Wednesday, August 20, 2014

August Agenda


FWMQG August Agenda

Welcome
Guests
Reports
Icebreaker
#winner
Scavenger hunt
Heather’s Trunk Show!

BREAK

BOM
Marking demo
Low Volume Tear Away

Announcements
 *TVQG Show Sept 19-20
 *Vote next meeting on prorated dues for members who joined MQG as individual
 *Block Lottery
 *Bring Handsewing needles to next meeting for demo
 *Take and Donate Table
 *Sign up for Holiday Headstart, donations of fabric for pillowcases
 *Quilt BINGO
 *Holiday Scrap Swap
 *Denyse Schmidt Challenge reveal now December
 *Quilt Con Charity Quilt Sign UP
 *Potluck dinner 
 *Advertising
 *Texas MQG retreat
 *Texas MQG info table at Quilt Con
 *T shirt sales
 *Challenge due September


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Participation Prizes

Thursday, July 17, 2014

July Meeting Agenda


FWMQG July Meeting Agenda

Welcome
Guest Introductions
Icebreaker Activity
MM Challenge Reveal
How to post picture on Comm. Site
Comm. Site Scavenger Hunt
Quilt Show Submission FAQ
BOM
Break
Mug Rug Swap
FMQ Demo with Lois and January
Tear Away Activity
New Challenge!

Announcements - Sharon Pernes is Teaching Twilight Tango at Cabbage Rose Tuesday July 22nd from 11-4 or August 9th from 12-5). 
We need volunteers to baste, quilt and bind charity quilts. Please see Jenn if you are interested. 
Used Long Arm for Sale
Austin Shop Hop weekend of July 25 - austinshophop.com for more info

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Participation Prizes

Thursday, June 19, 2014

June Meeting Agenda


FWMQG June Meeting Agenda
June 19, 2014

We hope to see you tonight at our jam packed meeting!  We will have a special presentation about fabric design from Caroline Hulse (aka SewCaroline!), a new fabric designer for Art Gallery Fabrics!

If you want to order a new FWMQG t-shirt, please bring your checkbook or cash!  We will take orders tonight!

  • Welcome!  Please sign in!
  • Please pick up charm square
  • Introduction of guests
  • Ice breaker
  • Sew Caroline presentation!
  • Break
  • Committee meetings
  • May BOM sharing
  • QuiltCon registration Q&A
  • Announcements
  • T-shirt orders
  • June BOM reveal
  • Show and Share
  • Participation prizes!
  • Pick up charm square on your way out!
  • Drinks and snacks at Central Market after the meeting!

Announcements


Upcoming Programs and Events

  • Coming in July!
    • New challenge to be announced!
    • Bring your tear-away swap fabric to the July meeting!
    • Mug rug challenge from your June meeting charm square
    • Community Site treasure hunt
    • FMQ demos!
    • Voting on adding PayPal as a form of payment for dues, etc
  • July ?, 5pm - 9pm:  Sewing Sunday @ Madtosh Crafts
  • June 19:  Michael Miller Challenge due
If you have an announcement to submit, it must be sent to the board no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting. Other announcements for the newsletter should be sent in by the 5th of the month.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

May Meeting

Big news, folks.  The Michael Miller Challenge has a new due date:  JULY 25th!  If anyone who didn't sign up by the cutoff date is interested in participating, let Jenn know asap as there may be some open spots left.  We're already starting to see hints of what people are coming up with and they are p-r-e-t-t-y!

"Put a Goose On It" Challenge Reveal

"Put a Goose On It" Challenge

"Put a Goose On It" Challenge

"Put a Goose On It" Challenge

"Put a Goose On It" Challenge

Show and Share

May Show and Share

May Show and Share  May Show and Share

May Show and Share

May Show and Share

May Show and Share

May Show and Share  May Show and Share

May Show and Share

May Show and Share


May Meeting Agenda


FWMQG May Meeting Agenda
May 15, 2014

  • Welcome!  Please sign in!
  • Introduction of guests
  • Treasurer's report
  • Membership report
  • Ice breaker
  • Geese reveal
  • Committee meetings / break
  • Let's make a deal
  • April BOM sharing
  • May BOM reveal
  • Denyse Schmidt - who is she and why should I care?
  • Show and Share
  • Participation prizes!


Announcements

  • Michael Miller Challenge extension and fabric wait list
  • No new challenge for this month to allow for time to work on the MM challenge
  • Sign up for new t-shirts if interested - $15
  • Old t-shirts for sale next month - $5 (see Jenn for size availability)
  • Tear away challenge in July
  • Quilt Con - volunteers, hotel info, registration info updates
  • June program - don't miss it!
If you have an announcement to submit, it must be sent to the board no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting. Other announcements for the newsletter should be sent in by the 5th of the month.

April Meeting

Such beautiful stars!  Absolutely loving how each BOM block is turning out.  Way to be creative and inspirational, everyone!
March BOM Stars!

Demos

Lizzie showed us how to make a pressing board for cheapsies -- this is a must-do!  And Jenn, January, and Maureen presented different ways to sew curved pieces.  Don't fear the drunkard's path!  It's much easier than you may think!!!

Lizzie's Pressing Board Demo
January's Curved Piecing Demo


Show and Share

I'm always impressed with what people bring for show and share.  They're absolutely gorgeous, ladies!  Keep bringing your projects in as we all love to see what everyone's been working on.
April Show and Share April Show and Share
April Show and Share April Show and Share
April Show and Share
April Show and Share April Show and Share


Thursday, April 17, 2014

April Meeting Agenda


FWMQG April Meeting Agenda
April 17, 2014

  • Welcome!  Please sign in!
  • Introduction of guests
  • Ice breaker
  • Tool time!
  • Curves demonstration
  • Committee meetings
  • March BOM sharing
  • April BOM reveal
  • Modern quilting workshop
  • Show and Share
  • Participation prizes!


Announcements

Upcoming Programs and Events

  • Pick up Michael Miller Challenge fabrics after meeting
  • April 27:  Meet up and show and share with DMQG
  • May 15:  Flying Geese challenge due
  • May 15:  Let's Make A Deal!
  • May 18, 5pm - 9pm:  Sewing Sunday @ Madtosh Crafts
  • June 19:  Michael Miller Challenge due
If you have an announcement to submit, it must be sent to the board no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting. Other announcements for the newsletter should be sent in by the 5th of the month.

Monday, March 31, 2014

March Meeting

Our March meeting was so much fun that I'm just now recovering enough to get this recap posted. Ok, maybe not that much fun but we had a blast!  In the spirit of "what inspires you?", we did a little creative exercise with graph paper and colored pencils to come up with some design ideas for our upcoming BOM and challenge.  Check out the BOM and the Challenges pages for the new updates!  There definitely is some fun stuff in store for us!

The fabric for the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge was not received in time for distribution at the meeting, but it's here and ready for you now!  You can pick it up at the April Sewing Sunday and the April guild meeting.

We have our own Pinterest account!  We'll be collecting inspirational pictures for the different challenges and blocks of the month.

Tool Time: Wonder Clips

What are all the uses you can think of for Wonder Clips?  We made it a game to come up with the many ways you can put them to use.  And the winning team members each took home a set of their own!
  • Binding
  • Grouping fabric cuts
  • Stitch marker
  • Label rows on a design board
  • Hanging patterns
  • Marking bobbins
  • Paper piecing holder
  • Pleat holder
  • Hemming
  • Holding drawstrings in place

Solids Challenge Reveal

We had a number of absolutely beautiful solids challenge quilts tonight!  Great job everyone!!!

Solids Challenge! Solids Challenge!

Solids Challenge!

Solids Challenge!  Solids Challenge!

Solids Challenge!  Solids Challenge!

Solids Challenge!  Solids Challenge!

Solids Challenge!

Show and Share

March Show & Share  March Show & Share

March Show & Share  March Show & Share

March Show & Share

Announcements

  • March 23, 5pm - 9pm:  Makeup Sewing Sunday @ Madtosh Crafts
  • April 13, 5pm - 9pm: Sewing Sunday @ Madtosh Crafts  [arrive before 5pm if you want to buy fabric]
  • April 11 - 12: Carthage Quilt Show - Piney Woods Quilt Festival
  • April 27:  Meet up with DMQG and thread catcher swap
  • Central Market meet up after each guild meeting

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March Meeting Agenda


FWMQG March Meeting Agenda
March 20, 2014

  • Welcome!  Please sign in!
  • Guests
  • Ice breaker
  • Business reports
  • Michael Miller challenge update
  • Solids challenge reveal
  • Tool time!
  • Committee meetings
  • BREAK
  • February BOM sharing
  • March BOM reveal
  • New challenge!
  • Creative exercise and inspiration
  • Announcements
  • Show and Share
  • Participation prizes!


Announcements

Upcoming Programs and Events

  • March 23, 5pm - 9pm:  Makeup Sewing Sunday @ Madtosh Crafts
  • April 11 - 12: Carthage Quilt Show - Piney Woods Quilt Festival
  • April 27:  Meet up with DMQG
  • >>> Sign up for demos!

If you have an announcement to submit, it must be sent to the board no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting. Other announcements for the newsletter should be sent in by the 5th of the month.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Inspiration: My Solids Challenge

What inspires your designs?  Why do you choose the colors or the patterns that make the cut?  And where do you find them?  Everyday life?  Magazines?  Blogs?  Dreams?  Do you create your own designs or do you stick with traditional blocks?  A little something in between?

A recent Pinterest find inspired the design and colors for my solids challenge.  I love geometric patterns.  You can find them everywhere!  And I love creating my interpretation of something beautiful I see.

For the solids challenge, I found this picture from Anthropologie's Flickr stream:

























The colors are beautiful, the lines are perfect for some half square triangles, and overall it's pleasing to my eye.  So I decided to mock it up in Microsoft Visio.  I started to play around with some of the colors, swapping greens and yellows for the oranges and pinks (someday I'll create something with the fiery hues).  Cropped out some of the bottom and left bits that I didn't want to mess with and here's what I came up with:

























I liked it but something just wasn't right.  The orderly side of myself needed some sort of symmetry or pattern for it to work.  The last column (#7) jumped out as something that could stand on it's own.  Yellow, blues, berry, and gray.  Can't go wrong with that!  What else?  Column #5.  Balance.  Opposing directions.  Hmmmmm...  How do I make this work?  Get rid of the random green.  Rotate the yellow HSTs on column #7.  Put them side by side.  I think we're on to something.  Now I need a pattern.  

























Shove #5 and #7 together and throw them on the far right side ("Original Set").  Make a second set of these two columns but add one HST square to the top of #7, cut off the bottom square.  Add one HST square to the bottom of #5 and cut off the top square.  Repeat this pattern, incrementing by one, to two more sets and here's what we have:






































Move the columns to meet at the top and bottom, in effect shifting each up and down to create a flow in two directions.  Here's what you end up with:

























A design that I can live with.  Whatever!  It's a design that I LOVE!!!  It's new.  It's fresh.  It reminds me of '80s ski jackets.  Hmmmm...  But it's totally mine and it's something I want to see on my couch or drug out into the yard for Spring picnics.




















Check out more of my quilt inspirations on Pinterest.  Tell us what inspires you?  Or where you pull your designs from!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

February Meeting

Get ready for the next MQG Fabric Challenge!  Introducing the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge!


Refer to our "Challenges" page for our modified guidelines and click here for more info on the national challenge guidelines.  To participate in the national challenge, post your pictures on the Community site Fabric Challenge forum located here.  Look for the sticky threads up top for WIP and finished pictures.

Community Service Projects


We discussed three 2014 community service projects that we'll be accepting contributions for throughout the year:

  • Pillow cases
  • Orphan blocks to assemble for quilt donations.  
  • Economy blocks with bright kid-friendly prints.  You could fussy cut novelty fabric for the centers.  Please follow this tutorial so we end up with identically sized blocks!

We are also accepting donations of batting and backing fabric.  And if you would like to assemble or quilt the finished blocks, let us know!


Half-Square Triangle Demos


In support of the February HST star block, we did demos of four different ways to create HSTs.  Here are some links to refer to for more information:



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