May Meeting Recap

Not all forty seven of us are in this photo, but this group shot will be sent to 
Make Modern Magazine where we will soon be a featured guild. 
Make Modern is an online magazine published in Australia.

Our May meeting was busy and fun with preparations underway for summer meetings and workshops, mini-quilts ready to mail, Habitat homes almost ready for quilts and even a magazine feature in the works.

Congratulations in Order

Flaun Cline of Spool

Kudos to Flaun Cline (and Maddie Kertay) for their lovely brick-and-mortar fabric store, Spool--home of 12,000 Facebook BadAss quilting fans and followers--being named as one of the ten best quilt shops / fabulous stores in America (if not the world)! You can read all about it in the latest issue of Quilt Sampler magazine. Go by the store and see for yourself!

Patricia Steadman
(Not the Flower Pots quilt!)

We also congratulate Patricia Steadman, whose Flower Pots quilt was chosen for AQS in Paducah, Kentucky. Fabric designer Kate Spain was pleased to see that Patricia had used some of her own collections in the flowers and invited Patricia to write a guest blog post. That's linked in our Facebook page, or you can go read Patricia's post here. You can see a photo of the real Flower Pots quilt on Kate Spain's blog, The Drawing Board.

Habitat for Humanity Quilts

To see all of us with our blocks, check out our Instagram account @ChattMQG 
and watch the silent video. This is a representative sample of the 22 that were turned in.

On Saturday, June 18, three more Habitat homes will be opened for their families. Our members took home scraps from our April program, sewed them into log-cabin-like blocks, and brought them back. They are now in the assembly line to become one of the next three quilts.

The twelve most classic cabins are now sewn together for a throw (60" x 72"). The remaining blocks will be used for another one. This top is ready to be passed along to our volunteer quilter.

Mark your calendars for June 18 because we need to be at three homes at the same time for the quilt giftings!

Photo Directory Update

We have grown since Veronica prepared our directory in February. If you are a new member and have not yet been photographed, please email us a clear head shot and your directory info and we will try to get it in our next update. Use the address in our sidebar and we will forward to Veronica.

Thoroughly Modern Minis

Several of us signed up to participate in a Tennessee swap for modern mini quilts. Six of us brought our minis to guild and we photographed them together before sending them to recipients in the other Tennessee guilds: Memphis Area, Music City, and Knoxville.

Remember to bring the mini you received to our June 11 meeting so everybody can see.

Maison & Objet

We were delighted and inspired by Ann Hurley's program for May. Ann shared an amazing presentation that she created for her business with photos of the latest trends in color and design from a huge trade show in Paris. What a treat to see artistic creations and color combinations straight from the design runway! Thank you so much, Ann, for bringing some Paris our way. 

Show and Tell

Top to bottom, left to right

1. Flaun Cline front; Flaun Cline back; Flaun Cline; Patricia Steadman
2. Gerry Haywood, Kate Trundle, Vanessa King, Toni Faidley (front)
3. Tony Faidley (back), Theresa Kitchell, Theresa Kitchell, Shirley Prince
4. A row of Mary Keasler's work after she attended the Spool-sponsored Melissa Averinos Faces workshop

April Meeting Recap

Program: Blocks for a Habitat for Humanity Quilt

Last month the local paper published an article about our guild highlighting our work making quilts for each new Habitat house built in Chattanooga and dedicated in 2016. Someone read the article and contacted our guild about donating a box of fabric. One box ended up being three, and we accepted the donation with thanks. The fabric was of different kinds, weights, conditions, and freedoms, meaning quite a bit of it was still in the form of clothing. We washed, dried, ironed and sorted as much as we could before the April meeting, put the prepared fabric into paper shopping bags, and brought it in to share.

Members came to the meeting with big squares of batting to use as design surfaces, some pieces from their own stashes, scissors and pins. Everyone randomly (well, some of us had trouble with that concept) drew strips, squares and hunks (of fabric) out of the bags and arranged them into improvisational blocks. Our target size was 12" to 15" untrimmed.

One of the best parts was being able to work together without having to haul in a lot of equipment. 

We decided to place a bit of red in every block we made to give the quilt some cohesiveness. We rolled up our designed blocks in the batting to take home and sew. We will ask members to bring back their blocks in May so we can use them to form a top for a quilt that will be given to some happy new Habitat homeowners in June.

Show and Tell

  

March Meeting Recap

Habitat Quilt Update

We worked on blocks for two more Habitat for Humanity quilts at our February sew-in. Volunteers took blocks home to sew together into tops, and one of the tops has already been quilted.

For this quilt, we made blocks that are half string, half gray. A white strip was sewn down the diagonal, then skinny strips of scraps were added outward from that. Finally, a dark piece was added to the striped corner to increase contrast and drama. 

 This next one was pieced with strips from a Jelly Roll. 

"Jelly Roll" is the name for pre-cut strips of fabric, 2-1/2" wide x about 42" long, that are packaged together, usually as a coordinated fabric collection. We sewed the colorful strips together and cut them on the 45-degree bias, adding triangles of gray to each end to make blocks. These were pieced together and long thin strips of gray were added to give a bit of separation. 

Our Program: Working with Strips

Mary Keasler showed us how she uses strips of solid fabric to create her own striped fabric. She cuts her strips free-hand rather than using a straight edge. You can see how the effect is quite different from the straight-cut strips in the Habitat quilts, above.

All work above by Mary Ramsey Keasler

Show and Tell

Top Row: Vista Mahan, Bethany Barnes, Susan Monk (back), Susan Monk (front)
Second Row: Michele Leonard, Stephanie Quesinberry, Theresa Kitchell, Jackie Cory
Third Row: Stephanie Quesinberry, Stephanie Quesinberry, Ann Hurley, Michele Leonard
Fourth Row: Shirley Prince

ChattMQG is Featured in the TimesFreePress, March 14

The following is from an article posted in our local newspaper:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2016/mar/14/snug-safe-and-beautiful-quilters-give-their-w/354811/

Chattanooga quilters give their work to owners of new Habitat for Humanity homes

Cornelia Johnson with her new quilt

When Kelly Spell was casting about for a new hobby, her mind drifted across the bizarre challenges that the reality TV show "Project Runway" poses for its aspiring fashion designer contestants.

Make a dress from flower blossoms purchased at a warehouse market. Make a gown sewn from items bought in grocery aisles: candy wrappers, garbage bags, lettuce leaves. Rip apart home decor— leather from sofas, woven throw rugs — for fabric to make a dress.

While Spell, a 35-year-old marketing specialist, had not been particularly artsy-craftsy as a child, she discovered she had a gift for cutting designs from all sorts of fabric and sewing them into something lovely. So she chose quilting as a hobby, then became an enthusiastic member of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild, where women of all ages gather to sew quilts that are works of art.

But they do much more. Last fall, they decided to give their quilts away to new owners of Habitat for Humanity houses.

The quilters wanted to create a gift that would make a new homeowner feel snug and safe and able to dream sweetly. They also wanted it to be an heirloom that could be passed on to a child.

"We wanted to make something so beautiful, the owner would be proud to pass it along to a son or daughter like a family heirloom," Spell says.

Cornelia Johnson, who works for the state health department in downtown Chattanooga, was the first Habitat homeowner to get a quilt.

"They gave me the quilt the day Habitat for Humanity handed me the keys to my new house last fall; the house and the quilt are absolutely beautiful," Johnson says. "I have two adult sons, and I'm not sure how much they know about art, but this quilt is definitely something I would want to hand down to my grandkids."

Her quilt has a deep magenta background — "my favorite color," Johnson notes — with a large eight-pointed star encircling a smaller star. The dozens of fabric swatches that form the stars are imprinted with fanciful goldfish swimming around a teddy bear wearing a diving helmet as well as musical notes, huge golden lilies, a rolling pin, cookie cutters and bright abstract designs.

"I was told each piece has a special meaning for the person who brought it to the quilt so, in a way, the women who made it are sharing their good wishes and dreams with me," Johnson says, examining a piece with a whimsical elephant adorned with pink and green gems.

"Some day I would love to attend one of the guild's meetings so I can thank the women who made this and hear the stories behind the pictures on the fabric."

Guild member Janet Larsen, who first approached Habitat about giving quilts to new owners, says she and about 10 other quilters attended the ceremony where Johnson was given her house keys.

"We've made two quilts for two new owners since then," she says.

Pictured on the guild's Facebook page, one quilt is adorned with a colorful abstract — yet instantly recognizable — portrait of the Walnut Street Bridge and the Tennessee Aquarium towers. The other quilt has white lightning zigzags dividing brightly colored blocks and stripes.

The guild is now working on a quilt for a new Habitat homeowner in April. Spell says the members sometimes design a quilt pattern; other times they modernize a pattern that might be 200 years old.

"We wanted to take all these unusual pieces of fabric that at first look helter-skelter and arrange them on the quilt to be appealing to the modern eye," says Larsen.

Contact Lynda Edwards at ledwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391.

This article is not reproduced with or without permission; rather, it is posted here to be included with our guild's archives. To see the original article, or to receive legal permission to reproduce it, please use the link at the top of this post.

February Meeting Recap

Treasurer's Report
We have about $2K in our account.

Outreach Report
Two quilts were presented at the Habitat for Humanity home dedication ceremony in January. The recipients were surprised and grateful.

Photo Directory
If you are a member as of January, you will have been emailed a file of the directory. You can print it at home (double sided pages) and sew it together. We will give you updates on new members as they join throughout the year.

Instagram
Kelly showed us how to get signed up for Instagram. We made a list of our members who are already using it. Our Guild account is @ChattMQG so be sure to follow that! Post any photos of your own modern quilts using the hashtag #ChattMQG.

Thoroughly Modern Minis
We talked about this before. Those who wish to participate will be able to sign up on line in a few days time.

Upcoming Programs
Some of us signed up to help with suggested programs on Simplification, Alternate Gridwork, Modern Traditionalism, Abstraction, and Modern Stitching or Quilting. We also threw the 2017 MQG Charity Quilt Challenge into the program list, anticipating that it will be announced mid-summer.

Our February Program was a sew-in. We divided into two groups and pieced together enough blocks to make our next two Habitat quilts. Volunteers took them home to layer with batting and backing, quilt and bind them.

Show and Tell

Top half: Kelly's baby quilt; a Baltimore Album quilt Shirley is quilting for her friend; Kelly with her food-inspired Pho mini quilt; Gerry's modern sampler.

Bottom half: Patricia's applique; Joan's bag; Janet's quilt of more than a thousand triangles; Patricia's modern quilt inspired by architecture.

Top row from left: Gerry's apron; back of Gerry's quilt; Kim's banner; Kim's quilt from recycled jeans. Bottom row from left: Theresa with her sketch from an architectural photo; her interpretation of the sketch; another interpretation; another interpretation.

Shirley's modern quilt inspired by architecture

Tennessee Modern Mini Quilt Swap...Last Chance!

"Thoroughly Modern Minis"

Deadline is Sunday, February 21st! 

Welcome and thank you for participating in our first ever Tennessee swap among members of Modern Quilt Guild chapters in the Volunteer state!  

The swap is open to all dues-paying members of the Knoxville, Chattanooga, Music City and Memphis Area chapters of the Modern Quilt Guild.

To sign up here, give us your contact information and include the following in your profile section:

1.  Your guild:  Chattanooga, Knoxville, Music City or Memphis

2.  Your skill level:  beginner, advanced beginner, intermediate, expert

3.  Three favorite characteristics of Modern Quilting from this list:

• use of bold colors and prints
• high contrast and graphic areas of solid color
• improvisational piecing
• minimalism
• expansive negative space
• alternate grid work 
• "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs
• add your own!

4.  Colors you like (optional)

5.  Colors you dislike (optional)

We will assign you a recipient in a different city.  Guided by your recipient's profile, you will make a mini quilt for him or her no more than 24 inches on any side or 24 inches in diameter. Use at least one of your recipient's favorite modern quilting techniques.  Squeeze in all three if you can!

Quilts should be made using modern fabrics, designs and quilting methods.

Sign up deadline is Sunday, February 21st.  Shipping dates are May 15th - May 31.  We encourage you to finish your quilt in time to show it at one of your own guild meetings before you send it away.

If you post photos of your quilt on social media, please tag it with #TNquiltswap

Questions?  Contact us at memphismqg@gmail.com.

Final Word:  The name of our "Thoroughly Modern Mini" quilt swap was inspired by the movie "Thoroughly Modern Millie" with Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing.  If you haven't seen it, we recommend you do so asap!

If you meet the participation qualifications above, here's the link you will need to sign up: www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b49afa72da7f58-thoroughly

February Meeting Agenda

Our next meeting is a sew-in! We will cover our usual business first, then have show-and-tell, then construct blocks for a couple more Habitat for Humanity charity quilts. 

We expect this to be an extended meeting so you might want to bring a sack lunch or at least a snack and drink to tide you over.

Members will be receiving emails about what equipment to bring to the meeting. If you will be visiting us for this meeting, please email us in advance and we can let you know what tools might be helpful.

Here's what's in store....

ChattMQG February 13 Meeting

Welcome 

Introduce visitors, give out nametags and permanent pins to our new members

If you accidentally wore your nametag home in January, please bring it back.

Treasurer’s Report 

Outreach Report on Habitat dedication ceremony 

Photo Directory assembly. Remember to print your pages at home! Bring a glue stick if you print the pages single-sided.

Social Media and You! Learn how Instagram is like having a show-and-tell at your fingertips. Stay connected with your guildmates between meetings!

Thoroughly Modern Minis update...you can sign up soon!

Potential Workshops report 

Upcoming Programs 

Please think about helping to develop and present a program that explores and challenges us to try out an aspect of modern quilting. Mentioned at our brainstorming session were: 

            Simplification (negative space, minimalism, scale)

            Alternate gridwork

            Modern traditionalism

            Abstraction

            Modern stitching or quilting

            

Plus we will need leaders for the MQG Charity Challenge for 2017 (probably will happen in summer).

You might want to present a program as an individual, but we are hoping that some people will want to work as small teams. Think about what you have tried and could share with others and come ready to sign up.

Show and Tell (Early, because we are having the sew-in last)

Program: Strip piecing (Jean)

Sew-In (Jean will email details soon)

We hope to see you there!

Audrey