A Quilters’ Showcase…

Our small weekly sewing and crafting group recently held a welcome luncheon and display for potential new members. We all brought a variety of items we’d made and arranged them for all to look at. When I gathered up all the small things I’d made or been given, it filled a table.




I think this just proves the point that I never met a craft I didn’t like and want to try. Paper crafts, quilting, rope bowls, greeting cards, journals… you  name it. That’s just one of the fun things about our group, the Citra Crafty Quilters- there's an abundance of talent and interests.




One of our members, Penny, makes these cute night light covers and decorative fabric pine cones. She taught a class on the pine cones, so all who were interested learned to make them. And that was all of us!





Penny is also learning “pin-broidery” or card stitching. She’s stitched the butterflies on cardstock by pricking a pattern into the paper, and then stitching in a pattern with variegated thread. This is a new craft to me, and Penny has jumped right in, making a number of beautiful hand-crafted cards. It reminds me of those sewing cards I had as a child, though an advanced version.





These two striking pieces were made by Claudia who recently took a class in soy painting on silk with quilt artist Juanita Yeager. The poppy above was her first project, and she’s hooked. It won’t be her last. And I love what she’s done with the batik panel of butteflies. Her quilting is beautiful, and I wish the camera could show the spark added by the crystals she embellished with.






Jackie, an art teacher, sells her work in an artist’s co-op locally. She showed this grapevine and raffia piece. I love the intricate knotted pattern, and it felt good to the touch with all that texture.





Ida is an absolute master of embroidery, but she's so humble she doesn't even know it. We just marvel over her handwork. She brought a number of her heavily stitched and bead-embellished blocks that will eventually go to make up a quilt. This one impressed me most because of the flower vine stitched in metallic thread. Metallic! I would never attempt this much design work with metallic thread. But Ida got it to behave with remarkable results. And those tiny cross-stitches along the fan handle have one itty-bitty seed bead sewn between each pair. Such a gift she has.


Below is the soft and sweet Half Log Cabin quilt made by Ann-Marie. She also made the redwork pillow and I love the little French Knot dots between the roses. They enhance the white space, and add some lovely texture.






I thought you might also like to meet Smarty. Smarty is a yearling Quarter Horse, and is a full brother to Jackson, who I’ve shown here before. You might have thought this was Jackson, because they look a great deal alike- both bay roans, and very handsome fellows. Jackson was sold and is now with his new owner, but still at the same trainer’s barn. We’re hoping to get a picture of both of them together at some point. Smarty arrived at our barn just after Jackson left. Smarty is living up to his name as my husband Jack is working with him off the golf cart and a little bit in the ring and he's catching on nicely. He’s a sweet guy, gentle and kind. Smarty, I mean, but so is Jack!




We’re traveling to Maine, and Smarty will board at the barn where Jackson is. So we may get our photo op soon. The boys' half-brother Freckles is also at the barn. He can get in on the family photo, too.