- Your name: Cynthia M.
- Your position: Speaker coordinator
- Your understanding of what the position entails: Bringing interesting and relevant speakers to speak to our group.
- Your hopes and dreams for the position: A minimum of two speakers this year.
- The successes so far (charity and retreat, I am looking at you!) ;-): Joy-Lily's presentation in February.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Speaker Coordinator
The blog will be highlighting the various coordinators that make our guild work. Here is the first!
Thanks to Cynthia for stepping up. Leave comments and feedback for Cynthia in the comments section.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Sew Day - March 3
There will be no meeting in March (sniff!). As such, you may want to attend the private sew day Cynthia is hosting to which BAMQGers are invited.
Cost: $20
Please RSVP to cynthiammarshall [at] att [dot] net. Then you can pay the day of the event. Cash or checks made out to Melodee Wade are accepted.
Please
RSVP to cynthiammarshall [at] att [dot] net at your earliest convenience so we can make plans! We'll send directions a few days
before the event.
When:
Saturday, March 3
Where:
The Whisman Station community clubhouse in Mountain View
Time:
9:30 am - 4:30 pmCost: $20
Please RSVP to cynthiammarshall [at] att [dot] net. Then you can pay the day of the event. Cash or checks made out to Melodee Wade are accepted.
Celebrate
March and indulge in a day of sewing, inspiration, and camaraderie with Melodee
Wade and Cynthia Marshall. Finish up a pesky UFO or tackle something new with
expert instruction and the support of your quilting community. Local teacher
and long-arm quilter, Melodee Wade, will be on hand all day to help you with
your quilting challenges and to support your progress with any other assistance
you need.
The day
begins at 9:30 am with coffee and a little something. We’ll also bring in a
light lunch. Twenty dollars covers…
• A full day of sewing with expert
assistance from Melodee.
• The cost of the room rental.
• Set up and take down of tables and chairs.
• Special areas and equipment for ironing
and cutting.
• Morning coffee and treat.
• Lunch and beverages.
All you
do is bring your projects and your sunny dispositions! This
event is not restricted to BAMQG members, so feel free to bring a
friend -- and make new ones. It's a friendly, creative group of people
you'll be glad to meet.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Habitat Quilt Process
This charming story was sent to your editor and demonstrates how process can work in certain circumstances. Enjoy!
Once upon a time, a normally sane and productive quilter walked into a quilt shop and chose eight fabrics at random, while blindfolded. She brought the fabrics home, sight unseen, and dumped them out on the table. Lo and behold, there she found one gorgeous fabric (small dots on gray background), and... well... seven others.
Seizing the opportunity to "help", her enthusiastic cat, Gizmo, promptly leapt up onto the table and barfed on one fabric, and left copious amounts of cat hair on several others.
Totally undaunted, the intrepid quilter set out to make a modern masterpiece. "I will embrace my inner Wonky!", she declared, as she began to cut out pleasing wedges for her "organic" design. Several hours later however, she realized that her wedges were more "Wacky" than "Wonky".
Not easily discouraged, she thought, "Never mind. I can fix this. I will change my design and add some solids, and it will be fine." Thinking that the "overly bright" fabrics needed to be "diluted" (like adding ice to a glass of scotch), she chose three of the palest solids she could find. "This will help!", she said confidently, and "Yes! Why not have scotch over ice while I'm at it?"
So she poured herself a scotch on the rocks and proceeded to sew strips of pale solids between the wedges of misfortune to create strips of disaster. "There! That's better!", she thought, until she stepped back from her design board and realized that things were not moving in the right direction. "Those strips are too wide!", she exclaimed. It's too much ice! I need to add scotch!" But alas, she had no more scotch -- I mean, fabric -- so all she could do was remove "ice".
Feeling much less energetic at this point, she decided not to rip out the strips of pale solids and cut them down. Instead, she sewed a seam down each strip to narrow it. "No one will even notice.", she thought.
After she sewed the seams and stood back to admire her handiwork, she thought, "Ah! That's much better! Now I have strips of wedges and solids, and all I need now is a some sashing. What color should I use?" She pulled a few candidates out of her stash and showed them to the dog. "Why not let him choose?," she thought. "He has good taste." She laid the fabrics on the floor, and without hesitation, he flopped down on his favorite.
"Baby poop brown it is!! I could not have chosen better myself!" And as luck would have it, that very color appeared in seven of the eight fabrics...all the fabrics except that lovely gray one with dots.
So she sewed in the sashing with renewed gusto, and was totally delighted with the result. "Now I need the perfect name for my perfect quilt. I know!," she said. "I will call it 'Hangover'"
Thanks to Rhonda for her contributions!
~Jaye
Seizing the opportunity to "help", her enthusiastic cat, Gizmo, promptly leapt up onto the table and barfed on one fabric, and left copious amounts of cat hair on several others.
Totally undaunted, the intrepid quilter set out to make a modern masterpiece. "I will embrace my inner Wonky!", she declared, as she began to cut out pleasing wedges for her "organic" design. Several hours later however, she realized that her wedges were more "Wacky" than "Wonky".
Not easily discouraged, she thought, "Never mind. I can fix this. I will change my design and add some solids, and it will be fine." Thinking that the "overly bright" fabrics needed to be "diluted" (like adding ice to a glass of scotch), she chose three of the palest solids she could find. "This will help!", she said confidently, and "Yes! Why not have scotch over ice while I'm at it?"
So she poured herself a scotch on the rocks and proceeded to sew strips of pale solids between the wedges of misfortune to create strips of disaster. "There! That's better!", she thought, until she stepped back from her design board and realized that things were not moving in the right direction. "Those strips are too wide!", she exclaimed. It's too much ice! I need to add scotch!" But alas, she had no more scotch -- I mean, fabric -- so all she could do was remove "ice".
Feeling much less energetic at this point, she decided not to rip out the strips of pale solids and cut them down. Instead, she sewed a seam down each strip to narrow it. "No one will even notice.", she thought.
After she sewed the seams and stood back to admire her handiwork, she thought, "Ah! That's much better! Now I have strips of wedges and solids, and all I need now is a some sashing. What color should I use?" She pulled a few candidates out of her stash and showed them to the dog. "Why not let him choose?," she thought. "He has good taste." She laid the fabrics on the floor, and without hesitation, he flopped down on his favorite.
"Baby poop brown it is!! I could not have chosen better myself!" And as luck would have it, that very color appeared in seven of the eight fabrics...all the fabrics except that lovely gray one with dots.
So she sewed in the sashing with renewed gusto, and was totally delighted with the result. "Now I need the perfect name for my perfect quilt. I know!," she said. "I will call it 'Hangover'"
Thanks to Rhonda for her contributions!
~Jaye
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
February Meeting Notes
The Bay Area Modern Meeting was yesterday and fun as usual. There is
much talk of the upcoming retreat and also of the recent Sew Day. 46,
the most EVER!, attended the meeting and the group had its first ever
speaker. Lots of firsts.
A-B-C Challenge
There are about 7-8 participants. Diana just joined by doing one block and Jennifer joined, doing a-J (minus I). I really like this challenge. It is great that I have a reason to make a block every month (not that I really need an excuse).
Angela brought two Hawaiian blocks (far left). I love it that she is doing these blocks in Hawaiian fabrics. Most people don't use Hawaiian fabrics as regular fabrics for regular blocks. Michelle is doing her blue and white blocks (also far left). It occurred to me that she might have the hardest job of all since not all blocks are suitable for two colors. Kathleen's blocks are still the black, white and red ones. She is doing a good job choosing how much print to put into each block.
Jennifer is using the Lazy Girl ruler for her blocks (middle with all the points). She has just started the challenge and is catching up.
My blocks are on the top right. Lynette's are the grey and green on the bottom right. I like the way Lynnette's blocks have an on point sort of look. Many of them have half square triangles in the corners. She made a Glacier Bay block as well and it is really great to see how different it looks from mine. She uses fussy cutting in her blocks and the technique in Glacier Bay is particularly effective.
Speaker
Our Speaker was Joy-Lily. Check out the member spotlight for more background information on her.
Joy-Lily brought books, Carefree Quilts, and quilts to her talk. The quilts she brought were all from her book, so we didn't get a sense of the evolution of her work. She organized the talk to coincide with sections of the book, which was a good idea, especially if one had the book and could follow along. A clever portion of the book is that if you make all the blocks you end up with an extra block from each of the projects with which you can make a sampler quilt. Joy-Lily had someone else make the sampler quilt and the maker did a great job. I really like the colors.
All the quilts from the book are all kind of wonky.
Sewing Time
Adrianne was a madwoman (in a good way!) on getting us to our sewing time. We were done with show and tell at 3:05 and everyone started moving tables, setting up machines and working away. I
I wish I had gotten a photo of the little sewing pod in the middle of the room. Ruth, Adrianne, Kathleen and bunches of other people were set up there. Such a buzz of activity! It was wonderful.
Charity Quiltmaking
Deborah and Jennifer collected bunches of more fabric and quilts and other necessities for the charity quilts the group is making for the NICU at Stanford. It feels good to be helping children and their families in need. People retrieved more packets of fabric to make more of the 16 patch blocks (2.5" squares, 8 of a color and 8 white). Jennifer confirmed that the background can be any white.Good know in case you have scraps that would cut up to 2.5".
The charity goal is 24 quilts this year. They already have 6 so they think they will surpass that. Ruth quilted on project and handed it off to Angela for binding. Michelle is working in a series on stars and is using the charity project to perfect her star motifs. I think she has 3 charity quilts in progress. Stop for a moment, BAMQGers, and give yourself a pat on the back for your contributions!
Swaps
The Echo challenge is due in April. Ruth, the amazing Challenge coordinator, distributed fabric in January. If you haven't started, now is the time.
Amanda, the fabulous Swap coordinator, started a scrap pillow challenge. People brought bags of scraps and those bags were redistributed to others. Remember:
More on Show and Tell later
A-B-C Challenge
There are about 7-8 participants. Diana just joined by doing one block and Jennifer joined, doing a-J (minus I). I really like this challenge. It is great that I have a reason to make a block every month (not that I really need an excuse).
 |
| A-Z challenge blocks |
Angela brought two Hawaiian blocks (far left). I love it that she is doing these blocks in Hawaiian fabrics. Most people don't use Hawaiian fabrics as regular fabrics for regular blocks. Michelle is doing her blue and white blocks (also far left). It occurred to me that she might have the hardest job of all since not all blocks are suitable for two colors. Kathleen's blocks are still the black, white and red ones. She is doing a good job choosing how much print to put into each block.
 |
| Crayon Quilt |
 |
| Jennifer's blocks |
Jennifer is using the Lazy Girl ruler for her blocks (middle with all the points). She has just started the challenge and is catching up.
 |
| Jaye's blocks |
 |
| Lynnette's Blocks |
My blocks are on the top right. Lynette's are the grey and green on the bottom right. I like the way Lynnette's blocks have an on point sort of look. Many of them have half square triangles in the corners. She made a Glacier Bay block as well and it is really great to see how different it looks from mine. She uses fussy cutting in her blocks and the technique in Glacier Bay is particularly effective.
Speaker
Our Speaker was Joy-Lily. Check out the member spotlight for more background information on her.
 |
| Joy-Lily Prep |
Joy-Lily brought books, Carefree Quilts, and quilts to her talk. The quilts she brought were all from her book, so we didn't get a sense of the evolution of her work. She organized the talk to coincide with sections of the book, which was a good idea, especially if one had the book and could follow along. A clever portion of the book is that if you make all the blocks you end up with an extra block from each of the projects with which you can make a sampler quilt. Joy-Lily had someone else make the sampler quilt and the maker did a great job. I really like the colors.
 |
| Sampler |
All the quilts from the book are all kind of wonky.
 |
| Leaf Quilt |
 |
| Leaf Quilt |
 |
| Disappearing 9 Patch |
 |
| Flying Geese |
Sewing Time
Adrianne was a madwoman (in a good way!) on getting us to our sewing time. We were done with show and tell at 3:05 and everyone started moving tables, setting up machines and working away. I
I wish I had gotten a photo of the little sewing pod in the middle of the room. Ruth, Adrianne, Kathleen and bunches of other people were set up there. Such a buzz of activity! It was wonderful.
Charity Quiltmaking
Deborah and Jennifer collected bunches of more fabric and quilts and other necessities for the charity quilts the group is making for the NICU at Stanford. It feels good to be helping children and their families in need. People retrieved more packets of fabric to make more of the 16 patch blocks (2.5" squares, 8 of a color and 8 white). Jennifer confirmed that the background can be any white.Good know in case you have scraps that would cut up to 2.5".
The charity goal is 24 quilts this year. They already have 6 so they think they will surpass that. Ruth quilted on project and handed it off to Angela for binding. Michelle is working in a series on stars and is using the charity project to perfect her star motifs. I think she has 3 charity quilts in progress. Stop for a moment, BAMQGers, and give yourself a pat on the back for your contributions!
Swaps
The Echo challenge is due in April. Ruth, the amazing Challenge coordinator, distributed fabric in January. If you haven't started, now is the time.
Amanda, the fabulous Swap coordinator, started a scrap pillow challenge. People brought bags of scraps and those bags were redistributed to others. Remember:
- fill your pillow with a pillow form
- consider a slightly larger size than the cushion cover you have made
- if your bag says "scraps back", please return the scraps with your finished pillow
- that BAMQG discount at Joann may come in handy if you need to purchase a pillow form
- many of the pillow swaps on the web are 18", but choose any suitable size. Anyone doing a neckroll? ;-)
More on Show and Tell later
Friday, February 3, 2012
February Meeting: Ready? Set! Go!!!!
The meeting is tomorrow!
Agenda
We have another great meeting planned. This meeting will have a speaker!!!
Joy-Lily will speak to us from 1-2pm about her life as a quiltmaker, and about her new book. Please come a few minutes early to get settled in.
2-3pm Show and Tell, Swap, Retreat update
3-5pm Sewing
Stuff To Bring:
DATE: Saturday, February 4th
TIME: 1pm-5pm LOCATION: Redwood City Public Library, Main Branch
Agenda
We have another great meeting planned. This meeting will have a speaker!!!
Joy-Lily will speak to us from 1-2pm about her life as a quiltmaker, and about her new book. Please come a few minutes early to get settled in.
- Retreat: Rhonda will give us an update on the retreat.
- Show and Tell.
- New Swap
2-3pm Show and Tell, Swap, Retreat update
3-5pm Sewing
Stuff To Bring:
- Show & Tell
- ABC Blocks, This month's block name should start with letter G
- Charity Blocks (Instructions)
- Extra Fabric, batting, or orphan blocks for the Charity Bin
- Project to work on
- Supplies for your project such as sewing machine, extension cord, etc
- Snacks
You can review the full post with many more details. It was posted Wednesday February 2. If you have any questions, contact me (or any of the other officers.
See you tomorrow!
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
February Meeting Prep
We have a meeting coming up this Saturday and we
hope you will all make it. As always, we will have the meeting between
1-3pm and open sewing from 3-5pm.
Logistics and Particulars
Logistics and Particulars
DATE: Saturday, February 4th
TIME: 1pm-5pm LOCATION: Redwood City Public Library, Main Branch
Agenda
We have another great meeting planned. This meeting will have a speaker!!!
Joy-Lily will speak to us from 1-2pm about her life as a quiltmaker, and about her new book. Please come a few minutes early to get settled in.
- Retreat: Rhonda will give us an update on the retreat.
- Show and Tell.
- New Swap
2-3pm Show and Tell, Swap, Retreat update
3-5pm Sewing
NOTES:
- NO Question of the Month
- NO Guild business
- NO Sew Day Report (go read the blog post)
- Joy-Lily's book will be available for purchase during the meeting for $27.99 (cash or check)
If you want to see a glimpse of what goes on at our meetings, read the post for new people.
Dues
Last month was the time to renew. Our dues are $30 annually beginning
in January. Make your checks out to, "Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild". You can also pay online using your credit card or Paypal account. Click on the BUY NOW button on our membership page.
Swap Info
Swap Info
A new swap for a new year. Our Swap Coordinator, Amanda, is leading us
on a Scrappy Pillow adventure. If you
would like to participate, please remember to bring those scraps. How many?
A paper bag full. What size paper
bag? You decide! Bring a lunch bag, and you might get a
sort-of-scrappy pillow. Bring a large
bag, and you will get a super-scrappy pillow.
It's totally up to you. This swap
will be secret (somewhat). You will *know*
you're getting a pillow, but each quiltmaker has full creative license to use your
scraps however they want. Members can read about it more on this forum post.
Stuff To Bring:
- Show & Tell
- ABC Blocks, This month's block name should start with letter I and J
- Charity Blocks (Instructions)
- Extra Fabric, batting, or orphan blocks for the Charity Bin
- Project to work on
- Supplies for your project such as sewing machine, extension cord, etc
- Snacks
If you have any questions, contact me (or any of the other officers. See you Saturday!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Member Spotlight: Joy-Lily
We are pleased to announce that Joy-Lily will be speaking at the guild's February Meeting on February 4, 2012, 1-5 at Redwood City Library. The address is: 1044 Middlefield Rd., Redwood City, Ca 94063. We meet upstairs Community Room (the elevators are on the far left of the entrance).
To get you ready for the meeting, here in a Member Spotlight with Joy-Lily!!!
2. In what city do you live?
- San Francisco
- Since 1985
- SF City College class with Caroline Libermann and through the SF Quilt Guild's various classes and by reading books.
- A woman for whom I sewed piecework squares into potholders. The patterns intrigued me.
- It was a log cabin in turquoise, violet and red.
- I like to manipulate traditional quilt patterns to create new ones.
- Carefree and mismatched.
- San Francisco Quilters Guild is my local guild. It has many resources like a lending library lectures with well known quilters and workshops. I have lots of friends there.
- Mostly show them. I rotate the large ones on my bed to enjoy them. I give away baby quilts.
- This week I'm messing around with King's Crown, so it's my current favorite.
- My humongous bedroom is a quilt studio with a corner for sleeping and clothes. The rest is taken up by shelves of fabrics and books. There is a large sewing/cutting table in the middle. Sometimes even the bed doubles for laying out blocks.
- I also dye, paint and print on fabric, sometimes all on the same piece. These fabrics are often for my quilts. My latest passion is for felting I make felt pictures and objects. Felt pieces are starting to wander into quilts too.
- Naturally I recommend my book: Carefree Quilts – A Freestyle Twist on Classic Designs. It takes you through the basics of quilting in a stress-free way. Joen Wolfram's books are a great resource for learning about color.
15. Are there any must have quilting tools?
- I couldn't work without rotary cutting tools.
- The SF Sewing & Quilting Collaborative. I love working and teaching at the Quilting Collaborative because it is total immersion in everything quilting. Linda, who runs the foundation is a " yes and" person, up for most every new idea. Volunteers drop in and work together in a very collegial way. You've got to see this place to understand why I call it "quilt heaven".The SF Sewing and Quilting Collaborative, called the Quilting Collaborative for short, is at 2189 Bayshore Blvd. in the very southeastern part of SF - right near the Brisbane line. Their website is www.sfsqc.org. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to make "warm hugs" for the community and to educate quilters. It is open Tuesday - Saturday about 11- 6 PM. One part is a longarm studio (topstitching available by donation and occasional classes that allow you to then use the machines.) Behind that is a classroom with a bunch of electronic Brother machines and every quilt tool one needs. The walls are lined with bolts of fabric used for the donation quilts. I teach a 6 session class there where students can do their own projects, in exchange for volunteering for 3 hours a session (+ my fee of $48). Next door is a fabric shop where the most expensive quilt yardage is $7!
- Free motion quilting on a home machine is a challenge for me.
- I love to design piecework and to stitch freehand with a long arm machine.
- My laptop, as many quilts as I could carry.
- Check ¼ inch below the edge to match seams. If they don't line up, flip the seam allowances in the opposite directions. Twisted seams on the inside are invisible.
- I am a quilting instructor with 23 years experience.
Check out more of Joy-Lily's work at her website : www.joy-lily.com