Amherst Quilters Guild

Hello everyone, Mary Ellen here. It was so nice to see many of you at the museum on Thursday. I hope you are enjoying your prizes. Since we will not be having a February “in-person” meeting, I will pick another day in February for museum pickup for those of you who did not get your prizes. If you would prefer some other way to get your prize, contact me and we’ll see if we can work something out. In my last post I talked about a patchwork basket I am making for favors for an upcoming shower. It is using up fabric and bstting scraps both. Here is the link to the pattern (Click here. ) and here’s a photo of one I’ve finished. It measures about 3 x 4 x 5.5.   Fill in the blank: When I sit down to piece, I always have _________ on my table. […]

Hello everyone, Mary Ellen here. Since we will not be having a guild meeting this month, I have spoken with Dierdre at BNHV to set up a pick up day for those of you who won prizes in our prize giveaway announced not long ago. I will be at the museum lobby this Thursday, January 14 from 1-2pm to give you your prizes. Please wear your mask when you come to the museum. If I do not hear from you (euclid314@verizon.net), I’ll expect to see you Thursday.

Hello all, Mary Ellen back again, I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season, despite the COVID protocols we all experienced. I’m hoping that life will begin to return to normal as vaccinations become more available, and the government entities work out ways to let folks gather safely. Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year? How many resolved to use the fabric you already own rather than buying more? I resolve that every year with only moderate success, but I think COVID will be helping me stick to it this year. I’m noticing that on our guild FaceBook page there are posts about using your scraps and stash appearing. I’m working on favors for an upcoming party (wedding shower), trying to use my scraps. It’s a small fabric patchwork basket that I’m making assembly line fashion. When I complete one, I’ll post a photo and share the pattern […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’m taking a short break for the holidays. I hope you all enjoy the days of celebration and reflection. Let’s hope we can reconvene our guild before long. Watch for a message about blog prize pickups. As soon as I know if we’re meeting in January, I’ll let you know what’s up with our prize patrol.  

Hello all, Mary Ellen here.I got this photo from Linda H, one of our guild members. I mentioned crafting with thread spools in a recent blog post. So many of you remember the 4 nails in the end of the spool and making yarn ropes. Lots of other fun craftiness was had at this time of year with spools (and wooden peg style clothespins). I still really appreciate gifts that someone has made, rather than bought. Do kids still make their gifts for mom and dad in school? Here’s Linda’s photo of her spool creche to share. I’m finishing up the holiday cooking today and tomorrow–candy rather than cookies. I only made 3 kinds of cookies for this year–no get-togethers at which to share them, and I have very little willpower if they’re kept here!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I have finished the drawing of the prizes for commenters. Too bad that we were not able to have any parties this year-my original plan was to award the prizes at our March guild birthday party, then at our holiday party,… While getting ready to draw the names I did a bit of tallying. From the start of the collection of names we had 252 comments submitted by 38 different commenters. The math tells you that most ladies (all of the commenters were women) commented more than once over the period of time, and therefore had multiple entries in the drawing. Here’s the plan for getting the prizes to the winners. IF we are able to  have a January guild meeting, (big if!), I will have all of the prizes at the meeting. If we still are not able to get together, I will pick […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Cleaning up my crafting space a bit and came across some empty thread spools. If you’re a crafter, you know that it’s hard to throw away things sometimes because that thought “I could make something with that” is always close to the top of the brain. I was recently at a crafty store which kind of pumped up my enthusiasm to “making stuff” so those empty thread spools have been saved. Here are some cute ideas for repurposing spools. If anyone has any empty spools, especially old wooden ones, that you don’t want to keep I will gladly take them. But before you decide if you want to keep them or not, have a look at these ideas: click here. As with everything else, there are tons of ideas on Pinterest-many suitable for kids to make, and not necessarily needing “vintage” spools. Working on cut out […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here.That list of comments to yesterday’s prompt got my mouth watering. Every cookie/treat sounded good to me. I haven”t started my baking this year–and with our “stay at home” orders I probably won’t do as much as usual. Can’t be trusted with lots of cookies in the house and only myself to enjoy them! Do you need any ideas for quick gifts for neighbors or friends? Gudrun Erla has few free patterns at her website that you might like, and you probably have enough fabric and batting on hand to make them up quickly. Click here for the patterns. Today is the last day to comment for our holiday drawing for prizes. Since we can’t get together this year for our guild’s holiday party, let’s all raise a glass with dinner and toast the good friends we have made through quilting! And here’s the last prompt […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here.It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Big fluffy flakes coming down slowly. So pretty. How are all of your holiday preparations coming along? I have put away the fall things, but haven’t gotten the Christmas ones out yet. Got my 2nd shingle shot yesterday, and don’t feel very ambitious today. The cleaning crew comes today, so I’ll blame my lack of decorations on wanting everything cleaned up before I add “Christmas”. If you’re looking for a project for the kids to do, here’s one that could be cute or pretty. Lace appliques will take it one direction. Fussy cut fabric appliques from novelty fabrics would take it another way. Click here for directions. A reminder that tomorrow is the last day to comment on our blog to be entered into the drawing for prizes. If you miss the deadline, your name will go into […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’m trying to do as much of my holiday shopping online as I can this year. How about you? I just bought a bunch of gift cards to Home Depot on line for the guys on my list. I don’t think the website was very user friendly, but it still was faster, easier and safer than a trek to a local Home Depot. This website, Just Get It Done Quilts, has a nice list of gift ideas for quilters. You could have a friend or family member watch the video to get ideas for you, or maybe you’ll get inspiration for gifts that you need to buy. She also has included a link to her list from 2019–so you’ll get 20 good suggestions for gifts specifically for quilters. Click here to watch. Still collecting comments heading toward our prize drawing on the 17th. Do you […]