Dixie Quilt Guild April Meeting

Today was our April Meeting for the Dixie Quilt Guild. Quite a bit of the meeting was devoted to making announcements in preparation for our big Quilt Show coming up next Friday and Saturday. There is so much amazing talent in this group, and I'm really excited to see all the hours of work come to fruition. Margaret and Bev (who are in my Diva friendship group) are the chairmen over the show, and they have seen to every detail with such precision.

We also were treated to a short presentation from one of our guild members named Jill Olsen. Jill has worked for the Stampin Up company for many years, creating cards and scrapbook ideas. Jill showed us her latest brainstorm using a Stampin Up die cut machine that will also cut fabric.
The template she used today cut out the triangle shape and small circles. Jill made this banner with the shapes.

The banner was reversible, and said "Party" on the other side.

She made a table runner using the same shapes.

Very little sewing was involved in this table runner. She ironed the pieces onto the backing with a fusible.

This is a quilt Jill made using three different sizes of circles.

The machine can accommodate many layers of fabric, so all of these circles were cut out in a short period of time.

Our last part of the program was our Show and Tell by guild members.

Bev made the next two quilts using only her scraps, with the same technique of sewing half square triangles. Look how different they present just by using varied fabrics and placement.

Bev said she got kind of addicted to making lots and lots and lots of half square triangles.

Annie Unrein brought the one of the latest quilts she and Heather Purcell have made together. They designed this one to highlight a Starr Fabrics line.

Heather brought a Black, White and Red quilt she recently finished.

Heather is Mother Superior of Superior Threads, and is so generous in sharing with us her knowledge of threads and color.

Heather explained how she purposely left a lot of white on the quilt, allowing the quilter to do beautiful trapunto work.

These pictures just don't do the quilt justice, but you can get the basic idea of how intricate the thread work is on this piece. Absolutely stunning work.

Heather also explained the importance of not being afraid to use different colors of thread on the front of a quilt. When a quilt is entered into a competition, it will greatly benefit the chances of winning.

Looking at the back of the quilt, Heather pointed out that the judges will not be concerned with the color changes showing on the back.

I still think the back is as pretty as the front.

Can you see what I mean about the talent coming from this group? I feel lucky just to be able to sit and learn from these ladies.