Soup’s On at Palmas del Sol!

Quilting friends at Palmas del Sol hosted some of our AZ Blankets 4 Kids Board members at their place in Mesa on Monday, February 21st. They provided a delicious variety of soups and some sweet treats as well. We’re also excited to announce that we’ll be back at Palmas del Sol on Saturday, October 15, 2022. This will be the first big bee where all our volunteers are invited to Palmas del Sol. We’re grateful to the group for giving us a hosted home for an October Bee. We have typically searched for a venue and hosted it entirely by our Board, so we are extra thankful for your hospitality!

Now back to this February Bee. We had 18 ladies from Palmas del Sol and 4 ladies from AZ Blankets 4 Kids Board. I love all the clever ways this group gets things done. This group has pinning down to a science. Check out the photo below with ladies working on a raised table. They’ve stretched the quilt sandwich across the table and secured it with spring clamps around three edges of the table. Pinning from both sides, they make quick work of this task. Stretch – clamp – pin – move blanket – stretch – clamp – pin. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! And you can find those spring clamps super cheap at many dollar stores or Harbor Freight.

Ellen Outten was the lucky winner of our door prize gift basket. Well deserved, as she was also the go-getter who secured the October Bee date with their community activities director. Thank you and congratulations, Ellen!

There were tasty morning snacks followed by a soup, salad and dessert luncheon. This bee is designed for going back for seconds and thirds so you can try a variety of the soups all lined up in their crockery, just waiting for someone to pick them. Other deliciousness captured in photos include cream puffs and a cinnamon/sugar/frosting coffee cake. Dang, I’m getting hungry writing this!

Ten quilts were finished at the Bee and we returned the next week to pick up about twenty more blankets. You can see in the photos that everyone works on one part of the quilting process, from piecing the top, to layering, to pressing, to pinning, to quilting, to binding. That’s why we call these bees. It takes an entire hive of workers to make these sweet as honey blankets. Quick shoutout to Rosemary Lloyd for being an amazing Queen Bee for this group for many years. You and your hive are BEEutiful!

Machine work including piecing, quilting and binding.

Creamy delicious cream puffs.

Pedals down and machines whirring!

Sharing, trouble-shooting, and just visiting with friends is another important part of these gatherings.

Taming of the seams!

Coffee cake. Two of my favorite words.

Professional pinners.

A new floofy roll of batting released from its packaging.

Pick me! No pick me! SOUPer lunch!

Pro Tip: The chairs in their community room have a little handle opening at the top. They placed a length of PVC pipe in the center of the roll and through that chair handle on either side of the roll.

Jeanette Baetsle presents Ellen with her bountiful basket.