CQFA and BAMQG

Saturday a week ago was the CQFA and BAMQG Saturday extravaganza.

Every other month, the meetings fall on the same day, which can be awesome and can be exhausting. I love being immersed in the quilting. I adore both groups, too.

CQFA was really small this time. It is a small group to start with and May always begins the end of school/graduation/nice weather demands on people’s time. Still, it was a great meeting with awesome show and tell. We rehashed the Primal Green outing and panel discussion. I got a lot of kudos for my contribution, which was really nice and made me feel good. Nancy had set up demo, which Sue gave after a brief break.

Sue's Piece
Sue's Piece

Sue makes fabric paper. She found the recipe in the book Stitch Alchemy and has been making gorgeous cards and gifts ever since. Sue’s piece for Primal Green was made from the fabric paper (above). She also sent me some gifts made from her paper. I especially liked the cards.

My Cards
My Cards
Sue's Card - detail
Sue's Card - detail

Don’t you love the stitching and how it highlights and adds interest to the flower?

If I ever send you one of these cards, you had better not throw it out! I’ll have to think who will really appreciate one of them. I may frame one as well.

The thing about Sue is that she is fearless and will try anything. She really does great work and I always look forward to her show and tell.

Sue applying paper to fabric
Sue applying paper to fabric

In the photo above Sue is applying tissue paper to the fabric she has cut. I don’t remember what kind of fabric it is, but something fairly benign and not very expensive, I think.She used a water and glue mixture to apply the paper to the fabric.

Sue is a really good teacher. She was well prepared and as she talked us through the different steps, she also talked about supplies she liked (Starbuck’s tissue and colored tissue paper are the best).

Painting Fabric Paper
Painting Fabric Paper

After the paper is dry (this was a second piece, because we didn’t have time to let the one she worked on dry), then you paint and embellish it. That stamp in the front is made from bunion foam. Great idea, huh? Again, Sue talked about things she liked and things that didn’t work out as planned for embellishing.

Painting Fabric Paper
Painting Fabric Paper

We talked about doing this all together in August and then following up with a workshop to embellish it at A Work of Heart. We’ll see how it goes.

BAMQG is always a fun time, too. This time I brought my camera. I still didn’t take any photos except of the blocks I was cutting. DUH! I took the fabric for the Teacher Pillows and used the time I wasn’t chatting to cut pieces. I was able to cut two blocks out during the sewing time, which was great.

The meeting was good, too. It is fun to see what people are making. I had a lot to show – the FOTY 2010 (sans sleeve, so you’ll get to see when it is completely finished), the Frosted Stars Leftovers and the Purple Quilt. People really liked them and it is gratifying to get positive feedback. I was able to show the quilts at both groups and get double the amount of strokes. Thanks, everyone.

A few people finished their Robert Kaufman challenges. I brought mine, which does not have a border. Look out for a post on that coming soon to a blog near you. It was interesting to hear what challenged people about the project.

Front
Front

Chris won the blocks from the February block strip challenge. She made a table runner and she also made some gifts to give away. I won a folder that she made using a manila folder as a pattern and Timtex as the base. Very clever.

Back
Back
Inside
Inside

The outside of the folder is made from blocks. Can you see parts of one of my blocks? The inside has two pockets. Where the green meets the multi-colored print is where the pocket is.