Tuesday, August 26, 2014

AUGUST, 2014



Important News! Sad, sad news but very important!

Grammie Tammie’s, The Wet Mountain Quilt Shop, in Westcliffe, Colorado will close its doors on August 31st.  They will continue with their ONLINE Shop at www.grammietammies.com.
The Creative Cloth Closet in Canon City, Colorado is closing its doors. No date since everything’s heading out the door fast. Within a month or so the Cactus Kilter Quilter predicts.
Stitcher’s Garden Quilt Shop in Pueblo, Colorado is closing its doors on December 31st unless a buyer steps up to keep the doors open. So if you have a desire to run a small business, here’s your opportunity.
Not so sad news …
First Stitches Quilt Shop & Sewing Center in Canon City, Colorado has their OPEN sign up. Check out what’s happening in person or visit http://www.firststitches.com/. Kim is a thread-aholic and she has material witnesses.

That’s what’s happening in the local area; here’s what’s happening closer to home…

Block of the Month is Garlic Knots
You know, those yummy pizza sidekicks from Angelo’s Pizza? For your dining pleasure, head over to the strip mall over by WalMart in Pueblo West for a nibble or a bite….
Whoa Nellie! That’s not the knots Katya Holden is referring to. She meant the Garlic Knots Block using 2-inch fabric strips.
(Here’s a way to decrease your fabric stash for CKQs who declared they were NOT buying ANY fabric THIS year.)
From http://www.quiltmaker.com/articles/Garlic_Knots, here’s the naughty, I mean,  knotty quilt.


      Garlic Knots


The exterior background is cream tone-on-tone or white tone-on-tone. As you can see in the pix, it doesn’t matter if the center squares are contrasting inside-out or outside-in, just as long as there’s a contrast.

August Program: Using the Log Cabin Trim Tool
Barbara Hensley gave a quick demo on the Log Cabin Trim and the Pineapple Log Cabin tools. She showed how using strip fabrics – doesn’t matter the width as long as it’s wider than the finished size – can easily make log cabin (pineapple log cabin) blocks fast and accurate using one or the other tool.

Tip of the Month
Bernie Villanueva demonstrated the Tip of the Month. This was sooooooooo cool that CKQ HAD to share!!!! Basting a quilt without destroying your knees or back! Here’s the handout and Bernie basically uses the same techniques.
 moment! CKQ has a table, a collapsible cutting table with a 5/8-inch thickness. She also has 2-inch binder clips leftover from when manuscripts where bound and sent to editors. (Before the Internet highway made manuscript transportation easy, fast, and inexpensive. No more over the transom or under the bathroom stalls to get your mss into an editor’s hands.)
Anywhoooo, Bernie uses the binders to clip the backing to the table, lightly spray-bastes, spreads the batting over the backing, sprays, then spreads the top over the batting. She readjusts the binders to clip all three layers and pin-bastes the three layers. She removes the binders, moves the layers to spray-baste and pin the next section until the entire quilt is basted. Note: Always leave a basted area on the table and work from that section outward to straighten, tighten, and clamp before basting. This method prevents ripples and excess fabric bunching.
No shifting occurs, even if she doesn’t get to quilting the sandwich for a few months.
Bernie also handed out homemade liquid starch recipes; one uses vodka. After reading the recipe, if you use your mouth as the spritzer, CKQ recommends not using heavy machinery – the sewing machine or your hot iron – unless you spritz in moderation, I mean, in small ingestion, I mean… use a spray bottle!

2014 Quilt Challenge
How’s your quilt coming along? We have 11 weekends left to work on it. Or for the lucky ones, you have about 79 days to complete and present your 2014 Challenge Quilt on November 3rd. If you’re planning on having a large quilt, CKQ recommends you begin BEFORE Nov. 2nd and BEFORE Oct. 27th. Some last-minute CKQs will try to prove me wrong. Go ahead. But why add stress to your life?

Remember, September’s meeting is not the first Monday of the month. That’s Labor Day and frankly, most of us are lazing around the BBQ. Pueblo West Quilters will meet the 2nd Monday, September 8th at 494 Hemlock Drive in Pueblo West.

Keep yer head down. You never know when you’ll spot a pick-up dime….
Cactus Kilter Quilter