The Design Wall

Here's a sale for you...

Looks like our own Lorene Chaffee is downsizing her stash and having it sold at River Country Exchange starting Friday, April 30.  Details are below (click image to enlarge it):

More Auction Goodies and A Few Reminders

Here's a peek at some more wonderful items that will be auctioned during our annual auction/fundraiser which will be held on December 7, starting at 11:00 a.m., with a potluck luncheon. 

First are three fabulous miniature quilts that are being donated by Karen Buck (apologies for the blurry photo of the one in the middle):

 

And next is a wonderful house wall hanging that was made and donated by Carole Steitz:

Thanks so much to Karen and Carole for their never-ending generosity.

While I'm here, let me pass along a few reminders from Marguerite...  Remember to bring any items you would like to donate for the auction (such as gift baskets or handmade quilty items) on the auction day, December 7.  Also remember that baked goods are being accepted for auction, as well.  Sally Ann Brown, our fabulous auctioneer from last year, will return again for this year's event.

Lastly, remember that a Fifth Monday Community Service Sewing Day will be held on Monday, November 30, starting at 10:00 a.m.  Quilts of Valor will be our focus and Donna Roche will be bringing plenty of kits for us to work on. 

Sneak Peek at Upcoming Auction Items!

Oh Ladies!  Look at what Suzie Johnson has made and is donating to the Pieces 'N Patches fund-raising auction that will be held on December 7, starting with a potluck luncheon at 11:00 a.m.

What you see below are two fabulous purses with little matching wallets, as well as a wonderful snowman wall hanging.  And guess what else?!?!  Inside one of the wallets is a business card/gift certificate for a discount on long-arm quilting of one quilt by Carole Steitz and inside the other is a business card/gift certificate for a discount on one notion from Joyce Barker at Sew a Stitch in Bentonville.

Thanks so much to Suzie, Carole and Joyce for their generosity!

Upcoming MOKA Meeting in Missouri - October 9 & 10

Below is information on the next MOKA meeting.  Contact information for Nancy Wakefield is provided if you are interested.

MOKA in Missouri will take place in Parkville, Missouri on Friday, October 9 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on Saturday, October 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
 
On Friday night we will meet at FLORILEGIUM (www.florilegium.com) a store that has yarns, antique buttons and lace, beads, ribbons, and so much more.  This is a "must see" place that many call eye candy.  It is located at 180 English Landing Drive, Parkville, Missouri, 816-746-6164.  They have two very nice crazy quilts at the shop.  We are asking others to bring their very fancy silk crazy quilts for that night for show and tell.
 
On Saturday, we will meet at Platte Woods United Methodist Church on 7310 N. W. Prairie View Road, Platte Woods, 816-741-2972.  Platte Woods is a township near Parkville.  The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. for sign in and coffee hour.  For the morning session we want people to bring in vintage quilts, quilt tops, or quilt blocks that they have purchased or had given to them.  We want to know how they cleaned them, repaired them, stored them, or adapted them.  For the afternoon session, we are asking people to bring in their crazy quilts and we will pick a few to study.  These quilts can be the very fancy all the way to the very humble.
 
Cost for the lunch and meetings will be $20.00.  The lunch will be a buffet of mini sandwiches of chicken tarragon salad or ham on brioche, a fruit platter, pasta salad, and cookies.  Please RSVP to Nancy Wakefield, 816-858-3670 or nancywake65@hotmail.com by October 1, 2009. 
 
We have reserved rooms at LaQuinta Inns and Suites at 6901 N. W. 83rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri.  816-587-6262.  This is close to both meeting places.  The rooms have two queen beds and cost $80.74 (this includes all taxes).  Each room can take up to four people.  The deadline for reserving a room is September 25, 2009.  
 
Other interesting things:
 
Just up the street from the motel is Zona Rosa, an upscale shopping center with lots of restaurants and shops.
 
Peddlers Wagon, a quilt shop located at 115 Main Street in Parkville, will give us a discount on Saturday.  Their hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
 
Quilters Guild of Greater Kansas City has their  annual quilt show at Crown Center in Kansas City from September 26 to October 11.
 
There are numerous quilt shops and antique shops in the Greater Kansas City area.
 
 
Nancy Wakefield, 816-858-3670, nancywake65@hotmail.com.
 

Fabric SOS!

Ladies, one of us is having a fabric emergency!  See Shirley Ayers' note below:

Help!!  I'm looking for fabric to finish  a quilt............ can anyone recommend a web site?......... Need Northcott/Monarch, Tulip Garden Metallics prints, pattern 2707, color 83, need 6 1/4 yards.........Thanks!

If anyone has any ideas for Shirley, please either contact her directly, email me and/or leave a comment on this post.  Many thanks!

APB on Quilt Magazine

Anita Young is in search of the December 2005 issue of McCall's Quilting.  If you happen to have it and wouldn't mind loaning it to Anita, please contact her directly or feel free to email me and I will pass the message along.  Many thanks, Carla

No cleaning!

I ran across this untitled poem today on The Quilter's Message Board and thought you might like it too:

My neighbor is washing her windows,
And scrubbing and mopping her floors,
But my house is all topsy and turvy,
And dust is behind all the doors.

My neighbor she keeps her house spotless,
And she goes all day long on a trot;
But no one would know in a fortnight
If she swept today or not.

The task I am at is enticing -
My neighbor is worn to a rag -
I am making a quilt out of pieces
I saved in a pretty chintz bag.

And the quilt, I know my descendants
Will exhibit with credit to me -
"So lovely - my grandmother made it
Long ago in 1933."

But will her grandchildren remember
Her struggles with dirt and decay?
They will not - they will wish she had made them
The quilt I am making today.

Cynicky Phin

The Artfull Bras Project

Thanks so much to PNP member Donna Thomas for sending along this link:  The Artfull Bras Project

Click on the underlined blue text to see what a South Carolina quilt guild has done to increase breast cancer awareness.  You are guaranteed to laugh out loud when you see the collection of embellished bras they have created!  The imagination and talent is amazing.  Enjoy!

Holiday Greetings!

The Coolest Thing!

  Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you some info on the coolest thing that I have just discovered!  Let me preface my post by saying that I know there are plenty of you in PNP with WAY more quilting experience and knowledge than me, and you all are allowed to laugh at what may be a very minor discovery to you, but to me has been huge!  Maybe even extraordinary!    

I'm working on a project that is all six-inch finished blocks.  Some of them have LOTS of tiny half-square triangles.  The block I'm working on tonight has 36 one-half inch (1/2") finished HST's in it.  Knowing that I had to make these at some point, a while back I bought the pictured package of Thangles (TM), which are simply templates drawn on paper that you pin to your strips of fabric and then sew on the dotted lines and then cut on the solid lines.  I just got done making all 36 HST's and they turned out perfectly!  It couldn't have been easier, and I'm finding them to be dead-on accurate.  In my opinion, Thangles are a wonderful way to make HST's when you have to make a bunch of them all the same size.

Forgive me if all of you reading this already knew about Thangles.  They are one of those things that I've always known was out there, but never had the motivation to try until tonight.  I'm really glad I did!  If you haven't ever tried them, you might want to check them out.  (P.S. I have no affiliation whatsoever with the makers of Thangles.)

So what new quilting discoveries have you made lately?  Any neat gadgets or tips or tricks you'd like to share?  Please feel free to leave comments under this post.