Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild: 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.

The Bridge Quilt, "35 Sisters", was awarded Best in Show at the Three Rivers Quilt Guild Show. Amanda presented the members present who had worked on the quilt with purple Best In Show ribbons. Sally suggested Amanda keep the Best In Show ribbon from the show for all of her hard work.

At the January meeting, the idea of an overnight retreat was overwhelmingly approved. Because of how far out the retreat spaces book, we are looking at March 24-26, 2017 for an overnight sew-cation. More details will be made available as they are confirmed.

The May Sew Day was also discussed. It will be 9am-9pm, at St. John's Lutheran Church . (Where it was last year.) The Sew-In is free for PGHMQG members and $20 for non-members. Lunch is a potluck at 12:00pm, with the May meeting at 1:00pm. Bring some cash if you want dinner - rumor has it pizza is on the menu. Lots of people signed up for setting up and breaking down, so thank you for that! If you haven't RSVP'd to the eVite, PLEASE do so. Dig through your inbox/spam folder to find the original email. Thanks!

I (Cheralee) will be choosing the June Fat Quarter Club bundle. If you want to sign up, it's $12 due at the Sew-In meeting in May.

Lauren, guild treasurer, gave a financial report. If you would like the details, they can be shared with you rather than posting them online.

The guild will be taking part in a mini swap based on making a traditional design modern. We are working with the Capital Area Modern Quilt Guild in Harrisburg. Anyone from the guild may enter. Details and the sign up link will be be on the blog in a separate post after the CAMQG meeting next Tuesday.

Barb, hereafter referred to as B, has been sewing for 50 years. She has a background in interior design, so she took those skills and applied them to how colors interact in her quilts. She explained about Isaac Newton inventing the color wheel in 1666. The ROY G BIV we were taught in elementary school is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to color relationships - in fact, sometimes color isn't even the most important part of the quilt! The interactions between the colors we choose for our quilt help our eyes see depth, space and movement. B had many examples of what she said were "nice" quilts, but that she felt were lacking in some way. This green is too yellow to play nice with these blues... or this brown is very dark compared to the values of the rest of the choices. It was a fascinating talk and B has definitely raised the bar for future instructors!

If you look around closely, you will see how businesses use certain colors to influence our actions, like gyms and restaurants. We were asked why we immediately identify certain fabrics as Civil War era reproductions and she even had a pieced example where she had tried to match her modern fabrics to the Civil War era's. Sometimes you just know it when you see it, like the neon mod polyesters or the floral corduroys. Your own personal context will influence the way the colors work together, too. B is VERY funny and we all enjoyed her talk.

Click here for a link to her complete phenomenal handout.

At the end of her talk, we could work on the activity that she had prepared or jump into the Paint Chip Challenge! Choosing two paint chips randomly, you are encouraged to add just a single additional color and create a mini quilt to hang at Spool in Pittsburgh. The mini quilts will be voted on by the public and the winner gets a gift card!