First PMQG Blog Giveaway!

Welcome to the first ever 
PMQG blog giveaway!

10 prizes -- 10 winners!

Two lucky winners will each receive two sets of hexagon templates in the sizes of their choice (1/2" to 2") + 25 pre-cut hexagon papers in each size chosen.  

Acrylic laser cut and etched hexagon templates.  Each set contains 2 Hex templates:
1 for cutting out the paper to fold the fabric around and
1 for cutting out the fabric (including seam allowance)

Templates and papers donated by Jill Collins (Made on Main Street
and can also be seen in her etsy store, TabSlot.


 Christina (The Sometimes Crafter) has donated 5 patterns from her etsy shop
one for each of five lucky winners:


Patchwork Memories Quilt




We also have a copy of the Little Monsters quilt from Don't Look Now.
The quilt finishes to 82" x 61" and the pattern includes instructions for two matching pillows.


Pattern donated by Robin Christensen
 
Need some batting for your next project?  How about some Warm and White (twin size),
donated by Jen Bailly (Betty Crocker Ass)?



And finally, a special pincushion from Cindy (Live a Colorful Life).
The winner of this item can choose any of Cindy's adorable selvage pincushions from her shop,
Sewing on the Edge


And that brings us to a total of 10 prizes for 10 different winners.
Thank you so much Jill, Christina, Robin, Jen, and Cindy!

Each person entering the giveaway has up to three chances to win:
(1) leave a comment below,
(2) follow this site (see follow button on the right side of he blog), then leave a second comment indicating that you became a follower or are already a follower,
(3) blog about this giveaway and come back and leave a comment about that.

All are welcome to enter the giveaway and follow the PMQG blog -- you don't have to be local.

The winners will be randomly drawn at 5:00 p.m., PST on Monday, July 5.

Good luck, everyone, and thanks for visiting the PMQG blog!

Laura Gunn! Fabric designer @Modern Domestic

Laura Gunn fabric designer will be at Modern Domestic , Thursday, July 8,
from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Laura, of Paint in my hair describes herself: "I'm Laura Gunn-- a mother, artist, designer, and compulsive crafter." (sounds like some other people I know!)

Her latest collection for Michael Miller is Poppy comes in three color ways and can be found at Bolt! Of course, there will be great giveaways!  Stay tuned for the time.

Keeping up with PMQG -- June 2010

Portland may have experienced more than the usual amount of rain this Spring, but it does not seem to have dampened the spirit or creativity of the Portland Modern Quilters.  And the weather was very pleasant for our June Sewing Night at Modern Domestic at the beginning of the month.  

Lupine of Modern Domestic assists Tamara with a sewing machine. 

Nothing like new, modern machines -- silent and smooth.

We all fell in love with this project started by Tania (more on this later in the post).

Bags and totes of all shapes and styles were one of many conversational topics of the Portland Modern Quilters while sewing.  Megan brought this project all cut out and ready to go and had a finished bag by the end of the evening!  It's amazing what can be accomplished in one PMQG Sewing Night!  

Megan wanted to use this wonderful orange button, but the pattern called for a larger one, 
so she layered them!
The pattern for the Margaret Bag, designed by our own Elizabeth Hartman, is free and available here.

Thank you MD for providing this wonderful giveaway case full of fabric and sewing goodies.
Congratulations, Wendy!

 We also managed another beautiful evening for our monthly PMQG meeting at  
Pacific Northwest College of Art, with 40 members in attendance.

I started the evening off with a presentation on my participation in the Lazy Gal Liberated Amish 2010 Get Together, including my trip to San Francisco in April to see the Amish Abstractions exhibition at the DeYoung Museum.  Although one purpose of the presentation was to inform, it was also to inspire and challenge and perhaps shake up our own ideas about what is modern and what is traditional.  It was a delight to present to such a receptive and interactive audience.


Next up was Violet Craft, sharing pictures from Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis.  Violet made the trip not  as a buyer for her children's clothing line, Kung Fu Bambini, but rather to present her new fabric collection with Michael Miller, which you can look for in early 2011. 
Congratulations, Violet!  We can't wait to see your name on that selvage!

Through Violet's presentation we learned about School Houses and book release parties and saw pictures of booths and quilting peeps, the Market quilt show, and Elizabeth's New Wave and Birch quilts on display. Eye candy galore!

And we finished the evening with our usual Show and Tell, but with a theme:  
First quilts and last quilts.  And here they are:

Ciara's first quilt...

...and a more recent quilt...

...and another.

Elsa briefly talked about Hobo quilts and showed Hobo blocks.  

Wendy shared her first quilt and asked for advice about quilting.

 This denim (from old jeans) tied quilt was Michelle's first and remains in use for picnics and camping. 

Michelle's latest project -- Hello, Kitty!

 Amber's first quilt...

...and more recent project. 

Tamara's first quilt...

...and a recent project.

Megan's first quilt...
...and recent project made with charm squares from our May swap.
The background fabric and backing are Ikea sheets.

Kristin's first quilt...

Kristin's most recent project, inspired by the Dear Jane quilt.

Patty's first quilt.

Patty's recent quilt in Oregon State colors for her husband.

 This is Brittany's first quilt, made when she was just 8 years old.  She claims she was very stubborn and refused to quilt it or tie it.

And here is Brittany's more recent Alice in Wonderland project.

Jen shared this quilt where she played with color and value.

Elizabeth shared her first quilt, which contained home tie-dyed fabric,
and then several more recent quilts:

Paint Box quilt front...

...and back.

Picture Day front...

...and back.

Canasta Quilt front...

and back.

Stamp Collection quilt front...

...and giant gingham back.

One of Tania's first quilts...

..and Tania's lasted project (remember this from the Sewing Night photos at the top of the post?).
This project was inspired by a Jean Wells class and her book, Intuitive Color and Design (C & T Publishing, 2009), and was finished as an "Off the Wall" quilt (see Jean's book).

Katie and Amber have started making and distributing these meeting badges:
How cool is this?!?!

Members still needing buttons can go to the ning site and leave a message on this forum.

THANK YOU to:

Marcia for leading the meeting in Jenn's absence.
Lisa for confident tech support.
PNCA and Modern Domestic for great places to meet, work, and hang out.
And for everyone's patience with my iPhone pics after losing my camera at the last meeting.  I got a new camera yesterday (a day too late for the meeting), so things should improve equipment-wise (although not necessarily technique-wise ;).

July News:
No sewing night at Modern Domestic on the first Saturday due to the Fourth of July.
Next meeting Thursday, July 25.  Look for more details coming soon on the ning website events.

And last, but not least, I'm thinking we should have a blog giveaway.  
If you have anything you'd like to donate toward that effort I would really appreciate it!

Joan Callaway - PMQG Secretary

A charming evening

Our May 2010 meeting took place at PNCA on May 20th.  Thirty quilters were in attendance and expressed appreciation to Katie Sciarrino for designing our logo, which she and Amber are making into name tag buttons.


Elizabeth Hartman gave a brief presentation on the history of charm quilts and charm squares. Historically, charm quilts contained only one piece of each fabric.  Charm quilts were seen as early as the 1870's and have had occasional resurgences in popularity over the years.  Today, charm packs of 5" fabric squares are widely available by many manufacturers.  Elizabeth discussed several uses for charms in quilts and invited any interested members to complete a project to bring back for show and tell.

Each member brought charm squares for swapping and it took two large and two smaller tables to hold them all.  We were an incredibly quiet and polite group as we surrounded the tables to choose and count our charms.  Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the charms or the swap process as I left my camera in the classroom and am still hoping that it finds its way back to me.  In the meantime, I will try to make do with my iphone camera.

These 40 squares went home with me.

Following our charm swap Jen, Tania, Tobey, Tracie, Anne, Lisa P., Cherri, Linda, Wendy, and Lisa B shared quilts for show and tell.  If my camera is found or if any other members took pictures to share, I will come back and post them here as an update.


Robert Kaufman donated several charm packs of their beautiful Kona Cotton solids via Elizabeth.

And the winners were:  
Sorrell, Elise, Lisa B., Anne, and Kristin

Thank you Robert Kaufman!


Jill Collins donated several packs of rulers that she is designing and manufacturing with her husband.
And the winners were:
Circles -- Beverly
Squares -- Katherine
Hexagons -- Karen

Thank you Jill!


From now on, Saturday Night Sewing at Modern Domestic will be the first Saturday of the month, making our next sewing night June 5.  Lupine of MD is putting together a large basket of goodies as a raffle prize for us!


The next regular meeting of PMQG will be June 17 from 7 - 9 at PNCA.
I will be giving a presentation on a bit of a journey I have been taking this year in 
using solids 
and exploring liberated quiltmaking,

including a virtual field trip of my visit to the Amish Abstractions exhibition at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco in April.


After the presentation, there will be a show and tell of first quilts and most recent quilts.


Joan Callaway, PMQG Secretary



The excitement builds...


Originally posted FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2010

by Joan Callaway

Thursday, April 22, was the second meeting of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and we enjoyed meeting at a new location, Pacific Northwest College of Art, in the Pearl District in Portland. It is a nice, central location, and they are friendly and seem genuinely happy to have us use their space. 
The energy and excitement of gathering so many  passionate quilters together at one time is electrifying.  Who else could get so excited over -- POTHOLDERS!  Welcome to our potholder swap.

We all made and brought potholders in any fabric or style desired and wrapped them in plain brown wrapping, depositing them in this large (almost not large enough) soup pot.  Each member chose a package, and as our Program Chair, Cherri, would say, mass unwrapping ensued.  I got the very last package left as I was so busy watching everyone opening their potholders and taking pictures.  There was so much inspiration and so many big smiles.

Amber and Tania


Leah...

...who made this brightly colored potholder that went home with me :).

This lovely lady opened my potholder, and I was so pleased that she looked really happy, I forgot to get her name!  This is the first potholder I've ever made, and my first grommet, too.  It was an act of courage just to mark on and then cut a hole in something I'd just made!  

Cherri gave brief demonstration on how to make these wonderful cathedral window-ish potholders.  See the peek-a-boo fabric in the center?  The larger fabric triangles were originally sewn to the back and then flipped to the front.  I was busy taking notes and pictures, so I think I'm going to need a refresher course, Cherri.

Tobey went home with the book Pretty Little Potholders, donated by Lark books.  

Everyone went home with a little package of Insulbright, donated by the Warm Company.

We ended with a little impromptu show and tell.  Tamara had just received a couple of quilts that had been professionally long arm quilted.


Lovely finished quilts by Tamara:


 Marcia shared this quilt -- one that she is finally keeping for herself.  While she was very humble about the simplicity and ease of the pattern, is there anything better than a design of simple shapes done beautifully?  There is a lot to be said about the beauty of simplicity.  The wonderful long arm quilting on this was done by Nancy.

You will have to forgive this horrible picture, but I just had to try to give you an idea of what one member did, inspired by a design on Project Runway.  These blocks were made by pleating this fabric:

A real labor of love!

Seriously.  Would you actually risk getting marinara sauce on one of these?

Too excited to sleep


Originally Posted THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010

by Joan Callaway

Tonight was the first meeting of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, brought about by the efforts of Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Fransson!). We came from all over the area: north, south, east, west -- approximately 25 of us. We shared our passion for quilting, our fabric addictions, and our hopes that we are never cured. We shared ideas, inspiration, laughter, and projects from zippered pouches to pillows to quilts of every shape, size, and use. We talked about husbands who don't quite get it, making tiny design walls for daughters, the things we learned from our mothers and grandmothers, the things we've learned on our own along the way, and the things we hope to do in the future. Lots of sharing. More laughter. And plenty of eye candy:




















Yes -- I'm definitely too excited to sleep.