May BAMQG Meeting

Description of May Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting

BAM Banner
BAM Banner

The meeting was great. I had fun, people were nice, leadership is getting in the groove of really hard jobs. I got see my pals, pick up a new cat bed and BEST of all, be relieved of my blog duties. Everything seems to be slipping into place. I took several pages of notes even though I don’t have to write up the meeting for the blog.

The blog part is great news. I decided, for various reasons, that I didn’t want to do it anymore about two months ago. The President was finally able to get someone to volunteer for Social Media Chair and, though, I could have stayed on as Blog Manager, I decided a year was a good run and took the opportunity to step down. It is kind of sad that the blog will be used only for meeting notices, especially since I worked pretty hard at putting up good content and trying to build a readership. The new social media chair told me only 10 people were reading, which I find hard to believe, but have no other figures with which to argue. I can, now, spend more time here, if I need to. Lucky you! 😉

All good things have a dark side and the dark side of this is that I have to figure out why I am not getting the Ning notices. All the guild information will be posted there and I would like to keep up.

I really like the banner Kelly made, which is why I put it up again. This time she added to it by buying materials at OSH to make a stand. I love the quilt and library signs int he same photo. I may just photograph it at every meeting from different angles and put it up for you to admire. 😉 Perhaps I’ll sweet talk Kelly into making me one.

There was a lot of interesting discussion about the plan for local modern guilds to join the mothership. The MQG is proposing at $15 per person fee for guilds to be part of the MQG. The mothership will offer some technology solutions and hire staff. I can see the pros and cons of joining and not. I don’t think the value of what they are offering is convincing guilds to join, though. Guilds have until December 2014 to decide whether to join or not. The BAM group will wait until October or November to vote on the decision.

Color group

In the last notes on the April meeting, I talked about my Color group. That turned out to be one of the funnest parts of the month between the April and May meetings. I like the idea of a small group and am, kind of hoping, it will turn into something more than just a guild group. While I enjoyed thinking about about the possibilities, I ended up making the blocks at the last minute and I felt terrible while I was doing them (stomach issues). I am not sure they are my best work, but they were ready. I plowed through and really like the way they turned out.

Color group blocks
Color group blocks

I used the pattern I really liked, Chisholm Trail, from the blocks I made for Week 13 of the Star Sampler blocks. The bonus about that block was that I had everything I needed handy and the construction was fresh in my mind. I wasn’t so thrilled with the color choices I made. I don’t hate the blocks or anything, but I liked my blue version better.

Only Chris and I brought blocks for the charity quilt and 3 people from our group weren’t even there. Other members will bring them next time and we will still do the charity quilt. We decided that we would diverge from the color project and do a round robin. I haven’t done a joint project in an age, except with TFQ, so I am a little anxious. I stopped doing them, because I didn’t appreciate bad technique. I am willing to try again with people that I know. I am going to get a set group of fabrics and make a nice center. I need to figure that out soon, since I have very little time to sew and won’t be at the next meeting, so have to get it to someone in the group before the meeting. Eeeekkk!!!

Donations

Cat Bed #2-2013
Cat Bed #2-2013

I have to admit that I did the bulk of the work for the meeting on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I couldn’t get to it sooner, apparently and felt I just had to get my charity projects done.

Friday night, I pinned the first bits of the Cat Bed together so I would be ready to sew first thing Saturday morning. I was able to sew it together relatively quickly. I stuffed it about 1/4 full of my scraps and that was done. It looks very similar to the one I made in April.

Patchwork Wheel Donation top
Patchwork Wheel Donation top

I had also FINALLY started to sew the Patchwork Wheel blocks together as leaders and enders. Before this last week, I hadn’t worked on them since January.

I wasn’t very organized about it and hadn’t made much progress. Yesterday morning I decided that there was no time like the present and whipped those babies into a top.

Because I was in a big rush, I didn’t put borders on the top and I didn’t make a back. I think it needs to be contained, so some borders would be helpful. I kind of wanted the piece out of my life.

Patchwork Wheel Donation top
Patchwork Wheel Donation top

It wasn’t all peaches and roses, though and I think the blocks look more like Sawtooth Stars than Patchwork Wheels. I think that there is too little organization in the fabric choices. Still, I like the idea of the pattern and I think this particular top will be very interesting to the Muggle, as Frances says, that will receive it.

I also think that the pattern has possibilities for future donation tops. I didn’t take another kit, because I think i will make this pattern again out of my own fabrics. If I make this pattern out of solids, it will look modern and viewers will be able to see the wheels better. I am thinking of making cool wheels – purples, blues and greens – and warm wheels – reds, pinks, yellows and oranges – and putting them all in the same quilt. I could even use prints, but make each wheel monochromatic or warm or cool so there was some organization. I would also like to try the Triangle Technique to make triangle squares. I know it means there wouldn’t be as much fabric variety overall, but I think it would be ok. Regardless it would be worth a try. If it isn’t perfect, I can try again.

Workshop

The most exciting news is that Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr are coming BAM! I signed up for their workshop, which is on creating palettes. I would sign up for almost anything they did.

Other Work

Leona's Angela Walters Challenge
Leona’s Angela Walters Challenge

Show and Tell is not as exciting as it was now that we have to bring finished pieces. I try to look around and see what people might be working on during the meeting.

One of the reason I enjoy the BAM meetings is that I hear about new things. Leona did show this quilt, which she made in response to Angela Walter’s panel challenge, Make It Right. I hadn’t heard of this challenge. I noticed her project because of the quilting. Leona has a longarm and she programs it using patterns she purchases. I love the combination of pebbles and spirals.

Leona's Star Block Quilt
Leona’s Star Block Quilt

Leona brought another quilt, which I noticed first. The spiral with the sun design within the spiral is very appealing for an all over design. I really like it and may show it to Colleen.