May 2013 Meeting Wrap Up

Hello Everyone!  I am so sorry it has taken me so long to compose a post about our May meeting.  Right after the meeting, I was frantically getting ready to go out of town to a national conference.  Then, we left for that, did a little traveling afterward, and shortly after coming home, I have been sick as a dog.  (It turned out to be pneumonia!)  I am just now getting back to it.  I am very sorry.

We had a terrific meeting in May.  I want to thank all of our members for making this meeting the highlight of my month for me.  I left the meeting higher than a kite, due to all the participation in our projects, the wonderful show and tell, and most of all the way people were eager to jump in and serve in some leadership roles to continue to move our fledgling organization along!  You all are just the best!

Let me show you how things went!

The first thing we did was gather up and lay out all the converging corners blocks that came in as a result of our April on-line activity.  Several people brought blocks for members who couldn't be at the meeting, because the blocks had to be present for you to win (but you didn't!).  It was really fun looking at all the blocks and all the different fabrics people used.  We put all the names in a hat (literally--Sweet Pea wore a hat that day, just to help us with the drawing!) and drew a name.  MARLENE was the winner!  It was Marlene's first meeting, so I think that was a pretty good kick off for her!

We then organized the blocks into a possible layout, just to see how they'd look together.  We were all WOWED by this.  I think it's going to be wonderful!  I reminded Marlene that she can participate in all the challenges she wants now, but she can't win another until she brings us back the finished quilt with these blocks (quilted and bound)!  I don't know about you, but I'd be anxious to get this put together!

 Now, I'm not going to be able to remember who brought what for show and tell at this point, so please forgive me!  Someone brought this lovely quilt that she had just gotten back from Sharon, who quilted it for her.  She said she didn't think it was modern, but she wanted to see it (and hadn't seen it yet), so we all got to see the big reveal together.  Nice, huh?!

Someone brought these wonderful granny square blocks she's been working on.  (The tutorial for these can be found here.)  We all ooo-ed and aahhhh-ed over these for a while!  Can't wait to see what she does with them.

Next, this quilt came out!  Zowie!  We all needed time to look at this one up close!  All that pink is not a solid fabric.  Those are all kaleidoscope blocks!

 Here is a closer look!  Several people commented on how cool it was to see the cubes tumbling out into the border.  She said this pattern was from the One Block Wonders Encore! book (the second one).  I have the first one.  Must run out and get this second one now!  We also remaked how cool it was to see the juxtaposition of the very formal, flowered border with the contemporary and geometric designs.  So cool!

 The maker had just started quilting it and was quilting feathers all in the inside.  You can see them better on the back of the quilt, here.  She said she wasn't feeling like it was working out as she had planned and she asked for advice.  I think the consensus of the group was that you couldn't see the feathers, with all the kaleidoscopes on the quilt, so maybe switch to something more simple.  I can't wait to see what she decides.  I hope she'll bring it back!

 Then, someone brought these fun mug rugs and snack mats.

 So bright and cheerful!

 I brought this divided basket that I had been making from a pattern from Noodlehead.  I blogged more about this basket here, if you want more information.

Someone brought this nice chevron quilt made from a single polkadot fabric. Lisa blogged about this here, if you want to know more.

 Then there was a great emerald green challenge quilt.  The maker challenged herself to use Pantone's color of the year, emerald green.  Lisa blogged this one here.

 Here is the quilting on that quilt, as seen from the back.

 Here is a quilt made from a tea towel, as part of Victoria Findlay Wolfe's tea towel challenge.  Quite a nice border that got added to brighten things up, wouldn't you say?!  Lisa blogged more about this here.

 I got a couple of shots of hand-made bags that people brought their show and tell goodies in!  Here's one....

 and here's another.

 Finally, someone brought these wonderful leaves she had sewn and molded into the shape of a bowl.

 Here, you can see the shape the leaves hold.  They were stiff and hard.  Very interesting.

 

Here is a photo of them altogether.  They were so pretty.  The maker said she used a product called Inn-Spire Plus interfacing.

 Then, finally, one member brought this pretty, hand-embroidered tea towel she had picked up at the farmer's market for only $5.  She said that a nice, 80-year-old woman hand stitches these and sells them.  I think everyone was ready to run to the farmer's market next time to get some of their own!  Wow!

We talked about lots of on-line sources for fabric, and someone asked me to post links to them.  Here are the ones I remember us talking about a lot in the meeting:

Fabric Worm
Marmalade
Sew Modern
Cat & Vee
The Intrepid Thread

There are probably others that I have now forgotten.  I'll try to get them next time!

As for the business part of the meeting, a lot of good stuff happened.

1. We approved our bylaws!  Yay!  We also collected membership dues and gave out membership cards.  These cards will give you a discount at Quilts Plus in Kalamazoo.
2. Lisa agreed to serve as the chair of our on-line activity committee.  She'll be in charge of posting our next challenge, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
3. Pam and Marlene agreed to be our on-site program committee chairs and will help plan our future meetings.
4. We talked about having another sew in after our next in-person meeting.  However, I have been so sick that I haven't been in a position to help make decisions, so if you don't mind, we are going to forgo this for just a short period of time.  Hope you don't mind too much, and thanks for your patience.

We are still looking for ways to make our blog and the Facebook page more interactive.  If you have an idea for a blog post, please let us know.  Please feel free to post things on Facebook and get the conversation going!

We will also be having a board meeting coming up soon, so stay tuned for news on that.

I really do want to thank you all for your efforts in getting this group going and sustaining the interest.  You made may month at this last meeting.  It means so much to me that you are all willing to chip in and help the way you are.  You're the best group I could have asked for to get this started!

See you all soon!
Stephanie
AKA "The Big Kahuna"