2017 November ~Linda Dahlmann

My mother, Jeri Dunham, taught me to quilt & I made my first quilt in grade school. It is a half- square triangle doll quilt. Then I didn’t quilt again until 2005 when my daughter Jennifer did her Girl Scout Gold Award. She made18 baby quilts for WIC (Women Infants & Children).

Mom made Dennis & I a queen-size quilt in 1988 & my favorite block is still unknown – each of the 35 blocks is different. I like to machine piece traditional patterns. My favorite tip is to make an Excel worksheet & keep a running list of what I need to take to retreat or class – No more missing pins. I also keep a running list of UFOs with all the pieces I need to complete the project

I really enjoy the classes given by the Chambersburg Quilt Guild. There are wonderful teachers coming right to us with new techniques to learn. My first class was with Leilani Brechbill & we learned how to resize blocks while making a sampler. I have also taken classes for other specific pieced blocks, paper piecing, pin cushions & most recently a wreath.

My daughter Jennifer joined the Navy in July of 2013. I committed to make one Quilt of Valor each year while she is serving. I have completed only 1 quilt in 4 years. I named the quilt “Quilts of Valor Bound” & I found the pattern in Fons & Porter Love of Quilting – using the “Non Sibi Sed Patriae” pattern. This translates to “Not for Self But for Fatherland”. I chose this quilt to display because our speaker is from Quilts of Valor. Thanks to Elizabeth Smith for the lovely quilting.

Citibank started a Quilts of Valor group in March of 2014 & I am a member – “Team Providing Cover” has awarded 58 quilts with more to come.

My name is Irma Williams and nally I can say “I am a quilter”.

I like to make quilts, because there is always a beautiful story behind every quilt.

This particular quilt that I am sharing as the Quilt of the Month for May is a very simple and easy to make “Triple Irish Chain” with a very simple hand appliqué border. This very simple appliqué border of circles and yo-yos was my very rst attempt to do hand appliqué. The machine quilting was done by Elizabeth Basiliko-Smith.

The quilt is very dear to me because the label that I made for it shows a picture of my husband and I on our rst date, 51 years ago.

All the quilts I make I finish with a picture label and dates that are important to me.

I have been quilting since 1983. I was fortunate to live in California then, and was surrounded by great quilt shops and teachers.

My first class was led by Diana McClun and was the traditional sampler quilt. Each week we were taught a different piecing method to create one block. I still have that quilt and it was hand quilted by me! I actually think that is a great way to learn about quilting. I love the quick methods we have today and have all kinds of rulers, etc. to prove it!!

“Baskets and Bugs” is the name of my quilt that will be displayed at the April guild meeting. I chose this quilt because it combines a lot of the elements I love to do.

My family gave me the bug patterns for my birthday several years ago. They came from a shop in Alma, Michigan, where my kids went to college. I do not really like bugs, but these were very stylish and cute. Took me quite a while to decide how to present them. I found a basket pattern in Sandy Klop’s book, A Baker’s Dozen, and adapted the pattern for the baskets from her book; adding all my bugs feasting on picnic food!

I love this quilt because it is very bright and uses lots of different fabric from my stash. You have to look at it for a while to see all the detail. Jane Sassaman designed the border fabric and she is probably my favorite fabric designer. I buy her fabric whenever I see it.

I am so glad I found the Chambersburg Quilt Guild. Most recently I was a member of Everybody’s Quilt Guild in Westminster, MD.

My name is Margie Etchberger, and I am fairly new to quilting, only having started about 5 yrs ago. I have wanted to learn to quilt for as long as I can remember, but my work schedule at a previous job did not allow for it, so I am very happy that

I now have a part-time job and can now belong
to the guild and learn to make quilts! I joined the guild having never made a quilt, but anxious to learn. Seeing all the beautiful quilts, listening to
the speakers, and getting advice from experienced quilters made it easy, and fun, to learn. I do not have any favorite quilt block or pattern…I think all quilts are beautiful, and they all have a story behind them. I do try and change a pattern, even in a very small way, to make it my own, so that it is de nitely one-of-a-kind.

The name of my quilt, made in 2016, is: ”Butter y of Hope”. I made this quilt because I wanted
to make a bargello, and as soon as I saw this pattern, I knew that I had to try it. The pattern is from www.QuiltWoman.com, designed by Kathy Adams. It was a digital download and had minimal instructions. I am proud of myself for guring it out on my own and for nishing it.

Cherri Hess did the quilting for me, and she did a beautiful job! I used batiks for this quilt, almost all came from my stash. Using a design wall was a big help when arranging and rearranging the strips, and for doing the piano key border.

The quilt of the month for February is called Rose Log Cabin.

Designed by Deloa Jones, who came to the guild several years ago, taught us this pattern that she created. I fell in love withit. Started it in class, took it to retreat to nish it, and then put in it the closet for several years.

I would get it out, look at it and try to decide how to quilt it. Finally last year I decided to haveRoxie Iser quilt it for me. It has become one of my favorite quilts.

Lani Brechbill started me quilting when she had her little shop on Lincoln Way. She offered a sample quilt class, and I still remember going there and picking out fabric. After that quilt was nished I make two more quilts then stopped.

I visited my aunt in 2006 and she started showing me the many quilts she had made. I was hooked again, and joined the guild in 2007. I love the fellowship and sharing with other quilters.

I’ve made many quilts for my family. I mostly do piecing, but also enjoy paper piecing, embroidery quilting, and some appliqué. I have traveled to quilt shows and enjoy taking classes at these shows, along with the classes our guild offers. I enjoy making the tops more than the quilting, but I am learning to enjoy that, too.

I love visiting quilt shops and picking out fabric. The colors and feel of fabric in my hands make me wish for more quilting time.

“My name is Amanda Garrett. I have been quilting for about fourteen years. I learned the majority of my basic sewing skills from my mom, though as far as teaching me to quilt I pretty much did that on my own. As far as my favorite quilting essentials, I stitch to my own beat. I make more art quilts than what I like to call the classic quilts. The Snowy Owl is my own design. I just finished it in November of 2016, and it taught me to use mixed media in my quilts.”

Grace picked her quilt “Brazilian Roses” to display because it is different. The blocks are hand embroidered using dimensional embroidery technique and machine pieced. The embroidery and the hand quilting by Grace took nearly two years from 2014-2015 to nish. Grace says completion was possible because of suggestions and assistance given by many quilters at retreat.

Please take the time to get a close up look at this beautiful quilt at the December meeting. You will probably want to know when the next Brazilian Roses class is being taught by Lani.

She took her first quilting class in 1988 in Waynesboro, finished that quilt and then didn’t quilt again until 2005. She began quilting again with what she had learned in the class and what

she found out reading and joined the Chambersburg Quilt Guild
in 2006. Marilyn loves sampler quilt blocks. Paper-piecing is

her favorite technique. She likes Moda fabric, shopping at The Sew’n Place, and organizes her fabrics by color. Her best quilting tip: to flatten a warped cutting mat lay it on the driveway in the sun—all the wrinkles go away. The best quilting class she took, she learned how to do a log cabin block the easy way, not cutting all the pieces to size. The last class she took was a tote bag.

The name of the Quilt of the Month is “Don’s Quilt”. Marilyn chose to display this quilt in November in honor of Veteran’s Day. It was a new flag design found in the June/July 2011 issue of the Quilt Magazine. The quilt was made from stash in 2011 or 2012. “Don’s Quilt” was quilted by Tonya Reichard in a meander pattern. Marilyn says the star blocks were paper-pieced and exasperating to complete!

My earliest memory is sitting on a quilting frame while my mother and grandmother hand quilted a quilt. I also wanted to make a quilt on my own. Finally as I approached my 50th birthday, I decided to take a hand quilting class. I learned to make my templates, cut and hand piece my blocks. I was instructed on how to sandwich and hand quilt my top. During these classes I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. After numerous surgeries, I spent 6 months sitting on the couch holding my quilt in one hand and the needle and thread in the other as I went through chemotherapy. Sometimes I stitched and sometimes I just sat holding it. I finished my quilt a year after my diagnosis. I call my quilt “My Survivor Quilt”. It is entirely hand sewn from the blocks to the binding. Since then I have taken other classes and workshops. I have gone on retreats and learned from my fellow retreaters. I have made many more quilts but this one remains my favorite quilt.