May 2016 Meeting Announcement: Sew-In Time!

Hopefully you remembered to get your RSVP for the May 7, 2016 Sew-In on time.  If not, you can always drop by just for the meeting portion of the day at 1:00pm. 

Here are the details about the Sew-In...

The Sew-In will be at St. John's Lutheran Church (the same location as last year).  It will run from 9am-9pm.  Sally will be in contact with those people who responded to the poll about helping to set up and break down the tables.  Side note:  it might seem like a great idea to bring your own iron, but last year we had breaker overload problems. There will be irons and ironing boards available.  Please leave your own at home. Thanks!  Lunch is a potluck affair at noon, and the general May meeting will be at 1pm. Bring some cash if you want to chip in for dinner.  Last I heard, pizza was on the menu. The Sew-In is free for PGHMQG members and $20 for non-members.

Aside from a great day spent sewing (duh), here's what you can expect at the meeting...

• Money for the June Fat Quarter Club will be collected. I (Cheralee) will be choosing the fabrics.  Suggestions or requests are welcome. The cost is $12. 
• Any questions that might need answered about the Paint Chip Challenge introduced last month can be addressed at this meeting.  Here's a link to the info - Click here...
• We are kicking off the Pennsylvania Modern Quilt Guilds Mini Swap!  We are partnering with the Capital Area Modern Quilt Guild and the sign up link is live now.  Click here...
• We will be discussing our favorite sewing gadget.  You'll come away with a ton of new ideas and more reasons to go shopping.  :)

April 2016 Meeting Recap

Where to begin???  This month's talk was about Color Theory, choosing colors based on relationships and identifying colors that don't quite fit.

March 2016 Meeting: Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

They put us at the front entrance!

The March meeting has a few things that you need to know, so if you have ANY questions, don't hesitate to let us know.

WHO:

The Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival graciously offered to hang the Bridge Quilt.  The founder, Barb Grossman, attended our last meeting (and became a PghMQG member!) where she suggested we should have our meeting in the Festival's Creative Open Studio.

WHERE:

The Festival is on the 3rd floor of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown. Here are the details for directions and parking.  Don't forget parking might be a fee, too, depending on how you arrive.  We will be meeting in room 315.  There will be skein winding, coat check and concession services plus a marketplace! 

WHEN:

Because of the Festival's program, our meeting time is going to shift just a bit.  We are starting at 11:15am (in room 315).  The doors open at 8:30am and the close at 3:30pm. You are encouraged to go check out the other cool stuff.  The Festival runs from Friday, March 4, 2016 through Sunday, March 6, 2016.

WHAT:

• We will have a QuiltCon recap provided by those that attended.  It will also give us a chance to see the Bridge Quilt hung "in the wild" (in public) and see the reactions from the other attendees.  
• Amanda will have the FQC bundles to hand out.  The Show & Tell and business portions of the meeting will be condensed to a quick couple of minutes.  
• Barb said that the Creative Open Studio is full of machines provided as test models, so don't feel obligated to bring your own if you don't want to.  

• At that point, we have been invited to take part in their block challenge.  "Creativebug is sponsoring a Creative Block Challenge, featured in the new Creative Open Studio. You are invited to create a 12 x 12 inch block with a variety of materials (yarns, fabrics, fibers, scraps, silks, notions, ribbons). All of the machines are graciously provided by Babylock,Brother, Innova Quilting Systems and Janome, as well as FeltLOOM®. These machines as well as a variety of cutting tools will be available for your use the entire weekend. All materials will be provided for you and 3 winners will be selected by Creativebug with a special prize awarded to each winner. Test your skills, challenge your creativity and have fun in this year’s new Creative Open Studio. This is free with your admission and is open for everyone creative, regardless of your skill sets."

• The blocks can be donated after the festival for charity quilts for the East End Cooperative Ministry or returned to you.

WHY:

The opportunity to take part in more "maker" concentrated activities was too good to pass up.  The positive attention that the Bridge Quilt has brought to the guild has been a blessing as far as building bridges (ha!) to other communities who create.  We can support our knitting and crocheting brethren and help grow the modern quilting presence in Pittsburgh.  The logistics might be a little complicated, but the payoff is seeing firsthand the faces of the people who Ohh and Ahh over our work.  (As I write this, I am flooded by Instagram images of people who are taking their photos with our quilt in Pasadena.  That is SO cool!)

HOW:

The admission to the Festival can be found here.  There are multiple options depending on how many days you want to attend.  If you are only coming to the festival for the meeting, the cost is $10.  Amanda sent out an email on February 2nd titled "Some Random Tidbits" with instructions on how to get $5 off your Sunday admission or a combo discount on a class and admission for Friday, Saturday AND Sunday.  If you need that email again, post here and I will forward it to you.  Here is the full schedule for you to check out. 

 

Jan/Feb meeting recap

This is Cheralee, social media person for 2016.  This is my first recap, so let's get to the Jan/Feb meeting.

Jan/Feb 2016 meeting announcement

Don't Forget!  The February meeting has been moved to January 31st!

Because we all love fabric and appreciate a good deal, the February meeting has been changed to Sunday, January 31, 2016.  The time is 1:00-4:00 and we are still meeting at the Pittsburgh Project.  Click the link for directions.  The original meeting date coincided with Super Bowl Sunday as well as several great sales at local shops.  A list is being compiled for distribution at the meeting.

We're going to:

• get updates on some programming ideas that are in the works
• brainstorm on a chance to work with other modern guilds
• collect money for the FQC (Fat Quarter Club)

After the business portion of the meeting, we want you to share any recent fabric or pattern purchases you have made and how they inspire you.  If you want to clear the decks to make room for those new ideas, we are also having a scrap swap!  Bring a gallon-size plastic bag full of your extra bits.  You will get the chance to stuff your bag with other members' scraps!  Maybe something new will stir the creative juices!  

If you have larger pieces (yardage) to purge, we'll have a separate table for those.

Anyone bringing scraps gets first dibs - leftovers will be available to the rest of the group after all participant picking has been done.

The time remaining after the scrap swap will be devoted to a free sew and working on any projects you want to bring.

Remember, the first meeting is free if you have been thinking about joining.  Come on out!