The group met in the new location for the third time, Fire Station #1 in Roanoke, VA, where there is plenty of room, plenty of light and lots of plugs in the floor. And lots of comradery while the sewing machines hum and the irons get pressing.

As always, the group was busy making blocks for quilts which will be assembled, quilted and awarded to local veterans who have been touched by war. In the year that this group has been assembled, there have been 24 quilts awarded and an ever expanding list of veterans who have been nominated by loved ones, friends and acquaintances.

It is a privilege to be a part of this organization and have a small part in providing comfort and thanking those brave men and women who have put it all on the line to protect this amazing country.

Oh, great gosh and golly day, the meeting was attended by 23 members and 3 guests. It must have been the great weather, or that at least some of our members (think Vera B here) have been getting the word out about this fun group! Thank you Vera.

There was a business meeting and then community service projects were gathered. There were the adult bibs, pillow case and fidget quilt collected last month, along with a new pile of NICU quilts, scent babies and Kathy W handed out kits for 6.5″ flannel squares for the NICU babies (like a small scent baby), convenient for Mom or Dad to hold next to their skin for several hours so the baby will not lose the bond between baby and parents. The Super Size Nine Patch NICU blankets pattern was included in all New Member Packets.

If not efficient and well presented, at least the program (presented by member Loretta T) was entertaining and the attendees seemed to enjoy seeing and learning more about One Block Wonder Quilts. OBW’s can be quite addictive for sure, but when Janice T pointed out a man on the internet who had made more than 90 of them, my jaw dropped. Whew !! He seemed to enjoy playing with the colors and trying every imaginable way to arrange the hexies to show off the fabric colors. There are many books available on making, embellishing and otherwise One Block Wonder quilts. The basics were completely overlooked in the presentation, but . . . the best results are generally with a fabric that has a 24″ length of fabric design repeat (24 inches between the top of one character printed on the length of fabric to the top of the next identical character printed on the length of fabric). Beautiful pieces have been made from 12″ repeats and even some 6″ repeats, but usually the wider the repeat the better the result because there will be fewer instances of duplicate hexies. At this point in the narrative, it was pointed out that you really must purchase one of the OBW books by Maxine Rosenthal because she gives much better instruction and you will want to keep the book for your next OBW. As Dawn W said, the first one might not turn out exactly as wonderful as it might have if you had played with it a bit more and/or had a plan in mind. Trust me, she knows whereof she speaks. And once you have dabbled in the OBW waters, the way you look at fabric will change – forever! But in a good way. And then the crazy speaker had door prize drawings and gave what she considered suitable OBW fabrics to the unsuspecting. If that fabric does not end up in an OBW, at least free fabric is free fabric after all!! LOL

And then it was time for Show and Tell where members could share OBW’s they had made.

Once again, thanks for dropping by this fun group of quilters who believe any time is a great time for a good time spent with quilty friends.

Ooops . . . kinda slipped up by not putting the September meeting on the net !! Yikes !!

It was a great meeting where there were 15 members and one guest in attendance. Even so, the charitable projects were abundant, with senior bibs, scent babies, fidget quilt, pillow cases, oh my, being turned in. Good job, ladies !!

There must be close to a dozen members of Blue Ridge Quilters who have Featherweight sewing machines and love them. The speaker, Mary Houseman, spoke about Featherweight sewing machines and also had displayed at least half a dozen of her (as it turns out, many) Featherweight machines. Her talk included noting differences between the many machines (who knew?), years of manufacture, features and functions, which was all received by a very rapt audience. Ms. Houseman indicated that she both buys and sells Featherweight machines and is available for information. Something we all found very interesting and just too sweet is that she also sews and makes little teddy bears – yes, with her Featherweight machines. Anyone interested was welcome to her sweet little teddy bear pattern, and several took advantage of the opportunity.

Following are photos of charitable projects as well as those participating in Show & Tell.

Thanks for dropping by.