The Wayward Girls

The Wayward Girls met Saturday, July 7, and had a great time as usual. My sewing room is on the 2nd floor, it's been having a very hard time staying cool in the 100-105 degrees days we've been having. So we sewed in the dining room on the 1st floor, which I think worked out very well. 

Pam worked on several projects, and since she couldn't operate her sewing machine (she fell and broke several toes on her right foot this week), she brought along some hand work. First up was to finish the binding on the summer Thimbleberries quilt, Little Garden (above). Pam substituted different fabrics as part of the pinwheel blocks in the center of the quilt.

Then she worked on a baby quilt that will have little smocked dresses on it (sorry, no photo). Pam is teaching herself to smock--I haven't smocked in over 40 years, so I wasn't any help. She is also making a baby quilt with these darling bears, Ben and Emma is it's name; the pattern is from a 2000 Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine. How cute is that!

Carol brought several projects, first off was a table runner using fabrics from a collection called "Downtown." Very New York or Chicago, don't you think!

Her second project was from Jo Morton's Little Women Group 11. It's called Raspberry Swirl, but we named it Licorice and Orange. The block is called "Turkey Tracks" and Carol beautifully paper-pieced them. I can just see this in a Halloween display with a cute pumpkin or black cat, can't you!

My first project was to finish setting the 4 quadrants of Blue Ridge Beauty together. It went together faster than I expected--I was finished with it before the girls even got here! It's 80x80 inches and I think it's done--no borders. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, made with mostly scraps.

Here is a photo of Pam's Red Ridge Beauty. After I saw her quilt, I took my blue and white quilt totally apart (it was set differently) and put it together like hers since I liked it so much. Pam is such a sweetie--she's already sent her quilt off to her sister-in-law.

Then I had to get caught up with my Thimbleberries Little Garden. I substituted a different fabric for the light floral backround in the pinwheel blocks, not wanting to use the pink rosebuds fabric.

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I pressed on and finished the top! That's always a good feeling. I really do like the little picket fence border. I'm going to send this to my favorite longarm quilter, Joyce and get it done! (That's me peeking out from behind the quilt.)

I also cut borders for my granddaughter's quilt and will post a photo of that shortly. The borders are a bright pink print with birds and hearts in the design.

It was kind of comical when the girls arrived about 9:15 a.m. The crew was here to powerwash the house and deck and their vehicle and hoses took up the entire driveway. Then because of the 4th of July holiday the garbage collector showed up just as Pam and Carol drove into the circle. There isn't really much parking space on our circle! So we played musical cars and got that issue resolved.

You know how you sit and chat with your best girlfriends and someone says something that just tickles you? We had a dear friend from our quilting group move--quite suddenly--out of state. Houses are selling very slowly around here, but Marla's sold in 3 weeks. The joke was, Marla moved so quickly, you'd think she was in the Witness Protection Program.  I think we've all been watching too many NCIS episodes ;-)

We had lunch at Mexico Restaurant. Last month we had gone to Crazy Greek's. So it's been 2 months since I've eaten at Mexico Restaurant--everthing really tasted so very good. Blackened Tilapia, Chicken Fajitas, Sopapillas, and Fresh Guacamole. Always ask for fresh-made guacamole--it is fabulous! And we order our sopapillas with honey, ice cream and chocolate sauce drizzled on them. So yummy!

Till next time, keep stitchin'!

Mary