May Musings

"Anyone who works on a quilt, who devotes her time, energy, creativity, and passion to that art, learns to value the work of her hands. And as any quilter will tell you, a quilter's quilting friends are some of the dearest, most generous, and most supportive people she knows." Jennifer Chiaverini

Every time I sit down to write up this blog, I can't help but think about this amazing group of individuals that gather once a month  to share and support one another. There is something magical about working together on quilts, sharing our creative triumphs, and stumbles, and finding common ground in the beauty of quilting.

Connecting with a group who TRULY understands the need and passion to create, inspires and encourages us to challenge, and express ourselves. It allows our individual stories to get told, which, I think, is one of the best parts of these meetings. Whether it is the love poured into a baby quilt for a grandchild, to a memory quilt for a beloved family member, you realize, as the quote above states, how dear, generous and supportive quilters really are. Enjoy the glimpse of the creativity and generosity below.

 

Lori shows us her finished Kaffe blocks from a Kaffe Workshop in N.J.

  Christine has us in stitches with her stories of applique. 

Christine explains how her granddaughter patiently awaits this quilt inspired by Freddie Moran.

Maybeth creates wonderful quilts to keep preemies warm and cuddly.

Dayna shares her expression of a  Quilting Bee Block.

She also lets us know there is hope for finishing off those quilt tops that have been hanging around, even if they are 30 years old. 

 

Betsy displays her colorway for May's Block-of-the-Month.

Susan places May's block-of the month amidst the other 2016 blocks.

Lori holds up her version of the flower block as well. It is fun to see everyone's color choices/style for this year's quilt along

Lisa exhibits the June Block of the Month. Lisa's choice for block-of-the-month comes from Wombat Quilts.  The Bee Block is called Homeward Bound.  Have fun!

Michelle wows us with one of her bags. 

Terrie solicits help in finishing our charity quilts. 

While we all continue to design and create quilts, several members are working on a line-up for future workshops. Ideas range from fabric dying to sashiko to taking blocks from traditional to modern. We will post more when workshop possibilites and dates are set. Thank you to  Cheryl, Lisa, and all of you who search, plan and work to bring new techniques to the guild!

Don't want to wait to expand those skills. Check out these quilting opportunities!

For those wanting a "little" challenge, Christie's Quilting Boutique has a Denyse Schmidt Challenge going on now. For $25, you receive 5 fat 8ths. You can use any Denyse Schmidt fabric in the line and solids.  Your finished product must be 24 inches.  The winning quilt will be picked by Denyse. Contact Christie's for more details.

Then there is this.  

Keep quilting and see you tomorrow at the Weston Library!

April Rendezvous

Do you know when you have a nagging feeling that you are forgetting to do something and then it occurs to you three weeks later? It finally dawned on this member of the guild to write up that April meeting.  Ooops! It wasn't that it wasn't fun and memorable. We always have an inspiring and great time.  It's just that sometimes babies, quilts, and life get in the way...and maybe some adult onset ADD.  No matter! Here it is in all its splendor, minus a couple of April event shout outs.

Proof of good times being had

The April block-of-the-month which is due this month is called a Fizzy Block. Thanks Susan for challenging us with curves. Looking forward to seeing everyone's take on this block. The quilt looks like it would be really something. Click here to learn more.  

Feel like we just finished our last charity quilt and it can't possibly be time for a new one? You know what they say about time. Well, early discussions have begun for the 2017 version. You can find  ideas on scale, the chosen colors and design on the MQG website.  Come with ideas or inspiration to share. 

Speaking of inspiration and challenges, the Riley Blake Challenge is due on May 31st. Those of you who dared to play with those prints have several weeks left. 

CarolAnne sharing a quilt made out of her daughter's things. 

In other quilty news, Jennifer graciously offered up her island cottage for a slow sew event. She will poll everyone and figure out a date that works for most people.  More information to come in the following months.

Last but not least, wouldn't it be fun to have a quilting guru come out to spend some time with us? It is time to think programming. Who would you like to come out and visit? Keep an eye out for your favorites and if/when they might be visiting our neck of the woods. It would be fun to sponsor events in the future, perhaps even involve local quilt shops and or snag big title quilters from a quilt show near by.  Come with names of your favorite quilters/bloggers.

And, as always, on to the show.

CarolAnne introduces us to Smart-ease fusible interfacing that makes creating shapes easier. She created these circles out of her dad's ties. 

Garen shares her quilts from the Cut It Up book and a City Quilter Retreat.

Rebecca created this quilt for her daughter who loves horses. She discovered the perfect fabric at QuiltCon. 

Rebecca designed a baby quilt pattern called Little Boy Blue for Sew Mama Sew.  

  Sherri's Updated Picnic Petals debuted! Want to make one? Then take Sherri's class at the Bolt on June 25th!

 Maybeth talked to us about Making Parts, a class she is taking at the Bolt. 

 Suzanne spoke to us about her class with Freddy Moran and how she was inspired to "keep going" in her quilting.

She also attends the Out of the Box Series: Making Parts class at the Bolt.

Here we have some lovely ladies enjoying show-n-tell. 

Lori displays all the 2016 blocks-of-the-month and inspires the procrastinators in the group to catch up.

A lovely jam-packed meeting with an amazing, creative group! 'Til we meet again on Saturday. 

x

Short and Sweet February Meet

Fun things are happening in the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild.  Garen and Michelle´s triangle mini-quilts went to Quiltcon. The patterns for their quilts were to be given away at Quiltcon. The Fairfield Museum  also generously included us in their March 15th event. Not only have they allowed us to register as members but also put us on their flyer as co-sponsors. 

We reminded everyone about  the April 2nd Quilt Retreat held by Christie's Quilting Boutique. and the fact that May brings with it  a new venue for our meetings. The library found a new meeting place for us at the Weston Town Hall during library construction.  Thank you Weston library!

Jennifer also demonstrated our March block of the month. Inset circles make a come back! You can follow the directions here: https://www.facebook.com/events/555704271273257/

 As always, we left the day feeling inspired by the show-n-tell eye candy.

Kathy's Colorful  Baby quilts 

Peg's Bead Embroidered Cardinal,

Strip Pillow  and ...

quilt

Suzanne's Baby Quilt Created out of Beautiful Scraps

Suzanne's Preemie baby quilts 

Suzanne's Spider Web Quilt

Parthena's Quilt for a New Niece

Susan's seat cushions

Michelle's Backgammon Bag 

Michelle's Sylvie Dress by Christine Haynes

See you all at the March 12th meeting! 

Modern Merritt

Inspiration for our 2016 MQG charity quilt comes from something we hold dear in Connecticut. It all started  in the 1930ś when the state bigwigs decided that a new parkway was needed to alleviate the traffic congestion on the main travelling road in and out of the state.  Out of this was born the Merritt Parkway, a unique roadway created in the countryside of Connecticut. Travelling down this road, one is struck by the singular beauty of each art-deco bridge against lush natural backdrop.

For those of us living in Connecticut, the Merritt is more than an aesthetically pleasing parkway. We travel under, over, and through the bridges of this roadway on a weekly if not a daily basis. These bridges connect us to work, to schools, to visits with friends, to shopping, and even to our Saturday morning quilt meetings. They help us get where we need to go and are an intrinsic part of the fabric of life in CT. So what better symbol of inspiration for a modern improv quilt than bridges that connect us, and that push us forward(in this case, in our quilting)? This is where the intent for our ¨Modern Merritt" quilt was born.

Burr Road Bridge from the Library of Congress archives

Now that we had our inspiration, we could begin to think about what Improv with Intent would look like. It was the first time for several of us to try our hand at Improv and our member Lori Hashizume showed us her process and what she made based on one of her favorite bridges. This intro gave us the impetus and understanding to go forward with our own process within certain guidelines. Our guild decided to stick with the red, yellow, blue, white and black solids. Two prints were introduced but each individual could only pick one to incorporate into her block. Lastly, rotary cutters were banned and scissors were to be our new best friend.

Getting schooled in improv with intent with Lori

Using these guidelines, we were to pick one or two bridges to become our inspiration. We could try to depict the whole bridge or certain architectual details.  Many picked the bridges they used the most, while others picked the ones their eyes fancied. Our members sketched their ideas or used photos for their blocks. They all held special meaning for one reason or another.

The bridge our member Jennifer Greely traveled over for 2 1/2 years to take her daughter to school. 

In October, everyone returned with the colorful snapshots of their favorite bridges.  Our next step was to decide how to organize them in a modern improvised way.

Because of time constraints, two additional meetings were added to the calendar to arrange the blocks and sew them together. Thanks to Jennifer Greely for the use of her home and sewing room!  From the first gathering came these two early iterations of the blocks against neutral backgrounds.

These iterations just didn´t have the feel we wanted. Then Fate stepped in, in the form of a visit to a museum by Lori, and brought further inspiration. This Stuart Davis painting immediately caught her eye and made her think of our art-deco modern bridge quilt. Instead of using a neutral background, red would prevail. Now the sewing could begin!

Christine and Maybeth putting blocks together

In December, the finished top and back were revealed to the guild. It was then off to our very own in-house SCQMG long armer Cheryl Kirk.  

We couldn´t be more pleased with how our Modern Merritt has turned out. We will decide which charity to donate it to when it returns to us. We are also pretty sure we will have to travel down the Merritt Parkway to deposit it to the lucky charity whose home is in Connecticut. We will cross that bridge when the time comes.