YWCA Charity Nap Mat Challenge April 2013

CHALLENGE RULES and REQUIREMENTS for YWCA CHARITY NAP MATS:

• Quilted Nap Mats should measure anywhere between 24X36", 24X48" or 36X48". 
• Fabrics should be kid appropriate, but can be scrappy and any pattern or block of your choice. Think bright and cheerful when choosing your fabrics. Remember there are boys as well, so blues, robots, rockets & planes etc...
• MAIN REQUIREMENT- Due to the wash and wear on these mats, all nap mats must be machine pieced, machine quilted and machine bound.
• No hand appliqué, beading, ties or anything that could be a choking hazard.
• YWCA has requested at least 30 mats. You will receive 15 points for the 1st mat. If you want to make additional mats (which would be greatly appreciated :) you will get 10 points for a 2nd mat and 5 points for a 3rd mat. 
• Points will not be awarded for more than three mats, but you are welcome to make as many as you want.
• Nap Mats are due at the June 2013 meeting on June 20, 2013.

Need some inspiration check out the links below. 

Link 1

Link 2

Link3

Link 4

 You guys are awesome and very generous, so let's make these little ones feel loved :)

April Agenda

Remember we are meeting at our temp. location at the 

Workroom - Located at 2814 Race St. FTW 76111.

Agenda - April 2013

6:30 Call To Order - Gayla

Guest Introductions - Gayla

Treasurer's Report - Connie

Membership Report - Jenn

Twister Presentation/Demo - Sharon

Wonky Challenge Reveal - Gayla

New Challenge - Gayla

Break

March BOM Reaveal

April BOM - Jenn/January

Gail Demo - Gail

Announcements - Gayla

Door Prizes - Jenn

Show and Share

Adjourn

Come a little earlier to chat with your friends!!! :)

Can't wait to see you tonight!!

Madrona Challenge

We had a great time doing the Madrona Road Challenge!!! If you missed the first post about the challenge check it out here. We want to thank Michael Miller, Violet Craft and the National MQG for making this challenge possible. Everyone received the same fabric and you had to make a quilt in any size. I love challenges where everyone starts out with the same thing. We didn't get any duplicates. Everyone's quilts were uniquely their own. It really pushed people to try new things and we were all so pleased with the results. We are anxiously awaiting the next challenge! Hint Hint :)

Thanks again to all who particpated!!!

March's Meeting

I wish everyone could have made it to our March meeting!! It really was a great one!! There is a lot to cover so get ready :)

 We played  a game "Do you think this is Modern?" We showed pictures of quilts that were at QuiltCon and then broke into groups to discuss why we thought it was or wasn't modern. It was a great game to get people talking and everyone had very interesting opinions. We will definitely have more games in the future :)

We are having a HAND SEW HAPPY HOUR at Mad Tosh on 4/7 from 12-5pm. Bring Binding, EPP, Crocheting or Knitting. It should be a lot of fun and you can do some shopping while your there :)

If you signed up (we still have 6 spots open. Email us if you want to join.) for the Mug Rug Swap with the Las Vegas MQG be sure to bring it to the May meeting. Style: Modern 

Size: 5" Minimum Width - 9" Maximum Length

We will swap them and have them by our June meeting. 

Pop over here to check out April's BOM.  It's a great stash buster and goes together pretty quickly. I love seeing everyone's blocks. Don't forget if you can't make it to the meeting to post your block on our Flickr page by midnight on Wednesday before our meeting.

I also want to remind everyone about our WONKY Paint Chip Challenge that is due on April 18th. I have been pulling fabrics and have made a nice little bundle. I just need to find the prefect pattern now. Here are the Wonky Rules just in case you lost yours :) Everyone should have received a paint chip from Gayla. If you weren't at the last two meeting you can go pick one up at your local hardware store.

Use at least 2 of the colors on the paint chip in your project.

Add up to 3 additional colors as accent colors.

Select one Category:

Quilt or Wall hanging (any size is acceptable)

Home Dec

Purse or Tote (any size is acceptable)

Use a "WONKY" design somewhere in the project (i.e. wonky stars, houses, string quilts, log cabins or make up your own "wonky")

You will receive 5 point for completing this challenge by the April meeting.

Last but not least we met for the final time at Creative Collective's Current Home. It will reopen in May and we will have the address available for you. Our next meeting will be held at The Work Room - 2814 Race Street Fort Worth, TX 76111.

You have been so patient so without further adieu here are the beautiful quilts!!

Sharon never fails to bring beautifully bright quilts and

brought this paper pieced mini.

Mindy showed us this sweet baby quilt and it reminds me of spring with all the flowers :)

Lisa brought this beautiful quilt. I love the pattern, it looks so vintage. 

Sarah showed this cute lap quilt. The little white squares make the whole quilt pop. She also has some really sweet embroidery in the middle of each square. 

Jonquele brought this beautiful equilateral triangle quilt. The colors are amazing!! 

Camille pulled a Jenn and brought not one, not two, but three quilts!! She brought this fun twister quilt. Love the colors as well!!

She showed us her Jelly Roll Quilt and told us about how unlucky she is with Jelly Rolls haha. It's not funny, but it is the way she tells it :)

Then she showed this beauty. She really pumped them out this month. 

Elizabeth brought two great lap quilts. She really seemed inspired by arrows!! I love the white space with the pops of colors. 

The colors in this one remind me of Easter and Spring. I love this pattern!!

Nancy showed us this lovely quilt. Look at all the squares!!! She did a beautiful job lining them all up.

She also tried to get away without showing us this great quilt that she's working on.  Great job Nancy!

The wonderful Gail teaches this class at the Berry Patch. As you can see there are a ton of different patterns and techniques in this quilt. 

Mary showed off this great pink mini that reminded me of Valentine's Day.

She also showed off this Don't Give A Hoot Quilt. Great appliqué Mary!!

Linda brought this pretty butterfly & dragonfly quilt. I love the placement of the blocks and it's so colorful.

Laurie showed off this pretty flower quilt.

Look at this amazing quilt. 

It's so striking and looks very complex. 

Last but not least Jenn showed off her quilting mojo with this ombre pinwheel quilt. Again it looks like Easter - Love it!!

A pretty Kaleidoscope quilt. I love the many designs you see in this quilt pattern. 

And this sweet square quilt. Love the pops of blue!!

Thank You Ladies for bringing in your beautiful quilts for us to enjoy!! I can't wait to see you at our temporary location next month.  Have a great day!!

March BOM

March BOM Instructions

These are the instructions for Block 4 of our year long Block of the Month.  You get one point for each block you create by the next meeting as well as 10 points for putting them together in a finished quilt by our December meeting.

This is a great block to use up scraps and is due April 18th - Enjoy!

Cutting instructions:

Sew your 48 squares in this order

2 strips 3 squares long {A}

2 strips 5 squares long {B}

2 strips 7 squares long {C}

2 strips 9 squares long {D}

Assembly Instructions:

Begin with center Square and add {A} to top and bottom

Then add {B} to left and right

Sew background strips

Add {C} to top and bottom

Then add {D} to left and right

Sew background strips

You will have some extra, trim to 12.5" x 12.5" when done.

March Meeting Agenda

Call Meeting to Order

Special Speaker

Guest Introductions

Icebreaker

Treasurer Report

Membership Report

February BOM Reveal

Break

March BOM

Announcements

Door Prizes

Show and Share

Adjourn

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

Member Spotlight

The Member Spotlight this Month is our President Julie Herrera 

How long have you been Quilting? 3 years

 How did you learn to Quilt? I took a class and read blogs and watched youtube videos.  After I took the class I really didn’t quilt for a year afterwards.  For some reason, a switch just flipped for me and then  all I could think about was my next one.

What is your favorite part/step of the process? I have two favorite parts. My first one is when the last seam is sewn on the top. I love to press and and see what it looks like all put together.  It’s just such a sense of accomplishment for me.  The second part is the binding.  I really enjoy hand sewing my bindings on my quilts. 

Your biggest obstacle? The colors! I recently joined a Skillbuilder Block of the Month for 2013 and when choosing color palettes, we were asked to pick colors in different hues – aack! I just chose black and white and gray instead.  For some reason selecting colors that go together is hard for me.  Sure I get the color families, but the accent color or pop color is difficult. 

How many Quilts have you finished? 13 

How do you decide on a pattern? That’s easy. I only make what I like.  When I see something on a blog, flickr or pinterest, I mark it and that is what I go to when I need an idea.  Another component that drives my quilts is the complexity.  If a block looks like it takes a long time to make, then I go on to the next one.  I don’t want to  get so tired of making blocks that I don’t want to finish the quilt so I like quick and easy and with great visual impact.   

Tell us about your stash? Oh my, well I have a large one.  I separate it by color and have a few dozen Kona pieces too.  I love to have solids on hand and I usually buy them by the bolt.  Most of my stash is just two colors (but reads one).  I have lots of metro living circles, oval elements, dots, pearl bracelets and all in bright saturated colors.  I have very few pastels in my stash.

How would you define your style? I am a modern quilter who likes both modern and contemporary design. I am not drawn to traditional patterns or blocks or fabrics but I appreciate that we wouldn't have modern quilting now if it wasn't for traditional quilting before us.

What are your go to colors? Pink, purple, aqua and tomato red, although not always together (because frankly, those are ugly together-right?) Kona ash is my go to neutral but I love Kona coal too. I have only made one quilt that doesn't have at least one of those first four colors in it.

Do you have other crafty hobbies? I used to a be a scrapbooker for about 10 years so I have all of that “stuff’ but other than that, quilting is it for me.

Anything else you would like to share? Call me, email me – let’s go have tea or better yet dessert!  I don’t get to socialize as much at meetings as I would like and want to get to know everyone better!