Strips and Strings Quilts in May

Ann Shows and several friends showed their strips and strings quilts at our May meeting. Ann will lead a workshop in the making of this string star quilt the following week.

Ann Shows with her string star quilt



Margie Hancock and her quilt; Elaine Magee's red/black quilt

Joann holding Paula Jones' quilt

 

Joann Keeney with her Dresden Plate variation

Jean Robertson also showed her scrappy quilt made of leftover blocks.

Our generous members brought in 108 pillows and 35 walker totes and 8 catheter bag covers.

Shirley Wiltshire reminded members to sign up to help with the Bluberry Jubilee in Poplarville June 8. We were also reminded of the Children's Quilt Parade at the July meeting, when all members are urged to donate a quilt.


Art Quilts at April meeting

Our April meeting featured Art Quilts. Martha Ginn introduced the topic and gave some illustrations of moving from traditional to art quilts, and Sylvia Blissett, Doris Dunn, Jo-Ann Evans, Pat Faulkender, Gloria Green, and Betty Allen brought some of their art quilts as examples of the diverse techniques used. To move from traditional into original designs, most followed a path of getting bold with color, combining traditional techniques with new ones, layering, painting, adding unusual fibers.
We showed examples of realistic art quilts based on photographs, pieces loosely inspired by photos, abstracts, unusual cutting/piecing techniques, strata cut and reassembled, addition of other elements (twisted fabric, organza, photos printed on fabric, Angelina fibers, paint, crayon).

Diane McLendon, Martha Ginn, Shirley Wiltshire

Doris Dunn and her original design

The Atrium at Ochsner's by Martha Ginn

          To help unlock your creativity, here are some suggestions:
1. Keep a scrapbook of images, ideas, clippings, drawings, and notes. These things will help to plant the seeds of innovation.
2. Attend art shows and craft exhibits, not just quilt shows. Other creative fields can supply fresh inspiration.
3. Spend lots of time with books, especially art and nature books with their beautiful photographs.
4. Pay special attention to nature’s diverse forms.
5. Recognize the design motifs around you--architecture, dishes, fruits, vegetables, bridges, trees. Keep your camera handy to capture ideas.
6. Attend workshops and classes to widen your knowledge base.
                We donated 21 more quilts to the Veterans Home in Collins, and our members brought in 74 pillows, 27 walker totes/catheter bag covers, one NICU isolette cover.
                The last few more spots in Judy Momenzadeh’s workshop were filled. We will be eager to see the beautiful butterfly wall quilts that will come from this workshop.

Dianne Springer presents Scrap-O-Lator

Dianne Springer

The March 20 program was presented by Dianne Springer from Ruston, LA. Dianne is the author of Scrap-O-Lator, published through AQS. She gave a lighthearted presentation of her techniques and shared the tidbit that approximately 3 yards of fabric weigh a pound. Her daughter helped her with her table of a variety of her products.  More of Dianne's work can be seen on her website:  www.quiltinacup.com.  

Susie Jackson taught the March 27 workshop for a scrappy covered stool or folding chair, using a pattern from Dianne's Scrap-O-Lator book.

Dianne's quilt and rug and chair projects

Our vice president, Donna Crager, introduced a Mystery Quilt Challenge. There is no charge to participate, and the project will be a good one for scraps. Participants may sign up for this lap-size quilt, and patterns will be sent weekly either by email or regular mail.

Susie Jackson showed the Butterfly art quilt by Judy Momenzadeh, who will present a workshop April 24 for PBQ. Judy is from Baton Rouge and was a vendor (Mo & Mike) at our 2012 quilt show. There are a few spots left in the workshop. To sign up and receive the supply list, contact Donna Crager.  tomanddonnacrager@gmail.com


"Butterfly" by Judy Momenzadeh

Dianne Herrington introduced Donna Stewart, the winner of the Wounded Combat Vet Patriotic quilt which PBQ had donated. One hundred quilts have been given to families of fallen soldiers. We have presented 25 quilts to veterans at the VA home in Collins. Major General Johnny Sellers from the Wounded Minutemen of MS was present to thank PBQ members for their kind donation. The WM of MS has donated $80K so far to families of WM of MS.

Members were reminded of the upcoming MQA Educational Seminar with Nancy Mahoney. PBQ will be one of the sites of the workshop July 19-20.
The boutique needs Christmas fabric; please bring to donate. Also, the hospitals have ongoing needs for walker totes or catheter bag covers. These can be made easily by using a folded quilted placemat and adding ties for attaching. We will also be making more isolette covers for the NICU. Contact an officer or Children's or Boutique leaders to get involved.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Win this Quilt; Support Wounded MS ANG Soldiers

Stars of Mississippi

 

WIN THIS PATRIOTIC QUILT AND SUPPORT WOUNDED MISSISSIPPI ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS!

Pine Belt Quilters, with love and appreciation, made and donated the quilt pictured above in support of wounded Mississippi Army National Guard soldiers.

Purchase raffle tickets for $5 each for a chance to win “Stars of Mississippi”. “Stars of Mississippi” has an eagle panel, with 24 offset stars surrounding the eagle panel in red, white and blue fabrics. ALL proceeds go directly to wounded Mississippi Army National Guard troops, via Wounded Minutemen of Mississippi (not affiliated with other wounded warrior programs).

Drawing will be held on March 18, so get your tickets soon!

To purchase tickets, please contact Dianne Herrington. Checks or cash can be mailed to Dianne at the following address (or handed to me when you see me). Checks should be made out to Wounded Minutemen of Mississippi.

Dianne Herrington

123 Richburg Road

Purvis, MS 39475

601-549-2409 (if you get voicemail, please leave a message and phone #). Or text to this number.

dherrington4578@comcast.net (Email is great!)

Facebook: Dianne Deal Herrington

Thank you for supporting Mississippi’s heroes who have sacrificed much for us, and for our country.

Tornado Damage Causes Cancellation of PBQ Meeting

The February 10 tornado caused horrific damage to Hattiesburg, specifically the area between Arlington Loop and Hardy along S 37th Avenue, S 34th Avenue, Donwood, and Southampton Rd.  University Baptist Church (on Arlington Loop) was not damaged and is being used as a staging area for relief efforts. There are pick-up trucks, 18-wheelers, trailers, and other heavy equipment in the parking lot, and the church is feeding work crews in Fellowship Hall, sometimes three meals a day.

Since this is PBQ's meeting place, it has been decided that our February 20th meeting as well as the workshop the following week will be cancelled. Some nearby streets are still blocked, and we don't want to hinder any of this clean-up work that is going on. We have been told that approximately 2000 homes in the area are affected, from some damage to total destruction. We still marvel that there was no loss of life.


Photo by Ryan Moore, Hattiesburg American

Joan Alliston's Settings for Sampler Quilts

Joan Alliston of Brandon presented our program to kick off 2013 with the topic "Settings for Sampler Quilts." Joan and her sister and mother for many years made friendship blocks, challenges, new patterns, enjoying and encouraging each other through illnesses and losses. They made trips together, attended retreats and workshops, shared and swapped fabric and patterns, even completing works for one another, which adds special memories and meaning to the quilts.

Joan showed the many ways that friendship blocks or sampler blocks can be set, with various-sized blocks presenting more creative solutions. She showed examples of sashing and filler blocks and borders to get the quilts to a desired finished size.

Joan and Georgia Polk are co-chairs of the Mississippi Quilt Association committee to keep an ongoing exhibit of quilts at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Museum in Jackson; they took down the red/green exhibit this week and hung Log Cabin quilts. Several PBQ quilts are in the current display, which will remain until June.

Locally, Mary Nell Magee arranges for quilts to hang at the Hattiesburg Visitors Center; the current theme is "winter blues," to be followed by "flowers" in April.

 Our members have found time to be charitable during their busy lives. At today's meeting we received donations of 67 pillows, 29 walker totes, 25 newborn burp shoulder cloths. Many others worked on quilts for children or the veterans home. A recap for 2012 is listed on last month's blog report. Forrest General's NICU has requested more isolette covers and furnished the gray fabric for the linings. Gloria Green will head up this activity in small groups.

Our membership director distributed copies of our plans for 2013; these meeting programs, boutique projects, and workshops will be listed on our website in Guild Activities. It should be a busy and productive year! The Sampler Quilt Challenge Reveal will be the June meeting, with monetary prizes awarded by viewers' choice balloting.

Christmas Luncheon and Sharing Quilts

We finished out 2012 with a great pot-luck luncheon and gave away 75 quilts we had made. Representatives of the agencies receiving the quilts told us what a joy these quilts bring to their patients/clients. We gave to: Annie Jackson and Joanna Chandler from South Mississippi Children's Center; Leigh Anne Leonard from Forrest General Hospital;

Joan Harper from Wesley Medical Center;

Riley Herrin from the Shafer Center for CrisisIntervention;

Chief Webster from the Hattiesburg Fire Department;

and Becky Sims from the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter

Missy Lee, Joe Bingham, Leigh Anne Leonard, FGH

Joanna Chandler, Annie Jackson, SMCC

Becky Sims, DAFS

In addition to the quilts we placed today, 61 small pillows were brought in as well as several walker totes and catheter bag covers to give to the hospitals. A rough count of the total number of quilts given during 2012 was 173; we gave 575 pillows to FGH, bringing the total number of pillows to FGH to 1,724 beginning in 2009 (don't have a count on the other locations).

Chief Webster, HFD

We bought 10 copies of Martha Skelton: Master Quilter of Mississippi to place in South Mississippi libraries.  After searching catalogs in area libraries to identify which libraries did not have copies, we gave books to libraries in Hancock County, Poplarville, Richton, Hattiesburg, Purvis, Waynesboro, Laurel, Columbia, Smith County, Van Cleve, and the USM Cook Library. Many quilt guilds have placed copies in their area libraries, and it is our hope that this book is enjoyed all over the state. Mississippi QuiltAssociation made these available for guilds at a very reasonable price.