January 2014 Meet-Up - A Slight Change of Plans

Voting on the New Leadership Team

Greetings everyone, and an early Happy New Year!

There is a change to our January meeting. Ginger will no longer be teaching her Free Motion Design Class. The design workshop has been rescheduled for the February meeting, which gives all of us an extra month to practice our free motion skills. (Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief!) Instead of Ginger's design class we will be fulfilling two of the suggested program ideas shared at our holiday party...

Everyone that attended the holiday party was asked to provide three suggestions for 2014 programming. The following list was created based on those suggestions. For those of you unable to attend, we are still taking suggestions. Please post a comment here or shoot us an email.

2014 Programming/Activity Suggestions from Guild Members

• ·       Color theory (2)
• ·       Up-cycled materials fabric challenge
• ·       String piecing
• ·       Joint project or collaboration (4)
• ·       Donate group project to The Pittsburgh Project or other organization (2)
• ·       Quilt journal
• ·       Planning/Completion Tips Workshop
• ·       Completed projects competition
• ·       Improv piecing continued
• ·       Modern quilting/artist trading cards- suggested as a possible challenge for quilt show and/or fundraiser
• ·       Community outreach with local focus
• ·       Scrap fabric swap (2)
• ·       More lectures and workshops (5)
• ·       Sewing together (2)
• ·       Retreat (4)
• ·       Sister guild partnership
• ·       Scrap sewing
• ·       Block exchange- round robin concept (2)
• ·       Shop hop participation (3)
• ·       Mystery quilt
• ·       Quilt show (2; but when discussed the entire group wanted this to happen again)
• ·       Creative ways to piece backs of modern quilts

At our January meeting your new leadership team will go over a suggested program calendar for 2014. In lieu of the free motion design workshop, we will also host our first-ever modern fabric scrap swap and challenge. Here is how it works:

1. The swap: Fill a gallon-sized freezer bag with modern fabric scraps to the meeting (Please bring scraps that are large enough to work with.)
2. Every participant will dump their scraps in a heap, which will then be mixed up
3. We will then each take our turn filling up our gallon-sized bag with new scraps 
4. The challenge: Before the February meeting take your new scraps and make a quilted item
5. Share the quilted item you make with your swap scraps on the guild's Flickr page and/or February show & tell

This is a great opportunity to do a little scrap house cleaning at the start of the New Year, and add some new gems to your scrap collection!

Holiday Party Attendees Showing Off Our White Elephant Gifts

In addition to discussing programming for 2014 and the modern scrap fabric swap we will also have show & tell. Please bring newly completed projects or WIPs to share with the group.

Feel free to drop us a line if there are any questions about the January meeting. As of January 1 Gina, our newly elected President, will be answering guild emails. We apologize for the change of plans, and we will get a list of required materials for Ginger's class during the month of January.

Again, we wish you all a safe holidays and Happy New Year!!!

Sherri Lynn Wood is Looking for Volunteers!

Before we get to some extremely exciting news, we've got some exciting news:  all nominees for officer positions were unanimously approved.  This year's officers are:

• Gina, President
• Kathy, Vice President
• Sarah, Secretary
• Lauren, Treasurer
• Melissa, Social Media

We look forward to working together and with the rest of the guild to accomplish some wonderful things in the new year!  

On to some super exciting news!  Sherri Lynn Wood, creator of the Mod Mood Quilt that we worked on this year, is coming out with a new book.  Even better, you have an opportunity to have your work featured in it.  The book is called THE IMPROVE HANDBOOK FOR MODERN QUILTERS: A Practical Guide for Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously.  For more information on how you can get a sneak-peek at part of the book and make a quilt for possible inclusion in it, please see her latest blog post here.  Keep in mind that your work will have to be kept confidential until publication of the book.  We hope to see a few PghMQG members featured!

-Melissa

Holiday Party Reminder

The Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild will be hosting its annual Holiday Party this Sunday, December 8, 2013, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Sarah's house.  If you didn't receive the E-vite with the details, please let us know by sending an e-mail.  Please bring an appetizer/finger food.  Dessert and beverages will be provided.  We will be exchanging small quilted items (mug rugs/potholders) this year.  As always, feel free to bring show and tell items!

We will also be holding elections.  Gina is running for President; Kathy is running for Vice President; Sarah is running for Secretary; and Lauren and Melissa are running for their second terms as Treasurer and Social Media Coordinator, respectively.

As we embark on another year, please let us know what you'd like to get out of the Guild - bring your ideas to the party!  If you can't make it to the party, please send us an e-mail with your ideas.

We look forward to seeing you there!

November 2013 Meeting Notes

The PGH MQG met on Sunday, November 3rd. A brief business meeting was held before the "Show & Sew." Meeting notes are as below:

1.      Ginger Krenn will be teaching Intro to Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) on Sunday, November 17 from 1:00-4:00 PM. Necessary supplies for the class may be viewed here. Please note: There will be no meeting business before the FMQ workshop. (This is the first of two FMQ workshops Ginger is teaching. The second will be offered in January 2014 and focus on FMQ design.)

2.       Elections were officially called and nominations were opened. Voting will be at the December 8^th Holiday Party.

a.       Gina is running for President

b.      Kathy is running for Vice President

c.       Lauren is running for Treasurer (second term)

d.      Melissa is running for Social Media Coordinator (second term)

e.      The position of Secretary was nominated by Stephanie and seconded by Tamara to return to our leadership team

f.        Sarah is running for Secretary

3.       Deadline: If you wish to nominate any additional Guild members for a leadership position, please notify Jodi by December 1^st.  This is the week before our December 8^th Holiday Party.

4.       An evite will be sent out soon for the Holiday Party, so check your inbox.

5.       PMQG 2013 Holiday Party will be Sunday, December 8^th from 1-4 PM at Sarah Lozecki’s house.  Please see the evite for address and contact number.

a.       We will be having a potluck of appetizers and finger foods. Beverages and dessert will be provided.

b.      Please bring a potholder, mug rug, or other small quilted item for our gift exchange.

c.       We will be holding elections at this event.

d.      Come ready to share a few ideas of what quilting ideas you would like to see the guild participate in and learn about.

e.      Feel free to bring items for show and tell.

Many thanks to Sarah for taking notes. As always, please feel free to drop us a line.

Mid-Atlantic Mod: A Modern Quilting Retreat

Three guilds in the Mid-Atlantic region (Central Jersey MQG, Philadelphia MQG, and DC MQG) have been working together to organize a modern quilting retreat next spring. 

mid-atlantic MOD: a modern quilting retreat

April 3-6, 2014
Doubletree Resort, Lancaster, PA

www.midatlanticmod.blogspot.com

They're still in the process of planning lots of fun activities but some that will be included are:
-plenty of social sewing time
-hands-on mini workshops
-swaps
-a fun group project
-charity sewing
-virtual and/or local shop hops

Registration opens on Nov. 1st for those not a member of the 3 guilds.  A link will go up on the blog with registration information. The event will accommodate 65 attendee and will likely fill quickly. 

November Meeting Announcement

Our November meeting is quickly approaching!  The meeting will be held at the Pittsburgh Project from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, on Sunday, November 3, 2013.  The Pittsburgh Project is located at 2801 N. Charles Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15214.

We will have a brief business meeting regarding elections and the holiday party in December.  Jodi will be bringing everyone's quilts back from the show at the Carnegie Library.  Please pick up your quilts on Sunday or make arrangements with another guild member to pick up your work.  The show will be coming down on Thursday, so if you haven't seen it yet, you've got a few days left!

Following the business meeting, we will have a show and sew.  Bring your WIPs and sew the afternoon away with other guild members.  And bring some projects to show off, too!

Please note that this is not the FMQ workshop, which will be held on November 17th, 2013, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Free Motion Quilting, Session 1 - Supply List

Ginger will be presenting the first of two free motion quilting workshops on Sunday, November 17.  The supplies required for the workshop are listed below:

• Sewing machine and any support you normally use to quilt.  Example: a sew steady table to surround a portable machine. Ginger will be demonstrating how to make a large support for machine quilting on a domestic machine.
• We will be lowering our feed dogs to quilt - if  this is a new experience  please bring machine manual.
• Darning foot, also called free motion foot, for your machine.  If you do not have one, they are available at Thornton Company (412-366-6611).
• Ginger will be demonstrating the use of  the supreme slider, machingers quilting gloves, and bobbin genies.  If you have any of these items, please bring them.
• Machine needle, universal size 80/12.
• Thread - Ginger will be using Superior So Fine 50 Weight (we will discuss threads and needles).  We will be sewing on cream muslin so any contrast color will work.  Fill two bobbins with matching thread.
• Scissors
• Marking tools - washaway blue Dritz pen, etc
• Ruler - 12-inch square ruler
• Quilt sandwiches - make a couple 15 inches by 15 inches, use a light weight batting or warm and natural.  Use a print for backing and a solid cream or white muslin for the top.  If you need fabric, Ginger will have extra sandwiches (sorry no peanut butter and jelly though).  You can safety pin (at least 3 inches apart) baste or spray baste the layers together.

During this workshop, we will be covering:

• tension issues - both yours and your machine's :)
• how to handle a large quilt on a home machine
• products that make free motion quilting easier
• ergonomic considerations when quilting
• how to develop a method to keep stitches even
• meander, stippling, and loop-d-loop designs
• sewing a marked design, a plotted design, and totally free form filler designs (swirls, pebbles, paisleys)
• how to audition designs before sewing them on quilts
• how to fall in love with FMQ

If anyone has a specific question or issue they would like covered, please let Ginger or the leadership team know before the workshop. 

Ginger is looking forward to our workshop and hopes to share some of the knowledge she has gained quilting with her gloves on and her feed dogs down.  She has planned this first workshop to cover basis and techniques.  Session 2 will look at design, creating patterns, and using the aid of many different types of rulers and templates.

See you on November 17!

Computers, Quilts & Privacy

Lorrie Faith Cranor will be giving a talk at CMU and has an exhibit opening next week!  Details are listed below.  Be sure to check out the link to her quilts, too!

Computers, Quilts & Privacy
Lorrie Faith Cranor

Friday, November 1
12:30-1:30 pm

STUDIO for Creative Inquiry,
College of Fine Arts Room 111
Lunch provided, please RSVP to
studio-info@andrew.cmu.edu

Lorrie is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University where she is director of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) and co-director of the MSIT-Privacy Engineering masters program. During the 2012-2013 academic year she spent her sabbatical as a fellow in the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU where she worked on fiber arts projects that combine her interests in privacy and security, quilting, and computers. In this talk she will discuss these interests and how she combined them during her sabbatical.

For directions or more information contact Marge Myers at 412-268-3451.

You can view some of Lorrie's quilts online at http://lorrie.cranor.org/quilts/

Lorrie's quilts will also be on exhibit at the Frame Gallery on the Carnegie Mellon campus October 24-November 3, 2013. The Frame Gallery is at 5200 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, on the corner of Forbes and Margaret Morrison.

Opening Reception
Friday, October 25, 2-5:30 pm

Gallery Hours
Thursdays: Oct. 24 + 31, 5-9 pm
Fridays: Oct. 25 + Nov. 1, 2-7 pm
Saturdays: Oct. 26 + Nov. 2, Noon to 5 pm
Sundays: Oct. 27 + Nov. 3, Noon to 5 pm

October Meeting Recap

Many thanks to Gina for an incredible improv workshop. Please remember to bring your completed improv works to the meeting on November 3rd, which will be a Show & Sew. Also, take advantage of uploading your improv works to the Guild's Flickr page. Secondly, thanks go out to Sarah, who took the following notes. Please note: We have two meet-ups in November!!!

Pittsburgh Modern Quilting Guild Sunday, October 6, 2013

Meeting Minutes

1.     Thanks to all those who quilted something for the library quilt how.  Thank you for all of the set up assistance as well.  Remember the show is still going until October 31^st!

2.     Ginger’s Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) workshop in November has been shifted to Sunday, November 17^th for a second PMQG gathering.  We will still have our regular session on Sunday, November 3^rd with a free sew time together. (Materials for the 17th to be posted soon!)

3.     The Holiday Party will be coordinated by Gina Konopack and Sarah Lozecki.  If you want to be involved in the planning, please let them know.  Location is TBD at this time, but will be Sunday, December 1^{st. (Save the Date!!!)}

4.     Elections will be called in November for our leadership offices.  A vote will take place at the Holiday Party and the newly elected officials will take office in January.  Jodi Humphrey will not be continuing as the President of the Guild.  Gina Konopack is as of yet undecided if she will pursue office of Vice President, or President.  All other positions are interested in remaining.  If you would like to nominate someone for a position, please make sure that you speak to them ahead of the nomination time.

5.     We are looking to create a new role of Past President to act as guidance to the newly elected Guild President.  It is also hoped that this new role can take over special projects, in particular Outreach.

6.     If you are interested in a bus trip to the Paducah, KY Quilt Show April 21-26, 2014, there will be a pick up for the Pittsburgh area.  40 people are needed to fill the bus and the total cost is $849 per person per double room and includes, transportation, admission to preshow, quilt show with multi-day pass, museum, rotary how, Patti’s Settlement, motel and five breakfasts.  Please call Delores Kennemuth at 814.849.2284 or e-mail at jdkennemuth@windstream.net with any questions.

7.     On November 9^th Jodi and Lauren will be traveling to the Oil City Quilt Guild to talk about modern quilting.  We can’t wait to hear how your time was!

8.     If you did not get your fabrics for the Riley Blake Challenge, please let Jodi know. The Challenge rules were: 1. Finished product must be quilted, 2. You may only add additional fabrics that are solids or Riley Blake fabric from other lines.

9.     If you are looking for inspiration in your color and fabric choices try:

a.     design-seeds.com where you can follow them on Pinterest or have a subscription. The website shows photographs of various scenes and the color palette that comes from the image.

b.     There is an app for your smartphone through Adobe called Kuler.  You hold the phone over a picture, piece of fabric, or even the floor and the app will pull colors from that image.

10.  There is an exhibit called Compromised: Life in the Middle present by Gold Standard. The show runs through November 3rd,  at 937 Liberty Ave on the 2nd Floor. Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11- 6pm, Saturdays 11am - 8pm and Sundays 11am - 5pm.  The show is about artistic communities in America.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Gina's workshop. We look forward to seeing everyone in November. Cheers!

October 2013 Meet-Up Reminder (Gina's Awesome Improv Workshop)

Just a friendly reminder our October meet-up is this Sunday, October 6, 2013.

Details regarding Gina Konopack's workshop can be found here:
Gina's Improv Workshop

Prep for the Improv Workshop

Meeting Details:

Sunday, October 6, 2013

1:00-4:00 PM

The Pittsburgh Project (2801 North Charles Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15214)

Remember: The guild meets in the back of Mosaic Church, which is caddy-corner from the Pittsburgh Project's main building.

 

Please note: There will be a brief business meeting before the workshop begins.

 

We hope to see all of you there. Please drop us a line if you have any questions!

An Afternoon of Improv Peicing - Pre-meeting Preparation

As we get closer to our next meeting date and workshop I thought I would send some helpful tips to prep for the class.

Selecting your fabrics:

Having trouble deciding on what fabrics to choose? Here are some ideas help you select your fabrics & perhaps lead you to a fabric combination that is different than your 'norm'!

• Select a palette of two colors you don't feel 'go together'; the combination may surprise you!What color makes you happy? Work with that color and choose a range of value within a monochromatic scheme
• Create a palette celebrating an upcoming season.... Maybe the warm rich tones of Fall, cool icy tones of Winter ...just think, this could be a perfect gift!
• Challenge yourself to work with a color scheme you have never tried
• Choose your favorite color scheme but shift the intensity (for example, instead of bright orange try coral, from grey blue go to indigo or bright blue, from sage green try chartreuse). From here, choose compliments to create a fresh color grouping
• Challenge yourself to work in all solids or all prints
• Choose colors that are close to each other on a color wheel.... Add a bit of a strong contrast as an accent and use minimally as you piece your strips

Preparing your fabrics:

For those that want to dive into their improv piecing right away, I suggest cutting your fabrics prior to the meeting.  Cut strips 6"-8" long by a range of widths (approx. 1-1/4" - 3" wide); cut strips a random angles (see photo)

Remember, this is a liberating process...there is now exact rule to the technique & you can't do it wrong! It is your aesthetic, your feelings, your intuition, your process! We will all create very differrent, equally vibrant pieces!!

Looking forward to seeing you!

Gina


PS - Don't forget to check out our last post with the supply list for the class!

October Meeting: An Afternoon of Improv Piecing

Join us for a session of improv piecing led by Gina Konopack.  We will work to each assemble a small wall quilt or runner in this workshop.  We will explore the interplay of color, pattern, shape & scale as we create sections of our piece and experiment with arrangement and final layout.

Set those rules aside and come prepared to embrace the unexpected!
 

Supplies:

• Fabric: scraps, strips, FQ's, or a small yardage cuts, enough to equal approx  1- 1-1/2 yds fabric (Completed pieces may range from 18"- 30", overall size will vary with individual layout)
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Cutting tools- scissors, rotary cutter & mat
• Iron and pressing board
• Pins

Quilt Show Reception Recap

We had a great reception for our first-ever Members' Quilt Show!  Photos taken by Ginger and Kathy are posted to our Flickr page (click here to check them out).  The gallery looks amazing with all those pretty quilts on the walls.  Everyone, especially the kids, had a great time with our interactive exhibits.  We hope to see some #pghmqg hash tags showing up on Instagram soon! 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the show and attended the reception - it was great to see so many familiar (and unfamiliar) faces there!  Special thanks to Jodi who did so much work to pull this all together - we really appreciate it!

For those of you who weren't able to make it to the reception, be sure to stop by the Gallery at Main (Carnegie Library in Oakland) to see the display.  It will be up through the end of October. 

We've got some great workshops planned for the fall and winter including an improvisational piecing workshop with Gina and a two-part free motion quilting workshop with Ginger.  More information will be posted on the blog soon!

Our next meeting will be on Sunday, October 6, 2013, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Pittsburgh Project.  We will be improv piecing with Gina.  Stay tuned for details, hope to see you there!

-Melissa

PS - if you have any photos from the show you'd like me to share on the Flickr page, just let me know!

September Meeting and Quilt Show Reception

It's September and that means that our first-ever Members' Quilt Show is currently on display at the Carnegie Library's Gallery at Main!  This month's meeting will be this Sunday, September 8, at the Gallery at Main where we will host an opening reception for the show.  The meeting will be at the usual time (1:00 pm to 4:00 pm).  Please feel free to bring your family and friends!

We also need some help with goodies for the reception.  See this post from a few weeks ago for details - leave a comment letting us know what you're bringing.  We've got a wide variety of yummy treats listed already!

The Oakland (Main) Carnegie Library is located at 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.  Directions and parking information can be found here.

Hope to see you on Sunday!

Congratulations are in Order...

"Degranulaton" by Dia Sue-Wah-Sing

The American Quilter's Society (AQS) Quilt Week is October 2-5, 2013 in Des Moines, Iowa, and we are happy to announce two PGH MQG members will have quilts featured in the Modern Quilt Challenge. Please join me in congratulating Melissa and Dia Sue-Wah-Sing, both of whom found out yesterday their quilts were accepted for the challenge.

Many of us have had the privilege of seeing Dia's quilt, Degranulation, in person at one of our guild meetings. (This quilt was marveled over at the first Show & Tell Dia attended!) The quilt was created during a workshop with Dwayne Wanner at Greenwood Quiltery, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The workshop was entitled the "Abstract Expressionist Quilt Project." Dia had this to say about the quilt, There was little time to think during the creation of this quilt. It was just sew, sew and sew; under an enthusiastic quilting Drill Sergeant. My ruler was discarded in favour of just "go with your gut" and "we will fix that later". It evolved out of many wonderful consultations and critiques by my classmates (other awesome quilters), which included my mom, There were comments that the work reflected Pablo Picasso's “le guitarist”. I was not familiar with Picasso's piece until after the quilt was completed. 

"City of Bridges" by Melissa

Back in March of this year, Melissa's Madrona Road challenge quilt, City of Bridges was featured on the guild's blog.  We would later announce in this post that City of Bridges won second place in the small wall hanging category at the 2013 Three Rivers Quilt Festival. It should be no surprise to learn the beautiful quilt will also be making its way to Des Moines. 

"City of Bridges", free motion detail

Melissa was very excited at the success of this quilt, as it was one of her first adventures in using multiple quilting patterns within a quilt instead of a single, all-over design. The quilt is also her original design and improvised!

Again, congratulations to both of you. This is very exciting news and we appreciate you sharing with all of us.  

And, guild members, please let us know if anyone else had work selected for AQS Quilt Week. We would love to spotlight your selected work and celebrate with you!

Cheers,
Jodi

Blog Roll Call

Are you a blogger?  Are you a member of the Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild?  If you answered "yes" to both of these questions, please let me know if you'd like your blog to be listed on our Blog Roll Call (see the right-hand side of this page). 

So far we've got four member blogs listed and we'd love to keep that list growing!  Just leave a comment with a link to your blog and we will link it up to this site. 

Don't forget to let us know by Monday, August 26th, 2013, if you'd like to participate in the Riley Blake Basics Challenge by e-mailing us at pittsburghmqg@gmail.com.  

The Basics Challenge - Call for Participants

Have you heard about the latest MQG challenge, The Basics Challenge with Riley Blake Designs?  Each participant will receive six fat eights of Riley Blake's basics and they can be combined with any solids or Riley Blake prints.  The challenge runs from September 2013 through December 2013 and participants can make anything they want, as long as it is quilted!  Details are posted on the MQG Blog. 

Please let the PghMQG leadership know if you'd like to participate by Friday, August 23rd, 2013 by sending us an e-mail or leaving a comment on this blog post!

Quilt Labeling Tips

Gina and Jodi recently attended the Not Fade Away Conference presented by the Quilt Alliance.  They heard a great talk on the importance of quilt labels and brought back some resources for us.  As we're all feverishly finishing up our quilts for the upcoming show, we need to remember the importance of labeling our quilts.

Your quilt labels should contain the following information:

• Name of designer (and quilter)
• Year made
• City 
• Contact information
• Any special information you wish to include (who it was for, what event it was for, etc)

Quilt Label Resources:

• Story patches - link audio, video, or photos to your quilt.  http://stkr.it
• http://quiltwithus.connectingthreads.com/page/quilt-labels
• http://www.quilterscache.com/Q/QuiltLabels.html
• http://quiltlables.com
• http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/VictorianaQuilters/PrintableQuiltLabels/freeprintablequiltlabels.htm
• http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/how-to-quilt/finishing/making-quilt-labels
• Pinterest is also a good reasource for inspiration!

Don't forget to get your (labeled) quilts for the show to Gina or Jodi by the 17th! 

Members' Quilt Show Reception Details (We Need Your Help!)

Thanks to all of our members for contributing their fabulous work for our first group exhibit!! We can't wait to see all the pieces hung for viewing!  Don't forget to drop your entries off to Jodi or Gina by the 17th - the deadline is coming up quick!

As you have heard, our next meeting will be the reception at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland Branch, Gallery @ Main, on Sunday, September 8th, from 1:00pm -4:00pm.  

We would love your help in making the opening reception a great one!  Please comment on this post letting us know what goodie item you can bring to the reception.  Your help is very much appreciated!

Paper Goods: plates, napkins, cups (hot/cold)

Food: chips, dip, hummus, crackers, cookies, muffins, breads, other (be creative... we're sure it will be yummy!)

Beverages: coffee (pre-made in serving box), cold beverages, water

Fabric Scraps: for the interactive improvisation exhibit - you probably won't get them back, so don't bring anything you aren't willing to part with :)

Items can be brought to the exhibit space shortly before the reception.  Please e-mail us with any questions.

August Meeting Summary

The Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild took a road trip for its August meeting.  Members ventured to Sewickley to meet at “STITCH”, a brand new quilt shop!  And what a lovely shop it is!  Hip, hip, hooray!  Many thanks to Erin Kortering, the owner of STITCH, for hosting the Guild at her shop.

Before getting down to business, Erin kindly gave the Guild an overview of her new shop.  Erin described her vision for her new business and her philosophy on owning a quilt shop.  Erin offers the latest modern fabric lines, classes and access to studio time.  Visit the STITCH website for more details about the shop and what it offers.  Thanks Erin!

Lauren's Modern Mini

The Guild is now an official member of the Modern Quilt Guild.  Current PghMQG members should have received an email from the MQG asking them to join the members-only online community.  Let us know if you have not already been added to the Pittsburgh group in the members-only area.

Later during the business portion of the meeting, Guild members voted unanimously in favor of accepting the bylaws as presented at the July meeting with one small typographical change. With approved bylaws, we will obtain 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as part of the MQG organization.

Akemi shows off her cute baby quilt

The group also discussed our upcoming show at the Carnegie Museum.  Applications for the show were due at the meeting.  There is enough space to exhibit every quilt that was submitted!  At the show reception on September 8, we will host two interactive exhibits: Quilts & Math and an Ipmrov Design Board.  We need scraps for that, so please bring any fabric scraps you are willing to part with!  We also need paper products, snacks, and beverages for the reception - please help out by bringing an item if you can!

Stephanie's entry for the upcoming show

The show and tell this month was amazing!  Baby quilts, show quilts, mini-quilts, English paper-piecing, Zentangle, modern mood quilts, modern hand quilting . . .   AND how about fabric choices – chevrons, Heather Ross (Briar Rose), Michael Miller (Backyard Baby Ant Maze), Vanessa Christenson (Simply Color) . . .  such talent and so motivating!!!

Jodi's Mod Mood quilt top

Pam invited fellow PghMQG members to a trunk show that she will be hosting at the Quilt Company East Quilt Guild on October 21, 2013.  Pam will be lecturing and exhibiting Marcia Derse (http://www.marciaderse.com) fabric and fabric constructions.  This is a very exciting opportunity to see first-hand the work of a contemporary, modern textile artist. 

The next PghMQG meeting will take place on September 8, 2013, at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.