MEETING MINUTES, APRIL 4, 2012

MEETING MINUTES

APRIL 4, 2012

SEWING STUDIO, MAITLAND, FLORIDA

10:00 AM UNTILL APPROXIMATELY 11:15 AM

I.  SIGN IN, MEET AND GREET, INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS AND GUESTS

     There were 16 people in attendance including new members and visitors.

II. MARCH BLOCKS OF THE MONTH

     The blocks were won by Jackie.

III. CHEVRON BLOCKS

Quite a few (as of yet uncounted) chevron blocks were turned in for a charity quilt.  More information is posted under the Charity Quilts Section.

IV.  RAFFLE BASKET
The raffle basket was provided by Lisa and won by Terry.

V.  MAY BLOCK OF THE MONTH

Linda introduced Wild Waves, the  Block of the Month for May, a 12.5 inch unfinished block which is to be done in brights and white. Alejandrina has already posted a tutorial online.

VI. CHARITY QUILTS

The chevron blocks will be used to make fundraising quilts for the Camaraderie Foundation. Jodi said that there appeared to be enough Chevron blocks to make two quilts.  The plan is for one wall hanging (around 36 by 36 inches) and one lap quilt (around 50 by 60 inches), which could potentially be auctioned at the Foundation's events for Memorial Day and Veterans Day. During the summer Jodi will collect additional sampler blocks for a future quilt for this group. For these additional blocks please use any combination of white, red and/or blue to create 12.5 unfinished blocks of your choosing.  

The group also accepted Jodi's proposal that the guild members make small items such as potholders, oven mitts, place mats, mug rugs, and coasters for Habitat for Humanity. The items would be added to the small gift baskets that are presented to each new home owner involved with the local Habitat for Humanity. One suggestion was that items (optionally) could have house blocks used the making of the small items.  Another great suggestion was that we should consider making gifts in sets, for example a pair of potholders, 4 placemats, and a set of coasters. Items will be collected throughout the year at Guild meetings and they will be turned over to Habitat for Humanity about twice a year.

VII.  OTHER GUILD BUSINESS

          VALERIE GOODWIN WORKSHOP

The Valerie Goodwin workshop is to be held on May 9th at the Southwest Branch of the Orange County Library System (The Dr. Phillips Location.) The cost to participating guild members will be $25.00 for the class PLUS a $10.00 kit fee for a total of $35.00. The class runs from 10 AM until 4:30 PM. A signup sheet was distributed at the April guild meeting, and Alejandrina will send specific details to the guild members very soon.

          AAQI QUILTS

The quilts from our guild challenge are now posted on the AAQI site.

          FIELD TRIP

The date of the field trip to a quilt shop in the Rockledge area needed to be rescheduled.  The group selected June 2.  More information will be forthcoming from Alejandrina.

          BUSINESS CARDS

Members were given a few business cards in order to promote the guild to others who may be interested in joining.

VIII.  SHOW AND TELL

IX.  LUNCH FOLLOWING THE MEETING AT SO NAPA

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May 2012 Block of the Month

Another two-for-one little project for HST lovers! Here is the tutorial:

 Wild Waves Tutorial

You end up with two 12 1/2 blocks, using white and bright colors from the scrap basket, YEAH. The tutorial is quite detailed, so there is not a lot to add except to share a couple of my experiences building the sample block.

First, after building the half white-half color squares, you are supposed to sew them to the 4 1/4 white squares (tutorial figure 4) When I put them right sides together, they did not match at all! The white 4 1/4 squares are larger than the HSTs:

 Don't be alarmed, all is well...you get to trim the excess later. I matched the color corner and sewed on.

Second, when it is time to trim down to 3 1/2 inches (tutorial figure 6), I trimmed all 4 sides so that the point of the color triangle is always exactly at the center of a 3 1/2 inch square on the ruler. Like this:

You get perfect squares:

That's all I have to add. It was FUN to do.

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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).

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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.

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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. 

 

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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!

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Many Thanks!

The Orlando chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild would not exist without the perseverance and hard work of the founding member, Rene Martinez. She has served as our guild president for two years and as she transfers her leadership role to the next president we want to take this moment to acknowledge Rene.

You know that Rene is ready to share the responsibilities when you see that her OMQG cubby is nearly empty.  Many many thanks to you, Rene!

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