FWMQG October 2016 Meeting Recap

I love how people are getting to the meetings a little early and visiting, signing in, getting to know each other, and looking at the amazing bee blocks our Maker Bees Bee Group are making. This month's blocks were for Denee'. She picked a great pattern and is very happy with the results.

I think we have a nice groove going with the sign in table being at the door. I know I like being able to see everyone as they come in. If the meeting starts and you get there late, don't worry, the board members are making a note that you showed up not only for attendance records, when you get ready to run for a board position, but also door prizes at the end of the meeting.

We had five nap mats (three from a visitor, Nan) and two pillow cases turned in. We had 26 in attendance with 24 being members.

Jenn showed us new t-shirts of all colors with the color logo. There are unisex and women's shirts, crew and v-neck. If you did not order a short and want one, they will be $20 and Jenn Haxton is taking orders.

Jenn Haxton, who designed the QuiltCon 2017 Charity Quilt, came prepared with patterns and colors. She handed them out during the meeting. This quilt needs to come together fast, so please see Jenn next meeting and get a block to make for the quilt.



Lazara and Janet gave an update of the "Modern View of the Trinity" Charity quilt. They have been to several events and have many coming up. We really need your help to volunteer for a time or two to sell raffle tickets at these events.

Melissa Eubanks from My Fabric Relish came all the way over from McKinney to talk to us tonight about making a quilt our own. Melissa is an amazing long arm quilter and has a couple of patterns out, "Pickle Relish" and "Prickly Flower" which 15 lucky people get to take the workshop from Melissa on Saturday. I will let the pictures do the talking...

The medallion qal is coming to it's final month. You have November to add any final borders and December is the the big reveal.

Our final show for the night is always a favorite! Show and share. Where you get to see what everyone has been working on and hear the stories behind them. Some stories are too funny!

I will leave you with one final show and share. This sweet, cute member is Laura. She always has a smile on her face and knows how to work a room. She made the dress she is about to show off to you.  Enjoy!

FWMQG August 2016 Meeting Recap

If you missed August's guild meeting, you missed action, education and beauty. But don't worry, we took pictures of it all!!

After we got the business out of the way, we talked about #quiltsforpeace. So many people from all over the world made it happen. At the time of the meeting, many of our members had sewn together blocks, put together quilt tops, donated batting, basted quilts, quilted and bound over 20 quilts. To reward all the hard work, we asked Fat Quarter Shop for a donation of fat quarters so we could give them to members who made this possible. But just handing them to members would be so boring. We are not boring.

Ann asked people to stand up for blocks, Jeanne threw fat quarters at them. Ann asked people to stand up if they had put quilt tops together, Jeanne and Ann threw fat quarters at them. Ann asked for the ones who quilted and we threw fat quarters at them. No one was hurt during this giveaway, although it did look like Jeanne was pitching too hard. The last four fat quarters were given to Tammy who drove all over the DFW metroplex collecting Police Department patches and signatures. (Fun fact: Did you know it takes as long to drive across the DFW metroplex as it does to drive across Connecticut?!)

Thank you to Fat Quarter Shop for their generous donation and for all the members who donated their time, skills and supplies for a great cause.

Lazara, our chairperson for our QuiltCon charity quilt, told us the tickets were in for "Modern View of the Trinity" quilt. IF you want to sell tickets, please contact us and we can get them to you. If you have any ideas on where we can show off this beautiful quilt, we would love to hear from you.

We had a few bring in fat quarters for their Pillow Swap. If you did not bring your's, and you want to participate, please send the fat quarter to P.O. Box 121781, Fort Worth, Texas 76121. Secret partners will be assigned at the September meeting. The question of size was asked. We said 16" for the pillow size. Remember, you do not have to provide the pillow form unless you want to. No pressure!

We had several guild members participate in the Triangle challenge. Four of them added triangles to their Medallion quilts. Two made small quilts. Two made name tags. Then one of our crazy members made her quilt with 1,000 triangles! They were all beautiful work.

Members skills demonstrations: Jeanne talked about pillow covers, and learned more from the members than she discussed. Thank you. Carolyn showed off perfect mitered corners and Donna talked about inset circles. We all learn from each other.

As usual, show and share did not disappoint. Chris gave us a glimpse of her free motion felting project along with two paper pieced houses. Shelley has been busy entering her quilts in shows and came away with a first place mini quilt and best of show on her son's "Drago" dragon quilt. Linn brought her circle and Gravity quilts. Donna showed the finished quilt from the Jacquie Gerhing workshop. Cathie made a butterfly mini quilt. Tammy showed us two quilts, sock monkey and Abacus. Trish followed the Quartered Strips tutorial from Missouri Star Quilts to make her beautiful teal quilt. Lazara was Puttin' on the Ritz mini quilt and giving us Hugs and Kisses with pretty backing. Inspiring!

At the meeting, I had my hands full doing different things, so a big thank you and shout out to our newest Junior Modern Quilt Guild Member, Ellie. She took most of these pictures for me and did a great job!

#quiltsforpeace Update

This is from Lee, the President of Dallas Modern Quilt Guild:

"When the Pulse nightclub shootings happened, the Orlando MQG helped our hearts to heal by asking us to make hearts in rainbow colors for them, DMQG answered that call by committing to 5 complete quilts, and I am proud to say we are looking at a minimum of 9 completed by our guild (we have an amazing group).

Then when tragedy struck in our own back yard on July 7th, it seemed the natural thing to make quilts for our city to help us heal.  Ann (President of FWMQG) called me that morning and asked if Ft. Worth MQG could help Dallas by assisting in a block/quilt drive.  Because we were all familiar with the http://cluckclucksew.com/2015/01/making-heart-blocks-in-multiple-sizes.html (thank you Allison for allowing us to use your pattern) it seemed an easy enough process to whip out blue with white background hearts.  I went to work making our first two blocks and spreading the word to our guilds through Instagram.  McKinney MQG then joined us and three guilds have been working together to rally our members to help us complete 20 quilts.  These quilts are to go to the following:  5 quilts to each of the Fallen’s Head of Household, 7 to the injured officers, 2 to the injured civilians, then 1 each to Chief Brown, Dart Chief Spiller, Mayor Rawlings, City Manager Gonzalez, Mark McCullers (SMU officer that drowned that same week), and Matt Pearce (Ft. Worth Police Officer shot 7 times last March).

Well….  that’s how it started, and then there was Baton Rouge.  Really?!?!  Another ambush so fast?  Our hearts started breaking again, and we decided to add 6 more quilts to our count.   Baton Rouge MQG was relieved to hear #quiltsforpeace would be sending them blue heart quilts for their fallen and injured officers.  They were already working on a plan to make quilts for Alton Sterling’s family.  I told them we would also like to send a quilt to Alton’s family.

“When your heart hurts, you make a heart," is the message that Ann passed along to me from one of  Fort Worth's board members, Jenn Haxton. #Quiltsforpeace is sincerely that, quilters that are coming together at a time when our hearts hurt.  Our message is one of Peace, Love, and Healing.  It has been amazing all the hearts, quilt tops, quilts, supplies, and donations that quilters from all over the world have sent to us to help us complete out mission we certainly could not have made it all happen with out the Instagram community.


If you are keeping track, we basically needed 27 quilts minimum.  I am happy to say we have over 40.  Today, we decided we would also give another quilt to every fallen officer’s parent.  We want to wrap them all in everyone’s love to help their healing process.  We are also looking into sending 2 quilts to the San Diego MQG for their fallen and injured officers. Our total just jumped to 34 quilts minimum."

Thank you Lee for the update!

July Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild Meeting Recap

Look at all of those heart blocks and nap mats!

For those of you who were able to make July's guild meeting, first of all...we missed you and secondly, you missed a great meeting!

We had a great social before the meeting. There were so many people there, 38 of them were FWMQG members of which we have 53! Thank you to the visitors that came also. We even had the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild President, Lee, and a few of her members.

We are going even stronger on the pillowcases for ACH Child and Family Services. Our goal at the first of the year was to have 150 completed by end of year. With your help we have donated 165 pillowcases! Thank you quilters.

Next are nap mats for Center for Transforming Lives. The goal is 100 and to date we have made and donated 56. Many of you picked up fabric that was donated to us by Madtosh when they closed their store. We hope to see much of that fabric back cut into pieces, sew back together and quilted. Thank you for those who have taken time away from your work to generously make for others.

Speaking of taking time for others, the donations of heart quilt blocks for #quiltsforpulse and #quiltsforpeace have been wonderful. They are coming in from all over the world. See what happens when one person mentions to another and then it gets put on social media? Another good reason to be on social media, at least Instagram, so we can see your pretty work. Also, thank you to Donna, Glenna and Lazara for longarming the heart quilts and to Carolyn and Nancy for taking a bag of blocks to put together.

We voted as a guild to donate 50% of the proceeds collected from the auction of our "Modern View of the Trinity River" charity quilt to University of North Texas Health Science Center to help with Alzheimer research. We will be taking the quilt around and displaying it to help with donations. If you have any ideas, please see Lazara.

Next up was the very talented and entertaining Jacquie Gering. Just being in the same room was amazing. She visited with everyone until the meeting started and she got a little choked up when she held the pile of heart blocks for #quiltsforpeace. During her presentation she showed us several of her quilts that we have seen in magazines, on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Modern Quilt Guild shows. To be up close and personal with her quilts, you could feel the talent flow through you.

There were many gasps and oohs and ahhs and she answered every question thrown at her. These quilt are a part of her and there is a story behind each one. Thank you Jacquie for teaching us to just quilt.

Medallion qal is going strong. All the colors and all the different designs. Good job! Show and share did a good job of wowing us also.

Laurie with her heart quilt donation for #quiltsforpulse and her Marine Corp. quilt she made for here son.

Tammy had time before her vacation to put together the beautiful quilt and bag.

Laura traveled around Fort Worth and Dallas to pick up the Row by Row Panels and she put them together!

Lazara made three beautiful quilts for a customer. The customer's mother passed away and she wanted quilt made with some of her clothes. They are all so beautiful and special.

January has been very busy because her friends have been very busy...having babies! In between making baby quilts, she also finished a heart quilt top for #quiltsforpeace, a very large quilt and a story quilt about her retreat in Pennsylvania.

This is Lee and she is the President of the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild. Lee showed us her quilt she finished for #quiltsforpulse. Beautiful!

Jill is also very busy making baby bibs! The pins will be removed before putting on baby.

A few things to remember:

• The Triangle Challenge is due at August's meeting.
• Sign ups for the Pillow Swap will start in August. Bring a FQ you want incorporated into a pillow. Be sure to hide it. Secret partners will be assigned at September meeting. We will exchange during our December meeting party.

That's all for now. Hope to see you Saturday, July 30th at Sew Fabricated from 10:00am to 5:00pm for #quiltsforpeace Sew In.

Prescription for Slow Stitching

#quiltsforpeace

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are having a peaceful Sunday.  If you have been following us on Facebook or Instagram, you may be aware of the following information.  I wanted to send out this post to provide all the information in one cohesive place.

I believe we all felt the same way when we woke up Friday Morning to the news of the Dallas Police Ambush.  The board immediately came up with the idea to give blue heart quilts to victims of that attack.  I reached out to Dallas MQG president with this idea and she was immediately on board.  So all day Friday, FWMQG and DMQG worked together to come up with the following plan:
 
We will be making at least 20 blue heart quilts.  The blue hearts can be solid or prints, and the background should be solid white.  We are using the same 10 inch (finished) heart pattern as Quilts for Pulse.  The pattern is from Cluck Cluck Sew and can be found here http://cluckclucksew.com/2015/01/making-heart-blocks-in-multiple-sizes.html . 

We have arranged the following four Sew Days, and encourage members of both guilds to attend one or more together:

1. July 13th, 9am-8pm at Trinity UMC, 1200 W. Green Oaks, Arlington 76013.  It is located on the corner of Green Oaks and Pioneer Parkway.  From 1-30, exit Eastchase Parkway, which turns into Green Oaks.  From I-20, exit Green Oaks.

2. July 17th, 1-5pm at Dallas Downtown Library, 5th Floor in the Hamon Room. 1515 Young St, Dallas 75201

3. July 24th, 10am - ? at Urban Spools in Dallas.  Casa Linda Plaza, 1152 N. Buckner Blvd #121, Dallas 75218

4. July 30th, 10am-5pm at Sew Fabricated in Pantego / Arlington.  2899 W. Pioneer Parkway, Pantego 76013

If you can't make these sew dates and want to make blocks at home you can bring them to our guild meeting, our Fire Station Sewcial on July 25th, or mail them to:

Ann Revard

C/O University Counseling Center

1533 Merrimac Circle, Suite 101

Fort Worth, 76107

You can also drop them off at the above address Monday - Thursday 830am-630pm.

I highly encourage you to make one of the sew days as we collaborate with DMQG to show our support to Dallas.  Don't forget to hashtag your blue hearts on social media, #quiltsforpeace.  Please keep in mind that we need backing, batting and binding material as well as people willing to quilt and bind these quilts. We are also still collecting rainbow hearts for #quiltsforpulse.

I look forward to seeing you all at our July 21st meeting with our guest Jacquie Gering.

Sincerely,

Ann

July 2016 Guild Meeting - It's going to be a good one!

We are welcoming Jacquie Gering, from Tallgrass Prairie Studio, to Fort Worth. She will be giving a presentation and trunk show. Guests are invited to come for a $5.00 fee. We are very excited to have Jacquie share her knowledge and show off her beautiful quilts.

We will have social before the meeting at 6:30. Jeanne will be there even earlier with a table set up in front of the doors. We have fabric that was donated to us by Madtosh and we want to share it with you to help with charity nap mats. Also, we will have the sign in sheets at the table. We are having some emails bouncing back and want to make sure everyone is getting the communications from the guild.

We hope to see you there!

June 2016 Guild Meeting Recap

We had a celebration tonight before the meeting. We celebrated reaching our pillowcase donations goal of 150. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done. But don't get too tired, we still have the nap mat donation goal of 100 to reach.

When we walked in to the meeting room, we saw this display from Phil Newton, Brand Manager of Mettler USA.

He gave an amazing presentation on the making of thread and how important it is to have the right brand for your quilting. There is an app you can download for your iPhone and iPad,  sorry Android they are working on it, that will help you match the thread to your fabric. Then came the goodies. We each received a bag of thread and several members won door prizes. Phil was a very engaging speaker and we appreciate him taking time to come visit our guild.

The Medallion quilt along is going strong. Some members are just getting started and one is finished! Be sure and bring your medallions each month to be entered into a drawing at the end of the year.

Show and Share never disappoints.

Saturday is Slow Stitch Saturday, June 18th form 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm located at 1533 Merrimack Circle, Suite 101, Fort Worth.

June 2016 Guild Meeting

We hope you will join us Thursday, June 16th at 6:30 pm for our monthly guild meeting. We have a representative from Mettler Threads coming to talk to us and lots of things to discuss. We are meeting at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, EAD Room 506.

As you probably have heard by now, Orlando, Florida was struck by tragedy this weekend. The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild has reached out asking for donations of heart blocks or quilts. The Modern Quilt Guild posted on their blog asking for help. We will be talking about how we can help at the meeting.

See you Thursday night!

June Meeting

By now everyone who is a paid member should have received their newsletter by email. Please let Jeanne know if you did not, and she will correct the issue.

Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild June Meeting

June 16, 2016

Social starts at 6:30 pm

Meeting starts at 7:00 pm

Meeting location:

University of North Texas Health Science Center

3500 Camp Bowie Blvd. (Corner of Camp Bowie and Clifton)

EAD Room 

Please use social time to pay your dues, pay for workshops and visit with your fellow quilters so we can give full attention to our speaker.

This month's program: Phil Newton, Brand Manager for Mettler USA, will be here to talk about  "Learn how thread is made, why are there so many types and weights. Get charts and information that will help you make better thread decisions. See demos of various specialty threads to help understand thread characteristics and which thread to use for various projects. Free thread samples and even some door prizes"

Here are some things you might need to bring:

-Your medallion QAL to show your progression and pick up a ticket for the final drawing.
-Any pillowcases or nap mats you have completed for charity donations.
-Workshop payments for the Jacquie Gering workshop and we will be taking payments for the October workshop Melissa Eubanks is putting on at Sew Fabricated. Please see Rhonda before or after the meeting.
-Show and share quilts!
-Any dues that have not been paid. Please see Gayla before or after the meeting.

See you Thursday night!

May's Meeting Recap

Our meeting this month was led by Jenn Haxton, our guild Treasurer. She did a great job filling in for Ann, who was in a car accident. Ann is doing good. She has rehab ahead of her with her knee and whiplash. If you get a chance, send her a text or give her a call. She is not driving and is bored!

Jenn got us started with calling the meeting to order. Gayla introduced the guests. Welcome guests! The new VP of Communications, Jeanne Lobsinger, was introduced and then came the game of "Pick the Workshop!" We had four projects of Jacquie Gering's to choose from, and after much debate and talk about how just being in one of her workshops will blow your mind, we chose the Log Cabin - Modern Makeover.

 Proof of voting by Jenn.

If you have not signed up for the workshop, and you want to take it or just be in the same room with quilty knowledge, be sure to sign up and pay your $40.00 deposit by June 1, 2016 to Jenn Haxton.

We were fortunate to have two members who went to QuiltCon West 2016 in April. Lazara Abernathy and Debi Bright shared their experience with us. Lazara gave us pointers on when to sign up and how to navigate the show. Debi brought many fabrics she screen printed in a workshop. Thank you for sharing. QuiltCon East 2017 is in Savannah, Georgia, February 23-26, 2017. The schedule will be announced June 1, 2016.

A new guild challenge was introduced. TRIANGLES!! Make a name tag, a mini quilt, or a triangle border for your medallion. No HST's. This will be due at the August's meeting.

We had several members show the progress on their medallion quilts.

And a few more with Show and Share.

It was great looking around and seeing so many members bringing handwork to meeting. Busy hands...

For convenience, included is the General Information that was printed on the back of the Agendas.  It has been updated to reflect current information.

General Information

• Pillow cases to ACH Goal:  150 To Date: 148

• Nap Mats to Transforming Women’s Lives  Goal: 100 To Date: 33 24”x36” - ish, 36”x48” - ish, or 24”x48” - ish

• June Meeting:  Presentation by Mettler Threads
• July Meeting:  Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio will give a  trunk show and lecture Thursday.  Log Cabin - Modern Makeover Workshop on Friday July 22nd will cost $100 and take place at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, 6102 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd, Arlington 76016.  Payments to Jenn Haxton.  Supply list to be emailed.
• August Meeting: Skills demonstration and Triangle Challenge is Due
• October Meeting:  Melissa Eubanks of My Fabric Relish will give a lecture on October 20th. Prickly Flower Quilt Workshop will be on Saturday October 22nd at Sew Fabricated. Sign ups start in May.
• November Meeting: ”Color Theory” presented by Martha Sheriff
• Retreats:  

1. June 20-23rd 3 nights - Our House in Milford, 1077 Cosby Road, Milford 76670. Arrive 1pm, leave after brunch. Total: $254.40 $50 deposit to FWMQG, remainder paid to Milford House on arrival, includes meals Dinner Monday to Brunch Thursday

2. September 8-10th Day Retreat at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, 6102 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd, Arlington 76016. 9am-6pm any or all days.  We can leave our sewing machines set up, sleep at home, have potluck meals or go out. Cost: $40 for 3 days.

• Block Printing:  Friday, June 3rd, 10am-2pm at Sew Fabricated
• Slow - Stitch Saturday:  CANCELLED FOR MAY  
• Sewcials:  4th Monday - May 23rd, 5 - 8pm   2nd Saturday - June 11th, 9am - 1pm

The Fire Station Community Center, 1601 Lipscomb St, Fort Worth 76104

• Quilt Exhibit at Ontario Museum of Art and History in California: Theme: Modern Quilts: Redesigning Traditions, December 1-January 22, 2017 Entry deadline: June 15, 2016 Contact ghawley@ontario.ca.gov for applications and information.

Please join us at our next guild meeting on June 16th. Come at 6:30 to get to know your fellow members and greet new members and guests. Meeting starts at 7:00.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend!

April's Meeting Recap

Hey Everyone, I am truly sorry for this late blog post about our April Meeting.  It was a great meeting, and I am sorry if you missed it.  

First off, we took care of some business that included discussion and nominations for Abby's position of Vice President of Communications.  We had two nominations,  Jeanne Lobsinger and Maureen Kelly.  Unfortunately, at the board meeting, we realized that Maureen is ineligible at this time to run for a board position.  We are keeping nominations open until May 10th.  If you are interested, please email the board by then.  An email will be sent out prior to the May meeting where we will make a decision.

Our guest speaker this month was the always entertaining Randy Cole of ABCSewing (ABCsewing.com).

This time he brought a  sewing machine to demonstrate the fact that "the walking foot does NOTHING."

We had a lot of fun trying to wrap our head around that concept and putting up counterpoints to his argument.  He simply just kept demonstrating that it "does nothing."  He suggests for everyone go buy a rolling foot to lesson the drag.  I think this  photo is from his disbelief that some of us did not believe him.

Members' medallion quilts are coming along there were some great ones being shown.

And as always... Show and Share was inspirational!

Let me end by saying the Fort Worth MQG members rock!!! 

To date you have made 111 pillowcases to be donated to ACH Family and Child Services  and 30 Nap Mats to be donated to Center for Transforming Lives .  Click on the links to be directed to their 'About Us' pages.  We will continued to collect these items through out the year.  Remember our pillowcase goal is 150 and the nap mat goal is 100. See General Information about sizes.

 

For convenience, I am including the General Information that was printed on the back of the Agendas.  I have updated them to reflect current information.

General Information

• Pillow cases to ACH    Goal:  150            To Date: 111

• Nap Mats to Transforming Women’s Lives  Goal: 100    To Date: 30    24”x36” - ish, 36”x48” - ish, or 24”x48” - ish

• June Meeting:  Presentation from Mettler Threads
• July Meeting:  Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio will give a  trunk show and lecture Thursday.  Precision Lines Workshop on Friday July 22nd will cost $100 and take place at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, 6102 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd, Arlington 76016.  Payments to Jenn Haxton.  Supply list to be emailed.
• October Meeting:  Melissa Eubanks of My Fabric Relish will give a lecture on October 20th. Prickly Flower Quilt Workshop will be on Saturday October 22nd at Sew Fabricated. Sign ups start in May.
• Retreats:  

1. June 20-23rd 3 nights - Our House in Milford, 1077 Cosby Road, Milford 76670. Arrive 1pm, leave after brunch. Total: $254.40 $50 deposit to FWMQG, remainder paid to Milford House on arrival, includes meals Dinner Monday to Brunch Thursday

2. September 8-10th Day Retreat at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ, 6102 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd, Arlington 76016. 9am-6pm any or all days.  We can leave our sewing machines set up, sleep at home, have potluck meals or go out. Cost: $40 for 3 days.

• Block Printing:  Friday, June 3rd, 10am-2pm at Sew Fabricated
• Slow - Stitch Saturday:     3rd Saturday - May 21st, 1-4pm at 1533 Merrimac Circle, Suite 101 Fort Worth
• Sewcials:  4th Monday - April 25th, 5 - 8pm          2nd Saturday - May  14th, 9am - 1pm

The Fire Station Community Center, 1601 Lipscomb St, Fort Worth 76104

• Quilt Exhibit at Ontario Museum of Art and History in California: Theme: Modern Quilts: Redesigning Traditions, December 1-January 22, 2017 Entry deadline: June 15, 2016 Contact ghawley@ontario.ca.gov for applications and information.

Hope to see you all at our May 19th meeting.  We plan to talk about QuiltCon 2016 and the upcoming QuiltCon 2017.

Ann