Friday, August 28, 2015

August Meeting Recap

Our August meeting was chockful of quilt sharing (even more than usual!). Read on:


This meeting was the reveal of our Cloud9 Cirrus Solid Mini Quilts! We had so many members create with just solids and share their techniques. Many (dare I say all?) of us, as quilters, are attracted to prints at one point or another. An all-solid quilt can be a fun challenge for those of us who don't use solids all the time. Plus, they are a great opportunity to show off quilting! Thus, we developed the mini quilt challenge.


 We will be exhibiting the minis at the Hillsborough Library in February, and at that time we will take more pictures of them all together!



 Susan - she used her sewing machine and black thread to make patterns on the solids!

 Jess - I blogged more about my quilt here.

 Kim's quilting transforms all the angles!

 Janet's mini with all its gorgeous improv! And that boat!

Thank you so much to Cloud9 Fabrics for sponsoring this challenge! Their organic quilting cotton is the only one on the market today, and we were honored to make with them! You can see more pictures on Instagram of individual quilts: #cirrussolidsminiquiltchallenge
 

Not only were we visited by a basket of cucumbers (you had to be there to get one!), but the lovely ladies of leadership from the North Jersey MQG came to visit. Daniela, their president, showed us the beautiful modern chuppah she recently made for a wedding.
 
 And Amy, the VP, brought her selvage string quilt. We discussed selvages at our May meeting!

Quiltmakers: Our guild gifted Kathleen, our former secretary, with a wonky cross tablerunner in her colors in honor of her retirement. Congrats, Kathy! You can see more about this runner here.
 

 Lesson: Susan showed us her Fabric Postcards and explained how she makes them. Thank you, Susan! We loved looking at all your intricate stitching.

The swap for September is Fabric Postcards - show us what you've got! Check out these tutorials for inspiration: http://needledmom.blogspot.com/2008/04/fabric-postcard-tutorial.html
http://marelize-ries.blogspot.com/2014/01/fabric-postcard-tutorial.html

 

Quilt-a-Long: Our members were super busy over the long summer - check out all the QAL blocks they made! Four more months and we'll have completed quilt tops!


Bee: Members made blocks for Neva based on the theme "rectangles." Don't you love how they are all different, but the same? Beautiful work, bee members!


Challenge: Krishma and Linda shared their quilts made for the "big" MQG's Riley Blake challenge.
 
 

Show and Tell:

 One of our newest members! Welcome!

 Lee's hashtag-inspired quilt

Neva's wonky-crosses-turned-large-crosses - and that beautiful walking foot quilting!

 Jamee's stunning quilt (pattern: Paper Lanterns by John Q. Adams)

 

Terri has been making with solids and her walking foot!


Lori made this cute baby quilt. A great way to show off one special fabric!

There were so many great pictures from this meeting, but we couldn't include them all. See them here!

See you at the Sept. meeting!

-Jess S.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Guild QAL: September Block

WHO ROCKS THE GUILD?
I SAY WE ALL ROCK THE GUILD.
AND WHEN WE ALL ROCK THE GUILD
WE ROCK IT AAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL THE WAY DOWN!

And we'll all be rockin' this month with CURVES!!!



After you sew your focal fabrics fabrics together and get your background strip cut you'll be ready to rock this block!
 

Before you cut your gentle curve using a rotary cutter working from bottom to top make sure the background piece and the top of the focal fabric are even at the top.


Here is mine after the first cut.  Keeping the curve gentle will make it easier to sew.


When you flip the top piece over make sure the top edges line up.  No pinning is necessary when sewing.  Once you start hold the bottom piece with one hand and the top piece with the other and guide them individually moving slightly left and right so they come together as you sew a 1/4 inch seam.  Press to one side.


Take your focal fabric and give it a straight edge before you start the next curve.


I hope this information is helpful. Feel free to contact me with any questions!

ROCK ON!
 
-Neva

Friday, August 7, 2015

Lizzy House Workshop Open to All!

Please join us for the Meadow quilt class with the wonderful Lizzy House, a printmaker, author, illustrator, fabric designer, and quilter!

 Picture from theworkroom.ca

Email centraljerseymqg(at)gmail(dot)com to get the address for sending your check (spots are reserved once our treasurer receives the check). Reserve now before it sells out!

This will be the CJMQG's main workshop for 2015.

When: Sunday, August 23 from 10 am - 5 pm (one hour lunch break)
Where: Martinsville Community Center, 1961 Washington Valley Road, Martinsville, NJ (near Bridgewater, NJ)

CJMQG Members: $105
Guests: $115.

18 quilters maximum. There are several spots available at this time.
CJMQG member RSVP is here.

In this class, we will make the Meadow Quilt (pictured above). This pattern is exclusively available in Lizzy's class, and she plans to retire the class at the end of the year. We will be learning curved piecing and reverse applique (on your machine), and Lizzy will be guiding us along (never fear if you've never done these before!). It's bound to be a fabulous time!

Supply list will be sent out upon receipt of registration.

If you have any questions, please email centraljerseymqg(at)gmail(dot)com.

For more pics of the quilt, see the Instagram hashtag #meadowquilt.

Can't wait! Hope you can join us!


-Jess S.