Thursday, March 7, 2019

March 2019 Meeting Recap/Summary

Hello everyone, here's your summary of what happened at the meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did). 
  
News/etc. from the meeting:

  • Because of the HST design exercise, we decided to kick things off with show & share this month: 
  • the Creativ Festival is this weekend (Friday and Saturday) down at Peakes Rec Centre in Victoria (across the parking lot from the big Fabricland off Tillicum Road). It will have a bunch of vendors in a variety of textile and other arts, including quilt-related booths, and there are also classes and demos to check out. More info: http://creativestitchesshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CF-West-Victoria-2019-WEBfeb4.pdf
  • We had a quick refresher about the charity quilts and the scope of the project.
  • We spent the bulk of the meeting breaking into teams and brainstorming layout patterns for the HSTs and making a bunch of quilt kits complete with photos of the layouts for easy assembly. We worked in 4 teams and I think all the teams got at least 2 designs figured out and kitted up. Most of the kits were taken home by team members, but there were a few left over that will be available to work on at the Jonanco sew-in (see below). A few pics (I certainly didn’t get pics of all of the designs): 

 Next Sew-in(s): Saturday March 23rd from 10-4 at the Nanaimo North library on Hammond Bay Road, please sign up for it by the Thursday beforehand. If we don’t have enough people signed up, we will have to cancel it.

There is also a quilting bee/sew-in for the charity quilts at Jonanco on Saturday March 30th from 9-4. Jonanco is at 2745 White Rapids Road just south of Nanaimo. We’ll send out reminder notices the week before with signup details.

Donation quilt HSTs general info: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.

Block of the month/Blotto: We kinda forgot about presenting the new block of the month due to be busy with the HST layouts, so we’ll just hold off on the next one until April’s meeting.

Next meeting: Wednesday, April 3rd, 7pm

Upcoming quilt shows: 
Westshore Quilters’ Guild: April 12-13, 2019 - more info at https://westshorequiltersguild.ca/2019-quilt-show/
Island Quilters (the traditional guild here in Nanaimo): June 6-9, more info in the members section of http://www.islandquilters.ca/index.htm

Upcoming retreats:
Stitch, Sip & Splash: presented by Troll Brothers Quilt Designs - July 12-14, 2019 in Shawnigan Lake. More info: https://trollbrothersquiltdesigns.com/collections/stitch-sip-splash-quilt-retreat-2019


Links for our guild: 

See you at the April meeting - happy quilting!

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

February 2019 Meeting Recap

Hello everyone, here's your summary of what happened at the meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did).

We had an awesome turnout at this month’s meeting, great to see you all!

The big event was of course the pop-up shop by Cindy’s Threadworks and Cindy’s chat about different kinds of thread (and old wives’ tales related to thread), but we also chatted about the upcoming sew-in, next month’s meeting, and the donation quilts.

Plus show and share, of course:


BLOCK OF THE MONTH/BLOTTO: This one is on the members’ only section of the MQG mothership website, so you’ll need to log in for the instructions: https://community.themodernquiltguild.com/print/resources/side-stripe-february-2018

Use whatever colours your like, but solids only. Here are the two examples from the meeting:




NEXT SEW-IN: Saturday March 23rd from 10-4 at the Nanaimo North library on Hammond Bay Road, please sign up for it by the Thursday beforehand. If we don’t have enough people signed up, we will have to cancel it.

Charity quilts: At the March meeting, we’ll be doing some design brainstorming for our HSTs to get some more quilt tops kitted up and planned from our piles of HSTs, so keep ‘em coming in!

*** Also, for the March meeting, if anyone has some flannel-backed tablecloths we can tape up as makeshift design walls, please bring them. ***

Donation quilt HSTs general info: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.

Next meeting: Wednesday, March 6, 7pm

See you there - happy quilting!
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Thursday, January 10, 2019

January 2019 Meeting Recap

Hello everyone, here’s your summary of what happened at the January meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did.)

News/discussion/etc. from the meeting:

  • We had the usual brief overview of the latest Modern Quilt Guild mothership newsletter email, followed by some discussion of what all the website offers for those who haven’t had a chance to dig through it yet.
  • We’re starting a monthly sign-in sheet like many other guilds, so from now on when you arrive, look for it as you come in the meeting room door and check in.
  • After the break, our special guest Val from the Nanaimo traditional guild led us in some gentle yoga stretches that are particularly good for those of us who spend a lot of time hunched over a sewing machine.
  • And of course we had show and share. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsgbOarnS_U/


Charity quilts: At the March meeting, we’ll be doing some design brainstorming for our HSTs to get some more quilt tops kitted up and planned from our piles of HSTs, so keep ‘em coming in!

Donation quilt HSTs general info: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.


Block of the Month/Block lotto: Instructions below. See photo for assembly. Any colour you like so long as it’s a tone on tone (e.g. light blue with a dark blue) and it must be solids.

MINIMALIST CHURN DASH – finished block 9 ½  
This square reminds me a bit of a snowflake which may be coming to a region near you!  I also thought we could use some color this time of the year so get your solid scraps out! 
Requirements:
2 fabrics: one light and one dark of the same color, contrast is important 
Cutting:
1 – 2inch strip of light and dark each (minimum 15 inches)
2 – squares 4 3/8 of light and dark each
1 – 3 ½ inch square of the light material 
Sewing:
-sew your  strips of light and dark together to make a light dark strip set, cut into 4 – 3 ½ inch square strip units
- using a ruler mark a diagonal line on the 4 3/8 light square, combine with the dark and sew ¼ inch on either side of the line to make 2 HST’s.  Iron and square up to 3 ½ inch squares (or use whatever method to make 4 HST’s –this method works best for me)
-refer to the block assembly diagram arrange the 4 HST’s, 4 strip units and the light center block to complete your block.
Using a scant ¼ inch seam is very important for the blocks to end up precise (says the person who had to rip out her strip piecing……)



Next sew-in: January 26, 10-4, Nanaimo North library on Hammond Bay Road.

Next meeting: Wednesday, February 6, 7pm

Upcoming quilt shows: 
Westshore Quilters’ Guild: April 12-13, 2019 - more info at https://westshorequiltersguild.ca/2019-quilt-show/
Island Quilters (the traditional guild here in Nanaimo): June 6-9, more info in the members section of http://www.islandquilters.ca/index.htm

Upcoming retreats:
Stitch, Sip & Splash: presented by Troll Brothers Quilt Designs - July 12-14, 2019 in Shawnigan Lake. More info: https://trollbrothersquiltdesigns.com/collections/stitch-sip-splash-quilt-retreat-2019


Links for our guild:
Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/258471184565888/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanaimomqg/
Blog: http://nanaimomqg.blogspot.com

See you at the February meeting - happy quilting!

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Thursday, November 8, 2018

November 2018 Meeting Summary

Hello everyone, here's your summary of what happened at the meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did).

It was a smaller group this time since so many members were away at retreat, but we also had a few new faces, so that was great.

News/discussion/etc. from the meeting:

  •  We had a (very) brief overview of the latest newsletter email from the Modern Quilt Guild.
  • Some Canadian Quilting Association stuff:
    • The TrendTex Challenge 2019 is now open, more info there: https://canadianquilter.com/trendtex-challenge-2019/
    • Submissions are now open for the National Juried Show for next year’s Quilt Canada, more info here: https://njs.canadianquilter.com/index.html
    • Quilts of Valour Canada is looking for blocks and/or finished quilts towards their goal of presenting 20,000 quilts to injured veterans by 2020. More details and a log cabin pattern to use here: https://canadianquilter.com/quilts-of-valour-canada/
  • We had cookies and a fun quilt acronym activity.
  • We talked about our donation quilts and the sew-in days (see below).
  • We also talked about our upcoming Parksville presentation (see below).
  • We had a couple examples of crazy quilting brought in for the challenge from last month. If you weren’t at the meeting or didn’t get one finished in time, no worries, just bring yours when you can.
  • And we of course had some show and share: 

Charity quilts: We will have two assembly weekends at Jonanco for this project (November 17/18 and November 24/25). As November 24th was our sew-in day at the library that we already wanted to use for assembling the donation quilts, we will cancel the library day and have the sew-in at Jonanco. Some of the Jonanco quilting group will join us to help out on these assembly days. So far we have enough HSTs to make 13 1/2 quilts, plus we have 5 completed quilts, 2 completed tops, and 3 panels and 4 tops that can be enlarged, so 27 quilts.

Jonanco is located at 2745 White Rapids Rd just south of Nanaimo. https://www.jonanco.org

Donation quilt HSTs general info: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.

Parksville guild presentation: We will be giving a presentation on modern quilting to the Parksville guild on Monday November 19th. Similar to the traditional Nanaimo guild, they meet twice that day with an afternoon meeting at 1pm and an evening one at 6:30, so we will present at both. We could use a hand with the presentations and activities we’ll be leading them in, especially for the afternoon session, and we would also like to borrow some modern quilts to show Parksville (same as when we presented to the traditional Nanaimo guild a while back). 

The Parksville guild meets at the Parksville Community Conference Center, 132 Jensen Avenue East in Parksville. 

If you would like to lend us a quilt or two, kindly bring them to one of the Jonanco sew-in days or email us to make other arrangements, and if you can lend a hand with the presentations, email us and let us know. 

Block of the Month/Block lotto: No new block of the month, so you can work on the Christmas swap. 

Mini Challenge for October: Ditto. No mini challenge this month.

Christmas swap: I’m sure you’ve all seen the sparkly red, white, and green stuff sneaking into all the stores already, so you know it’s coming: Christmas! Which means our annual Christmas potluck and swap is coming.

For the swap, you can either make a microwave bowl cozy and find a bowl to go with it or make a mug rug and find a mug to go with it. Either way, make your quilted piece, find a mug or bowl, wrap it all up in a gift bag, and at the potluck let the swapping and stealing begin!

Note: if you’re making the microwave bowl cozy, make sure to only use 100% cotton for all parts including batting and thread. No metallics! 

Here’s a pattern suggested for the microwave bowl cozy: http://www.seamshappy.com/2012/08/13/microwave-bowl-pot-holder/

And if you want to make a mug rug, I think last year we decided the maximum size is 9” in any direction.

Next sew-in: Replaced by the Jonanco sew-in days. November 17, 18, 24, 25.

Next meeting: Wednesday, December 5, 6:30pm (a bit early to allow people to get set up for the potluck. Bring a dish to share and your swap stuff.

Upcoming quilt shows:
Nothing on the Island in the next couple months, but for 2019: 
  • Westshore Quilters’ Guild: April 12-13, 2019 - more info at https://westshorequiltersguild.ca/2019-quilt-show/
  • Island Quilters (the traditional guild here in Nanaimo): June 6-9, more info in the members section of http://www.islandquilters.ca/index.htm

Upcoming retreats:
  • Stitch, Sip & Splash: presented by Troll Brothers Quilt Designs - July 12-14, 2019 in Shawnigan Lake. More info: https://trollbrothersquiltdesigns.com/collections/stitch-sip-splash-quilt-retreat-2019


Links for our guild: 
Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/258471184565888/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanaimomqg/
Blog: http://nanaimomqg.blogspot.com


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Thursday, October 4, 2018

October 2018 Meeting Recap

Howdy folks, here's your summary of what happened at the meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did).

News/discussion/etc. from the meeting:
  • We had a brief overview of the latest newsletter email from the Modern Quilt Guild.
  • The TrendTex Challenge 2019 is now open, more info there: https://canadianquilter.com/trendtex-challenge-2019/
  • We chatted about the latest sew-in a couple weeks ago. Turn out was solid, and one of our members donated an ironing board for us to use at future sew-ins. 
  • We discussed details related to our charity quilts project and getting the first batch finished in the next few weeks. 
  • Two of our members demonstrated a couple different methods of paper piecing and brought a bunch of examples to show us. 
  • Three of our members talked about workshops they’ve done this month, namely Stacey Day’s “Sparkle Pop” workshop with the Victoria MQG, a One Block Wonder workshop at Kaleidoscope Quilt Company taught by Sarah Stokes, and a 4 day retreat with Maria Shell on Denman Island that included large-scale improv pieced blocks as well as piecing solid fabrics to give the illusion of a print.
  • And of course we had show and share:


Donation quilt HSTs general info: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.

Parksville guild presentation: We will be giving a presentation on modern quilting to the Parksville guild on Monday November 19th. Similar to the traditional Nanaimo guild, they meet twice that day with an afternoon meeting at 1pm and an evening one at 6:30, so we will present at both. We would like to borrow some modern quilts from our members to show Parksville (same as when we presented to the traditional Nanaimo guild a while back). If you would like to lend us a quilt or two, please bring them to our November 7th meeting. We’ll talk more about this at our next meeting as well. 

Mini Challenge for October: Your challenge this month, should you choose to accept it, is to take crazy quilting and do a modern take on it. 

Crazy quilting became popular in the Victorian age and tended to use all manner of fabric scraps seemingly randomly pieced. They often involve a mix of luxury fabrics in all sorts of colours, but it’s not uncommon to see them with a definite theme. Crazy quilts normally involve a lot of embellishment such as adding various trims, buttons/appliques/rhinestones, lace overlays, embroidery, you name it. 

As an example of crazy quilting I whipped up this little drawstring bag, though I wouldn’t really call it modern, other than it has a lot of solid black and geometrics, lol:



More info on crazy quilting: 

It’s up to you what you make, could be as small as a mug rug or coin purse or as big as a throw if you have the time, but the challenge is due at the November meeting so no need to go too huge… unless you get bitten by the crazy quilting bug and really want to. 

Christmas swap: I’m sure you’ve all seen the sparkly red, white, and green stuff sneaking into all the stores already, so you know it’s coming: Christmas! Which means our annual Christmas potluck and swap is coming at the December meeting.

We tossed around a couple ideas on what to make for the swap, with some people leaning towards a quilted microwave bowl cozy + bowl and some people wanting to do a mug rug + mug again, so in the end we decided to have both as options. So, if you’re going to participate in the swap, you can either make a microwave bowl cozy and find a bowl to go with it or make a mug rug and find a mug to go with it. Either way, make your quilted piece, find a mug or bowl, wrap it all up in a gift bag, and at the potluck let the swapping and stealing begin!

Note: if you’re making the microwave bowl cozy, make sure to only use 100% cotton for all parts including batting and thread. No metallics! 

I found this list of microwave bowl patterns, but I think one of our members said she has a great pattern for them she can share, ask her at the November meeting: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-microwave-bowl-potholders-2978118

And if you want to make a mug rug, I think last year we decided the maximum size is 9” in any direction.

We’ll talk more about the potluck at the next meeting.

Next sew-in: November 24 at the Nanaimo North library on Hammond Bay Road, deadline to sign up is Thursday November 22nd, because if there aren’t at least 4 people signed up by then we will have to cancel the sew-in. 

Next meeting: Wednesday, November 7, 7pm as usual.

Upcoming quilt shows:

Nothing on the Island in the next couple months, but:
And for 2019:
Links for our guild: 

PS: friendly reminder that membership is now due. If you haven’t renewed already, please do so at the next meeting or get in touch with us to make other arrangements.

Whew… that was a long one, but I think that's about it - happy quilting and see you all in November!
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Friday, September 7, 2018

September 2018 Show and Share

Oopsie - forgot to go back and add the show and share pics to the meeting recap... oh well, let's give them their own post, shall we?




Looking forward to next month's show and share, see you then!
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Thursday, September 6, 2018

September 2018 Meeting Recap

Hello folks, here's your summary of what happened at the meeting for everyone who wasn’t able to attend (and to jog memories for those who did).


News/discussion/etc. from the meeting:
  • It’s that time of year: membership renewals are now due for 2018/2019
  • We had a brief overview of the latest newsletter from the Modern Quilt Guild 
  • We talked about the next sew-in on September 22 (must sign up by Thursday September 20th; if we don't have 4 people signed up by then we will cancel)
  • We talked about future demos and had a few volunteers on the following topics: improv ideas, foundation paper piecing, possibly letter appliqués, quilting with rulers, and low-immersion dye techniques. (And we’re always happy for more volunteers or requests, just let us know at the next meeting.)
  • We discussed doing some sort of a spring cleaning fabric swap or garage/car trunk sale, and there was a lot of enthusiasm about the idea. Probably we’ll do that in May when the weather is nicer.
  • We had some updates about the big moving sale for the Nanaimo Fabricland, though the new location probably won’t be known for another week or two. Lots of great bargains to be had, but the pickings were already getting slim even last week.
  • We had some info about the traditional Nanaimo guild’s upcoming quilt show in June: if you want to participate in the show you must be a member as of this month’s meeting, which is on September 19 in either the afternoon or evening. Check their website for location and time: http://www.islandquilters.ca/index.htm
  • We talked about a couple upcoming workshops that a couple of our members will be attending, so we’ll hear all about them next month. 
  • As always, we had show and share.
Challenges: 

None this month, but I’ll have a small one next month to be due in November.

We had the reveal of the first few playing card challenges tonight, and I posted the pics here:



If you’re still working on yours, no worries, just bring it when you can.

  
Next sew-in: September 22 at the Nanaimo North library on Hammond Bay Road, please sign up with Carly prior to the afternoon of Thursday September 20th, because if there aren’t at least 4 people signed up by then we will have to cancel the sew-in.

Donation quilt HSTs: As we discussed in previous meetings, we have an ongoing project to make half square triangles for quilts to be donated to kids in foster care. 

If you missed the specs on the HSTs: we’re going for a scrappy sort of look, but big and modern. Half square triangle blocks should be trimmed to 8.5 inches, with one side lighter and the other darker (relative is OK, like pink against white), and we also discussed having one side be a solid (or a subtle print that reads as a solid) and the other a print. The target age is the slightly older kids and teens, say 6-16, as there tends to already be a lot of donations aimed at the really little kids. Final quilt sizes will likely be lap size or twins, but for now, just keep feeding us HSTs and we’ll build the quilts later on. As this is an ongoing project, just make ‘em as you can and bring ‘em – great way to work through your stash.


Next meeting: Wednesday, October 3, 7pm as usual.

Upcoming workshops that may be of interest: 

Upcoming quilt shows:

Nothing on the Island in the next couple months, but:
And for 2019: 


I think that's about it - happy quilting and see you all in October!



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