President's Quilt Challenge

We will have an end-of-year quilt show at our December meeting and we need small quilts to display. Here’s the challenge:

Make a modern quilt no more than 24” in any direction.  It can be any shape you want but 24” is the maximum size. There is no minimum size.

Use the categories from our 2016 programs as you determine your size, shape, design, and quilting plan.

Quilts from Architecture

Improvisational Quilting with Strips

Improvisational Quilting with Blocks and Scraps

Abstraction

Simplification

Modern Traditionalism

Alternate Gridwork

Modern Quilting

If you made a small quilt from our work with Michelle Wilkie I'm proud of you! Please enter that.

New work is always wonderful! 

If you want to show something that you made for one of these programs—or in response to one of them—and it meets the size criterion, we will enjoy seeing it again.

If you can’t remember what these categories are, then go find them in our 2016 blog archives on the sidebar. Make me happy I did all that writing!

How to get included in the show:

Bring your quilts to me at our November 12 meeting.

LABEL your quilt with your name, the quilt’s name, and the modern category you are entering. You can sew, fuse, or safety pin the label to the back. If you pin it, you might want to send me a photo just in case the label comes off.

Saturday, December 3^rd will be your drop-dead deadline. You will have to meet me somewhere on my side of the river and put spare change in my coffee cup. That’s NORTH, y’all. I’m 45 minutes away from our meeting place. We have a Panera. We’ll work it out.

Happy creating!

Audrey

October Meeting Recap

Our October meeting was held on Saturday, October 8.

On Our Calendar

October 29: Last day to see Gee's Bend quilts at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center
October 30: Deadline for submitting our Financial Statement to MQG
November 12: Our next meeting

Modern Charity Quilt Challenge

Exploding Nine Patch top

Here's a preview of our MQG Modern Charity Quilt challenge top. Stephanie, Theresa, Kelly and Jean worked together on the design and put together kits for each of the nine blocks. Several of our members sewed blocks during our September sew-in meeting, then Kelly and Stephanie sewed the blocks into this top.

Next: a very modern quilting design!

Our October Program:

Alternate Gridwork | Modern Stitching 

Patricia, Camille and Carolyn shared with us a dynamic and comprehensive program on two aspects of modern quilting, each of which was mind-expanding and creativity-inspiring. And Veronica let them use some of her quilts to show us examples of modern quilting. It was a treat to see all this up close!

They began with a power-point presentation that included much of Jackie Gering's work (Jackie is current MQG chair). If you haven't been following her blog you are missing an inspirational treat. Go see for yourself!  

Next they showed us real-life examples of alternate gridwork. Simply put, that's a modern way of composing quilts with blocks NOT in rows and NOT on point in the traditional every-cell-filled-the-exact-same-way arrangement. 

Top left: Patricia's traditional gridwork example. Top center: Camille, Nyah and Patricia with alternate gridwork tops made by Veronica. Top right: Carolyn's modern top with a mixture of quilting, including feathers;
Center left: Patricia's off-the-grid top with squares in squares; Center right: Patricia's floating triangles;
Bottom left: Patricia's strip blocks; Bottom center: Veronica's modern arrangement of the hatchet block; Bottom Right: a book you might want to buy because it has WORKSHOPS to teach you more about modern quilt making.

Next they talked about MODERN QUILTING. 

Veronica teaches quilters how to do this on their regular home machines and we saw how she enhances her quilts with a wide variety of motifs to add texture and interest.

Carolyn showed us her portable design wall. She pins a quilt top to this, covers it in plastic, then with a dry-erase marker plans out her quilting design in advance.

And we were treated to fine examples of modern quilting that are amazing in person...

Top left: Veronica, Top center: Veronica, Top right: Patricia.
Center row left: ?? Center right: Veronica
Bottom left: Veronica, Bottom center: Veronica, Bottom right: the book Material Obsession, another recommended for your personal collection.

Our program team recommends that we start a quilting sketchbook to collect potential quilting designs and to practice drawing them. 

Thank you ladies for this fantastic program. We appreciate your organization and thoughtfulness!

Habitat Quilts
Thanks to a generous donation by Melissa DeLisio of Lost My Marbles fabric, we have another quilt ready for a Habitat home.



It is being held sideways because we are not that tall.

Vanessa will present this to its new owners on Saturday, October 22. Contact Vanessa if you can be there; you will find her in our directory.

Show and Tell

Top: Gerry
Center left: Vanessa; Center right: Kelly
Bottom: Camille, Camille, Camille

Our next meeting will be Saturday, November 12.
Watch your email and the next blog post for the upcoming Presidential Challenge!

PS. Some of the photo credits may need help. If you see mistakes, please email Audrey directly and she will amend them. :)