MareMare 1/17/15 MareMare 1/17/15

Scott Hansen Painted Forest Workshop Sign-ups--Now Open

Are you looking forward to March? Dreary March in Portland can be a drag, but I've got a way to lighten it up! Scott Hansen is coming to town and teaching PMQG members an awesome, colorful workshop! I've been intrigued by his Painted Forest pattern since I first saw it a year ago, and now we can all learn from the designer himself! As a fun bonus Scott will be selling patterns and other items at the meeting AND giving PMQG members a 15% discount to his online store through the end of March. The discount will be sent to guild members via email.

Read on for more details about Scott, his patterns, and details for his March 20th workshop with sign-ups opening this Monday, January 19th.

Have you met Scott? When I met him, he handed me a nickel that was painted blue (his company is named Blue Nickel Studios). You never forget a person that pulls a genius move like that! I know you'll have a blast with him when he comes to lecture and teach a workshop in March.

Here is a bit about Scott in his own words:

Scott is the Mad Color Scientist at Blue Nickel Studios which he runs from his rural home in the Pacific Northwest, sort of smack in between the Cascade Mountains and the suburbs of Seattle.

He has been quilting for more than half of his life now, and doesn’t see fit to change that any time soon. He has designed and created quilts for many fabric manufacturing companies and has had other quilt designs featured in many leading quilt magazines. He speaks and teaches locally and regionally, sharing his work and quilts. Scott is thrilled to be preparing to spend his third week teaching at the Quilters’ Affair program that is part of the world famous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon this July. He is Community editor for Generation Q Magazine on the side, as well as working full-time at Costco to keep a bit of steady cash flow.

He still maintains a blog at www.bluenickelstudios.com even if he’s not sure anyone really reads them anymore and sells his patterns in his Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/BlueNickelStudios. You can follow him on IG at http://instagram.com/bluenickelstudios He’s there the most often.

In his spare time, he tries to maintain his sanity along with the house he built and acreage he thinks can still be the park he envisioned 20+ years ago. He is married to his wife of 25+ years, Linda, a talented mixed-media/doll-loving artist herself, and they have three young adult children, who give them all sorts of joy and challenges as they are stretching their wings to leave the nest. He loves God, his family, trees, architecture, gardens, color, cats, vintage and modern textiles, art, pattern, meeting new people, design, Christmas, fashion, his curly mustache, and a great many other marvelous people, ideas, and things.

What: Painted Forest Workshop (see description and supply list below)
Who: Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios
When: Friday, March 20th from 9-5
Where: St. Andrew Church, 806 NE Alberta St., in the Oscar Romero room, which is up a wheelchair accessible ramp to the right side of the gym where we hold our meetings.
Price: $72 plus you will need to purchase and print PDF pattern with discount code before workshop

Class description:

Painted Forest 59 ½” x 60”

Intermediate

Have a blast making your own little forest in whatever colors you chose. Scott helps you make your own unique trees using a variety of blocks already mapped out and then you can arrange and rearrange the parts to “plant” them anywhere you want in your quilt. Autumn? Get your fall colored scraps together. A black and white forest on a backdrop of a variety of reds? Super Dramatic! A Winter forest with not a leaf to be seen? You can do that too! The sky’s the limit on these fun blocks.

Supply List:

Sewing machine with ¼ inch foot or at least your ability to make accurate ¼ inch seams, rotary cutter, cutting mat, and 18” or longer straight ruler (a shorter one would be handy too, but not necessary),thread, and other basic sewing supplies: seam ripper, pins, etc.

Highly recommended:

Finger presser for “in between” pressing (there is a lot of pressing needed in this project)

Small rotating cutting mat (there is a lot of trimming in this project)

Fabric list:

2 yards or more -- Assorted print fabrics for the “leafy” bits

1 yard -- Assorted solids or “near” solids for the branches and trunks

(each tree needs 2” x WOF, and there are 14 trees in the pattern)

3 yards -- Assorted background prints or solids (each tree takes less than a fat quarter)

Optional: Digital device to save your layout options

The workshop is now on saIe. Please fill out the sign-up form below. Workshop is open to PMQG members only until March 1st, then it will be open to the public if there are still unsold spaces. When we receive your sign-up form we will email a confirmation. If you for some reason do not receive an email confirmation within 24 hours, please send an email to PMQGevents@gmail.com

Price of workshop is $72, via Square only plus workshop attendees will need to purchase the pdf pattern before the workshop. Pattern originally $10 but will b $8.50 with the 15% discount Scott is generously giving guild members through the end of March. No refunds are given for cancellation unless your spot can be re-sold.

Portland Modern Quilt Guild 6/13/14 Portland Modern Quilt Guild 6/13/14

Mini Trunk Show: Meet the Quilters

Our June meeting will feature mini trunk shows from seven accomplished PMQG members, who will show some of their work and talk about what modern quilting means to them.

Who are these talented ladies, you ask? Read on—and check out their blogs for more!

Pétra Anderson

When I was growing up there was always some form of art in my life. My Granny painted; my Mom did ceramics, sewed, and eventually made art quilts. I received a BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute and continued my "art career" in the retail industry as a makeup artist and working at Art Media after moving to Portland in 1993. Then I ventured into teaching art to children, and also started an Etsy business making knitting-needle holders.

Then everything turned into kids and family. After my life calmed down a bit I was ready to be creative again. My goal was to start painting again but then I made my first quilt and I was hooked! I also started a blog in 2009 (here is my first post). I had no idea what I was doing, or that there were other bloggers doing exactly what I was doing—and then I found this wonderful community through PMQG.

My quilting philosophy stems directly from my fine art background, where I painted a lot of abstract art landscapes and had a bold use of color. I approach a lot of my quilts by starting with sketches and also just improvising on my design wall with blocks of fabric. I love improv piecing and quilting but I also enjoy working from patterns some and focusing more on fabric choice and color. Of course I have always been addicted to fabric and hope to take things a step further by getting into fabric design in the future.

Blog: Sew Paint Create

Instagram, Flicker, Twitter: @CreativeMomPDX

Jen Carlton Bailly is a self-taught sewist who learned to sew from online tutorials. Before she began sewing she graduated from the Art Institute of Seattle in fashion marketing. Having a love of textiles, fashion, and art, sewing/quilting was a natural progression and a quick addiction. She finds inspiration in everything from an old dresser drawer to a run-down Portland building. Currently working full-time from home as the communications manager for the Modern Quilt Guild, she spends every free minute sewing.

Blog: bettycrockerass.com

Susan Beal is the author of seven books, including Modern Log Cabin Quilting, Sewing for all Seasons, Bead Simple, and Button It Up. She’s also the historian for the Modern Quilt Guild, a contributing editor at Stitch magazine, and the mother of two little children, Pearl and Everett. Her Pearl's Rainbow Charm Bracelet (quilted by Nancy Stovall) is part of the PMQG Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show special exhibit for 2014, and a new version of the quilt pattern will be published in Scraps, Inc. later this year.

Susan also teaches log cabin quilting classes for Creativebug, and her new book of sewing projects with Pendleton wool, Hand-Stitched Home, comes out in September.

Blog: West Coast Crafty

Instagram: @westcoastcrafty

Christina Cameli fell in love with quilting as a folk art more than a decade ago. She spends her sewing time experimenting with fabric, using up scraps, and finishing her quilts on her home sewing machine. She works primarily without patterns, enjoying the surprise of letting quilts develop as they go. She loves to share enthusiasm for quilting with anyone who is

excited to try it. Christina believes quilting is for everyone, regardless of budget or style or experience. She sees quilting as an art—a living, breathing art that we are all creating together.

Christina's special interest is in helping quilters become comfortable with free-motion quilting. She has a series of free-motion quilting tutorials on her blog, and is the author of “First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting: 24 Projects for Fearless Stitching”.

Blog: A Few Scraps

Rachel Kerley

A founding member of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, Rachel has been quilting ever since she found some squares, drafted her own pattern, and proceeded to make every mistake imaginable. After making a couple of hundred tops, quilting and finishing a couple hundred more, Rachel has grown her piecing and quilting skills and can easily communicate her vision of creating simple, artful utility quilts. Drawing on her art education, her love of Art Deco, and her ongoing delight with the simple circle, Rachel designs most of her own patchwork and applique.

Rachel quilts freehand on an Innova 22" longarm machine. "I like the idea of the quilting being uniquely mine, no quilt is ever repeated exactly the same. And the idea of being able to reinterpret older quilting motifs from my own perspective gives me great joy. Quilting is something that gives me a chance to connect to the women before me, to connect with my own sense of Womanhood and to women around me."

Rachel tends to work in series in her home studio, making bed quilts of various sizes, with each quilt as an opportunity to express herself. She has also collaborated with other artists and worked for manufacturers.

Instagram: @2ndavestudio

Christina Lane

I have been sewing since I was a little girl, when my mom gave me many pushes to try it. I can't say I was particularly interested, but I had a lot of fun making things with her and my grandmother. I loved to dissect objects and figure out how they were made and then make them myself, to my own specifications. I started quilting in my teens, but really went full force into it after my step dad died in my early 20s. It was my therapy, and still is today. I especially love drawing graphic quilts, figuring out the math and placement for a quilt top, and making it happen. I love the whole process.

My quilting philosophy: Enjoy the process. Society has this instant gratification problem. We want it now. Quilting isn't an instant kind of thing. It takes time. You have to figure out your pattern, cut your fabric, sew your pieces, rip a few seams, square your blocks, assemble the top, assemble your backing, sandwich the quilt, quilt it, bind it... A lot goes into making a quilt. You're going to be working on it for awhile, so you should enjoy the process. See the beauty in each step. By taking your time and enjoying the process you will not only have a greater love for quilting, but also an end product you are happier with. Taking your time has never been a bad thing in any endeavor.

Christina is the author of Quilting Happiness (Aug 2013, Potter Craft)

Blog: Sometimes Crafter

instagram: @SometimesCraftr

Cherri Langley

I love surface design, unusual color combinations and clever cutting and piecing techniques. I have made over 100 rotary cut, paper pieced or improv quilts. I love quilts with fussy cut elements and traditional block designs reinterpreted in a modern way. I appreciate quilts that are full of pattern and color and showcase quality construction techniques.

Pétra 10/25/12 Pétra 10/25/12

October Guild Meeting

Our October meeting was bursting at the seams as usual! Petra was able to catch a few photos of the crowd, so many friendly faces! :)

Susan sharing announcements.

Everyone shared their beautiful & innovative use of stripes and chevrons for our Michael Miller challenge. Such an impressive showcase of amazingness! Thanks of giving us this unique challenge, Michael Miller! A few of these projects are on their way to Quilt Market, too!

Also, we've seen these before, but it's fun to see them all together! We will have a poll on this blog soon, asking everyone to vote for which quilt should be entered in the QuiltCon collaborative quilt category. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here for all the details! You don't want to miss the opportunity to submit your own quilt!

Special Speaker: Angela Walters!

We were so pleased to be able to share Angela Walters with MQX this weekend. She shared with us many of her stunning quilts and gave us pointers for our own quilts.

Show & Tell

Petra's quilt that she made for her son, Avery.

Back

Petra's scrappy quilt from Scrap Republic. Quilted by Rachel Kerley

Cherri Langley "I hope you love birds too" Design from Ashley at Film in the Frig - I finally collected all four color ways of the paint by number birds, an "older" fabric line. The last colorway I found in Austrailia!