January 2018 Recap

The new year started with a bang! ChattMQG members' work was featured in books, a magazine, and a local quilt show; plus, we launched a new quilt challenge.

It’s Time to Cut It Up! (Again)

Anticipation filled the air at our January meeting as we prepared for an opportunity to breathe new life into a fellow member’s once-prized but now-neglected project. Participants were asked to bring at least one unfinished object to be part of this year's rendition of the popular Cut It Up! Challenge: UFOs, orphan blocks, and several quilt tops adorned two tables.

Challenge participants examine the UFOs, orphan blocks, and quilt tops up for grabs.

Instead of focusing our efforts on a single group quilt, this go-round we’re working on individual projects. To start, each participant did a brief show-and-tell about the unfinished project she brought to the table. After we got a closer look and a chance to fondle the fabric, we drew numbers and divvied up the items White Elephant-style. There was quite a bit of stealing involved in the process! 

Everyone left the meeting with someone else’s item(s) to cut up and use to create a new, modern quilt. You can see each item in the slideshow below: the original owner is pictured on the left, and the sewing surgeon is pictured on the right.Everyone has five months to complete the challenge and there are no size requirements for the finished quilts, which will be unveiled at our June meeting. Please share your progress as you work! Use the hashtag #chattmqgcutsitup on Instagram and post your pictures in our Facebook Group.

Quilts Exhibited at Local Gallery

Also in January, eight ChattMQG members exhibited their work at Scenic City Clay Arts' Gallery f 2232°.

Quilts on view at Scenic City Clay Arts

The show, titled "Face Jugs and Quilts of Modern Day Appalachia", was organized by local artists Carrie Anne Parks and Lolly Durant as part of a Hamilton County Schools in-service day for art teachers. Parks and Durant heard about ChattMQG from member Sherry Leary, and they invited the guild to feature members’ quilts alongside the work of potters Mark Issenberg and Shelby West. 

The timeline for submission was tight, and it happened at the height of the holiday season, but the result was a vibrant, colorful display that offered viewers a delightful juxtaposition of hard and soft art forms. Partnering with other artists for a local show proved to be a great success! In an article by the Times Free Press, Parks described the quilts as, “really like paintings, the way the [quilters] are working with color and forms. They are doing interesting things with their stitchery and adventurous things with their quilts.” 

Congratulations, everyone! 

Members' Work Featured in Books and a Magazine

Meanwhile, several members recently had their work shared on an even larger scale. 

Veronica Hofman-Ortega’s “Listen” quilt, which was part of the show at Scenic City Clay Arts, is featured in a new book by Melissa Averinos called Making Faces in Fabric. Check it out on page 105 in the gallery of student work.

A post shared by Veronica Hofman-Ortega (@veronica.fiberantics) on Jan 21, 2018 at 9:16am PST

And Mary Keasler’s award-winning quilt “Not Easy Being Green” can be seen on page 179 of The Modern Quilt Guild’s new book Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century. That piece earned Mary the ribbon for Best Machine Quilting (Frameless) at last year’s QuiltCon. 

A post shared by Mary Ramsey Keasler (@mizcontrary) on Jan 16, 2018 at 9:35am PST

Finally, Audrey Workman’s “Log Cabin Jamboree” is featured on page 81 in the Log Cabin issue of Curated Quilts. CQ is a new, quarterly journal that features a gallery of quilts on a specific theme. For each issue, the magazine puts out a call for entries for mini quilts; quilters must adhere to a specific color palette and strict size requirements in order to be selected for publication.

A post shared by Audrey Workman (@artandstole) on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:38am PST

Bravo, ladies!

Let's Cut It Up! (Again)

Happy New Year! To kick off 2018, we're bringing back our popular Cut It Up! Challenge — with a couple twists.

Instead of focusing our efforts on a single group quilt, we're going to work on individual projects. And we won't cut up completed quilt tops; for this reboot, we'll breathe new life into UFOs and orphan blocks.

To participate, search your sewing room for one or two incomplete projects and bring them to our January 13 guild meeting. Each participant will do a brief show-and-tell about their item(s), and then we'll draw numbers and divvy them up white-elephant style.

That's right: you'll go home with someone else's UFO or orphan blocks to cut up and use in the creation of a new, modern quilt. And a fellow participant will take yours home to rework. Everyone has five months to complete the challenge; finished quilts will be unveiled at our June meeting. I look forward to seeing the results!

December Meeting Recap

Laughter and delicious smells filled the air as we marked the end of another year with a potluck party, mini quilt show, and gift exchange. 

Curves Challenge 

Six quilts were made for the Curves Challenge

Six members submitted work for the Curves Challenge, and their work decked one wall of the meeting room. In September, members were asked to create an original design using black, white, and one color of their choice. The style and techniques used were up to each individual maker, but the end result had to fit within the curves theme.

Vista Mahan and her winning quilt

Vista Mahan took home the viewer’s choice ribbon for her “Ocean Currents” mini quilt. Vista selected Kona Cotton Pool as her third solid; the name of the fabric inspired her watery landscape, which includes a combination of hand and machine quilting. 


Kudos to Vista, Gerry Haywood, Audrey Workman, Stephanie Quesinberry, Theresa Kitchell and Jean Larson for tackling the challenge and creating stunning mini quilts!

And if you’re interested in making your own quilt show award ribbons, stay tuned for a tutorial coming in the next few weeks.

2018 Calendar and Programs

After a successful brainstorming session in November, the steering committee took your ideas for next year’s programs and used them to create the following calendar. The topics listed in red will be taught by small groups of members listed in parenthesis; if you haven’t signed up for a group, let me know which topic piques your interest and I’ll gladly add your name!

• January 13: Cut It Up! (Again) — We’re bringing back the popular Cut It Up! Challenge but with a twist. This time we’re focusing on UFOs and orphan blocks instead of a completed quilt top. Search your sewing room and bring 1-2 incomplete projects to the January meeting; someone else will take your work home, cut it up, and make something new with it. 
• February 10: Go-To Gadgets & Tools
• March 10: TBD
• April 14: TBD
• May 12: Hand Quilting (Sara Bradshaw, Ava Moore, Catherine Price, Patricia Steadman, Audrey Workman)
• June 9: Cut It Up! (Again) quilt show and Brown Bag Fabric Challenge launch
• July 14: Using Common Shapes to Create Complex Designs (Ann Hurley, Camille Miller)
• August 11: Binding and Finishing Techniques (Karen Downer, Carolyn Pugh)
• September 8: Alternative Materials for Modern Quilts (Theresa Kitchell, Stephanie Quesinberry)
• October 13: Scrap Buster Sew-In
• November 10: 2019 Brainstorming
• December 8: Holiday party and Brown Bag Fabric Challenge quilt show

2018 Officers & Bylaws 

The steering committee recently adopted revised bylaws for the guild. The biggest changes are that we increased the number of named officers, clarified the nomination process for new officers, and formalized procedures concerning guild finances. I encourage you to read the revisions and let me know if you have any questions.

Leading the guild in 2018 are the following officers:

• President & Communications Coordinator: Kelly Spell 
• Treasurer: Vanessa King
• Secretary: Patricia Steadman
• Membership Coordinators: Stephanie Quesinberry and Karen Downer

And many thanks to our 2017 officers and steering committee! Your dedication and hard work are greatly appreciated.

• President: Kelly Spell
• Treasurer: Jean Larson
• Secretary: Denise Ohlman
• Steering Committee: Veronica Hofman-Ortega, Mary Keasler, Sandi Suggs, Audrey Workman

Show and Tell

A Big Finish to Close Out 2017

“Mosaic Garden never looked so good!” That was one of several compliments I overheard last month when we unveiled the completed quilt from our Cut It Up! Quilt Top Challenge.

The end result of our Cut It Up! Quilt Top Challenge

The quilt started its life several years ago as traditional top, sewn by guild member and fabric sales rep Veronica Hofman-Ortega to highlight a fabric line she was selling at the time. She donated it to the guild to use as a learning tool to reinforce design ideas presented by Mary Kerr during a lecture and workshop in April. (Kerr specializes in antique textiles and recently wrote a book on incorporating vintage pieces into modern quilts.)

After a design session at our June meeting, we settled on Vista Mahan’s plan to refashion Veronica’s quilt top. (Check out all of the designs we created here.) Using Affinity Photo software, I digitized Vista's paper design and added sections of solid stripes to increase the overall quilt size. Then during a July sew-in, several members took a rotary cutter to Veronica’s top and reassembled it adding strips of white, yellow, red, blue, green, and purple. You can see each stage of the process below.

Beverly Herron volunteered to tackle the quilting on her longarm machine, and she chose a lovely design that mimics the mosaic swirls printed on the fabric. I finished the quilt with a bright yellow binding that really pops.

The quilting was done by ChattMQG member Beverly Herron

Our original plan was to donate the quilt to a Habitat for Humanity homeowner, but we were very ambitious this year and ended up with more quilts than Habitat had homeowners! So stay tuned for the final plan. Thanks again to Veronica for donating the original quilt top, and to everyone who helped design and assemble the remix.

Are you interested in reviving this challenge in 2018? Let me know in the comments!

November Meeting Recap

Storming Brains Pummel Easy Approaches

As the third annual November brainstorming process began, we could feel a shift in the wind energized by new ideas. What do we want to learn about in 2018?

While this picture isn't very exciting, the results of our brainstorming session give us a lot to anticipate!

In years past our suggestions for program topics were dominated by techniques yet unexplored. Now that we have mined a trove of methods we can use to physically put together a quilt top, we're ready to delve deeper down the shaft and excavate some lesser-known treasures of construction and design.

We know there's more gold down there, and we aim to find it and dig it out.

Top Votes Go Here

Our members—confident at making quilt tops—are eager to reach beyond straight lines and master free-motion quilting on our domestic machines in 2018. We want to learn how to create complex designs from common shapes. We want to figure out how to design quilts with the minimum amount of seams. Another popular idea was binding and finishing art quilts (please check our Archived Post from May 2015 to find links that will get you started).

Runners-up for possible 2018 program topics included quilting with alternative materials; exploring texture, color, and repetition; and solving problems.

Who's Up for a Field Trip?

Other ideas generated during our brainstorming session included visiting an art museum, inviting an art teacher to walk us through design concepts, hosting retreats, continuing popular sew-ins, and even impromptu gatherings in restaurants. Fun!

Self-Analysis Reveals We Continue to Grow in Confidence

We also continued our annual tradition of rating ourselves on our confidence level as modern quilters. Veronica's graph says it all!

Thanks to everyone who showed up to participate and offer ideas for our upcoming programs. We appreciate you! And thanks to Veronica for leading us in another successful session.

Mini Quilts with Big Personalities

Finally, it was Christmas in November as Camille (Ms. Claus?) passed out wrapped packages from our new friends in the Tucson Modern Quilt Guild. Our #AZtoTNswap resulted in lots of lovely work, check out the minis received by some of our participants:

Camille, Samantha, Karen D., Kelly, Denise and Sara show off the mini quilts they received from their swap partners.

Show and Tell

October Meeting Recap

Computer Software for Quilt Design

Building upon Jean's September presentation on quilt design, Vanessa, Carolyn R., Catherine and Stephanie showed us ways to let computers and mobile devices do some of the brainwork behind the quilt during our October meeting.

A screenshot of a design created by Carolyn R. in Electric Quilt 7

Try an App

Stephanie has a phone with her most of the time and uses two apps, Infinite Design and Infinite Painter, to help get ideas out of her head and into a sketch before she forgets them. Both apps are made for Android devices. Draw with your finger, work from a photo, use layers--all the familiar tools are there in a convenient, free package.

These are a few of the sketch tools available in Infinite Painter.

Several design apps are also available from Adobe; Stephanie showed us how to "paint" and create shapes using Illustrator Draw and Photoshop Sketch. They work on Apple and Android devices, enabling you to sketch on the go and send your drawings to your desktop computer for further refinement.

Stephanie also showed us some of Adobe Photoshop Sketch's design capabilities.

Most mobile apps won't take you directly from idea to quilt, but they are portable and tend to be free or inexpensive. No need to carry a sketchbook! Click here to see Stephanie's entire presentation.

Use Pro Software

Next we saw a demo of Electric Quilt, a recent version of which is known as EQ7. Carolyn took the sketches we sent Jean last month and transformed them into digital designs using this popular quilting software. Her interpretation of Audrey's sketch (which was inspired by Anthony Quigley's photograph of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport) is featured below, and you can see more of Carolyn's work by clicking this link to her slideshow.

Another screenshot of Carolyn's design made with EQ7

With an extensive pattern library of fabrics and colors, you can work out your design and see a graphic image of your finished quilt before you ever pick up your rotary cutter. And your brain can go to lunch while the program calculates yardage and lists out shapes and sizes to cut.

You will still have to do the cutting unless you have something like a Cricut machine. Then all that's left to do is sew! This isn't the cheapest option when it comes to digital quilt design, but you can get in the door for a couple hundred bucks.

Go for a Classic: Photoshop

If you have already have this software, use it to design your quilts! Catherine scans swatches of her fabric and uses Adobe Photoshop magic to visualize different layouts. If you don't have Photoshop you can get similar results with Photoshop Elements. Early versions like PE3 often have free trial periods.

What's YOUR favorite computer software program for quilt design? Let us know in the comments!

Keep this on your radar...

• Curves Challenge quilts are due at our November 11 guild meeting.
• Mini quilts for the #AZtoTNswap will be arriving soon from the Tucson MQG! Hopefully you already mailed yours to your partner.
• We're looking for next year's guild leaders. Will you be one of them? See Kelly.
• Do you have any ideas for next year's guild charity/education endeavors? Let us know.

Show and Tell

Curves Challenge

Are you up for a challenge? Make a quilt for our end-of-year quilt show!

This year's theme is curves. I want you to create an original design for a small, modern quilt using any techniques you see fit. (Recent programs covered several that may help you, including improv piecing, appliqué, and foundation paper piecing.)

Here are the rules:

• Quilt tops must consist of THREE solid fabrics: black, white, and one color of your choice. You must use all three; no more, no less. No prints.
• Finished quilts must be no larger than 36" on any side. Your quilt can be any shape you like, but the maximum size is 36".

If you're on Instagram, share pictures of your progress/process with the hashtag #ChattMQGcurves. When you're finished, label your quilt your name and the quilt's name.

Finished quilts are due at our Nov. 11 guild meeting, and they'll be on display during our Dec. 9 meeting. 

I can't wait to see what you make!

September Meeting Recap

From Paper to Fabric

Armed with a gridded flip pad and a handful of dry-erase markers--but no calculator--Jean Larson walked us through several examples, showing us her process for converting a sketch to a reproducible quilt block.

Math was involved.

Amid cries of "Have you ever heard of Wonder Under!" and "I'd just make templates!" and "Do you know how to paper piece?" Jean persisted, demonstrating a geometrical way to resize triangles and other shapes accurately.

Jean is not one to take the easy way out.

Nor should you be. A brief foray into social media reveals thousands of quilt patterns for sale. You can make your own and you do not need a fancy program to do that (although we will talk about some of those options at our October meeting).

We also learned ways to make reproducible curves using a tool from the dressmaker's arsenal.

Give your brain a workout and see how far you can get with a little push from Jean!

Habitat Quilts

Camille Miller agreed to present a quilt to the new Habitat homeowners at the September 16th dedication ceremony. Our next quilt will be presented in October. And we have two volunteers to thank: new member Beverly Herron is tackling the result of the Cut It Up! Quilt Top Challenge, and Karen Sperry is working magic on the paper-pieced star quilt.

Here are two finished quilts that will be presented to new homeowners later this year:

This was assembled by Martha G., quilted by Beverly, and bound by Jean.

Patricia (left) pieced this top following an Alison Glass pattern; Denise (right) quilted it.

Show and Tell

Sewing for Habitat

During our July meeting, the room was full and noisy as we worked diligently to put together two quilt tops for upcoming Habitat for Humanity home dedications this fall.

Now we're looking for volunteers to quilt them! Interested? Read on to learn more.

One of two quilt tops completed during the sew-in

Paper Pieced Stars

This group assembled blocks made by members after our foundation paper-piecing program. Between February and June, volunteers signed up for specific colorways and sewed star blocks at home using scraps from their stashes. These were pinned to a design wall by Delores at the start of the sew-in. We tried several arrangements until the color balance said "Yes!" and then came the easy part of fitting together blocks made by more than a dozen volunteers on at least that many machines with a wee bit of variation in that famous quarter inch seam. (Ha!) The end result (pictured above) features 29 twinkling stars and one improvised white block of negative space. 

New member Jessica presses a point

Carolyn P. assembles a row of stars

Cut It Up! Quilt Top

The workers on this team brought to life the winning design from last month's Cut It Up! Quilt Top Challenge.

Denise, Sara and Delores prepare the strips of solids

Vista Mahan's modernized remix called for the original quilt top to be cut into simple strips; we added a few strips of solids to her design to increase the overall size of the new quilt top. Check out the before and after shots!

Before: A Traditional Top

After: A Modernized Remix

Thanks to everyone's hard work, we now have six quilts on deck to donate to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners later this year.

If you want to volunteer to quilt either of the tops we completed during the sew-in, just comment on this post or send an email to Kelly at chattmqg@gmail.com. Your time and effort are greatly appreciated!

Mini Quilt Swap

Last year we participated in a swap with Tennessee MQG guilds from Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville. Camille from our guild has organized a similar swap with the Tuscon MQG in Arizona. Members received a form via email, be sure to sign up by July 22! Swaps are a great way to make new friends.

Show and Tell

2016 President's Mini Quilt Challenge

Back in October I challenged our guild members to make small quilts inspired by any program or workshop our guild presented this year. Quilts made for the programs would be acceptable (we have a lot of member-led programs here—it’s a great concept) as long as they met the 24” maximum size requirement. Quilts would be on display during our December meeting.

Who doesn’t want a guild show at the end of the year?

Our Steering Committee was completely on board and got busy rounding up gift certificates from area fabric shops for prizes, just to spice things up.

When the members came into our room that Saturday morning the quilts were hanging on the wall and designated with numbers, not names. Everyone present was asked to select the three they liked most, in order*. Viewers used their own criteria and wrote down three numbers. 

In the first slideshow you can see the quilts as they appeared on the wall. For the most part, people couldn’t be sure who made what. You can look at them now and choose your own three favorites.

*I had decided to go for simple majority unless we had a tie. If that had been the case I would have weighted the votes by rank, but that wasn’t necessary.

After people had a chance to vote, I gave each artist a chance to tell us about her quilt: inspiration, colors, design—and the stories were so much fun! Some made us laugh and some made us cry.

I made some ribbons just for fun and pinned them on the quilts as I awarded the prizes. Our top three vote-getters were:

1^st Place: Jean Larson 

2^nd Place: Gerry Haywood 

3^rd Place: Denise Ohlman

However, clearly everyone who participated was a winner. Thanks to everyone who played along with the idea and made our show a reality! I hope you enjoy viewing the galleries and I wish you a 2017 rich with quilty friends and experiences.

Audrey

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

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