Retreat Registration

It's time to book your spot for the 2014 joint guild retreat, held in Kennebunkport, ME from March 13 or 14-March 16.  We only have 42 spots this year, so don't delay!  You can reserve your spot with a $50 deposit using Paypal by going to http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/p/retreat.html.  I anticipate the spots going quickly, so if you want to attend, you need to book right away.  When you follow the link, you will be given the option of signing up for two or three nights and for a single or a double. If you go with the double option, when you enter your name, please write (rooming with _____) beside it in the same field so that Stephanie knows who is rooming together.

Please remember, this retreat is open to only paid members who have reregistered for the 2014 membership year. If you are not registered, your money will be refunded. If you need to renew your membership, please get in touch with a guild officer right away.

December meeting recap

This morning our guild met at the Fremont Public Library in Fremont, NH for our first end-of-year celebration and Yankee Swap. No, the lovely pillow Judy is showing off above wasn't her swap item--probably a good thing, because it might have caused someone to break our "no hair pulling" rule!

We discussed a very few items of business at the meeting. Reminders include:

--Bring your cameras (DSLR, point and shoot, iPhone) to the January meeting. Our photography speaker will help trouble shoot and answer questions.
--The Riley Blake MQG challenge projects will be due at our February meeting. Photos must be posted to the MQG site by February 17.
--Diane suggested that our guild might want to organize a display for the Stratham library's artist space. Peg thought that maybe our Riley Blake challenge pieces might be a good choice to display; we'll discuss this idea further at the January meeting.
--Samantha is planning a block lottery block to be due at the February meeting. Look for details in our January meeting recap post!

There is always time for everyone's favorite, Show and Tell:

Here is Paula's sampler quilt. Paula and Diane did a block swap with some of their coworkers, using fabric Diane designed and had printed by Spoonflower. Paula added a few blocks of her own, created an uneven border around the blocks, and did some stunning handquilting in variegated thread in the white spaces. What a beautiful finish!

Stephanie is almost done with her Les Amis commission quilt. I love the brown background she was so nervous about! She showed off the back, which she did in cool colors to contrast to the warm colors of the front:

Samantha showed off a Noodlehead tote that she made for a swap partner. (Spoiler alert: she made another of these fabulous totes as her swap item, and it got "stolen" away at the very end!) She also showed off some ugly-pretty blocks she made in Denyse Schmidt's improv workshop, and a framed fabric sampler with Denyse Schmidt's autograph that she is generously sending to her swap partner.

Nancy took a paper-piecing class and made this Christmas quilt with perfectly precise paper-pieced flying geese and a center snowflake. She says she still has some paper to pick, but plans to get it quilted up very quickly!

Peg made this coral-blue-and-gray rail fence quilt as a booth sample. I think the quilting she had done suits it so well. I was so sad not to get a clear photograph of Peg's EPP hexie pillow. It is scrappy and bright and she says it brightens up her plain brown sofa!

Mary showed off the quilting she did on a Quilts for Boston quilt. She used densely-spaced wavy FMQ to achieve the kind of texture I usually associate with walking-foot straight-line quilting. This quilt looked amazingly crinkly!

Jess showed off her tiny cat for the Catvent quiltalong

and a flying geese quilt she made for her uncle. The cloud-like swirl quilting in the white space is such a wonderful detail.

Amy used an Oakshott bundle and a cut of fabric from Sew Me a Song to make this table runner. The pale colors are created by the weave of the colored fibers with silver fibers. This runner really glows in person.

Amy also showed off the quilt she designed to remember her weathered barn. She used the Les Amis woodgrain print, Kona Silver and Kona Wasabi. She used her walking foot to quilt lines about .25'' apart--very dense--and backed the quilt in a print from Jay McCarroll's Center City line.

Karin used some fabric she got at the auction in November to make this herringbone table runner in fall colors. I love the addition of the eggplant purple, which makes the autumnal colors really sing.

And, because it's too cute not to show again, Judy showed off a petite pillow she made with a 2.5'' square mini charm pack of Baby Jane. The back is sunny yellow polka dots. What a cheerful spot this pillow will make in her home this winter.

The Yankee swap went very well--I was too busy planning my "steal" to take photos, but the swap items were all beautiful. It's almost difficult to do a Yankee swap when all of the items are highly desirable items! Samantha's Noodlehead tote was popular, as was a copy of Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. Stephanie's Martha Negley clutch and Amy's Anna Maria Horner scrap pillow also got stolen. We ate and drank and had a fantastic time!

Hope to see everyone for our January meeting. Until then, enjoy plenty of family time and finish up all those last-minute sewing projects!

Retreat

Please check your email for an important notice about our upcoming retreat to be held in Kennebunkport, ME from March 13 or 14 - March 16th.  All the details are available in the email and the retreat is only available to registered members (who are all on the mailing list) so I will not repeat the email here.  Tickets go on sale on 

12/9 and spots are limited. 

December Meeting Announcement

You are cordially invited to our last meeting of the year on December 7, 2013 from 10-12 at the Fremont Public Library, Jackie Bernier Dr., Freemont, NH.  We will be celebrating our first full year as the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild!

All members are asked to bring a menu item for a potluck brunch.  Robin will provide the paper goods.

We will also have a Yankee Swap so please bring something in a gift bag (rather than wrapped in paper) that is handmade or sewing notions/fabric with a value of approximately $15.  This should be a lot of fun!

Please remember to respect the religious beliefs of other guild members.  This is not a Christmas party so please do not use Christmas wrappings or bring overtly Christmas themed food or gifts.  Thank you.

And finally, don't forget to bring your membership check for the 2014 year made out to the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild in the amount of $50.

See you then!

Election Results

The election results are now in. Out of 38 paid members, 22 voted.  All votes were unanimous so the uncontested officers were voted in:

Peg as President
Judy as Vice President
Robin as Treasurer
Laura as Secretary

These officers will take over at the January 2014 meeting.

Dues will increase to $50 a month and are due by the December meeting.

Thanks everyone!

Lizzy House Lecture Reminder

Hi everyone!  Not that you need reminding about this, but just in case, Lizzy House will be visiting the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild on Saturday, November 23 from 10-12 noon.  Doors will open at 9:45 (please try not to arrive too early because we need time to set up!).  Refreshments will be provided courtesty of the SMQG and the Boston Modern Quilt Guild.  All are welcome!  Guild members will be admitted for free, visitors will pay a $10 entrance fee.  The lecture is at the 1910 Building, Town Annex at 381 Main Street, West Newbury, MA 01985.  There is additional parking at the rear of the building.

In addition to Lizzy's talk, we have 4 door prizes courtesy of Soak. As you might know, Lizzy is one of their designers and has designed the Yuzu label and curated a nail polish collection. We will have a large bottle of Soak, a twosome 3 oz of Soak and Handmaid, Yuzu Flatter and one of Lizzy's Nail Polish Soakboxes to share! Don't forget to pick up your door prize ticket as you enter.

Virginia from Gather Here in Cambridge will be vending at the lecture. She will have collections of Lizzy House's fabric and coordinating Kona as well as Soak products.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

November meeting recap

Our November meeting was held at the Stratham Public Library in Stratham, New Hampshire. We held our annual business meeting, and our first WIP/scrap/supply auction to benefit the guild. The photo above is of the gorgeous lamp that Sue Ann made to donate to our guild. It is amazing, and looks sweet on my very own dresser right now!

Amy began the meeting by taking volunteers for refreshments at the Lizzy House lecture on November 23. Thank you in advance if you signed up to bring a snack or a drink! Gather Here will vend Lizzy House fabrics and some coordinating solids at the lecture. Soak has donated some goodies to be used as door prizes. We hope to see everyone there--and please feel free to invite guests!

The Riley Blake challenge deadline has been extended until February. Our projects will be due at the February meeting, and photos are due on the MQG website in February. 

For our December meeting, we will hold an end-of-year celebration! 2013 was our first full year as a guild, and it's been a great one. We'll celebrate with a Yankee swap--please bring a fabric or notion gift worth about $15, or a small handmade gift item such as a pouch--and come ready for fun! We'll be holding a potluck brunch as well, so please come hungry and with something breakfasty to share. 

Stephanie showed off her Broken Herringbone quilt top at Show and Tell. She used bright solids for the sashing and black and white prints for the "bricks"--very different, and very lovely!

Jessica found this lovely vintage sewing machine FOR FREE and had it fixed up. It sews! I love the green color of the body, and the wooden base. What a find.

Amy showed off her Halloween quilt. She was able to design such a smart quilt around those large novelty prints, keeping them intact so you could read the cute labels on the Halloween bottles. The angles on the edge are my favorite part.

Nancy showed off a Christmas mini quilt made of HSTs

And a BIG pile of paper-pieced blocks she made for the Big City Girl QAL. I think we all loved her Paris block the best, though you can also see her Zakim bridge block in her lap (designed by our own Amy). I can't wait to see this project all together, Nancy!

In the spirit of the "clear-out-your-stash" auction, Samantha dug up a cut of monster fabric she bought to make a quilt for her nephew. Her nephew just got his drivers' license so she repurposed the fabric to make a bright and appealing quilt for one of her sons. What a great use of those funny monsters.

Laura showed two quilt tops made for friends to put in the guest room of their new house. (Speedy quilting to me this week!)

Kali showed off her first quilt. It was a bit difficult to photograph because it is a king-sized quilt! She started with a small cut of the fabric in the very center diamond medallion, and designed the quilt around that little bit of fabric. She designed the borders and the medallion herself, and was able to mix in a variety of coordinating fabrics. In the end, she found more of her feature fabric--and was able to buy 9 yards for the back!

Samantha did a fabulous job as auctioneer. I left feeling like a winner, and I was also able to unload a boatload of scraps. I hope others felt half as successful as I did! We raised a total of $209 to go towards our national MQG dues, which is quite substantial. I know I hope this auction becomes an annual event--I have WIPs earmarked for donation if they don't get done this year!

If you weren't able to make the meeting, hope to see you at Lizzy House in West Newbury on 11/23, and at our December end-of-year gathering at the Fremont Public Library in Fremont NH!

Absentee ballot and November WIP/scrap/book/pattern auction reminder!

If you will miss our November business meeting (Nov. 2 10 am-12pm), I have posted an absentee ballot here. Please download and fill out the document using Word, and return via email to Laura (lacollins AT gmail DOT com) by Friday November 7. We are voting on officers, as well as the new dues amount. Don't miss out on a chance to vote if you have to miss the meeting!

If you DO miss the November meeting, you'll be missing out on a lot of fun.

Clean out your scrap bin, your sewing room, your weird stash bits, your piles of unused craft and sewing books, your patterns...and put the stuff that's cluttering your creativity and making you feel guilty towards our guild's MQG dues! For a fun post-business meeting activity, we'll be holding a WIP/scrap pack/craft book/pattern auction. Be sure to bring about $10 in small bills to shop until you drop--or, a checkbook, if you're planning on going big! 

We'll auction off some of the biggest items live-auction-style, and then do rummage-sale style for the other, smaller items. On my first editing pass I pulled the pile of fabrics above (don't worry, I'll cut them down to look super-delicious, and you'll want them) and a copy of Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross (that is missing the pattern insert, so I don't use it). 

What will you unload?! (Feel free to post photos to our SMQG Flickr page, so we can ogle and pre-shop :) )

Recap: Victoria Findlay Wolfe lecture October 18

On October 18 the SMQG and the Boston Modern Quilt Guild were proud to co-host a lecture by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. This rare Friday-evening event gave many of us a chance to dress up a little, enjoy some evening fall-themed snacks, and soak in the inspiration provided by the talented Victoria. 

Victoria spoke for about an hour, and showed eight or ten quilts in person (many more in her slide show). The quilt pictured above is one of her "kitchen sink" quilts. She mentioned that she tries to do a kitchen sink quilt every year from a variety of leftover blocks, found vintage blocks, and scraps. 

Victoria's signature quilt style incorporates a lot of "made fabric"--scraps that she sews together into slabs, that she then treats exactly like yardage, cutting and re-piecing them as needed. She began her lecture by showing photographs of her grandmother's 1970s double-knit crazy quilts, and her quilts continue to show that crazy quilt influence. 

"Make the quilt you said you'd never make," she urged us, showing us her cow mini quilt. Her Double Edged Love quilt, which won Best in Show at QuiltCon in 2013 (read the MQG's blog post here to see a photo) is a modern re-make of a traditional double wedding ring quilt pattern. Victoria also showed us her take on a grandmother's flower garden quilt:

She showed a slide of this quilt, and then unfolded it--I think the entire audience was stunned to see a king-sized quilt!

Victoria also spoke about the challenges of ugly fabrics, or fabrics outside your comfort zone. She showed quilts that mixed vintage fabrics with all kinds of batiks and modern fabrics. Try going to the area of the quilt shop you never visit, she encouraged us, and push your quilts a little further with unfamiliar fabrics or fabrics you dislike. She also spoke about never making quite the same quilt twice, and always trying to incorporate a new challenge or skill with each quilt.

Many people were able to purchase a copy of Victoria's book, 15 Minutes of Play. At one point Victoria even sent her quilts crowd-surfing! 

I left the lecture ready to dump my (shameful, stuffed-to-bursting) bag of oddball scraps and sew them into made fabric! Thanks to all who joined us for this special, inspiring event, and to Victoria, for generously letting us see and touch her lovely work and for giving such an entertaining, inspiring talk. 

November 2, Business Meeting

This is a reminder that our next meeting will be our annual business meeting, held November 2 from 10am-12pm at the Stratham Public Library, Stratham, NH. If you click on the calendar link above, and then on the meeting, you can go right to a map of the location.

We will be voting for new officers that will replace existing officers in January. You can see who is running if you scroll down to the October meeting recap.  We also need to vote to accept the proposed dues amount of $50.  Let me just remind you that we need a majority vote so please try to come.

We will have our usual show and tell and then have an auction of unwanted crafting supplies, sewing supplies, etc.  Please come with your donations packaged up and ready for the auction.  Please also bring cash and maybe a checkbook.

If you are prepared to renew your registration and pay $50, please bring a check made out to the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild.  We'd appreciate getting as many of those this month as possible.  They are due by the December meeting.

See you then! (and hopefully on Friday at Victoria's lecture as well!)

Reminder-Victoria Findlay Wolfe Lecture/Trunk Show

This is just a reminder that Victoria Findlay Wolfe is coming to speak one week from today! 

The lecture will be held on October 18, 2013, 7-9pm at 381 Main Street, West Newbury, MA.  The lecture will be held in the Annex, the back part of the 1910 Building.  Additional parking is available behind the building.

Members of the SMQG and BMQG pay $5 at the door.  Guests are welcome and can pay $10 at the door. Refreshments will be served.

See you then!

October meeting recap

Our October meeting took place on October 5 at the Stratham Fire Station. Thanks to Paula for nimbly arranging this alternate meeting place when she found out the Stratham Library's parking lot was due to be paved Saturday morning! 

We opened the meeting with announcements and a few business items. Amy and Judy announced that the West Newbury bridge is open again! So, if the bridge construction was causing you travel issues, those issues should be resolved. 

Amy also distributed the Riley Blake challenge fabrics. Here are the rules in a nutshell:

--can include solids

--you can include other prints, but the prints MUST be Riley Blake prints

--you don't have to use all the fabrics

--the finished item must be quilted

--photos must be posted on the MQG website by December

--our guild will share projects and vote on a guild winner (winner will receive a copy of Patchwork Please!) at our January meeting. 

I'm so excited to see these Riley Blake fabrics in person!

Amy collected a first batch of log cabin blocks for Margaret's Hope Chest. (This is one of Judy's sunny yellow blocks pictured above.) You can find details about the project and a link to the tutorial here; Amy will collect the blocks again at Victoria Findlay Wolfe's lecture on October 18. 

Details about Victoria's lecture are here; please remember that guild members will pay $5 at the door and any guests will pay $10. (Those manning the ticket table would greatly appreciate if you bring small bills.) Amy asks that SMQG members try to park in the back parking lot, behind the West Newbury Town Hall Annex, so that guests and people coming up from the BMQG can use the more visible front parking lot.

Our next meeting is our annual business meeting. We'll be voting in the new dues amount, but to help with cash flow, Amy asked that if you are willing to go ahead and pay dues for 2014, please bring a $50 check made out to the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild. 

We held officer nominations in anticipation of our November business meeting. The officer nominations are:

Peg: President

Judy: Vice President

Robin: Treasurer

Laura: Secretary

Amy also proposed that we consider accepting a majority vote at our business meeting rather than a 2/3 majority of the membership. Debbie seconded the motion, and we agreed via a unanimous show of hands to accept majority vote.

The final item of business was a fun one! Samantha and Amy have schemed up a fun way to let off steam after our serious business meeting next time--and a fun way to unload some WIPs or materials that need a new, loving home (and raise money for our SMQG kitty). Please bring any UFO's, unwanted fabric, or craft books/magazines that you're ready to unload (Amy even suggested scrap packs would be a fun item). Also bring some small cash (about $10, in small bills--or if you KNOW you're going to want to bid on a hot item, maybe a checkbook!). We'll have a live auction for the hottest ten or so items, and then do a mini garage sale for the rest. All proceeds will be donated to the SMQG bank account!

Robin started off Show and Tell by showing a postcard she got at a quilt exhibition at the Art Quilt Gallery in New York City. She also showed off three WIP quilts that she is making from scraps of clothes her three daughters wore when they were little.

She plans to give them to her daughters as Christmas gifts. I love how they are all such different designs, but Robin's improvisational style and color scheme unify the three quilts!

Samantha showed off her BMQG challenge mini. They were given a specified color scheme and were asked to make a mini quilt to show at the Lowell quilt show. 

Samantha also showed off a big finish: a quilt she made for her sister! The front is DS Quilts fabrics, while the back is novelty fabrics and quotes that remind her of her sister and brother-in-law. What a beautiful gift!

Stephanie admitted that she'd been bitten by the MSBHQAL bug (that's the Molli Sparkles Broken Herringbone Quilt-a-long, an online quilt-along currently in progress), and had a big pile of blocks to show off:

She's the only one I've seen use black and white prints for the interior bricks, and brightly colored skinny sashing (Stephanie said she'd seen someone call those skinny sashings "grout"!). She had even more blocks finished than she laid out on the floor, so I bet we can look forward to seeing these be a quilt pretty soon.

Laura brought her spiderweb lottery blocks made into a quilt, combined with some improv log-cabin blocks.

Karin showed off her tutorial project for Sew Mama Sew:

her pattern-testing project for Owen's Olivia's Wonky Triangles pattern:

and her first quilt! This is a doll quilt she made for her daughter's American Girl doll. She hand-embroidered the little yellow x-es between the blocks. 

Mary brought her scrappy rainbow QAYG quilt. She didn't cut into a single piece of stash! (What self-restraint!) 

She also showed off a tote that she made while pattern-testing for Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts:

Jessica has started a not-so-scrappy Trip Along quilt in some peaceful blues and tans and creams:

and she also showed off a bit of piecing that she's doing as a gift for Mary's son. She chose some wild horse, cowboy, and Wild West-themed fabrics, and is hoping to grow this into something twin-sized:

After Show and Tell, Candace gave a really informative presentation of Thermoweb's products and how to use them for applique projects of all kinds. 

She had lots of great ideas for using Thermoweb's fusible webs for T-shirts, the fusible vinyl for art smocks (or perhaps a tote bag lining, if your kids are apt to spill ice cream in your bag!), and all kinds of applique quilts. She explained the proper applications for each "strength" of Thermoweb product, and noted which products are no-sew and which can be sewn through. I haven't worked much with applique or fusible products, but I left the meeting feeling confident about trying something out! 

Candace also brought a lot of amazing Thermoweb goodies to share. Each of us left with a yard of Amy's favorite Thermoweb product, which is Heat-n-Bond Fusible Fleece, as well as a dense roll of Thermoweb fusible web samples. Jessica won a big bundle of Thermoweb goodies to try (I saw ruler tape and some fusible binding tape in her haul) and Nancy won a DVD of a quilting show sponsored by Thermoweb. 

Many thanks to Candace and to Thermoweb for our goodies and for the informative demonstration! Thanks to all of you who joined us for our October meeting.