Posted by

NJMQG Secretary

Posted on

May 23, 2022

Posted under

2022, meeting recaps, Uncategorized

May 2022 Guild Meeting

Hello quilty friends! We had our May meeting over Zoom and 36 people joined.

First things first, we had a bit of guild business to attend to. We have board elections coming up in June. There are two spots opening up and we had two people step up to run for the positions. Thank you to Annette A (for treasurer) and Betsy F (for programs position). If anyone else is interested in helping out the board, we are always looking for people to help. Reach out to any of the current board members and let us know.

Keep an eye out for an update on the Ukraine benefit destash!

The MQG Quiltcon Community Outreach quilt info was sent out, and boy does it look like a fun one! (you can check out the info here) I was inspired to start playing around with some ideas already. For this year’s Community Outreach Challenge, the MQG is asking members to make quilts that show a color shift, or gradient, in the piecing.

From the MQG:
There are two gradients for your group to choose from for the 2023 QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge. We’ve shown many color stops along the way from one end to the other. Choose your starting point and be sure to use a total of at least three color stops on your gradient. You do not have to use all of the color stops shown, nor are you required to use solids for this project. Get creative with your use of solids and prints. Make it scrappy, or reuse bits from older projects. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Option 1: Cool colors from Dark Teal to Lime Green

Option 2: Warm Colors from Eggplant Purple to Pink

This year, we are pleased to announce that guilds will have the opportunity to sell their Community Outreach quilts during QuiltCon to raise funds for the benefit of two charitable programs supported by the Brown Sugar Stitchers Guild of Atlanta: The Carrie Steele Pitts’ Home and the children’s sickle cell disease program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

We are excited to start getting ideas from the guild. We also need someone to be the point person for this committee. Please start thinking about it and reach out if you are inspired or are interested in helping!

There are some fabulous things happening that we are sharing that may be of interest…

Needles & Bolts, A modern quilt shop & haberdashery

Soft opening Memorial Day Weekend, Grand Opening Weekend of June 10-12
Needlesandbolts.com, IG – @needlesandbolts

York Quilters Guild – Quilt Show “Celebration of Quilts”

June 10 9am-7pm, June 11 9am-4pm
York College, York, PA
Judged show, registration is open – celebrationofquilts.com
Same time & location as the Garden Club Flower show

Brandywine Quilters – Methods & Madness Quilt Show

Neumann University Mirenda Center – Aston, PA
July 22 & 23 10am-5pm, July 24 10am-3pm

Warwick Valley Quilters Guild – Stars of the Valley show

NJMQG members are highly encouraged to enter quilts. Forms will be available June 1. Registration starts June 15. Any questions, reach out to Penny (info found in members only section)

We had, self-proclaimed bling/sequin lover, Mel Beach join our meeting. She talked to us about how she uses Fun & Games in Quilting. Like one of her teachers said, “If you had fun, you won” – Mr Aurora.
It really was facinating seeing how she incorporates using dice, cards, word/grid/target games, scratch board and even Lego for literal and abstract interpretation and inspiration. Mel challenges herself to a lot of 100 day projects to keep the creativity flowing and to help get ideas to used for larger projects. If you have a chance you should check out her blog, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for more. And we rescheduled our class with Mel for October, so you want to keep an eye out for that! More about the class from her website…

Modern Free Motion Fillers & Fun!

Do you love the look of modern quilts but unsure how best to quilt all that negative space? In this workshop, I’ll share my favorite mark-free, modern quilting motifs involving C-curves, loop de loops, zig zags, and door beads. We’ll explore how simple changes to each of the designs will yield all new filler designs! This is a low-stress and super fun workshop that is perfect for quilters who are new to free-motion quilting, as well as those looking to add new modern designs to their quilting repertoire. You’ll leave with new design ideas, tips and tricks for free motion quilting success, and the confidence to add beautiful, modern quilted texture to your modern quilt tops!

After the lecture we had a programs update…

We got a lovely thank you note from all the fabulous Kennel Quilts you generously made and donated.

Elinore also let us know that we donated another 19 quilts and 8 pillowcases at the end of April! Great work everyone!

This month we only had a few WIP’s submitted. Julia has been working on her blocks from our workshop with Cotton and Bourbon, and Pam C made a beautiful birch tree wall hanging and a very cool quilt for her nephew who graduated from high school. Funny enough, Pam won last month’s prize and this month Julia won!

Our Show and Tell this month was also small. Is everyone saving up to show at next month’s in person meeting?

Runner for friend’s daughter’s wedding gift to match plates on registry

Jackie shared a great quilt she had been working on since Mid Atlantic Mod, but were asked not to share.

A quick reminder that Julia B is inviting people to visit her while she’s recuperating from her accidents. She’s offered up use of her extra sewing machines and hot tub! There was talk of donuts, too? 😛
You can find her info in the members only section.

Our June meeting will be in person and we are excited to be seeing people in person and to celebrate a very special anniversary for our guild. We’ve come a long way since we used to cram ourselves into Rock Paper Scissors, but we are so glad to be here and able to celebrate with you! If you signed up for the Persimmon pouch swap, I hope you are working on it to be ready to swap! (If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can mail it, or try to figure out a way to get it to your partner)

In an effort to be have a little face to face, we have picked some dates that we would like to meet in person. We are mixing it up in hopes to have as many people join us, so we are sticking with our zoom meeting for the third Thursday of the month and in person on Saturdays. Of course we will keep in mind the recommendations of what is going on at the time and realize everyone has a different comfort level, but we are hoping to continue to be able to see each other more in the “real” world. We have some more great lectures planned for some of the zoom meetings.

Hope to see you at our IN PERSON anniversary meeting on June 25 at the Community Church of Cedar Grove, starting at noon. More details to come soon, but be prepared to come with a cup/mug, a fat quarter to play a game with, your pouch swap (if you signed up), and any show and tell you’d like to share with us! As always we hope you are getting your craft on and staying well!

Peace

-A

Posted by

NJMQG Secretary

Posted on

March 20, 2022

Posted under

2022, meeting recaps, Uncategorized

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March 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Hello quilting friends! We had our monthly meeting on March 17. We had 38 people joining us and a very special guest speaker.

We started out with a little guild business. The election of board members in coming up in June. As a reminder, the president and treasurer are 2 year commitments and the others are 1 year. The president and treasurer trade off in election years-president in odd years and even for treasurer. This June our treasurer and programs positions will be open. Programs works well being co-chairs. If you are interested or have any questions, please reach out to anyone on the board.

We moved right into our guest speaker, Audrey Esarey of Cotton & Bourbon. “Finding my voice in quilting” was the theme of her lecture and it was fascinating to see the evolution and trajectory of her work over time. She got started quilting after being invited to a class by her, then, future mother-in-law. Inspired by Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry, Jonathan Lawes, and Nancy Crow, Audrey works with a lot of hand died fabric and curves, but is always interested in challenging herself (and the limits of EQ8). It was lovely having Audrey share with us. We are hosting a workshop with Audrey on April, there are still some spots open. You can sign up here. Come play with foundation and curved paper piecing in the Ultraviolet Radial workshop.

We had an update on our charity quilting. Ellaree made a list of Kennel quilts we know were made. If you made and sent on your own, let Ellaree or a board member know so we can update the tally!

We have started to bring some of our quilts and pillowcases to an amazing place for donations.
The American Friends Service Committee, is a Nobel Peace Prize winning program that has been working with refugees for over 100 years. They are a leader on immigration issues in NJ since the 1980’s, supporting through community organizing, education, advocacy and providing legal representation in immigration cases. The Immigration Rights Program has 2 offices in Newark and 1 in Red Bank. Elinore delivered some quilts that went to displaced families, many with small children, who are dealing with immigration and asylum issues. They are extremely appreciative by the generosity of our members. These quilts will be well loved. Please email Rachel (president at njmqg dot com) or text Elinore (info found in members only section of website) if/when you have quilts or pillowcases to donate. A drop off or pick up can be coordinated.

Next we talked about all things WIP! Anyone who sent in a WIP was entered to win a prize…

2 baby quilts. One on left too labor intensive to continue, so will add some sashing or borders.

Simply Woven pattern by Moda A back 1/2 pieced 1/2 solid

Pappersaxten Hold punch Workshop 6 point stars w/scraps

This month’s winner of the fabulous Tula Pink Butterfly 2 quilt pattern is… Jackie! Congrats! Can’t wait to see when you finish it 😉

We then moved right along to our Show and Tell

Paper pieced with EQ8 for Teacups group and learning photography lighting

After show and tell we talked quickly about the survey that was going out about getting your opinions on starting up some meetings in person. If you did not get that email, please reach out to anyone on the board and we can forward the link.
Also our MQG Community Outreach group quilt did not sell at Quiltcon, so the board has voted on, and agreed to donating it to AFSC. We’ve had a request from a few more people hoping to see it in person before that happens, so let us know about how you feel in the survey!

If you are interested in sharing a little more about yourself with the guild, please reach out the Aubrey (secretary at njmqg dot com) You can answer some getting to know you questions and be featured on our Instagram page!

Hoping you are all staying healthy and enjoying the spring weather! Warmer days are *hopefully* here to stay for a while!

Until next time, keep on quilting!

Peace,
-A

Posted by

Rachel

Posted on

February 13, 2019

Posted under

2019, announcements, charity, charity projects, Open Sew, volunteer

2019 Charity News

Hi members!

Thank you to all who contributed charity quilts, the new wave quilts and your own designs!

Donations:

We were able to donate a total of 16 quilts in 2018 (yay!) to the Robert Kaufman quilt drive to benefit the California fire victims.
We already have 6 finished quilts ready for donation.
We have 42 pillowcases ready to send to the Stuffed Suitcase program through the Giving Hope Network for their next giving event and we are so thankful to you guys, you’re the best! Let’s try to beat 2017’s pillowcase record of 127 pillowcases made and make more for 2019!
In addition, we have already donated 32 pounds of fabric scraps to the Social Justice Sewing Academy. Their Instagram is @sjsacademy if you want to check them out.

Below are the charity activities happening so far for 2019, we are so excited for our upcoming projects!

Log Cabin Blocks

We are making log cabin blocks that should be made 12 ½ by 12 ½ that will be finished 12×12 blocks. We would like for you to dig up those awesome stash strips and ask that members use some white in the block so they have a universal look once assembled into the quilt tops. There will be strips available at the February meeting from the charity stash and white to mix up with your stash. We will have a special giveaway in March for members who bring in log cabin blocks, but we will continue to collect blocks until we have enough for a quilt top or two. Use up that scrap stash!

log cabin with measured strips

one log cabin with measured strips, and one with unmeasured wonky strips

Quilts of Valor Blocks

Quilts of Valor blocks

Thank you for all who made QOV blocks lately, they are awesome! We will be collecting more through to the April meeting so we have enough to assemble into several quilt tops. There will be QOV block kits available at the February meeting as well as at the charity open sew that we are hosting during the weekend of QuiltCon (February 23rd). These blocks should be 12.5” x 12.5” and can be any pattern of your choosing. Please make sure the colors are red, white and blue.

Presenting the 2019 NJMQG Charity Pattern of the Year!

shoreline quilt The pattern we are using this year for charity quilts and kits is the “Shoreline” pattern from Tula Pink. This is a free pattern available from her website and we were given permission to create kits for our guild. Rachel, Crista, Terri and Emily got together last month to organize the charity stash (thank you!) and have already created 10 kits to make quilt tops for this pattern! These will be available at the charity open sew. We will continue to have the Elizabeth Hartman New Wave Quilt pattern and kit if you would still like to try that pattern.

We also have tops with backing and battings available for those of you who want to practice your FMQ skills and walking foot! These will be available at the March meeting. We have 5 quilt tops that need backings made or cut, and 4 quilt tops/backs ready for batting and quilting.

Thank you again for all of your charity efforts last year, you are all amazing. I can’t wait to see how many we get done this year, let’s try to beat last year’s pillowcase numbers!

Emily Chwazik

Co-Chair of Charity Committee