Crazy Quilts and Pedestals !

We recently had the third monthly get together of our ladies' artsy group- I think we decided to call ourselves "The Valley Gals" (?) We do live in the Shenandoah Valley, after all !! Judy and Bobbi started the group, invited me, and now, we have Julie and Susan- all very talented and artsy women in their own right!!!

This time, the group was to meet at my house-Yikes!!! After frantically sweeping away the dust ponies, deciding which vintage china to use for lunch, locking the dogs away, and getting all the things together to teach everyone how to upcycle and make a crazy quilt block, we were ready!!!!

I thought the upcycled china would go very quickly- really, all you do is glue! So, I pre-made 6 crazy quilt blocks for everyone to embellish. I thought the blocks would take up the majority of the time- WRONG!

Everyone got so into making pedestals- I think Judy whipped together a record 12 pieces!!! I had quite a collection of orphan plates and candlesticks to share, and everyone brought some of their own, plus glue.

It was a chilly day, but we ended up having ceiling fans going and the door open - the glue fumes were a bit much!!

After asking on FB " which dishes should I use for lunch?" - the majority voted for my first choice!
A favorite thrift store score- of 1930's/40's plates- actually pretty much everything on the table was thrifted (except for my grandmother's silverware)

          Dessert was my featherweight pound cake, with Katie's bird's nest rice krispie treats!
                  Katie also made potato salad, wraps, and 2 kinds of sweet tea. We also had fruit salad.
The bar was set kind of high - in my own mind - because Julie and Susan make such delicious goodies at Julieanna- their shop and tearoom. Plus, Judy and Bobbi had wonderful lunches also!!! Pressure!!!

From rear- Bobbi, Judy, and Julie- engrossed in the decision making of which plate to choose!

                                                     Susan's trying to decide also

With some cool octagonal plates from my stash, Bobbi designed a 3 tier server

                                   
                                   Judy matched some plates up with votive candle bases.

Some "weighty" reading material snatched from my bookshelves, to speed up the glue drying process

                                                   

                                                               LUNCH BREAK!

Now, on to the crazy quilting- I made the blocks out of pieces in my fabric stash, all with a black velvet center.Everyone brought trim, buttons, embroidery thread, and got busy.

It took Susan a while, but she finally decided on a vintage earring from my stash, and glued it on as adornment! Off to a good start!!!

This is some of the beginning stitchery on Julie's block, with MOP buttons - crazy quilting is NOT complete w/o vintage MOP buttons!!

                                                     Judy working on attaching some trim.

                                                                     Bobbi's embroidery

This is some vintage yarn and silk thread that I was using on mine. The silk thread is beautiful, but kind of sinks into the velvet.

I don't have photos of the gals' finished blocks- I will try to get them at our next meeting.

                                                     These are two of mine - almost complete:

Close up of the spiderweb, done with the white silk thread and beads. And, on the other block, a vintage dress clip.

                        Some scraps of vintage tatting, the MOP buttons and my lousy embroidery!!!

I think everyone had a good time, and went home with lots of completed goodies!!
It got me inspired to create a few more things for the shop- online and brick.

Our next meeting of the Valley Gals will be at Julie's, and we'll be making dish gardens- each of us bringing a different type of plant. The meeting after that will be at Judy's, where we will be working on some hypertufa projects!

Let's get those creative juices flowing!!!