November 16, 2013 Meeting

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Remember that our December meeting, the Holiday Luncheon, will be held on December 14th at 10:00 AM.

• As it gets closer, there will be a signup for sweet and savory finger foods.
• Dirty Santa Swap - Bring wrapped gifts: one yard or two 1/2 yards of fabric, or a charm pack.
• Swap Exchange - If you participated in the swap, make sure to bring your creations for the big reveal!

Dues for next year will be $40 ($25 for our guild, $15 for MQG)

We voted for our 2014 officers and will be announcing the results in the near future.

SHOW AND TELL

Royce is so amazingly creative.  She inspires us all with her whimsical free-style approach to creating.  The first three pieces are about the size of place mats and the two bottom pieces are postcard quilts.  Studying her work is like going on a scavenger hunt.  In fact, see how many of these things you can find:  stones, metal, wire, interesting fabric textures that she has created, old watch parts, polymer clay pieces, and last but not least, parts of Stefanie's old screen door.  Royce told us that she trades fabric with the wife of a watch repair guy who sends her all the old watch parts that would've gone into the trash.

Trudy made this scrumptious chenille scarf out of four layers of fabric.  You can use a cutter like this to make all those tiny cuts.  The foot keeps you from cutting through your bottom layer.

Ashley, our newest member, made this super hero quilt for a friend's son.  He's going to love cuddling up in this, with its lofty batting and minky backing.

This is Stefanie's version of the Dilly Dally Pattern by Thimble Blossoms.  She used Vanessa Christenson's Simply Style fabric line.  This sounds cheesy but it's true, Stefanie does not dilly dally when it comes to cranking out quilts.

Jayne is making a set of place mats for a friend.  At first glance it looks like she found a great wavy print.  On closer inspection you can see that each color is a different fabric and that she sewed all those wavy pieces together.

This is the wallet that Jenny made for a swap friend.  She used this wallet pattern by Oliver + S.  What a lucky swap friend to receive such a cute wallet!

October 19, 2013 Meeting

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Holiday Party will be held on December 14, 2013 at 10:00 AM.  

• As it gets closer, there will be a signup for sweet and savory finger foods.
• Dirty Santa Swap - Bring wrapped gifts: one yard or two 1/2 yards of fabric, or a charm pack.
• Swap Exchange - If you participated in the swap, make sure to bring your creations for the big reveal!

We brainstormed ideas for our 2014 meetings.  We will continue meeting at the First Presbyterian Church, but will look into renting a smaller room.  Here are our tentative program ideas for 2014:

• January - Charity Sew
• February - Hand Piecing Class by Linda
• March - Free Motion Quilting Class
• April - Volunteer at SewDown Nashville or go to Paducah
• May - Paper Piecing by Kathy
• June - Hand Quilting by Linda
• July - Binding Techniques
• August - Dyeing Your Own Fabrics by Jayne
• September - Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival?
• October - Planning for 2015
• November - Elections
• December - Holiday Party

We nominated officers for 2014.  We will hold elections at our November 16th meeting.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

Chelley shared her raw-edge applique block with us.  She cleverly cut out shapes that echoed the large-print fabric in this collection (not shown here) and appliqued them over the heart with artistic flair.

 SHOW AND TELL

Chelley has been cranking out loads of these pillowcases with crocheted edges.  We were glad we finally got to see some in person.

Each month Jayne brings a finished quilt or two, each made from her hand-dyed fabrics.  This quilt reminds her of a city sunset and the little gray patches conjure up images of city sidewalks.  We're hoping to find a way to learn how she dyes her fabrics at our August 2014 meeting.  We're sure it will be fun and messy! 

Here's a great blend of traditional blocks made with modern batiks.  Linda is making this quilt for her aunt.  Here challenge was to find batiks that didn't have blue in them - her aunt doesn't like the color blue.  We're sure that Linda's aunt will love cuddling up in this, knowing all the thought and effort that went into making it.

Stefanie learned lots of new techniques while making this Craftsy block of the month quilt.  We all gasped when she showed us the back, thinking that she'd pieced all those circles.  It turns out she used what she called a cheater quilt fabric.

Here's another amazing quilt by Stefanie.  She participated in the Moda Mystery Block of the Month.  She warned us that while it was mysterious and fun, it also got very pricey.

September 21 Meeting - Show and Tell

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• At our October 19th meeting we will be planning for 2014.  Make sure to attend so that we can get your input!
• Remember to sign up here for the Secret Santa Swap.
• In April the MQG will be holding one of their SewDowns right here in Nashville.  Go here for more details.
• Just a reminder that we're on Facebook and Flickr.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

 

Callie shared her block of the month pattern, a very precisely sewn weave pattern.  The pattern emphasizes beginning techniques such as rotary cutting and seam matching. 

SHOW & TELL

This is Callie's chevron quilt made from jelly roll strips.  Small two-color blocks are sewn together on the diagonal.  It's brilliant.  Here's a link to the free pattern.

Here's an improvised quilt by Jayne that reminds her of a big hot cup of cocoa.  The striped fabrics are by Kaffe Fassett. 

Jayne told us that she'd like to design quilts.  We unanimously agreed that this would be a big seller if she made and sold a pattern for it.

Linda, fairly new to quilting and to the guild, wowed us all with one of her first quilt tops.  She's making this fun quilt for her 3-year old who is already putting to good used the coordinating pillow case.

You're probably wondering where you can get these amazing prints, right?  Well, you're going to have to jump into your time machine and head back to the 70s.  That's when Christine bought the fabric and made the quilt.  She's very busy working on her soon-to-be published quilt book and although she showed us one of her beautiful current projects, we can't post a picture of it.  You'll have to buy her book when it comes out if you want to see it!

2013 Secret Santa Swap

Hello Everyone!

The details for the 2013 Secret Santa Swap are now posted on our website. Hopefully, everyone will be excited to participate. It was so much fun last year! More information can be found here: http://musiccitymodernquilters.webs.com/2013-secret-santa-swap

If you plan to join in, please submit your questionnaire (found on the website) by Saturday, September 28th so that swap partners can be quickly assigned. We want to make sure that everyone has enough time to complete their projects.

In addition to the Secret Santa Swap, we will have a Dirty Santa gift exchange at our December Meeting / Holiday Party. There is no need to sign up to participate in the Dirty Santa gift exchange. If you want to take part, simply bring a wrapped package to the party containing the equivalent of a yard of fabric -- 4 fat quarters, a charm pack, 2 half yards, etc.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

August 17 Meeting - Show and Tell

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Riley Blake Designs is sponsoring the Modern Quilt Guild's 3rd annual members fabric challenge.  Go here for more information.
• Our guild will wait until the end of the year to join the MQG.
• Chelley will be organizing our swap this year.  Details will be coming soon.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

Here's Mary's Flying Geese block.  She shared time-saving tips on how to construct flying geese blocks.  Go here for more information on the technique she used.

SHOW & TELL

Mary's Cathedral Window Chuppah

Christine's adult bib made from a t-shirt, modeled by Miss Mary.
Very fun and clever Christine!

Christine's pin cushions/paper weights/sachets.

Stephanie designed this quilt and used the Noteworthy fabric line.

Stephanie's queen-size quilt made with a pattern from The Quilting Squares Quilt Shop.

Jane (a first time visitor with some serious skills) shared some of her work with us.  She enjoys dying her own fabrics and prefers improvisational piecing.

Another one of Jane's improv quilts.  Nice work Jane!

On this quilt Jane used 'normal' fabric and 'normal' techniques.

Jenny wowed us all with this block.  It was her interpretation of July's BOM.

Then Jenny continued to wow us with this going away gift for Mary, who will be leaving in September to spend a year in England.  She used fabrics from five different local quilt shops.  We thought Jenny was done, but then she proceeded to tell us how 'rude' it would be to hang a U.S. flag in your English bedroom and surprised us all with...

...a Union Jack flag on the back.  This has got to be one of the most thoughtful gifts ever given.

 Show and tell just kept getting more and more exciting.  Lindsay shared with us 'thee' pillow of her pillow pattern that was published in the Fall 2013 issue of Stitch magazine.

Then to top it all off, we got to see the advance copy of Lindsay's book Modern Bee, and some of the quilts that appear in the book.  Her book should be available in October 2013.  

Congratulations Lindsay!

July 20 Meeting - Show & Tell

Business

We discussed the pros and cons of joining the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG).  Trudy moved that we vote on it and Mary seconded the motion.  We unanimously voted on having our guild become an official Modern Quilt Guild.

Stefanie will be looking for volunteers to help revise our by-laws and to take care of other things that need to be done to prepare us for our official MQG status.  Our dues will go up but that probably will not go into effect until January 2014.

Block of the Month

Stefanie created this curvy modern pinwheel block made from traditional drunkard's path blocks.  Go here for the pattern.  She explained two different techniques used in curved piecing.  One way is to ease the two fabrics into a 1/4-inch seam allowance after aligning and pinning the center points and the two outer edges.  This technique requires lots of pins.

The other option is to use the Curve Master Presser Foot.  Stefanie loves gadgets and says this one works like magic.  It comes with a bunch of shanks which allow it to fit on almost any machine.

Check out this tutorial.  Pretty cool discovery Stefanie! 

Show & Tell

Trudy recently finished this very boyish quilt for her future grandson.  Make sure you zoom in and read the quotes on the center panel.  Trudy did lots of quilting on this.  She kept the lines straight by using her foot as a guide for each row.

Here's a quilt by Stefanie.  Zoom in and check out her stippling.  Her stitches are amazingly even!  She likes to use the Red Pepper Quilts binding technique.

We all went crazy over Stefanie's giant churn dash quilt.  She promised herself that she wouldn't start any new quilts until she finished all her WIPs (works in progress), but couldn't contain herself and 'churned' out this beaut in just a few hours.

This quilt is made from a Bonnie & Camille happy-go-lucky jelly roll.  Stefanie found the Hashtag pattern in a Craftsy class called Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple.  If this all sounds like a strange new language to you, join our guild and we will interpret/translate for you.

This is Jenny's first tote bag - not to own, but to sew.  It's for her sister who picked out the fabrics which come from Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi line.  Go here for the pattern.
 

Mary was elated to announce that she finally finished her Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top.  It's the biggest quilt she's ever made.  And she finished just in time, before she would actually start her own trip around the world to England.  We are excited for her and sad for us.  We will miss her great spirit and contagious enthusiasm.