A Quick Post......

....before I head off to the Quilt Haus.  I have to choose some quilts for the Kaleidoscope of Quilts Show in August.  they are going to need hanging sleeves.

From our last retreat - that's me front far  right

We found out yesterday that River City has cancelled our retreat.  How sad.  I am not sure I want to stick with River City Quilt Guild anymore.  Every time they talk about a teacher, it gets pulled back.  Now the retreats, which have been a staple of guild activities for over a decade. 

Cynthia, our Retreat Leader

The concentration, it seems, is to save the money to donate to Charity.  you know me, President of CAAWS for 5 years and Board Member for 18 years, charity and donations are my middle name!

But we have to retain SOMETHING for the members. 

And don't  think we don't have charitable things in Baton Rouge for the quilting society.  We have the Giving Quilt.  A 501(c)3 organization whose sole purpose is to accept donations of quilts/fabric/money to distribute to organizations and individuals who need them.  (Sadly one of the organizers, Noreen Mazzaroppi passed away this last weekend.)

And if that is not enough, we have Wasted Women Guild.  Which is a smaller version of the Giving Quilt and often funnels quilts into the Giving Quilt.  There are at least 3 other smaller groups I can think of whose purposes are to do nothing

but Charitable Quilting.

I think we can have a couple of organizations that provide education and activities FOR THE MEMBER without going to Hell. 

Ok.......I think the statement from The Giving Quilt is worth putting here:

From their website: 

The Giving Quilt, Inc. is a public, non-profit, charitable organization that promotes the creation and presentation of quilts that provide comfort to children and adults, and works to increase public awareness with a biennial public quilt exhibit and presentation ceremony.

 

Organized in 2008 as a single quilt guild's inspiration to provide quilts to wounded soldiers, it has grown into an organization that has provided hundreds of quilts to various non-profit agencies such as the Neonatal Unit at the Women's Hospital in Baton Rouge; Child Advocacy Services (CASA), which serves a 10 parish area; Quilts For Kids; Our Lady of the Lake Hospital's Children's Unit; Children's Hospital in New Orleans; Braveheart, which serves children who are wards of the state; veterans and military service members through several organizations; and St Jude's in Memphis, Tn., to name a few.

 

The Giving Quilt invites all quilters to participate by donating quilts, either through participation at Giving Quilt sponsored sew days or through the biennial quilt show. Quilters and non-quilters are encouraged to join and participate through donations and assisting at the show. Organizations can be added to the list of quilt recipients, and The Giving Quilt will make sure the quilt completes its journey to the intended recipient. The opportunity to participate has given new meaning to sharing a love of quilting. Many non-quilters join this endeavor because they have a quilt that was from a mother on grandmother and remember the comfort and memories their quilt represents.

 

For a little inspiration, take a look at the 2010 and 2011 shows that displayed over 640 donated quilts in our Photo Gallery. This effort has inspired many quilters to take a new look at the gift of quilting and given a venue to share talents, time and treasure to provide comfort to others.

 

 

The Ill-fated Retreat - Some Beautiful Work By My Retreat Mates

FIRST:  I want some newsprint fabric or fabric with words in columns like newsprint.  I have a niece graduation from International Journalism in the spring.  Any ideas?  

Ok.................

I love going on retreats, but this one was difficult because I was on the phone with either the nursing home or hospice.  And the only way to get phone service in the sticks was to stand in the field with the horses!

But I did get three tops done and the rest of the people did some fabulous work as well.

None of these are mine, but they are the talented work of my retreat mates!




Come back tomorrow and I will show you mine!

And you don't even have to show me yours!

Keep scrolling down!

Didja Miss Me?

You probably didn't really miss me since I had the posts scheduled to run each day, but I have been at a Quilt Retreat in the piney hills of mid-Louisiana just a tad below the Mississippi borderline.  We were just north of Jackson LA.  There was lots of sewing, lots of eating, even walking a mile every day on the trails in the woods.  It really is a great place to get a lot of work done!

 I made a pink asterisk for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Renee
said it looked like Gumby, so this might just have to be my rainbow Gumby Quilt.  Maybe next month the color will be GREEN!  LOL  Remember Gumby and Pokey?  Yes, I am that old!

I finished this panel with some fabric from my mom's stash and a complimentary print I found on sale at one of the shop closings.

This is the son of the couple who runs the retreat center.  At 8, this is his 4th quilt.  He  became fascinated with quilts by seeing the guild retreats as he helped his parents with chores. 

These coasters were our group project on Saturday afternoon.  the foot of your wine glass fits  right in there

One of our walks took us over this wonderful covered bridge.

 And over this little creek.

   Here is the quilt kid with his dad riding horses.  They are a working farm family.

Joni and her Bonnie Hunter  Mystery Grand Illusions.

 Another walk on another trail took us through the pasture with this guy.

Charlene and her scraps just go together!

These  two just got back from a Quilt Cruise where they made these very Caribbean Quilts!

Barbara finished this table runner.

This was a group quilt we made for the manager of the last retreat house.  We changed venues last year and no longer go to that one.

 
Here is the Devil's Lense I have been working on.  I had a problem with all the seams coming together in the center.  My machine would not sew through the thickness.  So I changed it up a bit by putting a small strip of black as a sashing.  I need to see if I can find more black Dimples to put the blocks together.

Caroline was working on pink.

Here is another pink quilt someone was working on.

I got some pink foxes done for the rainbow scrap challenge.  A couple more later will be added.  I would never have thought pink and blue foxes would be a good thing.  But I LOVE them.

 This was the most spectacular quilt of the whole weekend.  She started this in the Karen Stone class  we had earlier in 2014.

Margie finished a BQ quilt.  I have this pattern.  It is fabulous for a large print you don't want to cut up.

Renee put this modern beauty together.  I love the greys with that splash of green circle fabric.

Another walk about the place.  Lots of trails, this was to the horse camp and fire circle.

Joni's greys!  Love love love this one

Debbie's Judy Neimeyer Cattails quilt.  Heavy hitting paperpiecing!  Yeah, baby.

Cynthia finished this cross stitch MacDonald's farm quilt.  So fabulous!

Lenni's  incredible jewel brights!

Puppy Quilt Presented to CAAWS at River City Guild

Frank actually sat though the whole quilt meeting and was duly impressed!

Friday, May 2, 2012, Frank Parks (President) and Libby H (Events Coordinator) accepted a donation quilt from River City Quilt Guild on behalf of CAAWS.  The quilt features one of our favorite things, puppies with floppy ears! 

A raffle will be set up to allow all to attempt to own this beautiful quilt.  One must see this quilt in person, ears flop, tails wag and feet stick out!  There is no home this beauty would not enhance!

The project was spearheaded by Lilly W of River City Guild as a donation to raise money for the shelter.  Our sincere thanks goes to the people who participated in the making of the  Charity Puppy Quilt, organized by Lilly Willis:  Cheryl M, Mary W, Beverly A, Noreen , Jo Paula L, Martha S, Renee H, Nina D, Ellen B, Jo D, Charlene H, Linda W, The Wednesday Quilt Group, and monetary donations from River City Quilt Guild members.  Quilting was done by award winning Charlene H of The Happy Quilter.

Keep an eye out for more exciting news as the quilt goes into raffle mode!

Mystery Quilt!

I have the Mystery Quilt decided for River City.  I talked with the pattern Author yesterday and she graciously gave me permission to use her beautiful quilt pattern for the guild.  She said this was the first time anyone had asked her to do this, and we talked about how some of the other pattern authors had handled my other requests. 

I am so excited to to have this beautiful quilt as a Mystery.  Of course it will be very different from the last two. The simple blocks make a secondary pattern that will WOW everyone at the very end.  So I am pleased with my choice on this one.

Can't wait to see how it turns out?  Me either!  LOL.    And you certainly know that the pillow shown is not mine, not my type of thing,  So that is a mystery too! 

glen:  and it seems to be a requirement around my house that no dog should have four good legs.  DiNozzo went into the crate yesterday perfectly fine while I was at lunch.  Then when he came out of the crate he did not use his back leg all afternoon.  I gave him Rimadyl around 4 and he began to use it near supper time.  Can you belive this?  I told him whatever he had better not be terminal!