July Quilting Spirit: Challenges, Charity Quilts, and More

Get ready to read!  So much is happening in the next couple of months. 

First off, submissions for the Riley Blake challenge are due on July 31st. Sheri brought in her circles and drunkard path to share. Great motivation to get our projects done. For those of you that have not been paying attention to Facebook, here are our members' projects.  To admire others projects and submit your own, click here. 

Now let's talk about the Kate Spain and E-Z Quilting Challenge. Call us lucky because E-Z Quilting donated a whole bunch of mini shapes to our guild to use in conjunction with Kate Spain's Canyon Fabric coming out in October.  The shape has to be used somewhere in your block. If someone inspired your pattern, don't forget to credit them.  The kicker is that our group has been invited to visit Michele at E-Z Quilting! They can't wait to see what designs we have created with these tools and fabric, so bring your works-in-progress to E-Z Quilting in NY on August 5th. For more information on that, check out the events tab on Facebook. The sixteen inch blocks are due in September. For more details, click here. 

Speaking of projects, let's take a look at some goodies from the meeting. 

 Michele brought in a bag she made following the Swoon Evelyn Handbag.  

 Gail brought humor to our meeting, and a mini reversible tote. 

 Garen displayed her pretty English Paper Pieced Flowers.  It seems to be the latest trend in our group.

Per request, Michele brought in materials to show Terrie and, of course, any interested parties how to EPP. Interested and weren't at the meeting? Check out PaperPieces. Also check out the book All Points Patchwork if you want to give your work a twist or tweak. 

Speaking of twists, Maybeth created this wonky cross quilt. We are loving that one narrow line of crosses in those bigger blocks. 

Look who took Sheri's paper piecing class at the Bolt! Christine displays her pink and purple arrows quilt. If memory serves correctly, she is quilting up several for a group of her granddaughter's friends as well.  

 Susan whipped up this baby boy quilt for a friend.  Those colors are striking. 

 Sheri brought us more of her pieced designs.  Fishes and the ocean dominate in this quilt.  

Hold on -- this post isn't over yet! We also discussed the Modern Quilt Guild Charity Quilt our group will construct.  The keywords for this event are "Improv with Intent". Our guild will buy the fabric based on this color palette.  For some ideas of what that may look like, you can visit Beesewcial and Spontaneous Threads.  Amazing blogs and projects that inspire going on in both.

Hope you enjoyed this update.  Be on the lookin out for more in a few short weeks. Keep those quilting projects going.  In fact, bring some of them on August 8th for our sew-in at the Weston Public Library. We are thinking pot luck. Details to come on our Facebook page.

Everything Is Coming Up Quilts: May 9th Gathering

It has been a couple of months since we have posted, but it is not for a lack of quilting. Last month, we had a Sew-Saturday instead of a regular meeting. Several members gathered in Weston to sew together all our charity quilt blocks from the past year. Here are two beauties bursting with color.  

Don't you love everyone's half-square triangle blocks? So many configurations can be created with this simple block.

These flying geese stay in formation with a beautiful coral color. Can you spot the geese that are following the beat of a different drummer? 

We tentatively scheduled our next sew-in for August. Keep an ear and eye out for the exact date. We agreed that nothing beats the gathering of creative minds for a good cause. 

So after admiring some charity quilts, we reconnected with quilting friends once again, and welcomed some new ones to the SCMQG mix.  A big welcome to Claire and Helena! If you didn't have a chance to meet them, make sure to say hello at the next meeting. As luck would have it, Helena also started off our show-and-tell. 

Helena's reversible bag started up a conversation on where to buy linen. The cool fabrics and linen combo made us wonder where the best places to buy linen would be.  Jo-Ann's received a thumbs-up. Maybeth also recommended an online fabric store. You can find different weight linens for various projects, and they have some beautiful colors as well. Where do you find your linen?  We'd love to know. 

Terrie created this quilt in memory of a friend's beloved son.  His story, and his love of music touched all our hearts. Such a beautiful tribute with quilted notes all over.

Sheri holds up another award winning quilt!  The 3/4" stripped paper piecing impressed the judges and us alike.

Can you see the lines of quilting as well? 

She also surprised us with a sneak peek of a pattern design she created for the CT and RI Shop Hop. The design above is for The Bolt in Monroe, CT. You receive the pattern for free only by visiting the shop.  

 Check out more of her patterns, like this one, at her Whole Circle Studio Website.

Parthena decided to bring in a quilt that she treasures immensely.  Her husband's great-grandmother handpieced and handquilted this beauty. She loves how every quilt has a "her-story".  

She created this quilt for a friend whose kids attend a summer family camp each year. 

Our quilt viewing took a different turn with Lori's presentation.  Curves come together beautifully in this baby quilt.

 The amazing half-square triangle strikes again. The Herringbone design really catches the eye. 

The adorable backing with the embroidered name is equally striking. 

Next,  Betsy wowed us with her six inch paper pieced blocks. 

 Look at all those intricate little blocks!

We were duly impressed with this hand-quilted gift made for her daughter a while back.  

Just imagine the time and love put into hand-quilting this large quilt!

Maybeth showed us the wonky crosses she is putting together.  Look at those color combinations!

Here Michelle presented her yellow and gray quilt made out of half-square triangles.  Again we saw the wonderful versatility of this block in a new design.

Michelle also shared some practice quilting done in a class taken with Leah Day.  She recommended that everyone take a class with her if they can. 

Lastly, she showed us a hexie quilt she is working on at the moment.  The trick to this quilt is to put the hexies together like tumbler blocks.  Good-bye Y seams! 

It was another productive and motivating meeting.  So many quilts to make, so little time! We look forward to seeing everyone on June 13th at the Weston Library at 10:00.  What fun things are you working on right now? Don't forget to bring them next month!

A Visit with Michele Muska

Our guild is always excited to have visitors, especially one of our own. Michele Muska lives in Connecticut where she works in crafts, needle arts, and of course, the quilting industry.  She has appeared in many magazines, books and on television. She also is on the board of several organizations such as the Quilter's Alliance.

Her latest amazing work is her book called "Quilting the New Classics: 20 Inspired Quilt Projects Tradional to Modern Designs.  

Now isn't that a gorgeous looking book! Just imagine what's inside...gorgeous quilts fill the pages. Lucky for us, we got an up close and personal look at all of them.

Our members excitedly awaited Michele and her technical editor Barbara Parsons Cartier.

Michele started off by reading  to us from her preface.  Lines such as "For most quilters, collecting fabric is in our makeup," and "Our stash is always waiting for us like a dear sweet friend," resonated for us all.

Michele reminded us that every quilt has a story. It is important to keep that story alive. Labeling quilts and documenting the inspiration, stories, and memories behind the quilts are a must. 

She shared many a quilt. This one she created for her husband in college. Embroidery played a big part in her quilts around that time. Hearing the stories behind the quilts makes the quilts that much more precious.

A pair of pants from her high school days. Crafty genes! (pun intended)

Michele's book juxtaposes the traditional and the modern.  Each chapter displays a traditional block interpretation and a modern one.  It goes to show that the possibilities for self-expression are endless. 

Above, we glimpsed a traditional double wedding ring quilt. Michele explained that these quilts were popular during the Great Depression. Different demographics used different color palettes back then. Usually done in pastels, people who were having an especially hard time would use bold and dark fabrics.  The sky is the limit these days. Below, you see a modern interpretation. 

Two hours of bliss spent looking at beautiful quilts, and hearing some funny stories behind them.  You will have to hear Michele present to get in on those.

A modern crazy quilt

A tradional crazy quilt

A traditional bear paw

A modern bear paw

An antique quilt made from velvet and silks-very cool!

We loved the historical commentary.  In the olden days, yo-yos were laid on a solid background.  If she hadn't told us her quilt was traditional, I think we all would have placed it in the modern category.  

Of course, Michele presented a ton more quilts, but we don't want to spoil the book for you. If you want to see the rest, you can go here to get a copy. 

Unfortunately, the fun did come to an end as all great events do.  Before she left, Michele told us about the Quilt Alliance and the animal inspired quilt contest they are holding.

A quilt for a special little girl in her life

She also signed our books and gave us a treat: acrylic mini tools from e-z quilting. We will work with Michele to come up with a challenge using those tools.

Thank you Michele for your wonderful presentation and can't wait for your next visit! We look forward to making yo-yos with you.