The Blue Ridge Quilters had a split meeting; partially in person at Fincastle and partly by Zoom. The Zoom ladies may not look too excited, but the meeting had not yet begin when the picture was taken. Yep, that’s my story and I am sticking to it . . . =’)

Cathy Henderson demonstrated marking your quilt using a plastic stencil and pounce pad. She gave excellent instruction in how to line up the registration marks with each placement, how to secure the left edge of the stencil (for right handers) while firmly dragging the pounce pad over the stencil, making several passes to cover the design completely. She suggested while still securing the left edge to gently raise the right side to check for clarity of chalk imprint. She pounces one row at a time, sprays it with Best Press (some use aerosol hair spray) to help the chalk stay secure while transporting the quilt to the sewing machine for quilting.

Cathy suggested testing a stencil on a scrap piece of quilt sandwich to make sure it is the design you want, as well as making sure of your pounce technique. If there are some spots that don’t show up well because of chalk color on a similar fabric color, then you might use a colored quilt marking pen in that area for clarity. She said that a good quality lint brush or a damp cloth should be able to help remove the chalk after quilting is done.

After questions, the program portion was turned over to Kathy Wickham who demonstrated using a quilt marking pen to mark a stencil. Hold the stencil securely to the quilt sandwich and use the quilt marking pen to follow the stencil design and print it onto the fabric. Kathy also used the quilt marking pen to free-hand designs onto the quilt sandwich for quilting. And, if you have a great design on your backing, after securing the quilt sandwich, turn it to the back side and follow the design on the backing as the quilting! Just make sure everything is adjusted properly on the front side. There is also fabric available for purchase which has a pre-printed quilting design already stamped on it, and all you need to do is use that as the top of your quilt sandwich and use your sewing machine to follow the design, using the thread color of your choice. Last month, Dawn Watson showed her beautiful whole quilt done in like manner.

Kathy said that simple is good, but more importantly, do what YOU like for your quilt. She also said that part of the benefit of a quilt guild is that you can feel free to bring your quilt top in and ask, “Now what to I do with it?” It is a sure way to get a lot of ideas.

Then it was time for Show and Tell and Kathy then reminded us of the young boy who is aging out of the foster care system and requested a quilt with either baseball or dogs. She cut up a panel showing baseball players in action and made a lovely quilt to gift to the young man. It had been quilted by Cynthia and David Yeager. She then showed two comfort quilts she had done as well as a Cheaper By The Dozen quilt. New member Susan VanPatten showed a beautiful flower quilt she had done. Loretta Twiford showed her AccuQuilt quilt which she had quilted and bound since she showed it last month. Cathy Henderson showed a NICU quilt she had done.

And then it was time for refreshments for those physically in Fincastle and the Zoom portion of the meeting adjourned and exited Zoom. Good meeting, ladies. See you all again next month.