Baby Upcycling and Repurposing

Many of us are really busy. Too busy to make a quilt as  a gift yet we still want to be creative when giving gifts to new moms.

Here are some things to consider:

• Gift certificates for something in a year - clothes, a few dinners, babysitting. The emphasis is often on the baby when it arrives, but the baby can't go naked at 2 and the family still needs to eat.
• Buy ready made onesies or plain clothes and embellish them with baby safe embroidery or applique. One hexagon on a onesie would extend the mom's modern vibe to the baby. See an example from Allison Parker on Etsy
• Buy ready made plain baby blankets and embellish with baby safe embroidery or applique.An embroidered duck in the corner of a blanket would be really adorable.
• Buy a bath and hand towel. A few lines of stitching turn them into a hooded bath towel. Get together with a friend to make two so one can be in the wash while the other is keeping the baby warm. 
• Buy larger towels and make a hooded bath towel for an older child. Take a look at the crazy mom tutorial or the Her Threaded Needle tutorial with embellishments or the pointy hood bath towel tutorial from the Blonde Mom

Charity Sew Day Saturday!

The next charity sew day is Saturday, August 2.

We will be doing Improv blocks or you can work on any project that will be donated to charity.

Details:
Saturday, August 2, 2014
10 AM to 5:00  PM
Free sew 5:00 PM  to 11:00 PM
Los Altos Library
13 S. San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA
If you plan on being there, let Peggy know.  

First person there?  Go to the Children's Librarian and ask to have the doors opened to the meeting room and the storage room.

Charity sew time will be IMPROV.  We will have a varitey of solids for you to mix with your own scraps (bring some along) OR the charity scraps and fabric that we have collected.  Come and join us for a fun day and maybe take home some goodies.

Shout out if you can bring some light non-messy snacks.  In addition we can use:

• Irons (2)
• Ironing boards (3) 
• Large cutting mats (2)
• Design wall (2)

Night Owls:
Please let us know if you are coming after 6:00 PM so someone will be sure to stay to let you in.

Last one out PLEASE make sure the doors are securely closed and latched.

Hope to see you there.

July 2014 Meeting Notes

Next Meeting is August 15 from 1-5pm. Plan to stay and sew (or cut or chat).

Exhibits
Amish exhibit will be from early November to January or February.

Workshops, Demos and Speakers
Claire did a demo for us on adding piping to quilt bindings and pillows. She did piping for her dad's upholstery shop when she was a kid. You'll need a zipper foot for your machine. You can find the continuous binding/piping directions tutorial on Whip Stitch.

Jacquie Gehring Workshop will be next weekend. There is still some space in the Building Bridges class so get in touch with Amanda to reserve your space. Any anonymous benefactor bought a space in the class to raffle off. That happened at the meeting on Saturday, so one lucky person gets to go.

Anne Sullivan of Playcrafts will speak to us about color in September

Kevin Kosbab of Feed Dog Designs will speak in November about mid-Century Modern quilts

Charity
The next Sew Day is August 2d and it will be a charity Sew Day in Los Altos. The charity block of the day will be an Improv block. The guild will have some solids, but bring your favorite fabrics to pair with solids.

• September 6 is the next regular Sew Day.
• October 4 is another Charity Sew Day

Mark your calendars.

FYI: The NICU at Stanford likes to receive square quilts that measure 30"-40". They cover the incubators nicely.

The Cat Bed project is on hold as the Homeless Cat Network can't take anymore beds at the moment. Amanda is looking for a new place that will either give the beds with adopted cats or sell them to raise money for the care and adoption of cats. Smaller charities are usually better candidates for these beds. If you know of a place, please contact Amanda. She has a flyer that will give the organization more information.

Amanda has a few cat beds that still need filling, so get a bed from her and fill it with your schnibbles while we try to find a new place for our donations.

MQG
We are now a part of them. If you have not received an email to join their site, let Kelly or Amanda know.

Opportunity Quilt
To raise money for the guild, the group will start to make an opportunity quilt in August. Ruth is creating the design, which will be revealed in August. The idea is to take it around to shows and sell raffle tickets. We need your help:

• Make blocks
• Sit at shows and sell tickets
• Sell tickets to your friends and colleagues

More details to come.

Swap Challenge Swap Extravaganza
Angela headed up the SCSE, which most of us called the Orphan Block Challenge. People turned in their small works today. Angela will send them off to St. Louis soon. If you have something for the swap and couldn't get to the meeting, get in touch with Angela right away!

Meeting Place
We love the Library for its convenience, large space, proximity to Whole Foods and Starbuck's.The guild needs a meeting place that we can schedule farther ahead that the year we are allowed by the Library so that we can schedule speakers and events farther out. Some speakers are already booking into 2016. If you know of a possibility, please call, get the details and let Amanda know what you found out.

Quilty Happenings

• The class schedule for Houston is out. The show is in October
• PIQF has sent out packets for entries and registration. Online entry and registration is available. Dates: October 16-19, 2014. Theme: The Whole Nine Yards.
• Peninsula Quilter's guild meets on the 3rd Wednesday. Even months they meet in the evening and odd months they meet in the morning.
• Quilting By the Bay Quilt Show, September 20-21, 2014 in Menlo Park, 100 Terminal Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Admission $10.
• Quilting in the Garden, Alden Lane Nursery, Livermore, September 27-28, 2014
• Renegade Craft Fair was at Ft Mason in San Francisco this past weekend.
• Ultimate Pi Day, March 14, 2015. Fabric project to make a long ribbon of fabric showing the numbers making up Pi (3.1415....). You can make numbers and participate <URL to follow or be added later>

News
Michelle S has a quilt in the AQS Show in Michigan
Linda C has a new book out called "Contain It". You know you want it!
Ruth and Linda will be welcoming new additions to their families soon.

Thanks
The guild only runs because people participate and help out. We appreciate everyone's assistance. Lynette was honored at the meeting for taking and picking up quilts at the San Mateo County Fair. She really made people's lives a lot easier. Lynette also shows up at meetings, participates in swaps and challenges and recently worked on a charity quilt that Kelly to took to the UK for donation. Thanks Lynette!

Volunteers
If you have a little bit of time to contribute, please see Kelly or Amanda. All amounts of time can be accomodated.

Ideas and Inspiration
We have recent and forthcoming babies. We thought it would be fun to give you some ideas for baby gifts. Baby gifts are small, usually require less time and materials commitment and give an excellent opportunity to use some of the cute Modern prints that are popular. Baby gifts can be made for charity also. Check the blog in the near future for ideas for baby gifts.

BAMQG Meeting Tomorrow!!!

Ready for some fun tomorrow?

Meet us at the Redwood City Main Library!

Details:
Date/Time: Sat, July 19, 1pm – 5pm

Where: Redwood City Library, 

Address: 1044 Middlefield Rd., Redwood City, Ca 94063.
We meet upstairs Community Room (the elevators are on the far left of the entrance).

(map) more details»  copy to my calendar

Bring:

• Name tag
• Show and Tell (we all want to see!)  - All projects are welcome.
• Enthusiasm and a positive attitude
• Orphan Block Challenge piece (go make something!) See what Jaye made). Our pals at the St.Louis Modern Quilt Guild revealed their projects last weekend.
• Charity blocks and quilts
• Small group projects (Tula Pink City Sampler, Hand quilting, Amish inspired design)
• Information about local/national quilty happenings
• Non-messy snacks

UFO-ers! Remember to cross off your completed UFOs and be entered in the drawing this month!


Please note: this list is not necessarily all-inclusive. It's quite likely there's something important that's been left off, so if you think of something that should be added, please speak up! 

Consider the Jacquie Gehring workshop.

There will be lots of time to visit, too, especially after the meeting. So plan to stick around and have some fun!. Meet new friends, chat with old friends, and eat some yummy snacks!

Hope to see you there!

Meeting Saturday: Get Ready to Sew!

Ready for some fun on Saturday?

Meet us at the Redwood City Main Library!

Details:
Date/Time: Sat, July 19, 1pm – 5pm

Where: Redwood City Library, 

Address: 1044 Middlefield Rd., Redwood City, Ca 94063.
We meet upstairs Community Room (the elevators are on the far left of the entrance).

(map) more details»  copy to my calendar

Bring:

• Name tag
• Show and Tell (we all want to see!)
• Enthusiasm and a positive attitude
• Orphan Block Challenge piece (go make something!) See what Jaye made). Our pals at the St.Louis Modern Quilt Guild revealed their projects last weekend.
• Charity blocks and quilts
• Small group projects (Tula Pink City Sampler, Hand quilting, Amish inspired design)
• Information about local/national quilty happenings
• Non-messy snacks

UFO-ers! Remember to cross off your completed UFOs and be entered in the drawing this month!


Please note: this list is not necessarily all-inclusive. It's quite likely there's something important that's been left off, so if you think of something that should be added, please speak up! 

Consider the Jacquie Gehring workshop that is coming up.

There will be lots of time to visit, too, especially after the meeting. So plan to stick around and have some fun!. Meet new friends, chat with old friends, and eat some yummy snacks!

Sew Day Report!

Your editor doesn't get to the Sew Days very often, but I am glad I went to the July Sew Day Saturday July 5 and am sorry I missed you there! I basted two projects that have been hanging around for a long time.

It was a great place to baste and cut out projects with pals rather than alone. Also, the tables at our meeting place are pretty big and it is much easier to baste using large tables than crawling around the floor . Much easier on the knees as well. First, I basted the Wonky 9 Patch (orange and blue above). This feels like a major step towards quilting and finishing them. Hooray.  I think I spent about 2 hours total basting, then I moved on to ripping.

As you might remember, I started a Jane Market Tote for something (BAMQG officer gifts??) and my 9K stopped working in the middle of the last decorative stitch I needed to finish the bag. Recently, Mom asked for something for her church auction and I thought of this bag. It was, after all, almost done and meant I didn't have to start a new project. Perfect. Photos when I finish it!

I had barely started to rip when Kelly, who was working on the binding of a small swap wall hanging, offered to rip for me, in exchange for sewing on her binding. She doesn't like hand sewing much and I was planning to be sitting there anyway, so we swapped projects. I hand sewed her binding and sleeve onto her swap project while she ripped out the decorative stitching on my bag.

We both finished at about the same time, though I finished a little bit after Kelly because I offered to sew down the sleeve as well.

Kelly is heading off to the Fat Quarterly Retreat and will take a quilt she got from the South Bay Modern Quilt Guild to donate to Siblings Together (a UK charity that keeps siblings together in foster care). After Kelly finished machine quilting it, Lynette took it to trim and bind it, so it's truly a collaborative effort. BAM's charity committee has also donated another quilt for this cause! We'll be well represented next week!!

Lynette worked on her Retreat mystery quilt and it looks really great. She added an original block to the eight blocks we made as part of the mystery pattern, so she had a large 9 Patch.

Amanda was there working away on her word quilt. It is a gift for friends who have been married for 25 years. All the words have to do with love and marriage. She has been working on it for a long time, yet she finished the last word block yesterday, so I think she is nearing the home stretch. Amanda is super nice making so much effort for a gift.

Geri was there making everyone laugh and working on a feather quilt--the Anna Maria Horner pattern.

Rhonda and Peggy were also there. Rhonda was working on her whole cloth quilt, which is a kind of sampler of free motion quilt stitches that she started for the BAMQG Whole Cloth Challenge. She has the middle all done and was working on quilting the outside of the design, which I would describe as the between sections of the rays of the sun.

Peggy, the Energizer Bunny of BAMQG, finished a charity top and back, then worked on another top of her own design which was a big hit. She took some leftover blocks (squares and rectangles from strips) from another charity project and cut them in half. She thought they looked like kites and voila'.

It was a small, but mighty group and we had a great time. Hope to share the fun with you next time!