October BOM: Eastern Sunrise

Our October block is Eastern Sunrise. When all the blocks are sewn together it creates a striking braid pattern.

The color palette this is month is tequila sunrise.

This is a paper pieced pattern and is very easy to make.  It is important that the background is off-white or crème colored and that all places marked background (BG) are placed exactly as marked on the pattern to create the proper effect of the pattern.  Your pieced block will be reverse of the pattern.  Ellison Lane has a great paper piecing tutorial if you need help with paper piecing.

Please bring your finished block (or blocks!) to our meeting in October!

September Meeting Recap

Greetings from the South Florida MQG! We hope everyone is enjoying the nice autumn weather in South Florida :)

Our September meeting was held on Saturday, September 19th at StitchCraft.

Another packed room for our general meeting.

QAL:

Patti and Kerrilyn talked about our Month 4 blocks from the Improv QAL. We love watching these blocks come together! It's fun to see everyone's different versions from the same tutorial.

Beautiful QAL blocks!

Monthly Topic : Modern Traditionalism

Patti gave a great presentation on Modern Traditionalism.

Part of Patti's talk on Modern Traditionalism

She also invited members to join her for a game of 9-patch password, where they got to try to make 9-patch blocks more modern.

Marilyn junps in to try out Patti's interactive demo.

Mini Challenge: Everyone got to take home a 9-patch block, and instructions to make it more modern. We'll bring in our new, modernized blocks to the October meeting to show off!

Patti showed how we can make a traditional block look more modern.

Patti will also be teaching a Modern - Traditional Workshop this weekend at StitchCraft. Those who join her will learn how to make a modern quilt top like this:

A sample of the Modern Traditional workshop methods.

Logo Competition:

Our members voted on the two finalists for our log competition. Congratulations to our winner, Alyson! (Alyson's logo is on the top). We had many wonderful submissions to vote on, thank you to all who participated, we're very excited to have a new logo!

Logos by Alyson and Charlotte made it to the final vote!

Block of the Month:

Our September block was the sunrise block in low volume prints. Diane Moss won the BOM lottery!

Lots of beautiful BOM blocks in our "Sunset" color palette this month.

We also got to see our upcoming BOMs for October and November. October's block will be paper pieced, in a beautiful, autumn color palette:

Upcoming BOM blocks for October and November.

Show and Tell:

This month, we had a lot of extra projects to show off in Show & Tell.
To start, the participants in our improv workshop showed off their progress on their improv round robin quilts.

yes, that is Patti on the left with a completely finished quilt!



Tonya also used LoriAnn's blocks to show us some ideas on how to piece them all together:

LoriAnn's blocks from the Improv Round Robin workshop



Many of our members brought in some of their Modern Traditional Quilting Projects for Show & Tell

Nicole showed off this modern EPP Hexi quilt

Patti brought in a Modern Traditional star quilt

Rose brought in this supersized log cabin quilt top

Rose also brought in this large star quilt top

Another beautiful quilt top by Rose

Pam brought her Michael Miller challenge quilt from last year

Pam brought this fun quilt, made from a charm pack!

Pam also showed off this quilt, made with improv pieced slabs.

Ivy brought in this modern tumbler quilt

Here's a photo of the back.

Monica made this mini Bee quilt

Kerrilyn brought in this paper pieced butterfly quilt

• Andrea, from the Nominations Council, gave us a progress update on the nominations leading up to our first election, this October.

• Allison announced our opportunity to make our first QuiltCon Charity quilt, as a guild, and enter it in QuiltCon next year. We'll be working on this together for the next few months.

• Charlotte announced 3 upcoming quilt shows (which we'll have exhibits in), more details will be sent via email.

• We are having a Holiday Swap in November, where members will make a small gift and swap during the meeting. Details were sent to members on the 20th, we hope to see you all participate in this fun swap!  
  

Sewcial:
We also had our monthly Sewcial, after the meeting. This is a great opportunity to socialize, get to know some other guild members, and enjoy some hand sewing!

Other News:
Thank you again to all who joined us, can't wait to see you again in October!

Holiday Swap in November

Let's have a fun Holiday Swap at the November Meeting.

Checkout Pinterest board SFMQG SWAP which has @30 quilty tutorials to make.

• Members can make something from this selection using modern fabric - no holiday fabric,
• Wrap it up in modern fabric.
• Bring to November meeting to swap.
• If you make one you take one.

We can all check them out at the Sewcial after the meeting.

Post picture and your experience making it on your Instagram or members Facebook page using the hashtag #sfmqgswap. I'll make a raffle list for each post and someone will win something cute.

We might get some great ideas to make presents for gift giving.
Please only swap something you would love to receive yourself.

September SFMQG Sewcial (Sewing Social)

SFMQG's 2nd Sewcial (Sewing Social) following the general meeting on September 19th 2015.
Free to members and paid general meeting guests.

Several people stayed in August and it was fun to sew and get to know everyone better.
Great in progress work was shown and discussed.
Bring your lunch, hand sewing or quilting.

Because members requested we can allow up to 6 sewing machines.
Please enter Sewcial Machine Request on Contact SFMQ form found on the right side of the blog.
First 6 people get the spaces. You will get confirmation emails either way.

Bring your in-progress projects to share and/or get advise on.

Thanks to StitchCraft for allowing us to use the room the whole day!

Proposal: Amendment to Bylaws regarding VP of Admin

The Executive Council is proposing a change to our Bylaws at our next General Meeting on 19th September.  Normally, our Bylaws would require two-week notice prior to this type of vote. However, as our elections are coming up soon, we felt it was important to raise this issue now, and we hope that our Members will agree to a quick vote in this instance. If you are not able to attend Saturday's meeting, you can vote by proxy (see below). If any members would like to more time to consider this proposal, we’d be happy to hear from you (just comment here, or drop us an email). If there are enough requests, we’ll postpone the vote until October’s meeting. We appreciate your consideration of this matter.

The Executive Council is proposing the following:

Removal of the office of VP of Admin from the guild’s Executive Council.

We are proposing that the office be removed at the time of the next elections. The office was initially created to divide the Presidential responsibilities between two volunteers who were sharing that office. Additionally, many of the VP of Admin responsibilities have been related to the guild as a start-up, and will be completed by the end of 2015. It has always been our intention to have a small Executive Council and eliminating the extra job title would be in keeping with that objective.

The existing passage in our Bylaws:

3.7. Officers:

    3.7.1 President

    3.7.2. Vice President of Programming

    3.7.3. Vice President of Projects

    3.7.4. Vice President of Administration

    3.7.5. Secretary

    3.7.6. Treasurer

And the proposed change:

3.7. Officers:

    3.7.1 President

    3.7.2. Vice President of Programming

    3.7.3. Vice President of Projects

    3.7.4. Secretary

    3.7.5. Treasurer

The vote will be held by a show of hands at the meeting on 19th September (postponement notwithstanding). Members who are not able to attend may nominate a proxy to vote for them at the meeting.  A majority vote will be sufficient to carry this proposed change.

If any members have any questions about the proposal or the vote, please feel free to raise them in our Members-Only Facebook group, or directly to the Executive Council by responding to this email.

Thanks!
Allison
VP of Admin

Logo competition: the finalists

When we launched our logo competition during the summer, we were absolutely delighted to receive thirteen beautiful submissions. We were delighted, but we weren't surprised - because we know how talented our members are.

The Executive Council had the tough job of voting to reduce the thirteen wonderful entries down to just two logos for our final vote. We are pleased to present to you our fabulous finalists:

logo finalist number one

logo finalist number two

The logo which receives the most votes will be used to represent the guild in the future - on our membership cards, website, t-shirts, mugs and totes and as a banner at all events.

We will have a vote at our 19th September meeting. If you are not able to attend the meeting, you can vote online - please drop us a line using the contact form on the website and we'll send you a link.

Happy voting!
Allison
VP of Administration

Modern Traditionalism Mini Workshop

Modern Traditionalism Mini Workshop: 3rd October 2015

led by Patti Auten -  SFMQG VP of Projects

The South Florida Modern Quilt Guild is having fun with Modern Traditionalism...the updating of classic quilt designs.

Our leader for this workshop is our own Patti Auten - SFMQG VP of Projects. Her quilting style over the years has veered more into improvisational styles with bright colors. She's thrilled to have "found her people" in the SFMQ guild. She's happy to use her enthusiasm and teaching skills for The Quilt-A-Long project. Find Patti on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Workshop Description:  

Explore a gentle introduction to improv quilts using traditional nine patch blocks. We'll be using variations of the churn dash and monkey wrench patterns and "making it modern" using improv techniques. Participants will complete blocks for a 36 x 48 mini quilt during the mini workshop. 

Based on TeresaDownUnder's Semi-improv 9-patch quilt tutorial.

SEMI-IMPROV 9-PATCH QUILT TUTORIAL

Workshop  Details:

• Location: StitchCraft 399 S. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL 33432

• Time: 10:30am - 1:30pm - students are welcome to stay till store close at 5pm to continue sewing.

• Space limited to 12 places. Register now to avoid disappointment.

• Cost: $25 ($20 for SFMQG members). 

• Early registration for SFMQG members only Sept 10th - 14th 2015.

Workshop requirements:

• A working sewing machine that you know how to operate with extension cord.

• Basic sewing supplies = scissors, rotary cutter and mat, seam ripper, matching thread, pins, etc.

• A basic knowledge of sewing = straight lines, seam allowance, pressing and quilt construction.

• Materials for quilt top
• 1 Charm Pack OR 40 – 5 x 5 inch squares that coordinate
• 2 Yards of background fabric (I used Kona white cotton)
• Cotton solid scraps in colors that match your charm pack/squares (most useful are longer strips)

• Beginning quilters are welcome!

Please note: early registration is open for SFMQG members only from Sept 10th - 14th 2015. Non-members may register during this period and be placed on a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis.

All registrants will be sent an invoice for the workshop fees, payment can be made via Paypal. You do not need a Paypal account, payment is by credit or debit card.

A full supply list will be sent to all registrants once payment has been received along with instructions for before class sewing so you can get to the fun much sooner!

Register now. 

Improv Round Robin Workshop Encore

I just wanted to thank everyone who attended our first workshop on Saturday and made it such a success.  Also huge thanks to General Provision for providing the wonderful space for us, we had such a blast working in such a cool environment.  Thanks also to Tonya Ricucci for leading us through such a fun day.

I can't wait to see the final results when all of the participants complete their quilts!

Improv Round Robin Workshop Recap

We had a great Improv Round Robin workshop in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, led by Tonya Riccuci.

Quilters showing off their improv starter blocks

Tonya started out by giving us some ideas for preparing and starting our improv pieced quilts. After Tonya helped us make our improv-pieced start blocks, we passed our baskets of fabric and blocks to another quilter. We took 20 minute turns, which was just enough time to whip up another improv block to go with the original. The time went by very quickly!


A few groups of finished blocks - these will make some amazing quilts!

After passing around the baskets several times, everyone had the opportunity to work on 9 different quilts, and ended up with 9 blocks of their own. We then had time to try different layouts, and think of ways to finish the quilt tops. Tonya had some great tips on how to fit the blocks together, and finish the quilt top!



The group talked about layout ideas for everyone's finished blocks.

We had a lot of fun on Saturday, and everyone went home with some amazing blocks, which will turn into some very beautiful quilts. We hope everyone had a great time, and enjoyed trying something new! Thank you to all of the quilters who joined us, and our wonderful teacher, Tonya!

 

We hope you'll consider joining us for our next workshop in October, please keep an eye out for details, coming soon!

September Meeting Topic - Modern Traditionalism

The Modern Quilt Guild states that Modern Traditionalism is the updating of classic quilt designs.

QuiltCon West 2016 Category definitions:
Modern Traditionalism – Quilt design incorporates the use of an identifiable traditional block pattern and modernizes it by applying design elements such as alternate grid work, asymmetry, color, scale, etc.

The Topic for SFMQG meeting on Saturday Sept 19^th 2015 will be Modern Traditionalism presented by Patti Auten.

Wondering how those traditional blocks and patterns fit into our "modern" landscape? Join Patti as she talks about "modern traditionalism", its definition and roots, and ways to "modernize" your traditional quilt squares. There will be a quick session of "Patchwork Password" and a mini take-home challenge!

Checkout Plaid Portico's blog entry where she has full and detailed pictures of the QuiltCon 2015 Modern Traditionalism Quilts.

Wavelength by Lee Heinrich. Mequon, Wisconsin.

Everyone would love to see your Modern Traditionalism quilts - please bring them to show & tell. Even if we have seen them before we’d like to view them again as they relate to the topic.

Patti will also be leading a Modern Traditionalism Mini Workshop on October 3rd 2015 at StitchCraft so Save That Date and stay tuned for details/registration information.