Easton Quilt Presented

Yesterday was the big day for the presentation of the 300 Year Anniversary Quilt of Easton Maryland. The committee had their first meeting in October. By December all of the blocks were complete and were ready to place on the center of the quilt. I had the pleasure of doing the longarm machine quilting. The first venue for the year of celebration is the parade on April 24th. To see more pictures of the quilt click on photos to the left.

Re-doing the Letters

The job I had to do yesterday was not a fun one. The lettering on the Easton 300 Anniversary Quilt was fraying around the edges. With so many people working on the quilt, somehow the fabric used for the letters turned out not be genuine ultra suede. The lady that brought it to me to quilt pointed out that the letters were fraying. What do we do? It is intended for the quilt to travel around this year to all of the anniversary celebrations. We thought that as it is handled it would continue to fray.

We decided I would go ahead and quilt it while someone picked up some ultra suede and cut out more letters just a tiny bit larger and I would put them on over top of the fraying ones. Well, just try to find black ultra suede on the Delmarva Peninsula. After some calling around one of the ladies found it in Dover, Delaware. Phyllis went to pick it up on Sunday. They did not have black, it was navy. Now what do we do?

Now remember the quilt needs to be ready for the presentation on April 14th. So after much discussion and looking on the internet, it was decided to use black Kona cotton. Phyllis prepared the letters and turned the edges under with glue stick. She got the letters to me late Monday. I was determined to get the letters on yesterday.

I loaded the quilt onto the longarm again. I placed some of the letters over the fraying ones. I did not like how it looked. Fraying edges were sticking out. I thought I would try removing one letter and see how it looks.

Yes, that is what I needed to do. So I proceeded to remove all of the letters.

I put all of the letters and numbers on with glue stick. Then I very slowly and carefully began to sew the letters on with the longarm. To me this was a slow process, but was probably better than trying to do it on a domestic machine. I am pleased with the turn out and it is definitely better than the fraying stuff.

Flowers on 300 Anniversary Quilt

Yesterday 3 ladies from the 300 Anniversary Quilt Committee came over to put some more applique' flowers on the quilt.

Before

After pinning more on.

Since I already had the quilt quilted, I sewed the flowers and leaves on with the longarm.

All done. Don't you think it looks better with more? Especially with the black-eyed-susans since it is the state flower.

Customer's Quilt

This is Judith’s quilt that I finished yesterday.

It was decided that the 300 Anniversary Quilt could use some more appliquéd flowers. In the afternoon I worked on preparing some flowers and leaves. Today 3 other committee members are coming over with flowers and leaves and we will finalize the layout. I would like to get them applied today or tomorrow. Then I need to take pictures of the quilt and individual blocks. We are having a book made to document the quilt.

Tonight we will not be quilting at the 7 Sisters meeting. Party Night! Another one of the girls turns 50. We have a 50^th birthday party just about every year. Cheryl is the one over the hill this year. There are only 2 of us still under 50. My turn is next year.

Comfort Quilts

Finally, I am having a very productive week. I quilted several comfort quilts for the 7 Sisters Quilt Guild. A few weeks ago we identified 4 women in our community dealing with health issues, some of them with cancer. Here are 3 of those quilts. (I forgot to take a picture of one of them.)

This year, 2010, Easton Maryland is celebrating 300 years as a town. The Bayside Quilters are making a quilt for this occasion. I have been a part of this committee. The quilt came to me on Monday. I spent 2 days quilting it. We still need to add some appliquéd flowers and bind it. The quilt will be officially presented to the town at the April guild meeting. This quilt is an outstanding piece of work. I will post a picture after the presentation.

I am now quilting my UFO for March. I should have it complete with pictures tomorrow.

7 Sisters Top Finished

This week I did not get as much quilting done as I would have liked because I had to work on tax stuff. Yes, it is that dreaded time of year.

Yesterday the Bayside Quilters 300 Birthday Bee had a meeting. Easton, Maryland is 300 years old this year and we are making a commemorative quilt for the occasion. The opening ceremony is the parade on April 24th. We hope to have the quilt ready to unveil then. I am so tempted to post a picture of our progress but I will try to wait until it is complete. The top is assembled and all of the blocks are complete. We are now working on the borders, lettering and the label. I will have the pleasure of quilting it.

Finally, last evening the 7 Sisters Quilt Guild got to meet again. The first time since all of the snow. It was great to be back. We meet weekly at the firehouse so, each year we make a quilt to be raffled to benefit the Fire Company. The winner is chosen each year at the summer carnival. Anyway last night we completed the top. I hope to get it quilted this coming week.