Sunday, March 18, 2012

March Sew Day

We celebrated National Quilting Day with a Sew Day. Linda C. demonstrated stitching curves for a Drunkard's Path block. The Drunkard's Path block is also known as Rob Peter to Pay Paul, Wanderer in the Wilderness, Solomon's Puzzle, and Old Maid's Puzzle,
Linda's king size quilt showcased more than 20 different gorgeous batiks and a quilted feather border. We all fell in love with her quilt. Her demonstration and handy handout inspired everyone to try stitching curves.

And then my camera battery died. :( As usual, we discussed various topics, laughed, ate, worked on projects, made Chevron blocks, laughed more, ate more and then packed everything up after a full day. It was a great way to celebrate National Quilting Day.

The next Sew Day will be Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 10 am to 4:45 pm at the Southwest Branch of the Orange County Library System (Dr. Phillips area).

Friday, March 9, 2012

March 7th, 2012 Meeting Minutes

March 7th, 2012
Maitland, Florida
10 A.M.  - 12 Noon


Present at the meeting- 20 members and 4 visitors


I.     Meet and Greet
This is a noisy, happy time for everyone to catch up before the meeting begins.

II.    Membership Renewal
Our year starts again every March. 16 of the attendees renewed their dues with another 4 to mail in their payments.

III.   Block of the Month


The March Blocks of the Month were won by Ede.

Beth and Rene show a sample of the April Blocks. They are a modern take on the churn dash which can be completed with patterned fabric on the main block pieces or alternately on the background. See Rene's  tutorial for details.

IV.   Thanks to Officers




Officers were surprised with thank you gifts for their service to the guild.

V.     Raffle Basket

Lisa won the raffle basket.  $29. was raised with the March raffle basket. Since starting last August, the Sew Day Demos and the Raffle Baskets have contributed $303. to our education fund.

VI.   Upcoming Events
Alejandrina announced the upcoming class with Valerie Goodwin on May 9th at the Dr. Phillips Library (officially the Southwest Branch of the Orange County Library System).

Alejandrina also announced a field trip to The Quilt Place in Rockledge on April 28th.

Our next Sew Day is March 17th at the Southwest Library from 10 a.m. until 4:45 p.m.

VII.  MQG Block Challenge
The Modern Quilt Guild (or The Mothership as I have heard Rene say) has announced the first Modern Quilt Guild conference in Austin, Texas from February 21-24, 2013.  For more info on this please see the QuiltCon website.

The Modern Quilt Guild and QuiltCon have introduced the QuiltCon Block Challenge.  The challenge is to make a quilt block with the colors of the QuiltCon Logo and to design it in such a way that it reflects what modern quilting means to you.

VIII. Charity Quilts
Jodi is our Charity Quilts Leader.  If you have proposals to make about charity projects please make them to Jodi who will present them to the OMQG board members.

OMQG has decided to create a quilt as a fund raiser for a local non-profit, The Comraderie Foundation.
They provide support for re-deployed or deployed personal and their families from all branches of the military. Members can choose to make an 8.5 inch unfinished sampler block or a chevron block.  See Jodi's tutorial for making Chevron Blocks.  Interested members are to bring their completed blocks to the April meeting.

IX.    Show and Tell








X.     Lunch Trip
About a dozen people attended lunch after the meeting at Bahama Breeze.

Jodi's Chevron Block Tutorial

Chevron Block tutorial
Start with four 5 inch blocks – two white (or light colored) blocks and two that are red or blue.


Place one white block and one red or blue block (I am using the red block in this example) right sides together.  Then draw a diagonal line on each block.


Next stitch a scant ¼ inch seam on both sides of the line.  Do this for both sets.



 Then cut the block in half on the line between the two seams. 
 


Now press each block open and trim to 4 ½ inches. (Please excuse the switch in fabrics in the next pictures.)



Now layout your blocks like the photo below and sew the horizontal pairs together using a scant ¼ inch seam allowance.



Press seams to the side with one seam going to the left and one seam to the right.  Pressing your seams in opposite directions makes for less bulk in the next step.

 Sew the two rectangles together, matching up the center seams. Press seams to one side.   Your block is now finished and should measure 8 ½ square inches. 
 


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

April 2012 Block of the Month

When making this month's block you get two for the price of one!  Monica aka Happy Zombie put a new twist on the churn dash block and gives instructions for what she calls her Funky Wrench Nuts and Bolts.

Nuts block
The block Monica makes in her tutorial is for a 6" block, but if you scroll to the bottom of the tutorial, you will find information to make the block in other sizes.   For our BOM (which is for a 12.5" unfinished block), use the 12" block measurements shown in blue.

Bolts block
Leave a comment here or send an email if you have any questions on making this block.  Certain steps in the tutorial are presumed, such as making half square triangles with your 4 7/8" squares and piecing the 2 1/2" squares before sewing to the rectangles, so I am happy to help answer any questions.


Remember our block finishes at 12" so make sure you follow those directions!  Bring your block(s) to the April meeting for the OMQG block lotto!