Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild: October Meeting Recap

Guild Announcements

Team Jean’s 2014 Charity Quilt will be presented to the family at the dedication of their new Habitat home. This will happen Saturday, October 24, 1:00pm at 3351 Hughes Avenue, Chattanooga, 37410.

Common Threads Quilt Show is happening right now at the Mount Olive Church of God, 3522 Harrison Pike in Cleveland, TN 37311. Jackie Cory has six quilts in the show and two of them won blue ribbons. Show dates are October 9-10.

At the Community Quilt Show at the mall, Jackie Cory won the Viewers’ Choice Award for her flower quilt with an embellished center.

Mary Keasler is one of two artists featured at the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association. Her show runs from October 17 through January 9. Gallery is closed on Mondays. It’s a fun town with nice shops and restaurants. Here’s the link for hours and a map.

Other Announcements

At the Living Heritage Museum Quilt Show in Athens, Tennessee, a modern quilt won Best In Show. The maker is Emily Pike Doane of the Knoxville MQG who also won Second Place in the same show for a different quilt. Emily is on Instagram @MissEmilyTaylor. It’s not too late to go see the quilts. Here’s the information link you need.

Local quilter Rusty Stubblefield recently passed away.

Read her obituary here.

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Reports

**H*art Gallery Outreach Project**

Our last day at the Hart Gallery will be this Wednesday, October 14 from 1:00-3:00pm. If you want to go, they have room for one more volunteer. Participants are asked to bring Christmas fabric, metal fingernail files and fabric scissors.

Treasurer’s Report

We have about $2,000 in our account.

ChattMQG Design Series Quilt Show

The quilt show will happen during our December 12 meeting.

Hanging sleeves are not required.

Pam needs to have your quilt(s) in hand by our November 14 meeting, or you can deliver quilts to her at the Gunbarrel Road Panera between 10:00am and 12:00pm on Saturday, December 5.

For each quilt in the show, you need to fill out an information card.

The cards MUST be turned in no later than the November meeting, even if your quilt is delivered to Panera in December.

Prizes will be awarded.

Remember, this show is for modern quilts inspired by our design series programs on the L-block, the quarter square triangle, and the quarter circle. To refresh your memory, look for Design Series blog posts from January through March 2015.

Here’s a link to the information cards.

December Guild Meeting

We’ll have the aforementioned quilt show in one room and a potluck lunch in another. Please bring finger food. If you want, you can bring a wrapped handmade gift item. If you bring one, you get to take another home. And feel free to invite a friend for the quilt show and the party!

Officer Elections

Anyone interested is requested to stay for a meeting right after this meeting. The International MQG requires us to submit names of our President, Secretary and Treasurer.

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October Program

MQG Member Charity Quilt Challenge Progress

In September we passed out 16 kits for making improvisational blocks. Each kit contained a stingy amount of fabric and a photograph of a bridge section. Members were asked to look at the shapes in the photo and, using their larger section of gray fabric as background, sew an improvised abstraction of their bridge. Then they were to use the smaller section of gray as the background for an improvised water block.

We requested that the bridge blocks be returned in October if they were complete and water blocks be brought back by November. Everything is due by our November 14 meeting.

We received most of the 16 bridge blocks and at least half of the water blocks already. Thank you ChattMQG participants!

The program next moved to techniques that could be used when making improvisational blocks that represent water.

Sewing Improvisational Curves

Audrey showed the method she uses to sew gentle improvisational curves.

First layer two pieces right sides up.

Cut a gentle curve through both layers.

Match top right with bottom left...

...and top left with bottom right.

Now make reference marks where the fabrics meet up. If you want, also mark the high and low points of each curve.

Sew the pieces together.

Match the two pieces of fabric at the top right edge. Sew with a 1/4" seam allowance as far as you can get without adjusting the fabric. Stop with needle down. Lift your presser foot and move the fabrics until another section matches along the edge. Line up with your 1/4" guide, lower your presser foot, and sew a little farther. Repeat as many times as needed until the seam is complete top to bottom.

Press the seam flat, then open. Clip curve if needed.

Add another piece

Now layer another piece on top of the first curve. Cut the desired shape of curve into your added fabric. You can mark and cut, cut freehand, or just follow the shape of your first curve.

The completed curve

Repeat previous steps to complete the second curve.

Inserting a Narrow Strip of Fabric

Audrey then showed a method for creating a straight and narrow fabric insert. The original tutorial can be found in Stephanie Ruyle’s blog post, “How Do You Feel About a Little Stripping?”

The goal of this method is to make an extremely narrow insert, but it can be used for most any size. Here's one that's about an eighth of an inch.

The skinny red center strip was inserted using the steps described below.

Notice how the pattern is sort of matched from side to side.

The photos below illustrate the method but they are done larger scale so you can see them better.

Steps 1 and 2

Steps 3 and 4

1. Fold your fabric right sides together and press the crease.
2. Baste 1/4" to 3/8" from the fold. Use the larger size if you are inserting a strip into a fabric that has some piecing already because you'll need the extra room.
3. With the fabric still folded, use your rotary cutter and straight edge and trim the fold. Cut off as little fabric as possible. You are SHAVING it here. Save yourself some seam allowance to work with.
4. Press the seam open.

Steps 5 and 6

Steps 7, 8 and 9

5. Glue baste your narrow insert strip to the open seam allowances. I use washable Elmer's and a narrow tip. Put your glue along the edges, away from the basted seam.

6. Use your hot iron and press to help set the glue.

7. Now switch your machine from baste to seam.

8. Hold up the work with the seam allowance and strip, letting the bulk of the fabric fall below. Put the SAs on your machine. You will sew close to your basting stitches. Above, the basting stitches are along the fold. The seam is in black. You will sew CLOSER THAN THIS. I've kept it at a distance so you can see it better.

9. (Not shown) Lift up the SAs as before and sew the other side of the strip, again staying close to the basting stitches.

EACH SEAM YOU SEW CLOSE TO THE BASTING STITCHES IS ONE HALF THE WIDTH OF YOUR FINISHED INSERT. So if you are sewing 1/16" away from the basting on each SA, your insert will end up 1/8" wide.

Steps 10, 11, 12

Close up of Step 10

10. Remove the basting stitches. You can do this from the top side to be sure you don't accidentally cut your seam, but it is easier for me to see it from the back of the work. The photo on the right shows the basting stitches and the seam. Remove the basting stitches and leave the seam stitches alone. Repeat both sides.

11. Pull the folded originally basted seam open with your fingers. If you see any glue, try to scrape it off.

12. Press seam open to expose your skinny insert.

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