February 2018 Recap

This month we shared our favorite notions for cutting, sewing and quilting. Plus, two ChattMQG members traveled to QuiltCon in Pasadena, and we learned about two upcoming regional quilt shows.

Go-To Gadgets & Tools

"I can't believe you brought drug paraphernalia to our guild meeting!" someone exclaimed in jest. To say our meeting on our favorite quilting gadgets took an unexpected turn is an understatement. And no, we don't condone illicit activities, but a couple of unconventional tools gave us a good chuckle.

For Hand Quilting

Better known as a surgical tool, a hemostat can be a hand quilter's best friend. It pivots like scissors but does not cut. Instead, a set of interlocking teeth below the handles lets you control the gripping force of the tip.

This surgical tool can be very useful for hand quilting.

Catherine Price recommends clamping it onto a needle to pull the needle through thick quilt layers with ease. Following her informative show-and-tell, another quilter (who shall remain anonymous to protect her identity) proclaimed, "That's a roach clip!" To each her own.

Other tools recommend for hand quilting include:

• Colonial Leather ThimblePad, used by Sara to stabilize a thimble (it can also be worn in place of a thimble) 
• Clover Embroidery Threader, to easily thread needles with perle cotton
• Self-threading needles

At Your Machine

Rhonda Fulghum shared a very handy tip: convert your favorite paperback quilting books to spiral-bound! This makes it easier to open them to specific pages while you’re learning a new technique.

You can turn any paperback book into a spiral-bound book,
just visit your local print shop.

Rhonda also praised the handmade stiletto she received from Jean Larson, who used a large darning needle and Fimo Polymer Clay to make it.

Jean made this stiletto with a darning needle and Fimo clay.

Other handy tools to keep by your machine include:

• Zirkel Magnetic Pincushion 
• That Purple Thang
• Clover Roll & Press (great for paper-piecing)
• A telescoping back scratcher, for the days when there is no one around to help you reach that one spot.

For Cutting and Trimming

A somewhat unconventional idea came from Sherry Leary: use a Quick-Grip clamp from the hardware store to lock your fabric into place when cutting long strips. Sherry stacks her cutting mat, fabric, and ruler along the edge of a table and clamps all three into place to prevent any shifting.

Sherry uses clamps like this to hold fabric in place for cutting.

Other useful cutting tools include:

• Titanium rotary blades
• Karen Kay Buckley adjustable rulers (perfect for traveling to quilt retreats!)
• Creative Grids Stripology Squared Ruler (great for cutting binding strips)
• Quarter inch seam marker

To Make Free-Motion Quilting Easier

If you tend to shy away from quilting without a walking foot, several items can make free-motion more fun and less stressful. Denise Ohlman uses a Quilt Halo for support and control when she does FMQ; Catherine recommends a similar tool called Martelli Gripper Rings. Batt Scooters by Paula Reid can also help you keep a good grip on your quilt sandwich while it's under the needle.

Miscellaneous

• Directional/numbered pins, to organize your cutting/piecing piles
• Kwik Klip, to save your fingers during basting
• Clover Hera Marker, to mark your quilt top without the use of ink or chalk
• Quilter's Assistant Proportional Scale, to easily resize blocks

Blue Ribbon Winner

Congratulations to Mary Keasler, who won two first-place ribbons at this year's QuiltCon in Pasadena, California. She took the top prize in the American Patchwork & Quilting Flying Geese category for her quilt titled "Free Motion", and her "Mountain Town" quilt won the Small Quilts category. Click here to see all of this year's winning quilts. 

Mary Keasler and her award-winning quilt "Free Motion"

Kelly Spell also had a quilt juried into the show. Her "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a" quilt was exhibited in the Small Quilts category.

  

Kelly Spell and her quilt "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a"

Upcoming Quilt Shows

Speaking of quilt shows, there are two shows scheduled in the coming weeks that are an easy drive from the Chattanooga area.

• Fiber Arts & Art Quilts at Cleveland Workspace: Friday, March 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cleveland Workspace is located at 445 Church Street in Cleveland, TN. Contact Karen Downer for more information. This exhibition coincides with "Stitches in Time" at the Museum Center at Five Points.
• Original Sewing & Quilt Expo: Thursday, March 8 through Saturday, March 10 at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA. Exhibit hall hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Recognition for Charity Work 

We want to take a moment to recognize the work of Sara Bradshaw, a retired police officer and guild member who is working on quilts for Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.). The organization rescues victims of sex trafficking, and Sara committed to send 10 quilts to O.U.R. this year. The first group recently arrived at O.U.R. and the organization wrote a blog post about the donation. Sara's enthusiasm for the cause encouraged several guild mates to join her effort, and comments on the O.U.R. blog post indicate interest among quilters around the country. Bravo!

Habitat for Humanity

In addition, Sara sits on our newly formed Community Service Project Committee. She, Beverly Herron and Camille Miller will oversee the guild's work with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area this year.

Last month, Sara completed a quilt top using brick blocks made by members for several 2017 Habitat quilts. It is in the queue to be quilted and will be donated to a homeowner later this year.

Sara (left) and Karen (right) hold the quilt top Sara completed for a 2018 Habitat homeowner.

And Beverly volunteered to quilt a top she made; it was bound and labeled by Denise, who presented it to a homeowner during Habitat's first dedication ceremony of 2018. Stay tuned for more pictures!

Beverly made this top and quilted it for a Habitat homeowner.

Show and Tell

March Meeting Recap

Blocks assembled using foundation paper piecing methods

Foundation Paper Piecing

Speed Dating Style

We had the fun of speed-dating several kinds of paper piecing techniques. Designs ranged from simple to complex and used printer paper, vellum or freezer paper. Did you find a method you loved?

Toni showed us how to make a simple paper-pieced string block and this one is great for beginners. She used a red strip down the diagonal of her printer paper squares, added other colors to each side, and ended up with a unified design. 

Toni presses a string block

Audrey's striped stars

Toni presses her seams after each addition. After the paper has been covered with fabric strips, she turns it over and trims even with the paper. No fuss at all and the blocks end up square with no distortion that sometimes results from strip piecing.

Audrey used a pattern for a striped star. Like Toni, she used printer paper for her foundation. Her pattern was numbered (1-8) and she showed how to add fabric in order of number. 

Audrey recommends using your old machine needles for paper piecing (paper dulls needles just as it does scissors). 

Also, sew along the lines of the pattern with no thread in the needle to perforate the paper before you sew with fabric, especially along the outer edges. 

Delores demonstrates chain piecing

Sandi recommends the Add-A-Quarter ruler

Delores prefers to use vellum as she pieces because she can see right through it. She prints her pattern onto the vellum using her home computer and then lays out several patterns on a fabric strip in a form of chain piecing.

Sandi works with freezer paper instead of printer paper or vellum. She cuts the freezer paper to 8.5” x 11” then uses a warm iron to adhere only the top half inch to a piece of printer paper—it glides right through her printer that way. Sandi prints her pattern onto the freezer paper (dull side up).

When she constructs her blocks, she folds the paper on the seam line and sews beside the paper. No tearing of paper is involved, and a pattern can be used three or four times before it loses its stickiness.

Sandi recommends the Add-a-Quarter Ruler as a super-helpful paper piecing tool.

Denise showed us how to construct complex paper piecing patterns. Some designs cannot be sewn as single blocks, so they are broken down into sub units, paper pieced, then joined into a whole. 

Denise recommends the book Quilt Block Bonanza by Nancy Mahoney. She demonstrated how to make a complex geometric block. 

Check out the slideshow for more pictures!

Mary Keasler and her quilt "Not Easy Being Green"

Sound the trumpets...

We have a QuiltCon award winner!

Congratulations to Mary Keasler for winning the Best Machine Quilting—Frameless award at QuiltCon! Her textural masterpiece Not Easy Being Green hung in the winner's circle with the best of the best and will be featured in an upcoming MQG publication.

Our latest Habitat for Humanity quilt

Habitat Quilts

Jean has become a manager extraordinaire of all things Habitat. Her latest design uses 3.5" squares—preferably of bright, modern prints and solids—set in a solid color to show them off.

Members sewed individual blocks for the quilt pictured here; Theresa then assembled the top and quilted it on her domestic machine!

When you are working on your own quilts at home, think about cutting a 3.5" strip of one of your fabric, then cut that into 3.5" squares and bring them to our next meeting. We appreciate all of your contributions, and so do the Habitat for Humanity homeowners.

 

Show and Tell