Our speaker for the September 13th meeting was Bonnie Hunter.
Her talk was titled Scraps & Shirttails. Bonnie gave an inspiring talk and shared her books, tools and energy with our Guild. Bonnie introduced us to her system to maximize the use of your fabric and minimize the time spent cutting, ironing and organizing.
Bonnie cuts anything smaller than half a fat quarter into usable strip sizes, then stores them by size and color family. When she designs a quilt, she uses her standard sizes and pulls from her prepared stash. This means she spends as little time at the ironing table and cutting board as possible. And she is able to create gorgeous scrappy quilts.
She saves all crumbs and strings for use in string quilts as all
those tiny scraps also cost 11.99/yard. Blue Skies is featured in her book
String Fling. The strings range from 3/4 to 2" in width with 2.5" strips
offset by half square triangles from her yellow and blue stash.
Bonnie likes to design her quilts on graph paper then arrange the fabrics emphasizing the color and value. Neutrals are an important part of Bonnie's design esthetic. She calls
neutrals any low volume fabrics with a background of white, cream, beige, tan, or
grey to the value of a brown paper bag. Anything darker is in the color
piles. Her Carolina Chain was featured in Quiltmakers Magazine. This quilt uses 2" chains with the dark chains running horizontally and the light chains vertically.
Bonnie is also the creator of the Leaders and Enders technique
that involves piecing one quilt while focusing on another. Her Winston Ways was started as a Leader and Ender while at a retreat. She strip
pieced in short sets, then subcut in pairs.
Bonnie presented two workshops hosted by our Ninigret Guild and our
sister guild, the Narragansett Bay Quilters. The first featured her
Narragansett Blues pattern, inspired by Hurricane Sandy hitting our area
soon after Bonnie's last visit in 2012. This is a great Leaders and
Enders project. The neutrals work as the canvas for the blues, and the
arrangement of the four patches draw the eye to the upper right, just as
the sunlight on the water draws the eye to the horizon.
Pineapple Blossoms is a free pattern that is on Bonnie's website and was
the subject of Bonnie's second workshop. This version used 2" leftover
jellyroll fabrics and 3.5" squares.
Bonnie likes to go to resale shops and purchase old shirts for material.
Her Moth in the Window features color stacked on color using her stash
of shirting fabrics.
Bonnie also shared her current work in progress. As you can see two of
the corners are complete. She carries this in her busy bag to keep from
otherwise wasting time while living life. As she says, these are the
things that stay done!
Thank you Bonnie!
Show & Tell featured several quilts made from Bonnie Hunter patterns
Louise P made Patches and Pinwheels
Pineapple Blossom quilts were made by Barbara and Donna. Sheila shared a
quilt made for her by her Ninigret friends.
Barbara shared a Strip Quilt she began the last time Bonnie visited.
Star Struck was made up in different palettes by Donna and Ruth
Kathy made up Bonnie's Garlic Knot Pattern
Rose K has made quilts for the participants in the Honor Flights to DC.
This quilt is for a Navy Veteran and features Navy themed fabric for the backing.
Sheila made a table runner for her niece in black and white.
Erin participated in a swap organized by evapaigequilts.com.
Thank you and Quilt On!!