Retreat Report Part 1

The BAMQG Winter Retreat of 2012 was hosted at the Los Gatos Lodge in quaint downtown Los Gatos.  On Friday at 2pm the doors were opened and registering guests picked up Swag Bags handmade by the retreat committee.



Then sewing spaces were claimed, machines set up, and projects were started.  Attendees trickled in throughout the afternoon amid the hum of machines and friendly chatter.

The committee planned games and activities to encourage mingling and interaction during the weekend.  The first to be introduced was Klippie Mania, a game which rewarded attendees for every project or charity block they completed at the retreat.

 
The other was the First Quilt game, which involved matching photos of first quilts to the appropriate person.



Retreat-goers spent Happy Hour at the Lodge's Bar and Grill getting to know each other over food and drinks.  Post-happy hour highlights included a trivia game, a random prize drawing, a "Before Show and Tell," and a demonstration on how to make a lanyard by Adrianne.  And of course, more sewing!

A-B-C Challenge: M & N

Remember the A-B-C Challenge? It is still going strong!

• ABC Blocks for March. March's block names should start with K & L
• ABC Blocks, This month's block name should start with letter M and N
(April)

What blocks can you make that have names that start with M & N?

1. Moon over the Mountain requires some curved piecing. All you need to do is sew slowly to achieve a nice, flat block 
2. March Kite would make a lovely kid or baby quilt.
3. Morning Star is really sashing that, when put together with other blocks forms the star. Still, the lozenge shapes are nice looking.
4. Mosaic is related to square-in-a-square blocks
5. Mother's Dream is all about Half Square Triangles. Use the AQ Triangle Technique to make perfect HSTs.
6. Mr. Roosevelt's Necktie is an interesting bowtie variation
7. Monkey Wrench is a classic. The images on the referenced site are broken, but email the forum if you want to make this block and can't find any better directions.

Of course, for N, our old favorite the Nine Patch is a good standby, but there are many N blocks that look great! Here are a few:

1. Navy Star has a little bit of tricky piecing. Piece slowly and carefully and you can do it.
2. New Shining Star (more tricky piecing)
3. New York Star only has some 60 degree angles, but si otherwise straightforward. Try the Fons & Porter tool to get those angles right.
4. New York Beauty is an old favorite. Requires some paper piecing, but nothing you can't handle.
5. Nine Patch Log Cabin is mostly strips and squares.
6. Northumberland Star is another fun star.

Below are a few of the many block dictionaries available to inspire you:

1000 Great Quilt Blocks by Maggi McCormick Gordon

Around the Block with Judy Hopkins: 200 Rotary Cut Blocks in 6 Sizes by Judy Hopkins

Around the Block Again: More Rotary Cut Blocks from Judy Hopkins by Judy Hopkins
The Civil War Love Letter Quilt: 121Quilt Blocks Inspired by Love and War by Rosemary Youngs

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: 55 letters and the 111 Blocks they Inspired by Laurie Hird
Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix & Match by Susan Briscoe

Judy Martin's Ultimate Book of Quilt Block Patterns by Judy Martin

Modern Quilt Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from your Favorite Designers by Susanne Woods
Once More Around the Block by Judy Hopkins
The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders by Jinny Beyer (out of print)

The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns: 4044 Pieced Blocks for Quilters by Jinny Beyer
Of course, these are just a few examples. Look around and use other resources such as Electric Quilt to find a block that suits your project. We can't wait to see what you come up with! Bring your blocks to the April meeting.

Special Events Coordinator

Your name - Angela O

Your position - Special Events Coordinator

Your understanding of what the position entails  - Special events can be anything that happens outside of the regular meetings and sew days. It can be whatever we can dream up which is very exciting!  I'll be making sure that we have interesting events and get togethers throughout the year, giving us more opportunities to be inspired and creative and get to know each other better.

Your hopes and dreams for the position  - I hope to have at least 4 special events this year.  Our first special event was the retreat, which was super successful thanks to the great committee and attendees.  I'm hoping to make this an annual or maybe even twice a year event.  I also want to get our group out to see more local quilt shows and museum exhibits together.  I have something in the works now and will announce the details at the April meeting.  I'd also like to see our guild have events with the other local modern quilt guilds to get to know each other better.  Other ideas on my list of possibilities includes hosting our own quilt show, doing our own shop hops, having social get togethers and workshops outside of the regular meetings.  I'm always open to ideas for special events, so please come chat with me if you've got any thoughts or ideas on what you'd like to do with our group.

How you are planning to pass information and what you have learned to the next person - As the other coordinators, board members and retreat committee members have learned, I LOVE lists!  Making them and checking them off just gives me so much joy, so I plan to keep many lists to pass along info to the next person.  I also intend to continue to be involved and help out future coordinators however I can.


Angela is always open to ideas for special events, so please come chat with her if you have any ideas on fun events you'd like to do with our group. You can also comment on this post

Remember: Sew Day (Night) March 23

The upcoming Sew Day, which is really a Sew Night, is near. If you haven't RSVPed, talk to Diana or check the forum.

When: Friday, March 23 5pm-11pm
Where: Los Altos Library
Map:  http://g.co/maps/kvpkt
Address: 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, California, 94022
Cost: FREE!!

Diana will be polling on the Forum for people to bring the following items to share:

• Irons
• Ironing Boards
• Design Walls
• Light Snacks
  

Most people should plan to bring:

• an extension cord and/or
  
• power strip
• Sewing machine
• cutting tools/mats

There are outlets in the walls and the floors, but these can fill up
quickly.

 We'll need to set up/take down the tables and chairs, so please plan to help.

See you there!!!

Challenge Coordinator

Hi, I'm Ruth Beeby, the Challenge Coordinator formerly known as Costa. My mission... to plan fantastic guild challenges.

My dream for our guild is to be a community that inspires and encourages one another as modern quilters. I am passionate about the challenges in particular because they are a way for us to experiment and can be the push we need to try out a new technique or aesthetic. My goal as coordinator is to arrange 3 challenges over the course of the year. I'd love to do more of them, but our schedule is already jam packed with swaps, demos, speakers, charity quilts, sew days, etc. Wahoo!

Right now we are in the middle of the "Just for Me (Me Me)" challenge - using Echo fabrics to make a projects just for ourselves. We will see everyone's amazing results at the upcoming April meeting.  I hope you guys are making progress!  I'm TOTALLY about to start mine, any day now...

Until then, take a look at some of the awesome projects from past guild challenges:

Last year's spring challenge was sponsored by Robert Kaufman - each participant got a Kona Bright Solids Charm Pack to use to make a quilt. If you made it to the Pacific International Quilt Festival last year, you might have seen Angela's "Kona Color Waves" quilt in the Innovative category!

And in the fall we made quilts again for the Habitat Challenge: 

But long before that, one of our first guild challenges was a strip swap. We brought in strips from our stashes and then swapped them blindly. With fearful eyes and crazy mix-and-matched strips clutched in sweaty palms, we each headed off to create little quilts for the NICU. Did you get to see these? The quilts were so impressive, especially considering what we started with. Everyone had a different strategy for getting the crazy strips to play nicely:

Strip challenge quilts, done by (from upper left): Megan, Sara, Lynette, Adrianne, Maryse, and Mary 

How are the Echo projects going?  Are you ready for the meeting next month?

Retreat Coordinator

• Your name - Rhonda L.
• Your position - Retreat Coordinator
• Your understanding of what the position entails  - As Retreat Coordinator, I am working with a great team of gals from our guild to plan our first BAMQG Retreat.  We have set up a budget, chosen a weekend (Feb 24 - 26) and a location (Los Gatos Lodge), planned a full schedule of activities, and recruited more that 20 members to attend.  And believe me, we are excited and ready to go!
• Your hopes and dreams for the position  - When I volunteered for this position, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I have never attended a quilting retreat, much less planned one!  But with so much help and support from my team, we are assured of success.  My hope is that the people who attend get a lot of sewing done, learn some new skills, get to know each other better, and leave feeling like they can't wait for the next one!  Most of all, I hope that there are many more BAMQG Retreats in the future.
• How you are planning to pass information and what you have learned to the next person - Our team has set up an Google Group for sharing information, and we hope to pass along a lot of information for the next retreat.  Since this is our first retreat, we are making up the rules as we go along.  I'm sure we will learn a lot about what works and what doesn't.  We plan to survey the attendees at the end of the retreat weekend to capture as much feedback as possible for the next time.
  

Retreat Committee Members:

• Adrianne O.
• Amanda M.
• Angela O.
• Deborah A.
• Kelly O.
• Ruth C.
• Sara M.

Do you have ideas for retreats? Do of locations that might suit? Do you want to be on the committee (great fun!)? If so, comment below.

Sew Day March 23

The fabulous Diana has organized an upcoming Sew Day (well, Night!)

When: Friday, March 23 5pm-11pm
Where: Los Altos Library
Map:  http://g.co/maps/kvpkt
Address: 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, California, 94022
Cost: FREE!! 

Diana will be polling on the Forum for people to bring the following items to share:

• Irons
• Ironing Boards
• Design Walls
• Light Snacks

Most people should plan to bring:

• an extension cord and/or
• power strip
• Sewing machine
• cutting tools/mats

There are outlets in the walls and the floors, but these can fill up
quickly.

 We'll need to set up/take down the tables and chairs, so please plan to help.

Plan ahead for another Sew Day:
Saturday, April 21 10am-10pm
Los Altos Library
Same criteria (so far) as above on what to bring/not bring.