August Meeting Minutes

We had a great meeting Saturday. The Board is doing a great job not only leading meetings, but planning for the future as well.

Calendar:
Aug. 29 - PIQF Entry Deadline (see online entry instructions and forms or register to attend the show)
Sept.2 - Sew Day at Grace - 3149 Waverly, Palo Alto
Sept. 16 -  BAM Meeting (Bring your friends!!)
Sept. 16 - Modern Hexie Swap due at meeting
Sept. 23 - Karen Foster (capitolaquilter) Workshop - curves and improv ($35)
Oct. 12-15 - PIQF Show at Santa Clara Convention Center
Nov. 11 - Sarah Goer Planned Improv Workshop - signups start at September Meeting ($35)

1. Question of the Day: What kind of workshops do you like / not like?
This question was directly from the Board presented not only as an icebreaker, but also to glean information about what interests members as the Board plans for workshops.

• techniques
• not projects or "buy this book and make this pattern"
• people wanted to leave with an almost finished item - not another UFO
• Improv
• want space with good lighting
• color 
• hands on
• circles, curves
• learn something hard to do by yourself
• Catherine Redford
• mixing block sizes
• big stitch
• bags, hard bags like the Cargo Duffel
• techniques and skills I can't figure out myself
• Cristina Camelli
• Design (Lorraine Torrence)
• Slash & Burn Quilts
• vale
• fabric painting
• NO hand applique'
• thought process, how quiltmakers get there
• something new I haven't done before
• FMQ - Melody Johnson or Sue Nickels including using monofilament
• Hard weird bags, Cargo Duffel 
• Skill building 
• making templates for curves
• Susan Cleveland - perfect binding
• must have good teaching skills, not all quiltmakers can teach
• Ashley Nickels
• new stuff, hard stuff
• thread painting - Melissa Averinos?
• Rami Kim - 3D techniques

Your ideas are still welcome. Contact Gerre, Amy or Mary if you have more ideas.

2. Membership
Nancy was at the meeting taking dues, workshop fees and Retreat fees. Please get in touch with Nancy if you owe money.

There are still two membership scholarships available. If you have financial difficulties talk to Gerre or Nancy.

3. Planning
The Executive Board is planning for the future. They want to get a plan in place that helps the guild and future Executive Boards. Their goal is to create continuity. To that end, they requested a member-at-large to join the Board. Alison volunteered, Claire moved to make it official and the vote carried. They also want someone to get the documents of the guild in order. Tim H volunteered to be Historian. He was approved as well.

If you have ideas or suggestions, please let Gerre, Amy or Mary C know.

4. Merit Hexies
Gerre gave us a presentation and some ideas about what to do with the merit hexies we are collecting. Gerre has a Pinterest Board, which she showed and you can look at as well. Along with the regular Grandmother's Flower Garden type layout, there was a hexie necklace, some hexie animals, a mug rug and many other inspirational images. Take a look! What will you make?

Bonus levels (like in a video game) are coming.

See the details on earning merit hexis in the January Meeting Minutes.

5.  Trunk Show
Erin gave a trunk show of her like in quilts. You can be the star of a meeting as well! Check with Gerre on putting your name into the hat.

Erin started sewing in about the 5th grade. She has been attending guild meetings since before she was born as her mom is one of the founding members of the Kansas City Quilt Guild. Erin has been in the guild for about 5 years. She is married with four kids (how does she find time to sew?????) She is thrifty, buying her fabric at a thrift store in Ann Arbor for $1/yard or from the Joann sale bin. She works mostly in solids, because she find they don't look dated.

The first quilt she made is still at her mom's house. She showed the second quilt she made, which she took to college. It is very modern looking and tied not quilted.

She took a break from sewing and quilting during college until after she was married. After college she found a paper pieced starburst pattern and made up a small piece, which got her back into the game.

She showed a high school and college t-shirt quilt which has  different sized and shaped blocks.

A Yellow Brick Road quilt is her wedding quilt. It was mostly made a a wedding shower with her family. People brought fabric to the shower, cut pieces, sewed, arranged blocks and pressed. They completed about half the quilt that day. Erin finished it and then her aunt had it quilted by an Amish friend who hand quilted it as a wedding gift.

The group thought her aesthetic was consistent.

Thanks, Erin. Next trunk show will be by Jaye.

6. Charity
The guild has donated at least 160 quilts this year to various charities including the NICU at Stanford.

The charity girls have a lot of fabric from recent donations. They will hold a raffle at the next meeting. For a $1 per ticket, you can get some fabulous fabric pieces.

They will also put packets of fabric together so that you can make quilt tops and not just blocks. Bring quilt tops!!!

There were a number of packages of tops, backs and batting to quilt.

Patti heads up the Days for Girls aspect of the guild's charity efforts. 600 liners were distributed to the DfG representative in Beijing for distribution in southeast Asia (not China, however). There was corporate sponsorship of this donation. The company of the SE Asia rep's husband underwrote all the shipping and distribution costs.

7. Sew Day at Grace
3149 Waverly, Palo Alto on September 2. Mary appreciates the help setting up and cleaning up. When the help is no longer forthcoming, no more Sew Days will beheld at Grace.

8. Retreat Update
Retreat is September 29- October 1.

All fees were due at the meeting. If you own money, get in touch with Nancy immediately. Check for spots available. There may be one commuter spot available.

Check the Ning for opportunities to get a massage.

9. Meet Your Neighbor
Alison S interviewed Nicki M.

Nicki was born in Portland, Maine, but grew up in Cupertino and now lives in San Jose. Her dad was accepted at Stanford in a Master's program and was offered a job at Lockheed when she was five weeks old, thus the move West. Her first job was stringing necklaces for her mom's beading business.

She has been married to Bob for 33 years. She has two sons, Michael and Sam. as well as a cat. Her cat will sit on any quilt. If your lap has no quilt, she won't sit in it, but put a quilt on it and she will join you. Nicki has tested this theory.

Nicki does all crafts - embroidery, crewel, crochet, beading, etc. She started quiltmaking when her kids were little because she needed to find something she could do in small snatches of time in her lap. She learned to quilt from a hand piecing class at Whiffle Tree Quilts in about 1990. Her first quilt was purple and green and the shop ladies tried hard to dissuade her from using those colors.

Nicki knits when she is not quilting. She also enjoys hiking, gardening, museums. She goes to visit her favorite pieces when she goes to certain museums.

Her favorite trips were to Japan, where she visited with former exchange students, and Fiji, where her parents had a sail boat rental company for several years.

Come to the next meeting and meet next month's neighbor, LeeAnn.

10. Challenges
Triangle Challenge was due at the meeting.

11. Color My Quilt - Amy
Everyone turned in their color my quilt shards for Amy. Joelle distributed sheets for her month. Joelle's shards are due at the September meeting.

12. Special Show and Tell
George (7YO) and Rebecca (5YO0 Goer showed us quilts that they have made.

13. Giveaway
YAY Diana! She won this month.

Check out July's minutes.

Meeting Photos

By all accounts the meeting on Saturday was great! Show and tell photos can be found on Flickr.

Dates to remember:

• 8/9/2015: The New Quilts of Northern California exhibit at PIQF has an earlier deadline, August 9th, and photographs are required. Info here: http://tinyurl.com/ng79dtw
• 9/1/2015: The deadline to enter quilts into PIQF is September 1st, not that far away. Entries can be done online or mail in (with a CD of images). Info here: http://tinyurl.com/d2wxye
• 9/19/15 Speaker: Stacy Sharman, Modern Improv and Traditional Slideshow

Jen goes to QuiltCon

QuiltCon 2015 - Austin, Texas by Jennifer J.

So Jaye asked me to write a blog post about QuiltCon. I said sure. I don’t know why. I’ve never done a blog post and I’m not quite sure what people want in one. I am not a regular reader of blog posts so I didn’t even have footing as a blog post reader. So I was left with simply sharing my take-aways, hoping that it offers something for those who take the time to read it. So here goes.

This was my second QuiltCon. I went to the first one because I saw a movement taking shape and I wanted to support it and be a part of it. Like a child's first steps or words…this movement, the Modern Quilting movement, was the real deal and, by golly, they were even having their own conference. So it was a no-brainer that I was going to go.

Attending for the second time, I got to see a reflection of how the movement seems to have grown. I don’t know the statistics comparing this year to the previous one, but it felt more mature to me. On a very practical level, the bag of swag (you know, the bag you get when you arrive and get your badge) really stood out…not just all the goodies in it (from books, to fabric, to a watch that was also a ruler...try to picture that) but even the bag stood out. I would overhear people at the show talking about how much they liked it. When I got back home my mother-in-law, also a quilter, was shocked at just how much they gave you for just for attending. During the show, someone stopped me outside of the convention center to tell me they liked my bag and wanted to know if I had made it. Imagine their surprise when I said this was the bag they gave everyone who registered for the show!

Again this year the online registration process was a little disappointing in that I was only able to get into one workshop of the many that I was interested in. It seemed like everyone had ‘early registration’ so in the end, nobody felt like they actually got to register early. I was however able to get into some lectures. The speakers I did see were entertaining and informative. One speaker reminded me that the lectures from the first QuiltCon might still available for free on Craftsy. I am hoping that this year’s lectures will end up there too so I can watch them all. I might even go back and catch some from the previous year.

The primary theme that came across to me this year, was one of connecting. How quilting was bringing people together, and through quilting, new connections were being made. The idea of connecting was all around me in bits of conversation I would hear. Speakers were alluding to it and the show itself seemed to breed it…QuiltCon’s new app allowed you to connect with others or share through social media. The idea of connecting generations came up a lot as well. I saw lots of moms with babes in arms… a rare sight I’m sure for most quilting conventions. Lecturer Mary Fons, with her mom Marianne chiming in from the audience, speaking about the quilting industry back then versus the industry now. Lecturer Heather Givans of Crimson Tate talking about when she took her mom to quilting camp. It was nice to to hear how quilting was connecting not only people are close to one another, but those who are far away from each other as well. Not to mention this year’s yoga sessions for quilters...every morning there was a large group of quilters on yoga mats, connecting with their inner selves. Connection was everywhere.

I couldn't hope to capture everything at QuiltCon, not in person nor in this blog post. If you have not gone, I hope maybe I have piqued your interest and maybe you'll consider attending next year in Pasadena, California or the following year in Savannah, Georgia.

BAM Baby

Welcome to BAM baby, Nicholas. We think that little Nick is our first BAM Baby!

He was two weeks late and weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 14oz on arrival.

New BAM Mom, Aly, is finally starting to feel like she has her "sea legs" a bit, though she is still completely overwhelmed! She lost her sewing room/office to the new addition, but your editors are certain she will find a way to sew. I am sure many BAM moms have tips to keep the creativity flowing.

She would love to hear from you since she won't be able to attend any meetings for the next month or so.

Intrepid Thread Brick & Mortar Opening

by Kathleen

IT'S TIME FOR A WONDERFUL MODERN QUILT SHOP AND JULIE DUECK IS MAKING IT HAPPEN!

It is really happening!  Julie is opening her brick and mortar quilt shop and we are all invited to share in her amazing new adventure.

Here's the details:

The shop is located at:  1709 S. Main St., Milpitas, CA 95035

                                     

Her hours of operation are:

Mon-Thurs 10 AM - 6 PM

Friday 10 AM to 7 PM

Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM

Sundays Closed

Soft Opening is 12/3 (you can come and see the fabric but most everything else won't be in yet)

Grand Opening 12/8 or 12/15 - we'll let you know the details as they solidify.

Julie will have fabric including:

• Quilting Cotton
• Select Japanese Fabrics
• Select Fashion Fabrics such as Voile
• Select Home Dec Fabrics

She will also have patterns, essential notions (starting small but will be building inventory), and classes.

Julie also plans to have sewing studio time available if you would like to come and use any of our studio tools like the Go! Baby.

Julie will also continue to sell fabric on line - so many ways to purchase/hoard fabric!

I know we all wish her the best!

Member Spotlight - Ruth

by Ruth

1. Who are you, where do you live, and who with? Tell us about your family and/or the important people (pets are GREAT!) in your life and how they feel about your quiltmaking?

My name is Ruth B., and I live in Mountain View with my husband Steve and our dog, Koni. Steve is very supportive of my quilting, including fabric buying. At least budget-wise... it doesn't extend to actually shopping with me.  
Koni gives his own brand of support.  When I use the sewing machine, he frequently comes around and tries to climb into my lap. Sewing is difficult with a doggie head in front of your face, just so you know.

2. Do you want people to look at your blog? website? Flickr stream? If so, please provide links?

I blog at PippinSequim .  I am ircabbit on both Flickr and Pinterest, if those are your jam.

3. How long have you been making quilts/ How and where did you learn to quilt/Who inspired you to get started?/Describe your first quilt
   My Mom was a sewer and quilter, and I was fascinated with it, as far back as I can remember.

   

   Me watching my Mom lay out squares

   I started “helping” with her quilts when I was about 12... cutting pieces for her (with a 12-yr old's precision)... piecing (I was always forgetting to hold the threads when I started, which made a big bird's nest of thread in her machine). By high school, I was mostly doing the tops for her quilts, and then leaving her to quilt them. (Nice arrangement for me, ya?) I took a break when I left for college, and then came back to quilting in 2009, when I started my first solo project:

   

   The first project that I started on my own

   My four sisters each contributed embroidered squares that I used to make a quilt for my oldest niece. It's my favorite of the quilts I've made so far.
4. What is your style and where do you find inspiration?
   My inspiration is probably evenly divided between Flickr, blogs, the guild, and things that I see - like buildings, beaches, vineyards, etc. My quilting style would probably be considered modern, but I don't feel a strong need to fit my quilting under some label or banner. I make what seems pretty or interesting to me.
5. Do you belong to other guilds besides BAM? If so, which ones and why?
   Bay Area Modern is my baby! When I started quilting again three years ago, I looked around for a quilting group, but I didn't really find anything that seemed like a good fit. I was so jealous when I started hearing about the meetings of the LA Modern Quilt Guild. Alissa put up a post inviting people to start their own local MQGs, and I kept checking back over and over, waiting for someone to take action in the Bay Area. Then, one day I was looking at the post, and I remember thinking “Well, all I really have to do is click right there and send an email, and then I will have started one!”
6. What guild job do you hold and why did you volunteer for that position?
   My job in the guild is Challenge Coordinator (and General Interferer in Everyone's Business, haha). It was easy picking my job - before we had coordinators, I did a little bit of almost all the positions we have now, so I knew just what I liked best! Editor's note: Ruth was also the first president.
7. Favorite quilting blogs?  (mainly because Joelle wants some new blogs to read ;-)  )
   I read a lot of blogs, but the majority of them are related to garment sewing, home decorating, or just humorous/random writing.  I do follow some of the big ones like Film in the Fridge, Tallgrass Prairie Studio, Oh Fransson, and Crazy Mom Quilts. I also follow some of our guild members who have blogs.
8. What do you generally do with the quilts you make?  Give away? Keep? Sell? Show?
   I have given away all of the quilts that I've finished so far. Of the six quilts that I have in progress right now, 3 are destined to stay with me (it's about time!), and the other six will be given away.
9. What is your favorite block pattern?
   When I'm asked for my favorite color, I usually say a different one every time because it takes too long to explain that I don't really have one and the colors are all lovely in different contexts. It's the same with block patterns, so for today I will say the Storm at Sea block. It's lovely, creates beautiful secondary patterns, and has such an excellent  name.

   

   Storm at Sea in Neptune by Tula Pink

10. In what room of the house do you sew? Tell us about your sewing/quilting/crafting space.
    I have a semi-permanent setup on the dining room table. It only gets put away for company. Some company. My tools and scraps are in a set of plastic drawers to the left of my sewing chair, and my ironing board is to the right. My fabric stash doesn't fit in the dining room, so it is in the office. I thought it was a little cramped (the danger of reading too many “my sewing space” blog posts from quilters who have a whole room to themselves) but I have a lot more room than some of the other people in the guild. 
    

    
11. Do you create in any other areas of craft? Is quilting your main creative outlet?
    I do all kinds of crafts. I have quilted, sewed garments, housewares, and softies, knitted, crocheted, mod-podged, stamped, upholstered, refinished a chair, done woodworking, machined metal, and made bracelets, earrings, and yarn poodles. Lately my crafting time is mostly devoted to quilting and garment sewing.
12. Are there any must have quilting tools?  
    I really love my Chaco liner. It's a chalk marking device sold by Clover, and it's magical. I almost always mark my tops for quilting because I've learned that my quilting is straighter if I mark my quilt where my needle needs to go, rather than using the side of my foot against the piecing lines. The Chaco liner is definitely the best marking device that I've used, and it's just chalk on the surface, so I don't worry that sometime it won't come out.
13. What are your favorite shops either online or in the neighborhood?
    I have a bad addiction to Julie's shop (Intrepid Thread). I follow her blog, so I'm constantly being tempted by the new fabric coming in. She always invites me to pick up my fabric if I don't want to wait for the next guild meeting, and of course once I'm there, a few more things usually end up in my stack (Julie – that's preying on the weak!).
14. Is there an area of quilting at which you feel you excel? Tell us about it. Do you prefer the process of designing, piecing, or quilting?
    My favorite part of the quilting process is definitely design, but it's a bit empty if I never actually do anything! The very best part is picking fabrics. My stash (and the room it's in) is always a crazy mess because I pull fabric combinations frequently and enthusiastically.
15. Do you have a favorite sewing tip or trick?

I have a great technique for placing your next fabric when paper piecing, but it's a bit hard to just describe. Hit me up next time you are paper piecing and I will gladly show you.

Member Spotlight: Alison

1. Name: Alison S
2. In what city do you live? Currently, Oakland. I moved last year from Southern CA, where I lived for 13 years.
3. Do you want people to look at your blog? website? Flickr stream? If so, please provide links? My blog is pretty much dormant these days. It’s www.theoccasionalpin.com.

I do love Flickr: that is http://www.flickr.com/photos/msalleycat/

4. Tell us about your family and/or the important people (pets are GREAT!) in your life and how they feel about your quiltmaking? Well, I probably would not be up here, in the Bay Area, and loving my new job working at C&T Publishing /Stash Books if it weren’t for my boyfriend. (I don’t really like that term, I really think of him as my partner, but if I use that word, people get confused. We’re not married, but he’s the one.) He works in IT and when I told him I was considering a career change to the Bay Area (we did not yet live together at the time), he was totally on board and started looking for a new job up here right after I got mine.

My mom taught me to sew before I even started school, and always encouraged my creativity (my parents got me an easel after I started drawing on the wall in my bedroom – that was NOT encouraged). If it weren’t for her support and encouragement, I would not have lasted as long as I did in the entertainment industry, or had the strength to make this big leap into a new field.

I also have a cat, Tangerine, who used to love to sit next to my cutting mat b/c it got the best breeze in the house. Now in the apartment, he avoids the sewing room, and mainly sleeps on this blanket in the living room, which is probably for the best.

5. How long have you been making quilts? Since my friends started having babies – so maybe 5 or 6 years ago.
6. How and where did you learn to quilt? Well, my mom taught me to sew when I was little, and I was a theatre major in college, specializing in costume design, so I sewed in classes and for stage crew. When I decided to quilt, I was amazed at how much information I could find in the middle of the night on the Internet. Then I discovered quilt books. I did take one class, on appliquéd and embroidered quilts from the talented artist Andrea Zuill,and I never finished my final project. I have taken classes on the long-arm, which I love, and I am taking some classes this summer on FMQ on a home machine (b/c I suck at it, so maybe that’s something you can’t learn from the internet or a book) and hand quilting.
7. Who inspired you to get started? My best friend, Jess, is a production designer in Hollywood, and she couldn’t find anything she liked for her first child (daughter)’s nursery. No pink allowed! So I took her fabric shopping, and then made the entire layette: curtains, pillows, crib bumper, and finally my first quilt.
8. Please describe your first quilt (Include a picture if you have it). Pastel yellow, green, and orange squares in a checkerboard layout (if checker boards came in 3-color combos) with 2 checkerboard mitered-borders. I figured, I can sew clothes, I can sew miters. 

After that one, I got a 1/4” seam foot and a walking foot. The second quilt was much easier.

9. Where do you find inspiration? Everywhere. Blogs, Flickr, guild meetings, quilt shows (I take lots of photos at them), fabric shops, ads I see in magazines (more inspired by home mags than by quilting mags), store window displays, walking down the street. Having a camera in my phone is great for that kind of stuff!
10. Do you have a quilting "style"?  If so, what is it? Modern. Improvisational. Lots of value contrast.

11. Do you belong to other guilds besides BAMQG? If so, which ones and why?

 Oh, yeah! A woman at work called me an MQG hoarder! I started out in the Los Angeles MQG. I still post on their forum & Flickr pool regularly, and try to see them when I go to LA. Then up here, I go to the East Bay MQG b/c that’s my ‘hood. I started coming to this one b/c Adrianne was so friendly and welcoming online before I had even moved here, and b/c you all get together to sew, which I think is so much fun (and a great way to get to know people & make friends. Friends who sew, that’s really all a girl needs!) My friend Janice from LA now lives in Petaluma so I have been going to the new North Bay MQG for the past few months for some spirited chat at the cool shop StitchCraft.

11. Favorite quilting blogs?  (mainly b/c Joelle wants some new blogs to read ;-)  ) 

So sad, but my Google Reader feed has gotten very dusty since I moved here. The regulars (some biggies in the MQG world): Alissa Haight-Carlton: Handmade by Alissa, Elizabeth Hartman: Oh, Fransson, Jacquie Gering: Tallgrass Prairie Studio, Angela Walters: Quilting is My Therapy, Ashley: Film in the Fridge. Oh, this active link thing takes forever. Some various others: allsorts, Be*mused, Lazy Gal Quilting, Angry Chicken, Sew Kind of Wonderful, Blempgorf, I’m a ginger monkey. I gratitate towards quirky writing and process shots and talk about design and technique, not giveaways, styled photos of finished quilts (that make me jealous and wonder ‘How does she do all that?’), or stacks of fabrics. If I like your quilts, and you make me laugh, I will be a dedicated reader. Talk about your god, your church, your home life  all the time on your supposed-quilt blog and I will unsubscribe.  (That said, I love Angry Chicken’s home life posts. But she’s quite the hippy at heart.)

12. What guild job do you hold and why did you volunteer for that position?

 Gee, none. Is that a suggestion?

13. What do you generally do with the quilts you make?  Give away? Keep? Sell? Show? So far, mainly give away. I am showing things. I never feel like I have enough time to sew all my ideas up into quilts.
14. What is your favorite block pattern? I don’t really have one, but I like anything where I can improvise. And I like to foundation piece.
15. In what room of the house do you sew? Tell us about your sewing /quilting /crafting space.

The small second bedroom: There is a day bed, a big closet, and a 2.5 x 5 foot tall table on 2 Ikea kids’ bookcases that holds books & supplies where I cut and sew. The closet doors are covered in flannel to serve as a design wall.

 In my house in So. Cal, I had more space, so I had a 5 x5 foot square tall table, a separate little computer desk, a station for my printer & scanner hidden away in a closet, and another book case and small bureau with artsy/crafty supplies. Now most of the art supplies and art books are in our apartment’s living room. I like our current neighborhood, but I am looking forward to being in a bigger space again.

16. Do you create in any other areas of craft? Is quilting your main creative outlet?

I used to draw and paint a lot when I was younger. Now, I occasionally make cards or do collage. Sometimes I sew kids’ clothes (I sewed a lot of clothes when I was younger, too.) I was into knitting briefly before quilting hooked me. Sold most of my yarn at a yard sale 2 years ago.

17. What is your favorite fabric (line, designer, pattern are all ok) and why? My favorite fabric is from Moda: 12120 16 Moda Woven #1

18. What is your favorite quilt book? All-time faves: Denyse Schmidt Quilts – best visual inspiration. Are there any quilt books you recommend? Gwen Marston books for great instruction on improvisational piecing – also the books by Gwen and Freddy Moran. And I am loving the new book from Stash, Sunday Morning Quilts – so many great ways to use scraps! I have learned a lot about paper piecing from books by Alex Anderson (she is great for beginners) and Carol Doak (disclosure: both C&T authors.) 
19. Are there any must have quilting tools?  Extra blades. I need reminders to change blades more often. 1/4” seam foot with a guide on the side. I am much better b/c of that type of foot:

19. What are your favorite shops either online or in the neighborhood? I am not much of an online fabric buyer b/c I like to touch, exact color is important to me, often I am bringing fabric with me to pair before buying, and so many websites don’t show you the scale of the print. I will buy online if I have seen another fabric in the line in a store, liked it, and the print I like is not available. In LA, my favorite shop was where I used to work, Sew Modern, and they now sell online, which is great! I am still getting to know the shops in the Bay area, but I love that I can walk to the little gem of a fabric shop in my neighborhood, Piedmont Fabric.

21. Is there an area of quilting you feel you would like to learn more about and why? Paper piecing – I like the precision it allows when you want it. So much of what is out there in paper piecing is NOT my style, so I like the idea of encouraging more modern paper piecing designs. I am also trying to get better at my actual quilting. I still don’t like my work in that area, so I am taking some classes.
22. Is there an area of quilting at which you feel you excel? Tell us about it. Do you prefer the process of designing, piecing, or quilting? I love picking and playing with fabrics the most. I think it’s where all my art training and years of working with fabrics for costumes come together.
23. You have to evacuate your home quickly due to a natural disaster.  What 3 things would you grab from your sewing room/space? My Featherweight, my vintage pinking shears, and my bee quilt.
24. Do you have a favorite sewing tip or trick? Pre-wash. It makes the fabric easier to work with – less slippery,it frays less,and it takes away any fear of bleeding. Seriously. Pre-wash, people. It is so worth the time. When I have to make blocks for other people who don’t pre-wash, I find myself cursing. And when I pre-wash, iron, and re-fold the fabric properly, I can cut strips across the width of the fabric without the dreaded V’s at the fold. I cannot do that w/unwashed fabrics.
25. What else do you want your fellow members to know that we have not asked?

OH, gosh, I’ve feel like this is lots more than anyone wants to know. Just ask me. You know I am not afraid to talk ;)

Member Spotlight: Terri Thayer

Terri will be doing a reading at the meeting on Saturday. Read on to learn more about her. Thanks to Terri for whipping this questionaire up so quickly. ~editor

1. Name: Terri Thayer                         
2. In what city do you live? San Jose   
3. Do you want people to look at your blog? website? http://www.territhayer.com
4. How long have you been making quilts? 24 yrs.      
5. How and where did you learn to quilt? I took a hand quilting class at a local dept. store. Once I learned about the rotary cutter, I was hooked.
6. Who inspired you to get started? Reading 1982-83 Quilters Newsletter Magazine. Also, the need for a quilt for my son’s bed.
7. Please describe your first quilt (Include a picture if you have it). Ugly, ugly rail fence (I will bring it to the meeting)
8. Where do you find inspiration? Nature, books, fabric
9. What do you generally do with the quilts you make?  Give away? Keep? Sell? Show? Give away. I love the feeling of thinking about a friend or family member as I pick out fabrics, design a quilt and sew. That’s the best!        
10. What is your favorite block pattern? I am partial to Monkey Wrench, not just because it is the name of my latest book. Another name for it is Hole in the Barn Door. My grandmother’s barn had a hole in it, so it holds a special meaning for me.
11. In what room of the house do you sew? Tell us about your sewing/quilting/crafting space. For many years, I sewed in the dining room. My family ate with the machine next to them. Now I have a spare bedroom. It’s not huge but has a closet with shelving and built in drawers. I have two design walls, which are always in use. My favorite piece of furniture in it is my cutting table. I love being at the correct height when I cut. Also love my Bernina.
12. Do you create in any other areas of craft? Is quilting your main creative outlet? Mostly quilting
13. What is your favorite fabric (line, designer, pattern are all ok) and why? I couldn’t chose. Each year fabric gets prettier and prettier.
14. What is your favorite quilt book? Are there any quilt books you recommend?  I really love books by Joen Wolfrom. One of my favorites is Color Play. And to feed my landscape addiction, Luminous Landscapes by Gloria Loughman.
15. Are there any must have quilting tools?  I’ve really been utilizing my 4 in 1 Essential Sewing Tool. http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1390

It’s seam ripper, stiletto, presser and poking tool. I never lose it and use it every day.  Which may say more about me than the tool.

16. What are your favorite shops either online or in the neighborhood? The Granary in Sunnyvale
17. Is there an area of quilting you feel you would like to learn more about and why? I’m always drawn to landscape quilts at the quilt shows. Someday I’ll make a beautiful landscape of the Monterey coast.
18. Is there an area of quilting at which you feel you excel? Being really good at quilting is great, but not required to have a wonderful experience. I don’t excel at anything. I’m a so-so technician, I don’t have a great artist’s eye and my color choices sometimes baffle my friends. So I keep studying and sewing with my friends. That’s where I excel.

BAMQG Shows Up with Force at the San Mateo County Fair!

by Amanda

With a stitch-stitch here and a press-press there, so began the 2012 San Mateo County Fair - or at least the part we BAMQGers were interested in: the Quilt Show! BAMQGers found out about the fair only two months prior to entries being due, and it was a mad sewing dash to the finish - at least for some of us! - to complete what we wanted to enter and turn it in.  As it turned out, our members were very ambitious and prolific in a short period of time, resulting in a fabulous representation for our first foray into the San Mateo County Fair.

Our talented members entered in a variety of areas.  First there was a group of us entering in the Challenge section of the quilt show.  With a requirement of six entries for any challenge showing, we had eight BAMQGers who braved the fair judges and entered our quilts from our 2011 Kona Challenge.  The Kona Challenge was open to any member who wanted to participate.  The quilter received a charm pack of Robert Kaufman’s Kona Bright solids.  With that charm pack you could create any size quilt, but could use only other solids with it.  Here is the Wall of the BAMQG Kona Challenge, Eight Quilts Total:



The BAMQG quilts took first, second, and third place amongst the entire Group Challenge quilts in the fair!  That deserves some close up shots, don’tcha think?  First, some shots of the ribbon winners:
Two Margaritas by Ruth Beeby, First Place ribbon winner

Kona Challenge Quilt by Jaye Lapachet, Second Place ribbon winner

Modern Peel by Adrianne Ove, Third Place ribbon winner

And here are close up shots of the remaining 5 BAMQG Kona Challenge Quilts:




Angela Obeso & Cynthia Marshall

Amanda Materne & Rhonda Ludwico


The BAMQG was also well represented in several other divisions - in fact, we didn’t know how well until several of us went to the fair and found out by looking! Some were even ribbon winners in their different divisions.  We obviously have some modest members in our guild, but their beautiful works will be outed here:

Blocks of Crazy by Michelle Boyd

Echino Challenge quilted bowl by Michelle Boyd

Homeward Bound, Third Place ribbon winner by Michelle Boyd

Night Gallery by Leona McCann
Leona McCann’s First Place ribbon-winning Asian Quilt

Leona McCann’s Honorable Mention ribbon winner “Circle of Life”

Cynthia Marshall’s Second Place ribbon winner “Crazy Eights in Purple”

Christine Crawford’s quilted wall hanging

Christine Crawford’s “Just Peachy”

Christine Crawford’s “Celestial Views”, Third place ribbon winner for Best Use of Color




Marci Gore's "My Secret Garden"

And finally, because all you’re seeing is quilts quilts quilts (and who says that’s a bad thing?) we had to end with a great shot of one of our members actually WITH her quilt.  Here is Angela standing with her beautiful Kona Challenge quilt:


We hope we got everyone’s quilts that were in the fair, but if yours slipped through, don’t be shy - let us know!  And send us a photo of it if you snapped one.

Thanks to all who entered the 2012 San Mateo County Fair - it was great to see the BAMQG so well-represented, with so many winning quilts.  Let’s do it again next year!