Carolyn Ivory volunteered to make a block using our logo design for donation to the Ellis county guild for their ―Guilds quilt‖. Hollie Mc Neely will embroider it.

Hollie and Carolyn finished the block, Donna sent it to the Ellis County Quilters Guild

Library report - The library will be housed at Just Stitchin quilt shop for

easy access by members.

Prizes - Door prizes were won by Joan Crumroy, Carolyn Ivory, and Cheryl Strickland. Name tag fat ¼’s were won by Kathy Longstreet, Karen Kelley and Marsha Moore. Don’t forget to bring in a fat ¼ wrapped in a toilet tissue roll to continue the nametag drawings for this year. We all like to win new fabric.

Drena Cromaz

I wish I could say that like so many of our club members that I have been sewing for a very long time.  My Mother didn’t sew and my Grandmother only crocheted.  My other Grandmother lived in Royce City & I didn’t see her very often.  She worked in a sewing factory and mailed me dresses she made when I was growing up.  Actually, I flunked out of homemaking class in high school.  Oh the cooking part was a breeze, but when my teacher ripped the hem out of that skirt I was working on for the 3^rd time I just gave it back to her walked out of the class room and went straight to the principal’s office to change to study hall.  Luckily I only lost half a credit.

I started quilting when I walked into Helen Carr’s quilt shop in Cedar Hill sometime around 1982 and signed up for her beginner class to make a sampler quilt.  And yes, I actually finished it (eventually).   For some reason I found that sewing a ¼” seam was a lot easier than that 5/8” seam.  Plus a quilt never had to fit to a specific part of my body.  Straight lines and easy math was the key to getting me hooked.  Shortly after I began quilting, machine quilting started to be an accepted mode of finishing a quilt and you know I loved that, especially if I could get someone else to do the quilting.

I have a son, daughter, son-in-law, and 2 wonderful grandkids.  They appreciate my hobby and the quilts I make for them.  My husband, Danny passed away 2 years ago and I still have 3 more quilts to make from his tee-shirts.  Those are on my 2010 “to do list”.  I have tried other hobbies but those just don’t provide the satisfaction I get with quilting.   Quilting is all about the journey and the friends you make along the way.

Gloria Ann Irving

My first memory of sewing was learning from my mama how to embroider a doll bib.  The second was making an apron.  I still have both of these. 

My mama Theda, mother of three girls, sewed many clothes for our family.  For years, she handmade altar cloths, stoles and choir collars for her church.  My maternal grandmother Johanna, who was the mother of eleven children, sewed heirloom garments including her wedding gown and my mother’s baptismal gown.  My paternal grandmother Anna, who was the mother of seven, was a quilter.

I have always loved sewing, including handwork of any kind and have tried machine sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, macrame’, quilting, knitting, crochet, heirloom sewing, smocking, and tatting. 

I started to learn quilting in the 1970s by taking hand quilting classes to learn different techniques.  I took classes wherever I lived, from Kansas City to San Diego, California.  And when I moved to Texas I took classes in North Dallas at the Weirs Furniture Store and from Helen Carr when she had her shop in Cedar Hill.

All of the sewing arts fascinate me because I enjoy the creative hand work in putting it together.  My favorite art right now is quilting.  I have several completed quilts with many UFQs waiting their turn.

Claudia June (CJ) Francis

One day my daughter, Tina, called me & said, "Mom, I discovered a quilt shop in Cedar Hill & the lady teaches quilting.  Let's sign up."  That is when I discovered a whole new world.  This was in 1989.  My house was under construction with the add-on & half of our furnishings as well as my sewing machine were in storage.  I learned to cut & piece by hand.  This was OK by me as I liked to do work with my hands.  Later we met a group of ladies that wanted to start a guild.  Tina & I joined.   This was The Cedar Hill Quilters Guild.  There were 3 Claudias (the first time I had ever met another Claudia other than my Aunt Claudia).  I chose CJ to go by as that is what I'd go by around my Aunt Claudia. 
 
I've taken more classes since then & learned a lot.  I used to make my own clothes as well as my children's clothes.  But since I learned the world of quilting I haven't done clothes sewing.  I'm not very productive, I'm slow but I've managed to finish a few projects.  I've even entered 3-4 quilts in shows.  I like to get the critique so I can improve.  I enjoy a challenge.  I do some quilts as a personal challenge to try to broaden my capabilities.  I tend to get distracted sometimes, so I have a lot of UFOs.  And I can't resist some of the new fabric lines or different patterns or cute kits, therefore my stash keeps growing.  My goal is to work on dwindling my stash down & finish my UFOs.  Hopefully I can get half of that done before I leave this earth.  Tina already has dibs on all my quilting supplies as well as the sewing machines.  And I'm a packrat by nature.  I try to find a use for everything that comes across my path.  So I have a lot of "stuff". 
 
I have 3 children, Michael, Tina & Eric.  I have 5 Grandchildren, Jason, Christopher, Brittany, Madison, & Austin.  And I have 1 Great-Grandson, Lincoln & one due any day now.  My hobbies are my Grandchildren & quilting.  I divide my time between McKinney & Ft. Worth to help with the Grandchildren.  My husband still works on the Toll Road, that is his hobby.  Every once-in-a-while I get him to go visit our friends on the coast with me.  Between Tina & I & Jackie at The Old Craft Store, we've taught Brittany how to quilt.  She has made 3 quilts so far.  So we're trying to do our part & spread the craft to another generation.  I enjoy the meetings & enjoy the exchange of ideas, hints, & tips that comes out of the meetings.  I enjoy the lessons learned from instructors.  I try to put their lessons to use.  I know there are a lot more ideas & lessons out there to learn & new ones are born every day.  I hope to continue to learn & pass it on to my Grandchildren.

Show and Tell: (see the pics here)

Helen Carr- quilt made from old blocks from classes in 1976-83.

Judy Purcell- Tell: won ―jelly roll‖ on shop hop. Show: ―Quilla‖ doll, and a purse.

Pat Kempe- 1. ―Dancing Stars‖ quilt made with the ―X-block‖ ruler, play quilt for greatgranddaughter

Amelia 2. ―Oilcloth‖ tote bag given to me for Christmas by my oldest

grandson, John.

CJ Francis- Black, white, and red quilt I finished at retreat in ’05. Put it away and forgot about it. Found it, and Gloria at Ben Franklin quilted it, and I finished the binding during this Arctic blast.

Gloria Densmore- Quilt as you go, Christmas tree wall hanging.

Jeanne Takano- An old quilt with an interesting pattern from an estate sale. 30’s, hand quilted and pieced.

Cheryl Strickland- 1. Redwork and hand quilted wall hanging, kit won Sept. ’08 from Claudia. 2. Father Christmas wall hanging, gift from sister 3. Christmas stocking gift.

Karen Kelley- ―Hillside village‖ made from a library book for the quarterly book

challenge. (Use one of your quilt books to make a quilt once a quarter.)

Janet Syrcle- Hand dyed material my daughter made for me for Christmas.

I have gotten permission to share this mystery quilt with the guild by it’s creator, Connie Regner. This mystery was done on a Yahoo Group called "Stashbusters". -Peggy

In the spirit of having it your way, you get to choose the fabric, the block and the layout. These details were discussed in the October and November newsletter, month 1 clues were in the January newsletter.

Month 2 Make 13 -6”(6.5” unfinished) blocks.

(here's a printable version including clues from the past few months)