Anna's Salad

We had great fun at our guild meeting last night and we are working on sharing all the details with you, but in the meantime, here is the recipe for Anna's salad that was such a hit!

Broccoli Grape Salad

1 bunch broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
1 bunch seedless red grapes
1 small pkg sunflower seeds
1 cup real mayonnaise (Hellman's)
1/2 cup sugar
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 lb. bacon fried crisp and crumbled
1 TB red wine vinegar

Mix dressing ingredients (giving sugar time to dissolve).  Mix other 5 ingredients.  Pour dressing over this mixture just before serving.  Serves 8.

ENJOY!

December Meeting is Tonight

Tonight is going to be fun!

We are doing  a pin cushion swap, hearing about the challenge offered to us by the Modern Quilt Guild, electing our board for 2013, giving and receiving secret sister surprises, oohing and aaahing over the Canvas Challenge projects, hearing about a new benefit for members (yes that means discount!!) and more!

You don't want to miss it!  We start at 6:30 p.m. at the usual spot. Hope to see you.

Quilter Questionnaire: Connie Whan

Name: Connie Whan

How long have you been quilting? Quilting, about 20 years but I have been sewing for more than 40 years.

How did you learn to quilt?  I taught myself.  It was pretty easy since I had been sewing apparel for many years.

What is your favorite part/step of the process? Designing the quilt

Your biggest obstacle?  Time

How many have you finished? A lot.  When I start a quilt, I finish.  The good thing, at this point I don’t have any unfinished projects when it comes to quilting.

Which item that you have made are you most proud of?  The quilts that I make and donate so the organizations can earn money.

How do you decide on a pattern? I design the pattern for the individual or group.  I am blessed to be creative in that way.

Do you name or label your quilts? Name-sometimes, label-usually.  Sometimes I forget.

Where do you quilt, do you have your own space? We converted our garage into a bedroom for our son about 11 years ago.  When he went to college, we swapped rooms.

 

Tell us about your stash: It has everything.  I am trying to win the contest of having the most fabric.

How would you define your style? Unique

What are your go-to colors? Brights, no certain colors, just bright

Favorite tool or notion?  My rotary mats, cutters, and templates.

Do you have other crafty hobbies? I crochet prayer shawls.

Modern Guild at Quilt Festival!

The Modern Quilt Guild has a special exhibit at Quilt Festival this year. They are fortunate to have a table in the exhibit to answer questions from other quilters, just as SAQA, the American Sewing Guild and other organizations do. And they need your help to staff it.

 

For members who are interested in volunteering please check out this link: http://quiltcon.ivolunteer.com/festivalmarketfall2012

Volunteers will get free admission the day they volunteer and the guild is working on a special gift.

The International Quilt Festival is in Houston, November 1-4. There are hundreds of exhibitors and booths as well as many classes offered.

September Eye Candy

We are going captionless this month as I neglected to take notes while photographing. We also had several guests share and I didn't catch most of the new names. There were lots of great tops shown off, so I'm expecting lots of finishes in the weeks to come!!

Quilter Questionnaire: Jenn

Name: Jenn Nevitt

How long have you been quilting? I made my first quilt just about three years ago - for my daughter's first birthday. It was the first quilt I had finished (I had sewn some quilt blocks when I was pregnant, but it took awhile for those to become a quilt!)

What is your favorite part/step of the process? I love choosing fabric (though I hate to use up my favorites!) and I love piecing the top. 

Your biggest obstacle? Besides being able to afford all the fabric I love, and to have time and space to sew everything? Deciding how to quilt my quilts is always tough for me, and making the backing. Ugh! 

How many have you finished? I had to go count - 46! Wow! 

Which item that you have made are you most proud of? The quilt I made for my bed this year - it is the largest quilt I've finished (just over queen size) and I think it looks like something you might buy, so that's pretty neat!

How do you decide on a pattern? I love reading quilt blogs (I was so excited when I found quilt blogs! I had read knitting blogs for years, and for some reason it didn't occur to me right away that there would be quilt blogs too!). And Pinterest is a good source of inspiration. I also like to collect quilting books, and have recently made a few quilts out of some of my books. 

Where do you quilt, do you have your own space? I have a new sewing room, and it's pretty tiny, but it's nice to keep the yarn and fabric stash away from the kids and pets! I usually move my machine to the dining room table to quilt my quilts, as there is not enough room on my sewing table.

Tell us about your stash: Not big enough! I have a hard time choosing fabrics - I really want to love everything I buy. I signed up for Pink Castle Fabric's Stash StackClub though, and they send out fat quarters all within a color scheme each month. I'm hoping to get a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise buy. I have a bad habit of buying an entire line of fabric in fat quarters or smaller precuts, and I find that sometimes limiting.

How would you define your style? Traditional Modern. I love the bright colors and patterns in modern prints, but I'm not much into 'wonky' or freeform quilting. I like nice straight lines and geometric shapes! 

What are your go-to colors? Blues and Greens. And I love a good grey!

Favorite tool or notion? My sewing machine!

Do you have other crafty hobbies? I knit a lot, and dabble in embroidery and cross stitch when I have time. I also love sewing clothes for my kids. 

Be sure and keep up with Jenn on her blog at http://knitnlit.blogspot.com/

August Eye Candy

This shot helps capture the awesome space we get to meet in each month. January giving a short demo on labeling your quilt. What is your favorite method?

Jeanie brought two quilts to share. 

A peace sign quilt for her daughter.

and a jelly roll race quilt.

Julia H shared a finish with us.

I wish I would have gotten a better picture of this quilt by Nancy. So many fun ways to use a jelly roll.

Jenn's snowball quilt, the next two are her's also

Sarah has been working on some embroidery with mylar.

One of our new members brought this sweet quilt. 

January finished her Sew Mama Sew modern block of the month quilt top.

July Eye Candy

These are some of the blocks that were submitted for our fat quarter challenge last month. I love how different they are and seeing which solids were added; so many combinations I wouldn't have thought of!

At the same meeting we also had a few ladies share about applique with our members.

Wanda shared a few techniques for needle turn applique.

Connie talked about raw-edge applique.

Do you applique? Which is your favorite method?

June Show and Share

Our June meeting brought us some wonderful show and share items! Here are just a few. Click on the collage for a better view!

June Challenge Rules

* You can use up to three different solids. (It needs to be an actual solid - no batiks or marble fabrics)

* You can chose any block you want, but it has to be 12.5 X 12.5".

* No embellishments on this one to keep the quilt cohesive. 

* Please bring your completed block to the July meeting where we will all share what we made!

May Eye Candy

Were you able to join us at our May Guild meeting? We started up our Tool Time segment where Gail and I discussed basting. What is your favorite method?

I have become a spray baste convert!

Jenn just might be our resident overachiever! This and the next three are all hers. And are all finished! You Go Jenn!!

pattern from Moda Bake Shop

You may remember this from a previous meeting. Here it is all quilted and bound up.

January is making coordinating quilts for her boys using Bernstein Bears fabric.

A fun table runner for Mother's Day.

Angela picked up this baby at a garage sale, Rockford!

Guild Meeting

Just a reminder, our May guild meeting is tomorrow night!


Thursday, May 17; 6:30pm

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We find our home at the Creative Collective Fort Worth.


Don't forget:
-your name tag
-your secret sister's gift

Quilter Questionnaire: Suzie

Name:

Suzie Diver 

How long have you been quilting?

I made my first "real" quilt before my middle son was born, so 18 or 19 years. 

How did you learn to quilt?

My grandmother made lots of our clothes when I was a kid, so I watched her sewing. After she passed away, I inherited her sewing machine and fabric stash. After that I started watching PBS quilting and sewing shows like Eleanor Burns, Fons & Porter, Nancy Zieman, and Shirley Adams and trying to sew things. It didn't take long to figure out that I like making quilts WAY more than clothes! I subscribed to Quiltmaker and Quilter's Newsletter magazines and read those. Eventually, I joined a couple of online quilt groups, joined a few local guilds and a bee, took classes at Houston Quilt Festival, and collected lots of fabric (and a few more sewing machines).

When I first started quilting, I fell into the "machine quilting is cheating" camp -- until I saw Jane Sassaman's quilt at the Houston Show. Fusible web and machine quilted and fabulous! Also in Houston, I took classes on curved piecing and improvisational piecing that changed my quilting world. 

So, short answer, I guess, is mostly self-taught with bits of great teachers thrown in.

What is your favorite part/step of the process?

Designing the quilt. I rarely make a quilt from a published pattern, although I use popular techniques like Stack'n'Whack. 

Yellow Stack"N"Whack made as a wedding gift for a friend

Your biggest obstacle?

Finishing! Too many projects in my head...and I hate binding.

How many have you finished?

Finished? Probably less than 30. Lots more that are unfinished.

Which item that you have made are you most proud of?

I don't know about proud, but the quilt I LIKE the most is one that I hated when it was first pieced. "Dripping Paisley" started out as a curved piecing project with darkish background and swirly yellow/red limbs. It was hideous!  So I cut it up into 8" squares and pieced more 16-patches from the dark fabrics. I played with the blocks on the design wall and then sewed everything back together, quilted it on the longarm, and couched yarn along the binding. 

Another of Suzie's favorites: Comfort was one of my favorite quilts to make. The center image started out as a doodle that I thought looks like three draped figures. I wanted to use colors reminiscent of Renaissance paintings. My mother-in-law thought the figures looked like a turkey and other folks have seen other things, which is fun.

How do you decide on a pattern?

Usually it depends on what I want to do as far as technique, what fabric is calling my name, or how much brain I have at the time. The scrappy diamond block happened because i wanted to use up my scraps and needed a block based design to work on at retreat. (But then my hubby got sick, so I made them at home. Go figure.) Right now, I have the urge to curved piece some larger design, but I'm focusing on another scrap block while I'm working from the dining room and most of my fabric is stored away. 

Tell us about your stash:

My son says I could open a fabric store. I say I collect fabric and those pieces chat amongst themselves and eventually tell me what they want to be. 

How would you define your style?

Arty, scrappy, and eclectic. 

 unfinished project and original design

What are your go-to colors?

Red, yellow, green, black (dark), white (light), and polka dot.

Favorite tool or notion?

My brass stiletto for guiding fabric under the needle, especially for curved piecing.

Do you have other crafty hobbies?

I would like to make jewelry and knit, but mostly I just use beads and yarn to embellish quilts.

Suzie says: I made My Own Zen Garden because I wanted to work with only neutrals and I love triangles. My son had a miniature rock garden that he didn't want anymore, so I "borrowed" the small rake and added stone beads. This piece won Third Place at the Dallas Quilt Celebration in the Art Quilt-Artisan category, 2003. (Quilted with gold rayon thread)

Anything else you'd like to share?

I hate to paper piece, but I will if I have to. I used to hand-dye and hand-paint fabric. I had a longarm named Fred in the living room many years ago. I would like to make quilts like Ruth McDowell when (or if) I grow up.

Suzie says: The pink triangles are all from my hand-dyed or hand-printed fabrics, which were pretty ugly on their own, but I like them in this quilt with the wild print border.

Thanks so much Suzie for giving us a peek into your quilting world!

If you want to know more about Suzie, please ask in the comments or at the next guild meeting; I know she would love to answer!