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

January Meeting Recap

Mary Keasler's improv cabins

We were delighted to begin our first meeting of the year with six visitors. As of the January 9th meeting we have 38 members.

Thoroughly Modern Minis*

Our guild (along with Nashville's Music City MQG and Knoxville MQG) has been invited by the Memphis MQG to participate in a Tennessee mini-quilt swap. Participants will specify their level of expertise as well as a couple of their favorite modern techniques and their color preferences. Those from our guild who want to play will be matched with members of other guilds with similar levels of expertise and preferences. We will make quilts that measure no more than 24" per side or diameter. In a couple of months we will have the swap. We'll be notifying members via email to find out who is in. Theresa will be our guild person in charge.

*A play on the movie title "Thoroughly Modern Millie" with Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore.

Outreach Report

We have chosen Habitat for Humanity as our recipient for the charity quilts we make this year. Jean Larson will be our liaison and person in charge. Our hope is that all guild members will participate by making quilt blocks and sometimes piecing, quilting, or binding them together. Jean says Habitat expects to have six houses ready during the first half of this year.

Jean sent out a help-needed email in December to get a quilt ready for January 12. More than half a dozen of us met to cut fabric, make blocks, and piece a top together. Kelly even invited a newspaper photographer to come document the day for a feature article. Jean quilted and bound the top and had it ready in time.

This was made in late December and finished just in time!

This is the Team Janet quilt from 2014, hand-quilted by Janet.

January 12 was the dedication day for two Habitat homes. Jean and several members took the quilts to the event for the presentation.

MQG Charity Quilt Challenge

Quilting Detail

Sixteen of us made improvisational blocks for this one last September and October. Mary, Jean and Audrey put the blocks together and Carolyn worked her quilting magic. Now Gerry will bind it and we'll have it ready for its voyage to QuiltCon Pasadena near the end of the month.

Here's Carolyn with the bridges quilt. As you can see in the detailed photo above, she quilted wispy wind and wavy water, all freehand. Thank you Carolyn!

This one will be displayed at QuiltCon then returned to us.

Our charity quilt will be mailed to Pasadena, and we have at least two members headed to QuiltCon in February. Jean's modern churn dash quilt she showed us in December will be on exhibit there!

Photo Directory

Veronica has volunteered to assemble a directory for us that will include face photos, names, geographic areas (rather than addresses), phone numbers and social media information. If you hear from Veronica please respond in a timely manner. We want to get the directories printed and distributed as soon as possible.

January Program -- Quilts from Architecture

Audrey led us through her process for designing a quilt from something architectural. We brought photos, graph paper and drawing supplies. We practiced looking for basic shapes in the photo and using them in design. We talked about how to construct what we drew and we touched on how to calculate sizes using the graph paper squares.

If you drew a design, try to make a block from that design and bring it to our February meeting!

Show and Tell

Far left: a slice of Shirley's applique quilt, 11 years in the making so far!

Jackie's yellow circle quilt; Theresa's modern mini; Jackie's pillow and Kathleen's bento box quilt

The computer wants Mary's quilt at the top so that's where it is!

Thank you for a boisterous, creative and fun meeting, everyone. Next month we will have a sew-in and details will be posted and emailed.

Audrey

December Meeting Recap

Design Series Quilt Show

We had a fun time seeing all the quilts that were inspired by the three Design Series programs of 2015. Quilts were constructed using QST's, L-blocks, and drunkard's path blocks. Here's what happened....

Row 1: 

a Carolyn Rippee Classical Piano

b Mary Keasler Muse

c Carolyn Rippee Mrs. Pacman Flower Garden

d Jean Larson Punctuation

Row 2: 

a Janet Suber Ginko Table Runner

b Joan Thornbury Moving Forward

c Mary Keasler Cracked Star

d Jean Larson Evergreen

Row 3: 

a Pam McCallie Grow

b Audrey Workman Duck Duck Goose

c Theresa Kitchell First Try

d Theresa Kitchell Orange Brick Road

Row 4: 

a Sandi Suggs Streak of Blue

b Gerry Haywood Drunkard's Path #2

c Sandi Suggs Winterscape

d Audrey Workman What The L?

Row 5: 

a Theresa Kitchell Caw-cus of Crows

b Carolyn Rippee Dragon Fly Path

c Mary Keasler Ramsey

d Sandi Suggs Spring Gardens

Row 6: 

a Sandi Suggs Lanterns

b Jackie Cory Fire and Ash

c Denise Ohlman Untitled

d Patricia Steadman Untitled

After the show we enjoyed food, fun and fellowship, including a handmade gift swap and show and tell....

Show and Tell

Top: Jean's incredible modern Churn Dash quilt; Team Janet's charity quilt hand-quilted by Janet; Ashley's Asymmetrical Arrows; Ashley's zig zag baby quilt; Ashley's T-shirt quilt top; Michele's tree; Denise's birds on wires.

Jackie's pillows

Kelly's Incredible Liion

The pieced challenge quilt of bridges

Thank you, Officers!

We also presented gifts to our President, Janet Suber (standing below, right) and Vice President, Pam McCallie (standing below, left) and thanked them for two years of dedicated and cheerful service!