On March 4th we met at the library in Brentwood for our monthly meeting.
Upcoming events and dates:
National Quilting Day: Saturday, March 18 10-3pm - We will be meeting for an optional sew in at the East Kingston Town Library, located at
47 Maplevale Rd, East Kingston, NH 03827. Bring your sewing machine, a project to work on, and a bag lunch.
April Meeting: Saturday, April 1 10-2 - For our April meeting we will have a free-sew time at the
West Newbury Town Hall Annex. Bring your sewing machine, a project to work on, snacks to share if you would like, and a bag lunch.
May Meeting - Special Guest Speaker Timna Tarr: Saturday, May 6th 10-12pm: We will be hosting
Timna Tarr for our May meeting. There will be a fee for this meeting of $5 for members, and $10 for non-members. This meeting will also be held at the West Newbury Town Hall Annex. Please invite your friends, or other quilters!
Retreat: May 25-28 - Our 2017 retreat will be held at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunk. There is still space available.
If you are paying with three payments, your next payment will be due 3/17. If you are paying with 2 payments, your next payment will be due 4/17.
See more payment information here.
Workshops with Jen Carlton Bailly: September 9 & 10, 9am-4pm - We will be hosting two workshops with Jen Carlton Bailly of @bettycrockerass in September, and we still have spaces open in both the Sew All The Curves Plus Design and Scandinavian Flower Garden workshops. Both workshops will focus on curved piecing. Sign ups are now open to the public, so invite your friends and read more about these
here!
Mary O also told us about the Quilters Take Manhattan event that is in September held by the Quilt Alliance. This year the keynote speaker is Sherri Lynn Wood, and registration opens to Quilt Alliance members on March 13th. It looks like there is some information on this in their Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/QuiltersTakeManhattan/
BOM: The Block of the Month group is going strong! This month they will be making block number 1- First Kiss. Judy mentioned that page 169 in the book may have incorrect directions, but photocopying at 100% will yield the correct size blocks.
April Block Lottery - In April for the block lottery we will be revisiting an idea we had used a few years ago for a block lottery. Here are the directions from Judy:
This month's raffle block is a star block. You are asked to make any type of star you want, the more variety we get the better. There are countless free tutorials on line for star blocks and I am sure that if you look through books and magazines you have you'll find some more. The only guidelines are:
Use Kona white (not an off white please) for your background fabric.
Block size can be anything between 8” square and 12” square.
Fabric choice should be bright, modern fabrics, either prints or solids.
I encourage you to have fun with this, perhaps trying a star block you have never made before.
Here are a few links for inspiration, but any star block that fits the size requirements will do! Maybe a good time to try paper piecing? Diane was the winner of this block lottery before, and above is the quilt that she made
http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/quilt-alongs-2/solstice-stars/
http://www.incolororder.com/2012/01/patchwork-star-block-tutorial.html
http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2013/12/sawtooth-stars-tutorial.html
http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2013/12/ive-been-playing-with-60-degree-or.html
http://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/twin-star-quilt-block.html
https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/patterns/confetti-star-block/166255
http://www.caroldoak.com/userfiles/file/IntrotoPaperPiece3.pdf
Judy also passed the "Highfive Hand" to Kali, for her wonderful blog posts and helpful links. :)
Show and Tell
Jane F shared her finished
Aviatrix Medallion quilt, as designed by Elizabeth Hartman.
Hildy shared this charity quilt top that she made using strips from a jelly roll race that was done with the Cambridge MQG.
Diane shared this mini quilt that she made using the January and March Mighty Lucky challenges,
And this prayer rug that she made using the March Mighty Lucky quilting challenge guidelines. This will be donated. More information on making and donating a prayer rug can be found
here.
Robin shared with us this quilt that was inspired by a tile floor. Her husband helped make the paper piecing pattern.
Allison showed us this quilt which is destined to go to Camp Erin. The Cambridge MQG is donating 100 quilts to Camp Erin, read more
here!
Jane shared two quilt finishes destined to be donated to charity as well (however I only got pictures of one, sorry!)
Carrie Zizza of
It's a Zizza Quilting demonstrated quilting with rulers for us. See her list of recommended tools below!
Recommended tools:
Extension Table
Supreme Slider - Carrie recommends using some masking tape to make sure that the edges are stuck down very well.
Quilting Gloves
80 or 90 Topstitch Needle
Single Hole Stitch Plate is recommended
Polyfoam Caulk Saver to use when pin basting with straight pins. This compresses and lets you place a ruler flat over a pin (if using flat head pins, like the flower ones)
Ruler Foot for your sewing machine, paying special attention to if your machine is a low, medium, or high shank. Carrie recommends the company Westalee, however some manufacturers like Bernina make their own ruler feet.
Rulers for quilting - Carrie recommends starting with the
Westalee ruler sampler set that comes with 6 different rulers.
Some machine quilting rulers are thicker than regular rotary cutting rulers (however these can be used too) and may be too thick to use behind the ruler foot, especially if you have a low shank machine.
It is also possible to make templates out of a few layers of foam core.
Hope to see you on March 18th in East Kingston, or April 1 in West Newbury!
