December 2025

Welcome

Chris Ann welcomed everyone to both sessions.

On Time Drawing

               Karen Jordan won the on-time drawing for our morning meeting. She received a silicon iron mat that says, "Quilt while the iron is hot."

Donna Dyer won the on-time drawing in the evening meeting. She picked a unique pincushion that topped a charming little bottle. Donna, you will enjoy that cute pincushion.

Block of the Month

Suzanne Hillestad unveiled the third block in our "Baskets Mystery Quilt." Because we are all so busy this time of the year, she chose a simple block. It is a basket like the first month, only smaller. It will be fun in January to see what cute blocks are going to be made. 

Suzanne reminded us to add a 1/4" seam allowance to the dotted lines on the pattern. If you did not get a pattern this month, you can pick one up at next month's meeting.

This month's block is in the top right-hand corner of the display board. As stated earlier, it is a smaller version of the block from month one.

The other blocks were finished this month by the members attending our morning session. Notice how the blocks on the right use the same colors, just arranged differently. Beautiful blocks, ladies.

Here are some of the finished blocks from last month from the evening session. These are so charming. It looks like a complicated block, but it is not. Well done, ladies. They look great.

Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

                                                                       by Karen and Tafta

If you do not have all of your gifts to give to family, friends, and neighbors, or if you suddenly find you need another gift, we have you covered. Karen and Tafta presented four gift ideas you could make.

First, Karen showed us Potato Bags to cook items in the microwave. She displayed top-opening bags and bags with a fold-over opening. Both are very effective. Talk to Karen or Tafta for patterns.

The cooking times are listed below.

The second item Karen suggested was Corn or Rice Bags, which can be put on sore muscles, cold feet, stiff joints, or anything else that needs a little heat. 

Karen made the above bag out of one of her old sweatshirts. She loved the pattern on the front of the shirt, so she cut it out and used the rest of the fabric to make the rice bag for heating. It turned out to be very cute.

You can use rice, corn, or other grains in your bags. Since corn is the largest of the kernels, it retains the heat longer. Be sure to use field corn, not popcorn, for obvious reasons.

Third, Tafta displayed hanging oven towels. She displayed the traditional towels with buttons or Velcro to keep them attached. She then showed a towel without buttons or Velcro.  She demonstrated how to make these towels. Come to our next meeting and get the  pattern if you didn't get one at our December meeting.

The last suggestion for last minute gifts was a set of hot pads. The hot pads had a front, back, batting and Insul-Brite. They were eight inch hot pads. We displayed three kinds of hot pad from easy to more advanced.

First, was a hot pad made out of "cheater" fabric. This is a hot pad made from one piece of material that is printed to look like a pieced block. This hot pad is not pieced, just one piece of material sewn into a hot pad. It was quilted along the design lines, even though it was only one piece of material. If you are in a real rush, these are cute, easy, and quick.

Second, there were pads made from a simple 4-patch block. This takes a little more time, but not too much. You can leave it plain or quilt it before adding the bias tape or bias binding.

Third, were hot pads with more complicated patterns . These hot pads have a pattern like a quilt blocks. They take more time, but are very eye-catching. 

You could make some hot pads and have them on hand for gifts. They would work at Christmas or any other time a cute, handmade gift is needed.

After talking about hop pads, each member of the guild attending the meeting chose a set of hot pads as a Christmas gift sewn by our Quilt Guild Board Members. In each bag was a finished hot pad and another to be finished by the recipient. All the pieces for  the unfinished hot pad were cut out, ready to be sewn. Everyone was happy with their "hot" gift.

Here are some of our good-looking morning guild members with the hot pads they chose as their gift. We are sorry that some members left before we took this picture.

We also gave hot pads to our evening members, but we forgot to take a picture. Be assured these good-looking evening members who attended also chose cute hot pads for their gift.

 Our table was full of hot pad packets from which members could chose their gift. Our board members furnished the material from their own stash and generously made these useful, delightful hot pads, just to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Show and Share

Donna Dyer made this colorful, captivating quilt for her granddaughter. It looks just right for cuddles, kisses, and stories. 

Beverly Veale's brother made this "Pretty in Pink" quilt. Beverly quilted it for him. Bev        doesn't know what he is going to do with it, but whoever he gives it to is going to be lucky.   I'm sure they will like it.                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Ellen Harmon used material left over from other quilts to make these fun pillows and the beginning of a Minecraft quilt for some of her grandsons. These would make any grandson happy. Nice work, Ellen. You have done a great job.

She not only made this gorgeous quilt, she made two pillowcases that match the backing of her quilt. The pillow cases can also be used to store and protect the quilt when not in use.   

Taco Salads and Cookies

                                        

                                        

                                        

For our December meetings, we had Taco Salad and homemade cookies at both the morning and the evening sessions. It was fun to celebrate Christmas and visit as we ate our salad and cookies.

      From the Old Capitol Quilt Guild Board      

Members, we wish you a very  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Image taken from:  https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/nativity-christmas-card