Sunday, October 16, 2016

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
  • 3/4" strip of black (or black with small grey or white print) at least 25" long
  • 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.


Tuesday, October 4, 2016

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

Monday, September 26, 2016

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!