February Block of the Month

February's BOM

The block we introduced for our Block of the Month for February is "Wonky Pinwheels".  The tutorial for this block is courtesy of Natalie of Greenleafgoods.wordpress.com

Each block you complete and bring to the meeting will get you a point.  You only get a point if you complete the block for that month. If you cannot make it to the March meeting with this block be sure to post a picture to our Flickr group by midnight the Wednesday before our meeting (March 20 in this case) and you will get credit for your point. You will not lose any accumulated points if you happen to miss a month. You can earn a total of 12 points for your BOM if you bring them to the meetings or upload them to Flickr. Then if you bring the completed quilt to our December meeting you will earn 10 points. More about our points here.

Tutorial Here

February Meeting Agenda

Call Meeting to Order
President Message
Guest Introductions
Nametags
Treasurer Report
Membership Report
Survey Results
Madrona Reveal
January BOM
Break
February BOM
2013 Points Program
Secret Sister Reveal
Quiltcon
Introduce New Challenge
Announcements
Door Prizes
Show and Share
Adjourn

Member Spotlight

This month we are going to learn a little about our lovely VP Gayla Tennison. 

How long have you been Quilting? Less than one year

 How did you learn to Quilt? I have wanted to learn to quilt for many years, especially after I inherited a family heirloom quilt. On a whim, my sister and I both bought sewing machines last spring. I started sewing on mine every day. My sister has already abandoned hers! In June 2012, I joined the FWMQG. I have slowly taught myself how to improve my quilting skills, and learn a lot from online bloggers and tutorials I find on the Internet.

What is your favorite part/step of the process? I love to pick out the fabrics, pattern, and piece together the top.

Your biggest obstacle? The quilting. I have attempted to FMQ, but it has not gone well! I love to wavy line quilt, and always like the results with this.

How many Quilts have you finished? 13 

How do you decide on a pattern? Flickr provides much inspiration – probably too much. Everything I see that I like I want to make! Online bloggers provide inspiration. Right now I am planning on making many of the quilts in Elizabeth Hartman’s The Practical Guide to Patchwork.  

Tell us about your stash? Lots of bright colors and solids. I also love text prints.

How would you define your style? I consider myself a modern quilter.

What are you go to colors? I have a lot of blue, green, and orange fabrics.

Do you have other crafty hobbies? Of course! I also learned to knit last year, and am probably knitting if I am not quilting.

Anything else you like to share? I am honored to serve this year as vice-president of the FWMQG and look forward to learning from the wisdom and experience of my fellow modern quilters.

Our Points System Is Ready!!

 We thought long and hard about the point system and we are now ready to reveal it. This is going to be a lot of fun and there are lots of ways to get involved and earn points. You determine how many points you get, everything is optional. We hope that everyone jumps in for a chance at the Grand Prize, which we will announce a little later. Take a look and start earning some points. See you real soon - you get a point for showing up to the meeting remember :)

Madrona Road Challenge Reveal is coming up!

How are you doing on your Madrona Road challenge? These are due at the February meeting and we can't wait to see what you have created!

Each participant who signed up must meet the following criteria:
*member in good standing at the time of the challenge (Winter 2012)

*you must use at least 4 of the prints
*you are welcome to add up to 3 solids
*you may only add additional prints from the Madrona Road collection, any colorway
*if you don’t care for some of your prints, feel free to swap them with other participating members

Completed projects are due at the February meeting (February 21) where we will photograph each project to submit our blog post to the National Modern Quilt Guild.

Your quilt may be any size but should showcase the fabric line as that it the main goal of the challenge.  Because this is a nationwide challenge, with fabric provided to us by the manufacturer, your participation is a reflection of our guild.  

If you receive fabric but do not complete the challenge, you will be required to pay $21 or return your uncut fabric at the February meeting.  If you are unable to make the meeting, your completed project must be posted on our Flickr group (at least 3 photos) by midnight on February 20.  

Jonquele already showed us one of the quilts she made at the January meeting - go Jonquele!

Take a look at some of the wonderful projects submitted from other guilds here.

How to use Flickr

Good morning! We've had a few questions about how to set up and use a Flickr account. Remember, for the blocks of the month and any challenge that you can't be at the meeting to present, you need to upload photos to Flickr by the Wednesday evening prior to the meeting to get your points.

We chose Flickr for this service for a number of reasons - 1: It's free! 2: It's easy! 3: There is a large quilting community on Flickr that can provide tons of inspiration!

If you don't have one already, the first thing you will need to do is set up a Flickr account. Simply go to www.flickr.com, and provide an email address and set up a password. Flickr will ask you a few questions about yourself (your name - only share what you want the internet to see! You can choose to not share your last name if you'd prefer), where you live, etc. You can have a free account which allows you to upload 200 pictures without charge. If you upload more than that, it will start deleting your previous pictures (just a word of warning!). A Flickr Pro account is $25/year and allows you to upload unlimited pictures.

There are a variety of ways in which you can upload pictures to Flickr. You can email them, upload them from a mobile device, or simply upload them from your computer. Take a look here for all of that information.

I usually upload from my computer - it is super easy if the pictures are already on your computer (you've uploaded them from your camera already) - the 'uploader' function on Flickr will 'look' for them on your computer. You can upload as many or as few at a time as you'd like. Then you can give each photo a name and write a description.

After you've uploaded and named them, you'll need to share them with our group on Flickr. Simply go to our group's page and click the link to join the group (it will ask you if you're sure!).

Then, go back to your photos. Click on the photo  you want to share. At the top it will have a button that says 'actions.' Choose 'share with group.' It will bring up a list of the groups you are a member of, and you just click on our group! That's it! Super easy!

If all of that seems to complicated, there is an even easier way to upload your photos. There is a Flickr app available for smart phones. I recommend setting up your Flickr account first online, then downloading the app. From there, any pictures you take with your phone can be uploaded to your Flickr account. From there, simply go to the groups button within the app, and click the button that looks like a camera with a plus sign. It will bring up your photostream, and you can click the pictures you want to share with the group. Voila!

There is much, much more you can do with Flickr, but this should get you started! There are tons of FAQ's within the website should you have more questions, and I encourage you to search for quilting related groups - there are hundreds!

One last note - when you are uploading your photos, Flickr will ask you if you want your photos to be public or private. In order for them to show up in our group, they must be marked as public.

Happy uploading!