Demo Day

One of my favorite meeting programs is when we have Demo Days.  This is when our members demonstrate their skills and we rotate in a round robin fashion so we all get to see all the presentations. This month's demonstrations were on free motion quilting. Kelly, Leslie and Joanna all gave great demonstrations of what they do with tips and tricks of the best supplies, materials, practice methods and tools to help you.  But the overwhelming message was "You can do this!" "Just give it a try." All recommended making up small quilt sandwiches and having them ready by your machine so when you have a few spare minutes, you can play. They all agreed that the more you did it the better you got.  Joanna even recommended carrying a journal around so you could play around with pen and paper when you weren't at home but had some free time.  It was also recommended to use high contrast thread as you practice, so you could easily see how things were going.  Some advice I received in the past from another quilting friend was to cut those sandwiches the size of placemats and that way you'll have a use for your practice pieces when you're done.  And you won't be too upset when the kids or grands leave stains behind.

What's in store for 2015

Here's just some of what you can expect in 2015:

January - We installed our new officers, celebrated our 5th anniversary, completed our first mini swap, selected the winner of the Road to Madrona quilt, got to see the travelling quilts, took a peak at the Habitat for Humanity quilt, and received the president's challenge. There will be a "Texty Trapunto" workshop from Jen Eskridge this month too.  And the Journey to Inspired Art Quilting will be making modern trees at their bee.

February - Shannon Brinkley will be at the guild to talk about her modern applique technique.  She'll be doing two workshops as well (Friday and Saturday of meeting week).  Shannon Brinkley has come up with a fun way to turn all those small scraps you've collected into one-of-a-kind quilts using her simple collage technique and raw-edge appliqué.  She's best known for her book Scrappy Bits Applique which includes 8 projects with find detailed sizing charts, photos and illustrations of the techniques she uses.  The Friday workshop will be an animal applique class called Menagerie and the Saturday workshop will be the world map class called Around the World.  You can see examples on her website (www.thebottletree.net). We will also begin taking registrations for the April retreat.  And many of us will be going to QUILTCON.  And the Journey to Inspired Art Quilting Bee will be learning about Sashiko/Japanese quilting

March - This meeting will be a QUILTCON de-brief.  We'll all share with each other what we saw and learned and talk about how those quilts inspired us.  Hopefully we'll get a chance to see those quilts made by our fellow members that did and didn't make it to the show.  And the Journey to Inspired Art Quilting Bee will be focused on fabric painting with inktense pens. 

April - Allison will be providing a presentation at the meeting called "Show us your solids." The guild retreat will be this month from Friday at noon on April 18 through Sunday at 3 p.m. on April 20.  Some might use this to work on their president's challenge quilt. And the Journey to Inspired Art Quilting Bee will be working on embellishing designs printed on fabric.

May - The annual Modern Mercado will be held in May once again.  Guild members will be able to rent tables for $10 each and set up a cross between a flea market and farmer's market to sell extra fabric, notions, patterns, books and magazine.  Consider this a great recycling time.  Recycle what you're done with and get a little cash to put back into the economy and buy new supplies and inspiration to get creative with this year. And the Journey to Inspired Art Quilting Bee will be learning Hawaiian quilt techniques. 

June - Round Robin demo days will be held at this meeting.  Come and learn from fellow guild members all their secrets to great free motion quilting.  We have some experts in the guild and you'll be able to rotate through at least four demonstrations and pick their brains to improve your skills.

Well, that's the first half of the year and hopefully enough to help see what a great deal you're getting by being a member of this guild, though recognize things are always subject to change. And there will most likely be Scrappy Bee get togethers and other workshops not yet finalized. But in case you are still questioning the increase in dues, we'll also be having Anna Maria Horner and possibly Latifah Saafir visiting the guild and sharing their knowledge during the second half of 2015. 

In September we'll be taking nominations for officers for 2016 and that's the month our president's challenge quilts are due.  In October we'll be voting on those new officers and approving the budget for 2016.  And of course December will be our annual Christmas party.  And I'm sure there will be lots of great workshops, charity sew ins, bee sew togethers and imagination will flow freely.  Hope you'll join us for the whole year. 

Much creativity will be seen in 2015!!!

October 2014 Demo Days - Improv Piecing

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

Jordan shared her methods and tricks for basic improv piecing. 

Click the images to see them larger.

Hi Jordan!  This is Jordan, holding an improv quilt she made.  She pointed out that the blocks go together fast and mostly from assorted scraps.  You are just one 40% off coupon away from loads of negative space in your quilt design.

In this picture, above, she's showing us that her stash is sorted into sizes.  Big scraps, Medium scraps and smalls.  Very smart system because in improv piecing you'll need to be able to match a random size side length or at least be able to build a piece long enough.  Personally, I have to say one of the most interesting fundamental parts is how she sorts all those scraps.

This block is an improv pieced block.  It is not wonky.  It just is improvisational in that it didn't have a starting plan other than to sew scraps together.  Every scrap in the orange piece was used in a previous quilt, which is why this block is very tidy and organized or, as it has been said "The Stepford Wife block of Improv Piecing"  

The two photos above are a bit more improvised  and unstructured.

Below:  Jordan also did a quick demo of improvised curve piecing.  Now that was all-kinds-of cool.

Take two pieces of fabric. Lay them on top of each other, with BOTH right sides of fabric facing up towards you.

Cut a gentle curve.

Fold one fabric onto the other fabric and start joining the curve. 

The two pieces will appear to not match, as one is a convex curve and the other is concave.  You know, they really do match, though, because you just cut this curve shape through both layers.

Take your time and work the fabric to stitch around the curve.  I'm sure basic curved piecing strategies are already showcased on Youtube.

And here's the finished gentle curve.  This piece is ready to hit the ironing board and be worked into a larger design.  

Ready. Set. Go.

Thanks for the improv tutorial, Jordan!

October 2014 Demo Days - Glue Basting

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

Glue Basting for everyone!  Thanks so much to Christine, who showed us how to glue baste our seams for more speed and accuracy.

This is the super-expensive, hard-to-find, elusive, magical quilting tool needed for the Glue Basting technique. (*sarcasm implied*)  Glue.  White Elmer's School Glue.

Christine does recommend using a fine-tip from Sharon Schamber's shop online.

Let me appolgize in advance for not having the best pictures from this Demo station.  She really did a great job and I didn't document it as well.  SORRY!!

Ok, so in this picture (or more accurately NOT in this picture)  Christine had added a small bead of glue within the seam allowance of one square.

Once the glue is applied, you add the second piece of fabric, right sides together, just as if you were getting ready to add in pins.  Instead of pins, however, you line up your edges and hit that glue with a hot iron.  

The glue becomes every-so-slightly stiff and your two squares are joined.  (She's holding the joined pair up, right outside the camera's frame in the photo above.  Dangit.)

Because fabric can shift a tiny bit when pinned, glue keeps the pieces ridiculously accurate.  This is a perfect no-shift option to exact intersections on your quilting designs.

Christine recommends cutting one day, pressing the whole pile of squares another day and then stitching the third.  Or at least, doing these steps in 3 different processes.  She also shared this awesome tip:

Use the WHITE glue, not the gel glue.  The gel doesn't set at strong.  With the Glue Basting method, you can actually glue and entire row of blocks at a single time, without having to get up and down to go to the sewing machine.  Just park that ironing board right by the design wall.

Turns out, you can also glue baste those English Paper Pieced hexagons, too!  

(!!! Get right outta town !!!)

Use a glue stick and remember the elementary school adage "A Dot is A Lot" when adding glue to the back of your prepared pieces. 

 Once all the glue is applied and the fabrics are folded over, simply whip stitch your project together and remove the paper.  

October 2014 Demo Days - T-Shirt Quilts

October 2014 SAMQG meeting was "Demo Days" in a round robin style where there were 4 stations set up and 4 guild members each demo'd a technique or style or method used in their quilt-making.

First up, Sara E.  Sara was showing us how she prepped and "moderned up" T-Shirt Quilts.

First up, get your shirts together.  And grab some of your favorite fabrics.  (Anna Maria Horner fabrics shown above.)

CAUTION:  When cutting out the "motif" from the front of your shirt, do it with scissors and be mindful of the shirt back.  In lots of cases, the shirt back has a bigger logo on it or at the very least, you'll want to use that fabric to fill in gaps in your final quilt design.

Ok, now get down to making a regular shape with straight sides.  It doesn't matter what the shape is.

Grab a piece of fusible pellon interfacing larger than the t-shirt design.  Place the shiny/fusible side up facing the WRONG side of the t-shirt.

Sandwich the shirt + interfacing in between two layers of parchment paper.  When you press the shirt to the interfacing, the extra glue will NOT get on the iron or board.  And the parchment paper makes it super easy to peal off.  This was a GREAT tip.  Thanks, Sara!!

The shirt itself is prepped and ready to rumble.  All you do now is take it to the cutting mat to decide on your final straight-edged shape, while cutting away any excess interfacing.

From there, Sara picks a fabric from her stash to start adding the sides of the t-shirt motif in a way that would do a "wonky log cabin" block.  Pick a piece, stitch a seam, press, pick another piece, stitch a seam, press, repeat.

Thanks so much,  Sara!  Those were some great tips.  And the wonky or improved version of building up t-Shirt quilt blocks is wonderful.