Another Retirement Quilt

In keeping with the tradition of retirees in our group of close friends, tonight we presented Pam with her Ohio State Buckeye quilt. Notice her scarlet and grey lei? We all had one!

Here are a couple of better shots of the quilt.

For this Buckeye quilt, I took on the responsibility of binding it. All free time this week was spent applying a very pretty red bias plaid. I love plaids on the bias for bindings.

Our history for retirement quilts began in 2001. The first quilt was for Kay who loves blue and white quilts - we made blue and off-white, and she was thrilled. We always make the same pattern. So far, I believe we have done 6 retirement quilts.

Last year, Lyn got her green and brown quilt in March, and I got my Kaffe quilt in May.

We use the same star pattern, but each one always looks so uniquely different - quilters know that the choice and placement of fabrics makes huge differences in a pattern, but it still amazes me.

Even more amazing is the friendship we all have. We all taught/teach at the same high school and bonded over our love of quilting. Three of the group still teaches, but they know when they reach retirement, they, too, will be getting a star quilt...just what fabrics will we use? That will be the surprise.

A Quilting Tradition

Every year since 2001 or 2002 (we discussed this to death! no one can come up with the definitive year), a group of good friends has met on Veterans' Day (when all of us worked, we had the day off) to quilt. Originally, the event was an overnight quilt, but since this Veterans' Day was mid-week, we went with a full day. Our hostess said she would be ready for quilters as early as 6am, and that breakfast would be served around 8am.

Each of us were to bring our sewing machines, necessary tools, our projects, and a dish for lunching or munching.

Here are a few pics of the day's fun.

This was breakfast.

Continued work on my snowflake blocks.

Kay is binding a quilt for her grandson.

Sharon is pressing some half-square triangle blocks.

Pam scrapbooked.

Sherrie stippled a wall-hanging for her grandson's nursery.

Linda's guilt quilt. (It's a long story.)

We always have such fun on this day. Several of us have loved ones currently or formerly in the military, so we always remember them. Since our first year, several of us have retired, so we don't often have a nice long block of time together like this. Reconnecting is wonderful, and we get so much done, too!

Did You Know That I Retired??

Well, I don't like to brag about all this free time I have, but...

Actually, what my retired friends have been telling me is true: it's hard to believe a retired person can be so busy! How did I ever get anything done when I was working?

At the end of May I completed 30 years of teaching high school English at CHS. That being a Friday, my dear GFs had a little shindig at a local eating establishment - one that featured a lovely patio for outdoor dining. We wore tiaras and boas; what a raucous group we were!

The tradition with this group of friends has been that the retiring friend gets a quilt made by the rest of us in ssshhh...s-e-c-r-e-t! After about 4 retirements, though, it was sorta' hard to keep that secret. We have used the same quilt pattern for every retirement quilt, and I suspect that we will continue to use it, as it is fun to see how totally different each retiree's quilt is from the others. We typically select fabrics based on the retiree's interests or color schemes.  One friend loves blue and white quilts, so naturally that was what we used for her quilt. Another decorates with a lot of Americana, so hers was red, white and blue. 

Here's what they made for me:

Once upon a time, I would only consider traditional fabrics and quilts. That all changed when I discovered they eye-popping intensity of Kaffe Fassett designs. I became an extreme fanatic. Isn't this a beauty?

Doing this in secret is quite an accomplishment. One or two will take the lead and cut fabrics for all the stars, then distribute to the rest. Generally,  individuals are assigned 2 stars to make by a given deadline, and then, somehow, the group schedules a secret sewing day for construction of the top. It works pretty well, actually.

The pattern is from Lynette Jensen's Thimbleberries book, North Bay Quilts. It is featured on the cover and is called Christmas Confetti. I ought to get all the other retired girls to bring their quilts on an outing so we can get pictures. The study in contrasts would be interesting.

Here's the label they signed and attached to the back. Isn't the swirly quilting a nice touch for this very lively quilt?