for the YF girl quilt she is going to make. And she showed us a picture of a fun quilt she is making with an 11-year old with Volkswagen bugs with yo-yo wheels.

Diane hand stitched a gorgeous Hawaiian quilt for a client throughout the meeting. She showed us all the K squares—which are looking great together. The two final squares should be in her hands by Sunday night. Diane also gave us an impromptu lesson on using freezer paper for turning the edges on applique pieces.

october 09 meeting

2009-10-24T00:45:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Shannon’s awesome husband sent chocolate for us to share. She is working on blue and white squares for a YF quilt. Plus a frayed-style quilt sample for Sarah's store.

Nothing is stopping Ingrid and her new Bernina! She brought a quilt top she whipped up and her daughter's Spirit of Halloween dress in progress.

Janet has finished the embroidery on her incredible embroidered red-work quilt and showed us some backing fabric choices.

Sarah’s hip fabric store, Fabric Crush, is now open in Magnolia Village, just off the main drag: 2313 Viewmont Way West. Hours: Tue- Fri 10 to 5, Sat 11 to 5, Sun 1 to 5, Mon closed

Miriam showed us another of her fabulous jean quilts that she made for the upcoming Lakeside School auction.

So far two years in the making, Maurine is working on a remarkable gold and maroon quilt for her son and daughter-in-law. She also shared two piles of fabric to inspire us.

What a lucky five-year old grand nephew will get a cosy quilt from Harriet! The quilt is covered with horses, front and back.

Pris finished her bodacious quilt for Plymouth House of Healing. On the back it is decorated with all sorts of fun appliques that will delight the recipient.

Flora is going crazy with layering fabric. She has a vision for adding tulle and special stitching to her wonderful labyrinth quilt after hearing a fiber artist speak at her CA quilting group.

Patricia talked about using Ruth McDowell's book, Piecing Workshop, to make her curved Genesis square.

Diane wowed us with a t-shirt quilt like no other. It is for a conference room at N-Sid-Sen—using camp t-shirts from over the years. The thimbleberry shape she used for the appliqued shirts is delightful. Diane also made a striking quilt with fabrics from last year's Oregon Coast Quilt Run that intertwines two shapes together dramatically.

september 09 meeting

2009-09-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

show and tell
For Shannon, this last month has been filled with final planning for the mammoth MS ride, not stitching together little pieces of fabric. Last weekend, with wonderful weather, the 40 Biking Vikings rode a 162-mile route around Whitbey Island and raised a few dollars under $26,000! Piece Makers opened their wallets to round out the number.

Pat has been a busy hostess with loads of visitors staying at her Goldendale home. Besides continuing on her big Hawaiian quilt, Pat has been stitching some crazy quilt projects—gorgeous Christmas stockings and a tea cosy. Send your prayers for Chuck as he heads into the doctor's for three gruesome diagnostic procedures.

Pris reported that Sarah is looking for an afternoon worker for her new store, from 2 to 5:30 pm, Tue through Sat. (The employee gets a great discount on fabrics.) There is a special person, confined at Cascadia House for schizophrenia, who could use a twin quilt in soft blues and browns. Anyone is welcome to accept this opportunity.

Pris presented a quilt project, in process, that is made with the fabric we exchanged in the spring. The bodacious project will be given to a companion at Plymouth Healing Communities.

Miriam's oldest great grandson just got married. For this special event, Miriam has been finishing up her lavender field quilt which is currently all over her living room. What she did bring are three "triangle" squares for a a YF quilt featuring money novelty fabric.

Patricia brought two baby quilts. One is made with marbled fabric produced by Maurine and Elin Noble. The other is a skewed composition with mostly hand-dyed fabrics.

Over Labor Day weekend, Flora was prepared to quilt for three whole days. "Horny for quilting," she said. Then she got sick and spent her three days lying on her back. Now she is still somewhat laid back in her return to quilting and is only working about ten minutes a day on a Plymouth Healing Communities companion quilt. She is also making a pillow sham to go with the quilt!

Harriet received some strips of salmon, teal and brown fabrics from Flora. These strips are actually extra piecing from a project Maurine made. Funny how some fabric moves around until it finds a perfect home.

Maurine is putting together a set of ambitious applique blocks that Piece Makers made about four years ago. It will be a very deluxe quilt. There was a lot of discussion about raffling this quilt to raise money for batting and backing material for Piece Makers quilts. We would have to ask Kris or Susan at Plymouth first as there is always concern about too much fundraising at church.

Check out the video on www.opcoop.coop to see Maurine talk about our group!

Janet is madly working on a redwork quilt for a friend. Her friend has had a tough year and Janet knows the fun snowman project will bring her some happiness. Janet's goal is to complete the quilt by the first of November so it gets a whole season of use.

Ingrid, Piece Makers’ newest member, has just bought a Bernina 730. Her inaugural project is a Halloween costume for Mackenzie—an early American dress made in Halloween fabric. Her son Dylan, a teen, is interested in a sheet-as-a-ghost approach for the big day.

Sarah let us know that her store, Fabric Crush, is progressing beautifully. The shell is complete and the counter just went in. Todd will install the lighting this weekend. She plans to have an open house after church on the first Sunday in October. This store will be great for giving Sarah the opportunity to share her passion for fabrics with others, in person. She is living her dream! Go girl! (I'm sorry that I didn't get a photo of Sarah!)

august 09 meeting

2009-08-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Sarah is opening her designer fabric store in Magnolia on or before October 1. So far she has 300 bolts of fabric stored in her basement. Her store will also include patterns for home decorator and fashion projects, as well as appliques. (The store will be open Tue-Sat, with classes on Mon and one evening a week.)

She has started a bag made out of some of her new fabric as a sample for the store. With a pieced exterior and a quilted lining, the bag pattern is called Manhattan.

Sarah told us about Carol in Edmonds who is living on the roof of her store, Fabric of Life, until she raises a million dollars. It looks like Sarah will feature batik fabric from Carol's store in her Magnolia store. (see www.upontheroofwithcarol.org).

Flora loves a hand-me-down Bernina bag she got from Maurine. It is being put to good use carrying a needlepoint project she is finishing for a friend.

Inspired by a photo of Seattle she saw at work, Flora is embarking on an ambitious quilting project trying to emulate the image. She has a printout of the photo from a color laser printer and a big plotter. It will be exciting to see how her project proceeds—especially using her new design wall.

Shannon has tendonitis and is wearing a medical boot on one foot. Although she did not bring a quilting project, she has been working on embroidery projects at work. Recently Shannon bought Lorraine Torrance's book: Fearless Design For Every Quilter.

Janet just signed up for a design lecture series, Elements of Design, at Gage Academy of Art. This will help her become more confident in designing her own quilts. She has started on a YF quilt using a pattern called Spin City. Although the pattern shows pastel fabrics, she is using darker colors including fabrics from men's shirts.

Miriam has been making squares with three triangles that are a fun puzzle for her. She also made a wonderful baby quilt, following the nine-patch pattern that Maurine shared with us. Maurine took it home to label before delivering the quilt to Susan Dittig for Plymouth's baby closet.

Maurine attended a three-day quilting conference last week in Lynnwood. The leaders of the group visited Carol's store in Edmonds and spent $1,000. Then they raised another $1000 for Carol's cause by circulating two grocery bags around the room of 500 people.

Earlier this week Maurine was filmed for a community collaboration video. She talked about a quilt she is making with a series of squares Piece Makers produced three years ago with satin-stitching applique. Her story included the recipients—companions at Plymouth Healing Communities.

Maurine's daughter Elin will be featured in a show in Coupeville on Whitbey Island this Fall. The show, at Penn Cove Pottery, opens on October 10, from 10 am to 2 pm, and ends on November 28. The quilts in the show are all made with Elin's hand-dyed fabrics. Let's carpool up to Whitbey to see the show and Elin at the opening!

Harriet is still making little chairs. The newest is eskimo-like with its ruff of white fake fur. This one, made with cardboard, is for dolls or teddy bears. If she makes one with deeper seat out of plywood, a little one could sit on it.

Linda has recently moved into a new condo. She showed us a prototype bag for a project she is working on with homeless women. The next iteration will be made with less pieces, to better match the attention span of her target group. She also displayed a quilt top made for a youth at the New Beginnings shelter.

Deanna, a guest from Portland who is a childhood friend of Shannon, joined us. She has an incredible unfinished quilt with charming cat heads that she inherited from a family member. Deanna was seeking some advice on how to complete the quilt. Good thing Maurine was there to help her.

Patricia brought two finished quilts—a garish red and yellow lap quilt and a pastel baby quilt. Patricia’s big news was visiting the Quilt National show at the Dairy Barn in Athens OH with Maurine. She shared the show book with others.

july 09 meeting

2009-07-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

View meeting images at Koday Gallery

show and tell
Pat showed us two paintings on silk produced at a teacher's workshop at the Maryhill Museum. She also shared another of her five-year projects—a huge white quilt with red Hawaiian appliqued motifs. It is completely hand-stitched, including echo quilting around the appliques.

Maurine whipped up a baby quilt last week for the new arrival (named Hendrix) of a healthcare gal who has helped her out over the years. The quilt features Laurel Burch jungle fabric--fancy-cut to show fun animals with colorful framing, sashing and purple flannel on the back.

For Connie Davidson, a former Plymouth member, Maurine produced an incredible quilt of 120 antique squares. The final piece is hanging in Connie's bed & breakfast in Ohio. Maurine, with Patricia, is going to visit the installation and see the Quilt National exhibit at the Dairy Barn in mid-August.

Patricia reported that progress on her fabric-design partnership is getting exciting. She also asked for advice about her upcoming quilt sale in September--and got helpful advice and an offer of some help.

Inspired by Shannon's story of making an apple and pear pin cushion last month, Patricia made an insect pin cushion. She also brought a square-on-square lap quilt made with vintage calicos.

Inspired by a cute kit, Janet is embroidering red snowmen on white squares. The finished redwork and quilted project, which includes red and white printed fabrics, will be given to a friend.

Janet was part of the team that made the banner for the new building at N-Sid-Sen (see below). Other team members were Flora, Harriet, Shannon and Maurine. When the banner was delivered to Kris to take to camp, the whole Plymouth office raved about the wonderful piece.

Flora had some fun making a stuffed chicken. She also brought a collection of gorgeous lace from a friend's mother. It may someday be made into a special project for her friend.

At home, her nephew is helping Flora with all sorts of projects. He added 4" of height to her long-arm machine so she won't have to bend over her work.

n-sid-sen banner

2009-06-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

A special team of Piece Makers made a remarkable banner for the new lodge at Camp N-Sid-Sen on Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho. Thank you Flora, Harriet, Janet, Shannon and Maurine for your creative energy and craftsmanship.

june 09 meeting

2009-06-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Sarah was inspired by Flora's demo in May. She is making a quilted throw for herself with classic pink and sorbet green fabrics. Planned with a crisp white border adorned with applique vines, the feminine quilt is bound to avoided by the three Stine boys. Remarkably Sarah, an Etsy store owner who sells fabrics, bought some fabric for her project!

Shannon ran a race to finish Niko's quilt in time for the senior send-off on June 7. She has made apple and pear pin cushions for the Bernina store where she works. Shannon sold her old Bernina and just bought a 450. Lucky gal.

Pat brought some projects that she has been working on for many years. One is a remarkable king-sized Baltimore quilt with four big squares in the middle and 20 smaller squares bordering them. She is also hand stitching a old-fashioned hexagonal quilt with a white background. The long drives to Goldendale give her time to stitch this involved top.

Harriet solidified the adorable little chair she made out of our exchange fabric with long screws through the legs. She is making another version of the chair, this time with a black and white narrow-wale corduroy. This week she whipped up a tooth fairy pillow for the Daniels family.

Patricia used her hand-dyed fabric to try out some new techniques—oil stick stencil art, curved piecing and a particularly wavy edge with bias binding.

Miriam sported a patchwork vest made out of the exchange fabric. With natty red and white buttons, it is delightful. Miriam brought a baby blanket that she made from a kit that Diane gave her. She returned the fabric to Diane as a finished product that will be added to the Plymouth baby quilt stash. Also Miriam made mini coloring book bags with outside pockets sized for crayons--for Plymouth kids to use during the service.

Flora is working on a gorgeous wall hanging with a repeated vertical pattern of verdigris stems and leaves. She will embellish it with pins, solo earrings and other fun things in the shape of bugs, flies and more. Flora has committed to making a very girly quilt with lots of flowers for Cory Hubbard, a 2010 senior.

Janet is playing with our exchange fabric, making graphic circles within circles—using freezer paper for her applique technique. The colorful double circles are centered on a collection of beige background fabrics. The idea comes from a book that shows interesting stitching added to each square.

Maurine has made our first YF quilt top for 2010! It is quite large at 68" x 80". Triangles of Kaffe Fassett striped fabrics make bold squares outlined in black with a handsome wine background. She has enough striped fabric to use on the back. Shannon has put dibs on the quilt for her graduating firstborn.

Diane enjoyed a wonderful trip up north with Jon that included shopping at fabric stores, lunch at the Rhodie Cafe on Chuckanut Drive and a visit to an iris farm. She picked up a pattern for making a purse and instantly created a perfect multi-pocketed masterpiece with cordova and designer fabric.

Pris has has been a busy hosting meals for large groups of people—a dinner for a visiting youth choir, the Plymouth choir party, and a pie social at Horizon House. Pris was the Piecemaker ambassador who delivered the lavender baby quilt to little Sophia—a welcomed gift and gesture. She recently made nightgowns for her two granddaughters.

youth group seniors get quilts!

2009-06-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, the high school seniors of the Plymouth youth group were given quilts made by our group. These gifts are meant to remind our youth of who they are and where they came from, as they head out into the world.

may 09 meeting

2009-05-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

Sarah, our online fabric retailer, hosted our May meeting in her Magnolia home. Our evening started with a few shopping sprees in her inspirational basement store.
The main event was stitching personalized labels in 15 YF quilts. With all of our contributions, we had 18 quilts--so we have three left over.

Kris and Bertha, both Magnolia neighbors, visited for awhile. Bertha, a closet quilter, stitched on a label for us. Kris swears that she has no aptitude for hand sewing. That’s okay as we know she has a few other gifts.

Miriam delivered a lavender baby quilt to the group. Pris is going to give the quilt to a ex-choir member and Plymouth friend who has a little girl.

april 09 meeting

2009-04-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Flora In need of business advice, Flora showed us her first commercial project. After 20 hours into fixing, quilting, binding and hemming, she was wondering how much to charge for a beautifully finished queen quilt. Not under $250, directed Shannon. We'll see how Flora does with this money challenge.

Miriam Showing us a quilt she made for her great grand-daughter in 2002, Miriam reminded us of the power of hand prints. Miriam has patterns she made over 40 years ago of her family member's hands so she can make another quilt in the future for another generation.

Miriam also revealed to us the beginning of a mauve-themed quilt inspired by a trip to the Lavender Festival where she bought a set of fat quarters. With squares sewn on point, the final quilt is unassigned right now.

Patricia I brought a baby quilt that is my favorite piece to date. It is a scissor-cut composition with a motley collection of mismatched fabrics. My other project was a hand-stitched table topper for a family friend on the East Coast who is being a second mom to my Victoria.

Diane Always a busy gal, Diane brought three projects in progress. The first was two squares of a handkerchief-applique quilt. The second was a square of squares made with a secret quasi-repeat pattern. The third was a bright quilt top that Diane finished for a friend who started the center portion years ago.

Pris A spirited hand-stitcher, Pris produced a remarkable quilt entitled Stars and Stripes for a member of the graduating YF class. Made with an assortment of plaids, Pris got from the fabric from the giveaway at Diane's. There are no stars in the layout but that is because the quilt is not yet finished!

Bertha A nearby neighbor, Bertha came to Piece Makers tonight to meet Emmanuel. She took up quilting a while back and brought one of her creations—an artistic and beautifully crafted quilt. Retired from quilting for now, we hope she will be inspired to return to the fold.

Shannon Although Shannon let us know that her Bernina bag was empty , she was kind enough to join us for the evening. And she generously brought fabric for our special creativity project.

Sarah Sarah brought one square of the quilt that was not meant to be. She shared an unusual story that involved the auction of goodies from a seized OR quilt store. After waiting for hours for bolts of fabric to go up for bid, they were all bought by one woman for $7,000. Sarah and other quilting pros were not pleased with the deal. So Sarah a bought another sewing machine at the auction.

Janet With a splitting headache (yuck, yuck), Janet showed us progress on her quilt-as-you-go project with freestyle stitching. The going is slow but the results are looking good.

Janet also reported that N Sid Sen is opening a new lodge and the camp wants a banner from each participating church. There are parameters such as size and the background fabric. It is hoped that the new banner will travel to Idaho with our church folks in July. Any banner makers out there who want to work on this project? Janet has the paperwork, so please contact her at jsaulsbury@path.org.

Emmanuel A 28-year old Liberian, Emmanuel is a Fellow from the iLeap organization and a refugee leader working with women in Ghana. To help these women--who have lost their loved ones, homes and country re-build their lives, Emmanuel is involved with a quilting cooperative. He brought pictures of the people and one of their remarkable quilts.

march 09 meeting

2009-03-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Linda: Our newest member, Linda, went home with some adopted plaid fabrics and came back with a finished YF quilt. The piecing is striking, with dark colors on the perimeter and a diamond of plaid triangles in the middle.

Harriet: Chinese Coins is now Harriet's middle name. She produced another wonderful quilt from scrap fabrics she was given. From a side comment, I think she is ready to delve into her stores of gorgeous fabrics for her next quilts.

Janet: Working on a star/galaxy theme, Janet is practicing her free-motion sewing skills on small squares of fabric. The final piece, with lots of blue, will be a quilt-as-you-go YF project.

Shannon: Our lovely hostess for the evening, Shannon, produced wickedly scrumptious chocolate bar/cookies that we all devoured. Her quilts from last month were still in the bag but she got them out to show us at the end of the evening. Shannon is dreaming about getting an updated Bernina. With a big Swedish (Swiss?) sale at the Bernina store where she works, anything is possible.

Miriam: Not only our oldest Piece Maker, Miriam is perhaps our most prolific. She arrived with another YF quilt—this colorful one bursting with a wide assortment of patterns. Miriam has begun making pet quilts, the first for a friend's chihuahua. Good ol' Miriam perked right up when someone mentioned we needed bags for kid's coloring book kits at Plymouth. "Lined or unlined?" was the most memorable line of the evening.

Flora: Once again Flora showed us a pile of impressive projects—her stunning blue/black quilt with plaid centers, two pieced tops using novelty "house" fabrics, and her new sewing machine cover made with African fish fabric and fun freestyle stitching. At home she is making a 1/12 scale log house with a hand-carved bed that matches her own and a miniature quilt! It sounds like Flora has some new crayons she can add to the coloring book kits.

Pris: Our hand-stitching queen, Pris, told us stories. Pris started by telling us about a Hawaiian quilting project. Then Pris described a "sincere project" she made for a friend--a tablecloth made with coffee-cup-printed fabric for a round table that was a big production and ultimately turned out to be a rectangular piece.

Patricia: I brought a lap quilt that I am making for my "collection." It is named African Night and Day with black patterned fabrics on the front and a white-based fabric on the back. I plan to take a fabric dyeing class later this month at a friend's art studio in Sodo. To see a most extraordinary baby quilt made by my 18-year daughter Vik, visit my blog.

Sarah: Wow. Sarah takes on ambitious 3-D projects. It must be because her husband is an architect. This month she made a designer satchel--with a designer pattern and designer fabrics. Plus she showed us some wallets she made. Sarah was kind enough us some squares of fancy fabric. The piece I took home is the perfect final fabric for a baby quilt I am creating.

Diane: Diane worked all evening hemming a fun quilt sample that Shannon pieced. Recently Diane was in Oregon for a quilt run, visiting many quaint stores along the coast. In the past month she had peridontal surgery which, remarkably, was not too painful.

february 09 meeting

2009-02-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

show and tell
It was wonderful to have Maurine up here for a visit. She is working on a senior quilt and she described an amazing quilt that she is creating from some antique blocks.

Linda showed the beautiful red and black quilt which she was hand quilting while we visited.

Flora brought out a quilt that her aunt made for her which Flora lovingly laid out on many Hawaiian beaches (doesn't that sound nice?)

Miriam brought a beautiful crocheted patchwork afghan which she donated to the Rainier House apartment furnishing project.

Harriet has been very busy and showed us a rail fence quilt which I think is going to be a senior quilt, a gorgeous 16 patch with uneven strips, a sweet baby quilt made using the quilt as you go method and another senior quilt made from plaids. (Whew!)

Janet brought a very nice "super simple strip" quilt (59" x 74")

Pat brought a cute baby quilt made for her grandchild and a green quilt which is to be from the choir for the apartment project.

Shannon brought two quilts. Wow! The crazy blue one will be a senior quilt after she makes it a bit bigger and the green/gold one is for her sister.

Flora has been very busy cutting out quilts for anyone who wants to put them together. She showed a couple of “house” quilts that will go to the Plymouth House of Healing. She also wowed us with the beautiful quilt that she has made for her nephew to use in his truck sleeper.

january 09 meeting

2009-01-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

show and tell
Flora says that she got slowed down during the holidays due to a houseguest, but her huge bags of projects belied that comment. She brought a pristine table runner, a button robe she made for the Burke Museum, a quilt top made with little houses for YF (when finished), a quilt top made with lots of novelty fabrics for a young friend, and a plush quilt for a nephew with an ocean/sky motif and bold black stripes that she just finished on her longarm. Phewww.

Pat showed us a quilt top made with green squares that she made for her group’s Adopt-An-Apartment. Then she got out her crazy quilt samples—a vest, Christmas stockings, and a tea cozy. Her level of stitching and ribbon embroidery is remarkable and crazy.

Shannon joined us—which was lovely! She's been busy making cards and knitting. She gets her sewing fix making samples at work—the Bernina NW store.

Patricia displayed the fabrics she bought in Tokyo over the holidays and a baby boy quilt with primary colors and an asymmetric pattern.

Diana joined us for the first time. Never having attended a Piecemakers meeting before, she assumed it was a sewing session. With a bag full of memory clothes from her family, Pat gave Diana a demo for making a crazy quilt square on the set-up sewing machine.

Miriam is another busy bee. She showed us a yellow and red quilt she made for YF. Then she produced a table cloth, napkins and a gorgeous matching quilt that she made for another Adopt-An-Apartment. (As Miriam didn't have an apartment in mind, Diana was given the set as her Boy Scout troop is working to furnish an apartment with the $200 it raised.) Finally Miriam had a bag of plump ruby grapefruits to distribute to us. Yum.

november 08 meeting

2008-11-23T23:24:00.000-08:00

show and tell
A small group of us gathered at Diane’s house. There were nine boxes of giveaway fabric on table tops in Diane’s dining room and living room.

During the meeting Diane had two major projects to show us—a blue quilt featuring Don Baker’s new collection and a remarkable quilt she has been making for her sister (see three photos) that will be finished by Christmas.

Harriet brought two impressive projects. One is for Plymouth--for either a youth or a Healing Communities companion, and one is for her home. The lavender quilt is actually a back!

Patricia brought a doll quilt in blue and white that she made for a three-year old friend.

Flora brought Maurine a home-made heating pad with straps. Diane gave the rice-filled tube a quick blast in the microwave so Maurine could try it out on her lower back.

The last photo is Flora with a large shopping bag. Flora, Harriet, myself and Janet all hauled bags and boxes of fabric home. Diane daintily picked out a few choice pieces. And Maurine, who donated most of the fabric, didn't need any of it back at her condo. When the evening was over, only three boxes of fabric were left.

dr. hilton’s quilt

2008-11-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

To celebrate three years of leadership at Plymouth by Dr. Rev. Allen Hilton, the Piece Makers created a memory quilt. This is the presentation of the quilt in Hildebrand Hall on his last Sunday.

october 08 meeting

2008-10-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Look at Flora’s mind-bending, sparkling blue labyrinth wall hanging! She also made a mini-version for the group quilt.

Harriet showed us quilt after quilt that she has finished. Also, she impressed us a suitcase full of wonderful fabric finds from her travels.(Wait! Isn't that Harriet with an armful of floral material in Sarah’s store!)

Janet moved ahead and finished the FY quilt with the fun lime-green squares.

Patricia showed the final piecing of her Little Man baby boy quilt.

Miriam had two projects to show us, the most noteworthy being the "green" quilt.

Sarah proudly displayed a quilt, inspired by the seashore, that her older sister made for her.

As the evening came to a close, we descended into Sarah’s basement store--Ruby’s Daughter. It was filled with an exception selection of delightful quilting fabrics.

august 08 meeting

2008-08-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

show and tell
Miriam made us all cloth grocery pages in wonderful fabric with trim details. We each seemed to find one that matched our personalities. Miriam also showed us a YF quilt project made with the pattern that Maurine shared with us in June. She is about to head off to Norway for a birthday party. What a jet setter!

Maurine had just completed two quilts for Plymouth Healing Communities as well as the two family quilts made of her deceased nephew's Hawaiian rayon shirts. They were deluxe with extra soft velour backings—see photo. Maurine also shared some of her hand-dyed threads with us.

Janet created a remarkable piece of jewelry that she presented to Maurine as a Thank You for being such a generous soul. The silver pendant framed an American stamp of a Gee's Bend quilt, with a fun drop-bead detail. Check out that attached photo for the look on Maurine's face when she opened her gift.

Pat, our newest member, showed us project after project. A remarkable hand stitcher, her most impressive project was a Crazy Quilt made with gorgeous velvets. She also had some unfinished projects that others adopted for potential YF quilts.
Patricia showed an unfinished YF quilt with central pieces made by Maurine in a Nancy Crow workshop. She is hand quilting it together . She is also working on a simple table topper made from hand dyed fabric bought from Elin Noble at Quiltfest plus a very un-babylike baby quilt.

Flora had two table toppers made with precise star piecing. And Harriet came to see all the inspired projects and join in the great conversations.

february 2008 meeting

2008-02-17T00:30:00.000-08:00

Harriet brought three tops that were pieced together with Chinese Coin craziness. They are bright and quite suitable for young men--which could help with our Youth Forum needs this spring. We need to discuss how best to finish these up.

Mary, who has been busy at the QFC pharmacy, brought her quilt-as-you-go project. She commented that working on small squares makes for a lot more work with the long pieces (sashing?) that pull it all together.

Janet let us know that she is caught up with a long-standing, hand-quilted project at home. It is all one huge piece of white (beige?) fabric that is finished with just hand stitching. Hopefully she will bring it to our next meeting to show us her progress.

Miriam, our oldest quilter, brought a fluffy and fun baby quilt for a Plymouth baby. We learned that Miriam likes to get up early in the morning and quilt for about three hours, often by hand, before she gets started on her day. Tremendously prolific, Miriam admits that she was born with a sewing machine in her arms.

Patricia showed progress on her YF quilt that is made with bold pieces of South African fabric. So far she has finished freestyle quilting half of that quilt-as-you-go piece. On the side she has been making a "quilted afghan" for her living room. Composed of graphic squares of green, gold and brown fabric, Patricia showed strips of piecing ready to sew into the final top.

the founding of piece makers

1999-03-21T00:24:00.000-08:00

Maurine in Ohio with a quilt she made with vintage squares, 2009.

Maurine Noble, a nationally recognized quilter and teacher, founded Plymouth Piece Makers in 1989. Its initial focus was to make quilts for new babies born to church families. If enough quilters joined the group, Maurine hoped that quilts could also be created for the new House of Healing ministry. An ad was put in the Herald newsletter, inviting quilters and would-be quilters to join the group.

Participants in early meetings included: Emilie Adams, Sue Bechtold, Rosetta Elliott, Inge Freund, Helen Gorsuch, Shannon Kahn, Ruth Kiemle, Maurine Noble, Diane Roubal, Caryl Trager, Sally Wagner, Susan Underwood, Marcia Almquist, Karen Gwilym, Jane Alley, Julie (does anyone know Julie’s last name?), Bertha Hanson, Jackie Mampel, Joan Davis and Carol Fick.

days of creation banners

1987-10-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

In our Chapel hangs a series of 5x10 foot banners depicting the Genesis story. Maureen Noble, Sally Wagner and Dana Taft were the key creative women who, in the late 80’s, bought $100 worth of sportswear fabric and worked for months on the six banners. Each scene includes freemotion stitching of the bible verses around the binding. They are very impressive modern-day tapestries in a house of worship.