Friday, October 21, 2016

In September ...



We made more placemats to donate to Friendship Trays! Fun to watch everyone creating!

Meeting this Tuesday

Friends, our next meeting is this coming Tuesday, October 25, from 6-8 at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, Ministry Hall, room D.

We'll have a book swap/sale so if you have books you want to pass on, bring them. Price them low in dollar multiples and bring your own change.

If you're buying, bring dollar bills.

Also, if you have recent modern quilting books you'd like to donate to our library, you can bring them.

As always, bring your projects and quilts to show and share!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A thank you from Project Linus

Guild friends - we received this note from member, Iris Prandl. We wanted to share it with you since so many of you have shared fabric, batting, and other supplies with Iris for her sewing for Project Linus. Read the letter below, sent from a mother whose daughter received a blanket from Project Linus and know that your gifts DO make a difference! You might want to have a tissue at hand ...


 
"I just wanted to say thank you. 3 years ago this month my son Nolan was born and rushed into the NICU. Although we knew this would happen ahead of time and the staff at the hospital were amazing, this was an extremely difficult time.

One morning we went to visit Nolan to find a basket on the window bench of his room. Someone had learned that Nolan had a 4 year old sister and gave her a basket from her little brother.
The basket had some coloring supplies, 2 teddy bears (one green the other white), and a blanket with a tag that said Project Linus. 

Katie chose to give the white bear to Nolan to go to Heaven with and to this day says the green one was given to her by her brother.

For about the first 2 years Katie slept with her "Nolan Blanket" every night and cuddled with it every time she was missing him. She truly believes that he asked someone to make it for him special to give to his big sissy. It doesn't matter that he never made a sound, that is what we told her and because she was so young and she loves her Nolan Blanket so much, she believes it without question. 

Although the Nolan Blanket is now folded safe in the top of the closet and she doesn't depend on it as she used to, she still asks for it to be taken down every once in a while (3 years later) because it makes her feel close to the brother she barely got to know, it still brings her comfort and love.
Something as simple and small as a basket with a blanket in it made a big difference in my life but it made a HUGE difference in my daughter's life. So thank you for what you do."

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

August update and September plans!

Guild friends - just a few notes from our August meeting and a reminder for our next meeting ...

Coats and Clark did our July program. They wanted us to know about an exhibit they are sponsoring. Wild Fabrications features 38 art quilts created by textile artists from around the world. These stunningly vivid and masterfully crafted quilts feature nature themes, portraying animals both realistically and imaginatively in a riot of vibrant colors, patterns and textures. The intricate detail and dimensionality of these stitched works will delight, inspire, and fascinate children and adults alike. The exhibit is at the York County Culture and Heritage Museum from October 11, 2016 until February 26, 2017.

We will be electing new officers at our October meeting. We need to elect and president and vice-president (or two co-presidents), Treasurer, Program Planning Committee, and Swaps Committee. If you are interested in serving in any of these roles, please contact the guild via our gmail -cltmqg@gmail.com

We have a library and it's full of great quilting books! But, we have more than we need. We'll have a sale in October and pass on some of our library books for $1. If you have books in your own collection that you'd either like to sell or donate to the guild to sell or add to the library, bring them to the October meeting.

Our program for August was a Webinar from the Modern Quilt Guild entitled Definition: Modern Quilts with Mary Fons. It was very interesting and informative. If you'd like to view it, you can do so at this link. 

Our upcoming September meeting - A Sew In!

For our September meeting, we will have a sew in to make more placemats for Friendship Trays. Bring any orphan blocks that you have and we will turn them into placemats. Feel free to bring your sewing machine, if it's portable, other fabric for making placemats, batting, thread, scissors, and whatever tools you have to share. 

We'll have extension cords and power strips, ironing boards and irons.

It will be a fun evening that you won't want to miss!


Saturday, September 17, 2016

A gift from the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild

We received an email last week from the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild offering one of their "blue heart" quilts for the family of Officer Brackeen, a Shelby police officer, who was killed this past week. We were so moved by the compassion and generosity of the Fort Worth Guild.

Please read:

"We heard about the horrible shooting of Officer Brackeen in Shelby and would like to extend one of our blue heart quilts to the officer's family.  We (Dallas and Fort Worth MQG's) have had so much support for our fallen and injured officers that we would like to return the kindness.  Many Carolina quilters sent in blocks to help with our #quiltsforpeace initiative.

Through the initiative, not only have we given quilts to our officers and family members, we have sent quilts to Baton Rouge MQG and San Diego MQG for their fallen and injured officers.  On the map you look to be the local MQG for Shelby. If this is correct, we are asking if you would accept one of our #quiltsforpeace and pass it along to the Shelby Police Department so they can give it to the Brackeen family."


Thank you, Fort Worth quilters. We will be honored to deliver this very special gift to the Brackeen family.

August meeting, Show and Share

 Just a few of the lovely quilts that were shared at our August meeting:


Kelleigh's alphabet quilt, front and back


 
Diane has been making small squares with a red center for a while. Here are some of the ways she used those squares in quilts.

 Dee's, Debbie's, and Iris's  beautiful quilts!

Mark your calendar now for our September meeting. 
Tuesday, September 27, from 6-8 at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Upcoming August Meeting!

Our regular monthly meeting is this Tuesday, August 30, from 6-8 PM at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, Ministry Center, Room D.

As always, bring your projects, finished and unfinished, to show and share!

Our program will be one of the Modern Quilt Guild's Creative Webinars: Definition of Modern Quilt with Mary Fons.

Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

July Meeting Show and Share

Guild friends - I hated to miss the gathering at Quilted Thimble Cottage last night, but duty called. After a couple of full days, moving my 89 and 84 year old parents into a smaller home, it was a delight to see these photos in my inbox this morning! Thanks for Jessie for taking them and sending them my way, so I can share them with you. For all of you who were at the meeting last night, feel free to comment with details, captions and oohs and ahs. More to come on upcoming swaps, meetings, and more!







Wednesday, July 20, 2016

June Program - Coats and Clark - All About Thread!

Our Program for the month was Lynn Browne from Coats and Clark. Lynne talked about thread and all the different kinds that are out there for almost every job. She was kind enough to bring some freebies in for us all. Her handout included a Thread Catalog, showing their full line of threads. She highlighted some of their threads including General Purpose, Paper Piecing, Hand Quilting, Outdoor, Jeans and Topstitching and Glow in the Dark threads. Who knew there were sooo many different kinds of threads. Lynn had multiple sample projects showing each kind of thread and we learned a lot!

Visit the Coats website at  http://www.makeitcoats.com 

and their blog at http://coatsandclarksewingsecrets.com/


Lynn Brown from Coats and Clark with all her thread and one of several sample quilts!

June's Show and Share:
 

Liz's quilt from left over sari fabric scraps
 
 Debbie's quilt for a guy

 A Rainbow Charity quilt for Pulse

 A beautiful red work quilt made from 2.5 inch strips that a friend was tired of! So beautiful!

June meeting update

Now that we've all got July's meeting on the calendar, how about an update from last month?! Thanks to Jessie and Kelleigh for the pictures and notes, since I was unable to be at the meeting.

Hi All! Hope you are all surviving the weather. It is certainly July in the South. I say stay in and spoil your sewing machine with lots of attention. Here is the run down from the meeting last month. 

-We were able to renew the church for the coming year. The dates for meetings are: July 26, Aug 30, Sept 27, Oct 25, Dec 6, Jan 31, Feb 28, Mar 28, Apr 25, May 30, Jun 27 

-We talked about supporting the Orlando MQG with heart blocks in rainbow colors for the victims of Pulse. You can register online if you would like to donate or you can bring the hearts into the next meeting where Kelleigh will gather them and mail them for us as a group. The link for more information about this is at the Modern Quilt Guild website.

-We talked about Quiltcon and those who were going. If you are going, let us know what classes you signed up for. We would love to live vicariously through you!

-There is a new Quiltcon Charity Quilt submission, "Playing with Scale and How to Use It." We are going to talk about it at our July meeting. Read about the charity quilt for Quiltcon here and come with ideas!

-Carolyn brought in the Friendship Trays Newsletter that included an article about the placemat donations we make to them. It’s nice to see these are appreciated by those who are receiving them.

-Elections are coming in October, please speak up if you are interested in serving in any way. New terms start in January.

-Swap for July (this coming Tuesday!) – Bag with a vinyl see through pocket. There are several free patterns and many styles. Any "see through" bag is perfect. Bring one to share and take a new one home.

Pattern suggestions for the swap:
www.craftsy.com “What’s in Your Bag” pattern.http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/accessory/the-whats-in-your-bag-bag/150788?_ctp=150788&_ct=iuqhsx-kdyluhiqb-huikbj-fqjjuhd&NAVIGATION_PAGE_CONTEXT_ATTR=PATTERN

OR
 http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/accessory/the-whats-in-your-bag-bag/150788?rceId=1459463301667~z1driwii
OR
http://weallsew.com/rounded-vinyl-zip-pouch/




Next post - a recap of our program from June!
 

July meeting - note location change

Guild friends - our July meeting is this coming Tuesday, July 26. It is our annual "bring a dish to share and hang out with your quilt friends" meeting. So bring a dish to share and come and enjoy and evening with the guild!

The meeting will be held at the Quilted Thimble Cottage, the quilt shop owned by guild members Jennifer Thurston and Vicky Tolzman, in Belmont. You can visit the store's website here.

The Quilted Thimble holds a Sit 'n Sew from 10 AM to 3 PM that day so feel free to bring your machine and come and sew. Or you can just come and pet the fabric and shoot the breeze! Regular guild activities, including eating all that yummy food you bring, will begin at 6 PM. Don't forget to bring your latest projects to show and share.

Questions?
Text Kelleigh at 704-907-8422 or call the store at 704-266-6445

Hope to see you there!



Tuesday, June 28, 2016

May meeting (very late but just before the June meeting) recap!

Guild friends - goodness, I've been slow getting this post up, but I'm trying to get it up just under the wire. I'll miss seeing you all tonight. I'm in Virginia with family, but look forward to hearing about our program with the representative from Coats and Clark talking "All Things Thread!"

Last month's meeting included an impromptu program about podcasts. Some of you had asked about what podcasts are and how to listen to them. Here are the notes from last month's meeting with some instructions and the links to podcasts that were mentioned. Enjoy! And if you have a favorite, please share with the rest of us, either in the comments here or on the facebook page.




Some pictures from last months meeting with soooo many beautiful quilts!












 

Monday, June 6, 2016

Postcards from NC - featured on MQG!

Friends, I will get a recap of our May meeting up on the blog in the next couple of day. Today I want to give you a heads up that our submission for the 2016 QuiltCon Charity Challenge, "Postcards from NC" is featured on the Modern Quilt Guild blog today. Wooohoooo!!!!

Thanks to Elizabeth, Kelleigh, Jennifer, Vickie, and others who worked so hard on this quilt!

Here's the link:  Modern Quilt Guild blog

Thursday, April 21, 2016

April Program reminder

Our next meeting is coming up! Next Tuesday, April 26, we will meet at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church Ministry Center, Room D. Come ready to sew, as Dee presents our program. Also, as always, bring what you've been working on to show and share!

A couple of reminders from Dee about what you need to participate in the program and also info about our upcoming field trip to Springs Creative and YLI Thread:

"On Tuesday, April 26, our CMQG program will be having “fun with felted wool”as
we create a mug rug, glasses case or a pin cushion. Please bring your hand-sewing box
with several sized needles, scissors, sewing thread (dark and light color)and a bit
of traceable fusible web if you have some. There will be instructions to follow for
your design or you can be the designer and do your own thing.Just come ready to sew.
You will love this incredible fabric.
 
There will also be maps available for our Thursday, April 29th field trip to Rock Hill
to visit the YLI thread company (morning) and Springs Creative (afternoon.)We will
also meet for lunch at Amelie’s in the historic Rock Hill downtown area if you are
interested. We need a count of those coming so please be ready to commit on Tuesday
evening.


If you will not be attending Tuesday evening the addresses of our tours are as follows:
        YLI - 1439 Dave Lyle Blvd, Rock Hill
        Springs Creative - 300 Chatham Ave, #100, Rock Hill
        Amelie's - 157 E. Main Street, Rock Hill"
 
Thanks, Dee, and program committee for organizing all of this! Hope to see you all on Tuesday. 

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

March meeting

Our co-prez, Kelleigh Bland opened the meeting and welcomed guests. We're always glad to have guests and hope that newcomers find our guild to be welcoming and fun, as well as informative and encouraging!

Discussion Topic: Library Resources, report by Xandi Hamilton
Xandi talked about our library resources and the way our library will work. She will bring featured resources from the library each month to highlight the items of interest and to keep from transporting the entire collection to each meeting. A full list of all of the DVDs, Books, and Magazines are posted on the web site and available for members review.Click here to see the list. (Tool bar under our blog heading).

Guild members encouraged to check out resources and be willing to offer a review on the resource to the group. A book review format is provided. Anyone wanting to purchase a book, provide a book review and donate the book/resource to the library is encouraged to do so.

Xandi provided our first book review and challenge to the guild members.  

She reviewed the book, Vintage Quilt Revival by Katie Blakesley and Lee Heinrich. The point of this book is taking traditional quilt blocks and making them modern with different design choices. With this traditional/modern idea in mind, we have a guild challenge based on the book review and an inventory of past date and very traditional quilting magazines.  

The idea is that members take home a quilt magazine from our collection and find something in their magazine to reinterpret in a more modern way. It can be step by step instructions followed in modern fabric, a block simplified, or even something completely different that they were inspired to make from something they saw. It could be from a pattern provided, a quilt shown in a featured article, or even something from an advertisement. The nice thing about this is there will be something for every skill level.

At the April meeting, Those who participated would do a show and tell of the picture that inspired them and show what they made. It could be a mini, a mug rug, a quilt, a raw block they never intend to do anything with, whatever they want. The magazine and the item they made is theirs to keep.

Taking a magazine in March does not imply a commitment to make something – we're glad for those magazines to be gone. But if you took one and are inspired, we'll enjoy seeing your modern reinterpretation of a traditional quilting design/motif/idea/pattern/whatever! 

Our second book review of the evening was Delia's review of City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks by Tula Pink. 

Thanks for the reviews, Xandi and Delia. Keep reading, everybody,  and sharing your favorite books with us! 

Swaps for April

Name Tags

Secret Sister Swap - If you participated in the secret sister swap, the final swap will be at the April meeting.

Modern Fat quarters or, bring approximate sized material to swap in modern fabrics; solids or blends that go with modern fabric. For every fabric you bring, you get to choose a fabric to take home.

Upcoming Program for our April meeting on Tuesday, April 26

Felted Wool pin cushion or mug rug  tutorial led by Dee Wittmack.
Bring a small sewing kit with scissors, thread, and pins.Dee will provide the felted wool and stuffing


Tour of YLI and Springs Creative, Thursday, April 28th

11:45 a.m. optional lunch at Amalie’s in Rock Hill
1:00 p.m. tour YLI thread company
2:30 p.m. tour Springs Creative

If you want to participate, please comment on the blog post, facebook post, or via our guild email.

June meeting on Tuesday, June 28th

Mark your calendars now. At our June meeting we will have special guest, Lynne Brown from Coats and Clark who will talk thread with us.


That's all the announcements for now. Next post, pictures from our March Program and Show and Share. Special thanks to Susan Austin for taking notes and pictures at our March meeting since I was down east in North Carolina, cycling and enjoying the beautiful spring flowers, rivers and creeks, and good food in New Bern!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Librarian's Corner



Did you know that our guild has a lending library? We have books and DVDs about sewing and quilting that you can take home for as long as you like – no due dates or renewals. But it is HEAVY, you guys, so we are making some changes this year. Read on ...

A list of everything in the library is posted on our website. Click on the CLTMQG Library tab at the top of the page, just under our logo, to see the list of ALL the books and other items that are in the library. If you want to check something out, just send us an email at cltmqg@gmail.com with "Library" in the subject line. Tell us what book or other item you'd like you’d like to borrow and we will bring it to the next guild meeting. 

Additionally, our librarian will bring a themed selection of books to highlight at each meeting – maybe applique one month and art quilts the next.

Another feature we are adding this year is book reviews – and we’d like to hear them from you! If you have a quilting related book you love, please volunteer to tell us all about it at a guild meeting. If you’d like to donate a copy of the book to the CLT MQG library as well we would love that, but it is not necessary. There are so many different aspects of sewing and quilting and so many different books about all of them – we’d like to hear from our friends which ones we should be sure not to miss!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

February Meeting - announcements and pictures

Good morning, friends. Isn't this spring weather lovely! It's my favorite time in the Carolinas and all I want to do is be outside.

Here is a recap of our February meeting ...

Next Month's program will be on your favorite tool or sewing/quilting help. Bring something you can't work without to show us and tell how you use it.

Our swap will go along with this program. Bring a favorite tool or notion to swap. It doesn't have to be a quilting tool, but something that you use when you sew. Everyone who brings a tool or notion to swap will have a chance to choose something from the goodies that we bring.

Our charity right now is Friendship Trays. Anytime you have an orphan block or UFO, feel free to turn it into a placemat that we can give to Friendship Trays.



The Charlotte Quilt Guild annual show is this weekend, March 11 and 12 at the Metrolina expo. More info and a $1.00 off coupon here.

We had a short followup to our last month's program on paper piecing. Lori showed us her beautiful squares and explained how to reuse the foundation papers used in piecing. 



Librarian's Corner - Xandi is our new librarian and she has worked hard to catalog all the books in our guild library. If you are interested in giving a book to the library or writing a review of a favorite book, we'd love to hear from you. More info in the next post.

Now for some pictures of what guild members have been working on ...







 Mark your calendars now - our next meeting is Tuesday evening, March 29. Hope to see you then!
 

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Last night's program

Hi everybody! We had a great turnout at our meeting last night. Announcements and pictures to come, but here is the presentation we enjoyed on the Modern Quilt Guild. Thanks to Lorie for her help in learning how to navigate the national guild site and make use of all the resources they provide!


Thursday, February 18, 2016

February meeting coming up!

Friends, our February meeting is coming up next Tuesday, February 23. We meet from 6-8, downstairs in the Ministry Center at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, 3016 Providence Road, Charlotte.

Our program for February will focus on the National Modern Quilt Guild - what it is and what kinds of resources are available on the MQG website.

QuiltCon, the annual convention of the Modern Quilt Guild, starts today in Pasadena. You can follow the MQG on Instagram and see what's going on at the convention!

Hope you can all come! Bring your projects, finished or unfinished, to show and share! We're always encouraged and inspired to see everyone's work.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

January meeting pictures

Our January program was a wonderful lesson on paper piecing presented by Jessie, Kelleigh, and Lori. We divided up into two groups - one for those either new to paper piecing or needing a bit of encouragement and another for those who are more experienced who wanted to learn more about how to take a design and turn it into a paper pieced pattern.

Kelleigh brought LOTS of samples of her own paper pieced projects to show us to whet our appetites!




I think it's safe to say we all learned something new and were inspired to try paper piecing if we've never done it before or to branch out and try something new if we're experienced paper piecers!  Our swap for February is to bring something we have paper pieced to swap so we have the opportunity right off the bat to try out this skill. Thanks to Kelleigh, Jessie, and Lori for a great program!

After the program, we had our usual time of "Sew and Share" show and tell. So much beautiful work by our guild members and visitors.






 And finally, last but certainly not least, this quilt (below) which was a joint effort of several guild members. It will be given to St. Gabriel's Church for their auction in the fall as thanks for the use of the room in their Ministry Center for our regular guild meetings.


Isn't it beautiful!

Mark your calendars now, friends, for our February meeting, Tuesday night, February 23, from 6-8. Our program will feature information on how to use the many resources of the Modern Quilt Guild, including all of their informative webinars. As always, bring your quilts to share!