Thursday, August 18, 2016

Our Quilty Friends Need Your Assistance

Our quilty friends need help washing her fabric stash and maybe their clothes as well.  A washing effort is being coordinated by Cheryl Armstrong, Margie Bumm and Sherry Herringshaw.  If you can help, please contact one of them.  

We know for sure that the following people got water in their homesIf you can wash, you may want to call these friends or just go by and pick up stuff to wash.  They may be too busy to ask for help at this point.


Candy Bergeron
Nina Delaune
Connie Ewbank
Mary Felder
Karol Guidry
Becky Guillot
France's Jones
Sarah LeBlanc
Valerie Kazlaukas
Debbi Kelly
Margaret Muse
Glen Parks
Louise Porter
Renee Vidrine
Jackie Wood 

Thursday, August 4, 2016

a portable design wall (featured at the GSQA POE class)

Materials needed:  

Prym Dritz Superboard cutting boardIf you are looking for a spacious working surface for cutting fabrics and other craft and home decorating projects, the Open Folded Superboard is a smart choice. It has a sturdy Kraft board construction with a neat laminated finish. For added convenience, this superboard features markings in both directions and lines for cutting nine widths of bias strips and patterns for scallops and circles.
  • Brand: Prym Dritz
  • Dimensions: 40 x 72 inches
2 sturdy curtain rods, adjustable to height of design wall (72 inches)

Pat Speth's Portable Design Wall 1 dressmaker’s cardboard cutting board (the kind that folds up for storage) 2 curtain rods that extend to at least 72" (the white metal ones that telescope into each other so that there is a curve on each end)  a piece of white flannel 44" x 80" or a flannel backed vinyl tablecloth—very likely you will have to buy extra flannel and sew it together to make it this large, as it is not usually wide enough on its own.  10 -12 large binder clips 2" size (from the office supply store) ** Double stick carpet tape **Strapping tape, package tape, duct tape---some kind of broad tape to smooth out the edges that extend past the carpet tape. (Pat Speth is the author of the ‘Nickel Quilt’ series of books and gave this to her class during the teaching of her Paducah Nine Patch in Bloomington, IN, March 2, 2012.) ( Do not get the cheapest curtain rods (such as those from Wal-Mart) as the least little bend will go into a full-blown bend catastrophe! 

photo credit  http://www.quiltinglinda.com/tag/portable-design-wall/

August 2016 program: highlights of the summer 2016 POE (GSQA educational program), part two

The one-seam, three-dimensional Flying Geese block would be an interesting addition to a child's quilt and would add some complexity to a simple border.  Missouri Star Quilt Company's 8-minute YouTube video shows how to make the block in a manner similar to what was shared in class https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Cblb8J6i0.  

Another three-dimensional project shared at the POE was a fabric origami butterfly.  Cindy Baucum created many of these as pins awarded to GSQA raffle quilt block finalists.  After making 60 of these pins, she was a pro at making one the size of a penny (actually, smaller!)




I forgot to mention chocolate--a basket full from which to choose all day!  We finished the class with a recipe that POE coordinator Paula Mathews shared, for Millionaire Pie from Spend with Pennies http://www.spendwithpennies.com/millionaire-pie-5-minutes-to-prep.  

The purpose of POE is for GSQA members to attend, and then to return to their guild to share class content with all guild members.  It's one way that GSQA meets its mission statement to share the love the quilting through commuity service and education.  So come join us soon, to see what we're all about.  River City is hosting the January 2017 GSQA meeting, right here in Baton Rouge.  

Renee Hoeprich 

August 2016 program: Highlights of the summer POE (GSQA educational program)

This Pursuit of Excellence class shared techniques to enhance what we may already do.  This teaching format is beneficial to beginners and advanced quilters alike, as you can jump in where you need to, to increase accuracy in block making or just start with a method that will save you time.  There are many quilt blocks that use a 60-degree triangle as a unit.  

Part of the POE class time was used to demonstrate cutting up this triangle unit to make a quicker pineapple block unit.  This YouTube video incorporates these techniques https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968758151/.  

There are rulers (TriRecs is one brand) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968758116/ which makes cutting these units easy. 
A formula for paper template is also available 
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968751119/

Many traditional blocks can be made with this technique; 54-40 or Fight and Storm at Sea are two examples.  There are also contemporary/modern blocks which I put on my list of might-become-quilts (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968758153/, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968758120/, and a Christmas tree https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362750944968758102/.  

In the POE class, the 60-degree triangle was used as one unit of a quilt incorporating a quarter-square triangle, a pineapple unit made from a triangle block, and an easy strip-piecing technique to make a chain block unit.  
The block could be done all in Christmas prints from your stash.  
This block also lends itself to becoming part of an interesting scrappy quilt with a conscious use of values.  

Check out the companion entry here on other things learned in class.  

Renee Hoeprich