Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas! Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas, a day filled with the joy of the season, peace and joy. May we all enjoy good health and happiness in the coming year, and the continued fellowship of wonderful friends in our Guild. I hope everyone got something "quilty" in your stockings this morning!!

I am so grateful for the many wonderful friends I have in FQG, and I'm sure you all feel the same. We are indeed blessed!

Merry Christmas!

Thank You Ladies!

A huge thank you to all who turned in placemats for Meals on Wheels. These will be given out with the Christmas dinners to Meals on Wheels clients. Your response was wonderful- we received 98 placemats!! Thank you for your kindness in taking the time to create something beautiful for others. I know there are many who will get "a lift" from this unexpected small gift with their meal on Christmas Day!

They are lovely - every one!! Thank you so much!!

2013 Christmas Social

Although I was unable to attend the Christmas Social, I have heard that it was a most enjoyable evening. The speakers were very interesting and the musical entertainment, our local Lady Barbershoppers Quartet, the Meadowlarks, got everyone in the Christmas spirit with their music. And of course, the evening included the "big reveal" of this fall's Mystery Quilt- a Christmas tablecloth. Here are a few photos, courtesy of Carol Boyle.

November meeting and Reminders

Another awesome meeting under our belts! Lois Wilby-Hooper shared many of her wonderful quilts with us. Lois has "been at it" a long time and it was so interesting to see how her work has evolved and changed. She has moved from traditional quilts to art quilts, experimenting with many "unconventional" fabrics and materials. Thanks Lois for sharing your wonderful works of art with us!! Shown below are some of the many pieces Lois shared with us.
We also saw an amazing Show and Tell at our Nov. meeting. Those photos have now been added to our Show and Tell Gallery on the sidebar at right. Check them out there!
The "J team" is still accepting Christmas placemats for Meals on Wheels. They can be turned in at the Christmas Social on Tuesday Dec. 3. If you cannot attend, send them along with another member, or they can be dropped off to Jeanne Kaye S. or Joan C.
I hope there will be a great turnout to our Christmas Social on Tuesday Dec. 3 at the Stepping Stones Center, 15 Saunders St., Fredericton South. Start time is 6:30pm.  I cannot be there because of another commitment so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all an early Merry Christmas. I do hope you'll find a little quiet time in this hectic holiday season to enjoy some time at your sewing machine!

Inspiring October meeting

What a wonderful October meeting we had. An inspiring program by Nancy Elaschuk of Moncton had us all admiring her many talents. Nancy comes from a long line of quilters and she showed us quilts done by her great-grandmother, her grandmother and her mother as well as a number of her own. Nancy's four sisters all quilt as well and she assured us she's "working on" her daughter too!
Nancy has made many traditional quilts and then has moved on to designing original works, exploring art quilt techniques and pushing herself by joining challenges.We were so lucky to have her spend an evening with us. Thank you Nancy for a wonderful and inspiring Trunk Show. Here are some of the wonderful works Nancy shared with us....

Meeting Reminder

Just a quick reminder- tonight is our October meeting. Remember your nametag and your mug, Show and Tell items and count up those inches for CQA's Walk to Brock challenge. Measure (in inches) the perimeter of your finished quilted items for this month and give your total to Trudy Corey our CQA Rep. See you tonight!

Tonight's program will be a Trunk Show by Nancy Elaschuk of Moncton.

See you tonight!

Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival

Just a reminder - in case you are heading to Nova Scotia this week, the Amherst Fibre Arts Festival begins tomorrow (Tuesday) and runs until Saturday Oct.19. Quilt Shows, classes, workshops, displays, demos, vendors market, auction and more: a complete schedule of events can be found at www.fibreartsfestival.com

Thread Talk Part 3

Earlier this summer I started a series of posts on the differences among threads, reprinting, with permission, the educational portion of the Superior Threads newsletters from Bob Purcell. Here today is part 3. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

This is Part three in a series discussing the differences in threads. A generation ago, there were very few thread choices.  It was almost is if one type of thread was used  for every project, whether that was piecing, quilting, clothing construction, upholstery, and so on.  Times have changed and much better quality products are available today.  Thread has become more specialized to enhance and improve our sewing projects.   There are differences between quilting, embroidery, bobbin, applique, serger, upholstery, and, construction threads. Applique Thread Although some applique techniques call for a medium or heavy thread to show off the thread, most applique techniques intend to hide the thread and therefore use a fine, blending thread. We will discuss the blending applique threads. #100 silk  Kimono Silk is a very fine, smooth, and lint-free multi-filament silk thread.  The highest quality silk thread is multi-filament (multiple strands twisted together) silk.  Lower grades are spun silk (short pieces of scrap silk spun together).  Because Kimono Silk is so fine, it seems to disappear into the fabric. Available in 80 colors Ideal for hand and invisible machine appliqué, detail quilting, lacework and bobbin thread Silk naturally has a lustrous sheen 50 wt. cotton  A little heavier than a fine silk or poly, but blends very well.  The highest grade cotton is Egyptian-grown extra-long staple MasterPiece cotton. Cotton is iron safe.  A low lint (to avoid bulkiness), high grade #50 cotton thread is fine enough to blend into the appliqued fabric, yet strong enough applique by either hand or machine . Recommended: MasterPiece available on 600 yd. spools (3-ply) in 75 colors and on prewound bobbins (2-ply) in 70 colors. 60 wt. multi-filament polyester. Fine, strong, lint free, and blends well.  Bottom Line is a 60 wt. 2-ply lint-free filament polyester.   Available in 55 colors Ideal for hand and machine appliqué, detail quilting, embroidery, stitch-in-the-ditch, bobbin thread, trapunto, binding, free standing lace, heirloom sewing, serger thread, and garment construction. Several colors blend into fabrics so well that they appear invisible. Available on 1,420 yd. spools on prewound bobbins dozen sets and a set of 35 in a BobbinSaver ring. Recommended: Bottom Line Note: Bottom line 1,420 yd. spools are on sale through the end of July. See Specials below. Monofilament thread.  Invisible polyester monofilament thread available in Clear and Smoke colors.  Commonly used for invisible applique.  Recommended to set iron to low or medium heat.  If you like monofilament thread, make sure you use polyester monofilament and not nylon because nylon tends to go brittle, discolor, and has a lower heat tolerance.  Some brands of monofilament invisible threads are labeled "polyamide" which is the chemical name for nylon. Recommended:  MonoPoly invisible thread.  100% polyester.

Used with permission from Bob Purcell,   www.superior threads.com

Yard Sale for Quilters!

Photo from iStock

Oct. 7 EDIT: All items below have now been SOLD.


Just passing this info along for a local quilter who is moving away.. She must downsize her "stash" considerably, and asked if I would pass this along to local quilters who might be interested: 






 MOVING SALE –

·         Quilt Fabrics - quality cotton

·         Crazy Quilt fabrics – yardage & squares & odd sizes - silks, satins, velvets, cotton threads, etc

·         Art quilts -  various non-conventional fabrics

·         Patterns for  bed quilts, wall art quilts,    picture quilts, totes, etc.

·         Quilt books

·         embroidery books

·         Gold work & metal-thread

·         Crazy Quilt books

·         Fabric Painting books

·         Needle Felting, Punch Needle. 

·         Etc.

You can contact her to set up an appointment to view her "goodies"...

Contact:  Esther Clark, esther.f.clark@gmail.com;  471-4696