guild activities – Page 4 – Amherst Quilters Guild

All the programs/activities run by our Amherst Museum Quilters Guild, and other guilds in our area.

September 25, 2013

Back to Normal??

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Life is ever so slowly returning to some normalcy. I’m trying to plan visits to my mom as just one more thing to do each week and to not worry about them so much. We’ve been lucky to find a great crew of aides who are taking very good care of her. …But it’s my mom so you know how that goes. Our guild seminar went well. Pat Sloan was a hit among all who took her classes. Even several ladies who said they didn’t really quilt in Pat’s style came out at the end of the day having loved the class. Just shows how if you go into a class with an open mind, you are hardly ever disappointed. (Many of you missed a great opportunity by not giving her a try. Don’t make the same mistake with next year’s guest: Bonnie Hunter of […]

September 23, 2013

Happy Autumn!

Hi everyone, I am back literally (from my overseas visit to my family) and virtually (right here on the blog) and finally catching up with my life… My trip was great, if we forget not one, but TWO encounters with pesky stomach viruses…bleh. Got one as soon as we arrived to Belgrade and then another one when we came back! That one kept me home, missing all the fun of our Seminar – double bleh!! Second one was even a bit worse, but hey, I survived and it is time to get on with life! Hard to find a place to begin though, with all the emotions and inspirations from the trip and all the stuff waiting here, once I came back. So, lets start with some images to share with you from Serbia, country I was born in. Not sure if you know, but quilting really doesn’t exist there […]

September 14, 2013

long time gone

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve been dealing with some health issues for my mom. She had a stroke this summer and has been in the hospital, rehab and a nursing home. We are now moving her back home (2 hours from here) with full time aides. That has consumed whatever “extra” time I have had this summer. Here’s hoping that with her at home, and good help from the aides, that things will get into a groove soon. Our guild seminar starts next week Wednesday. Still have room in most of the classes (check our guild website in the sidebar) so you still can join the fun. It’s going to be great-you shouldn’t miss it! You definitely can come hear our national guest, Pat Sloan, give her lecture/trunk show on Wednesday evening. (7:00 p.m. at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village) The […]

August 16, 2013

It’s time to celebrate!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here again. We had a very nice presentation by the WNY chapter of the Modern Quilting Guild at our regular guild meeting last evening. Many of us had some of our questions about “modern” quilting cleared up for us. Those of us who consider ourselves to be “traditional” quilters have more in common with the “modern” girls than we might have thought. Several of the quilts that they brought along to share didn’t look “modern” to me at all. Some of the fabrics used looked like repros to me more than brand new designs, which is not to say that others of the fabrics did not have a really fresh new look to them. The use of solids in many of their quilts reminded me, and perhaps many of the others in attendance, of the days of old (now I’m really aging myself) when solids and […]

July 30, 2013

Summer inspirations and catch-up

Hi everyone, time to get out of summer lull and get blogging again! 🙂 It is mind-boggling to me how in the summer, when days are longer and all that, I seem to have less time for everything? When I say “everything”, I guess I sub-consciously mean quilting, sewing…all that kind of favorite fun, he…he… Does that happen to you? I know we all spend more time outside, tend to our gardens…but still, I always think I should have more time? As I said, mind-boggling. Speaking of garden – this was definitely the year for roses? Mine were just exploding everywhere and making me so happy! I guess the years of protecting them, feeding them, cleaning them from pest do pay out sometimes… “Forth of July” is one of my favorite rose and I think it will make me do a red and white quilt one of these days – […]

July 28, 2013

looks too good to resist

Hello all, Mary Ellen again. Was trying to catch up on my e-mail and blogs this morning and came across a photo of this recipe at Pat Sloan’s blog (our upcoming seminar teacher). (BTW have you signed up for your class yet? We’ll be mailing supply lists out soon, if you want to get yours the easy way please register this week!) Anyway this recipe really appealed to me. I have loads of fresh basil in the garden waiting for the right recipe, and have been overdosing on fresh spinach in my toss at salad bars. If you made your own bread crumbs from Fiber 1 cereal (click here), this could be a very WW friendly recipe. Have a look at the photo and see if you can resist. click here. The text in the blog entry that goes with it is amusing too. I think the ingredients will definitely […]

May 8, 2013

the charm of traditional blocks

Hello all, It’s Mary Ellen back again. Between the garden, and the sewing machine I haven’t had much time at the blog lately. So I’ll try to catch up a little bit today. I taught a class today on designing your own “drunkard’s path” layout. Part of the class was also learning how to stitch that curve in the block without any puckers. I must say all the students were successful at that. YAY! Accurate cutting and very few pins are the keys in my book. I used Anita Murphy’s drunkard’s path book as a resource (thanks again, Helen). We also went a bit high-tech and used Google images to see SO many gorgeous variations on it. I had brought color photos, but one of the students had her iPad with her so we went on the internet. The students were floored by the versatility of the “module”. I think […]

April 16, 2013

love those hexagons

Hello all, Mary Ellen here again. I think I’ll share a bit more hexagon love today. Nothing quite as neat as the way hexagons will nest together and provide so much more interest than some of the other shapes that will nest (tessellate actually). Even Mother Nature loves a hexagon–think snowflakes, honeycomb cells, crystals… There aren’t very many regular shapes that will do this-squares, rectangles, equilateral triangles. There are ways to construct shapes that will nestle nicely–but they aren’t easy to piece as quilts, and it would require a math lesson to talk about those, so I’m not going there. Here’s a bit more of hexagon math for those who might want to design something of your own using this versatile shape. This is from the Quiltmaker magazine blog: click here. At the Hexie Love board at Pinterest that Quiltmaker has set up (click here) you’ll find wonderful ideas for […]

April 12, 2013

this and that again!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. What a lovely day in the neighborhood! Fortunately I can find plenty to keep me busy up in the craft room. I’ve been working on things to be posted at our guild website soon, all seminar details. We’ve gotten the brochures and bookmarks back from the printer and will be labeling those this weekend. If you attend the guild meeting next week, you’ll receive your copy there. A friend can pick yours up if you’re not able to attend. Those remaining after the meeting will be left at the museum for mailing. Anyone who attended last year’s seminar, but is not a guild member, will also receive a brochure in the mail. If you’d like to keep up with Pat Sloan’s quilting adventures, have a look at her April newsletter. She’s posted a free scrap buster pattern called Traffic Jam that I really like, and […]

April 4, 2013

legos for quilters

Hello all, Mary Ellen’s back. I’ve been busy working on our seminar brochure so we can get it to our members at April’s guild meeting. It’s off to the printer’s now, so I have a bit of time until my next deadline! We (actually Kit and Marija) have lined up wonderful teachers for this year, please join us for 4 days of quilting camaraderie. (Sept 18-21, 2013…go here for more details as they become available) Quilters are often very creative in incorporating tools and gadgets, which are seemingly unrelated to sewing, into our craft. An easy example could be my method of organizing piecing for blocks and quilts with paper plates. Many of you use blue painters’ tape for a variety of quilty tasks. Here is a tutorial from a mom, who is apparently surrounded by her children’s Legos, on how to make a mini sewing machine from them. If […]