Tag: BAMQG

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

I know it has been a week or so since the meeting, but I have had a couple of crazy weeks. At this moment, I am enjoying the benefits of a laptop by getting this post done while out of town.

We were back at our old location this time, which was a relief. I enjoyed the location of the last meeting. I thought it was a beautiful space, but felt like I was coming home this time. Everyone else was more relaxed and happy at this meeting, as well, for some reason. Or so it seemed.

BAMQG Banner

Last summer, the Modern Quilt Guild had a block challenge where they were making blocks for charity and for a banner that would be displayed at various events (I guess. Frankly, I don’t remember the details, but I wrote about it). At the same time the BAMQG leadership asked for blocks in the guild’s colors. Kelly has been working diligently on the banner and she revealed what she had so far. She has a bit more quilting to go, but the idea is to display it at the SCVQA show, which is this coming weekend.

Show & Tell

Everything that was shown was great. There wasn’t a lot, though. I showed the A-B-C Challenge. Jennifer has already posted the photos, so here is a slideshow from Flickr:

Color Group

One of the funnest parts of the meeting was the color group meeting. My group had Patti, Kelly, Suzi, Chris and Jennifer. This time Joan and Kathleen joined us, so our group is quite large and also enthusiastic.

At the last meeting, we met with our group and selected a group of colors from items that people brought. Our colors (see right) are purple, pink and chartreuse. This time we were to bring fabric scraps in these colors (I forgot) and decide what project we wanted to do. Others forgot, too, so we decided we would each make 2-8″ finished blocks from our own fabrics and bring them to the next meeting. One of the members, Jennifer, brought a large piece of a green wheel print and we will all use a piece of that in each of our blocks to help with continuity.We will create a charity quilt out of the resulting blocks.

I suppose the blocks have to be ‘modern’. Since I am in the groove of Sawtooth Stars, I may just make some Sawtooth Stars while work on the Star Sampler. I don’t know yet. The fabric is really stiff and I need to wash it before I do anything with it. I don’t think I have any of the fabric in my own fabric closet.

Another group is doing a round robin. Another group is making zipper pouches to exchange. It is an interesting exercise.

Destash Party

I didn’t bring anything to get rid of, but there was no shortage of stuff. I helped get everything out of bags and sort of organized before the contributors were let loose. “Organized” is a lot more generous a term than what we really did. We emptied the bags by dumping them on a big table in a giant mound. I couldn’t really believe how much stuff there was.

I was all for organizing things neatly, but was soundly vetoed. We did put all the patterns together, all the notions together, etc.

They made short work of most of the good stuff and the rest went to charity.

Someone brought 3 spools of Aurifil thread. I was tempted to slip one into my pocket before the frenzy started, but restrained myself.

There were patterns and tons and tons of fabric.  Cynthia brought a box she had packed a year ago to send to a friend’s daughter in Japan. The cost turned out to be prohibitive, so she just had the box sitting on a shelf. She brought it sealed and everything. Jennifer A took a chance and got the premium fabric, charm packs and fat quarter bundles. I looked through it and it was  a great haul.

San Mateo County Fair

Rhonda brought the applications for the fair for our group entry for the A-B-C Challenge. She was very organized, which was great. I helped her while she was a destashing/restashing by hunting down some of the members and getting their entry fee. I have to get my other entries in as well. I also have to finish the sleeve.

One part of the meeting I didn’t write much about Monday was the party part. Kathleen headed up the party committee and the table decorations and food were amazing.

I really like the vase she and Kelly made. It is modern and fun and just a nice centerpiece.

People seemed to like the food. You can see the nice view outside. I really like the trees and the green. The room was a bit warm and the windows didn’t open, but the view was great, especially after the rain stopped.

One of the nice things that happened was that Adrianne acknowledged all of the coordinators. She had everyone who contributed to the success of the guild this year stand up and be thanked. It was an impressive group.

I don’t know how many of these people will continue, but I hope that others will step into their shoes.

We couldn’t do it without Kelly’s big wagon. This is a fold up wagon that holds A LOT! At other meetings she has helped me by carrying some of my stuff into the room. She hauled a lot of stuff for this meeting.

Fat Quarter Swap

I know I did all the fabric-y stuff in the last post. I didn’t have photos of my fat quarters, thought and I wanted to make sure my fabulous swap partner was acknowledged and thanked. Yes, I will write a thank you note, but a nice public note is nice, too.

As I said, I came home with a headache and that ended any thought of additional blog work. I finally did a massive photo shoot and was thrilled with the fabrics that Peggy, my swap partner, picked for me.

She picked out Ty Pennington’s Impressions for me. This isn’t a group I would have chosen for myself, but I like the variety of scales in the pack. I usually don’t buy dark blues, so it is good to see some for a change. My stash of them is low after the Stars for San Bruno quilts.

All in all, a great meeting and a much appreciated guild.

The meeting went well. It was held at a different location, because of the crazy traffic last year. I really liked the space around this Library’s community room. The schedule of the meeting had a lot of different parts.

One of the activities was a fat quarter swap. I am terrible at wrapping gifts, which is why I use gift bags. I wanted this package to be pretty. I thought and thought and could not figure out how to be a successful gift wrapper. Friday I took the fabrics down, because I was on a deadline. I had to wrap the gift. I looked at the fabrics and realized that I had chosen fabrics that were pretty and cheerful. I went rummaging through my ribbon stash and found this lovely orange fabric ribbon. I decided to use the fabric as the wrapping. For a wrapping challenged person, I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Peggy was my FQ swap partner and she bought me a set of blue and green fat quarters from the Fat quarter shop. they are really cool looking. She wrapped my group in another piece of fabric.

The packages looked really pretty wrapped up. People did clever things wrapping. I always get ideas and then I can never remember to use the ideas later.

I showed the A-B-C Challenge quilt and back. A few other people brought their finished A-B-C challenge pieces. Michelle and Lynette both brought their pieces and they did a really good job. A lot of us did similar blocks, but with the different arrangements and layouts and fabrics, they all look different. Others brought their blocks. Kathleen worked on her blocks during the sew-in. Rhonda worked on putting sashing on her blocks. I don’t know if we will have enough to finished quilts to enter in the San Mateo County Fair as a group.

I really like the graphic nature of Kathleen’s blocks and fabric choices.

I also showed the cat beds and the Baby blocks quilt I finished for the Charity Girls. I was pleased to see another 6-7 quilts brought in for the charity drive. It is amazing how people keep bringing in quilts that they have finished. It is amazing that everyone works together on getting the quilts finished. I love it.

I forgot to bring the Spiderweb to show, but brought all the parts to baste the Corner Store. I decided I wanted to try and quilt it myself. I want to finish it and the only way that will happen is if I do it myself right now. Rhonda and Deborah helped me baste, which I appreciated so much. They are awesome at basting and that quilt looks good. We used every single safety pin I brought. I could have used more, but it worked with what I had. Perhaps I will quilt it while I am off work over Christmas.

I was really pleased to be able to stay for the sew-in for a little while. I came home with a headache, though, that lingered through yesterday.