Foothills QuiltFest: October 11-12

Passing along information about an upcoming show...

Foothills QuiltFest 2013 is coming our way Oct. 11-12 at the LeGrand Center, 1800 E. Marion Street in Shelby, NC, a new venue for the 10th bi-annual event. The new location will allow even more quilts, three times as many vendors and lots of special demonstrations. 

On Saturday, Oct. 12, Leah Day, an internationally known free motion quilter and teacher, will give a lecture at 11 a.m. and demonstrate her quilting skills throughout the afternoon. Leah, who lives in Cleveland County, has taken her quilting skills to worldwide fame via her blog “The Free Motion Quilting Project.” Show organizers, the Foothills Quilters Guild, are expecting their biggest show ever with more than a hundred quilts showcasing the talents of quilters from throughout the foothills area. Eighteen vendors including scissor sharpening and sewing machine repair will be available on site during the show. Admission is $5 which includes Leah’s lecture and demonstrations on Saturday. 

Show hours areFriday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 

For more information go towww.foothillsquiltersguild.org.

This, that and one beautiful cat

THIS
Elizabeth B. has emailed the current directory to all 2013-14 paid members.  If you have paid your dues and did not receive your directory via email please contact us and we will make sure you get a copy.  Click here to contact us http://charlottemodernquiltguild.blogspot.com/p/contact-us.html


THAT
The Sew Modern Retreat has been scheduled for April 3-6, 2014 in Blowing Rock.  Joyce Mullis is planning the retreat again this year and complete details can be found over on her website  http://heartsdesirecreations.wordpress.com/modern-guild-retreat/.  We will also have brochures and more information available at the upcoming meeting.




AND ONE BEAUTIFUL CAT
My last blog post was about CMQG member Karen Ponischil and her upcoming classes.  Karen recently learned that her quilt, Princess Daphne, has won an Honorable Mention in the upcoming IQA show in Houston.  Karen actually had TWO quilts accepted into the show.  Wow!!!  Congrats, Karen. The quilts are truly amazing!

Details about the show and a list of winners (including Karen!) can be found here:
http://www.quilts.org/home.html

You can read more about Karen's entries and see a picture of Daphne on Karen's blog here..

Classes

Want to learn from an award winning quilter... how about someone that lives nearby... how about someone that is a member of our guild!

Karen Ponischil is now teaching at Mary Jo's in Gastonia and here are her upcoming classes:

Machine Quilting Basics - Free Motion Quilting

Learn curvy and angular machine quilting techniques.
Oct 16th:10am-2pm & Nov 16th: 3pm-6pm

Feathers, Feathers, Feathers (Machine quilting feathers)
Nov 7th: 10am-2pm

Dimensional Postcards
Oct 24th: 9:30am-2:30pm & Nov 15th: 9:30am-2:30pm

Applique Poinsettia Wall Hanging
Oct 25th: 9:30am-2:30pm & Nov 16th: 9:30am-2:30pm

If you haven't checked out Karen's website you should run over there NOW!  Her quilts are amazing and award winning.  Be sure to click on the ABOUT tab at the top to learn more about Karen and see the juried shows where her gorgeous quilts have been shown.  

Karen's site:

http://karenponischil.com/

Mary Jo's site:

http://maryjoscloth-design.blogspot.com/

September Meeting Recap

Here is a quick recap of our September meeting:

- A BIG welcome to the 6 visitors we had!  We hope you will return and join us.

- Liz H. won the block-of-the-month drawing and it was a jackpot - 21 BLOCKS!

- We collected 16 bags for the Red Cross volunteers.  Way to go ladies.  Our deadline for donated bags will be the October meeting and then they will be delivered to the Red Cross.  Thank you to everyone that has participated so far!

- Vickie and Jen T. quilted and did the binding on our donation quilt - THANK YOU!!!  This quilt will be given to the Dowd YMCA for their upcoming auction.

- Beth P. talked about the Sari Bari quilt auction she is participating in again this year.  The auction will be held in November and is for a great cause.  The quilts she showed are stunning in person.  Here is a link to complete details of the program http://www.saribari.com/about/

- Bianca gave an update on here recent trip.  She had just returned from Africa where she helped with the Fashion & Compassion program.  She spent over a week helping women learn to sew and create items.  Some of the items may be for sale in the Charlotte area and I will update you as we get more information.

- Elaine has been doing a great job with the guild library and showed 3 new books.  One is by our fellow member Dee!  Check it out (pun intended).

- Our program was Handmade Holidays - Part 1.  Elizabeth B. gave us a nice handout of online tutorials for gift ideas and then Jen B. enlightened us on what is a Turtle Mop.  It is such a CUTE little thing that can be used to mop up spills around the house.  Thanks ladies!

p.s.  Diane M. did a great post on her blog about the program and included the links to the gift tutorials. Go check out her blog and the links http://oquilts.blogspot.com/

- The Swap For Someone You Love items will be due at the October meeting.

-  October's BOM is:

Block:  Fresh Lemons 2 Color Star
Colors: Gray & Aqua (Cindi, our BOM Captain, made a sample to show.  Thanks!)
Link For Tutorial:  http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=1709

Have a wonderful week.  If you ever need to contact the guild you can click over to the blog and use the CONTACT US button at the top right.
http://charlottemodernquiltguild.blogspot.com/

Karen E.

September Mtg - Handmade Holidays Part 1

I hope everyone can make it to our September meeting.  If you are new and have been thinking of checking us out, then COME ON DOWN.  We would love to have you join us!

Thursday, September 26 at 6:00

Dowd YMCA

400 East Morehead Street

Charlotte, NC 28202

704.716.6100

Conference Room #4

Take the elevator to the 7th floor,

Take a left out of the elevator and the room is at the end of the hall.

Our Program Committee has been hard at work planning some great upcoming programs.  The September program will be:

Handmade Holidays Part 1 - Gift Giving

Jennifer B. will demonstrate how to make a "turtle mop" great for mopping up spills in the kitchen and customizable with all kinds of fabrics!  Elizabeth B. will be sharing a handmade gift idea sheet with tutorial links.  

September BOM - St Louis 16 Patch

The block-of-the-month for September is an easy one.  Two fat quarters make two blocks and they go together quickly.

Block: St Louis 16 Patch (Sew With Sass blog)    

http://sewwithsass.blogspot.com/2013/04/quilts-st-louis-16-patch.html.

Color:  Modern Scrappy

Have a great weekend,

Karen E.

Swaps

Our wonderful Swap Captain, Xandi, would like everyone to know the following:

1.  September Meeting

The Block in a Bag swappers should bring the bags they have to the meeting to pass on to the next person (the same person they gave to last month).


2. October Meeting

The Swap for Someone you Love is ongoing and will be due at the October meeting.


3. December Party

We will be swapping ornaments.  You can make any style you want and as many as you want to swap. 

Here are some of the ones swapped last year.

Have a wonderful week,
Karen E.

Red Cross Tote Bags - Want a really easy version?

I have not been very motivated to sew lately.  I think the hustle and bustle of the summer zapped my creativity.  However, after the meeting the other week I was inspired to come home and get sewing!  I love the sew-n-tell and hearing what you are making, patterns to try, books to see...

I decided to start by making a tote bag for the Red Cross program.  I wanted a tutorial that was EASY, quick and makes a nice size bag.  A little "googling" on the web and I found this tutorial:

http://www.thelongestyear.typepad.com/EasyToteTut.pdf


Easy - check
Quick - check
Good size - check

A couple notes if you use this tutorial:
- I used interfacing on the exterior, lining and straps.  I like bags with some structure to them.

- Step 5 shows the "boxing" of the corners.  She does not specify a distance, but I used 2.5" up from the point and that worked well.

It feels good to be sewing,
Karen E.