Monday, January 18, 2016

Quilt Shows in Florida

Here is a list of some of the many Quilt Shows happening in and around central Florida for February and March. It is certainly Quilt Season! 

QUILT SHOW IN OCALA
Busy Bees Quilt Show …  “Quilts: what is old is new again” 
Feb 5 & 6, 2016  9am-4pm
Silver Springs Presbyterian Church
674 Silver Road, Ocala

Airing of the Quilts, Venice Fl Feb 6
Sarasota Modern Quilt Guild
Free & Open to the Public
Maxine Barritt Park, Beachfront near the Pier  
1800 S. Harbor Drive, Venice FL 34285
(Near Sharky’s Restaurant)

FIBER & ART QUILT EXHIBITION AND SHOW
On Feb 12, 2016 QSF  Quilt South Florida, a fiber and art quilt exhibition and show.  First United Methodist, 622 N Krome Ave, Homestead, FL  33030

Feb 24-27 Daytona Beach QuiltWeek AQS

Lake County Quilters Guild, 34th annual, March 4, 9-5, Lake Receptions 4425 Hwy 19a Mount Dora, $7.00 http://lakequiltguild.com/quilt-show/

QUILT SHOW AND TEA IN BROOKSVILLE
February 2016 Quilt Show and Lady Dresden Tea.  It will be held on Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27 from 9 AM to 4 PM.  The event is in our Community Center in High Point Community, Brooksville, FL 34613.  12249 Club House Road.  
The email for the newsletter for more info is quiltshow14@gmail.com

QUILT SHOW IN MELBOURNE
Seaside Piecemakers presents:
"Quilting A Memory" Quilt Show
March 4 & 5, 2016
Friday and Saturday
10AM to 5PM
Melbourne Auditorium
625 Hibiscus Ave., Melbourne, Fl.
Tickets $8 at door

QUILT SHOW IN NEW SMYRNA BEACH
2016 Quilt Show "Charlotte's Garden" presented by The Pelican Piecemakers Quilt Guild NSB. 
March 11,12, 2016 10 AM-4 PM. Location is Christ Community Church 1210 Mission Dr, New Smyrna Beach, Fl 32168. 
For additional information please contact the guild at pelicanpiecemakersquiltguild@gmail.com

Original Sewing Show and Expo, Lakeland  March 17-18 http://www.sewingexpo.com/LakelandFL.aspx


QUILT SHOW IN TRENTON
Trenton’s ninth annual Suwannee Valley Quilt Festival, Florida’s largest outdoor quilt show and sale, will be held Saturday, March 19, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the picturesque town of Trenton, FloridaFor more information about the festival, visit us on Facebook, go to the Festival website www.TrentonQuiltFestival.com

Thursday, January 7, 2016

World Quilt Florida - Orlando Jan 7th - 9th


The Mancuso World Quilt Show is in town this weekend. It is being held from Jan 7th to the 9th from 10 am to 6pm at the Orange County Convention Center.

The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild was excited to have a special exhibit of quilts from our talented guild members. Here are just a few of the quilts that were spotted.








If you get a chance to stop by the show you can see them all. They also have a pretty impressive display of works from many different countries, lots of vendors with fabrics and more, and lectures. Have a wonderful quilty weekend!

MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 6, 2016
MAITLAND, FL

President Yanick called the meeting to order. 35 members and 5 visitors were present.


Members were asked to share their "quilting resolutions" for 2016.  They included:  confining all their quilting stuff to one room in their house; not buying fabric; reclaiming their guest room; organizing; using up scraps; using layer cakes; learning free motion quilting in a modern style; learning paper piecing; learning to sew curves.

TREASURER'S REPORT
  • Our annual guild dues have been paid to MQG for the year.
  •  There may be one or two spots still left in Lee Monroe's class to be held at the Dr Phillips library on Jan 25 from 12:30-6.  Contact Marge ASAP if you are interested. 
 RAFFLE BASKET
....was won by  Tanyia.

UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Mark your calendar for our 2016 retreat at Kenilworth Lodge Nov 3-6.  Payment plans are available; contact Marge if you are interested in setting one up.
  • Christmas applique sew-along will begin this month at the Maitland Library Sew Day.  Participation is voluntary. The book required is Welcome to the North Pole by Piece O' Cake Designs.  Due to copyright considerations, all participants must purchase their own copy of the book (available from Amazon and other sources.)  Contact Debbie Z for questions.
  • Our next fabric auction will be held in April.  Marge will start collecting donations at next month's meeting.  Notions, tools, and books are also included.  Please pin a note stating the size of the piece of fabric to it before giving it to Marge; this will save a lot of time in sorting and organizing.  Scraps are good too, but please combine them into a larger package (Mary S suggested sorting them into a 5-lb. bag.) Any fabric left over after the auction will go to Sharleen for use in future charity projects.
  • World Quilt Florida takes place Jan 7-9 at the Orange County Convention Center (west building).  Discounted tickets are available from the Sewing Studio.  Look for the OMQG display!
 ELECTION COMMITTEE
Zonetta announced the following candidates for the officer positions on the 2016 Board of Directors:  Alissa, President; Tanyia, Vice-President; Mary Sm, Secretary; and Joan, Treasurer.  Voting will take place at our February meeting.  If you will not be able to attend, request an absentee ballot from Julia.

CHARITY COMMITTEE
Sharleen announced that we have produced 303 pillowcases for the Army National Guard battalion that will soon be deployed.  If you would still like to make one, Jodi will accept them at any time.

We will have one year-long project, and two shorter-term projects to be announced later.  Our year-long project will be making quilts for The House Next Door, a non-profit counseling center for children and teens who are victims of sexual abuse and other traumatic events. Quilts may range from lap size to twin size, with a minimum size of 48" by 60".  Sharleen would love to see at least one quilt from all 72 of our members. All quilts will be collected and given at the same time to a representative from HND at a meeting at the end of the year.

UFO CHALLENGE
Julia, Beth and Yanick were the winners of our 2015 UFO challenge.

SURVEY
Yanick has received 34 responses so far, and would really like to see more so that member input can be passed on to the incoming Board.  (If you have lost the link to the survey, or did not receive it, contact Yanick.) There was not a clear majority in favor of doing either another UFO challenge, or doing some kind of stashbuster challenge instead.  A final decision will be presented at our February meeting.

OMQG LIBRARY
Our new library will be available next month.  Members may check out a book for one month at a time.  If you are unable to attend the next meeting, it will be your responsibility to get the book to the meeting in your absence.  Remember to post a review on Amazon of any of the Lucky Spools books you may check out.

DEMOS
A member asked why we no longer have demos at Sew Days, or at every meeting.  This is because we need more members to come forward and volunteer to demo!  Remember that demos do not need to be about huge, complicated techniques or projects.  Small projects that you have enjoyed, or a simple technique that has helped your quilting are both welcome as demos.  We are looking for 5-10 minute presentations.  Please contact Debra J if you can do a demo for the group.

QUILTCON CHARITY QUILT
Our guild's quilt for the charity quilt display at Quiltcon 2016 was revealed.  The quilt was designed and pieced by Yanick (using blocks made by our members), quilted by Debra J, and will be bound by Sarah.

SHOW AND TELL













BLOCK OF THE MONTH


.....was won by Kelly.

ARMY NATIONAL GUARD DONATION
A battalion representative came to the meeting to collect the pillowcases; she was overwhelmed by our output!  Our donation means that all members of the battalion will be able to receive a pillowcase, which will be filled with snacks and treats from home.  She also mentioned that they are going to be looking for people to "adopt" soldiers in the battalion during their deployment; watch the OMQG Facebook page for more information if you are interested.
Meeting adjourned at 11:45.  Lunch followed at the Orlando Ale House.



Wednesday, January 6, 2016

February Block of the Month


Improv Ticker Tape Block. 



This month we are going to work on scrapbusting! I am hoping to do a lot of that this year and hopefully can encourage the same in you. This particular block is great for using up lots of little and odd shaped pieces of scrap fabric. We are also going for a semi organized look by making the blocks all monochromatic, instead of an all over scrappy block. 



Here is what you will need for this block. 

One 8 1/2 inch square of background fabric in white. Can be tonal or very low volume, but should read as white. 
a pile of scraps in one color... I went with blue here. 
Two 2 1/2 inch by 8 1/2 inch solid color strips in your chosen color. 
Two 2 1/2 inch by 12 1/2 inch solid color strips in your chosen color. 


You begin by cutting small pieces of scraps to lay on the background square. What you need for this block is to let go of perfection. They do not have to be evenly spaced between each one, it can be off a bit here and there. Just go for organic. When you have a piece that won't fit you can simply cut out notches here and there to make it work together. 
Then you can work with multiple shaped scraps and not need everything uniform to fit in perfectly. It will lend itself to a little more of an organic improv feel to have different shapes working with each other. 

Once you have about half of them placed you can glue baste them down to keep them in place as you continue to add more pieces. You can pin if you choose or you can just go for it as well! It is up to you.


  I tend to be clumsy and move them around accidentally so I glue baste them down to keep them all straight. It also makes cutting little notches out easier. 

Keep going until the whole background square is covered. The outside edges will be covered by the seam allowance as well so you do not need to worry about being aligned exactly on the edges either. 


Next, sew the individual scraps down to the background square. You can top stitch with a straight stitched, you can zig zag, blanket stitch... what ever works for you. Again, just go with it. I pulled all my threads to the back, knotted and snipped the ends. If you prefer you can lock in your stitches instead when sewing as well. 


Once you have everything stitched down, add the 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch strips to the top and bottom of the background square. Then add your 2 1/2 x 12 1/2 inch strips to the sides and viola! 


Again, you can choose what ever you like, just please make sure your block is monochromatic with a white background and matching solid sashing. 

Have fun!

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy 2016!!

Happy New Year!  We have some exciting events organized for OrlandoMQG members!

First up is the Orland Modern Quilt Guild special exhibit at World Quilt Florida, January 7-9 at the Orange County Convention Center.

Lee Monroe aka May Chappell will be teaching her "All Squared Up" workshop for members Monday, January 25th from 12:30-6:00.

On September 24th we will welcome Christa Watson who recently published her first book Machine Quilting With Style and has a new book coming out with Angela Walters titled The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting:  Long-Arm and Sit-Down.

Many of you may have goals for the new year as it relates to your quilting.  Possibly learning a new technique, sewing from your fabric stash, joining an online bee, finishing old WIPs, or participating in a mini swap is on your list for 2016.

Below are several links that may help with your resolutions:



Leave a comment sharing any new year resolutions you've made, tips for keeping those goals or additions to the links above.  See you Wednesday, January 6th at The Sewing Studio for our monthly guild meeting.