Sandi Suggs "Finding My Voice" Quilt Show

ChattMQG member Sandi Suggs had her own quilt exhibit within AQS Quilt Week Chattanooga. She displayed a range of quilts that include both modern and traditional. And Sandi is featured in the QuiltWeek Chattanooga guide book! Below are photos of her quilts at this show. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the quilts Sandi has made so far.

ChattMQG at AQS

Congratulations to all our members who had quilts on display at the AQS Quilt Week Chattanooga 2015! These are almost full shots. Black curtains and white tags have been cropped out.

Patricia Steadman "Flower Pots"

Veronica Hofman-Ortega "Blue Rhino Moon"

Melissa Klingensmith "Sale Creek Sunrise"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "Pink Dogwood"

Vista Scruggs Mahan "Initial Inspiration"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "Motik"

Karen Sperry "Library Quilt" 

Jean Larson "Celebrate"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "February"

 

Nancy Packard "Disoriented Vortex"

September Meeting Recap

Janet opened our meeting and welcomed our five visitors.

Reports 

H*art Gallery Outreach Project

The small red zip bags that members took home to embellish were returned and passed around. People added beads and decorations to dress them up a bit. Denise sewed several onto a background and created a jewelry holder. If you did not return your red bag, please bring it to our October 10 meeting.

Our next day to volunteer at H*art will be October 14 (1pm-3pm) and the project will be Christmas related. Denise suggested making ornaments with balls and pipe cleaners and making small trees using Styrofoam cones. Our team has learned that the participants from H*art have trouble with tedious things. Some of them have problems with dexterity but are good at gluing so they might enjoy these projects.

Denise showed us the completed hexie projects that the gallery students had glued and our volunteers had secured with stitches.

Patriotic Art Auction to Benefit Local Veteran and First Responder Support Groups

Thursday, September 24 at 5:30pm – 7:30pm

From H*art’s Facebook Page: After the attack on July 16th a representative of a group of artists from around the country called H*Art Gallery. They wanted to send art to the families of the marines and sailor who died. Out of this beautiful gesture and after talking with the mayor’s office, an art show/auction was born. These artists, as well as local artists, are sending work, some patriotic in theme, to H*Art where they will be inventoried and priced. The pieces will be on display and available for auction in the Soldier and Sailor Memorial Auditorium lobby from Sept. 24 to Oct. 8. A reception will be held on Sept. 24 from 5:30-7:30p with entertainment and refreshments. Proceeds from this auction will go to help local veteran and 1st responder support groups. If you are unable to attend, and want to help, checks can be sent to the gallery. All donations are tax deductible.

The charity quilt made by Sandi’s team will be sold at this auction. Ellen from the Gallery asked for a suggested retail price (we said $500) and a short description of the Modern Quilt Guild.

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Guild Announcements

Gerri has a book for sale, Sherri Lynn Wood’s The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters. She’ll let it go for $15. Let her know if you want it.

Denise said there’s an article in this weekend’s Chattanooga Now about the AQS show that starts Wednesday, September 16.

Dawn Harkness, Volunteer Coordinator for AQS, needs a person to serve in this capacity for next year’s Quilt Week. She has the Volunteer Spot computer program ready to go so that the next person can use the same form and update the information. The right person for the job will have computer skills and be able to create a team. Or two people could do this: one could manage the computer part and the other could create a team to supervise the show. Four volunteers need to be at the show the whole time. Dawn requested that people who are also in other guilds take this information there and see if any of them would be interested. Dawn is moving away but she will be able to train her replacement before next year’s work needs to be done.

AQS Needs more volunteers for Quilt Week especially for taking down the show.

Karen invited us to visit the quilt exhibit at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. The Center is open Monday through Friday between 10am and 5pm on Saturdays from noon to 4pm. The exhibit will be in place through the end of September. The Center does charge admission. See the Bessie Smith Cultural Center website for prices and location.

Melissa shared an announcement from Bill that several Bernina machines will be on sale during the AQS show (including 770, 790, 880) and for a limited time you can get great deals at zero interest with five years to pay.

Pam needs the dimensions of any quilt that we want to hang during our December Meeting quilt show no later than the November meeting. If your quilt is not yet finished, please get busy!

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September Program: MQG Member Charity Challenge

Jean began the program by introducing us to Michelle Wilkie’s Factotum of Arts blog. Jean shared a page where Michelle shows how she abstracts quilt designs from photographs. Please look through these pages to see how the designed quilt blocks are not copies of the subject matter. The subject matter was the starting point.

Factotum of Arts Blog 1

Factotum of Arts Blog 2

Michelle’s designs are inspired by color, shape and content. In our case the color palette has been determined by the MQG so we will use that. But we do have a say in content!

The method of design and construction that will be used for the MQG Member Charity Challenge is Improv with Intent. To read about the project, visit:

QuiltConWest Member Charity Challenge

You may need to log into the MQG account first with your own member id to make the link work on your computer, but that’s the page with all the information.

Our committee (that’s Jean, Mary and Audrey) thought about what we could use as the inspiration for our quilt and chose four of our local bridges: Market Street, Walnut Street, CSX Railroad, and Wilkes T. Thrasher (the dam).

The Kits. Our 16 volunteer participants were given kits containing gray background fabric and strips of black, white, red, blue and gold to use in construction of two abstract blocks: bridge and water. In addition to fabric each kit contained project directions, a paper viewfinder to aid abstraction, and a bridge photo.

If you are making a block, look at the SHAPES in the photo you were given and see what inspires you! Work from there. Don’t try to copy any portion of the bridge, just make a block that reflects your own inspiration.

Mary showed us an example of the abstraction method. She took a photo of a building downtown then made a quilt block that was an abstraction. She said the challenge was abstracting rather than trying to reproduce what she saw.

Mary’s abstracted building

Abstracted Bridge Sections

Jean used a photo of the Walnut Street Bridge and chose solid colors of fabric close to the ones dictated for the challenge and created a bridge-like structure.

Jean’s abstracted bridge

Mary showed the bridge photo she used and how she decided what to abstract by outlining shapes with a Sharpie.

Mary’s abstracted bridge

Audrey did not use a photo or drawing but randomly pieced together a bridge span.

Audrey’s abstracted bridge

Abstracted Water Sections

We will also be making a section of water. To emphasize fluidity of water, we will not use straight edges for these blocks. Cut freehand with the tool of your choice. Use your leftover strips to piece your own impression of water.

If you took home a kit, we expect to get two blocks back. 

And we do have a list of names!

Jean demonstrated a method for cutting strips at any angle and having them stay straight. Layer both strips right side up. Cut the chosen angle through both strips at the same time. Then rotate them to fit and they will be at the correct angle.

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Show and Tell

1. Jackie Cory  2. Jackie Cory

3. Theresa Kitchell  4. Melissa Klingensmith

5. Julie Foreman  6. Julie Foreman  7. Shirley Prince