It was JSS Bee Day at my house this month.  And a new year brings new challenges to this fabulous group of ladies.  We’re continuing our tradition of a challenge using the same fabric again.  And you are seeing the fabric on the borders of this blog.  Isn’t it colorful?  I love the way it looks on the blog.  I will enjoy viewing it all year.  And it will be fun to see what all these gals come up with using that same fabric.

 

Our other challenge tradition is our Brown Bag Challenge.  Each lady participating put one yard of fabric in a brown paper bag and brought it to our January Bee Day.  They chose a bag as they left at the end of the day and will make a quilt top to be delivered to the recipient at our Christmas party in December.  Judy R probably already has hers finished.  I have barely looked in my bag, let alone done any sewing.  Ask me how I’m doing on it in November.  Better yet, ask me how much I have finished the night before the Christmas party.  I’m hopeless.  But I could surprise you!  This could be The Year Barb Finishes Her Brown Bag Early.  And if it is, I’ll be sure to let you know and you can call in the New York Times.  It will definitely be newsworthy.  But don’t hold your breath.  By the way, we don’t know who the fabric belongs to or who has ours.  And I never have figured out whose fabric I have.  Even if I try really hard.

Once again we had great food, great quilts for show ‘n tell and great friends.  It is always a fun day when JSSers get together!

They arrived with big bags of quilts to show.

Sandra and Betty share a smile moment together.

Breakfast was devoured so quickly we only got a picture of the aftermath.

By the way, I should point out that we had a part-time guest photographer on this day.  Since it was at my house I was very busy in the kitchen.  So Susan took over most of the camera duties.  Thanks, Susan!  Good job!

Speaking of Susan, here she is!  So I guess she didn’t take this picture, now did she?  This is Susan, banging the cast iron skillet with a potato masher to get everyone’s attention.  Everyone had been there… oh, about 30 seconds…. when she decided that we needed to get the show on the road and begin Show ‘n Tell.  OK, maybe they had been there closer to an hour, but I felt the need to give Susan a hard time.

Speaking of Susan, she and I went to a knitting store yesterday.  Yes, you heard me….. knitting.  I know, I know.  This is a quilting blog.  And a quilting Bee.  But we branch out into other crafts too once in awhile.  Like we don’t already have enough to do!

Do you suppose she could have been influenced by these gals?

Cindy had some fun knitting to tempt Susan back to knitting.

Nancy was knitting too!  What’s the world coming to?

Susan sat entirely too close to this last week.  And she was swayed.

This is really cool, Nancy.  I can see why Susan was tempted.  And she had to shop for yarn.

But wait!  This is a Quilting Bee!

And Cindy had this cool rag quilt to show too.

And how about this one?  Cindy quilted this one on the Handi-Quilter at The Quilting Depot!

See what a good job she did?  Very nice, Cindy!

These are two cute little baby quilts to be given to charity.  That were quilted by Cindy and Patti at The Quilting Depot with Pam’s help.  They are having fun at TQD!

These gals were enjoying the Show ‘n Tell from the other side of the room.  And probably trying to sneak a peak inside those brown bags behind Karen.

Karen pieced this cute quilt with fabric she bought in NYC with Lani.  And Pam helped her get it quilted since Karen was spending lots of time at the hospital with her Dad.  These JSS gals are all about pitching in when it’s needed!

Nice piecing on this one by Betty.  It’s fabulous!  (Are you getting inspired to quilt yet, Susan?  Put down that knitting!)

Boy, Sandra and Betty are seriously discussing this quilt.  What’s up, you two?

Dede had a cool kaleidoscope quilt to show.

And how about this cute one.  With bunnies!

Dede’s been busy!  Another fabulous quilt by her.

And while she showed this cool bag, I snuck her chair out from behind her.  Thinking she might try to sit down without looking.  I would have caught her, really I would have!

Karen snuck into the kitchen for a quick bowl of soup because she needed to leave early.  And got caught by my camera in the hands of Susan.  You can’t sneak anything by Susan!

Madelyn was working on embroidery.  For her apron quilt.  Can’t wait to see that one when it’s finished.

By the way, I think there must have been a sale on these lights to hang around your neck.  Davene had one…..

And so did Sue!

Madelyn too.  And they work really good to get the light right where you need it.  I know that because I have one too!

Suz and I put our heads together and smiled for Susan’s camera.  Oh, wait!  That’s my camera!  Suz and I are baseball buddies ever since I became a fanatic about baseball.  When is Opening Day, Suz?  I think we need to be there.

Sue H showed this cute wool bunny project.

Patti had this bright happy quilt to show.  I do believe that’s ugly fabric.  I don’t mean ugly as in ugly.  But it was for the Ugly Fabric Challenge.  Is any fabric truly ugly?  OK, don’t answer that.  I’m sure there are ugly ones somewhere.  Patti quilted this one at The Quilting Depot too.

And how about this one from our It’s OK Sampler class.  Good job, Patti!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen.  Karen was still eating soup and Susan was getting us to pose for her my camera.

Maggie is brand new to quilting and the JSS group, but look at this fabulous appliqué she’s doing!  That’s because she was taught by the best.  That would be Susan.

And this fabulous wall hanging belongs to Suz.  She had it quilted by Susan Corbett and brought it to show.  But it was pieced and appliquéd by Judy R.  That’s because Suz was the lucky recipient of this top in our Brown Bag Challenge 2010.  These gals do amazing work.

Sue G showed this cute quilt – with snowmen on the back.

Pam showed this quilt.  Her very first one quilted for a client who just walked in off the street at The Quilting Depot with an old quilt top made by a family member.  Very nice, Pam!

This Pretzel Party quilt is Pam’s too.  Love the colors!  And just in time for Valentine’s Day.  With cute hearts quilted all over it.  You can see them clearly in the upper corners.  Pam is having too much fun with those quilting machines.

My Show ‘n Tell was on my design wall.  Sometimes it’s good to have the Bee at your own house so you can show what you haven’t had time to finish because you’ve been too busy cleaning for the JSS gals to come over.  But if they hadn’t come over, you wouldn’t have had to clean and you could have had the quilt done.  Hmmmmm.  Doesn’t matter because this quilt is done and already given away.  As you saw on the blog a couple of days ago.  Try not to be confused by the out of order blog postings.

And finally the gals held my feet to the fire and demanded that I show them the 2011 Same Fabric Challenge fabric.  Well, they would have held my feet to the fire, if there had been a fire.  But it was 70° that day and there was no fire in my fireplace.  Today it’s supposed to be something like 10°, I think.  Welcome to Texas!  And there will be a fire in my fireplace tonight.

But I was telling you about the challenge fabric.  If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve already seen this in the margins of the blog.  And I love it there!  Good thing, because you will probably get to look at it all year.  To remind me that I need to make something out of it.  Because I need all the reminders I can get these days.  Doesn’t mean I will work on anything until the night before the party.  I am the Last Minute, Lucy, after all.  But at least I can look at it and think about it every time I look at the blog.  And be reminded.

And now, a quick look at the food of the day and then we’re done.  I hear those big sighs of relief.  This might just be the longest blog yet.  I think I lost track of the number of pics at about 396.  Didn’t feel like a single pic above 395, now did it?

Suz and Nancy flew around in the kitchen while the gals were yelling, “Let’s eat!” from the other room.  They had last minute salad prep to do.

There was yummy cheese bread.  And some sourdough bread too.

And a big, make that HUGE, pot of vegetable soup.

Yummy chicken salad with crackers…….

Asian salad, spinach salad and another tossed salad behind.  We even found a salad in the fridge at dessert time and some had that one for dessert.  Along with apple crisp that we missed with the camera. 

Some sat (and stood) around the table where they could refill their plates multiple times.

And some balanced their plates in their laps and didn’t spill a thing.  Good job, gals!

And one gal balanced her new fabric on one knee and her plate in her lap.  NOTE:  This is definitely not me.  If I had sat like this to eat my salad, I’d still be trying to get the cramps out of my feet. 

The End.  Finally.

Hugs,
Barb