March Meeting Recap

Janet opened the meeting to a very energetic packed house! Our National Modern Quilt Guild membership cards and pins were distributed to members who joined in January. The MQG distributes membership cards quarterly. Members who joined in February or March should receive cards in May/June.  The dates for QuiltCon 2015 have been announced for February 19—22, 2015 in Austin, TX. Course catalogs will be released on May 15, 2014 with Member registration for workshops/lectures opening June 24, 2014. 

Joan gave an update on the TN Aquarium/IMAX Exhibit. She presented an idea for a collaborative project depicting the Tennessee River. This idea was well received by our energetic members and several agreed to participate. More information regarding this project will be sent out as it becomes available. The next deadline for the exhibit is due at our April meeting. The Exhibit Committee needs to have firm commitments from members planning to display quilts, with number of quilts and their measurements.

The Lottery Blocks for March were collected…we had 40 "Plus" blocks! Josie, Linda, Sandi and Susan each went home with 10 of these.

Look what Linda did with the February Dresden Plate Lottery blocks she took home!

Sharon presented the Lottery Block for April, a Wonky Log Cabin block. Your block should measure 9 1/2 inches or larger and should be made with true solid colors. Here is the handout Sharon passed out at the meeting with links to tutorials to help get those creative juices flowing.

This month's program was free-motion quilting. Denise gave a great comprehensive presentation of the preparatory steps and essential tools needed to get us started quilting our own quilts. Seeing her own work inspired us all.

Here is a quick look at March's Show and Tell…

1. Jackie Cory 2. Jackie Cory 3. Jackie Cory

4. Jean Larson 5. Karen Sperry 6. Karen Sperry 7. Karen Sperry

8. Karen Sperry 9 Karen Sperry 10. Karen Sperry 11. Karen Sperry

12. Karen Sperry 13. Lynn Sweeney 14. Mary Keasler 15. Mary Keasler

17. Melody Johnson 18. Melody Johnson 19. Melissa Klingensmith 20. Melissa Klingensmith

21. Nancy Packard 22. Patricia Steadman 23. Vanessa King

And if all of this wasn't enough…we had a Sew-In afterwards! I hope to see a lot of "Ginormous Tote Bags" at our next meeting.

~Pam

March Meeting

The March Meeting of the ChattMQG is this Saturday, March 8th at Christ United Methodist Church at 10:00 a.m.

Plan to join us this month, bring your sewing machine and participate in our program, Free-Motion Quilting (FMQ). Denise will walk us through all the steps you'll need to get started quilting your own quilts. In addition to your machine, you will need a darning, embroidery or FMQ foot and a light colored, 12-15 inch quilt sandwich.

Since you'll have those sewing machines, stay with us for our first Sew-In of the year from 12:00—4:00. You can choose to join the group that will be working on the featured project, "Ginormous Tote Bag", or bring your own project to work on.

If you haven't made any Lottery Blocks yet, there is still plenty of time. This month's block is a super-simple Plus block. You can find the tutorial here. The only requirement is that the colors be true solid colors.

As always, bring your Show and Tell.

~Pam