Surfside Quilters Guild meeting 05-10-22

A great meeting today in San Clemente.  Good attendance and six new members!  This was the meeting where we transition to the newly elected board and these ladies have it together.  New in many of the offices, still getting used to our new meeting place, and the church has redecorated the room, moving furniture and adding artwork since last month, the new "crew" made it work as if they have been doing this every month forever.   Congratulations to all.  Part of the transition is presenting the outgoing president with the quilt the members have made for her, including hand quilting.  The quilt is set up in a frame at several member's homes and everyone who wishes can go and hand quilt and gossip and have refreshments and lots of laughs.  I love doing it, but can no longer hand quilt due to my old worn out hands!!  

The theme for Mary Arter;s quilt is "California Dreamin'".  The dedication strip is a tradition with changing "scenes" and, of course, the name and date.  The finished size is about 50" X 50". The blocks are 5" finished and we could chose our background color and, naturally, the design - some are original, some traditional, and some are patterns.  I usually do a hat for my block and this time it is just below the "Quilters" in the dedication strip - right next to that great VW van!

Our Philanthropy group is very active and meets once a month to measure, cut, sew, plan, etc.  Last year I think we gave away about 600 quilts, pillowcase, placemats, and assorted other projects.  At each meeting we have a Philanthropy Parade of completed quilts.  Here are a few from today's meeting.  

This is almost a scrap quilt as there are at most three fabric repeats. Simple piecing, good color and about 60" X 70".

Of course I like this one, it is blue and yellow!

Don't know if this is a pattern or something the maker thought up.   

What a great fabric!  

#   #   #

Surfside Quilters Guild meeting 09-14-21

This morning I drove down to San Clemente for the second in person meeting of the Surfside Quilters Guild since the pandemic started - in our second new meeting place.  Our speaker today was the witty, talented David Walker.  His appliqued pieces are amazing.   If you click on his name in the sidebar you can see the hummingbird quilt I purchased from him back in 2013.

Our president kept reminding the members to wear their masks, but not everyone did.  I hope there were no Covid molecules in the group.  I wore my mask and tried not stand too close to anyone, but it was  almost a full house, so who knows.  I am the official photographer so needed to be all around taking pictures.  Below are pictures of two president's quilts - one for Mary Arter, our current president who is serving a second term, and one for Monica Shafer who is the previous president and received her quilt at home since Covid had shut down our meetings.  This is the first time the guild members had seen these quilts in-the-fabric.  For those of you are are not familiar with this custom...   Every year the past president organizes the membership to make 6" blocks with a theme of the president's choice and a committee puts the blocks together so that it can be hand quilted at various members' homes.  The banner is always the same and the back has great back art including the names of everyone who helped to make it.  

Mary Arter had requested all stars and bright color batiks. 

The previous year Monica had asked for beachy things and we all used a blue background. 

Here is my hat block that I piece for most of the quilts.  And the blocks around it - there are several of the clever folded Hawaiian shirts in the quilt and quite a few machine embroidered flowers and sea critters. 

After the meeting four of us went out for an old lady's lunch for my 83rd birthday, Nancy's 80th birthday, and Charlotte's 90th birthday.  Mary's birthday is in mid October and I don't know how old she is, maybe early 80s.  Cedar Creek in San Juan Capistrano has a large patio, which was packed, so we ate inside and we were the only diners there.  It was a little eerie, but very quiet and nice.  The food is always tasty and the service excellent.  

When I got home I needed a nap!

#   #   #

 

Surfside Quilters Guild meeting 05-08-18

Surfside Quilters Guild meeting today in San Clemente.  This is the meeting where we changed officers and presented the outgoing president with a quilt memorializing her year in office.  She selects the design and members create blocks - in this case a simple three strips of fabric with name on the light/white center strip.  

There are 200 members of the guild, but only about half contributed blocks.  The quilt is hand quilted by members who attend quilting bees at member's houses.  All I did this year is contribute a block.

The back, designed and made by Nancy Ota shows Linda, our red-headed president with her cockatiel as a kite, accompanied by her Doberman, Murphy.   The clouds have the signatures of everyone who contributed something besides a block - sewing, quilting, designing, applique, hosting a Bee, etc..

  

What a treasure for Linda Rigdon. 

#   #   # 

A Quilt for the Guild President 12-15-12

Like many guilds (at least in SCalifornia) Surfside Quilters Guild members create a quilt for the outgoing president every year. The Past President is in charge and determines what the current president would like in the way of motif, color, style, whatever. All members are encouraged to create a block, which finishes at 4"W x 6"L, the blocks are assembled by a volunteer committee, and the quilt is hand quilted at quilting bees held at member’s homes.   I have always enjoyed participating  in this project and sometimes even put in some hand quilting stitches (tho’ my arthritis prevents me from doing very much).  This year President Jan Hirth asked for a people quilt, one of my favorites, and the blocks are being shown at guild meetings, instead of being kept a secret.  Maybe this will inspire more members to contribute blocks.  Here is a picture of the very beginning of the project at the December meeting with blocks mostly made by board members.  I will try to keep you posted as the months go by.   

The two blocks on the left are pasted up samples showing the block assembly.  We don't have any male members, but many of us wear pants most of the time, while others wear skirts or dresses.  Or a member can design their own original block or do a flower block.  It will be a beautiful quilt.

Surfside Quilters Guild Special Day 05-08-12

Can it be the third "birthday" for Surfside Quilters Guild in San Clemente?  Hard to believe that it hasn't been longer considering all that we have accomplished.  But, on the other hand, where have those years gone?  Today our new President Jan Hirth conducted the meeting and there were two special presentations. 
Each year the members of the Guild make 6" blocks for the outgoing president, this year it is Joann Bishop, the blocks are assembled and hand quilted by members who volunteer.  This tradition has been ongoing with all the Orange County Guilds starting in 1982 with Orange County Quilters Guild and all the quilts have pretty much the same format.  Joann asked for cottage/house blocks in pastel colors - reflecting, in part, her years as a realtor before she retired, and the sense that each house connects in friendship to the home of a member. 

 
It is a charming quilt and I hope Joann will bring it back to a future meeting for better pictures.

 
The other presentation was a special quilt made for a member who has given a great deal to make the guild successful.  Mary Freedman deserves this recognition for all the hours, dollars, thoughtful gifts and devotion she has given to create a dynamic and active guild.  Members of the Board, past and present, were asked to contribute a star block of any size which were assembled into this quilt which is a nice cuddle size. 

I don't think we tell our friends and fellow guild members often enough how much we appreciate their contributions to our lives.  I thank each of you for your devotion and contribution to this guild and all the quilting activities that are available today.  You enrich my life.

Beach Cottage block 02-27-12

I can't believe what a big deal this very small (6" finished) block has become in my life!  The first block is still missing - maybe the "Borrowers" took it away to make into their own beach house!  One would think this second block would be easier, but it has actually been more difficult to make.  There were things I wish I had done in block #1 that I tried to do here and there was trying to save time.  Previously I set-in the windows and thought that drawing them with fabric markers would be faster, but then I couldn't get them quite right and had to go over them several times, as you can tell.   I found the blue w/seagulls fabric in one of my many scrap bags, but it was only a scrap and required some manipulation to fit the pattern pieces on it.   I used a different color for the door (this one is better) which required a stop at the craft store for some different colors of floss for the flowers.   Since I had not yet photographed the first block I don't really know how they would compare - if I ever find it I will post a picture!  But the trash has been emptied several times since I pinned it on the wall, so I expect it has gone with the trash.

I can't seem to get the color right - this picture is a little pale, another is too bright and others have shadows or something else wrong.   

The speckled blue at the bottom is to represent both the sand and the ocean.

Some people thought the round thing was the moon or a balloon, so this time I stitched in a bluebird to show it is really a big round tree on the other side of the cottage.

 

I like the rock, part of the speckled fabric which I just continued onto the background.

 When I was trying to take pictures outside on this very windy, and eventually rainy, day the block flipped over.  When I looked at the images on the computer it occurred to me I should have taken a picture of the back to show that it is all pieced.  So, I'm including this "flipped" picture.

I haven't done any embroidery for years, so I am pleased at how well it turned out - using my arthritic twisted hands!

A Cottage by the Sea 01-10-12

The word "cottage" always brings a beach cottage to my mind.  Perhaps it is the influence of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's moving 1955 memoir "A Gift From the Sea".  But most decidedly it is also the summer days spent in South Carolina with my late husband and his family at various rented beach cottages.   These "cottages" housed 8 to 10 people, so they were not small.  The days and nights spent listening to the soft shushing of the calm Atlantic are golden memories for me.  The Pacific is supposed to be "pacific", but the Oregon Coast which I visited as a child was anything but!  However, during our August visits to the Carolina beaches the Atlantic was always very calm.  When the current Surfside Quilters Guild President Joann Bishop requested cottage blocks for her quilt I decided I would do the Red House where the Thomas family most frequently stayed.   From the side it looked something like this, with a screen porch furnished with wooden rocking chairs that stretched the width of the house, looking out at the ocean (on the right). Heavenly.  

But when I finished the drawing and started figuring the piecing I had some doubts.  Then when I saw the blocks that have been turned in a the SQG meeting today I decided it was "back to the drawing board".  This cottage would look like a overpowering McMansion among the charming country cottages others have made.

 

This is my simple seaside cottage - representing the size of the one Anne stayed in and wrote about in 1955 - which will be a pale color and have embellishments in accordance with Joann's wishes.  It is due in February, but since Joann occasionally checks in on this Blog, I won't show a picture of the finished block until May or June.  Gosh, I hope you can wait! 

A Quilt for the Guild President 06-14-11

In Southern California quilt guilds there is a tradition of presenting the outgoing guild president with a quilt made by the members.  As far as I know, this started with Orange County Quilters Guild in 1982 with the founding president Kaye Rheingans.  All of the quilts are composed of blocks made by members using a design of their choosing.  The past president is usually the organizer and consults with the president about the topic and the size of the quilt (so it will fit on a wall in the past president's house).  Blocks can be 4, 5 or 6 inches - this quilt uses 5" blocks.  The designs, in keeping with the theme, can be something traditional, something about the president,  something about the member who makes the block, or just a motif in support of the theme (obviously the beach, in this case).  Since I always wear a hat, my block for any president's quilt is usually a hat. (top row third from right), this time pieced using Ruth McDowell's techniques.  All members don't make blocks, but may participate by helping with assembly or hand quilting at the various scheduled quilting bees. 

Sharon Whelan's 2010-11 President's Quilt   60"W x 70"L  Made by members of Surfside Quilters Guild under the direction of Nancy Ota.  Appliqued logo (a rearrangement of the newsletter logo) by Nancy Ota and Jan Hirth.

 

Nancy Ota used Seta-color to create an image of Las Brisas on the backing and beach umbrellas and flip flops were appliqued over that.  Everyone who worked on the quilt has signed on one of the umbrellas or flip flops. 

A President's Quilt for Nancy 05-29-10

It is the practice of Southern California quilt guilds (and some guilds in other parts of the country) to make a quilt for their outgoing president. Nancy Ota, the founding president and the person who has devoted much of her life this past two years to getting this guild up and running, deserves something special. And this "kimono quilt is it. Members were asked to make a 4-1/2" block using the dark blue fabric provided by the guild as the background and to create a brightly colored tropical flower. Of course, hand applique would be preferred, but some members cannot hand applique, so there are also machine made blocks and fused blocks. There are 154 blocks in the quilt.

To honor Nancy's Japanese heritage it was decided to use the kimono shape and to include symbols meaningful to her and her family - her family kamon (crest), her husband Mike’s kamon, the guild logo, signatures of the board and all the participants and even a photo of Mike and Nancy in Japan wearing yukata.

The fans on the back contain the signatures of the board and the volunteers who worked on this project. The picture of Nancy and Mike is at the lower right of the back.

A great start to the tradition of quilts for the outgoing president of the Surfside Quilters Guild.