Holiday Party and Mug Rug/Mug (Vessel) Exchange

 On Tuesday, December 8, the guild held its annual holiday party at a local restaurant.  We held a mug rug swap.  The rules were to make a mug rug, not to exceed 40" in perimeter, and in a modern design.  Folks were to also bring either a mug or some other "vessel" (e.g., wine glass!) to coordinate with the little mug rug.  Below are photos of the resulting mug rugs and vessels.  It was a great exchange!  Enjoy the eye candy.  I hope I didn't miss anyone's. 

I have to say that everyone did a fantastic job on their mug rugs!  Just amazing work and so much fun!!!

After you see all the photos, be sure you look at the end of this post for some announcements and information.

Ready to swap!

Check out the great matching of those mitered corners and stripes!

Fun flying geese!

This one was double sided...here is one side...Coffee!

And here is the other side....Wine!

This is a Van Gogh mug...the handle is in the shape of an ear, and when you pour hot liquid in it, the picture on the mug changes.  The ear disappears!

It's so good to be queen!

Cotton + Steel Hexie!

Dear Santa, I can explain.  This got a real roar!

Another two sided mug rug.  Morning coffee.

The back side...evening wine!

This one had Japanese fabrics carried back from Japan!

Kaffe!  Love the green and blue together.

Beautiful brights....English paper piecing.  Love how the mug and rug coordinate.

Fresh pears!

Beautiful Michigan colors!

We all want to try this strategy for attaching hexies to a base.

Love how the mug rug mimics crystals!

Check out these flying geese that are prairie points!

Beautiful bright scrappy piecing!

Another bunch of calm, soothing colors in spinning wheels.  This one was a doubler.

Love the llama.  And I'm partial to the black and gold, being a Hawkeye fan!

Put the pedal to the metal!

 The entire event was so much fun.  Thank you, everyone, for your participation!

A few notes:

Some were asking if we will have a block to work on for our January meeting.  YES!  It will be posted here soon.  Keep your eyes open for that.

In 2016, all of our formal meetings will be held at the public library in downtown Kalamazoo.  We'll start our meetings at 10:00 am.  The room will be open as early as 9:00, so if you want to come and visit before the meeting, please feel free to do so!

We have sew in scheduled following each formal meeting next year.  Those will be held at Bernina.

We have a great program planned for you in 2016.  Pam and Sharon are awesome and really have a great lineup for us!

Have a very happy holiday.  For those of you who are traveling, please travel safely.  Can't wait to see you all in the new year!

Hugs and Stitches,
Stephanie

Christmas/Holiday Party

Get your mug rugs and mugs (or other vessel) ready -- the GLMQG Christmas party is on Tuesday!  If you don't have a mug rug to exchange, come anyway!  Let's celebrate the holidays and another awesome year of quilting!

Tuesday 8 December, 6:00
Gallagher's
4210 Stadium Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49008

Be there or be square set on point with mitered corners!

Reminders

· One week until retreat?! WHAT?! I know my projects are ready and waiting!

· One month until the Christmas party?! (8 December, Gallagher's on Stadium Drive, Kalamazoo) Just a reminder, if you want to participate in the gift exchange, we are doing a MUG RUG AND MUG (or other vessel). Mug rug does not have to be holiday themed (that way the recipient can enjoy it year-round!) and should be no more than 40" in perimeter. Wrap up your creation and join us for some quilty fun!

October Social Meeting at Bell's Eccentric Cafe and reminders

Fall is here!  It's time for the GLMQG to gather for fun and food (and beer!).  Please join us on Wednesday, 28 October at 6:00 at Bell's Eccentric Café (located at 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007).  This is not a formal meeting, but we still want to see what you've been working on! 

Just a reminder, retreat is coming up soon!  (13-15 November, Camp Lutherwald, Howe, IN).  Also, our Christmas party is at Gallagher's on December 8, 2015 at 6:00 pm. If you want to participate in a gift exchange, please bring a small (no bigger than a breadbox), quilted item, made in a modern style, wrapped for the gift exchange. We hope to see you all there! We have a private room reserved this year!

New Online Block Activity!

This month's online block activity is for all the hexie wannabees (myself included!). The good news...you get to make a hexagon block and maybe win a bunch more to make a hexagon quilt. The even better news...no hand sewing to join the hexagons together! 

This "Hexing Around" block was designed by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced. You can find the tutorial here.

Please use bright colors for the hexagon, staying within one color for each round (doesn't have to be the same fabric--just the same color). Then use a white solid, tonal or low-volume print for the background. 

The tutorial includes a template to download for the center. Please double check the size after you print and before you start sewing. Also, Joanne suggested considering using a fussy cut piece in the center, which I thought was a great idea. 

Our next meeting is earlier than usual--September 12--so make your block(s) soon! It goes together quickly, I promise! I will say this--if you start to get discouraged as you trim the strips in your first round, stick with it. I felt like I had to reposition my ruler multiple times for each cut, but by the time I finished the first round I had gotten the hang of it and assembled the rest in no time.

Just for fun, here are a couple more of these hexagon blocks to look at from our recent social meeting. 

(The back story...I had given my block to Joanne a couple weeks ago because I didn't think I could make the meeting. Since she had a "sneak peek," she made one and then shared the block with Sharon C., who made one as well! The hexagon without a background is Jackie's--she actually made it a year ago and just happened to have it with her at the meeting! What a coincidence!)

BTW, here is my new resource, both for personal inspiration and for our online activities. Check out all these block tutorials!

Now for the details on how to win the blocks:

Submission/Winning:

• Submit a photo of the completed block by September 11th.  We want this to be fun and easy, not stressful, so we have several options for submitting your photo.
• If you have a Flickr account, please post the photo to Flickr, add it to the Great Lakes Modern Quilt Guild group pool, and tag it GLMQG092015. *Adding the tag is key, because it allows the photo to get into the slideshow on our blog.*
• If you have a Facebook account, you may post the picture to the Great Lakes Modern Quilt Guild Facebook page. 
• You may email your photo to glmodernquilter@gmail.com 
• If you do not have access to a digital camera, contact me (Lisa) and I will arrange to photograph your block.
• How to win all the blocks:
• We are going to draw for a winner of all the blocks at our next live meeting, which is September 12.  You do not need to be present to win.
• IMPORTANT: If you want to be entered in the drawing but will not be at the meeting with your block, please make sure to let another attendee know. We try our best to make sure everyone who submits a photo of their block gets entered in the drawing, but making sure a friend puts your name in the hat will guarantee you have a chance to win!
• You get your name in the drawing each time you enter a block.  So, if you submit two blocks, your name goes in the drawing twice!
• Please bring your completed block to the May meeting so all the blocks can be delivered to the winner.  If the winner is not at the meeting, we will mail them to him/her.
• We'll post the name of the winner here on the blog.  So, if we don't have your email address, check the blog so you can see if you won and can send us your contact information.  (If you are at the meeting, you'll get your blocks on the spot!)
• If you will not be at the meeting, either
• Give the block to a friend to bring it for you, or
• Mail it in.  E-mail us at glmodernquilter@gmail.com, and we'll send you the mailing address where you can send your blocks.

• That winner must assemble the blocks into a finished quilt before being eligible to win again. Fair enough?

As always, leave a comment if you have a question and I'll try to answer it!

Can't wait to see your blocks!

Thanks!

Lisa

Mini-quilt swap, July 2015

Our first swap was a success and so much fun! Participants each received the name of another participant to make a small quilt for. We were to keep quiet about who we were creating for! To convey our preferences to our mystery partners, each of us created an online inspiration board using our guild Pinterest site.

Upcoming Meetings and Special Guest

Take a break from your busy summer and join us for quilting fellowship!  Our next informal meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 19 26 August, 6:00-??  If you are interested in hosting the meeting or have a suggestion for a place to meet, please e-mail Jill (jillykek@Hotmail.com). 

On Saturday, 12 September, the GLMQG is excited to have Debbie Grifka from Esch House Quilts! 

Debbie's lecture will touch on  "What do they mean by "modern" quilting?"  Learn about the main characteristics of modern quilts, the essential role of the internet in the development of the modern quilting community and the Modern Quilt Guild, modern fabrics, fabric designers and more.

Debbie will never forget the excitement she felt on finding "The Modern Quilt Workshop" by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr in 2006.  She knew right away that she wanted to make quilts with the same kind of feeling and her journey to her own style jumped forward.  Further inspired by the work of Gwen Marston, Jacquie Gering and others in the online modern quilting community, Debbie now describes her style as graphic, modern minimalism.  Making quilts with clean lines and bold shapes is her focus, whether the colors are deep and intense or low contrast neutrals and whether the technique is piecing or appliqué.

Debbie's work has been displayed at both Paducah and Houston and featured in various magazines and books.  The main focuses of her work are her pattern business, Esch House Quilts, and sharing her love of modern quilting and appliqué through teaching.  Debbie blogs at http://eschhousequilts.com and is active on several social media sites.  She is President of the Ann Arbor (MI) Modern Quilt Guild and a member of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild.

We will meet at 10:30, Saturday, 12 September, in Wood Hall on the Western Michigan University campus (directions will be posted closer to event date).

AUGUST MEETING DATE CHANGE!!

Due to some scheduling conflicts and a case of summer-fried-brain, we are changing our social meeting to Wednesday, 26 August.  Apologies for the short notice!  We hope those who were planning to come can still make it!!  See you at Sharon's!

Social Gathering at Sharon's!

GLMQG member Sharon Cerovski has graciously opened up her home in Kalamazoo for our meeting Wednesday, August 19th 26th at 6:00.  Please join us for fabulous quilt-talk and show & tell!  Please refer to your membership roster for Sharon's address.  If you need directions, please e-mail Sharon (sdc4203@hotmail.com) or Jill (jillykek@Hotmail.com).  Hope to see there!

*Please note that Sharon's home is not wheelchair accessible.  If this is an issue, please do not hesitate to let Jill know so that we can make other arrangements!

Preparing your Quilt for the KLCQG show

Here is info for preparing your quilt for the show from the kalamazoo log cabin quilt guild.
Preparing your quilt for the 2015 quilt show

Here is a great video from Fons and Porter to add a sleeve and it only is only  3 minutes.

Enjoy a beautiful summer weekend.

Pam

How to Get to Wood Hall

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are getting excited for our meeting on July 25!  I am really looking forward to seeing Angela Pingel and learning about curved piecing!

Please remember we are meeting at Wood Hall on WMU's campus on Saturday, where we have access to a projector and sound system.

Here is a file you can download with directions to WMU's campus and to Wood Hall.

I included directions from the north or south, if you are coming from out of town.  Those of you who are local can probably look at the map to navigate your way to campus.

There is road construction going on on campus right now, and parts of Ring Road are closed.  It will be easiest to enter campus from the W. Michigan Ave./Howard St. corner.  As soon as you enter campus, you'll come to a traffic circle.  Go around it as if to turn left (second exit).  Then, take the first right into a parking lot.  You can park anywhere in the lot, but if you park in the upper RIGHT corner of the lot (oops--I wrote left corner on the first page of the map--sorry--you might want to correct this on the map).  See the attached map and where I put the X for parking.  Then, follow the sidewalk that goes kitty-corner (as in the map), and you'll see Wood Hall.

Download Map to Wood Hall.

I'll have signs up to help you find the classroom we are meeting in when you get to Wood Hall.  It's right inside the main doors.

Please send me email if you have any questions:  stephiepeterson(at)yahoo(dot)com
My phone number is in our directory if you need to call or text me.

Can't wait to see you all at 10:30 am on Saturday the 25th!

Stephanie

P.S.  REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR SWAP ITEM SO WE CAN HAVE OUR SWAP!

Quilt show info and on line entry

Hi All,

As Joann mentioned in her recent  email, the Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilt Guild will have a quilt show in October.  We have the opportunity to have a row of modern quilts. Woohoo!! Here is a link to show Info
We  have put together an on line submission form.  There is a deadline of July 20 on the form.  We are going to work on extending that. If you want to turn in your submission at our July meeting, we think  that will work.  There will be lots of tech help available if needed. Just let us know if you need help.

Let's get those quilts in the show and show Kalamzoo what modern quilts are all about.  It will be so fun to see all our challenge quilts on display.  Here is the link to the  On line form.  You can submit your quilt picture electronically.  Just follow the directions on the form.  We will post more info about how to prepare your quilt for hanging at the show soon.

Thanks,

 Pam and Stephanie

SPECIAL GUEST AND VENUE CHANGE FOR JULY

VENUE CHANGE FOR JULY MEETING!  Our meeting will be held in Wood Hall on the Western Michigan University campus (directions and maps to come) because A VERY SPECIAL GUEST

will be joining the Great Lakes Modern Quilt Guild in July!  Angela Pingel has “been published in 101 Patchwork Projects, Modern Patchwork, and Quilt Scene by Interweave Press, 99 Modern Blocks by C&T Publishing, and Quiltmaker’s 100 blocks, as well as being featured on Moda Bakeshop.” Visit her blog, Cut To Pieces (http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/) and check out her book A Quilter’s Mixology.  “Angela Pingel offers an introduction to curved piecing via one simple block—Drunkard’s Path. The block itself is made up of units that are a simple quarter circle in a square. These units can be put together in various patterns that look absolutely different in every combination. Drunkard’s Path can create a sinuous staggering line like its namesake, or curved motifs that form teardrops, arabesques, flowers, and other discrete shapes.”

The presentation is free to GLMQG members -- $5 for non-members.  We hope to see you on Saturday, July 25 at 10:30 with ANGELA PINGEL!!