We want your 10 minute Tutorial

We are looking for PMQG members to share their knowledge, we are looking for your ten minute tutes.

The ten minute tutorial; It can be hard to know if your tutorial can be done in ten-minutes but don't worry too much - it is a general guideline, a way to say "this doesn't have to be crazy-involved". It can be hard to know if this object or technique you know is known by everybody but don't worry too much - sure some of us might already know it, but some of us might not. Our guild is made up of every skill level and doesn't it feel awesome to share a tidbit of knowledge. You might open eyes to an entirely new way of doing the same thing, since there is always more than one doing things…. So far we have seen new methods of quilting with a walking foot (more than straight lines!), zipper installation (just one method, among many), pillow making, notebook covers, hand quilting, glue basting and surely I'm forgetting a few.

Do you have an idea for a ten-minute tute? Something you'd be willing to share with fellow PMQG members or even something that you'd love to learn in a ten-minute tutorial, please let us know by emailing portlandmodernquiltquild@gmail.com. At the moment we are hoping to hear about your favorite quick sewn gifts; but all ideas are welcome all the time and we will work with you to figure out the best time to present them.

Come on and speak-up, we are waiting to hear from you.

Meeting 012011

A new year, new officers, new ideas.

Last night's meeting kicked off with a warm welcome from President Christina and quickly segued into Cherri's 10-MINUTE TUTE. "Wonky Argyle Quilting." Find the tutorial on her blog, Sew On. Cherri also had an extra special announcement. She has recently become the ecstatic owner of a long arm quilting machine—and needs you to help her celebrate. Details on her blog and Flickr.

GROUP ACTIVITY

A goal for this year's officers is to create happiness, inspiration, friendship, and excitement. In order to do so we arranged a brainstorm where members counted off into eight groups, chatted among themselves, and then shared their wish lists with the entire group. Everyone provided fabulous ideas and we cannot wait to implement them.

GIVE-AWAYS

Megan, program manager, arranged five fantastic give-a-ways: 1. Tammis Keefe fat quarter pack (4 yards!) donated by the Fat Quarter Shop, 2. gift certificate for a free year of Fat Quarterly. (Member Christina, The Sometimes Crafter has a FQ review on her blog.), 3. & 4. $10 Cool Cottons' Gift Certificate, and 5. $5 Cool Cottons' Gift Certificate!

SHOW-AND-TELL! More oooos and ahhhhhs than normal in this bunch:

nine-patch & solids, by Annie

charm squares sashed in brown—3 or 4 charm sq packs, by Kathie

t-shirt memory quilt—13 years of quilt camp, by Kathie

echino prints backed with minky, by Jill

wonky blue & white log cabin, by Tania Johnston

Squid hexagon madness—project started August, 2010, by Gale

a quilt-along from long ago; the quilting thread matches the color of each fabric, by Lisa

Tokyo Subway Quilt, by Elizabeth

quilt based on an optical illusion, by Leah

Southern Utah Flowers, designs adapted from a flora book—birthday gift for mom, by Brittany Scott

Oregon College of Arts and Crafts Auction quilt (reversable); all fabric is hand-dyed, pieced and designed, by Sarah Laird (quilted by Nancy)

a couch quilt with a "flying geese" border (sort of) and picked fences pattern; her first quilt (no one believed her), by Ale (pronounced Allie)

The Big Zig pattern (Denyse Schmidt), by Ale

ticker tape floor mat—fabric from the Scrappy Strips Swap done along with Heather A la Mode's quilt-along, by Ale

vintage quilt—Violet's husband's great-grandmother made it ca. 1920's; the big squares are embroidered square dancers, the back is barkcloth that has turned ultra soft

Lawn Chair Quilt pattern from Moda Bake Shop done with a jelly roll and honey bun, by Traci Butler

Robert Kaufman helped her find more of the blue solid in the right dyelot and sent her 4 more yards!, by Gaile

quilts for twins—based on the Material Obsession Fanciful Flowers pattern but now with woodland creatures, by Lara

a first quilt "start a quilt" pattern from a book (note: lots of Amy Butler fabric), by Lisa

fabric from Tanzania (formerly clothing), by Rachel, who spent 6 months volunteering in Tanzania

tummy time quilt (tied), by Kimie

scrappy log-cabin (made from scraps), by Tracie

a self-designed quilt with grey "voids," by Tracie

featuring Hope Valley fabrics, Flickr quilt-along, by Jeri

ticker tape sewing machine cover—made with scraps from above quilt, by Jeri

hexagon madness, by Jenn

How we love to share—keep 'em coming ladies!

ATTENTION: FEBRUARY SWAP!

project: "mug rug"—smaller than a placemat, larger than a coaster—for your coffee and your biscuit

specs: 7" x 10"ish, any pattern and fabric you choose

blind swap: bring to February's meeting

Megan's tip: use single binding

THANK YOU PNCA for a year of hosting PMQG meetings!

inspired by the PNCA building exterior, designed by Jill, pieced by Petra and Beverly, appliqued and quilted by Elizabeth

MEMBERSHIP CARDS ARE IN!

get your membership today and get sweet deals at some of your favorite stores!

Phew—until next time my sewing friends, as Cherri would say "sew on!"

A Happy Zombie Halloween at PMQG

Zombies and Halloween go together like pins and pincushions, so The Happy Zombie was the perfect choice for an October presentation to PMQG.  Of course, a little sustenance for our favorite zombie before the meeting seemed appropriate as 43 members settled in for an evening of fun, friends, fabric and inspiration!

Sweets and liquid courage supplied by Jen.

NEWS ABOUT DUES

After new members and visitors were welcomed, Program Chair, Cherri Langley, announced that dues of $25 per year would start in January 2011.  Meetings will remain free; however, benefits of being a dues-paying member will include such perks as free all day sewing days, a mention in the blog sidebar, and discounts at fabric shops.  The dues will help fund special events (e.g., bringing in out-of-state speakers for workshops/trunk shows), paying national Modern Quilt Guild dues, etc.  Although the dues go into effect in January 2011, members may submit dues to Tamara (PMQG Treasurer) at the November meeting.

TEN MINUTE TUTE

Michelle provided a Ten Minute Tute with an organizational theme.  Michelle does a lot of sewing in addition to quilting and came up with a system to organize the many different types of needles that she uses.  She uses notecards in a decorative box to keep the needles organized and handy.  Any needle still in use is stuck through the little piece of gray felt (appropriately enough for October, the felt is leftover from a previous year's Halloween costume).   For more information on types of needles and when to change them, Michelle provided these links:
Sewing Machine Needle Overview:
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3752/sewing-machine-needles-an-overview
Machine Needle Overview:
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3751/machine-needle-know-how

Michelle also showed a beautiful binder that she uses for other sewing organizational and reference purposes, including a stitch sampler, pocket for her sewing machine manual, etc.  Thank you Michelle for sharing your functional and creative ideas!  Enjoy your gift certificate to Cool Cottons.

PRESENTATION BY THE HAPPY ZOMBIE

Monica was inspirational and entertaining, with plenty of amusing stories to tell.  Monica Solorio-Snow was discovered (much like Lana Turner) after years of drawing and playing around with design (since 7th grade in Mrs. Gruffman's class.  My apologies to Mrs. G. if the name is misspelled).  

Copies of Monica's Glow Happy quilt pattern were provided at the meeting.  

Monica designs for Lecien.  Her current line is Holiday Happy, with another line coming out in 2011.

The cute bag in Holiday Happy fabric was made for Monica by her friend and partner-in-crime, Pam (aka Pam Kitty Morning).

In addition to fabric, quilts, and other sewing projects, Monica showed the group some beautiful Lecien Cosmo embroidery floss and how to make a portable design wall.

Monica donated several giveaways for the evening, including fabric and the portable design wall!

Thank you, Monica, for great inspiration and keeping us in stitches! 

OCTOBER SWAP

What could be in these plain, brown bags?

A variety of charming and colorful pincushions for a swap!  Here are just a few examples:

 SHOW AND TELL

This is always a special part of the evening, and PNCA cooperated with a little Halloween-appropriate artwork in the background....  

 Jeri

 Katie

 Tracie

 Back of Tracie's quilt.

 Kristen

 Back of Kristen's quilt.

 Autumn

 Jenn

 Jenn

 Cherri

 Petra

 Mary Ann (Quilts for Kids kit)

 Laura

 Jen

Back of Jen's quilt.

Christina

GIVEAWAYS

Sprinkled throughout the evening were a variety of giveaways (with some donated by Monica and Elizabeth): fabric, a quilting magazine, fabric, the portable design wall, fabric, Elizabeth Hartman's book (The Practical Guide to Patchwork), fabric, a mini Halloween tote, and -- of course -- more fabric!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Book Signing with Elizabeth Hartman + Sewing Night

November 13th @ Modern Domestic from 5-9 pm

PMQG Monthly Meeting*

November 18th @ PNCA from 7-9 pm

*This meeting will feature a fabric, materials, and craft swap and sale.  "Vendors" may bring their goodies as early as 6:30 to set-up; however, the doors will be closed to "shoppers/swappers" until 7:00.  

No pre-shopping, ladies!

If you plan to bring items to sell or swap, please contact Cherri via this discussion page on flickr.  Her email is also available on that page.

*There will be a Give and Get Gift Swap starting at the November meeting and ending at the December meeting: Fill a sandwich size ziplock bag with pieces of your favorite fabrics -- any size -- as long as it all fits in the baggie.  Write your name and email address on a tag and enclose it in the baggie.  Bring the baggie to the November meeting for a swap.  You will make a quilted gift using only the fabrics in the baggie + one additional fabric of your choice.  Bring the finished creation to the December meeting to return to the original fabric owner and receive your gift made from the fabrics you donated.

Questions can be posted to the PMQG flickr group page - Portland Modern Quilters.

Whew! How much quilty goodness can Portland Modern Quilters fit into one meeting? 

Well, you've just seen it!  What will November bring?....

I feel that I may have missed at least one quilt from Show and Tell.  Please contact me with any corrections/additions to the "minutes" of this meeting: joanhcallaway@comcast.net.

Dyeing to create

Despite back-to-school activities for many, 34 Portland Modern Quilters brought their interest and enthusiasm to Pacific Northwest College of Art (thank you, PNCA!!!) to learn and share.  Jen started us off with a few announcements and a Ten Minute Tute on pincushions, which were then given away after the tutorial.

Kimberly won this orange pincushion,

and Cathy was the recipient of this red and blue pincushion.

A gift bag donated by Christina was also given away --

-- and won by Traci.

Elizabeth gave a presentation on fabric dyeing --

which covered overdyeing print fabrics (using iDye or fiber reactive dye), beer cup dying (including improv dying and value scales), and discharging with bleach.

Elizabeth gave away a bag of fabric dyeing supplies and displayed equipment, samples, and resources.

Show and Tell

Elsa shared her version of Elizabeth's New Wave quilt

and this child's car quilt.

Nancy shared this very large quilt made from sketches she made on a trip to Georgia.

Unfortunately, the pictures of the whole quilt did not turn out.  Nancy, we hope you will post a picture to the Portland Modern Quilters Flickr group so we can enjoy your quilt in its entirety.

Annie shared this embellished quilt,

and Gail made this quilt, in her first attempt at creating poster art with fabric.

Remember these free fabric samples from last month?

Jenn already used her fabric to make this quilt top using a Schnibbles "X-rated" pattern.

Tobey made this version of Kate Conklin's Wonky Donkey quilt for her son --

Sally shared her first quilt

and this quilt made in a machine quilting class.

Violet was begged into showing this quilt, which she was still stitching on during the meeting.

Front,

flannel back,

and quilt label.

This is how the quilt top looked at the very first PMQG meeting.


This happy turtle quilt came in after the end of the meeting, missing show and tell, but I was able to grab a photo of it -- Thanks, Laura.

Discussion and Announcements
The meeting ended with some discussion regarding the possibility of dues, adding a business section to meetings, problems with the blog forum, hosting a website, and utilizing Flickr.

Due to technical difficulties, the blog forum will be removed, and in the meantime, we will use the Portland Modern Quilters Flickr group for discussions and sharing photos.

Next month we will be having a pincushion swap, so make one up any way you please and bring it in a plain brown paper bag.  It should be fun to see what everyone creates!  Maybe we'll even see a little hand dyed fabric....