Friday, April 23, 2010

The excitement builds...

Last night was the second meeting of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and we enjoyed meeting at a new location, Pacific Northwest College of Art, in the Pearl District in Portland. It is a nice, central location, and they are friendly and seem genuinely happy to have us use their space.

The energy and excitement of gathering so many  passionate quilters together at one time is electrifying.  Who else could get so excited over -- POTHOLDERS!  Welcome to our potholder swap.

We all made and brought potholders in any fabric or style desired and wrapped them in plain brown wrapping, depositing them in this large (almost not large enough) soup pot.  Each member chose a package, and as our Program Chair, Cherri, would say, mass unwrapping ensued.  I got the very last package left as I was so busy watching everyone opening their potholders and taking pictures.  There was so much inspiration and so many big smiles.

Amber and Tania


Leah...

...who made this brightly colored potholder that went home with me :).

This lovely lady opened my potholder, and I was so pleased that she looked really happy, I forgot to get her name!  This is the first potholder I've ever made, and my first grommet, too.  It was an act of courage just to mark on and then cut a hole in something I'd just made!  The Good Folks fabric is part of my hexagon project and the Kaffe Fassett binding is from binding the Mosaic Columns quilt.  And who doesn't have Kona Coal in their stash?  You can see I've still got wonky cross blocks on the mind, which is good because I have a lot more of those to make!

Cherri gave brief demonstration on how to make these wonderful cathedral window-ish potholders.  See the peek-a-boo fabric in the center?  The larger fabric triangles were originally sewn to the back and then flipped to the front.  I was busy taking notes and pictures, so I think I'm going to need a refresher course, Cherri.

Tobey went home with the book Pretty Little Potholders, donated by Lark books.  And while she and her husband both blame (I mean credit) me with getting her hooked on quilting, I'm pretty sure she won't be gifting this to me.  But she will share; won't you, Tobey?

Everyone went home with a little package of Insulbright, donated by the Warm Company.

We ended with a little impromptu show and tell.  Tamara had just received a couple of quilts that had been professionally long arm quilted.


Lovely finished quilts by Tamara:


 Marcia shared this quilt -- one that she is finally keeping for herself.  While she was very humble about the simplicity and ease of the pattern, is there anything better than a design of simple shapes done beautifully?  There is a lot to be said about the beauty of simplicity.  The wonderful long arm quilting on this was done by Nancy.

You will have to forgive this horrible picture, but I just had to try to give you an idea of what one member did, inspired by a design on Project Runway.  These blocks were made by pleating this fabric:

A real labor of love!

Seriously.  Would you actually risk getting marinara sauce on one of these?

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

23 comments:

  1. Love it! You totally captured the meeting...
    Off to make pudding! :)

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  2. Thanks for that lovely show and tell!! One of my favorite things about quilting is LOOKING at what everyone makes!! ;)

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  3. Fabulous photo-recap of the meeting! Thanks for doing this..

    On another note, I see that you won the 200 quilting tips and tricks book from Sew, Mama, Sew... any chance that you'd let me borrow it someday after you've gone through it? :)

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  4. OHMYGOSH, it looks like you all are having fun! And, no, I wouldn't risk getting marinara sauce on any of those potholders. Place of honor, somewhere safely away from spatters and harm.

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  5. I felt like I was there! Almost.

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  6. What a great idea for a swap! That'd be fun to do at my guild's next retreat. Thanks for the idea.

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  7. thanks looks like so much fun!! And in the Pearl District no less...

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  8. Wow. Envious. Happy. Green. Joyous. Inspired. Jealous. Motivated. Wowed.

    words to comment by

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  9. I like seeing what goes on at the meetings. So thank you for sharing.

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  10. Love this recap. I went home buzzing with inspiration! Joan would you mind if I pulled a few of the photos off of here that I'm in? I'm doing a photo essay of my week and would love to print them out/blog about them for my project. Thanks!

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  11. Thank you Joan, for taking us along for the ride again, how very exciting!

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  12. Great fun! Can't wait until the next meeting!

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  13. What a great group of ladies! l love the potholders (esp yours...great grommet!)...and the quilts are stunning...love the green squares & the triangles. A lovely way to spend an evening!

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  14. great blog entry Joan....very fun to read and even more fun to look at the pics....thanks for all your efforts!

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  15. How fun Joan! Thanks for sharing pics!

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  16. what a fun evening you all had. I love all the pot holders as well as the quilts which were on show. Have a great weekend. Vreni

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  17. How fun! I don't think I'd be able to use one of those beautiful potholders for messy food either.

    Jennifer :)

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  18. What a wonderful evening! I love the idea of a potholder swap, especially seeming them hidden in the brown bags. I love the one you made and the one you came home with - such a wonderful variety. They are all like little masterpieces, so it would be difficult to actually use them, especially with spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes!

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  19. How much fun is that! Love the one you made - the grommet is a great idea. Thanks for sharing - i love seeing others work.

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  20. you gals are definatly enjoying yourselfs!! i love it...so many amazing women in one room...does it get any better than that in our world of sewing encouragement?!

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  21. Wish I lived in your area so that I could join in the fun!

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  22. Joan, thanks for sharing your meeting with us. Looks like another great one!

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