Welcome!

Ninigret Quilters is an organization for quilters of all abilities in the Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut area. We meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm at the Westerly Senior Center, 39 State Street, Westerly, Rhode Island (Google Maps) to share our common passion of quilting. Guests and new members are always welcome!




Monday, April 29, 2013

Quilts for Linus

Some time last year, several Ninigret Quilters answered the call to make a Quick Strippie quilt for Project Linus. Kits were distributed at a meeting and the tops started rolling in. Last Fall, we purchased a roll of batting, and again volunteers came forward to finish the quilts.

We have seven completed quilts that will soon be donated to Project Linus!





There are a handful of tops waiting for a fresh roll of batting. Most of them are ready to go, with backing and binding already prepared.

A photo of the stack, just because.

Many thanks to Mary Johnson for making this pattern available.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Outreach Workshop

 About twice a year, the Ninigret Quilters gather on a Saturday to work on quilts for Habitat for Humanity or Project Linus. We held our Spring workshop yesterday at the Westerly Senior Center, and focused on kid quilts. Thirteen amazing women stitched, cut, pressed, and laughed the day away.

Kate is a new member (and Sharon's mom). She pieced together a Finding Nemo top. The fabric had been donated to the cause, and the rectangles were already cut. We added 2" strips of orange to make simple blocks.

Here's the completed top! We still have 8 fat quarters of these prints that might become the backing for this top or a whole nother another whole top. Stay tuned!

Margaret was piecing together cat and dog blocks that Tora had made. The directional prints kept her on her toes to keep the blocks right side up!

And here's Tora, making more cat and dog blocks.

Here's the completed top, blowing in the breeze.

Berta pieced together Jacob's Ladder-type blocks from 4-patches and half square triangles made at the last workshop. There are a lot of fun novelties in this one that will be girly without being pink.

Carol, the cutter, was asked to cut 266 (!) 3" squares. As fate would have it, she just happened to bring her 3" wide ruler.

Then Jane's job was to crease the diagonal of those squares (instead of drawing a line).

Then they went to Sharon  to piece X's and O's blocks that will become a quilt for an older boy. Nice manicure!

Here's a sample X block made from 6" novelty squares and 3" corner squares.

Another Margaret is determined to complete a top from the oodles of blue half square triangles we have amassed.
 
Linda was eager to press, but was trying not to put pressure on the stitchers to go faster!

Jane and Rita are having too much fun. Rita needs to get back to work cutting bricks for a little boy quilt. The pattern calls for 210 of them!

Here are 4 sample blocks, made from 3" X 5.5" bricks and 3" squares.

Oops. Caught Laurel blinking. She's in the doghouse for arriving late. (Just kidding!)

Laurel's granddaughter Rebecca is one of our Junior Members. We put her to work sorting the X and O units into groups of four.

When quilters gather, you know there will be food! Thank you to Rita for the PB and strawberry rhubarb jam sandwich for the girl who hates packing lunches (Tina).

 Kate recently made this cute thread catcher. I can't find the pattern she gave me, but here is the link to one that looks the same.  I thought she said she used an 11" square, so hers might be a little shorter.

 Since there are no pictures of the photographer/blogger (Tina), here's the quilt that I worked on. We had been given 8 star blocks and a bag full of leftover fabric. Most of it was cut up into strips, squares or rectangles. I used what was there and made it work. I finished the quilt last night at 11:30.

Another very successful and fun Ninigret workshop! If you missed it, we hope you will join us next time.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Habitat House Dedication

 Ninigret Quilters is committed to providing a quilt for every bed in houses built by South County Habitat for Humanity. Today's home dedication in Kingston was attended by four members: Mary Raymond, Margaret Sheehan, Evelyn Dvorak and Tina Craig.


 Brooke (age 4)

Alyssa (age 5)

Jaiden (age 9)

Mom, Tammie

I think she likes it!
(And so does URI President Dooley!)

April Program - Sharon Mayers

 At the April meeting, we enjoyed a lecture and trunk show by Sharon Mayers. Sharon is a talented machine quilter and has developed a technique called Piecing with Poppers. Poppers are 3/4" strips that are pieced between other patches to make the colors pop.







Members enjoyed an up close and personal look at the poppers.

Purchasing patterns!

Visit Sharon's website here!

April Show and Tell

 Here is a recap of Show & Tell from the April meeting.

 Nancy Aneyci showed her star quilt using Barbara Barber's technique for floating star points.

Two more from Nancy: Landscape from a Pat Bruno class and a sweet baby quilt.

 Betsey Winser showed her Pinwheels & Posies baby quilt.

 Margaret Sheehan showed a quilt she made for her sister's birthday.

 Barbara Chojnacki created this piece called Found Objects using bits pulled from the trash at Quilts & More. Have you been hanging out with Mary Cline?

 Three more from Barbara: A table runner made from Ways & Means winnings, hand-pieced and hand-quilted tumblers made on Super Bowl Sunday, and paper-pieced Baby Birds of Bali.

 Sue Chamberlain showed her completed Easy Street top from a recent Bonnie Hunter mystery.

Tora Sterregaard showed two quilts that were recently on display at the Slater Hall Gallery at Norwich Free Academy. Her quilts were too big for the allowed display space, so she folded them using napkin folding techniques and added a few basting stitches to create sculptural fiber art!

Sue Victoria showed a baby quilt for her seventh great grandchild!

Barbara Barber described this painted piece as the Quilt from Hell. Inspired by a newspaper photo of Wilcox Park, she accepted suggestions from friends at the March meeting to add bits of color and personal memories.

 Tina Craig showed several small pieces completed since the last meeting: A selvage spiderweb quilt from the getaway weekend, a mini low volume quilt, Low Volume/Bright Hopes, and a mini friendship star that will be included in the silent auction at the quilt show in October.

 Tina also showed a Batik Arrowhead quilt from a Craftsy class with Anita Grossman Solomon that will be a gift for a friend.

Tina showed a nine patch top created with nine patch blocks gathered from a Flickr swap. This was the inspiration for the Ninnie Nines swap that will begin in May.