Recap: June Meeting

June was our first of two meetings this summer (reminder: no July meeting, but there will be one on August 12).

Upcoming Events:

-Quiltcon MQG Member Registration - 11 am EST,  June 24 (tomorrow). General public registration - July 1. Quilt show entry - July 1 to Nov. 30

-Charity Sewcial – Sunday, June 29 – charity sewing event, Hopewell Train Station. Member, see supply list and RSVP here. Come sew with us (you will be given fabric and instructions) for the Center of Great Expectations! We are still accepting donations of yardage (1 yard min.) of solid colors to help us put the quilts together. You can also choose to take a quilt kit home from the sewcial or from a meeting to work on, or make your own 40x50" quilt to donate at the end of the year. Finally, you can make a monetary donation to the guild for solid fabric and supplies. Thanks to Sue, Robin, Krishma, and Elaine for all of their hard work.

-Guild Retreat at the Hyatt House in Bridgewater – Friday, July 18 @ 12pm – Sunday, July 20 @ 8pm. Members - $55 for the sewing room for the weekend, non-members - $70. Send your checks to me ASAP - you can email me or check the BigTent forum (members) for my address.

 Food is not included though there is a free hotel breakfast. You can leave all of your equipment set up for the three days (room will be blocked at night). Instructions for room reservations and pricing are on the BigTent invite. It is going to be a blast - please join us!! There are no structured projects, just bring whatever you're working on and get lots accomplished with no interruptions. Stuck or need help? Bring it, because there's always someone to help. Also, if you are looking for a roommate, check the BigTent invite above to see if someone else is looking!

-Michael Miller Challenge – due July 25. Take a great picture and post it on the MQG forum to be eligible for 1 of 3 big prizes (a year of fabric!). See this blog post for directions on how to post your photo. Please bring your finish to the August meeting so we can see it! Our guild challenge (optional) is curved piecing.

-Picnic/Joint Meeting with the Philly MQG - Saturday, July 26, the pavilion at Tyler State Park, PA, 12-4. Families welcome – they can do activities on the lawn while we do sew-y things. We will be doing a small swap with the other guild – any kind of modern quilted pouch! We would love for lots of people to participate in this! Bring a show and tell (Michael Miller challenge, perhaps?) and food – the BigTent RSVP is here and you must also sign up on the Google form. We can carpool from PQW. Come and enjoy a beautiful day!

-Jacquie Gering – free lecture/trunk show for CJMQG members - Fri., August 22 @ 6:30 (setup/social/shop), 7 pm start.

-Jacquie Gering Slice and Insert Workshop - ALMOST FULL - $80 for members, $95 for nonmembers. 10-6 on Aug 24th at the Hyatt House in Bridgewater. Email me for my address if you need to send a check. Here's the RSVP (if you are a member you must RSVP AND send the check).

-General Announcements:

 -New Event section on the Bigtent Forum for members – please post any sewing eventsyou are involved with/know of in the tri-state area. You can announce them at meetings, too.

- Please enjoy our giveaway table and feel free to donate.  However please don't bring very large items and please only bring quilter's cotton fabric (or the kind of designer home décor or laminate etc. sold in quilt shops).

-Meetings will now start with social time from 6:30-7! No obligation to come, but this is a great time to catch up with friends, get to know others, and shop at PQW. Hopefully this will make our breaks a bit less stressful and will help us get to know each other better!

-Guild QAL – We are following Modern Monday at 42quilts.com. Try to make your blocks  into a top by the end of the year! If people wanted to donate their tops to the guild charity initiative, we could have quilts to start for the next year. Just a thought. Whatever your purpose, let’s try to get the quilts done!

-Guild bee – we have 11 members, starting in August with Amy. Consider giving your bee mates a theme instead of a specific block to allow for their creativity (though you can do it either way!). Some theme examples: triangles, circles, flying geese, half-square triangles, a certain color, etc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Meeting:  

Thank you to Kathleen Stanish for the minutes and Carol Esch and Janet Bergman for pictures!

Thank you to Tatiana for making this gorgeous swap bag for our guild!

-This month's ice breaker – If you were to switch fabric stashes with someone, who would it be and why? Members mentioned fellow guild members and also "legendary" quilters.

Quilty shoes!

-Presentation - Jan, owner of Pennington Quilt Works, discussed Quilt Market and showed us samples of Cotton and Steel's new fabrics. She will be ordering some for the shop and sought opinions on what to order.

-Swap – 3 members made summer table top items and swapped them!

 

-Discussion – Binding – in a show of hands, several more members preferred hand-stitching their binding to machine stitching. We discussed preference of binding techniques and filling out the binding.

-Show and Tell

Janet and Elaine showed off their blocks from our Guild QAL for the year (Modern Mondays @ 42quilts.com):

 

 

 Lee

 

 Cala

 

 Our guests had beautiful, vibrant quilts to show us!

 Cathy

 Kathleen Stanish

 Jess S.

Amy

Janneke

Lori

Carol E.

---------------------------------------------------------

AUGUST MEETING

Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 6:30 (social/shop time), 7pm-9:30

Pennington Quilt Works 

-Presentation/Discussion - Blogging/Instagram/Social Media and Quilts – Jess S.

-Spotlight – anyone interested should contact me.

-Challenges: Bring in your Michael Miller challenges! Use your low volume swapped fabrics from earlier in the year - challenge - you can bring your creation in from August to September.

So looking forward to a busy and quilty summer with you all!!

Jess S.

How to enter the Michael Miller Challenge contest

The Michael Miller Challenge ends July 25! If you want to enter the contest to win free fabric for a year (!), here's how:

1. Sign into the Modern Quilt Guild website and click the link below:
https://community.themodernquiltguild.com//groups/finished-michael-miller-fabric-challenge-0

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll see a text box. 

3. The last icon on the top bar is the "add media" button - click that.

4. Click browse to get your picture from the computer, and click upload. 

5. Type the size of your quilt and anything you want to say about it in the text box with the now-uploaded picture and hit "post." 

 That's it! Nothing else is necessary to be entered in this international contest. Good luck! Remember, you can use any brand solids and only Michael Miller prints.

Bring your MM challenge to the get together with the Philly guild the next day! :)

-Jess

June Meeting!

Please join us for our June meeting! Guests welcome - please email the account if you are attending.

Members, RSVP here!

	*Reminder - there will be NO July meeting. 7-9:30 PM (6:30-7 social time, optional time to chat with guild members and shop) at Pennington Quilt Works --Discussion -- binding. What's your favorite way? What tips do you have for people who want to try hand or machine binding? Etc. --Swap -- A quilted table top item for summer such as mug rug, placemats, table runner, coasters - anything! --Challenge -- Stash buster (use just your fabric stash to make something, or bring in a project that was all stash based); Michael Miller challenge (due end of July) --Past guild bee members - bring your quilt or finished blocks to show as examples to the new bee members! --Bring your blocks for the guild quilt along (Modern Mondays at 42quilts.com!) Thanks! Jess S.

May Meeting Recap

News:
-New members joining now will be charged half the dues fee as we are half-way through the year. New members who have not received a name card or Modern Quilt Guild membership card should notify Kristina Bobo, treasurer.

-Members should take advantage of the guild freebie table. Donated items should not be
very large and fabrics should preferably be quilter’s cottons, home décor fabrics or
laminates.

Lori shows off her latest stunner!

 
-Any member interested in presenting a short 10 to 30 min. demo or lesson will receive a $10 gift card to Pennington Quilt Works. Email the account if you have a suggestion!

-There is a new "Event" thread on the BigTent Forum for members – please post any sewing or quilting events you are involved with/have heard about. You can announce them at meetings, too!


-Monthly meetings will now start with a social time from 6:30 to 7:00 pm. Members can
catch up with friends, get to know new members and shop at Pennington Quilt Works. This will make our breaks less rushed! There is no obligation to attend.

 -Quilt Alliance contest – “Inspired By”- due June 1.  If you miss the entry date, you can still submit your quilt for auction and posting on the Quilt Index. Here's Robin's mini quilt so far:

-Guild Charity Sewcial/sewing event – Sunday, June 29 – Hopewell Train Station (time TBA - set the date aside if you want to attend!). We want to start 4 or 5 baby quilts for the Center for Great Expectations in Somerset. I will make the BigTent event and let you know what to bring. There will be a limit of 20 people due to space.We will have at least one more charity sewcial this year. 

Rachel's recent finish - Jaybird Quilts, Tiny Dancer pattern

 -There will be no July guild meeting this summer.

-Get together with the Philadelphia MQG is confirmed - Saturday, July 26, the pavilion at Tyler State Park, PA (SAVE THE DATE!). We haven’t decided on a time yet (probably early afternoon?) and we will be doing a swap, likely bringing a show and tell and food. Some of us will carpool from Pennington Quilt Works (it's only about 20 minutes from there). More info to come. Come and enjoy a beautiful day (families invited, too!).

Neva used Jacquie Gering's techniques to make the above quilt!

-We have booked Jacquie Gering, author and modern quilter, to visit August 22 to 24.  to come Similar to last time – probably free lecture/trunk show, workshop on the weekend. 

 -QuiltCon– Austin, Tx, Feb. 19-22, 2014. There’s a contest open for designing a quilt – check your email. Also, you MUST be a member of the national Modern Quilt Guild to receive the member discount and register on June 24 (if you don't have a membership card, please email Kristina Bobo ASAP).

Info from www.quiltcon.com:

Registration: 
Course Catalog released by May 15, 2014.

Member registration opens June 24, 2014. 
General public registration opens on July 1, 2014. 

Quilt Entry: 
Quilt show entry open July 1 to November 30, 2014.
Notifications of acceptance by December 30, 2014.

Amy's colorful baby quilt top - from the book Vintage Quilt Revival

 

-Michael Miller Challenge:

• We received our two missing fabrics! Thanks to the MQG for personally helping us out, and Michael Miller for the quick ship! 
• The deadline is EXTENDED to July 25! So no worries! Bring your finishes to the June or August meetings. 
• Entries are just like last time: have to post your picture on the MQG forum with sizes. You must be a member of the MQG to get on the site. I will post a reminder and a how-to here when it gets closer.
• Our guild challenge is curves - not mandatory though!

Neva took a curves class from our special guest at Mid-Atlantic Mod (scroll down to hear more about our guest!)

  -In order to commemorate significant member occasions ie: births, weddings, retirements,
etc. the guild is requesting volunteers to design and construct a quilt for designated
events. We will need the help of guild members as time goes on. Jessica Levitt will oversee the projects and the guild will fund materials. See Jess L.
for more details if you have or plan to volunteer.

Krishma's remake of her classic finish!

-The current guild bee is ending in June! Eleven members have signed up for the new bee to begin in August. In an e-mail, Jess S. sent out guidelines and month assignments. See Lee Burnham, Bee Keeper, with questions or concerns.

-Jessica Levitt took a poll of interested parties and updated members on plans for a guild quilt retreat possibly July 19th and 20th. More information soon!

--------------------------------------

Discussion: Members discussed various ways they plan/design their quilts. Some members plan out their quilts using graph paper, online programs like Electric Quilt, and quilting apps, while others just jump right in using a design wall! It was interesting to hear the different perspectives. Overall, more of our guild members plan out their quilts than don't.

 

 
Swap: Participating members swapped their low volume, 6x10 inch bricks of fabric. A challenge to use these fabrics will come soon. You can, of course, use them beforehand if you wish - just show us what you make! :)

And of course, we had Show and Tell. Pictures posted throughout this post. :)

The president of the Philly guild, Andrew, was our special guest!! Thanks for coming, Andrew! We got to see a few of his quilts. Below is his Japan quilt (only partially pictured but you can see it on his blog):
 

 

Check out this awesome modern cross quilt, too! You go, Andrew. 

 

More show and tell pics:

 

 

Terri's hand-pieced hexagon table runner! Amazing.

We love seeing what Janet comes up with for her ribbon quilts!

 Jess L. finished a HUGE, gorgeous t-shirt quilt for a friend.

Rachel showed off this beauty. She worked on it throughout the year at sewcials!

Susan makes a mean cathedral window.

 

-------------------------------------------

June Meeting - Tuesday, June 10, 2014

7-9:30 PM (6:30-7 social time, see above in "news")

Pennington Quilt Works

 

Discussion – TBA (will go out in the Bigtent invite soon)
Swap – A quilted table top item for summer such as mug rug, placemats, table runner
Spotlight - haven't done one yet and want to? Email the account and we'll get you in for June!
Challenge – Stash buster; Michael Miller challenge (due end of July - reminder: there is no July meeting)


Thanks to Kathy Stanish for the minutes (paraphrased here) and Carol Esch for the pictures!
-Jess S.