January 2017 Meeting : General Meeting

If you only make it to one meeting this year, this is a good one to shoot for.  We will be voting on the by-laws, swapping scraps, electing officers

and getting member feedback for programming this year.

Cross your fingers that the QuiltCon quilt will also be ready for its big reveal!

*Members bringing scraps get first choice, of course.

*Don't forget that we will also be having a January sew day independent of the general meeting.

Since it's a fresh, new year - a blank slate - why not assess those UFOs you have and bring them to the meeting?  Get some input from your quilty friends and find some motivation to get it done or get rid of it!  (Sometimes, finished IS better than perfect.) We will be running a UFO Finish Along in 2017 to keep you motivated. We will log your UFOs at this next meeting and as you finish them throughout the year you will get a ticket for each one to enter in an end of year prize drawing. UFOs must be at least partially started for this event. 

See you January 8th at 1pm at the Pittsburgh Project!

December Meeting Recap

December's Inspiration Challenge Blocks

Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild members enjoyed a day of sewing and camaraderie this past Saturday at The Quilt Company in Hampton Township. A brief business meeting was held in the afternoon to discuss the following items:

• We will be running a UFO Finish Along in 2017! Rummage around in your sewing space and scrounge up all those UFOs (Unfinished Objects) that you keep meaning to finish and bring them with you to the January 8th meeting. Are you working on the Inspiration Challenge blocks? Hey! That counts! We will log your UFOs and as you finish them throughout the year you will get a ticket for each one to enter in an end of year prize drawing. UFOs must be at least partially started for this event. 

• Monthly Sew Days will begin in 2017! The first one is scheduled for Saturday, January 21st from 12-5 at Carnegie Library Allegheny branch on the North side. An eVite will go out to secure your seat as space is limited. These are free events, but please do not sign up if you are not able to attend so others can join in on the fun. Keep an eye on the Meeting Dates and Events page on this blog for future sew day dates!

• The Upcycled Clothing Challenge is going on now. See this post for all the deets. The finished minis are due at the FEBRUARY meeting and not January (as accidentally stated previously). February. For sure. 

• Leadership nominations were due at this meeting. We will be voting on the 2017 leadership positions at the January 8th meeting. 

• By-laws updates coming soon. Voting on minor proposed changes to by by-laws will also happen at the January 8th meeting. Keep an eye on your inbox for a copy of the proposed changes soon.

After the business portion of meeting we all enjoyed show and tell and some door prize drawings. Thank you very much to Sally, Sandy, Robert Kaufman fabrics, and Sew Many Creations for the items donated for this month's prize drawings! 

Diane's FIRST quilt for herself! What!

Diana's cool sampler quilt

B showing off her version of the Snow Covered Trees block and generally looking like a bad ass.

Anna's cool string quilt

Thanks to everyone who came out and assisted with the clean up! Happy Holidays and we will see you all in January (look for the meeting announcement to be up soon)!

PghMQG

December 2016 Meeting : Sew Day at The Quilt Company

This meeting announcement is a quickie so you can get back to perusing the internet for sales all while sitting on your couch in your jammies.

First, the December meeting is this Saturday (12/3) form 9am-4pm at The Quilt Company in Allison Park.  An eVite went out in November with the details and you can RSVP straight from there.  Check you trash and spam folders, just in case.  The December meeting will be held at 1pm if you want to stop by for that.   

Second, because the Quilt Company is on the smallish side, we are holding the vote for the by-law changes until the January General Meeting.  We usually have a great turn out for that meeting and we'll be back at the Pittsburgh Project where we can accommodate everyone.

Third, don't forget about our newest thing- the Upcycled Clothing Challenge!  Those mini quilts will be due in February.  You can get more info on the challenge here.

Four, if you have been consistently making your Inspiration Challenge blocks from the beginning, you should be half done!  Congratulations!  Take a minute to reflect n where you began, where you thought you would be and where you are.  Here is the original post.

Five, we are going to be voting on new officers in January.  Consider taking on a bigger role within the guild.  Talk to any current officer or Pam.

November 2016 Meeting Recap

Let's get right to it, shall we?  Lots of ground to cover this month!  

New Challenge!

We are unveiling a new challenge this month for our members, the Upcycled Clothing Challenge! This is an exciting opportunity to see what you can do with nontraditional materials and do a small part to keep usable items from ending up in landfills at the same time. The challenge is to make one miniquilt for which the top has been constructed entirely from material that has been salvaged from previously used clothing. Bonus points for also using upcycled backing, binding, and batting! (Note: there will not actually be points awarded.) 

You can find the clothing for this challenge in a multitude of places: your closet, flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales, that shirt you keep nagging your husband to throw away, etc!

The finished minis will be due at the February meeting and should be 24" square or smaller (however, the mini does not need to be square). The finished pieces will hang at Spool for the month of February where they will be voted on by the public (a hanging sleeve is not necessary). The winner will win a $50 gift card and mad street cred. 

Please check out the hashtag #makedoquilt for some inspiration and use #pghmqgucc to tag your progress so we can all see it!

We can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

PghMQG

November 2016 Meeting: Quilt As You Go

Quilt as you go... There are several reasons why you might want to give this a try.  Maybe you don't have a long arm machine.  Perhaps you want to control every aspect of your quilting.  Rounding up orphan blocks and creating something is both useful as well as psychologically beneficial.  It could also be that you just want to add an additional skill to your quilting bag of tricks.

At the November meeting you'll be experimenting with two methods for QAYG - joining pre-quilted blocks and quilting while you also piece.  There are MANY methods to QAYG.  We are just going to cover these techniques with a few tricks to customize them for yourself.  I am linking the handout in case you would like to get creative!  Click here for the November handout.

We WILL need our machines and notions!  Don't bring irons, the guild will set up a few stations.


For QAYG, you will need the following supplies.

Joining Pre-Quilted Blocks:

At least 2 pre-quilted blocks (do not trim them!)
Strips at least 1" wide and the length of your blocks to use as sashing


Ticker Tape Method:

Square piece of muslin or background fabric
Square pieces of batting larger than the muslin
Square piece of backing larger than the batting
Assorted scraps


Here is the handout for the seasonal table runner and templates:

Tutorial
Templates

October 2016 Meeting Recap

This month's Inspiration Challenge winner -  Congratulations Amanda!

The QuiltCon Charity quilt top is almost done!  Zsofia handed it off to Lauren at the meeting.  Thank you to everyone who created blocks and/or participated in the sew day.  We're going to be right on target for the QuiltCon submission deadline!

Don't forget the FMQ workshop at the Quilt Company with Nikki is October 22nd.  Click here for the details.

We are proceeding with the planning for the March 2017 retreat.  You should have recently received an email survey asking about your interest.  Please respond so we can get a clear picture of numbers.  The retreat will be March 24-26, 2017.

September's #pghmqgic

The December sew day will not be at the Pittsburgh Project this year.  We are finalizing the location and date.  Stay tuned for updates!

The January 2017 meeting will be our annual General Meeting as well as elections for new officers.  If you are interested in being an officer, speak to any of the current members in those positions to get an idea of the duties.  Also, if you aren't able to attend regularly, try to make the January meeting.  The 2017 focus will be discussed and we value all input.

The Inspiration Challenge blocks keep getting better and better!  This month included a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Liberty Bridge woes, solving a kimono conundrum and recent trips.  Sound intriguing?  Well, come out to the November meeting and take a look for yourself!  You can find all of the info on the Inspiration Challenge by clicking here.

Show and Tell

The MQG (Modern Quilt Guild) held a town hall webinar and is also inaugurating a MQG mini swap.    There is so much going on over there!  Click here to get more information on the upcoming television show, QuiltCon 2017, a new book and how to submit your own ideas!

Trapunto applique

The topic in October was applique.  Discussions included machine versus hand applique, raw edge versus turned under, and the new style of reverse-applique of Alabama Chanin and Alison Glass.  There were samples of different decorative stitches that could be used on your basic machine.  In addition to the handout and points covered, members were asked to air their own problems, and victories to help everyone in the group.  Solutions for sticky needles, using water-soluble thread for trapunto applique and a few throwbacks to previous meetings were shared.  A great number of JoAnn fabrics' handouts on interfacing weights were shared to the delight of some.  Templates for using in a holiday table runner were forgotten at the copier store, but WILL make it into the November announcement . :)  Some of the tips shared by the group were added to the handout and appear in a separate color.  Thank you to everyone for sharing!

Click here for the Applique handout.

The notes on the measurements for the QAYG blocks were also removed from the handout and will be in the November meeting announcement.