Monday, March 23, 2015

Let's talk sewing machines

A recent guild meeting icebreaker question asked members to spill the beans on how many sewing machines they owned.   I'll not reveal the member with the most in case her husband is reading ;-)  This question got me thinking... Do you name your sewing machine(s)?

I do name my machines and you can meet them below.  These may or may not be all the sewing machines I have!

Meet Jewell
"Jewell" is my black 1938 featherweight, named after my paternal grandmother.

This is Dee
"Dee" is my mint green/white 1968 featherweight,  and named after my maternal grandmother.

Just Juki!
Not to play favorites, but my Juki is my favorite ;-)  I've tried to come up with a clever name for this machine, but keep coming back to "Juki".

how about Ruby?
This Janome Horizon was purchased while at SewDown Nashville and signed by my quilty friends, but so far I haven't spent much time getting to know her, so at the moment she does not have a name. Any suggestions?

So, tell us.  Do you name your machine(s)?  If so, what is the name(s)?  A random drawing (for a fun prize) from the comments left on this post will be made on Tuesday (March 31) before our next guild meeting (April  1).  Thanks for playing along.




Saturday, March 21, 2015

Spirals Boot Camp

Today's workshop opened our eyes to a new technique of paper piecing. We had a great time with RaNae Merrill. There were a few "aha moments" along with great company, fab fabric, and of course, our famous Sew Day potluck.

RaNae and Beth











Thursday, March 5, 2015

Meeting Minutes

MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 4, 2015
MAITLAND, FL

The meeting was called to order by President Yanick.  38 members and 2 visitors were present.

Jackie won the icebreaker by owning the most sewing machines--13!! (Don't tell her husband.)

TREASURER'S REPORT
Our current balance is $5559.76.

Payment is due for the RaNae Merrill workshop ASAP.  If you did not pay at the meeting, please mail Marge your payment prior to the workshop.  There may still be a couple of places open, so contact Marge immediately if you would like to attend.  Fee for OMQG members is $40.

We are getting the mentoring program up and running; further information to follow.

NOTE: if you are not receiving regular emails from OMQG, please contact Marge immediately so that she can update your contact information.

RAFFLE BASKET
....was won by Pamela.
QUILTCON
 Several members spoke about their fantastic experiences at Quiltcon.  This was a successful week for our guild; Debra's quilt won first place in the Michael Miller challenge, and Debbe King won a bonanza of fat quarters from the Michael Miller vendor at the show (nice payback for her 32.5 volunteer hours!)  Debbe handed out some Quiltcon swag to random winners.  There will be a Quiltcon magazine available in stores soon, which has an update on all MQG statistics.

BLOG POST WINNER
Joan won the Quiltcon swag bag for her post.  In future, the blog post containing the "question of the month" will be highlighted, so that more members can respond to the correct post and thus be eligible for the random drawing of the month.

CHALLENGE PROJECTS
Our current project is making fabric postcards to swap with other guilds.  Some specifications: cards should be no more than 1/8" thick; no binding should be used; put card stock or some other stiff material inside (can be used along with batting, as long as it is thin); use plain fabric on the back so that cards may be addressed; cards should be slightly smaller than the standard 4 x 6 postcard size.

Cards are due at our April meeting.  Please bring your stamped card to the meeting.  Tutorials and examples are available on the OMGQ Pinterest board.

CHARITY PROJECTS
Linda collected the remaining Veteran's Home quilts.   If you made one, and were not at the meeting, please contact Linda so that she may get it from you as soon as possible. At our next meeting,  Linda will share a time for all members interested to visit the home and deliver the quilts.

Our next charity project will be making tactile quilts for Alzheimer's patients.  These quilts should be about 17 x 21 (just remember they are meant to be held in someone's lap, so should not be too large), and the more textures, the better.  Alejandrina shared an example:
The tentative deadline for these quilts is our May meeting.  Examples for these quilts may be found on Pinterest, under "Alzheimer's" or "activity" quilts.

BINDING DEMOS



Jodi demonstrated single-fold binding.  Verykerryberry has a good tutorial.
Alejandrina shared the envelope, or pillowcase, technique.
Pamela shared a couple techniques for adding prairie points to your binding. 
Jane demonstrated the use of facings, which is a particularly good technique for quilts in which the design needs to go all the way to the edge.  An example:
Beth demonstrated a flange binding. Marge demonstrated how to make mitered borders.

Mary S shared techniques for mitered bindings.  She recommends Sharon Schamber's videos on YouTube.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH
This month's blocks.....

...were won by Marge.
Next month's block instructions can be seen below.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Maitland Sew Days will now include an optional "mini" charity project 3 or 4 times a year.  This month, the project is carrying bags for walkers.  Sharleen will bring kits for the project to the next Maitland Sew Day.  Bring your usual sewing supplies.

The next Modern Salon will take place Sunday, March 8, at the Winter Park Michael's store, from 4-6 PM.  Salons will now be held at this location every 2nd Sunday of the month.

No regular Dr Phillips Sew Day will take place this month, due to the RaNae Merrill workshop.

SHOW AND TELL



Debra and her winning Quiltcon quilt....and ribbon!
"Wish I Had Made That" did not take place this month, due to time constraints.

Meeting adjourned at 12:05.


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

April Block of the Month

Let's all make Friendship Star blocks for April's block lotto.  The tutorial I followed can be found here.  Your block should measure 12.5" with seam allowances to finish at 12".
Friendship Star
Design-seeds color palette

I went scrappy and used cream and low volume prints for the background squares and chose blues for the star.  Follow the color palette as a guide for selecting blue fabrics for the star and any white/cream/neutral fabric will do for the background.

Don't forget to share your pictures on Instagram using the hashtag #orlandomqg, post on our Facebook page and our Flickr group.



Sunday, March 1, 2015

Saturday Sew Day

We celebrated the end of February with a fun Sew Day at the Dr. Phillips library. Debra brought her first place ribbon from QuiltCon 2015.

She also brought the cake her family had made to celebrate her winning. It looks just like her winning quilt.

Our guild had another first place winner. Beth won first place at the Space Coast Quilters show with her dragon quilt.

Look at all the Veterans' quilts we've made! Linda will give an update at Wednesday's meeting. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make these beauties.








Here's what we were working on at Sew Day. There were even some finishes!