Peggy the Fantastic Energizer (TM) Bunny and pals hung the BAMQG quilt show on Monday and we were all able to view it at the meeting/Holiday Extravaganza on Saturday. Jim, one of our members, was kind enough to stand in as an interested viewer for me. 😉
BAMQG Library Quilt Show 2014
The show is not your regular quilt show, which was nice as it really gets quilts out to the public.
No, I did not enter one. I think the patrons seem good about touching, but I wasn’t sure at the time and didn’t make the time. Maybe next year.
I thought it was a little strange that some of the quilts were hung so low, but then I realized what a great view I would get of them if I sat in the chairs. And I would get a sore neck. Win-win!
BAMQG Library Quilt Show 2014
There certainly is a wide variety of quilts. I don’t know if they are all modern, but I guess they are now!
I really like Nicki’s quilt, which is the turquoise quilt on the left. Are you surprised? 😉
I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel for posts and I don’t know why. Too many demands on my time, perhaps? I suspect not enough sewing, but this means you get the BAMQG report ASAP! Aren’t you excited?
Claire told us that the 501(c)(3) paperwork has been put in. That is a ton of work and GREAT news.
Quilty Happenings
Amish Exhibit at San Jose Museum Quilts & Textiles. Reception is on 12/7/2014 from 2-4, though SJMQT members and the artists are welcome to a walk through starting at 1pm.
BAMQG members have a show up at the Los Altos Public Library through December 31, 2014. It is open during library hours
CQFA Members have a show at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library in the Wallace Stegner Environmental Center. I have 3 quilts there! Through April.
Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association show will be in March or April and the BAMQG will have a big presence, both in quilts and helping out.
Meetings
The meetings in 2015 are all scheduled to be at the Redwood City Public Library Community Room. The one that might change is the December Holiday Extravaganza because of the Redwood City parade that usually coincides with our meeting. Stay tuned on the BAMQG blog for updates.
Sew Day: January 3, 2015 at Los Altos Public Library
Charity Sew Day: February 2015 at Los Altos Public Library. Probably the first Saturday. Stay tuned on the BAMQG blog for updates.
Events
There will be three speakers next year, Stacy Lynn Wood, the lady from Peppermint Pinwheel and another, as yet to be named, national speaker. Buy or renew your membership to join that fun.
There was a prize drawing for the UFO Challenge and I won a spool of Aurifil thread! Yay! I can totally use that. There is a super prize in January and I can’t wait to see what that is. I hope I don’t have to be present to win as I can’t make that meeting.
BAMQG 2014 Swap Items
The Holiday Swap was awesome. I didn’t participate beyond admiring all the gifties.
I didn’t take a picture of the food, but the committee did an awesome job. There are now five of us who eat a GF diet, so there were plenty of GF goodies of which to partake. I had some yummy chocolate thing that Claire made. Yay for chocolate!
After that I just chatted with people. I found out that Michelle S has a blog. I had never spent time talking with her, but we were sitting next to each other and just got to talking. She does a lot of handquilting and doesn’t have many UFOs, which is quite envious, I have to say. She is also using the Hoffman Challenge fabric to make her City Sampler/Tula Pink blocks. I have to say that Michelle’s blocks made mine look terrible. 🙁
I also had the chance to discuss bindings with Annemarie. She has a large hexie made from Kaffe Fassett (and friends) fabric. She was thinking of cutting off the outer hexies and I encouraged her to either fill in the edges with triangles to make them square a la the Eye Spy or to bind them around the outer hexies, leaving them in tact like I did, sort of, with Flower Sugar. I really wish these designers would stop telling people to cut off their hexies.
Peggy and Michelle did a great job organizing the Charity Day Race Game and 8 of the quilts we made were from the kits Michelle and Peggy put together before the event. They are awesome, dedicated and well organized.
Worker Bees
We all got kits and set to work. Peggy had done a lot of the cutting already, so we all only had to cut backgrounds and sew.
Michelle and Jennifer worked on a red version of the T quilt with a lot of Joel Dewberry Notting Hill fabric.
I was on a team with Gerre and she took the first sewing shift. I wasn’t really paying attention to how other teams organized their sewing and cutting and pressing and pinning, but our organization worked very well.
Rhonda and Ruth worked on a turquoise version with some Pearl Bracelets and a lot of fish fabric.
Diana worked on a pastel version with some Aneela Hoey fabrics and Jennifer finished a second green top that really looked like light in a forest.
Karen and Joelle finished another red top with a lot of card game fabric that they joked they would give to Kenny Rogers. Peggy made a brown version that looked like candy and Michelle finished a second top with a blue solid background. Gerre and I finished a top with green Ts and a light background. the quilts all used the same pattern, but were so different and fun.
Jennifer & Michelle
Ruth & Rhonda
Joelle & Karen
Jaye and Gerre
Peggy
Michelle 2
Diana
Gerre & Jaye’s Bonus Quilt
After the T quilts were done many people worked on making postage stamp blocks, including Gerre and I. We made as many pink and white postage stamp blocks as we could, then we added in some yellow and white blocks in to bring the quilt up to size. We didn’t finish it. Gerre put me in the sewing driver’s seat and I kept screwing up when sewing the blocks together, so we pinned the blocks together and Gerre will finish the top at home.
Every time I turn around, I am kind of shocked that it is September. Even in my journal, I keep starting to write June when I write the date. I don’t know why. I did that all through last year as well and had no good reason then either.
Anyway. Lots of BAMQG this week.
Play-Crafts Palette Builder
The meeting was awesome, as usual. The best part was the talk by Anne Sullivan of Play-Crafts.com. She gave us all a lecture on Color Theory. I know a couple of things about color theory, but I learned quite a few things. There are things called color models, which I have heard of before. One of the models is called Hue, Saturation & Value (HSV). It is a color model created to be more intuitive and show color relationships.
Anne also talked about the basics of color theory, contrast, and color schemes. Anne has the passion of someone who loves color. She has clearly done the research of a person dedicated to something she loves. I looked at her website and found nothing on color until I went to the patterns and tutorials section and there were some tutorials on color there.
We had some business as well.
Elections are next month.there will be a couple of new positions available: liaison with MQG and the Opportunity quilt coordinator
Charity will host a Sew Day on October 4. We will work in teams to create charity tops.
Amanda still has no reliable source for Cat Bed donations. She had a few that were already made, but not stuffed, so people took those. I gave in the neon orange bed. It got a few laughs. [BTW, I forgot to take a photo of that cat bed, but it was just neon orange, so nothing interesting. Also, I was able to cut a top and bottom, but not a gusset from the remaining Polartec. I hoped that Amanda would have a bit more fabric, not in neon orange from which to make the gusset]
The quilt display at the Los Altos Library will happen Dec 1-31 and Peggy has forms to fill out.
There were a few more packs of fabric for the 2014 Opportunity Quilt. The blocks are due at the October meeting.
PIQF is during the next meeting. 🙁 Poor planning on the Mancuso’s part IMO.
Retreat dates are still in process.
Amish exhibit – quilts are due. I didn’t do one, but people have to arrange for a dropoff with Kelly. People showed their quilts during show and tell, but no photos were taken as people were concerned that others wouldn’t attend the show if they had already seen the quilts.
I don’t know if the small groups met, because I was busy and missed mine.
It has taken me awhile to get these posted, but here they are.
I made them the morning before the meeting after procrastinating for weeks, then realizing I no longer had Friday to scrape something together.
I had the gears from a pack I bought at Beverly’s and scraps and that is what I used. I think I need to get some more of those gears and try another iteration, perhaps with Perl Cotton instead of schnibbles? Braided Perl Cotton?
I have two of the gears left, because I didn’t have time to stitch them down by hand.
As I said in the CQFA Meeting report, I want to do them earlier for January (won’t be at the October meeting) and need to start on the backs. Yes, I said that a week ago and haven’t done anything. First step: make the backs. If I have a lot of backs using a neutral fabric, I can concentrate on making the front awesome. Right?
As I mentioned, the CQFA Meeting was last Saturday. It was followed closely by the BAMQG Sew Day, which meant I didn’t get home until after 6 and dinner wasn’t on the table until 7:30. I thought a lot, afterwards, if I should have spent all day out of the house after working all week. I decided that, though I missed the Young Man, it was really good for me to see my quilt pals. Also, I got a lot done.
We have been having workshops first, but on that day the business meeting was held first as we had to wait for the sun to come out. It was pretty cloudy until after 10am or even 10:30.
During the business meeting, there was a lot of talk about the upcoming show. We are getting to crunch time as the opening day draws nearer. People when off to the other room at FabMo and got help recording their audio clips. The quilts for publicity have been selected (mine was not one of them). I recorded my audio files at home last weekend, so I didn’t have to do it during the meeting. I thought some readers might be interested in hearing what I said about the quilts so I will see about posting them to quilt page for each relevant quilt. I still have to make QR Codes for my quilts.
We had show and tell and there was so much great work. I love show and tell. Everyone was very complimentary about the Wonky 9 Patch. Angela, Ann B and Sonja took at SCVQA class on wonky piecing and two of them showed their quilts. Caroline did a landscape all in black and white and talked quite a bit about framing the piece.
Of course, we had the ATC swap. I got up at about 6:30 and made mine! I got an idea and even though I wasn’t going to, I realized that I would be really sad if I didn’t get to swap ATCs, so I made mine quickly. This is the shortest timeframe in which I have ever made ATCs. I hope not to go up against the deadline like this again.
My ATCs
They aren’t the best art ever, but people snapped them up, which made me really happy. I did use the charms I bought at Beverly’s when I was there with Maureen. I think the charms added interest. I definitely will try adding charms again. I also think that I will put together a bunch of backs, so I don’t have to do that when I am in crunch mode. Perhaps I can make 24 backs in advance and just have to worry about the fronts each month. I won’t be at the next meeting, so I have until January to make the backs and new ATCs. I will try and do them earlier!
The ATCs I selected are shown to the right. (From top left to bottom right, they are by Maureen, Sue, Angela and Nancy). Angela’s were on paper and she got the idea from a painting class she took recently. I thought about getting some paper blanks to use as a base, but haven’t done it yet. Sue used a technique that our former member Debbie did a lot of. It was a blast from the past seeing that chenille technique again.
Angela Demonstrating Sunprinting
When the sun finally showed its face, Rhonda and Angela taught us sunprinting. I didn’t participate; I sat and worked on the binding of the Wonky Nine Patch, watched and listened. I enjoyed watching everyone and talking to people while they worked. I also took a lot of photos for the CQFA Flickr group and Facebook page.
After the meeting I drove over the BAMQG Sew Day with Gerre. She is a new CQFA member, but I know her from BAMQG. She let me use her machine off and on at the last Sew Day where I forgot my machine’s foot pedal. We talked about art quilts and one thing I realized about CQFA is that people talk about their process. People are working through a process and they show the different quilts or surface design or bits and pieces of things on which they are working and they talk about it. The group is very process oriented, which I never realized until today and which I really appreciate.
It almost feels sinful to enjoy sewing for charity so much. Odd, I know.
I spent all afternoon on Saturday sewing at the Charity Sew Day. At first, since I don’t like lugging my sewing machine around, I thought I would run around and cut and press for people. Nobody responded to my forum post about that idea so I brought my back up machine. What a waste! I forgot the foot pedal so I ran around and used other people’s machines while I was doing an improv quilt top, then Gerre let me use hers pretty regularly when I started on the second top.
One of the great things was showing Gerre how to do leaders and enders. She was charmed and made 2.5 blocks at least in between her Dr. Seuss wonky log cabin blocks. That means another person knows how to do leaders and enders and more blocks will get made.
Michelle and Peggy were really well organized, as usual, and had a number of different solids to use with our scraps.
Flower Sugar Lap Top
I took the ends of quilt backs, which Colleen cuts off and returns to me. They aren’t much good unless I want to cut them up into squares or something and I never seem to get around to that. It occurred to me that I could make some Improv quilt tops with them so I brought them along. Two birds, one stone: gets the ends out of my house, adds comfort and, hopefully, beauty to someone else’s house.
The first top I made was made from the leftover back pieces from the Flower Sugar hexagon quilt. Edge pieces were quite large and I sewed them together relatively quickly. This is not great work of art, but it isn’t completely boring either. I brought it home to make the back for it. I’ll use some of the leftover Flower Sugar fabrics. I still have a lot of them and I am happy to use them for a good a cause. I may also ad something to the bottom. It looks a bit unfinished.
Star Sampler Charity Quilt
Next, I took the edges from the Star Sampler and worked with those. Michelle had an idea to make a sort of easy log cabin, but I thought the pieces were too small and I made them into rectangles. I got pretty far – to putting on the sashing – but I wasn’t able to finish the top, which would have been my preference.
I still have trimming to do and the sashing to finish. I will have used all the green fabric, from the charity stash, before I get to the two outer borders, so I have to figure something out about that. I don’t know what, but something.
I have two long strips of Philip Jacobs Chrysanthemums that I will put on the outside. I’ll probably put another border on after that, but we will see. I pinned a lot of it together so I could just sew on Sunday.
It was also fun being there with other people. Gerre, Rhonda, Susan, Leanne and Lindalee, with our bosses, Michelle and Peggy, of course, were all there sewing and we were laughing quite a bit. Kelly stopped by, but couldn’t stay.
Rhonda’s Improv Medallion
Rhonda made a large house block quilt and then worked on an Improv medallion piece. The stripes were made by sewing 2 parallel straight lines the width of the black and white fabrics (right sides together) about an inch apart, then she cut 1/4″ away from the sewn line and had strips already sewn together. I want to try the idea.
We played around with the placement of the stripes – both width and direction. It was kind of a group activity and really fun to see how people interpreted the design.
That coffee cup fabric is really nice and in a colorway I haven’t seen. I have some with a teal background. This colorway goes well with Rhonda’s overall design.
Rhonda’s House Block quilt
Rhonda has only been quilting for a few years and I am continually impressed with her design sensibility and what she chooses to tackle. The house block quilt reminded me of my house block quilt, mostly because of the placement of the house block.
In case you can’t tell, she made the door open, which is a really nice touch.
I also really liked the four patches she used as windows in the upper story.
Gerre was using Dr. Seuss fabrics to make wonky log cabin blocks. The red in that line of fabric is very primary, making the blocks really super bright. Working at her table made me feel very cheerful.
Leanne brought some fabrics that were not her style and she was trying to figure out what do with them. They felt as though they had never been washed even though she said they had.
Lindalee was making strip sets and ended up with two strip blocks, where the strips are on the diagonal. She does really nice and precise work.
Michelle was working on two really, really Improv quilts. One was blue and gold and had inset strips throughout the blocks. The other was a beige and purple piece with a lovely New York Beauty-like arc as part of the design.
Peggy’s Brown & Turquoise Charity Project
Peggy was working with brown and turquoise and she did an excellent job. I really love the color combination and know that my sister would love it as well.
there was a lot of discussion about layout and at one point the two shorter sections were down at the bottom, placed symmetrically. I’ll let your imagination consider what the visual symmetry could have symbolized. Someone suggested moving one up and filling in top and bottom and that solved the problem. It is really a nice looking quilt and a good use of color.
Even though I sewed steadily, I didn’t get as much done as I expected. I have high expectations, but am satisfied with what I got done.
Last Saturday was the day of reckoning for Primal Green 2 (remember the first Primal Green show?), the show the group has coming up in the Fall at the San Francisco Public Library.
We all had to show the pieces (in progress ok) we were planning on entering. The work was amazing. Some of it came from the various challenges the guild has had and some is new. It was all very interesting and wonderful.
What a fantastic meeting, if for no other reason than the work alone.
ATCs
July 2014 ATCs
Angela wasn’t at the meeting, so Maureen led us in trading. A few more extras were collected for the show. I thought mine were pretty cool until I saw everyone else’s. I need to up my game. More embellishing, more stamping, more beading. More interesting.
Show and Tell
I showed the most quilts, all of which you have seen:
Scrapitude Carnivale (I might have shown this one at the May meeting, but I didn’t remember and everyone was very kind about not pointing out my error, if I did show it)
Everyone showed such great stuff. Jennifer is really having a lot of success sending materials to magazines. Maureen continues to try new dyeing techniques. Carolyn showed the most hilarious, but fantastic fish pillow. People encouraged her to enter it into the show. It would be a great piece for one of the tabletop cabinets.
After Sewing
I stayed again to work a little bit with friends like I did last week and got part of the second apron cut out as well as the Soft & Stable for another Petrillo Bag. I still didn’t tackle the notepad covers or the Day in the Park bag. I guess I need to rethink those projects and why I am not working on them.
Jan Scardina
Jan and Maureen stayed, too. Maureen took a beading class from Thom Atkins and worked on her sampler project while Jan sewed like a demon to finish her quilt for the show.
I think of this quilt as part of Jan’s “Flying over the Country” series, though I am not sure she agrees. She flies to the Midwest to visit her parents and I think she gets inspired by what she sees during the flights. She started a piece at a retreat a few years go with circles, but similar in construction to the piece above. I love that previous piece and egged her on a bit about finishing it. 😉 I was really glad to see her and see her sewing.
Back in December, I put a post up on the Bay Area Modern blog about making lanyards, which was a personal challenge that the president put out to the guild. I wanted to do it, but I haven’t done it for myself yet. It is on the list.
It took me some time to get around to making any kind of lanyard, but I finally did in response to the Orphan Block Challenge also put out by BAMQG. This one will be given in to a pool of small gifts and then I will get something back. I kind of like this lanyard, but am ok giving it away, too.The best part is that now I have a better idea about how to do it.
First I took a look at the Two Peas in a Pod tutorial. There are several tutorials listed. I picked this one, because it was the first one I looked at and I could follow it easily. Frankly, I already had an idea of how I was going to make the lanyard, but I needed to see how someone else did a few of the parts.
Then, I squared up the blocks a little bit to make sure the blocks to make them easier to cut into strips.
Since this was an orphan block challenge, next, I cut the blocks into 2.5″ strips. The blocks were 9″ or 10″ blocks (I don’t know -I didn’t measure) and I got about 3 strips from each one with skinnier bits leftover. It doesn’t matter what size they are as you can use regular fabric or a Jelly Roll strip and discard the leftovers.
After cutting, I sewed the strips together until I had a piece that was long enough to go from my belly button, around my neck to right below my collarbone (about an inch below or so).
Sew another strip that is long enough to go from your collarbone to your belly button.
Take both strips, fold them in half and press. Open them up and fold the raw edges to the center and press.
Sew D Ring Here
Then I wanted to add a loop at the shoulder so my nametag would be at eye level or I could use it to keep track of my glasses. Cut this piece about 4″.
I took one of the leftover skinny strips (from the block above), folded it in quarters, top stitched both sides, slid the fabric piece through a ring and sewed that piece to the right side of a strip that had not yet been sewed. Once you slide the strip of fabric through the ring, you will have a U if you hold both of the raw edges, one in each hand. The ring will be dangling from the bottom of the U.
Collarbone Loop
Nota bene: In the picture, the strip to which you have to sew is upside down. Make sure you sew the the loop with the ring in the bottom to the right side of the strip. Nota bene due: In a subsequent step, you will fold the whole piece in quarters and top stitch. You may want to measure and sew this loop to avoid the folds that will take place later.
Collarbone Loop
After you have your extra loop added, you should sew the strip to the other strips and keep adding strips until the piece is long enough. You will need a bit of extra length to fold up to accommodate the Swivel hook and other loop, so don’t cut it off too short.
Now you have a long strip about 37″ long. This measurement is from the Two Peas in a Pod tutorial. I cut mine a little shorter to accommodate my height and torso length.
Fold your long strip in half and press. Yes, the glasses loop will be a pain. I haven’t figured out how not to make it a pain. If you know of a way to make it easier, let me know.
Open your piece and fold the raw edges towards the crease in the center. Once you have completed this the raw edges will be encased in the center.
Top stitch very close to the edges on both sides. If you want to be fancy, you can do a double line of stitching or a decorative stitch. Depending on the size of the ring holder, you may have to skip the area where the ring holder is, or go around it.
Now hang the strip around your neck. Trim the ends if you think they are too long.
Take the loop and thread one end of your strip through it. Pin in place. WonderClips work well, too.
Thread Strip End Through
Take the other end of the strip and thread the swivel hook through it. Pin in place or use WonderClips.
Now you are ready to finish off the ends. The different tutorials tell you to do it in different ways. I went with the the way the Two Peas in a Pod tutorial suggested. I hadn’t really thought about dual hardware on the bottom, but it works.
Staggered
I staggered the placement of my loop and swivel hook so they wouldn’t clank together as I (or the user) walked around. This means that I had to adjust the placement of the two pieces. It took a little bit of trial and error, but, ultimately, I am happy with the placement. As an added bonus, I had fewer layers to sew over as I finished the lanyard. That step is optional.
Think about what you might hook on to your loop and swivel hook before you decide on placement.
Place the lanyard carefully around your neck. Make sure to smooth out the twists, if any, so the lanyard lays flat around the back of your neck and on your chest.
Reinforcing Thread Box
Once you are sure everything is smooth, pin (or WonderClip) the two ends together and sew. I made “thread boxes” (the same technique you use to reinforce areas of stress when making a bag) out of my sewing line in order to keep the lanyard together and looking nice.
Change your needle so you are using a new and very sharp needle. Sew two reinforcing boxes, the top one going through all layers. Move the swivel hook out of the way to sew the bottom box to finish the lanyard.
Collarbone ring in use
Pain and Suffering
There are a couple of places that will be difficult. Using orphan blocks or mosaic piecing means that there will be extra seam allowances. With these comes the possibility of really thick seams [See above where I refer to the glasses loop]. To mostly avoid these thick seams, use 3 unpieced lengths of fabric for the neck and loop pieces. 1 Jelly Roll strip (2.5″ wide strip) will work.
I thought ahead for once and made these last weekend, except for the finishing. I didn’t really have an idea, so I grabbed some scraps from the City Sampler blocks and started sewing them together. I sewed until it was long enough to cover a piece I had cut for the backs.
I stopped partway through to actually make the backs. I added stabilizer for stiffener. Once the pieced scrap piece was big enough, I sewed it to the backing and stabilizer, cut the piece in 2.5″x3.5″ rectangles and zigzagged around the outside.
Boring.
I like them. They are mostly soothing colors, but they aren’t very arty or edgy. I planned to embellish them with beads, but really wasn’t excited about it, because I often do beading and just wasn’t in the mood. I also didn’t really have the time. It seemed like too much work in an already full week.
As I was tidying the workroom, I saw my alphabet stamps. PERFECT!!! I decided to stamp words on them. YAY! That I was excited about. I ended up not using the alphabet stamps this time, but using some Chinese character stamps I picked up somewhere.
July ATCs, Finished
Mine didn’t end up being that popular this time around, but the others were fantastic. Mine are calm (which I seem to be seeking lately), but the stamp wasn’t large enough to stand out and show the detail. I need to step up my game. I am not done with the stamps yet, now that I have found them again.
I am not depressed, because I know not everything can be fantastic and these small pieces are for play.
If you want to see how the retreat was set up, some in process and fun shots, check out the post I wrote a few days ago.
Mystery Quilt
I won’t tell you what mystery quilt we did, in case your guild does it. I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, but I will show you some of the examples of what came out of the blocks. Please note that most people basically threw the last two clues (after the blocks were made) out and did their own setting. They did great. All of the tops are really their own. The mystery quilt designer might have a heart attack, but I love the diversity and the creativity. The most of the mystery quilt was that everyone was working together on the same project.
Kelly
The Boss took all of her blocks apart and rearranged them into this piece. She had to add fill-in pieces to complete the background.
Amanda and Cheryl
They became the retreat twins in my mind. They sat across from each other (behind me) and it was fun to see them bounce off each other. Cheryl was the fantastic retreat coordinator and she actually got work done. I borrowed pins from her since I forgot my pincushion ALL THREE DAYS.
Lynnette’s blocks (no layout yet)
It was pretty amazing how Lynnette used different fabrics, but they are really cohesive. I didn’t think they were a line, but I could be wrong.
Ruth & Rhonda
I am not sure Rhonda actually put hers together like the photo, but I wouldn’t be surprised. There was a quite a lot of hilarity going on and the above photo might have been part of the hilarity.
Ruth‘s piece is on top and she did a fabulous job with her final result. I wasn’t fast enough to get a photo.
Michelle’s Mystery
I can’t even believe that Michelle made this quilt out of the mystery pieces.
Angela
Angela would not give me her quilt even though it is in my colors. I was mad at myself for not thinking of this color scheme. I love what she did and the photo doesn’t do it justice. The blues are more turquoise.
Gerre
Gerre started and got this whole piece quilted. She only lacked a binding and a label. Amazing!
Diana
Diana was working on a couple of different projects and the ones I saw were made from Autumn-y colors. Isn’t this version cool?
Buff
Buff made this adorable baby quilt. I love the bunny peeking out of the top of the fabric strip.
Charity
Donation block
People worked on donation blocks as well.
To the left is the only donation block I finished, but I had half of another parts of two others done as well. I’ll finish them this week.
Piles of donation blocks
My block is only one of a giant stack of blocks that piled up throughout the weekend. I was amazed that every time I went into the cutting room, more blocks were in the pile.
The great thing is that people just did them. There was no big drama; they just did them and the pile grew.
Peggy’s donation top
Peggy is working on a series of half square triangle quilts. Her latest top was finished at the retreat. She said she is enamored with the diamond offset on the top. I am really glad she is playing with the blocks. It makes me happy to see people having fun.
Donation Fish Blocks
I saw that a few fish blocks were made as well. There were a lot of kits available for those. I couldn’t make any as I didn’t bring any blue fabrics that would have been suitable.
Did you see the patterns for these blocks? If you want to make a small quilt and donate it, please do. The guild will be happy to accept it and I am happy to facilitate. They would make a fun baby quilt as well.
Personal Projects
In between the charity quilts and blocks and the mystery quilt, people worked on their own projects. There were finishes (Gerre, Bonnie, Angela, Diana, etc) and major progress that happened. It was fun to see all the projects where people made major progress.
Angela finished her mom’s Mother’s Day quilt. She did some lovely embroidery on the back as her label. You saw the quilt on the post where I talked about the BAMQG meeting.
Diana finished an auction quilt. It is a good thing as the auction already took place and she just needed to finish the quilt! What a hero for making such a big project for a school auction!
Diana’s Auction Quilt -front
Diana’s Auction Quilt -backRhonda’s Round Robin
Rhonda worked hard on quilting and binding her Round Robin piece. I love the spiky border on this one. The quilt is actually a lot brighter than the photo shows.
Cheryl’s Giant Feather
Cheryl brought out a giant feather quilt. She said that she wondered what the Anna Maria Horner feather would look like super sized. If you were wondering that, too, now you know. Isn’t it cool? I almost want to make one of those feathers (in a much smaller size)!
Cheryl’s Table Runner
Finally, Kelly made a thank you for Cheryl while at the Retreat! It uses Cheryl’s favorite Tula Pink fabrics.
I am not sure if I will get through all of the retreat info in one post. It might just be too much. We’ll see.
Retreat Location
The retreat started on Friday, but I didn’t get there until mid day on Saturday as we were traveling for the Native Sons back from Grand Parlor. I was a commuter, so I drove back and forth. It is about an hour each way, but after the intense people time of Grand Parlor, some quiet time in the car made me more human at home and at the retreat.
Two things that happened right as I got there, practically before I got set up, was that I got a bag of goodies and I won a prize! The CQFA Retreat does not include goodie bags or prizes (someone has to organize all that). It was fun.
Mystery Quilt in process
People were working on the mystery quilt and I was 3 clues behind, but they had just gotten Clue 3 when I arrived, so I made those units and used Clue 1 as leaders and enders, so I had most of Clue 1 done as well by the time I got finished with Clue 3. I had my fabric and I had cut out all the pieces, thus I was ready to dive right into sewing, so I got busy on that.
I really liked all of the different fabric choices that people came up with for their mystery quilts. People admired mine, but by the end I wasn’t liking the combination very much. the funnest part of the mystery quilt was working on the same project as everyone else. I enjoyed that with Scrapitude as well.
I have only been on CQFA retreats, which are very basic. This retreat was kind of the deluxe edition!
Cutting Room
There were 3 rooms we could work in. One room was set up as a cutting and ironing room. We also gathered there for Clues and prizes and the donation blocks were as well. People put their finished blocks there and kits for blocks needed were also available there.
It was great to have those high tables for cutting out large pieces. I used them when I was working on my bag.
Hard at Work
There were 6 tables set up on each side of the two rooms (room were linked by a very large opening). Ruth set up a design wall at the end of the room (I believe the Steampunk blocks belong to Cheryl). My spot was the spot from where I am taking the photo. People were pretty diligent, but there was a lot of laughter as well. Some of the laughter was fairly crazy.
Design Floor
I sat across from Corky. I don’t think Corky and I had had a chance to talk at a meeting, but we were chatting and borrowing tools like old pals. It was nice to get to know her a little better.
Quilts and quilt parts were everywhere. Any open space was fair game and people just hopped over them and continued on their way. It was awesome, in a way, that people would just take it in stride that quilts were everywhere.
I had my mystery quilt on the floor for awhile while I laid it out.
Special Math
The whiteboard was right across from my workstation. Right after I arrived, Kelly added me to her list of Instagram names. Somehow after that, the Instagram names morphed into IQ. I didn’t say anything about my IQ; I just watched the points increase.
Peggy & Amanda
I couldn’t sleep and got up at 5:30. After doing a few of my morning things, I got on the road and was at the retreat by about 8:30. Monday morning found us all a little more punchy than the previous 2-3 days. References to music started coming up and Amanda played songs for us on her phone. One got Peggy and Amanda up and rapping together.
Anyone who thinks that Modern Guilds are for young people only should meet Peggy. Peggy is the most ‘modern’ of anyone in the guild and she has only been quilting for about 5 years. She has a great and inspiring and practical attitude and is also the most prolific charity quilt maker. I would do well to take after Peggy.
BAMQG 2014 Retreat Group
We took a group shot. I am pretty sure not everyone was in it, as ‘everyone’ was hard to wrangle. It was a fun shot, especially that Kelly got herself, or part of herself in it. I stole this version from Kelly’s Instagram.
I am always on the lookout for inspiration and I have to say that I was overwhelmed by my choices. there are so many creative people in the group that everywhere I looked, there was something I wanted to try or make or know more about.
I’ll write about actual projects in another post. This one is long enough. I would love to hear about retreats you have attended.
I had a great time at the meeting Saturday. People showed some really great work and everyone seems to be looking forward to the Retreat.
The next Sew Day is June 7, 10am -11pm. Once again, I can’t make it as I will be in Vancouver for work. My trip will be fun, but I’ll miss Sew Day.
I will also have to miss the next general guild meeting, which is on June 21, as I just made plans to go to Disneyland. Shhhh! Don’t tell.
Angela’s Quilt
Show and Tell is my absolute favorite part of the meeting and I wish that people would bring more stuff to share. Angela showed a great quilt from a workshop with Joe Cunningham and I just love it! It isn’t gradated, but it really gives the impression of being gradated. She was finishing up the binding so she could give it to her mom for Mother’s Day. She said that her mom loves it.
I showed Fresh Fruit and Fabric of the Year 2012. that was an exciting experience as people wanted me to tell the story of doing a quilt every year again for newcomers. I was a little embarrassed. Allison asked if I would bring all of the FOTY quilts sometime. As I said, I would love to have an exhibit of all of them, but, perhaps, showing them off to an appreciative audience would be the next best thing?
San Mateo County Fair: Lynnette kindly offered to take our quilt entries to the San Mateo County Fair intake day. She left with a pack of quilts. We will arrange pick up at a later time. I had a crazy morning when I realized that the Whole Cloth Quilt, which I entered without looking at it, didn’t have a sleeve!!!! I quickly made the sleeve using Robbi Joy Eklow’s directions in her Free Expression book (a book which you should have if you don’t already!)
I am really slow at putting on sleeves and the two recent quilts, Fresh Fruit and FOTY 2012 took me forever. I didn’t have confidence that I would have the sleeve done by the end of the meeting, but I worked towards that goal. The sleeve was pinned on to the quilt when I left the house and I started sewing as soon as I sat down. I did get it done! I sewed on the entire sleeve, gave the quilt to Lynette and home I will see it at the county Fair.
The group will be participating with other Bay Area Modern guilds in an Amish Exhibit: November 2014 at SJMQT. Joe Cunningham will do jurying. Entries are due October 1, but I don’t think I will apply. I am not inspired. Kelly decided to organize a small group to encourage people to work on their projects and get them ready for the exhibit. I don’t know how she will split herself between the Tula Pink City Sampler group and the Amish Exhibit group.
Jackie Gehring Workshops: July 26, 27 – there are still spaces available, so if you want one for a friend or haven’t signed up yet. I am surprised that these are not full.
Charity Block
Charity: I have been kind of a charity slacker lately. I haven’t worked much on the black and grey donation quilt, though I have also not abandoned it. I don’t know why as I got a lot accomplished last year and was busier.
It could be that all the other projects have been overwhelming me. Michelle, one of the Charity Girls has designed a new block for this quarter – the fish block. There are actually 3 fish blocks (Block A, Block B and BBlock C), which are the same parts in different configurations and sizes. Directions and handouts have been posted to the BAMQG blog. Take a look, because the blocks would make up cute baby quilts as well.
Enough about me and my excuses. Despite my slackness, 60 finished charity quilts will be taken to the NICU at Stanford this week. Peggy finished a number of them since the last meeting, using some time on the last charity sew day.
From the Cat Bed department: Amanda couldn’t make the meeting, which was a shame, because I couldn’t get any cat beds to sew together. Next time.
Small Groups:
Hand quilting and hand piecing – the group has been expanded to include other kinds of handwork. Angela worked on a binding while Rhonda stitched hexagons together using the English Paper Piecing method. She bought a Tula Pink kit to get started. Perhaps I will try to remember my half hexies to bring a long and work on.
Jaye brought blocks for the Tula Pink City Sampler small group, but the rest of the members were curiously absent.
We saw Nicki’s finished Round Robin and Cheryl’s almost finished Round Robin in Show and Tell, but no groups met.
Nobody in the Color groups met.
I did not do the Personal challenge for this month, which was to make a tote bag using Kelly’s directions (or others as desired) out of the piece I free motion quilted last month. Next month we are supposed to bring a hand quilted or hand pieced project to the next meeting. I am thought of bringing the Sampler, but I won’t be there.
BAMQG and the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild are participating in the Swap Challenge Swap Extravaganza. I decided to do it, even though I didn’t know anything about it until I showed up at the meeting with an orphan block. People who brought orphan blocks could sign up to make something that will be exchanged with someone at the St. Louis Guild. All orphan blocks were turned in. They will be doled out by Angela to anyone who signed up. People will not get their own block back, but will receive and need to make something out of someone else’s orphan block. Then the projects will be turned in and sent to St. Louis and the SLMQG will send us a package back and those items will be doled out. We can make anything and Angela solicited ideas, some of which are:
The CQFA meeting was last Saturday (May 3) and was quite lively.
Workshop Work
Jennifer is a graphic facilitator/graphic recorder and she led a workshop about “from drawing to art quilt.” I did a graphic recording course with hopes of moving into that profession, but I didn’t pursue it and wish I had the opportunity to do so. Still, my skills came in handy in this class because I can draw basic shapes relatively quickly. I am not sure I got what was intended out of the class, but I did get some inspiration. I have been thinking of the ongoing placemat challenge and I drew out a design that has been in my head for it.
Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches
We did some work in our art journals/sketchbooks as part of the workshop and that was fun. I got some ideas down that have been in my head. They are not perfect or fabric ready, but they are down and I can see them with my eyes and not just my mind’s eye. I have a start and can see a little way down the path. Also, I just found it fun to work in my journal. I don’t do it enough.
Art Journal Workshop Notes & Sketches
Jen gave out some handouts and one of them had a quick sketch of mountains, which I found interesting.
She suggested working with fat markers (e.g. see the round arrow) and I found that hard, so I switched to the pens with which I normally write (see purple drawings on the right). She had a point about the fat markers, which was you couldn’t put in a lot of detail and you filled the page faster. Both are true. I still like my thin pen better. I wonder how I would feel with a fat pen if the tip was different?
Of course, we had the ATC exchange, which I talked about.
Marie told us about some upcoming events at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles:
May 18 – Quilt National Opening
May 24 – Royal School of Textiles speaker on dyeing, but not the how-to. She will speak on the societal, social and the geo-political effects on dyeing, how colors came about etc.
June 14 – beading lecture by a pre-eminent beadist (is that a word?).
Marie reported that these events are a way to engage more with members. Some of the CQFA members said that, while they couldn’t always attend the lectures and events, they went to the website more and read more of the emails, which is a good thing. Check the website for more details.
The Library show planning is in process. I have been out of the loop for a few months due to some personal issues and am not quite sure what is going on. I may withdraw my piece. We will see.
Diane Carver Place Mat Challenge
Show and tell was great. Maureen is using a gelli plate to print on fabric and some of her prints were gorgeous. Diane did the placemat challenge and I like the way the pieces stand up from the background.
Virginia is working on her piece for the show and the piecing is amazing. It is large, too.
I showed Fresh Fruit and Fabric of the Year 2012. I worked on FOTY 2012 at the retreat last year and people gave me some nice compliments. Someone suggested that I have a show of all the FOTY quilts when I get a few more under my belt. I would really like to do that. I’ll have to work on it once I get a larger stock of quilts.
My ATC work this month didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, but I am disavowing responsibility, because my Janome 9K is acting up again. I was able to finish them on the backup machine, but there are some differences so they don’t look as professional as I would like. I might do a special whine post later abut the &^%$* machine, but now I just don’t want to get into it.
May 2014 ATCs
I decided to do some more leaves, similar to last meeting’s ATCs, so I could donate one to the ATC collection for the guild show. I had enough time and enough interfacing cut, so I went for broke. There are some similarities to last month’s leaves, but some differences as well.
I used my last of a piece of thickish thread for the stems. Someone told me it was from saris, but I don’t remember where I got it and don’t know. I had to couch it on the cards.
I am really pleased that I had enough time. I didn’t start until Friday at midday. Friday is kind of last minute and I don’t know why I wait that long, but I felt like I wasn’t racing the clock. I just worked along and the cards came together well. I didn’t do any embellishment, but I also didn’t feel like the pieces needed it this time.
All May ATCs
There were a lot of participants in the ATC challenge this month and I got a nice group of cards to keep.
The most unusual award goes to Sue who is experimenting with cookie decorating (lower right). The cookie decorating description doesn’t even begin to do justice those these mini-works of art. I didn’t take any because I would have just been tempted to eat them.
Angela is doing some interesting things with mixed media. Her work (cards directly to the left of my leaves) is on fabric, but she is painting or dyeing and stamping.
Bron did some renditions of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I love Maureen’s spirals as well (far right).
Everybody did a great job.
All in all it was a really great exchange and I look forward to the next one.
ATCs are 2.5″ x 3.5″. You don’t have to make them out of fabric. Some of the cards the CQFA people trade are partially paper. I like mine stiff, thus all of the interfacing.
