The Quilt Group

I just joined an official quilt guild, but for the past two years or so, I have been in a little informal quilt group. It has been a blast!! I really enjoy these ladies and last night was the first time in my recent memory that we were all together, which is kind of funny, because we were in the smallest house. We have recently added two new participants. We meet the second and fourth Thursdays of the month and if there are five Thursdays, like November, we meet the first, third and fifth Thursdays. We also have a "project day" every quarter, which I have already alluded to here in my blog.
These ladies are: (left to right), Elaine, Kathy (aka Sarah), Celia, and Diane. Elaine is new to quilting and just recently joined the group, Kathy, our ex facto chairman, is an experienced quilter and has taken on some old quilt tops that her grandmother gave her. She is finishing a flower garden that was made by her great-great grandmother. It is much bigger than mine. Diane pieces and appliques to get to the hand quilting. She is a master hand quilter and she is an inspiration to me. She is one of the funniest ladies I have ever met. I don't know if she knows how absolutely hilarious she is, but I love being in the same room with her. Last night as we were all getting ready to leave, a few of us were still in the house chatting and she was already outside. She comes back to the door and looks through the screen and said, "hey, what are you talking about in there?" Just like a little kid who is afraid of missing out on the fun. I laughed so hard.


Celia threatened me with death if I took her picture last night. But I didn't take this, Kathy did...
Celia started with standard piecing, but quickly became bored, so she is our resident art quilter and has been inspired by the Journaling quilts we saw at the show in Rosemont. She has such an eye for these things and just makes things up!!! No pattern, I am in awe.
This is Deb and Colleen. We met Deb at Retreat a couple of years ago. She is a retired Navy nurse and is very involved with many organizations. She is in two quilt guilds, very involved in her church and because her husband is also retired, they do lots of stuff together. Our joke with her is that she has had a long arm quilt machine for almost a year and is very afraid to use it.
We are all threatening to bring over our many quilt tops and break it in. The project she has in her lap is from our project day from a year ago. She finished it last night. Last night was the first time Colleen joined us. She is the former owner of the local quilt shop and hasn't had time for our group before now. She just sold it less than a month ago. I am a little sad because she is probably moving to Switzerland or the Netherlands in about 6 months for her husband's job.
The first lady is Saline and then me. When Saline and her husband first retired, they bought and RV and travelled the country. So, for the first year that I was in group, she wasn't there. Her work is so precise. She loves to do applique and the button hole stitch. I am working on my first applique project, which I have alluded to in the past. I am now hand quilting it.
Well, that's our little group. Nothing fancy, just a common passion for all things fabric.