November 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements

-- Quilt Con Sposoring Charity Challenge

Thank you to everyone who participated! Katie pieced the quilt top, and Kelly will be quilting it!

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- Thank you to our 2014 officers! Congratulations to our 2015 officers, Liz Bowen (President), Lee Monroe (Vice President), Sherri Collette (Secretary) and Ann Monroe (Treasurer)!

--Name Tags- if anyone is new to our guild and would like to swap name tags let us know and we will pair you up with a  partner.

-- Guild Dues are $25 for a year, they are due by the January 2015 meeting.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Holiday Swap and brought munchies for the Holiday Meeting!

Next Meeting Tuesday 11/25

Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 25. There is a lot going on! First off, it's our holiday party. So bring something sweet or savory. If you'd like to participate, you can bring a holiday decoration item for the swap. Anything goes! Also, remember to bring your eight pointed star for the QuiltCon charity quilt. Check out Katie's blog post for more information. We are gathering supplies for Senior Services. They are looking for nonperishable food and toiletries. There is a detailed list in the last meeting recap. We are drawing the winner of the raffle quilt made by the amazing Kelly Wood during the meeting. Tickets are one dollar each or six for five dollars. Whew, I think that's everything!! See you there!

October Meeting Recp and November reminders

Our October meeting was all about using the Accucutter to speed up the cutting process. I did have a few ladies ask me about dies that were not at the meeting and I will be glad to bring these back at the November Meeting -- If there are any dies that you are interesting in trying out please let me on Lee know so that these arrangement can be made (or you can comment on this posting).

Another thing that we talked about was the upoming charity challenge project for Quilt Con in 2015. I am still needing blocks to be able to assemble this top -- I currently only have 2 but I know that some members were not able to attend the meeting. If you are able to make blocks for donation you can contact me through email (karma.willow.designs @ Gmail.com) and we can meet up -- I will need all blocks by 11/7 so that they can be assembled and ready to pass along the quilt top to our Wonderful Kelly Wood for quilting. Also a big THANK YOU to Cynthia as well for donating the backing for this project.

At the meeting we discussed the upcoming holiday celebration that will be next month's meeting. We are requesting that everyone bring a dish or snack to share and bring some show and tell. It would be a good idea to put a comment below letting others know what you are thinking about bringing so that we will have a good variety.

We will also be doing a swap of holiday decor items at this time -- open swap, no partners. If you want to participate bring in a holiday themed item like a pillow, wall hanging, or table runner. I am in the process of creating a pinterest board of ideas for this as well.

The other component of next month's meeting is bringing in nonperishable goods and personal care items to donate to senior services. This is also a great time to bring in those charity quilts that you have been working on all year. Here is the wish list that they have on the Senior Services Website -- they also mentioned housecleaning products and items like socks, undershirts and underwear last year. 

Wish List

How You Can Make a Difference

Senior Services gratefully accepts community donations of items for low-income, homebound older adults. The following basic items are needed throughout the year:

Food Items:
Small canned hams
Canned chicken
Canned tuna or salmon
Peanut butter
Crackers
Canned fruit or fruit cups
Cereal
Nutrition supplements like Boost and Ensure

Personal Care Items:
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Denture adhesive
Denture cleanser
Denture holders
Washable or disposable bed pads
Adult diapers
Cleaning wipes
Plastic trash bags
Nail clippers
Lip balm

Thank you for considering a donation! 

I know that's a lot to take in but the November meeting is all about fun and fellowship so I hope to see you all there with goodies, swap items and donations for our charity. 

September 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements

-- Quilt Con Sposoring Charity Challenge

The quilt has to be made by the entire guild. Charity Coordinator will be posting about the specific color and block requirements. The block needs to be of an 8-point star any size (6" - 24") any type. The block needs to have a white background. Please bring your completed blocks to the October meeting. 

--Upcoming Speakers/Meetings:

October- This meeting will be an Accuquilt cutting party. Let us know which dies you would like to use. This meeting will be in the regular location at the South Fork Recreation Center.

November- This meeting will be the Holiday Party. This will be a chance for everyone to bring a pot luck dish, chat, and hang out with friends. There will also be a holiday themed swap, more details to come at the October meeting.

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- New Raffle Quilt- the quilt was made by Kelly Wood. A photo will be up on the blog. Tickets are $5 for 6 tickets or $1 for 1 ticket.

-- We now have new officers for 2015 and the vote was unanimous! Congratulations Liz Bowen, Lee Monroe, Sherri Collette and Ann Monroe!

--Name Tags- if anyone is new to our guild and would like to swap name tags let us know and we will pair you up with a  partner.

-- South Fork is having their annual Fall Carnival on October 24th, they are asking for candy donations.

-- Guild Dues are $25 for a year, they are due by the January 2015 meeting.

We would like to thank Sara Lawson for speaking at our September guild meeting about interfacing and showing off her incredible bags!

The Modern Quilt Guild Challenge

As I mentioned in the meeting the national guild has put forth a challenge to make quilts that will be going to a children' charity and they want each guild to submit one quilt for QuiltCon next year. The quilt must only use the colors that were selected by the National Guild in this post. 

The quilt must also use alternate grid work for the layout. 

After some planning with Lee it was discussed that the best thing to do would be to have each person make similar blocks using the same background fabric color. A block that has a great deal of variety and would be great way to showcase the individual members in our guild is the 8 point star with a white background fabric. I have pulled a large number of examples and put the in a pinterest folder that you are welcome to use for inspiration. Feel free to make the blocks any size between 6 inches and 24 inches to the meeting next month on October 28 so that we can start working on an awesome layout for out submission. 

Here are a few of my favorite examples. 

Can't Wait to see what all you guys come up with. 

August 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements

-- New Challenge using pastel fabrics through the National Modern Quilt Guild. Ask us if you are not sure where to get more details or to request fabric.

--Upcoming Speakers/Meetings:

September- Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness) - Sept. 23rd, 6:30pm, South Fork meeting room, $5 at the door.

 She will be hosting a bag workshop (Sept. 24th, 9am - 3pm at Sewingly Yours) which includes her book. Prices are $90 for non-members, $80 for members. Workshop sign up sheet is at Sewingly Yours.

October- This meeting will be an Accuquilt cutting party. Let us know which dies you would like to use.

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- Swap- The upcoming swap will be a pillow swap. It can be any size pillow but no pillowcases. The swap exchange will take place at the Sept. Meeting. If you would like to sign up with your name/email you can contact our swap coordinator, Teri Emerson.

-- We have slated our new officers for 2015, elections will be in October.

--Name Tags- if anyone is new to our guild and would like to swap name tags let us know and we will pair you up with a  partner.

We would like to thank Karen Gray for speaking at our August guild meeting about how she got started quilting and showing off her gorgeous quilts!

Karen Gray to Speak this Tuesday

We are pleased that Karen Gray will be speaking this Tuesday. She was snowed out back in January. Karen is full of fabulous ideas and it will be a night to remember. Karen hosts Modern Fabric Group Therapy at The Little General and makes amazing quilts! 

We meet the fourth Tuesday of each month at Southfork Community Center behind Cricket's Nest on Country Club at 6:30 pm.

Modern Pillow Swap

Since our last pillow swap was a hit, we decided to do it again,

                                                                                                 ...just a little differently.

2013 pillow I made for Kelly

• Swap Deadline: September TMQG meeting on September 23

• Do I have to sign up or get a partner? No, not this time.   It will be more like the TMQG Holiday party "Dirty Santa" swap.  You won't have a specific partner, just make a modern pillow and bring it unwrapped to swap.  
• If you gave me your email address and I will send you a reminder.
• Don't wrap your pillow!  We will do that at the meeting, placing each one in a brown bag to add to the mystery!

• What kind of pillow do I make?  
• A decorative pillow with a pre-made pillow form insert (most fabric stores sell them. Kelly says IKEA's feather ones are super and inexpensive, FYI.)
• Just do your best and feature your best skills, whether FMQ, handquilting or piecing.
• Make something that most people can use or would like.
• Size: no smaller than a travel pillow and no larger than 18" square.

2013 pillow I received from Kim

• Tips & Tutorials:  
• If you buy a pillow form that comes in a close-fitting plastic cover, the bag will make the correct sized pattern for that pillow.  Just remove it carefully, flatten then add 1/4" seam allowance all the way around the bag.
• Other members and/or I will gladly help anyone on techniques, if you need hands-on practice etc.!
• Moda Bake Shop
• SewMamaSew
• Great zipper tutorial
• Lee has lots of great info at MayChappell

• Inspiration:  
  

These and many other pillows are linked on my Pinterest and you can jump to hundreds more from there!

July 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements

--Upcoming Speakers/Meetings:

August- Karen Gray

September- Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness) She will be hosting a bag workshop (Sept. 24th, 9am - 3pm at Sewingly Yours) which includes her book. Prices are $90 for non-members, $80 for members. Workshop sign up sheet is at Sewingly Yours.

October- This meeting will be an Accuquilt cutting party. Let us know which dies you would like to use.

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- Swap- The next swap will be a pillow swap. It can be any size pillow but no pillowcases. The swap exchange will take place at the Sept. Meeting. If you would like to sign up with your name/email you can contact our swap coordinator, Teri Emerson.

-- We need new officers for next year! Please let us know if you are interested!

We would like to thank Dana Bolyard (The Old Red Barn Co.) for speaking at our July guild meeting about her new book and showing off her gorgeous quilts!

Sew In This Sunday

We have a guild sew-in this Sunday, July 20 from 1 to 6! We are meeting at Sew Original on Robinhood. Hope to see you there!

June 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements:

-- Michael Miller fabric contest - upload your photo by July 25th

-- Carolyn Friedlander will be in the Greensboro/ Winston-Salem area August 15-16th, 2014. She will be holding two workshops, August 15- Sew Original, August 16-Studio Stitch. Prices: 1 workshop ($110), both workshops ($200).

--Upcoming Speakers: 

July 29th - Dana Bolyard (Old Red Barn Co.) she will also host a workshop the following Wed. (July 30th, 10am - 3pm at Sew Original) about curved piecing from the cover of her book. ( This meeting will be the 5th Tues. of July) 

Workshop price: $10 ( sign up sheets are at Sew Original) The fabric for this workshop will be donated, you will just need to bring your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.

August- Karen Gray

September- Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness) She will be hosting a bated workshop (Sept. 24th, 9am - 3pm at Sewingly Yours) which includes her book. Prices are $90 for non-members, $80 for members. Workshop sign up sheet is at Sewingly Yours.

October- no speaker scheduled yet.

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

--Demo Night- 4th Tuesday in July (July 22nd) in our normal meeting place. Some of the sewing projects being demonstrated include paper piecing, curves, texture magic, y seams and appliqué.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- Arts on Sunday Series: every Sunday of the month there will be crafts and music on Trade St. Downtown.

We would like to thank Tessa Walker (The Sewing Chick) for speaking at our June guild meeting about how she got started in quilting and showing us her trunk show!

Tessa Walker

We're thrilled that our program this Tuesday is Tessa Walker aka The Sewing Chick! She's an uber talented quilter and sewist. Her skills are all around amazing! She writes excellent tutorials and makes gorgeous things!! 

TMQG meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month at Southfork Community Center on Country Club at 6:30. Visitors and new members always welcome!

May 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements:

-- Michael Miller fabric contest - upload photo by July 25th

-- Retreat: cancelled. It will be rescheduled for later in the year.

--Raleigh shop hop: Cancelled. It will be rescheduled for later in the year

--Quilt Con: Austin, TX Feb. 19-26th, 2015. Registration opens June 24, 2014 at 10am. Workshop schedule is released on June 17, 2014

--Sew Original Sew In Night: June 6th 5:30pm-until. Bring a covered dish and a project to work on.

-- Carolyn Friedlander will be in the Greensboro/ Winston-Salem area August 15-16th, 2014. She will be holding two workshops, August 15- Sew Original, August 16-Studio Stitch. Prices: 1 workshop ($110), both workshops ($200).

--Upcoming Speakers: 

June- Tessa Walker (the Sewing Chick)

July- Dana Bolyard (Old Red Barn Co.) she will also host a workshop the following Wed. about curved piecing from the cover of her book. ( This meeting will be the 5th Tues. of July) 

Workshop price: $10

August- Karen Gray

September- Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness) She will be hosting a workshop which includes her book. Prices are $90 for non-members, $80 for members.

--Presents for speakers: you can sign up at the next meeting to make a gift for our speakers.

--Demo Night- 4th Tuesday in July in our normal meeting place. Some of the sewing projects being demonstrated include paper piecing, curves, texture magic, etc.

-- Emails: If you are having trouble receiving the blog emails or national guild emails, please let us know.

-- Arts on Sunday Series: every Sunday of the month there will be crafts and music on Trade St. Downtown.

Snacks: members scheduled to bring snacks for May meeting

  - sweets- Roseanne Morgan

  - drinks- Tami Bateman

  - salty/savory- Liz Bowen

We would like to thank Kelly Wood for speaking at our May guild meeting about quilting and threads!

Charity Quilts -- HST Examples

Hey TMQG ladies -- I hope everyone enjoyed the examples post I did a few months back on easy square and strip quilts. This time I want to focus on the HST (half square triangle), it's a very versatile block and there are so many ways to make them and even more ways to make a great impact with them. 72 blocks (or quilt tops) made using HST's -- If you made the blocks all the HST's starting with just 4 -- 14 or 15 inch blocks using the method below, the finished block is large enough for a charity quilt. 

Another great tip I came across recently was sewing all 4 sides of the square and then cutting across the middle in both directions yields 4 HST units and you didn't have to do any marking the middles.  (be sure to starch your fabrics or it can get stretchy) 

Here is a size chart when using this method 

Pretty examples for some inspiration -- Images and Links can be found here, all images below are from Pinterest. 












Hope everyone is inspired and feels eager to give some of these ideas a try, either for themselves or as part of a charity quilt. 

March meeting recap

Announcements:

-- April meeting: Guild Garage Sale! Bring a bucket to collect money, your items to sell pre-priced, and labeled with your name. These items can be any crafting item. 50% of profits go to you and 50% go to the guild. Only guild members can sell, but anyone can buy!

    - we have booked the pavilion if it is nice weather!

-- Retreat: May 2-5th at Lee Monroe's mountain house. If you would like to sign up or receive more information you can contact Lee or sign up at the April meeting. 

--Raleigh shop hop is to be determined

--Quilt Con: Austin, TX Feb. 19-26th, 2015

--Forsyth Piecers and Quilters are holding there Quilt Show in May 2014

-- Carolyn Friedlander will be in the Greensboro/ Winston-Salem area August 15-16th, 2014. She will be holding two workshops, August 15- Sew Original, August 16-Studio Stitch. Prices: 1 workshop ($110), both workshops ($200).

--Upcoming Speakers: May- Kelly Wood, speaking about quilting threads

June- Tessa (the Sewing Chick)

July- Dana Bolyard (Old Red Barn Co.) she will also host a workshop the following Wed. On curved piecing from the cover of her book. ( This meeting will be the 5th Tues. of July)

August- Karen Gray

September- Sara Lawson (Sew Sweetness) She will be hosting a workshop which includes her book. Prices are $90 for non-members, $80 for members.

We would like to thank our March Speaker, Stephen Fraser, the cofounder of Spoonflower.

The Lunchbag Swap

Our guild is having a handmade quilted and insulated Lunch Bag Swap.  If you haven't already signed up, contact Teri immediately to do so!

If you have signed up, your partner will be arriving in your email inbox about the same time as this email.

We will exchange lunch bags at our April meeting on Tuesday, April 22 (make note, April has 5 Tuesdays so don't get confused.)

FYI, Insul-brite is the thermal insulated batting that you will use to line your lunch bag.  It is available at most quilt shops, online at fabric.com and other sites.  The packaging gives directions on how to use it.

Here's some pics and links to help you creative mojo.

Quilted lunch tote PDF pattern and tutorial from The Green Bag Lady and SewMamaSew

Fat Quarter Lunch Bag Tutorial from Ayumi Mills

Then, I hit the jackpot: 50 Lunch Totes And Bags With Tutorials  If these 52 aren't enough, there's plenty more on Pinterest.  Happy sewing!

February 2014 Meeting Recap

Announcements

--We joined the National Modern Quilt Guild!

--Due: if you have paid dues you should have received an email- if not let us know. If you have not paid and would like to join dues are $25 and you can contact Kim Johnson

-- Quilt Con: it has been announced it will be Feb 19-26, 2015 in Austin,TX

--Meeting Sign Up Sheets: there will be sign up sheets each meeting for bringing snacks, and volunteering to make gifts for our speakers.

--Guild Quilt Retreat: May 2-5 Lee Monroe's mountain house. Please contact Lee if you are interested in going.

-- March meeting: the speaker will be a Spoonflower Representative. 

-- Sew In: March 30th, 1-6pm, at Sewingly Yours

--Swap: the next swap will be to make a luch bag. Sign ups will be at the March meeting, and exchange will be at the April meeting. If you would like to participate contact Teri.

-- Upcoming Speakers: July meeting speaker is Dana Bolyard, she will be speaking on the 5th Tues of the month. Sept speaker will be Sara Lawson (bag pattern designer), there will also be a workshop she will be hosting the Wed. Following the Tues. night guild meeting.

-- Raleigh Trip: planning a trip to visit the quilt shops in Raleigh. Dates to come soon.

-- Garage Sale: moved from the Feb. meeting to the April meeting. If you would like to participate pre price your items. Can include fabric, tools, notions, etc. Also bring a bucket with your name on it and cash/change. 50% earnings go to you, 50% earnings go to the guild.

-- Charity: there is fabric bundled if you would like to take some to make a quilt for our charity Senior Services.Contact Katie if you are interested.

-- Carolyn Friedlander- coming to Greensboro/Winston-Salem on August 15-16.

-- Forsyth Piecers and Quilters: they are having their quilt show in May. 

A special thanks to our February speaker, Rebecca Allen who spoke about pressed feet and their different uses. 

Meeting Reminder

Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 25! We have Rebecca Allen speaking about presser feet for the program. And we have LOTS of exciting announcements!! Our guild garage sale is pushed back to the March meeting.

Easy and quick charity quilts -- squares and strips edition

There are a plethora of ideas out there in the world when it comes to quilting. So here are some quick and easy patterns that you lovely ladies could easily use to turn guild stash into charity projects for Senior services. 

I have decided that I would put together a sampling of them and sort them by ease of assembly -- This group is all quilts using squares or strips.

I want to start off with this fun free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop called the charm pack cherry quilt and I think this would go together super quick with a great impact (it's a simpler version of a split nine patch)

This version uses solids but below is the scrappy version

Another tried and true is a split nine patch

Wonky nine patch

Alternating blocks with solids can have a great impact ( also a great use for orphan or left over blocks)

For a little improv try 

A Simple blocky design

Chunky Strips

The Scrappy Trip Along 

Jelly roll Race is super quick

Jelly roll Jam (also on Fat Quarter Shop) is a new take on the split rail fence

Remember these are small projects and wheelchair quilts are usually no bigger than 36 by 36 - 40 so they work up quickly and most people should be able to quilt them on a home machine. 

The stash has been sorted into usable project bundles of fabrics and will be brought to the meeting Tomorrow night. As charity coordinator, I would like to encourage each of you to make at least 2 charity quilts this year for people that are in need and really appreciate them.

If you want more ideas or to look at any of these quilts more closely I have many ideas put in a folder on Pinterest

FEB Sew in

Hey everyone -- hope you all are staying warm and safe. 

We are planning a Sew in this Sunday at Sewingly Yours from 1 - 6. Hope to see you all there.

Another great sewing related event is the Statesville Quilting and Fiber Art Extravaganza that is happening on Friday / Saturday. I know several of us are planning on going tomorrow -- this is usually a great event. The admission is $6 but you can get a $1 coupon here or I have some extras printed off. I am planning on leaving Winston Salem/Lewisville around 9am, if anyone needs a coupon, text me and I will plan on meeting you by Sewingly Yours or at the event.

January 28 Cancelled

Due to snow, tonight's meeting is cancelled. We will reschedule Karen Gray's program.

Weather Policy

Southfork Community Center follows Forsyth Tech in weather related closings. So please check if Forsyth Tech is closed for evening classes. Thanks! 

First Meeting of 2014

Just wanted to remind everyone that we are having our first meeting of 2014 tomorrow night at 6:30 at South Fork Community Center. Karen Gray will be the speaker.

Hope to see you all there.