The Modern Wedge Workshop with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession

Join us for an exciting day of quilting with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession!!

We will be taking reservations online - please click here to view the event page and reserve your place.  Please keep in mind that we are not accepting online payment - please bring your check to the April meeting or contact us for an address if you wish to mail payment.

Space is reserved for members only through April 6; following our April meeting, we will begin accepting registration from non-members. 

We are very excited for this event and look forward to seeing you there!

Workshop: The Modern Wedge
Date:  Saturday, May 10th
Time: 10:00- 4:00
Fee:  $40 for members, $60 for members
Lunch will be provided or feel free to pack

Supplies required:

• Book:  Making Quilts or Adding Layers by Kathy Doughty
• A selection of fabrics at least 10-12" wide
• A wedge ruler: 10, 15, 18 or 22 1/2 degrees
• Basic sewing supplies such as scissors, pins, sewing machine
• Applique supplies: chalk pencils, needle size 9-11, applique pins
• If you have an iron and portable board please bring them.

April Meeting - Quilt Journal and an Outreach Project

Please join us at 1:00 pm on April 6, 2014, at the Pittsburgh Project for our monthly meeting.  The Pittsburgh Project is located at 2801 North Charles Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15214.  At the April meeting, we will be introduced to the Quilt Journal.  Following the presentation, all are welcome to stay and help piece a special project.

Quilt Journal

In this first session we will lossen up and use found images to inspire sketches and design exploration emphasizing shapes, patten and compoistion.  This fun exercise will allow us to fill the first few pages of our journal and may just lead to new quilt ideas!

Supplies:

• Sketchbook (size can be 6 x 8, 7 x10, 9 x 12) 
• examples:
• Fabriano soft back 5.8" x 8.25" blank sketchbook (available in art section at Michael's)
• Moleskin blank journal (not lines)
• Any spiral or soft back sketchbook (Amazon) 
• Blank journal 
• Sketching pens 
• examples: 
• Sharpie ultra fine point (note: these will bleed through paper)  or "no bleed" sharpies (any office supply store) 
• Faber Castell Pitt Pen (try different point sizes to see what you are most comfortable with) 
• Micron pens (Michael's) 
• 1-2 pencils 
• Colored pencils or markers 
• basic set of 12-24 pencils (Michael's, Local Art Store, Amazon have student grade sets ...nothing fancy required) 
• Markers can even be Crayola (i.e. Supertip set of 20); Michael's, Target or any art store also have well priced sets
• 1-2 glue sticks
• 1-5 images from magazines, catalogues, personal photos, online images showing design, shape, color combination or compositions that is pleasing to you.  (These will be used for the first exercise on exploring shape and composition) 

Color Exploration 
Time permitting, we will begin to explore this exercise at the first workshop session.  The journal/sketchbook work will be an ongoing series of prompts and ideas so we will continue color in the following month.

Supplies above along with:

• 1-5 scraps of fabric or images of color combinations that you would like to explore in a quilt  (can be actual fabric scraps or:  patterned paper, even print outs of fabrics you like but have not purchased yet, magazine or catalogue cuts that show interesting color schemes, a photo of nature...any thing goes here) 
• Once you have some color inspiration, take a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot and grab some paint chips that match your inspiration image(s).  TRy to find chips that match your colors and also pastel and shade versions of the palette....also, select a range of whites and gray chips!  

A note from Gina: I sometimes sew paper and/or fabric scraps into my journal.  I save a machine needle for this purpose (when dull or ready to be changed for regular fabric sewing).  If you would like to try this at our first session, please bring your machine and needle that can serve for all paper sewing.  Any color thread is fine.  It helps if your sketchbook/blank journal is flexible enough and not overly large to be able to sew directly onto a page.

Spectrum Quilt

Pam M. is working with a  special education school in Monroeville (Spectrum) that is in the process of creating a quilt to hang in the entrance to their school. A group of about 40 students between the ages of 17 and 21 who are on the autism spectrum with widely differing abilities and interests have been working hard to get the quilt in the works!

The school received a small grant to fund the project and bought digital cameras for students to take pictures of things related to the school. The photos have been taken and printed on fabric. Now the quilt is ready to be assembled!

The PMQG is helping Pam with this wonderful endeavor! During our April meeting, anyone interested in helping piece a portion of the quilt can jump right in!!

We look forward to seeing all of you for an afternoon of happy sewing!!

March Meeting Canceled

Due to the snowstorm, today's meeting has been cancelled. Stay safe and warm and we will see you in April!

March Meeting Announcement

Our next meeting will be held on Sunday, March 2, at the Pittsburgh Project from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  We will have a free sew meeting (possibly with a few demonstrations).  The Pittsburgh Project is located at 2801 North Charles Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15214. 

As always, we will have a show-and-tell session, so be sure to bring along your latest projects, including those from the scrap swap and Riley Blake challenge!

If you have any questions, please contact us at pittsburghmqg@gmail.com.

Michael Miller Fabric Challenge Sign Ups

If you are interested in signing up for the latest MQG fabric challenge, please e-mail us at pittsburghmqg@gmail.com by Wednesday, February 26, at noon. 

The challenge will run from March through June 23.  You could win a free year of fabric!  Good luck and let us know if you are interested!

February Meeting Reminder - Free Motion Quilting Workshop Part II

Our February meeting will be held on Sunday, February 2, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.  The meeting will be held at the Pittsburgh Project - 2801 North Charles Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15214.

If you attended the first workshop, please bring your folder and handouts you received.  There will be extra folders and handouts for anyone who did not attend first session.  At this session  we will be exploring the design aspect of free motion quilting and looking at some of the  ways to fill the space of our quilts.  At the first session there was a request for more easy-to-learn patterns, so Ginger will have more handouts of some of her favorite quick fillers.  If you want to try stitching the designs, bring your machine and a few quilt sandwiches.

Ginger will have handouts of pictures of quilt tops to use for an exercise on how to audition designs - if you have a quilt top or picture to share, please bring it.

There will be  a lot of drawing and doodling at this session so if you have  scrap paper you want to use up, please bring it.  We will also have plenty to share.

Bring your favorite drawing/doodling tool - some like pencil others like markers or even crayons.  Ginger will be providing the dry erase markers for designing on the acetate on your folder.

As usual, we will have show and tell...and if you made anything with your scraps from our Scrap Swap last month, bring it to share!

If you have any questions, please contact us at pittsburghmqg@gmail.com.  See you on Sunday!

January Meeting Recap

The Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild began the first meeting of the New Year by welcoming Gina as the new President of the Guild.  Gina welcomed all Guild members and guest, Michelle, and introduced a draft calendar of events for 2014.  The Guild reviewed the calendar month-by-month and members were encouraged to share their thoughts or ask any questions about proposed programs/workshops:

• The Guild will be exploring venues for a fall quilt show – more information will be coming in the next few months.  Jodi will be coordinating the Outreach Quilt project – more details to come and opportunities for members to volunteer to help.
• Gina was asked to elaborate on her “quilt journal” workshop.  In addition to providing instruction on how to journal, Gina may also include a monthly blog post encouraging exploration outside of Guild meetings and giving direction on such topics as design, pattern, texture, contrast and composition.
• The Guild has a Flickr page and members were encouraged to visit the page and share photos of WIP’s and completed works on a more regular basis and in conjunction with lecture and workshop projects.  Lauren provided a short tutorial on how to join the Guild’s Flickr page at the meeting.
• Guild members were interested in exploring modern quilting ideas and possibly having a workshop devoted to a discussion on modernism in quilting.
• Members are always asking each other about quilting basics, which led to a great idea – introducing short, 15 minute demos at each meeting on quilting basics, such as binding, labeling, hiding stitches, d-sleeves, y-seams, insets, and more.
• The Guild continues to agree on holding meetings that are short on business and primarily focused on time spent creating, sewing, collaborating and learning!
• The Guild would like the option of adding an extra hour onto meetings based upon the program/workshop for a particular month.  Leadership will look into this option.

As the calendar discussion ended, the scrap swap began!  A huge pile of fabric scraps was set out and one by one members sorted through the lovely fabric to select pieces that caught their eye or were perfect for a WIP or future project.  Now the challenge is to create something incorporating those scraps and bring that creation to the February meeting.  Have fun!

At the conclusion of the meeting, members brought out their items for Show-n-Tell.  Members showed beautiful swoon quilts, scrap quilts, mini twister quilt, Riley Blake challenge quilts, modern wall hangings and one-block-wonder quilts.  Can’t wait to see more next time!  Photos from this month have been uploaded to the Guild's Flickr page.

Next meeting:
 February 2, 2014 from 1-4pm, Free Motion Quilting Part II, Show-n-Tell Scrap Swap Projects

Keep an eye out for a post and e-mail with details on how to join our Flickr group and post your photos!  We will also be letting you know about some upcoming local quilt shows you can enter.