Scrap Tamers Mystery is revealed!

Wow!  Another year of our Scrap Tamers Club is over. Scrap Tamers is a 9 month club at Glad Creations.  The club meets on the 3rd Saturday of the month for 9 months, starting in September and running through May.  This year we had about 140 members, meeting in 3 time slots.  We worked with the Stash Pot Pie program, each member getting a pattern each month for a scrap style quilt.  These were great patterns to make using your stash.  We also had a 9 month mystery quilt where members received  a clue each month to make a lapsize quilt. Members could work with a kit or work from their own fabrics. What great fun!  At the last session we took photos of some of the finished quilt tops.  What a great group!  I couldn't believe how many tops were finished.

We plan to publish this pattern as a Glad Creations pattern in the fall.  It is called Nine Stars Rising.  Watch for information about it in our E-mail update, class schedule or facebook page.

A great part of our Scrap Tamers session is the show and tell.  Members range from beginners to advanced quilters. They range from very traditional quilters to art quilters.  The great thing about quilters is they appreciate what others do and love to see any and all quilts.   We saw some absolutely wonderful and creative quilts.

We also talk about all of the new products that we have at the shop.  It's sort of a mini quilt class each time.  We show how new tools can be used, talk about the content in new books and try to add to the skills the members have.

We will start our next session of Scrap Tamers in September. First day to sign up will be August 22.   We plan to do a mystery quilt again and include some scrap quilt patterns each month.  The plans are still being made for next year.  More information will be available this summer.

Hope you will join us next year for our Scrap Tamers Club.  And who knows what the next mystery will be!  It's still a mystery to us!

Susan

Class Signup

Thursday, August 11, is the first day to sign up for Fall classes. There are some great ones coming up. We have some new ones in the plan so be sure to check on the website to see what looks like fun. Cheri will be teaching a color class. Dee has scheduled a machine quilting refresher class if you'd like a little more hands on help with planning or quilting. I'll be teaching a Lemoyne Star class using the new Rapid Fire Ruler by Deb Tucker. Nancy and I are working on the next Mystery Weekend quilt. And of course, all the basics are also in the schedule.

We'll be starting a new Scrap Tamers this fall. We're calling it Scrap Tamers Plus From Marti & Me Club. (What a long name). After some input from last year's group, we decided to combine the 2 clubs into one club. Signup for Scrap Tamers Plus Club is on Saturday August 27. We have the signup sheets ready and you can pick them up early if you'd like. We will be doing a mystery quilt like we've done in Scrap Tamers before, but also doing projects each month from the Marti & Me Club. We put together some sample bundles for both the mystery quilt and the September Marti & Me project for those of you who do not want to choose your own fabrics. There is also a poster of the Sept. project at the shop. After reading the Marti & Me pattern, I feel like I've already learned some new techniques. This should be fun!

Be sure and ask if you have any questions about upcoming classes.

Quilts of Valor

We have our Scrap Tamers Quilt of Valor ready to give to the machine quilter, Kars Quilting in Chanhassen. Then the binding, then back to Kars who will get it to our Minnesota Quilt of Valor group. Two of the women who are involved in Quilts of Valor stopped in the shop this week. They have made the connections for distributing the finished quilts. They are also the women who physically deliver the quilts to the different facilities and do a lot of the bindings. They now have enough connections made that all quilts made in Minnesota and given to the Minnesota group can stay in Minnesota. The quilts are given to hospitals, rehab facilities and also to those who will be deployed overseas. What a commitment! The suggested size of the quilts is around 54" x 67". But now that they are giving them to those soldiers being deployed, they can use some longer quilts. (it may be really hot there, but the barracks are air conditioned and the quilts give the soldiers a nice connection to home). They also can use smaller quilts for those soldiers who are now in wheel chairs.
What a giving group quilters are! From those who make the quilts, volunteer their quilting time, organize things so this all works or donate money. It works because so many people are involved. It makes me proud to be a quilter.
If you want more information on Quilts of Valor you can go to http://www.qovf.org/
I'll post a photo of our quilt as soon as we get it done.
Susan