Sandi Suggs "Finding My Voice" Quilt Show

ChattMQG member Sandi Suggs had her own quilt exhibit within AQS Quilt Week Chattanooga. She displayed a range of quilts that include both modern and traditional. And Sandi is featured in the QuiltWeek Chattanooga guide book! Below are photos of her quilts at this show. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the quilts Sandi has made so far.

ChattMQG at AQS

Congratulations to all our members who had quilts on display at the AQS Quilt Week Chattanooga 2015! These are almost full shots. Black curtains and white tags have been cropped out.

Patricia Steadman "Flower Pots"

Veronica Hofman-Ortega "Blue Rhino Moon"

Melissa Klingensmith "Sale Creek Sunrise"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "Pink Dogwood"

Vista Scruggs Mahan "Initial Inspiration"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "Motik"

Karen Sperry "Library Quilt" 

Jean Larson "Celebrate"

Mary Ramsey Keasler "February"

 

Nancy Packard "Disoriented Vortex"

September Meeting Recap

Janet opened our meeting and welcomed our five visitors.

Reports 

H*art Gallery Outreach Project

The small red zip bags that members took home to embellish were returned and passed around. People added beads and decorations to dress them up a bit. Denise sewed several onto a background and created a jewelry holder. If you did not return your red bag, please bring it to our October 10 meeting.

Our next day to volunteer at H*art will be October 14 (1pm-3pm) and the project will be Christmas related. Denise suggested making ornaments with balls and pipe cleaners and making small trees using Styrofoam cones. Our team has learned that the participants from H*art have trouble with tedious things. Some of them have problems with dexterity but are good at gluing so they might enjoy these projects.

Denise showed us the completed hexie projects that the gallery students had glued and our volunteers had secured with stitches.

Patriotic Art Auction to Benefit Local Veteran and First Responder Support Groups

Thursday, September 24 at 5:30pm – 7:30pm

From H*art’s Facebook Page: After the attack on July 16th a representative of a group of artists from around the country called H*Art Gallery. They wanted to send art to the families of the marines and sailor who died. Out of this beautiful gesture and after talking with the mayor’s office, an art show/auction was born. These artists, as well as local artists, are sending work, some patriotic in theme, to H*Art where they will be inventoried and priced. The pieces will be on display and available for auction in the Soldier and Sailor Memorial Auditorium lobby from Sept. 24 to Oct. 8. A reception will be held on Sept. 24 from 5:30-7:30p with entertainment and refreshments. Proceeds from this auction will go to help local veteran and 1st responder support groups. If you are unable to attend, and want to help, checks can be sent to the gallery. All donations are tax deductible.

The charity quilt made by Sandi’s team will be sold at this auction. Ellen from the Gallery asked for a suggested retail price (we said $500) and a short description of the Modern Quilt Guild.

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Guild Announcements

Gerri has a book for sale, Sherri Lynn Wood’s The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters. She’ll let it go for $15. Let her know if you want it.

Denise said there’s an article in this weekend’s Chattanooga Now about the AQS show that starts Wednesday, September 16.

Dawn Harkness, Volunteer Coordinator for AQS, needs a person to serve in this capacity for next year’s Quilt Week. She has the Volunteer Spot computer program ready to go so that the next person can use the same form and update the information. The right person for the job will have computer skills and be able to create a team. Or two people could do this: one could manage the computer part and the other could create a team to supervise the show. Four volunteers need to be at the show the whole time. Dawn requested that people who are also in other guilds take this information there and see if any of them would be interested. Dawn is moving away but she will be able to train her replacement before next year’s work needs to be done.

AQS Needs more volunteers for Quilt Week especially for taking down the show.

Karen invited us to visit the quilt exhibit at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. The Center is open Monday through Friday between 10am and 5pm on Saturdays from noon to 4pm. The exhibit will be in place through the end of September. The Center does charge admission. See the Bessie Smith Cultural Center website for prices and location.

Melissa shared an announcement from Bill that several Bernina machines will be on sale during the AQS show (including 770, 790, 880) and for a limited time you can get great deals at zero interest with five years to pay.

Pam needs the dimensions of any quilt that we want to hang during our December Meeting quilt show no later than the November meeting. If your quilt is not yet finished, please get busy!

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September Program: MQG Member Charity Challenge

Jean began the program by introducing us to Michelle Wilkie’s Factotum of Arts blog. Jean shared a page where Michelle shows how she abstracts quilt designs from photographs. Please look through these pages to see how the designed quilt blocks are not copies of the subject matter. The subject matter was the starting point.

Factotum of Arts Blog 1

Factotum of Arts Blog 2

Michelle’s designs are inspired by color, shape and content. In our case the color palette has been determined by the MQG so we will use that. But we do have a say in content!

The method of design and construction that will be used for the MQG Member Charity Challenge is Improv with Intent. To read about the project, visit:

QuiltConWest Member Charity Challenge

You may need to log into the MQG account first with your own member id to make the link work on your computer, but that’s the page with all the information.

Our committee (that’s Jean, Mary and Audrey) thought about what we could use as the inspiration for our quilt and chose four of our local bridges: Market Street, Walnut Street, CSX Railroad, and Wilkes T. Thrasher (the dam).

The Kits. Our 16 volunteer participants were given kits containing gray background fabric and strips of black, white, red, blue and gold to use in construction of two abstract blocks: bridge and water. In addition to fabric each kit contained project directions, a paper viewfinder to aid abstraction, and a bridge photo.

If you are making a block, look at the SHAPES in the photo you were given and see what inspires you! Work from there. Don’t try to copy any portion of the bridge, just make a block that reflects your own inspiration.

Mary showed us an example of the abstraction method. She took a photo of a building downtown then made a quilt block that was an abstraction. She said the challenge was abstracting rather than trying to reproduce what she saw.

Mary’s abstracted building

Abstracted Bridge Sections

Jean used a photo of the Walnut Street Bridge and chose solid colors of fabric close to the ones dictated for the challenge and created a bridge-like structure.

Jean’s abstracted bridge

Mary showed the bridge photo she used and how she decided what to abstract by outlining shapes with a Sharpie.

Mary’s abstracted bridge

Audrey did not use a photo or drawing but randomly pieced together a bridge span.

Audrey’s abstracted bridge

Abstracted Water Sections

We will also be making a section of water. To emphasize fluidity of water, we will not use straight edges for these blocks. Cut freehand with the tool of your choice. Use your leftover strips to piece your own impression of water.

If you took home a kit, we expect to get two blocks back. 

And we do have a list of names!

Jean demonstrated a method for cutting strips at any angle and having them stay straight. Layer both strips right side up. Cut the chosen angle through both strips at the same time. Then rotate them to fit and they will be at the correct angle.

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Show and Tell

1. Jackie Cory  2. Jackie Cory

3. Theresa Kitchell  4. Melissa Klingensmith

5. Julie Foreman  6. Julie Foreman  7. Shirley Prince

August Meeting Recap

August Meeting Recap 

Reports 

H*art Gallery Outreach Project

Karen D will offer a beginner class about quilting after the Bessie Smith Hall exhibit. The H*art Gallery has offered to let us use their sewing machines for the class.

Denise took some partially made pieces to the gallery and our team worked with the artists there, showing them ways to embellish the pieces with hexies. The artists have glued the hexies to the quilted base fabrics but now we need volunteers to hand stitch the edges of the hexies to the base fabrics.

The gallery was gifted about 100 small red silky purses. Denise passed around a bag of them and encouraged those who might have ideas to take them home and embellish them so they could be sold at the gallery. They are about 3-1/2" x 3" and already assembled with gold piping, an envelope flap snap closure, and internal zipper, but the silky fabric can be gently pulled away from the lining. Bring back your purse and your ideas in September.

Do you remember the fabric-covered jars? Our team will be making kits for these so they can be sold as ready-to-assemble art projects at H*art.

The two charity quilts we donated to the Gallery (see last month’s blog post for photos) will be sold at auction for a fundraiser. The starting bid will be $150 for each quilt.

If you want to contribute items for James, the gallery artist who has obtained housing and needs furniture and other household items, please call the gallery and make arrangements to deliver your stuff.

Another H*art Gallery will be opening soon in Memphis.

Nominating Committee Needs Names

Our officers will be retiring at the end of this year and we need volunteers for one-year terms: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer.

Are you interested, or do you have any suggestions? Email our nominating committee:

Pam: pammccallie at gmail.com

Jean:  jmlarson65 at gmail.com

Camille: caremi.1987 at gmail.com

Our December Meeting Quilt Show and Party

We need to know what you plan to display in December by our November 8 meeting. We are looking for quilts made from our Design Series programs earlier this year. Your quilts do not need hanging sleeves. Please bring the sizes of any quilts you want to display to Pam at our November meeting. It would be helpful to do it like this so Pam can plan the layout in advance:

Your name

Quilt name / design series 

Dimensions of quilt (width x length)

MQG Member Charity Challenge

At our July meeting Pam announced that our guild will be participating in The MQG Member Charity Challenge and asked for ideas.

Audrey talked to us about Improv with Intent and shared a few examples of work in progress.

Dave Chihuly’s blown glass was the inspiration for this piece.

This is an improv version of a photo of the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

This is more carefully constructed but was improvised from a photo of the cooling towers at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.

Mary K showed us a quilt she made that was inspired by a visit to Italy. Rather than trying to replicate what she saw, she worked to capture the feeling of being in Italy surrounded by the old buildings.

After some discussion, we agreed to make a quilt that captures the essence of the Riverfront. We will start with a drawing then divide that into sections the same way we did to make our Tennessee River project. At our September meeting we will have section drawings, fabric, guidelines and directions ready to hand out to those who signed up to participate. Fifteen people signed up to help. Audrey, Jean and Mary are the steering committee for this project.

Announcements

Battlefield Piecemakers will be at Grand Oak Retreat in Scottsboro, Alabama, and they have one opening. Dates are August 27 – 29 and cost is $265.

Here’s a link to the facility.

Get in touch with Karen S if you want to go!

Our Team Jean Charity Quilt group has chosen a recipient! This one will be gifted to a family from Habitat for Humanity in October when they move into their new home.

August Program: Straight Line Quilting

Pam brought a large model of a Bernina walking foot and explained to us how she uses the marks on the foot for reference when she is quilting straight lines.

Here are some of Pam’s tips:

Mark your quilt before basting it. You don’t need to mark every line but make some lines for reference.

Use a walking foot for quilting. It will help you avoid puckers. You may still need to reduce your presser foot pressure to get an even feed with no pulling.

If your walking foot does not have reference marks for ½”, ¼”, and 1/8”, you can add those with a Sharpie. They will help you know where you need to pivot if you are quilting right angles.

Start by quilting your lines one half inch apart. Begin near the middle of your quilt. Start sewing along a reference mark and either continue past the edge of the quilt top or pivot and travel along an inside edge to the next line position. Know your stitch length and count how many stitches you need to make before you pivot and begin the next line. This number will be consistent.

Sew one way and then the other (top to bottom, then bottom to top) to help avoid distortion. Sometimes you will still need to block a finished quilt to make your lines square.

Tie knots by hand and then use a self-threading needle to bury them, rather than relying on your machine’s thread-knotting capability.

For matchstick quilting, first sew your ½” interval lines. That helps anchor the fabric. Next go between these with ¼” lines, and finally sew in your 1/8” lines. Stop often to rest your eyes.

For matchstick quilting with a different texture, leave some lines out.

Pam uses Aurifil 50 weight thread, stitch length 2.8 for quilting. She pieces with a stitch length of 1.9 on her Bernina.

Watch the quilt in front of your needle instead of watching the needle.

Here are a few of Pam's own quilts that show examples of how straight line quilting can add a lot of interest and texture to a quilt.

Show and Tell

1. Denise Ohlman  2. Denise Ohlman

3. Gerry Haywood  4. Gerry Haywood  5. Jackie Cory

6. Martha Griffin  7. Melissa Klingensmith  8. Vanessa King

July Meeting Recap

Reports/Announcements

Our H*art Gallery Outreach Project

Our next day to sew at the H*art Gallery is Thursday, July 23.

*Our team visited the gallery, worked with the clients, and left them with a couple of quilts. H*art's Executive Director and Founder Ellen Heavilon sent the following email to Denise:

Thank you again for these beautiful quilts! We feel so Blessed to have the support of the Modern Quilter's Guild. I think yesterday's project was well received and Jennifer (one of our new artists) said she enjoyed it. She was hesitant at first because she hadn't done it before. Once she started she felt right at home. Thank you for that.

All the best,

Ellen

And thank you to our ladies who volunteered their time and energy that day!

Putting It Into Practice Quilt Show, December 12

By popular demand we will have our own quilt show of anything you have made or will make this year based on our series "Putting It Into Practice" where we designed modern quilts using L-Blocks, Quarter Square triangles, and Drunkard's Path blocks. You can find the directions in our blog side bar under the January, February and March Archives. Bring your quilts to our December 2015 meeting and we will hang them—no sleeves are required. we originally requested that they be 36" square but for this event any size will be okay.

Second Annual Community Quilt Show: A 4-Patch Celebration

Sandi is organizing this themed event happening at Hamilton Place Mall from August 30 until September 27 in support of AQS Quilt Week. Quilts will use a form or variation of the 4-patch quilt block. Originality is encourated.

The show is a fundraiser for The Next Door. Fun stuff includes a Viewer's Choice award and substantial prizes.

Hurry! The deadline of August 1 is fast approaching.

For all the information including size guidelines, entry form and general rules, follow these links.

Click here to download the Entry Form.

Click here to download the Rules and Guidelines.

Suggest a Speaker for ChattMQG

We are interested in having a nationally known quilter come to Chattanooga to offer a trunk show and workshop for us. These teachers are usually booked well in advance but we might be an attractive venue for someone who is scheduled for an event in a nearby major city. Think about it and let us know your ideas.

Quilt Week Show at Bessie Smith Hall

Karen has requested large quilts for this venue. Labels need to include the quilt name, maker's name, and contact information.

July Program: MQG Member Charity Challenge

Our Guild has entered the MQG Member Charity Challenge. Pam talked to us about the challenge and gave us handouts showing the accepted colors that can be used for the quilt. Basically, we design and make a quilt together and send it to Pasadena (QuiltCon West 2016) for display. They send it back and we select a recipient.

The color palette includes white, off-white, sunflower, tomato red, light teal, grey and black. Prints are allowed.

The method of design and construction will be Improv With Intent.

If you missed our meeting and Pam's handout you can log in to the MQS site and find the information there. 

1. Login to themodernquiltguild.com with your own member email address and password.
2. On the navigation header, look for About > Charity > Current Projects > QuiltCon 2016 Member Charity Challenge and read all about it.
3. While on the website, also go to Events > Webinars Past > Improv With Intention by Cheryl Arkinson 07/30/2014 and watch the video to learn about the method.

The deadline for our quilt is February 3, 2016.

Our August Program will be Straight Line Quilting.

Congratulations to the eight AQS Semifinalists from ChattMQG!

Each of them has at least one quilt accepted for this year's show.

Veronica Hofman-Ortega

Mary Ramsey Keasler

Melissa Klingensmith

Jean Larson

Vista Scruggs Mahan

Nancy Packard

Karen Sperry

Patricia Steadman

Show and Tell

1. Jackie Cory  2. Audrey Workman

4. Nancy Packard  5. Gerry Haywood

7. Catherine Price  8. Catherine Price  9. Patricia Steadman