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.