August BAMQG Meeting

I wasn’t able to make the meeting, so this will be a paltry post. Not sure what I will do for the BAMQG blog post. Hope someone comes through to help me out.

A-B-C Challenge

Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad

This Underground Railroad block has become one of my favorite blocks. I used it, differently colored, in the Stepping Stones quilt. After the Stepping Stones experience, I knew I had to add it to my collection of blocks for this challenge. As I have said many times, I love the way one slight change can make a block so extremely different. The coloration in the Stepping Stones quilt makes the fabulous overall pattern. The version to the left would have an Irish Chain kind of look if I put a bunch of similar blocks together.

Variable Star
Variable Star

I almost brought a W block, completely forgetting that V comes before W. In fairness, it isn’t completely my fault.I was relying on Around the Block and that book has no V blocks. It went straight from U to W, so I made a W block (yes, I am ahead, but you have to wait to see it). Then I realized what was happening and found the Variable Star in Around the block again. They use a template for the middle, rather than rotary cutting directions, because they want you to cut it on grain. I just cut it and was careful while sewing. I think it is probably off grain, but whatever. It is the middle of the block, so I am not worried.

Donation quilts

Yellow Donation Top - no borders
Yellow Donation Top – no borders

I love those Charity Girls. Have I said that? They are awesome. They REALLY make me want to make donation tops. Here is the yellow top I turned in this week. You have heard all about it in another post, so I am not going to say much more about it.

It is the top without borders. If you read the other post, you get the borders. I gave the top to Angela and she said that people really liked it. I am happy about that.

TFQ and I talked about other colors to use for these tops. I want to make an orange one and she suggested using another color besides black-on-white for the background. I think it is a good idea and thought of blue. That combo would really pop.

I am, however, on to the next top – another pink one. I have cut enough pink squares for almost the whole guild to each make a pink top. What was I thinking?

Workshop

Rhonda (organizer extraordinaire) did a great job on the improvisational piecing workshop. I have a spy who told me. I can’t wait to see the pictures.

I really like the BAMQG group. Some of the people are becoming my peeps! I was invited to join a small group, which is awesome! I am excited about that. More on that later.

July BAMQG Meeting

I have to admit that with everything that is going on I almost bailed on the meeting. It was a bit strange to have the BAMQG meeting in the middle of a long weekend. It was also a nice diversion. I am really glad I went. Kelly and Patti helped me with my Accuquilt Go! 2.5″ square die, I chatted with Kathleen about the next block challenge, caught up with the Charity Girls and dove into cat bed land by taking a catbed kit to make.

BAMQG Block Design Contest

BAMQG Design Block
BAMQG Design Block

You know I love a good block.

This is similar to the QuiltCon Block Design Contest. Ruth organized a block design challenge for the guild. I sent off my QuiltCon Blocks (there will be a post about them later), but I turned in my BAMQG Blocks yesterday.

Some of the blocks are from the Block-a-Long or modified from blocks I designed for that project. I haven’t made all of those Block-a-Long blocks, so I was glad to have the opportunity to do so.

BAMQG Design Block
BAMQG Design Block

I found the colors for the QuiltCon challenge to be quite limiting.The BAMQG challenge was even more limiting, but I made it work.

I am pleased with the way all of the blocks turned out despite the challenge of the color choices.

One thing that was on my mind throughout the challenge was the asymmetry mentioned on the Modern Quilt Guild website. I didn’t want to design Liberated blocks like Gwen Marston creates, but I did want a sporting chance, especially with the QuiltCon blocks, so I tried to add some asymmetry.

BAMQG Block #3
BAMQG Block #3

I have named this block #3, but I actually made it first. This one only has asymmetry in the coloration, not in the placement of the patches. I couldn’t help myself in that there is some good in symmetry, I think.

Sadly, my great work looks crappy next to the other blocks that people made. Not that my points don’t match or my technique is bad, but their design work was awesome.

Ruth's QuiltCon Block Challenge Block
Ruth’s QuiltCon Block Challenge Block

I am absolutely NOT saying this in an “oh poor me” kind of way. I am saying this, because Ruth’s creativity is something to which I want to aspire. I love the way she has used different fabrics in this piece, especially the grey. This block might look dated in a few years, but the dynamism and movement of the design will trump the fabrics. I would love to see a whole quilt made of this block. I am so thrilled for Ruth and excited to see her development as a quiltmaker.

BAMQG Block Challenge Member Blocks
BAMQG Block Challenge Member Blocks

Ruth’s block also reminds me of the ‘pushed neutral’ concept I learned back in the dark ages from Mary Mashuta. Essentially, the quiltmaker uses more than one fabric for the background in order to add interest. Ruth has done this in her block, though the greys are much bolder than Mary Mashuta imagined when I learned this concept. The boldness does add movement and interest to the piece.

People’s blocks for the BAMQG part of the challenge all look good together. The star at the bottom implies the BAMQG logo, which was clever. My attempt at asymmetry falls a bit flat in light of the asymmetry that others created. Perhaps my blocks will provide some resting space for people’s eyes?

QuiltCon Block Challenge Member blocks
QuiltCon Block Challenge Member blocks

One of the cool things about seeing the two different groups of blocks is that people who made blocks for both challenges often used the same block. I love seeing the different colors used in the same block.

The blocks also look really good together.

Rhonda had a bit of a vacation theme going in the work that she showed today. Her block is the glass of lemonade with the umbrella sticking out. There was discussion about whether it was lemonade or a margarita.

In some other work Rhonda showed appeared palm trees. I hope she has a beach vacation planned. 😉

Rhonda's Beverage
Rhonda’s Beverage
Terri Thayer
Terri Thayer

Speaker: Terri Thayer

I have known Terri for a long time, have her books and have been to meetings and retreats with her. I have never heard her speak and it was a distinct pleasure. She talked about her quilts and the development of her writing career. I was especially interested in that part. She mentioned a writing group and I am going to look into it so I can get my novel going again.

A-B-C Challenge

Lots of block making went on during the past month. In addition to the BAMQG challenge, the A-B-C Challenge continues and I made my two blocks, of course, Simple Flower Basket and True Blue.

As I mentioned earlier, I needed another basket block, so Simple Flower Basket did the trick for me. I just like the shape of True Blue, so I made it.

A-B-C Challenge: Simple Flower Basket
A-B-C Challenge: Simple Flower Basket
A-B-C Challenge: True Blue
A-B-C Challenge: True Blue

People are still working on their blocks, but I think there was a smaller group of blocks this time. Vacations and such, I am sure. We are hoping that people will finish their quilts so that we can enter them as a group in the San Mateo County Fair in 2013. We have 6 people working on quilts, but that number leaves no wiggle room for “life events.” Fingers crossed!

A-B-C Challenge Blocks- July
A-B-C Challenge Blocks- July

The blocks look really nice. I brought something to work on, but focused on talking with people and found out some interesting things about the way people are thinking about their A-B-C blocks.

Michelle, intelligently, planned out all the blocks she was going to make when she started. Using only two fabrics is a real challenge, so it was smart of her to take the time to plan out the blocks. Some blocks simply need a 3rd fabric and that wouldn’t work with her idea.

Her blue and white diagonal grid blocks (upper right hand corner) is interesting and cool.I wonder what it would look like in a quilt with fabrics gradated from light to dark. The lights could blend into the background and then appear somewhere in the middle of the quilt.

I have to say that one of the great things about this challenge is that I get to see a lot of different blocks.

Angela was back with her Hawaiian print blocks.

Rhonda is diligently catching up and making current blocks. Diana, as well.

I really got a shot in the arm at this meeting. Nothing special happened, but I felt good when I left. I felt excited and like I had my equilibrium back.

June BAMQG Meeting Notes

I am just back from the meeting and it was a crazy meeting! Crazy in a good, packed and exciting sort of way. Julie of Intrepid Thread brought me a giant (did I really buy that much??) package of fabric. At this writing I haven’t opened it yet. I know the Vintage Modern is in there. I’ll have to get started on that second Stepping Stones quilt soon.

A-B-C Challenge Blocks

Quilt in Light & Dark
Quilt in Light & Dark
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

These are my A-B-C Challenge blocks. Both blocks are from the Around the Block series. There was only one block that started with ‘Q’ in the whole series (that I could find). In EQ7, there isn’t really a way that I found to search successfully by the first letter of a block name. Later I went to Quilter’s Cache and the owner has several blocks there as well. None of them are 6″, though, so I would have had to resize one.

Rhonda's Blocks
Rhonda's Blocks

I like this block well enough, especially in the 6″ size, so it worked out. Kathleen did the same block in the 12″ size so you can see the difference. It would make a great exercise in negative space. I will think about making several to demonstrate negative space for the upcoming design series podcast on that topic.

I am having a very hard time with the Pure Elements Empire Yellow. I used it in the above ‘Q’ block as the background. Pat Bravo says that it goes with everything. I am not so sure. I am using it, because I have a limited number of fabrics to use and it does add an element of interest. Still, I am just not sure I would use it in another project.

Kathleen's Blocks
Kathleen's Blocks

I also brought my blocks for May, which I talked about in the last BAMQG post. There were only a few blocks this time – Leslie, Kathleen, Rhonda and I. Rhonda is catching up so she included her C & D blocks as well.

Leslie & my blocks
Leslie & my blocks

QuiltCon/BAMQG Block Challenge

Blocks for both challenges are due in July. There was just a brief mention at the meeting. I thought they were due in July (BAMQG) and August (QuiltCon). Something must have changed. I have a block or two for the BAMQG challenge done. I think I will just send in my QuiltCon blocks myself. We’ll see. Perhaps I’ll just do them and move on. If you are interested in participating the QuiltCon blocks have to arrive by August 15, 2012. See the QuiltCon Directions/information to get all the info.

Workshop!!!!

I was excited to hear that BAMQG’s first workshop ever is coming up!!! It is a dyeing workshop with Joy-Lily. As you know, I don’t dye, but if you want to participate, check out the BAMQG blog for contact info. Space is limited.

QuiltMarket Report

Adrianne & Julie
Adrianne & Julie

Julie and Adrianne spent 3 bliss-filled days at Quilt Market in Kansas City. They brought back stories, catalogs, fabric to fondle (not for us to buy or take!) and their enthusiasm. Someone asked if they ate BBQ and they said they did.

I didn’t have much of a chance to look at the stuff they brought back, but what I did see what interesting. Not sure what I’ll buy in terms of new fabrics, but we will see.

They talked a little about what was coming and what they saw:

Trends:

  • nautical themes
  • butterflies
  • magazines: GenQ’s new issue came out in a small format (think Ellery Queen Mystery magazine size), because they said they had printing problems. The content reflects what has been showing up on their Facebook page. Amy and David Butler are coming out with a new magazine called Blossom, which will pull in many of their creative friends and include non-quilt related artwork.

Fabric:

  • Michael Miller has new fabric laminated on the inside. I can’t quite picture this, but Julie said it would be good for diaper covers and shopping bags.
  • Amy Butler’s new Cameo line looked amazing to Adrianne and Julie
  • FreeSpirit’s new lines have a very sophisticated look
  • Robert Kaufman had adjunct color cards which have their new colors
  • Moda has Brigitte’s ZenChic

Demos

Today’s demo is the beginning of a 4 part series loosely around the idea of making a quilt. The series includes:

  • Design (June 2012 meeting)
  • Piecing (August 2012 meeting)
  • Quilting (September 2012 meeting)
  • Binding (November 2012 meeting)

I gave a short demo on design. You can see the Design Overview from when Sandy and I did our podcast, but I will post some new notes with some changes on the BAMQG blog soon.

Swap

“A Stud & a Dud” went forth with much hilarity.  I did not participate. I didn’t know that there would be stealing going on and I don’t really like activities where that happens. The reality was that I just didn’t have time to organize myself and get some books together. There was choosing and swapping and stealing that all went on. I think the library where we meet benefited from some donations as well. Thanks to Amanda for organizing the swap. She is really a creative swap organizer.

Show & Tell

Sheetal's quilt
Sheetal's quilt

As usual, Show & Tell was great. There is so much good work happening in this area!

Right is Sheetal’s quilt. I encouraged her to finish out the pluses into the border. I think this is a great pattern for large prints. The question was about the fabrics. They are flannel and she hasn’t washed them. She wasn’t sure if she could get more of the same fabrics again (they are old Anna Maria Horner fabrics), but she liked the idea of continuing the motifs out to the border and will try.

We talked about another quilt of hers that she made from old shirts. I really liked it as it was and she did, too, but her husband complained that it wasn’t large enough. I think we decided that not all of her quilts had to keep his 6’4″ frame warm and toasty.

Jennifer's quilt
Jennifer's quilt

Jennifer made this quilt (left) with 10 fat quarters.  It isn’t very large (large lap or nap quilt, definitely bigger than a baby quilt), but it isn’t tiny either. It makes me think of how much fabric is really in a fat quarter, a half yard, a yard and…. I don’t think I want to go there.

Jennifer’s quilt is really effective. I like the movement, which I think is partly the fabric choices. There is something about the pieces interlocking with each other that I think would be fun to play with.

Jennifer does so much for the Charity project that I was really glad to see that she is able to do her own work as well.

Kathleen's Improvisational Challenge
Kathleen's Improvisational Challenge

Kathleen’s Liberated top is somewhat of a departure for her. She said it was the first piece in this style that she has made.

It is wall sized. She explained the exercise (online) and it sounded like a lot of fun, but also lot of frustration, too. She didn’t know what was coming, so it was hard to make design decisions about the part on which she was working. I think it sounds like a good exercise, but you have to be willing to go back and change elements that would make the design better. It sounds like she is going to do that for a couple of the parts and I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Woven Quilt
Woven Quilt

I didn’t make a note of who made this quilt (so sorry!), but I really like the design. I can imagine it with fabrics placed a little differently so it would look even more woven than it already does.

I definitely get the feeling that I am looking through some kind of lattice or bamboo screen.

Notice the equilateral triangles? I love those, as you know. 😉

Door Prizes

WOW! There were a ton of door prizes! I won a book, but there were charm packs, fabric, patterns – all kinds of things. Thanks to Angela for her hard work.

Charity Quilts

Jennifer was there with her well prepared table of packets and prepared fabric. There were at least 5 tops and one finished quilt handed in. The guild members are amazingly generous with their time, materials and enthusiasm. These quilts will be filled with good energy when the children receive them.

Amanda's Charity Top
Amanda's Charity Top

Amanda made the top with the circles. It is fabulous. One of the things I like about it is the 4 rows of squares in the middle. There are a lot of possibilities using that element. My mind is swirling around that element.

 

CQFA Meeting – Saturday

Fabric Paper

My Work Area
My Work Area

The CQFA workshop for May was doing the next part of the Fabric Papermaking process that I described last week. We painted our pieces. I tried not to obscure the work I had already done, but it was very clear to me that the first step should just be done as fast as possible so that you can make a lot. The paint can obscure beautiful compositions, so I tried to use light washes. Julie was sitting next to me and we discussed using watercolors, but we weren’t sure if they would adhere.

Above (and perhaps to the left on your screen) is a picture of my workstation. I wasn’t sharing a table with Rhonda, which made me sad, but I was sharing with Friend Julie, which made me very happy.

You can see my high tech palette (the paper plate) filled with aqua, pink and lime. I also found some Sparkle Glaze in my cabinet of wonder in the fabric closet. I brought that along and all of my pieces have a slight glittery look to them, which I like.

The piece next to the palette is one in which I used a blue fabric. I wanted to tone it down a bit and, I think, if you look at the edges, you can see that I succeeded.

The lime paint wasn’t so successful. It made my pieces look yellow, so I added some aqua to it to get rid of the yellow cast.

Julie's piece
Julie's piece

Julie was not able to join us for the Between Meeting Meeting at Sue’s to make paper, so she made some at home on her own. She has an excellent collection of stamps and brought a bunch. I just painted my pieces and didn’t use any textures on them. When I saw this piece I wished I had. She used a Duplo (the big Lego version they make for toddlers) to make the dots. I think it looks fabulous!

Julie's dots - detail
Julie's dots - detail

The reason I only painted my pieces is I wanted to do the simplest steps so I could see how they worked. I don’t know if I will do this again, but I like to have a good foundation. I think to use stamps successfully, I will need to make much simpler foundation paper/fabric.

I may ask Julie if I can print out her fabric paper on TAP or on fabric and use it that way.

Sue's Orange Piece
Sue's Orange Piece
Another Pretty Piece
Another Pretty Piece

The pink/green/netting piece (below) was out in the hallway drying, so I don’t know who made it, but it was another really good one.

This is a technique with so many opportunities for creativity, because of all the layers.

I look forward to making more of it. I think I will try to convince Angela and Rhonda to get together with me at A Work of Heart one day and work on a bunch of new pieces. I suggested to Sue that she should propose a class to Andrea. Once I figure out whether this fabric-paper works for the Remains of the Day type journals, that might be another draw. Sue has a full-time job, so there may not be time in her busy life for such an endeavor.

Show & Tell
There were some ‘Tells’, which was interesting and a lot of Shows. I showed the Food Quilt as it will be firmly ensconced on the Young Man’s bed by the next meeting. 😉 I hope I can drag it away to show at the next BAMQG meeting.

Angela showed her Travel journal, which is similar to my Red Journal, but a new class iteration by Andrea. I took very few photos of show & tell.

ATCs

Bron & Jaye ATCs
Bron & Jaye ATCs

Thanks again to Maureen who organized us to make more ATCs. I haven’t gotten back on my series of inspiration cards, but perhaps I will again?

Mine were more using TAP. I did 8 or 9 last time and finished up the last 4 for this meeting. I should have done something new, but didn’t make the time. I won’t be at the next meeting, which means I have 4 months to come up with some spectacular. Perhaps I’ll use some bits of silk to really make them sparkle?

More ATCs
More ATCs

I really love the different looks that come together when we put our ATCs down on the table. Look how vibrant and bright and crisp Mel’s ATCs look compared to the rest of ours? I think I need to play around with color a bit more on my next ATCs.

Under the Sea Challenge

Mel's Under the Sea Challenge
Mel's Under the Sea Challenge

I didn’t do this challenge even though I took the pieces. My excuse is that I couldn’t find them. Truly, I didn’t have time, though I do appreciate the organization that went into the challenge.

Mel’s piece (above) was inspired by the paintings of dogs playing poker. She has fish playing poker. Not only do I love the humor, but the workmanship looks wonderful, too.

I was so impressed with the quality of work that people showed. I am kind of glad I lost the pieces (they will turn up, I am sure), because I am not sure I could have come up with something to rival what others did. I know I shouldn’t compare my work to others, but it is hard when I am in the company of greatness. You know now why I drive to the back of beyond to hang out with these wonderful women.

Maureen's pouch
Maureen's pouch

Maureen made a zippered pouch. She used some of the vinyl for the front. Remember my clear tote? She said she wanted to see how her new machine handled the vinyl. I didn’t hear the details on that, but will have to ask her.

There was a lot of discussion of creating depth using fabric and I was interested in the different ways that people achieved that look.

Sonja (piece on the left) created depth by using different layers of tulle and adhering the fish and other critters to the different layers. You can see that some look more obscured than the others. I really like this look and it made me think of the undersea piece I did in Pamela Allen’s class and whether tulle would be appropriate.

Ann’s piece is on the right. I noticed that she is attracted to plants (the motifs seem to show up frequently in her work), so I wasn’t surprised to see a lot of plants in her piece. She had a piece in the Olive Hyde Gallery recently.

Rhonda's Pillow
Rhonda's Pillow

I was shocked SHOCKED! to learn that this was the first time Rhonda had used fusible. I have not yet begun to plumb the depths of Rhonda, that is for sure. She really did a nice job on her pillow. A number of the motifs looked painted to me, but I didn’t have a chance to explore further with her. I’ll have to ask her.

Another thing I think worked very well is that people did not feel the urge to use all the pieces they selected. There were a lot of minimalist pieces. I know I felt overwhelmed trying to think of how I could make a cohesive piece out of all of the different styles and colors. Why didn’t I think to select certain ones? I guess it is a good day when I learn something.

Virginia's Two-fer
Virginia's Two-fer

Virginia, always clever, was even more clever this time. The blocks were from a previous challenge that she has stashed away. She remembered them and pulled them out for this challenge. They really make a perfect ocean looking background.

I know Virginia is working on finishing up some of her UFOs. this seems to be to be the perfect confluence of such an endeavor.

 

 

 

FabMo

FabMo Buttons
FabMo Buttons

As I may have mentioned, we meet in FabMo’s classroom space. Bron, is on the FabMo Board and will sometimes open up the fabric space for us to gather supplies.

She said they had received some donations of buttons, so I went to look and picked out a few (left). I have an idea to make a fabric card holder (as opposed to felt like the ones I made in 2010) and I need a few more buttons to replenish my stock. I thought these would work for what I want to do and they are larger than the ones that TFQ bought for me as a gift, so I am not duplicating efforts. We’ll see if I actually do it.

The red buttons just appealed to me. I am sure I can find something to do with them.

I also plan to use them to continue embellishing the Christmas stockings. I started on it last year as a sort of in between project with no real deadline. I think there is a lot I can do to make those stockings look prettier. If I were to do them over, I would definitely use wool felt.

BAMQG May Meeting

A-B-C Challenge: O & P Blocks
A-B-C Challenge: O & P Blocks

I went to the CQFA meeting today, but not BAMQG. 🙁 , I know. Too much family stuff going on and I needed at least a few hours off. We have more tomorrow, so choices had to be made. I miss the BAMQG people. I really thank Angela for bringing a bunch of stuff to the meeting for me.

A-B-C Challenge

I made the O and the P blocks for the A-B-C Challenge.

Ocean Wave
Ocean Wave
A-B-C Challenge: Peace & Plenty
A-B-C Challenge: Peace & Plenty

I am pretty pleased with the way these blocks turned out. They are the first blocks I chose based on what type of blocks I need to finish the quilt. The Peace & Plenty block goes well with the Electric Fan while the Ocean Wave goes well with the King’s Crown in terms of shape and style.

Q and R are next month. I hope there is something good for Q!

Donations

Blue Donation Quilt
Blue Donation Quilt

Angela agreed to drop off the Blue Donation quilt I made so somebody can quilt it.

I also finished the back yesterday. I made the back from the cut off edges of the Stars for San Bruno quilts. I could only find enough of those large strips to finish about half of a back, but decided to just bite the bullet, pull from my stash and finish it. I had pulled out some fabrics last weekend, but didn’t think there was enough. There was one big piece that started the finishing process off and that piece made the back nearly large enough. All I had to do was put a couple more inches on two sides and, unless someone plans to longarm the quilt, I was good to go.

The back is one of my usual pieced backs, but not very ‘modern.’ I hope they don’t mind. It is what it is.

Blue donation quilt back
Blue donation quilt back

I also had a few donation blocks, but not very many. I felt bad about that until I realized I had put a whole quilt AND Frankenbatting AND back together! Now I don’t feel bad and I am moving forward on the next donation piece!

I decided I wanted to work with pink. I actually have been cutting pieces for a pink quilt for awhile, but I want to work with pink for a donation quilt. I am sure there are some girly girls out there who will appreciate it. I am prepping pinks to cut into 2.5″ squares to combine with the black on white fabrics. I am interested to see how those blocks will look. Hope the Charity girls don’t mind my experimentation. 😉

Kona quilts

BAMQG RK Kona Challenge
BAMQG RK Kona Challenge

The group is entering Kona challenge quilts into the Fair as a group, so Angela took my Kona challenge quilt to the meeting as well. Amanda kindly agreed to drop it off for me. I have to do the paperwork, though. AND I need to do the paperwork NOW!

I wanted to enter something into the Fair and this is as good a thing as any. Perhaps I will still get the parking passes.

I am off to sew. I am determined to finish the latest Swoon block today and perhaps get started on those pink donation blocks. Have a great rest of your day!

 

BAMQG April Meeting

The BAMQG Meeting was yesterday. There hasn’t been a meeting since the February meeting, so people were anxious to see each other. TFQ thought there were about 35 people at the meeting. Sara reported about 50 members total. Adrianne was sick, so she didn’t make it and we missed her smiling face. Kathleen did a great job standing in. It was good practice for when she is Prez next year. 😉

A-B-C Challenge

A-B-C Challenge Blocks
A-B-C Challenge Blocks

We had the big reveal of the A-B-C Challenge blocks and they are great. this time we were asked not to bring all the blocks as the “design wall overfloweth” — heh! — just the ones for the past two months (K-N). My March blocks were King’s Crown and Lincoln. My April blocks were May Basket and Northwind. Now I have to get busy with O & P. I have O selected, but not P. We’ll see what Around the Block has to say about P blocks!

A-B-C Challenge: Lincoln
A-B-C Challenge: Lincoln
A-B-C Challenge: King's Crown
A-B-C Challenge: King's Crown
A-B-C Challenge: May Basket
A-B-C Challenge: May Basket
A-B-C Challenge: Northwind
A-B-C Challenge: Northwind

Whenever I see what others have made, I want to make more blocks. I like Kathleen’s Jester (don’t know real name) block (top left) and Rhonda’s Kansas Dugout block (bottom right, circle-ish).

I hope we have another block challenge when this one is done. I was trying to think of what would be good parameters for another block challenge. In my mind, a good block challenge would have some constraints, but not so many that people couldn’t make what they wanted. I thought of blocks based on a 9 patch or 4 patch grid, but haven’t thought of anything else.

Swaps and Challenges

Both the Echo and the Pillow Swap were due on Saturday. People did GREAT work. I especially noticed it on the pillows. The work made my Teacher pillows look sad. There were zippers and covered buttons and piping and ruffles, etc. I was impressed and glad I didn’t participate, because my pillows would not have looked nearly as good as these. I was so pleased to see people doing their best work.

Mel's Pillow
Mel's Pillow
Spiderweb Pillow
Spiderweb Pillow
Joy-Lily's pillow
Joy-Lily's pillow
Amanda's Pillow
Amanda's Pillow

 

Joy-Lily used one of the patterns from her book, Carefree Quilts, for the pillow she made. One of my favorites was the pillow that Amanda received. I liked the block (the maker used 4 of them) the maker used to make the pillow. It has that Lozenge shape I have been thinking about.

Marci's Echo Challenge
Marci's Echo Challenge

My camera is acting up and this photo does not do justice to Marci’s awesome work. Her personal challenge this year is the Storm at Sea block. She said she used every scrap of the challenge fabric and other bits from her stash. Marci did not buy any fabric for this challenge.

Someone brought a journal cover for the Echo challenge. I wanted to see it closer, but unfortunately she left before I could talk with her.

Show & Tell

Kathleen's Blockwork Orange
Kathleen's Blockwork Orange

Kathleen showed the blocks for this quilt before. She made them in a Flickr Swap and it has taken her awhile to put them together. I really like the way this quilt turned out. She said she won’t put a border on it, but will bind it in orange. The blocks were wonky 9 patch blocks. I really like the setting. They don’t look like wonky 9 patches. I think I need to sew faster, because I just thought I would like to do something like this.

A number of people said that they were very productive, but had already sent off their finishes to their swap partners from Flickr or other sites. This reminds me of doing swaps when the Internet first became available.

Claire's tool roll
Claire's tool roll

Claire was inspired by my pencil rolls to make to make a sewing tools holder. She did a really clever job with the top. She added a kind of elasticized cover to the top so that the tools wouldn’t fall out.

Sew Time

I have been a slacker about the binding for Stars for San Bruno #3. I am so close and yet, I have have been working on the Flowering Snowball during my hand sewing time instead of the binding. SO I brought only the Stars for San Bruno #3. I did not have anything else to work so I had to work on the binding and when I wasn’t chatting I made some progress. I sewed down the binding on one whole side and just rounded a corner before it was time to pack up. Being int he groove, I also worked on it in the evening. Still not done, but I want those quilts out of my hair and I want a finish, so I am going to get myself in gear.

We stopped at Nancy’s after the meeting and had some cocktails and cocktail snacks. Nancy and I need to hop back on the Tsukineko ink bandwagon soon.

EBHQ Show

Craneway Pavillion
Craneway Pavillion

On Saturday (National Quilting Day!), I went to the Voices in Cloth Show, which is put on every 2 years by one of my guilds, the East Bay Heritage Quilters. Friend Julie of High Fiber Content, Mom of Mary’s Art Musings and TFQ of No Scrap too Small made up my carpool.

It was a great show! I would say that the overarching theme that I saw was color: GLORIOUS color and not just in the Kaffe Fassett way. The colors of the show were colors that I use and I realized that it must be the light in our area. The bright colors can stand up to the bright light we get.

The location was new and I was reluctant to go, but I couldn’t back out after promising to drive 3 other people I would drive them. I am glad I went. I wasn’t able to take the train, which was a big downside, but aside from the quilts being gorgeous, the space was wonderful! There were huge windows and lots of natural light that made for a pleasant viewing experience and showed off the quilts to their best advantage.

View towards the City
View towards the City

We had a respite from the rain, which poured down in buckets yesterday. I was glad, because although I could have taken our heavier car, I didn’t really want to. I don’t drive it much so am not as comfortable driving it in heavy traffic. I am glad I had the option.

The clouds were still dark and looking like they would let loose anytime. The clouds made for beautiful views out the windows. I could see at least two bridges and some of the islands.

One of the first things I did was drop the Food Quilt off to my quilter. She had a booth at the show and I was so glad to see her. She is down until at least April 18, so I have time to bring two more quilts over. I have FOTY 2011 and the Stepping Stones in the queue. Also, perhaps, with any luck, I can finish The Renewed Jelly Roll Race and bring that one to her, too. That is a lot of quilting in a month!

In a Pickle by Carolyn Brien
In a Pickle by Carolyn Brien

I am not sure if this quilt by Carolyn Brien is my favorite of the whole show, but it does epitomize the color and vibrancy of the show.

This is a great, classic pattern. Carolyn said that she was inspired by the cover of Kaffe Fassett’s book, Quilt Romance.

The food situation was a little dicey. For me, I always bring something, because I never know if there will be food I can eat. In this case there was a restaurant next door to the venue. They supplied the box lunches, but we went into the restaurant to sit down for awhile. It was over an hour from the time we walked in the door until the time we had food set in front of us. Some of my companions were about to start gnawing on their own limbs by the time the food arrived. I wasn’t really very hungry and there was very little on the menu I could eat, so I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about the meal anyway. The restaurant near the venue is a great idea, but they just did not have enough tables and waitstaff to accommodate the crush of quiltmakers. I think next time they should arrange for the gourmet food trucks to come. That would be awesome!

One thing I was asked to do was a beading/embellishment demo.I am not sure why they pegged me for beading (perhaps someone saw Kissy Fish?), but it was fun. It lasted about half an hour. I showed them what I do, which is VERY basic, answered questions and then was done. I am embarrassed to say that I did very little preparation. I got out the Garden quilt and decided to use that as an example. I meant to quilt it, but just didn’t take the time, so I went ahead with the demo without the quilting. I did tell them to machine quilt it before beading is usually the best route. It was fun and I was glad to have recently completed Kissy Fish, so the process was fresh in my mind.

Fabric - EBHQ March 2012
Fabric - EBHQ March 2012

I also did a bit of fabric damage and bought some beads. I actually have some ideas for some of the pieces. I seem to be falling into the grey fad. I bought a large piece of a background grey on spec (lower left corner). TFQ bought some as well. She will test the pattern I am writing with it and some Bali Pops Tonga treats.

All in all it was a good day. I am glad I went.

BAMQG February Meeting

The Bay Area Modern Meeting was yesterday and fun as usual. There is much talk of the upcoming retreat and also of the recent Sew Day. 46 people, the most EVER!, attended the meeting and the group had its first ever speaker. Lots of firsts.

A-B-C (A-Z) Challenge

We displayed our A-B-C Challenge blocks. Mine are Jewel Box and Indian.

Jewel Box
Jewel Box
Indian
Indian

There are about 7-8 participants. Diana just joined by doing one block and Jennifer joined, doing a-J (minus I). I really like this challenge. It is great that I have a  reason to make a block every month (not that I really need an excuse).

A-B-C Challenge - All blocks
A-B-C Challenge - All blocks

Angela brought two Hawaiian blocks (far left). I love it that she is doing these blocks in Hawaiian fabrics. Most people don’t use Hawaiian fabrics as regular fabrics for regular blocks.

Michelle is doing her blue and white blocks (also far left). We are getting so far along in the project that not all of us were able to put up all of our blocks and Michelle was one of them. It occurred to me that she might have the hardest job of all since not all possible blocks are suitable for two colors.

Kathleen’s blocks are still the black, white and red ones. She is doing a good job choosing how much print to put into each block.

Jennifer's blocks
Jennifer's blocks

Jennifer is using the Lazy Girl ruler for her blocks (middle with all the points). She has just started the challenge and is catching up.

My blocks
My blocks
Lynnette's blocks
Lynnette's blocks

My blocks are on the top right. Lynette’s are the grey and green on the bottom right. I like the way Lynnette’s blocks have an on point sort of look. Many of them have half square triangles in the corners. She made a Glacier Bay block as well and it is really great to see how different it looks from mine. She uses fussy cutting in her blocks and the technique in Glacier Bay is particularly effective.

Speaker

Joy-Lily Prep
Joy-Lily Prep

Joy-Lily brought books, Carefree Quilts, and quilts to her talk. The quilts she brought were all from her book, so we didn’t get a sense of the evolution of her work. She organized the talk to coincide with sections of the book, which was a good idea, especially if one had the book and could follow along. A clever portion of the book is that if you make all the blocks you end up with an extra block from each of the projects with which  you can make a sampler quilt. Joy-Lily had someone else make the sampler quilt and the maker did a great job. I really like the colors.

Joy-Lily Sampler
Joy-Lily Sampler

All the quilts from the book are all kind of wonky. Joy-Lily doesn’t think that people can do perfect matching seams and has written her book to that end.

Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt
Leaf quilt

The Leaf quilts are very inspired and I think that that block is one of my favorites from the book.

Crayon quilt
Crayon quilt
Wonky disappearing 9 patch
Wonky disappearing 9 patch
Flying Geese
Flying Geese

Sewing Time
Adrianne was a madwoman (in a good way!) on getting us to our sewing time. We were done with show and tell at 3:05 and everyone started moving tables, setting up machines and working away. I sat with Chris and TFQ and worked on the border test I have been wanting to do for a long time. Chris and TFQ were both working on hand projects. TFQ is handquilting a lovely quilt (which I forgot to photograph) with Perl cotton. Chris is working on an art piece where she is couching down some threads that have, what look like, little flowers on them. Again, I was so wrapped in my own project that I didn’t take a photo. Perhaps she will post to her blog.

I wish I had gotten a photo of the little sewing pod in the middle of the room. Ruth, Adrianne, Kathleen and bunches of other people were set up there. Such a buzz of activity! It was wonderful.

Charity Quiltmaking

Deborah and Jennifer collected bunches of more fabric and quilts and other necessities for the charity quilts the group is making for the NICU at Stanford. I can’t be too upset about the lack of a Cal connection, because it feels good to be helping children and their families in need. I posted the 16 patch blocks I made yesterday. The selection of fabric packets wasn’t stellar, but I retrieved 4 more batches of fabric, but I also spoke to Jennifer about the background. She said any white is fine. I have some white-on-whites that I will use with some of my scraps to make my own blocks. I gave them most of the Pineapple blocks that were the wrong size, so I can, now, cross that off the 26 Projects list.

I realized that one reason I enjoy working on this project with the BAMQG people is that Deborah and Jennifer are so kind and serene about the whole endeavor. I am not sure if those are the right words, but I know that they express genuine gratitude with donations and they do not harangue or guilt people into participating. They are also really well organized and the 16 patch block they selected, as I am sure I have said before is a stroke of genius. I have never felt like I am really contributing to a charity project as I do with this one. I also feel like it is fun. All in all a very good experience.

Jennifer and Deborah have a goal of 24 quilts in mind for this year, but they think they will surpass that. They already have 6 quilts, including one that I donated, the Crazy Quilt Test. I meant to send it to Japan after the earthquake, but somehow it never made it.

More on Show and Tell later

CQFA Retreat: My Work

As usual, I started my Fabric of the Year 2011. I made good progress, but I did not finish.

Before I left for the Retreat, I spent time organizing the patches into color families and then from light to dark. Normally, I figure out the size of the finished piece and do more organizational stuff. No time this year and it was fine.

Once at the Retreat, I spent a lot of time – all day Friday – arranging the color gradations. I got opinions from others about the placement of certain patches. I used my camera to look at the patches in a different way and it was a useful tool in my arsenal of work. Above you can see the progression. The top left is pretty soon after I put all the patches on the wall. The last photo, bottom left, is, basically, what I took home.

I had to pin and wrap the pieces in the portable design wall. I set it up in my workroom and am working on it.

I am glad of the progress I made it on it at the Retreat, but I prefer to work in my workroom. As I started work on Monday, I felt an ease come over me and the work began to go very well. I hope to be done sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.

 

 

CQFA Retreat Work

The CQFA Retreat was over the weekend. It was a relatively quiet retreat. Several people had to cancel at the last moment, which was a shame. Still, we had a good time and people made good progress on their various progress.

My spot with Julie
My spot with Julie

We were in the same location as last year, which has a separate building in which we are able to sew.

Other sewing space
Other sewing space

This was my view as I sewed. Reva does wonderful work and it was wonderful to watch her, Sue and Robin’s work evolve.

Reva's Black & White Piece
Reva’s Black & White Piece

The black and white piece is made from the fat quarter bundle Reva won from the prizes we got from Fabricworm.

Robin's Blooming 9 Patch
Robin’s Blooming 9 Patch

Robin’s Blooming 9 Patch was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I liked looking at it. I like the pink.

Robin's Blooming 9 Patch 2
Robin’s Blooming 9 Patch 2

Robin added some 4 patches on the ends to make the piece a bit longer.

Sue's Scrap Quilt
Sue’s Scrap Quilt

Sue half square triangle scrap quilt is the kind of project I like to do on the Retreat. Sue had the blocks done and thought to do the rest at home. We encouraged her to use Robin’s design wall to finish the piece. She did so and made good progress. She wanted to use up as many scraps as she could and I think that she did well. Sue is making this quilt for her bed.

Maureen's work
Maureen’s work

I think the pink fabric in the middle left looks like the leaves a tree with the trunk being the piece right below. I mentioned it and Maureen said that we all see what we want to see.

Julie's work
Julie’s work
Julie's Calendar Piece
Julie’s Calendar Piece
Julie's Baggo Piece
Julie’s Baggo Piece

Julie made a lot of progress on various pieces. She started some and made progress on others. I was very impressed with her progress.

The Baggo piece is from a challenge where each person receives a bag of supplies from another and makes something out of it. I was particularly taken with the Baggo piece’s eye stamps. I was even more impressed when Julie told me she carved them herself. I really like the images and encouraged her to make more and sell them. I would be first in line for a set although I don’t do much stamping.

She quilted and bound this piece. She was irritated at the binding, which tinkled every time she worked on it, because of the bells she had added. I told her to stop and do something else in between. By the end of the weekend, the binding was done and Julie was not gnashing her teeth.

Julie
Julie

We went out to dinner on Saturday night together, which was fun. We had the most wonderful waiter who was kind, didn’t complain about any special requests and gave us each individual bills.

CQFA January Meeting

CQFA was last Saturday. It was an All Quiltmaking All the Time kind of day, because BAMQG was on the same day. Good, but a bit exhausting.

In December, the Steering Committee got into high gear after the November meeting and decided to change things up a bit for CQFA.

First, we changed our meeting location and met at FabMo. We want to make a sewing mess and the church frowned upon threads and pins. Also, the church cleaners came during the meeting and we were often overcome by fumes created by their strong cleaning products. The gardeners were also there during our morning meetings with their blowers drowning out our discussions. Finally, we wanted to support the great organization that FabMo is. The room was smaller than we are used to, but I think it had good energy.

Next, the schedule was rearranged. Workshops and demos were getting short shrift, because they were last on the agenda. During this meeting the workshop was first, so that people who spent a lot of time preparing a presentation would have a full house. I think it worked beautifully, because when I got there there was a full house of humming sewing machines.

The schedule change was good for me, especially this time, because I had a hard week at work, the drive to CQFA is long and I was tired. I decided not to participate in the workshop this time, so I stayed in bed a little longer and went to the meeting a little later. It worked out fine.

The group was partway through a round robin in a day challenge when I arrived. Maureen was organizing and she was timing people. I think the intervals were about 15 minutes. People came up with great pieces.

Round Robin in a Day piece
Round Robin in a Day piece
Round Robin in a Day piece - detail
Round Robin in a Day piece - detail

I don’t know who belongs to the piece above, but I really liked how someone did stitching using the programmed stitches on their machine. What an effective idea!

Sewing Round Robin in a Day pieces
Sewing Round Robin in a Day pieces

One of the issues/challenges of this work is that the participants had very little time to add borders or other fabric. As a result, they were very creative in their efforts. I saw Nancy doing hand stitching on one piece and I saw someone else add birds to the birdcages that were already printed on the fabric.

Chris' Round Robin in a Day piece
Chris' Round Robin in a Day piece

One of the things I like about CQFA is how creative and fearless people are in their work. Why not? The photo far above is an excellent example. The use of the machine stitching in the turquoise, black and white piece is subtle, yet effective.  Above the birds really add a lot to the birdcage piece.

LIz Berg Journal Pages
LIz Berg Journal Pages

As you know, I have been working on some journals similar to the Red Journal, so I was very pleased to see Liz Berg‘s work. She had Gessoed and painted the pages and was doing handstitching on them at the meeting. She was using something like Perl Cotton. While I have been in a hand work desert, I have been getting some good ideas for projects to do on the couch.

Dolores
Dolores

Dolores is cracking the whip on show and tell. No more 20 minutes per person. We had to do this now that the group is growing. I wonder if we will need to start taking applications for membership?

I knew this would happen, so I only brought Kissy Fish. Lots of great work and Caroline brought a wonderful book on using thread. I love Caroline, because she actually reads the books and does what they tell her. She did a bunch of samples of stitches on her machine.

Dolores bought a midarm and has been testing on unquilted pieces in her closet. Lots of  friendly jealousy in the room.I wonder if she’ll loan it out? 😉

Was glad to see everyone and get back int he quilty groove. Now I just have to get my worklife settled so I can participate in the workshops!

January BAMQG Meeting

The BAMQG meeting was yesterday. I was lazy and didn’t blog as much for them over the holidays as I should have. I blame the cold I had. I am having a hard time getting back into the swing.

Thanks for your Service

2011 Officers with Gift Bags
2011 Officers with Gift Bags

The 2011 Officers did a great job. I kind of nudged people to get some gifts together. People really ran with the idea, which was great.

Kathleen's Gift Bag
Kathleen's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag

A few people made bags and everyone else added little bibs and bobs to create nice gift bags. It was nice not to make all the bags and I enjoyed seeing the different patterns and fabrics that the bag makers used.

I made the purple bag which ended up with Kathleen. The bits and pieces were nice to look at. Rhonda had put together the parts that we solicited from other members.

Some of the things in the bags were pins, fat quarters, needle cases, the Joen Wolfrom Design ratio tool, disappearing pen, grip dots, scarves, machine sewing needles, Invisigrip and many other fun things.

Ruth and Adrianne were really busy and I wasn’t able to get photos of their gift bags. Check the BAMQG blog and perhaps I will be able to post some photos there.

A-B-C Challenge

We have five participants who brought blocks for the A-B-C Challenge this time. Angela was too busy to make her Hawaiian versions, but I am sure she will bring some next time.  😉

Some people brought both G and H, others brought G, some of us brought all of our blocks. Kathleen and I have done a number of the same blocks and it is fun to see how different they look in the different sizes and fabrics.

January A-B-C Challenge Blocks
January A-B-C Challenge Blocks

 

Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay

This is my G block for the A-B-C Challenge. It is called Glacier Bay and is from Around the Block Again by Judy Hopkins (pg.68). It is also a 6″ block and I cut nearly every piece a little bigger and then trimmed. It still came out a bit wonky, but I like the general effect. I think it would make a really cool secondary pattern if I put many of them together.

I don’t remember ever seeing this block before. Lynette has the 501 Rotary Cutting Blocks version of Around the Block, which I thought had ALL the blocks from the three books, but Glacier Bay was not in it.

Hovering Hawks
Hovering Hawks

I am really like this challenge as it allows me to make one block rather than a whole something every month. Kathleen wants to speed the challenge up a bit, so we will be doing two letters each month for the rest of the year. Next month are I and J.

I am resolved to make the blocks sharpish rather than waiting. I have even thought of making the rest of the alphabet all at once and being done with it. I have a sashing idea that I got from Pam. I am thinking about starting adding the sashing as I go along so that I won’t have to do all the cutting at once. We’ll see.

Question of the Month

Rhonda creates the QotM and this month it was: “What are your quilt resolutions?” Most were normal resolutions about finishing and curbing buying, but some were really interesting. I wrote them out as people said. These aren’t my resolutions, necessarily.

  • use more than I buy
  • finish one project before starting another
  • buy less fabric
  • use scraps to make scrap quilts
  • finish virtual swaps and bees projects
  • teach
  • quilt one per month on the longarm
  • take sewing machine to be serviced
  • end year with 5 fewer UFOs than the year started with
  • improvise
  • organize so sewing does not take over house
  • make something from solids
  • stop fearing binding
  • make one charity quilt
  • bring something to show and tell
  • spend more time with real people than with sewing machine
  • trust the experience I am feeling
  • don’t buy fabric I don’t like
  • make husband a quilt
  • documenting quilts (labels and such)
  • be liberated and wonky
  • use orange and yellow
  • start a quilt/craft blog
  • make mom a quilt
  • try curved piecing
  • re-sort/organize fabric
  • finish husband’s quilt
  • plan less and do more

Charity Quilts

Art Gallery Fabrics offers a bag of scraps free for people who will be using the scraps to make charity/donation quilts. Contact Pat Bravo for details. I don’t have her email address, but Art Gallery has a page on FB so, perhaps, you can inquire there.

Deborah made a version of Elizabeth Hartman’s Mod Mosaic quilt with scraps (quite large scraps, actually) from Pat Bravo. What a nice idea.

Postage stamp-type block
Postage stamp-type block

Two quilts were finished. A very large number of the postage stamp kits from the December meeting were turned into blocks and returned. I only took one kit last time, but took several during this meeting.

Schnibbles for Cat Beds

Sadly, Amanda has too many scraps and will hold off taking any more until she has made more cat beds. She said that her garage is being overrun. She really needs help making the actual cat beds.

Angela and I were able to spend a few minutes chatting. I spent a lot of the sewing time chatting and looking at what other people were doing. I couldn’t be bothered putting up a table to work on my own projects, an action I will regret later.

BAMQG Meeting

Flock of Geese
Flock of Geese

This is my ‘F’ block for the A-B-C challenge. There were a number of blocks with names beginning with F that were appealing, so it was hard to choose. I might do another one.

I really like that blue. It comes out a little darker on my screen than in real life, but is a very calming color.

Kathleen did the same block, but in black and white. It it always fun for me to see the same blocks done in different colors and sizes. As I have said many, many times, that is one of my joys in making blocks.

Electric Fan
Electric Fan

I saw Kathleen’s Electric Fan at the last meeting. Even though ‘E’ blocks were due last month, I really liked this block, so I decided to make one. It gave me the opportunity to try and figure out how to use the triangle technique for a block from Around the Block.  I didn’t make the Flower Pot that I posted, but am seriously tempted. You can just have one basket block in a sampler quilt!

I like to use fabrics at least three times in a quilt and preferably in odd numbers, if I use them more than three times. I looked at the total fabrics I had used in the previous blocks and used some I hadn’t yet used as much. I used the Empire Gold in another project so it was out, so I used that. I also had only used the yellow-green in the Basement Window block.

Heirloom Challenge

4 Log Cabin  Blocks
4 Log Cabin Block

These are the log cabin blocks I made for the Heirloom challenge. I added the Empire yellow solid from the Pat Bravo Art Gallery line. I think it goes well with these fabrics. I think the one flower fabric with the pink and burgundy reminds me of the Flea Market Fancy line.

I meant not to do this challenge as I don’t like making log cabin blocks. They are a bit too…fiddly for me. I am not sure if fiddly is the right term, but not a lot of bang for my buck, I guess. Still, I signed up so I stepped up. I tried using the technique that TFQ uses, which is to cut the strips the width they need to be rather than cutting a longer strip and trimming later. That worked ok.

Heirloom Challenge Blocks
Heirloom Challenge Blocks

Zoom in to see the variety of log cabin blocks that people came up with within the log cabin format. Amazing!

Heirloom block detail
Heirloom block detail
Heirloom Doorway
Heirloom Doorway

There were a few blocks that I particularly liked. The wave one (far left) would look great in a quilt with a variety of its fellows. I wouldn’t make it, but I would admire a quilt made with such blocks quite a lot.

The block on the bottom left has lovely graphic quality. The block ont he right looks like a doorway and I really like the fussy cutting.

December Secret Swap

Ribbon detail
Ribbon detail

This is a small detail of one of the ribbons on one of the gifts. I love the idea, but would never make it-at least to put on a package. 😉

Secret Swappers
Secret Swappers

Above are the members who participated in the Secret Swap. I just couldn’t commit to the time to make a gift and boy am I glad I didn’t participate, because these ladies are a hard act to follow! Everyone really did their best work. I was impressed and pleased to see such care.

Kathleen's Secret Swap Pillow 2011
Kathleen’s Secret Swap Pillow 2011

Kathleen received this gorgeous pillow. The thing I like about it was how full it is. No matter how many pillows I make, I feel like they aren’t very full.

Show and Tell

Show & Tell
Show & Tell

There was a lot to tell and many quilts and projects to show. Sewing Time, despite all the other business was quite productive as well.

Elections
The “new” officers are:
President: Adrianne
VP: Kathleen
Secretary: Amanda
Treasurer: Sara

Thank you very much to Ruth, founder and 2011 Secretary, who will be leaving the board and taking over the challenge coordinator position.

CQFA Meeting

The CQFA Meeting was last Saturday. As I already mentioned BAMQG was on the same day. For me, it was a lot of driving and time away from home for one day. Not sure I can continue to make it to both meetings.

This was our end of the year long, organizational type meeting. While long, it was a good one.The end of the year means we needed to plan for 2012. Now we have the start of a plan.

Belly Dancing Belt
Belly Dancing Belt

Show and Tell was great as usual. I love seeing what other people make. Bron brought a gorgeous belly dancing belt to show us, which she bought at the FabMo sale. It was made by an artist who used FabMo materials.

Marie, the President of the San Jose Museum Quilt & Textiles Board, talked about the various events coming up on the SJMQT calendar. We decided to donate some money to the Museum to support the upcoming Quilt National 2011 exhibit, which will be held in 2011.

Gingko Monoprint
Gingko Monoprint

Marie brought monoprints she worked on in a class.

Marie's Monoprint Quilt
Marie's Monoprint Quilt

Of course, I liked this one with all the turquoise.

Squares Monoprint
Squares Monoprint

I purport not to like grey that much, especially the grey and yellow combination that seems to be so popular with the modern quiltmakers right now, but I really liked this monoprint.

Diane's City
Diane's City

I know that Diane calls this series something different, but I think it has the look of a city center from overhead. Diane is a silk painter and has been using FabMo fabrics to mount and as mats for her pieces.

Rhonda's Habitat Challenge
Rhonda's Habitat Challenge

I know Rhonda from BAMQG. She brought this piece to CQFA as well. I hope she will join CQFA.

Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover
Carolyn's Notebook Cover

Caroline found an interesting piece of fabric that looked like an Edward Gorey painting. She wanted to use the entire piece of fabric, the back of which had some interesting characters knitting, which is why she made her journal cover the size it is. I really admire Caroline’s finishing skills. Her products look professional..

The cool thing about this cover is that it holds an artists sketchbook. I don’t know how she did the edging (a regular binding?), but I think it looks really nice.

We had a nice ATC exchange. People do such creative work. I would like to start on my ATCs for the next meeting right now, so that my pieces are as great as other people’s. It has been a week and I haven’t started in yet.

I really would like to make some ATCs using the Tsukineko inks. I think it would be a good way to practice with the inks. Sonja did some great paintings when she came to her first meeting where she painted on a piece of fabric and then cut the piece up into ATC sized works. That is on my mind as a possibility.

Maureen & my ATCs
Maureen & my ATCs
Virginia & Sue's ATCs
Virginia & Sue's ATCs
Diane & Reva's ATCs
Diane & Reva's ATCs
Sue & Nancy's ATCs
Sue & Nancy's ATCs

I was sad I had to leave early to make BAMQG, because I missed Dolores’ presentation. This is what made me start thinking about just attending one meeting or going to BAMQG late on days where CQFA also meets. We’ll have to see. I can’t do everything and I just can’t exhaust myself. Last week was particularly difficult, because I was single parenting and, while I have a wonderful, helpful Young Man, I still have double the chores and no backup. I’ll have to play it my ear in January.

Nota bene: my camera battery died and I forgot to bring the spare, so all the photos are taken with my phone. Sorry about that!