When Quilters Gather

The Bayshore Longarm Quilters meet in my studio every so often, we call it "gatherings" as in the gathering of friends. There's a good group of us, some quilt for hire, some quilt for their own pleasure. Some have longarms, some midarms and some have domestic sewing machines mounted on frames. All machine quilters sharing the same passion.


Seems whenever we gather there's always a new friend to get to know. Our usual format is to just go around the room, introduce ourselves, what machine we have, if we quilt for others and then it's open to share whatever...show and tell, ask questions, etc. So I guess you could say most of the time it really is just a hen party. At least that's what my husband calls it.

Sometimes we have specific topics, but most the time its just whatever topic comes up. Always fun, always good ideas, sharing of websites and locations of where we found that new gadget we can't live without, etc.

But my favoirte part is always the show and tell! What we are working on personally or perhaps for a customer. And sometimes we get to see the quilts that have won awards in local and national events. Here's a taste of today's show and tell.

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Peggy shows her Square in a Square Tumbling Block sampler that she has almost finished.

Delores is our oldest member at 81. This is a quilt she pieced and quilted.

Cindy, Amy and Dee worked on a project together - the story goes they purchased the fabric together on a major shopping spree at Hancock's of Paducah. What stunning results!

Mary shares a quilt she pieced and I finished quilting for her last night. Wanna see close ups? (smile)

I took these last night. What a treat to get to quilt for a fellow quilter! I had fun with this little guy - I love the colors and really would like to one day make a similar quilt for myself.

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Mary also shared her Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2008 Best of Division winning quilt. Just recently she was able to take a class with Jacqueline DeJonge, the designer of this pattern, and was able to share her version of Jacqueline's pattern with Jacqueline herself. How cool is that!

Sara brought a top to share and asked the quesiton "how would you quilt this" of the group - she went home with several design ideas.

Cristyn share a new tote bag that she made - said it took longer to cut it out than to sew it! Cute bag - everyone wanted to know the source of the pattern (Amy Butlter).

Yep, today was a good day -- it's always a good day when quilters gather!