February meeting recap

There were a lot of quilts to ogle at the February meeting, so let's get to it!

Our rendition of the QuiltCon challenge for 2017 made an appearance at the meeting before being shipped off to Savannah. The challenge this year was "Playing With Scale". This quilt was inspired by the work of Paolo Scirpa, an Italian artist who uses neon light and mirrors to investigate the concept of infinity. Members individually improvisationally pieced  the textured background which, when arranged, created a focal point in the distance.  We then used hand-appliquéd bias tape to create concentric circles to bring the viewer from the large scale to the small reinforcing this point infinitely far away. 

PghMQG 2017 QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge 

Next up, the Upcycled Clothing Challenge minis were due at this meeting. The members who participated created mini quilts out of upcycled clothing that had been deconstructed and pieced together. Head on over to Spool until March 4th to vote on your favorite! The winner will receive a $50 Spool gift card!  

Upcycled Clothing Challenge Minis!

Show and tell also elicited some super cool pieces:

B and her cacti

An original piece designed by Nikki

Sally played with curves and color!

This stunning piece by Sandy is made entirely of tea bags. It.was.amazing.

Karen led the skillbuilder topic about organizing your stash. Thanks, Karen! 

Don't forget to register for the March sewing retreat via this link. Registration is now open to nonmembers if you want to bring yourself or your friends!

See you in March!

PghMQG

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

March Meeting Recap

Our March meeting took place at Spool. Thanks for hosting us, Spool! <3 We are excited to welcome three new members! 

The winner of the Upcycled Clothing Challenge was announced. There was a tie! Congratulations to our winners!

Sally's winning entry

Sharon's winning entry

The Three Rivers Quilt show is coming up. The deadline for submissions is March 27. The Quilt Company East is also hosting a show. The deadline for submissions is May 20th.

There will be no regular sew day this month. Instead we will have our sewing retreat March 24-26th.

Here are this month's Inspiration Challenge blocks:

Gerry

B's QuiltCon inspired block 

Sharon's block

 Amanda's block

Show and Tell:

 New member Sarah and her house block

Zsofia's teeny tiny rainbow geese

Akemi shared the MQG swap mini that she received.

Tamara's Bee block

Cheryl was super speedy with completing her Riley Blake Challenge quilt.

Sharon completed one of her UFO's.

(Don't forget about our UFO challenge!)

And finally some pictures from our Sashiko workshop. Thank you to Spool for hosting our meeting and getting us started with learning about Sashiko!

Our next meeting will be at The Pittsburgh Project April 2nd 1-4pm. Stacy will be sharing about quilt show judging. Can't wait to see you there!

 

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

February 2017 Meeting: Organizing Your Fabric Stash

We will be meeting February 5th from 1-4pm at The Pittsburgh Project. Can't wait to see you there!

Did you make a New Year’s Resolution to organize your fabric stash?  If so, you are not alone.  That’s number one on the quilter wish list, according to American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.

Karen Womack will share tips, techniques and her personal organization journey.  Bring your questions/frustrations, a pen, and pre-printed address labels to participate in a drawing or two.

Other things to remember for this meeting:

• This is your last opportunity to bring in those UFO's if you wish to participate in our UFO Finish Along in 2017
• Let's see your Upcycled Clothing Challenge minis! This is the final deadline for entries. Please have a label with your name attached to the back.
• Don't forget your Inspiration Challenge block 
• Projects for Show and Tell
• The QuiltCon charity challenge quilt will be attending the meeting before it makes its journey to Savannah!

See you soon!

Pittsburgh MQG

November 2016 Meeting Recap

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

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.

January Meeting Recap

One of the two quilts Gerry will be teaching at the Pgh Knit and Crochet Festival

January meetings are always a little different from the rest of the year.  We are looking at by-law changes, electing new officers and trying to both assess the past year's programming while looking ahead to the new year.  We opened introductions (and welcome to all of those new faces!) with the question of what we enjoyed most in 2016 and what we were looking forward to in 2017 for the guild.

January 2020 Meeting Recap

We met for our monthly meeting on Sunday, January 5th. This was our annual meeting at which we voted on any bylaws changes and voted on guild leadership for 2020.
All changes to bylaws were voted on and accepted. The current bylaws are available to view on the website.
The following new leadership was voted into office for 2020:
President - Nikki
VP of Programs - Jeanne
VP of Membership - Missy
Treasurer - B
Social Media - Courtney

Thank you so much to Amanda, Sandy, and Zsofia, who were part of leadership for 2019!

The Quiltcon 2020 charity quilt is being bound and labeled by Zsofia and Julie, and then we will send it off to the show!

The current quarterly challenge is to create a quilt derived from a board game. These quilts are due at the March 7th sew day meeting! To be entered in the yearly raffle the quilt must be finished, including binding. Use the hashtag #pghmqggamechallenge on social media!

Financial Report:
The guild had net earnings of $1053.46 for 2019!
Dues to MQG are paid for 2020.

We discussed the programs survey that was sent out last fall, and we discussed possible 2020 programs. As always, send any suggestions to Jeanne at her programs email!

Show and Tell:

Michele showed us a rainbow quilt that she made from swap blocks:

Nikki showed us a scrap quilt:

Zsofia made 2 zip pouches, one was made from a Starbucks coffee bag!

Pam upcycled picture frames and framed tree blocks to give as gifts:

Sandy showed us a queen size quilt that she made for her daughter:

And Karen used her free motion practice pieces to create a tote bag!

Our next meeting is on Sunday, February 9th. We are meeting in the Holy Spirit cafeteria, 1pm-4pm. Gerry will be talking about thread and needles and Nikki will be talking about quilt batting. We hope to see you there!

March 2017 Meeting: Sashiko Workshop

It's time for our monthly meeting! Please note that our location and time will be different this month.

March 5th
2-5pm
@Spool

We'll be learning about sashiko at Spool. Sashiko is a decorative form of Japanese stitching which is deeply rooted in both mending and quilting. Sashiko utilizes a uniform running stitch in repetitive geometric designs.

Don't forget if you planned to buy a kit for the demo they will be $14.

Spool has a class that will be finishing up as we enter for our meeting. Please be respectful of their space as they wrap up.

We'll also find out the winner of our Upcycled Clothing Challenge. If you didn't vote yet you can still do so at Spool by March 4th.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!