Holiday Party Pictures

We had a very nice gathering at Gallagher's on Tuesday. 16 members enjoyed the bag swap, show-and-tell, door prizes courtesy of Lisa, and a nice meal together. Happy Holiday season to all our members and friends!

Holiday Party and Bag Swap

Hello Everyone!

Stephanie here!  Can you believe it is December already?!  Wow, where does the time go?  This really snuck up on me.

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that our guild's Holiday Party is Tuesday, December 6 at 5:30 pm.  We will meet at Gallagher's on Stadium Drive in Kalamazoo for drinks, dinner, and fellowship.  After dinner, we will have our bag exchange.  Remember, we are swapping bags (doesn't have to have a zipper) that are no larger than a gallon ziplock bag--and made of modern fabric.  Everyone who brings a bag will go home with a bag someone else made.  Remember to put your own personality in it so that whoever receives it will have a little bit of your style in her life!

Please bring your bag wrapped or in a gift bag (concealed within).  We'll put all the bags on a table and draw numbers.  It will be so fun.  I hope you can come and that you have the time to make a bag!  I'm working on mine!

Also, remember to bring your November activity block to swap.  If you can't remember what we are making, click here to go to that blog post.

Hope to see you all there.  If you can't come, we will miss you!

Happy holidays, everyone.  If you're like me, things are about to get even crazier than usual.  I'm craving the holiday break and a little vacation time between Christmas and New Year's Day.  How about you?

Best,
Stephanie

October Social Meeting Photo Gallery

Great turnout on a gloomy night!

Holly showed her completed top from Jacquie Gering's "Stich and Flip" workshop

Pam shared this runner that her international guest made, with no prior experience. Awesome teaching, Pam!

The back of Pam's friend's runner sports a custom label from Spoonflower

Pam also shared this quilt top she made with a fabric bundle 

Pam made this cool circular bag 

Lynn shared this precious doll from her mother's collection. 

Connie shared this table runner she paper pieced

Connie showed her completed quilt from the Jacquie Gering "Stich and Flip" workshop

Joanne made this runner..

..and this bag as a thank-you gift!

New member Brianne designed this art quilt inspired by a rug

Brianne also shared this Tula Pink design

Stephanie made these treat holders for the trick-or-treaters in her neighborhood

November Online Activity: a Modern Classic

For this month's online activity, let's make this cool houndstooth block. Black and white fabric willl make it classic and modern.

12.5" block (dinished size 12")

Photoshop simulation of nine blocks :-)

There are several online tutorials for this block, but they assume you are going to make an entire quilt, so they give clever shortcuts for making lots of the diagonal stripe blocks at once.  So I'll share the method I used to make this darling baby quilt last year.

For each block, you'll need

• 2 3/4" strip of white (or white with low-volume black or grey print) at least 25" long
• 6 1/2" square of the same white
• 2 3/4" strip of black (or black with small grey or white print) at least 25" long
• 6 1/2" square of the same black

Note: 1/4" seams are used throughout.

1) Stitch the two strips right sides together along the long side; press to the dark side.

2) Place a 45° triangle ruler or the corner of a square ruler at one end of the strip with the point on the long side, perpendicular to the end of the strip. Cut an equal sided triangle.

3) Flip or move the ruler up and over so that the left side of the ruler is on the angle cut, and the point is on the opposite long side.  Cut.

 
4) Continue until you have 4 triangles, two with white tips and two with black tips.

5) Put each black-tipped triangle right sides together with a white-tipped triangle and stitch the long side. Press toward the dark.

6) Assemble the striped and solid blocks. The striped blocks should be kiddie-corner with the black points in the center. The solid black and white squares should be diagonally opposite in the other corners.

That's it! Your block should measure 12  1/2" . Bring your block(s) to the December holiday gathering and you might just win them all! See the rules for submission and winning all the blocks here.

October Social Meeting!

Mark your calendars for WEDNESDAY, 26 OCTOBER at 6:00 for our next social meeting at Gallagher's!  Hang out with your fellow modern quilters for food and/or drinks, quilt-talk, and SHOW & TELL!  Bring your WIP's and UFO's for help, inspiration, and motivation!

Gallagher's Eatery & Pub
4210 Stadium Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49008

September Meeting Recap

Hi, all! 

Here's a quick photo recap from September's meeting. Details to follow (aka meeting minutes) in an email. 

Our business meeting was short and sweet so we could move onto the fun stuff--the block giveaway and show and tell! 

Carolyn found these simple but impactful shadow blocks for us to make. Jane P. won them--we can't wait to see what she does with them! 

Jane also showed off her two WIPs from the Jacquie Gering workshop earlier this week. First, a table runner in progress: 

And then a wall quilt:

Lisa showed off her scrappy rainbow star quilt, made from using the made fabric technique she demonstrated at our March meeting. 

Pam shared a man's dress shirt that she converted into a cute maternity shirt as a gift for a friend.

Stephanie shared a quilted notecard case she made (and then generously donated as a giveaway for the group!)

After the meeting, we moved on to our sew-in, with a sweet project to sew! Karen Kortman from Bernina Sewing Center joined us to teach the candy bag zipper pouches featured in Missouri Star Quilt Co.'s Block magazine. Armed with our copies of the magazine for reference, we followed Karen's instructions to transform our favorite candy bags! We may have eaten a little chocolate too...

Here are Karen's samples:

Karen, sharing her experience:

Stephanie and Claire with their bags:

Lynn and Jane:

Jill, proving that you can sew with a baby attached to you! 

 

Pat's M&M bag

Jane's Tootsie Rolls

 Pam helped two visiting friends sew candy bags

Shannon's M&M bags

Love Stephanie's purple skittle bag!

Jeanine's Swedish Fish and Candy Corn M&Ms!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the meeting and the sew-in, and another thank you to Karen for coming to make the candy zipper pouches with us! 

Our next informal meeting will be Wednesday, October 19th, location to be determined. Stay tuned!