Monday, March 25, 2019

Helped needed

We need you to help Orlando MQG this year
by leading a special interest group.


You do not have to be an expert, nor do you have to come up with projects for the group to do. We just need you to help organize a group of 10 or less people primarily via email.

Please take the survey here: SURVEY
Any questions about leading a group can be directed to Yanick: sewnwithcurves@gmail.com
Your response is needed by Friday, March 29th!

Monday, March 11, 2019

March Meeting Minutes

GENERAL MEETING 

March 6th, 2019 - 10am

The Sewing Studio Classroom

Ede opens the meeting and announces that normal agenda will resume next month.  She also invites all new Board Member to come and thanks the previous board member for their work.  Ede welcomes all new members and guests.



1. BLOCK of the MONTH - Debra J
Before she introduces this year Block of the Month, Debra shows a quilt she made with Block Lotto from 2013.  This year the Block of the Month is going to be slightly different: each block will be 12.5” square, will have grey or white element (time to pull and set aside your whites and greys), will be off modern aesthetics.


Debra encourages members to make one block for the raffle and one block for themselves to keep.  The guidelines for this month Block Lotto are on the blog, just follow the link.

Shall you want to create a block for this year BOM, please contact Debra J.


In other news, Debra A. wins this month BOM, and is taking all those scrappy blocks home.

3. FINANCIAL REPORT - Zonetta
Zonetta presents the Treasure report.

4. COMMUNITY OUTREACH - Kelly
We will start rolling out our Community Outreach program next month.  Kelly confirms that our place-mats for Meals on Wheels is an ongoing drive.

We are looking for a chair person for Call for Blocks.  This initiative has started as a response to the out pour of generosity from quilters around the world during the Quilts for Pulse drive.  As a consequences, our Guild has decided to build a reserve of quilts which are then send when other guilds call for quilts in response to disasters.  At the moment, we do have a stash of 10 quilts ready to be sent.  We really wish someone would take the lead on this initiative.

5. EDUCATION - Alissa
Alissa introduces our next teacher: Michelle Wilkie is originally from New Zealand, currently living in North Carolina.  Her class will cover techniques such as colour selection and how to play with them, curve & triangle improv.  You can see more of her work on her blog,  Factorum of Arts.

Alissa is currently looking into bringing more teachers to the Guild, potentially Heather Givans from Crimson Tate, Amy Friend from During Quiet time and others.

As a reminder of our class policy, payment holds the spot to the class. In case of cancellation, refund will only be proceed if the spot can be filled.

6. LIBRARIAN - Aradria

This month, Aradria has selected 2 books for us: 'art quilt map' by Valerie S. Goodwin and 'Quilt transparency' by  Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle

7. QUILTY BASKET
Karen D. who won the Quilty basket last month, brought it back full of goodies. 

Eleanor is the lucky winner and will bring back next month full of exciting stuff.

8.  DOOR PRIZE

Linda, Shelley and Jan are this month door prize winners.

9. GUEST SPEAKER
Paula introduced our guest speaker, Lisa Ruble and her talk "Confession of a Quilt Magazine Editor".  After working for a metal casting industry magazine, Lisa made her way to the far more glamorous craft industry and has worked as an Editor for various quilting magazines.  Lisa also works as a pattern illustrator while writing her own patterns too.

Here are a few of Lisa's quilts - bottom left the first quilt she ever made when she was 10 or 12.

If you ever want to submit a pattern to a quilting magazine, Lisa shares us a few tips on what editors are looking for:

  • Original design
  • Something ‘new’ and different
  • Twist on an existing design
  • Color contrast
  • How it will photograph
  • Not just quilts: smaller sewing projects
  • Scrap quilts
  • Modern quilts
  • Seasonal
  • Simple quilts that look complicated
  • Quilts that showcase fabric
  • Appeal to beginners
  • Techniques-based projects
  • Generally brighter than not
You can see Lisa's work on her blog Color My World or on her Instagram.

Again, a very big Thanks to Lisa for a wonderful presentation and for the door prizes.


Thursday, March 7, 2019

Meet the new Board

Get to know your Board Members!
All of them have been asked to provide the following:
  • a little something about you non quilt related;
  • a picture of your latest or most treasured quilt and why it is special;
  • a recommendations for an Instagram/Facebook account to follow, and/or a # to follow, or anything you want (tool, book…)
Ede - President
Left - Ede's portrait, Right - Block center with black circles and vivid green stems
This is the center of Sarah Fielke’s Down the Rabbit Hole quilt. This was a QuiltAlong from two years ago! The reason I’m highlighting this is because it’s part of my self-imposed restriction to only work on UFOs for the first part of this year. I’m finding it super satisfying to finish things up, and shopping my stash. I’d also forgotten how much I enjoy hand appliqué.
Have you seen mention of Prequilt.com?  I watched a tutorial on it from justgetitdonequilts on Insta.  It's a pretty cool program for using up hard to match fabrics, or just design quilts in general.  It's free, but it's "in beta".  It looks like a pretty cool--and free!--option for design help.
Otherwise, I rescue old Labrador Retrievers, Bear is number 7.

Yanick - Vice President
Left - Yanick portrait, Right purple quilt showing a girl with headset and a turnable appliquéd in black fabric
The quilt, True Love, represents my love of vinyl music: as a kid, Prince was the first musician I fell in love with and his album, Purple Rain, was the first album I ever bought with my own money. My favorite part is the quilting made to represent an album on an actual Techniques turntable.
Fun fact about me: I have two turntables and a microphone. In another life, I would have been a DJ instead of a teacher. (My vinyl collection rivals my fabric collection.) I grew up listening to albums with my dad and his records are one of the few things I have since he passed away. Good music always put a smile on my face. 
My only social media is IG and I love following guild members and others who sew for inspiration to keep on creating. I also follow #modernquilting to keep up with the lovelies made daily.

Caroline - Secretary
This quilt is very special, it is Altura from Carolyn Frielander and it has travelled with me all over the world.  Each block has been hand-appliquéed and carries so many memories.  The top is now finished, but not quilted yet, I don't want this journey to end.
The year I arrived in the States (2013), I had lived in 3 different countries on 3 different continents: Singapore, England and the States.  I am a bit of a traveler.
I am a believer of daily practice in order to make the best of my day, I meditate every morning with Insight Timer.  Recently, I have started following @meetmakersofcolor#meetmakersofcolor@Sewover50#Sew50visible.

Zonetta - Treasurer
The little Brown Bear quilt was made for a very special little boy (my son's best friend baby boy) who was delivered at only 24 weeks, developed severe brain infection while in the preemie ward, and was born with severe disabilities.  While he has limited vision he is very tactile and a quilt of bright colors and texture--hence, a rag quilt--seemed the perfect gift.  He is about five years old now, and the quilt remains in his rocking chair or in his bed.  He loves it.  It makes me happy too.

On another note,  a fun fact about me!  Most people don't know that i was robbed leaving our quilting retreat last year!  Walking to the parking lot to get my car with $60 in my hand, this young woman, dressed in running garb, came running from behind me, reached over, grabbed my money and kept on running!  While I was saying, "What just happened?" the gentleman behind be whipped out his cell phone and called 911.  He handed me the phone, and while I was still talking to the 911 operator, the police car pulled up, asked if I was the victim and said the police had the robber on the beach in handcuffs.  (She obviously was not a very fast runner!)  Money retrieved.  Crime does not pay.  Moral to the story:  Keep your money out of sight when walking down the street.
Recommendations to follow:  IG splendidsampler2 and lillyellasworld

 
Kelly - Community Outreach Coordinator
My current favorite quilt is made out of lawn cotton and it is the softest thing ever. It's perfect for the couch and my girls try to steal it whenever they can. The fabric is a Heather Ross line and I love the Lillies of the Valley flowers. They make me think of my childhood because they grew wild around my house.
One of my favorite TV shows is the Great British Bake off. I love all the things they bake. However, I hate baking.
I have two Instagram recommendations:
Flora.Forager - She makes wonderful art out of different kinds of plants and flowers. It's beautiful, creative and inventive.
Red*Hongyi - She is a Malaysian artist working with everyday materials. She has made wonderful and huge installations using socks and tea bags. She also highlights a number of other artists. 

Alissa - Education Coordinator
My name is Alissa and I've been quilting for almost 5 years. I accidentally found OrlandoMQG, and have loved it ever since. I decided to go to Austin on vacation, during Quiltcon 2014 just because it looked like an awesome exhibit. Then I thought maybe Orlando would have a modern guild and that may be interesting....and I've been hooked!! My most recent finish is a quilt for my bed. After five years I'm *finally* making myself a bed quilt!! I only have three throw quilts in my house I've made myself, all the others I've given away. I made this quilt at my girl's quilt retreat. It's super important to me to be able to get away and sit and sew with my girls! I also adore cooking, and my two fur babies, Chloe and Winnie. If you want to see a fun hashtag, you can follow my dog's, #winniebagothemutt. Now let's get to stitchin'!

Beth - Member at large
I have been a member of this guild since it first started. This year I will be your "Member At Large". 
I wasn't very "modern" at first, but loved the people, and all the inspiration. With a lot of exposure, I have come to Love "modern" quilting! And...this guild still has the most wonderful people! 
My favorite quilt, that I've made, is the applique' camera, wall hanging I made for my daughter. She is a photographer and I surprised her with it for her birthday a couple of years ago. It was very difficult for me, and took me a Very long time, with a lot of removing pieces and redoing them.
Some of the other things I love are: Family; Friends; Volleyball; Lunches out with guild members; Pincushions; Succulents; & Doing things "just for fun"! 
I get Lots of inspiration from Pinterest & IG. I follow OrlandoMQGKirkenollQuiltyfriendsrockCapitolaquilter, & Playcrafts. There are so many more great ones to follow, but start here and you will soon find many for yourself.

René - Founding Member
Hey, I’m Rene’ . So happy to be a part of this awesome group!
Fun fact 1: I started quilting a few years before the guild began, and I can remember stating proudly that I don’t do “3-D” sewing. My first foray into the 3-D world started innocently enough with pincushions, which I thought was a big deal; I have now graduated to a few tops and a dress.
Fun fact 2: I am so not athletic, but I once “ran” a half marathon and I have the medal to prove it.
This quilt is not recent nor treasured, but one I love anyway. I named this quilt Random and was an early attempt at improv and negative space, using leftover fabrics from a coin quilt made for my sister. This quilt now lives with my sister-in-law (assuming she still has it).
Recommendations for follows:
Blog and newsletter: A Quilter’s Table
Instagram: Hillary Goodwin EntropyAlwaysWins
Hashtag: #100dayproject or #the100dayproject

Michele - Founding Member
Michele here! So thrilled to begin our tenth year with The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild. Rene's idea to start a guild ten years ago has blossomed nicely. I've met so many nice guildies and hope to meet many more of you. My how we've grown! I'm writing this blurb at the end of QuiltCon2019. It was a wonderful few days. I took some great classes, saw some gorgeous quilts and did a bit of shopping.
The quilt I'm showing I started at a dream retreat in Dripping Springs, Texas this past September. It was a Craftsy clearance kit and came together so easily. Debra J. quilted it for me and she always pulls no stops with her quilting talent.
I miss blogging. Hoping it will come into vogue once more and I'll have time to write down my thoughts, recipes, show quilts, etc. Some of my favorite blogs aren't exactly quilt related. I love food, too. My two favorite food blogs at the moment are https://www.howsweeteats.com and http://bevcooks.com. These two young moms have a passion for food and some cute kids!

2019 Theme and April BOM

2019 Guild Year has officially begun!

This year the Block of the Month has one goal: use modern aesthetic with a continuous theme to design a series of blocks that can be made into one quilt at the end of the year.

Here are the parameters for the blocks through the year:
  • 12.5” square: each month the block will be 12.5”, or when sewn together equals 12.5” (6.5” blocks, when sewn in a group of will equal a 12.5” block);
  • Grey or white: each month the BOM will have a grey or white element;
  • Modern blocks;
  • Make 2 blocks: one for the Guild raffle and one for you to keep.
We hope to encourage each member to make at least 2 blocks per month, one for the raffle and one to keep saving it for a single quilt at the finish of the Guild year.

Below is a quilt made out of Orlando MQG 2013 BOMs.




April BOM

Please make 12.5 inch block in grey and white solids.
The block will have a square or a rectangle centred on the block. No diagonal or wonky lines.  The square or rectangle can be of any size, therefore there are no specific cutting directions. A little bit of Improv!  The photos below can help in guiding you with some ideas, but you are not limited to them.