You can help

Everyone needs a little help. I think most of you could agree. But for non-profit organizations, that is especially true. And being a non-profit organization that prefers not to do traditional fund-raising, it is especially important that we find alternate ways to raise money.

Why Fundraising?

As members of the guild, our dues partially provide what is needed, but the more funds we can raise, the less out-of-pocket expenses we’ll have for our sewlebrity workshops and programs.

One way our guild is raising funds is by recruiting sponsors. We currently have four sponsors, and would love to get more businesses to sponsor our guild. As members, when we pay our dues, we get our money’s worth through presentations at meetings, workshops, free BOM patterns and opportunities to win those blocks. Our dues also provide access to the Modern Quilting Guild webinars, free patterns, and challenge opportunities. Our sponsors, on the other hand, only get their money’s worth if we support their businesses. So please read about our sponsors below, and consider supporting them, as they support our guild.

If you know of any other people or businesses willing to sponsor our guild, please provide their contact information to Jen Eskridge.

You will see our sponsors’ logos and Internet links on our newsletters and on our blog, but here’s a little more about each of them:

Meet our Sponsors Busy Bees Quilting
Busy Bees Quilting is located in northeast San Antonio. Jeana Kubik is the owner and an authorized sales representative of Gammill Longarm Quilting machines, as well as a longarm quilting service provider using Statler Stitcher. Her motto is “Let the Bees finish your quilts!”

Jeana’s love of quilting began eight years ago, after she left her job as a school nurse to care for her mother. Jeana enjoys all the steps involved in creating quilts and often takes classes to learn more and continuously improve her techniques. Jeana’s fabric specialty is wide-width quilting backs. She has over 20 colors of backing fabric. Jeana will be joining us for the modern May Mercado and bringing precuts like tonga treats and Batavian jewels and will have information on Gammill longarm machines in case anyone is interested.

You can also follow Jeanna on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BusyBeesQuilting/

Cottonboll Quilting
Cottonboll Quilting is an online fabric and full service long arm quilting company with the latest Gammill equipment and Statler Stitcher software. Their fabrics include batiks, screenprints and solids from Moda, Hoffman, Island Batik, Northcott, Quilting Treasures, Choice Fabrics, Red Rooster and others. They also carry pre-cuts, and pre-fused applique kits from McKenna Ryan, Cleo, Zebra and others. They’ve recently expanded to include more fabrics they think will appeal to modern quilters, including Tula Pink's Elizabeth and Bumble.

The shop is owned by two sisters who grew up in a large family with a mother who loved to sew. After their mom retired and took up quilting, Carla and her mom began attending the local quilting guild meetings together. Carla became a fixture at the local fabric store, teaching embroidery and appliqué classes. Susan and Carla enjoy working together, sharing their love of sewing and quilting. Their business is based in Schertz and we will be seeing some of their wares at the Modern May Mercado.

You can also follow Susan and Carla on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cottonbollquilting

Kustom Kwilts
Kustom Kwilts is a Pipe Creek business run by guild member Joanna Marsh. She does custom quilting on a long arm, as well as her domestic machine, and has an Etsy store where you can find custom handmade tote bags (including the Mamacita Loca bag), travel bags, cosmetic bags, quilts, holiday items, baby items and a variety of other high quality hand sewn and quilted items. Joanna also loves to fill custom orders. If there is a special project you need made, just contact her to discuss.

Joanna was led to quilting by her need to constantly be doing something and by her grandmother, who made quilts from whatever she had on hand.  Joanna is fearless when it comes to trying new things and seems to easily master each different technique she experiments with.

You can follow Joanna on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KustomKwiltsAndDesigns, where you’ll find special offers and promotions, and on Instagram @kustomkwilts.

ReannaLily Designs
ReannaLily Designs is the sewing and quilting pattern company of guild member Jen Eskridge, currently located in Helotes. Jen is a business owner, a book author, pattern and fabric designer, teacher and tool developer. She is the author of three books: Deploy That Fabric (C&T Publishing); Learn to Sew Easy (Leisure Arts); and Hexagons Made Easy (Martingale Press/That Patchwork Place) and invented & trademarked the Seamingly Accurate seam guide that affixes to any sewing machine. On her website you can purchase her books, patterns, original fabric, kits, notions and t-shirts. A valuable part of her website is her blog where she offers free patterns, tutorials for sewing and quilting projects and shares her tips and techniques, as well as inspiration.

Jen has been sewing as long as she can remember. Her mother taught her the basics and she made her first quilt in 1993. Five years later she earned a degree in Apparel Design, and five years after that had started quilting and sewing for her own company, ReannaLily Designs. Jen has traveled the world gathering inspiration and ideas for designs and patterns.

You can find ReannaLily Designs on Etsy at reannalilydesigns.etsy.com; on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ReannaLilyDesigns; on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/jeneskridge/; on Instagram at https://instagram.com/reannalilydesigns_jen/ ; and on Craftsy.

SAMQG Spring Retreat

If you look up retreat in the dictionary there are a variety of definitions: 
    1) the act of withdrawing, as into safety or privacy; retirement; seclusion.
    2) a place of refuge, seclusion, or privacy;
    3) an asylum, as for the insane;
    4) a retirement or a period of retirement for religious exercises and meditation.

But to a quilter, a retreat is something a bit different and yet part of all of those things. We definitely do withdraw -- but not into safety, privacy, retirement or seclusion. We withdraw from our normal everyday life into a place where we have all we need to make our quilting dreams come true. We definitely go to a place of seclusion, but not a seclusion from everyone, just from non-quilters. Many would think it’s some kind of asylum and some would say we do go a bit crazy. We wake up very early in the morning, stay up very late at night and in between we sew, we build with blocks, we quilt (and we eat a little). To some of us quilting is almost like a religious exercise – creation. And I’m sure to many as we sit silently and imagine and dream and think of what we can make out of the beautiful fabric we’ve seen, it looks like meditation.

So a quilting retreat is everything in the dictionary and more. It’s a special time where it doesn’t matter what your age is, where you came from, where you’re going or what your style is. It doesn’t matter what kind of equipment you use, what kind of color palette you love, or what kind of design you’re dreaming of. It only matters that you are in a room with others who like you want to create something beautiful from fabric.

It’s so fun to watch things take shape and grow. But when you have 24 people all creating at the same time, it is difficult to capture it and still be able to do some sewing yourself. So below are some pics for you in various stages of completion. I hope you enjoy them and if you come to a guild meeting, I hope you see them completed and put to good use on a bed or a wall or somehow displayed for others to enjoy.

I'm gonna make a few apologies about these pictures. First, you won't see many people. When you're at retreat you really aren't looking your best and I am not a good photographer anyway, so rather than insult anyone with a bad photo, I only used pics with people when there was no other way to show their creation. Second, I am not adding the names of the creators of these masterpieces. Third, many of these quilts were more done when the retreat was over and I didn't get pictures of them in their latest form.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

April Meeting and Sew-n-Tell

The April meeting included a presentation by Allison Chambers on the use of solids in quilts with some very good explanations and samples of the different types of solids and different ways to use them to enhance your quilting projects.

 

A lot of additional information was provided during the meeting on upcoming events and opportunities, as well as reminders of deadlines to come, which is available to our members on the closed Facebook group site.

 

For many members the favorite part of the meetings is the Sew-n-Tell. We enjoy it so much we share it with all. 

 

Below you can see just a sampling of the quilts made by the members of the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild. 

 

Sew-n-Tell is normally limited to those quilts which meet the definition of the traits of modern quilts  listed on the Modern Quilt Guild parent website: "Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting." 

 

We had some new members, so you'll see some non-modern aesthetics in these photos. 

 

So many of our members' work include many different types of quilting (including traditional piecing, redwork, English paper piecing, foundation paper piecing, embroidery, cross stitch, multi-media and art quilting) and we are very proud of their talent and accomplishments, but we have had to limit our sew-n-tell or else we'd spend hours drooling over quilts, and never have any time for guild business or educational presentations.

 

Leslie Jennison showed off some children quilts she created including robots.

 

 

 

Joe, a new member, showed off some of his leather quilt work.

 

 

Jen Eskridge showed us one of her quilts using solids since that was the presentation theme.

 

Kathy Null showed some of her work from the Journey to Art Quilting bee challenges.

 

Pat Poole showed off her quilt from out Texas Road Trip Quilt Along.  Others will be shown at the June meeting.

Edna showed off her world map from the Shannon Brinkley Scrappy Bits Applique workshop held earlier this year.  Edna expanded hers from a wall hanging to a lap quilt.

 

Stacy Pyron showed off some of her latest work (fronts and backs).

 

 

Sarah Rodriguez showed one of her beauties (front and back).

These next three were made by members for a fabric challenge for the May Hauptstrasse Quiltfest in Boerne.

 

 

 

Joanna Marsh has been busy participating in some online mini quilt swaps.  Wish I was her swap partner.

 

 

Allison showed off her world map quilt from Shannon Brinkley's Scrappy Bits Applique Workshop.  Hers was turned into a baby blanket.

Hope you enjoyed our mini quilt show. No Sew-n-Tell next month as we will be holding our modern May Mercado -- kind of like a sewing room flea market.  But check back in June to see some  more beauties.