September meeting recap

Suzanne arrived just in time to show the Strawbery Banke group's quilt. This quilt will be hung at the show and will be donated to Strawbery Banke at the end of the show. Many thanks to those who worked on this piece.

Our September meeting was held on Saturday, Sept 8 from 10am to 12pm at the Kingston Community Library in Kingston NH. 21 members and 1 guest were in attendance.

Barb opened the meeting with the Treasurer's report.

Colleen distributed the Michael Miller challenge fabric to those who signed up previously through the MQG. If you signed up and were not at the meeting, please make arrangements with her to get your fabrics.

Colleen discussed our end of year pillowcase goal. She noted that to make 140 pillowcases, 20 people would have to make 7 each. Christmas is the time goal. Mary is organizing a sew-in for this purpose in early November, likely at the Newburyport Library, and dates will be announced when they are available. There are several different tutorials you could use; use the one that appeals most to you. The one we have used in the past is the "burrito method" and Craftsy has a post about it HERE.

The Work in Progress project will be due at the November meeting. If you finish the work you showed in July, you will be entered in a random drawing for a prize.

Diane spoke about the Strawbery Banke show, which is on October 6. She encouraged everyone to attend and noted the variety of activities that will be available at the event. She collected quilts today for the show; if you did not hand your quilt to Diane today, please see her email dated 9/7 for details about a Sept 17th drop off. If you would like to sign up for a white glove shift and have not yet, there are spaces available; please contact Diane to sign up. As always, please contact Paula and Diane directly with any questions regarding the Strawbery Banke show.

At the end of the meeting, JoAnne spoke a bit about the 2019 retreat which she is coordinating. The dates are May 2-5 2019, at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunk ME. When she receives further details from the Franciscan, she will announce more details.

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Whole Circle Studios and Michelle Wilkie of Idea Design Create will be joining us this fall. Sheri will be giving a talk and trunk show at the October 13 meeting, at the West Newbury Annex, 10a-12p. The talk will be no cost to members and guests are welcomed for a fee of $5. Michelle will be giving a talk about modern quilt design on November 10, 2018 at the Newburyport Public Library 10am-12:30pm. Michelle is our MQG Regional Rep and this is a great opportunity to chat with her and say hi. 

Our October meeting will be held on October 13 (so as not to conflict with the Strawbery Banke show) and, for members only, will begin at 9:30am. It will be held at the West Newbury Annex. The purpose of the 9:30 am members-only meeting is to nominate officers for the November election. All four officer roles are in need of someone to volunteer: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary.

Show and Tell:

Barb made a baby quilt for her son's friend using a free pattern on the Bernina website.

Patty shows off a quilt she made for herself!

Andrea finished up a long-term WIP that she quilted herself.

JoAnne shows her finished Block of the Month quilt.

JoAnne showed her Kaffe tuffet, which she made in a small group.

Mary's favorite tool is her Quilter's Planner. She notes that it is very useful for keeping fabric choices and notes organized.

JoAnne's tool helps her trim accurate seam allowances on HST's and is handy for chain piecing.

Barbara went to Michigan State and made this improv quilt in Michigan State colors.

Nancy showed the ingredients in her hand piecing kit that she carries everywhere. Thread Heaven, a leather thimble, and Wonder Clips are key ingredients. 

Colleen likes these ruler to measure accurate 1/4'' seams while paper piecing. 

Letty upcycled an old retractable badge lanyard into a tool that keeps her thread trimmers near at all times. 

Sasha's quilt used up a rainbow of scraps. She used the Geese Migration quilt pattern (it's free!)

Kelly loves her Skyhawk rotating rotary cutter mat (as suggested by Jen Carlton-Bailly!)

Mary Lee loves EZ Knit Tape so that she doesn't have to stitch batting scraps together. It's a fusible product that will help you use up batting scraps. Next to her, Sue Ann laughs about her own favorite quilting tool: her credit card!

Sue plans to show this mini in the Strawbery Banke show. 

Sue used the mini Twister ruler to make this fall mini. 

Sue's tuffet has been carefully wrapped and stored, though she had many admirers at the meeting...

Sue's Block of the Month quilt was quilted the same way as Nancy's but looks quite different.

Lou found a Dritz needle threader that helps her thread her machine.

Kali uses an Ikea catalog (or, really, a thick glass panel) to weight down freshly-pressed quilt blocks to keep them flat.

Diane continues to work with her Shibori dyed fabric and embroidery experimentation.

Diane shows the first piece in a series, which started as an offshoot of her piece for the Lowell Quilt Museum. 

Kate shows a stack and slash QAYG quilt.

Kate used offcuts of a baby quilt she made to make a "deconstructed" block quilt.  One of the bright green fabrics was an orphan left over from Anna Maria's fabric choice workshop.

Kate continues to experiment with deconstructing quilt blocks.

Skinny Mini contest and winners:

Some of the skinny mini's!

Letty's skinny mini

Sue's skinny mini (and the first place winner!)

Bethany's skinny mini won the third place prize.

The three winners: Sue took 1st, Nancy 2nd, Bethany 3rd

September meeting reminder

Our September meeting will be held on Saturday, September 8, from 10 am to 12 pm at the Kingston Public Library in Kingston, NH.

Paula and Diane have requested that you bring any quilts that you have for the Strawbery Banke show. You should already have communicated with them regarding which quilts and sizes. You will not see the quilts again until the show, so make sure that the large quilts have hanging sleeves attached. Please see Jaquie Gering's tutorial re: hanging sleeves for instructions.

Paula and Diane's Skinny Mini challenge quilts are also due at this meeting. Only retreat participants are eligible and will already have received fabric and instructions.

Please contact Paula and Diane directly with any questions regarding the Strawbery Banke show or the Skinny Mini challenge.

Bring to the meeting:
--Show and Tell
--Skinny Mini, if applicable
--Strawbery Banke show quilts, if applicable
--Your favorite quilting tools or gadgets for Gadget Show and Tell! Our programming this month is run by YOU--please bring any tool or gadget that makes your quilting life easier or more fun. Bought it at a hardware store instead of a quilting store? No problem--we love to see those ideas too!

Wishing everyone a safe and fun Labor Day weekend and hoping to see lots of folks in September!

August meeting recap

Our August meeting was held Saturday, August 4 from 10 am to 3 pm at the West Newbury Town Hall Annex. 20 members plus one guest were in attendance. 

Judy opened the meeting by announcing that JoAnne has agreed to take on the role of retreat coordinator for one final year. If you would like to work with JoAnne on the 2019 retreat, please contact her.

Barb gave the Treasurer's Report and noted our guild's excellent financial health.

Paula and Diane passed around a sign up sheet for those who would like to exhibit a quilt at Strawbery Banke. If you were not at the meeting today and would like to show a quilt, please contact them directly with the size of the quilt in inches. Diane will be collecting show quilts at the September meeting and at one other date in September. The skinny mini challenge that Paula and Diane have organized is also due at the September meeting. It is open only to retreat attendees, who have already received information about it. For any questions regarding the Strawbery Banke show please contact Paula and Diane directly.

Looking ahead:

Sept meeting (9/8): show quilts due, Skinny Mini challenge quilts due

Oct 6: Strawbery Banke show

Oct meeting (10/13): Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Whole Circle Studio trunk show (follow her on Instagram at @wholecirclestudio and let her know we're excited to meet her!), board/officer nominations, meeting will be at the WN Annex and will begin at 9:30 for nominations

Nov meeting (11/3): voting on board nominations, WIP challenge will be due

Nov 10: Michelle Wilkie, MQG regional rep, talk and meet & greet

Dec 1: end of year party and swap at WN Annex

Mary Lee asked about the pillowcases that Paula had decided to have our group sew this year. If you have chosen to sew pillowcases, please sew them on your own time and plan on bringing them to a future meeting. Kelly will take them up.

Jane is working on our 2019 workshop. She is contacting potential teachers and there are some promising leads.

Bethany won the Sparrow Lottery blocks--congratulations Bethany! She may receive a couple more at the September meeting :)

Show and Tell:

Robin finished this single Irish Chain quilt. She had Carrie Zizza quilt it with an orange peel design.

Kali needed a quick fun sew in between bigger projects, so finished up this magic number black and white quilt. It will have teal binding to match the thread.

Bethany plans to practice her free motion quilting on this Charming Chevrons quilt (pattern by Krista Watson).

Bethany finished this 2016 Splendid Sampler quilt and mixed in several other different blocks.

Lou made this quilt for a cat lover!

Diane's quilt is her piece for the SAQA show for which she was specially selected to produce new work. She designed all the fabrics for this quilt and will let us know when we can see it hanging at the Lowell Quilt Museum.

Paula and Diane did some dyeing together and are thinking of making the results into pillows.

Paula and Colleen are admiring the Strawbery Banke committee's quilt. They made houses based on some historic houses on the Strawbery Banke property.

QuiltCon Charity Quilt Sew-In:

Thanks to the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Committee, Suzanne, Kelly, and Judy, for designing our quilt and setting up our sew-in. Kelly cut all the fabric and prepped all the kits, and taught us how to do tiny piecing. We found that very careful ironing was best for keeping all those seams open and flat. All of Kelly's prep made for a very successful sewing session!

Each group of 3-5 quilters had slightly different colors chosen from a set palette of 6 solids for their tiny pieced panels. We were surprised by how different the panels looked in the end, depending on which colors were included or excluded!

Hope to see everyone on September 8, meeting location TBA. Stay cool!

August meeting reminder

Judy's Sparrow lottery blocks are bright and summery!

Our August meeting will be held THIS Saturday, August 4, from 10 am to 3 pm, at the West Newbury Town Hall Annex (381 Main St., West Newbury, MA).

At this meeting we will have a regular meeting, show and tell, and lottery blocks are due. (If you are printing the templates on your own, please be sure to print templates for the lottery block at 100%!)

Please bring your items for show and tell, lottery blocks plus $1 per block entry, and your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies. We will be working on some tiny piecing for our QuiltCon Charity Challenge quilt. We will have community cutting stations and ironing stations set up, so you only need to bring those items if you have volunteered to do so via email.

If you signed up at our July meeting, Kelly will have a kit available for you. If you did not sign up, you are still welcome! Just send Kelly a quick email so that she will know how many kits to have prepped. All the fabric will be made available to you, so you need only provide your sewing machine and thread. (And, probably, seam ripper!)

We have the Annex until 3 pm so you are welcome to stay and sew as long as you are able. (The Annex DOES have air conditioning! ;) ) The guild will be providing a light lunch of wrap sandwiches and fruit salad. Please bring your own drink or water bottle to go with lunch.

July meeting recap

Kelly shows off the charity quilt that she and Suzanne recently finished. So much work went into this quilt--many thanks to Kelly and Suzanne and all who sewed blocks!

Our July meeting was held Saturday, July 7 from 10 am to 12 pm at the Mary E Bartlett Library in Brentwood NH.

Barb opened the meeting by presenting the treasurer's report and noting that we currently have quite a full treasury. A general budget dictating how we might use our funds is under ongoing discussion.

We are still seeking a volunteer to head the retreat committee; please contact Judy directly if you have questions or are interested in filling this role.

Jane B will be taking over the events planning role from Laura. She is jumping right in planning the 2019 workshops. She has already sent a survey that requires your quick response--please take a few minutes and rank instructors in an email to Jane!

We received a check with the financial overage from the April Anna Maria workshops. It is enough to cover our planned November lecture from Michelle Wilkie with plenty to spare. Michelle Wilkie is tentatively planned for November 10, 2018 10am to 12pm. The location is TBD.

Kelly showed us the design that the QuiltCon charity quilt committee has developed for the QuiltCon charity quilt. The theme is small piecing. We will be having a sew in at the August meeting (August 4, West Newbury) to work on the small piecing components of the quilt. The design has large panels that look like sails that will be pieced from tiny pieces. Fabric will be provided by the guild and kits are being assembled so that we can sew efficiently. If you are planning to sew with us at the August meeting, and did not sign up with Kelly, please send her an email so that she can have the right number of kits prepped.

In Colleen's absence, Judy introduced the block lottery block due in August. We are using the free MQG block from June called "Sparrow". If you purchased the bettycrockerass templates from Jen Carlton Bailly, the 6.5'' size will work for the drunkard's path component. You need two files if you did not receive a hard copy at the meeting: CLICK HERE for block instructions, TEMPLATES ARE HERE.

Amy gave a demonstration of how to add a hanging sleeve to a quilt that you are sending to a show. Please note that the larger quilts for Strawbery Banke will need sleeves, but the smaller ones will not. You can find the tutorial that Amy uses and that the MQG recommends HERE.

WIP Show and Tell

These projects are WIPs that people plan to finish for our October meeting "motivation" :)

Paula has Christmas clamshells from Amy's curved piecing demo YEARS ago:

Barb has the first quilt she ever pieced. It is well basted and just needs quilting.

 Kate has a lovely top from Jen's workshop that needs quilting:

 And the hot weather has Kate also thinking of Christmas! She has plans for finishing these two blocks.

 Letty also plans to finish the first quilt top she ever pieced:

 MaryLee showed the red blocks that Lou plans to finish.

From two years ago, MaryLee plans to finish some charity quilt blocks in blue and white.

 Jane's "not-African" quilt has a perfect backing and needs to be quilted and finished.

 Andrea has a denim quilt she's planning on tying...

and a quilt top she finished after the last meeting that she will ask her mom please to quilt :) 

 We have seen Nancy's New York Beauties before. She has found the charm squares for the center and is ready to finish them--the arcs are all sewn.

 Robin made a top after she learned what "modern quilting" was and plans to finish it up.

Show and Tell

JoAnne bought Japanese fabrics at Quilted Threads and has begun blocks. Photos don't do the fabrics justice.

 Barb finished her granddaughter's flamingo quilt, but notes that baby C's older sister quite admired the quilt as well...

 Barbara's tote is well made and lovely! She took a class at Portsmouth Fabric Co and the pattern and straps are from Noodlehead

 So great to see the 2017 BOTM quilts start to be finished! Nancy showed hers off:

 Amy used antlers to inspire her design for this quilt. She is using it as an example for one of her QuiltCon classes.

 Kate joined us at the July meeting; please welcome her next time you see her! She made this hashtag quilt using her fabric pull from the Color Fluency workshop with Anna Maria. Kate is a glassblower and uses her art to inform her quilting color choices.

 the back of Kate's hashtag quilt:

Our next meeting is Saturday, August 4, 10 am to TBD, West Newbury Annex (381 Main St West Newbury MA). We will be sewing panels for the QuiltCon charity quilt so plan on bringing your machine and basic sewing supplies.