National Quilting Month

President's Signature Blocks-- 2009

March is National Quilting Month!

And I think it is no co-incidence that it is also Frozen Food Month. So make just one trip to the grocery, and tell your family that yes, you DO have dinner taken care of!
(oh, I wish I were really that organized!)

UFOs sighted across the country

Ever since January UFOs (UnFinished Objects) have been sighted at guild meetings and on blogs across the country...maybe even the world! The beginning of a New Year always brings out a rash of Good Intentions, and my local guild is sponsoring a UFO challenge for the year.
What incredible timing! I had just basted several tops, so I was ready to go on a UFO bustin' binge. 
When we had the first Show & Tell at the February meeting I came in with five all done! Woo-Hoo!
Of course, they won't be seeing any more for a looooong time, as I'm off on other projects now. But I confess, I did enjoy that one moment of triumph.
We have an official Long List with spaces for 20 UFOs, but I chose the Short List of 8. Finishing the last 3 would be another miracle...but you never know! My true goal was to finally finish all my "President's projects".

A Plethora of Presidential Projects

I only have myself to blame...I have been President of the guild three times (2 years each) over the last 25 years (geesh, now I really sound old!). The first year of a term the president gets blocks made by the members, and if there is a second term she gets a finished quilt. So I had 3 block collections to complete.

The most recent you can see at the top of this page...yummy batiks (mostly)!

This one goes back to 1994, when I received stars in many colors:

President's Stars-- 1994

Each star is sashed with 4 different fabrics to match it's color. I was so proud that I used only my stash for that...back in 1994! Completing it now was a bittersweet task, with several of the blocks reminding me of friends who are no longer with us.

 The next time I was president, they asked what kind of blocks I wanted. I thought blue & white nine-patches would be fun...and I got a ton of them in 2001. They ended up as 3 quilts...one with dark blue sashing, one with light blue (both over twin size!), and a baby sized quilt. Here is the light sashed one (most recently finished):

Blue & White  9-Patches...my husband gets a quilt at last!

Of course, I had a helper for all these projects:

Shayla O'Puss in her glory

Something new!

I'll be doing a workshop for The Art Center on May 17. "Fabric Art Without Needle & Thread" is for artists who might like to use some fabric, but don't want to sew.

It will be interesting to work with non-quilters. I'm thinking of it as a "play-shop" more than a workshop. I'm supplying all the materials so they can learn by making a collage, without having invested in stuff they may never use again.

Stay tuned for more info on that!

As usual, I had to do something quick for a promo...

Two fused collages

So...what have you been creating?