September BOM - Sunset

This month we are shifting our focus to a low volume block. Sherry McConnell defines low volume fabric and provides some hints when selecting low volume fabrics in her post on the  Craftsy blog.

Shelly's example block in the sunset palette.

We are using NY City Metro Mod Quilters' block pattern "Sunrise/Moonlight" and we are going to make it Sunset block by using these low volume sunset inspired hues.

Use this color palette as a guide when selecting your fabrics.

You can choose your own fabrics, or there is a fabric bundle available from Stitchcraft - four quarter yards for the guild discount price of $10 (normally $12).

SFMQG bundle available at Stitchcraft

We hope that we'll have a lot of participation as usual in our block lottery. If you use the fabric bundle please write your name on the back of your blocks (masking tape is good, or one of those erasable pens).

See you in September!

Improv QAL - Block 4!

Can you believe we are halfway through our Improv Quilt-A-Long? We've been using TeresaDownUnder's Improv Quilt Block tutorials, which are wonderfully clear and easy to follow.

This month we have a fun block that starts with the idea of a log cabin and shows you how to make it in a more free form fashion. The piecing and gentle curves incorporate some of the things we've been playing with in the previous blocks. Just remember to relax and enjoy yourself!

Click here for the Improv Quilt Block #4 Tutorial!



Here are a couple of great improv quilty things going on right now that might interest you...

Have you signed up for our guild's Improv Round Robin Workshop led by Tonya Ricucci on Saturday, September 5? Get the details and register here (be quick - just a couple of spaces remain!)

Also, the bloggers Crafty Planner and Ants to Sugar are having A Month of Improv Quilting right now. Besides posting about improv quilting, they are having a fantastic Instagram giveaway (check out #improvquiltchallenge), and Crafty Planner's podcast features Sherri Lynn Wood (episode 24) and Jacquie Gering (episode 23) Any (and all!) of these links are worth checking out!

We're looking forward to seeing your blocks at the September meeting! Don't forget to check off your blocks each month so they count towards our grand prize! Also, we love seeing your blocks posted on Facebook and/or Instagram!

August Meeting Recap

We had a fantastic time at our August meeting, which was held last Saturday. Thank you to all who joined us!

 

Monthly Topic: Negative Space

 

Charlotte and Debby did a wonderful presentation on Negative Space, and discussed the use of Negative Space in Modern Quilts, along with other art forms. They also had an interactive activity, and asked our members to join in and participate in making some modern quilt designs, using negative space, on some design boards. 

 

Meryll planned a couple of potential designs using some hand-pieced units.

Barbara and Sheila designed a quilt using some strings and strip pieces.

LoriAnn and Audrey made a design using different sized blocks and square scraps.

Our First SFMQG Quilt Challenge:

 

Charlotte and Debby announced our guild's first challenge--the Negative Space challenge! The challenge is to make a modern quilt, using negative space. Quilts will be due at our July 2016 meeting, so you have plenty of time to plan! We're looking forward to seeing everyone's progress on this over the next several months!

 

Charlotte can't resist a challenge--this is her entry for the MQG Riley Black Challenge (2015).

 

Block of the Month:

 

Our BOM from August was Wonky Pinwheels, in a refreshing summer palette. Congrats to our lucky winner, Charlotte!

 



Our August BOM

 

 

Preview of the BOMs for September and October

Quilt Along:

Patti and Kerrilyn led the discussion on our 3rd blocks from the improv QAL. They also had an example of the block for the 4th month of our QAL.

Show and Tell:

Patti made an improv pieced baby quilt, using techniques from Sherri Lynn Wood's Improv Handbook

Alyson brought in some fun clutches, made with modern fabric.



Charlotte showed an example of a modern quilt with negative space, using her SFMQG bee blocks.

Debby showed a sample of fabric she'd printed at a workshop at IS Designs.



Audrey brought in a pillow bolster WIP, to get some modern quilting ideas.

Patti made a lone-star quilt from scrappy improv "made fabric"

Kate brought in her finished quilt from the MQG Riley Blake Challenge, from Sherri Lynn Wood's Improv Handbook



Allison showed her lone star quilt, which was a great example of a modern quilt with expansive negative space.

Andrea brought in her finished quilt, made from her SFMQG herringbone bee blocks.

 

Ivy showed her handbag, made from modern fabric.

Sewcial:

After our August meeting, we had our first Sewcial! Our members brought lunch, snacks and some fun hand sewing projects. We hope everyone had a great time, and we look forward to seeing you again at our next Sewcial!

 

Thank you again to all of our members and guests for joining us for our August meeting, we look forward to seeing you again at our next meeting on September 19th! 



SFMQG 2016 Negative Space Quilt Challenge

Who can resist a challenge?   

Theme: Modern Negative Space

Guidelines

• Use modern fabrics – solids and/or prints
• Small Quilts - measures 36″ or less per side
• Large Quilts - perimeter must not be larger than 480”
• Fun awards and prizes will be given
• Due at July 2016 SFMQG meeting.

Read Between the Lines by Stephanie Ruyle.

Stay tuned for info about future workshopand incentives to show off your progress.

  

Check out these sites for inspiration:

• QuiltCon 2015: Use of Negative Space part 1
• QuiltCon 2015: Use of Negative Space part 2
• What is Modern Quilting Fabric?
• Contemporary Quilting: 5 Tips for Using Negative Space

If you wish you can enter your quilt:

QuiltCon East  2017 – Savannah - Feb 23rd - 26, 2017

Quilt Contest Dates
• Registration open: July 1st – Nov 30th, 2016
• Notification by: December 30, 2016

Category - Use of Negative Space – Quilt design incorporates a creative or significant use of negative space which is integrated into and/or organizes the composition of the quilt.

Register at the Quiltcon East web site. 

Broward Quilt Expo (BQE) March 2017

Register at the BQE website. 

August Meeting Topic - Negative Space

Wikipedia defines Negative space, in art, is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space occasionally is used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image.

The Modern Quilt Guild states that Modern quilts have several characteristics which include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work.

At the SFMQG meeting on Saturday Aug 15^th 2015 the Topic will be Negative Space.

Read Between the Lines by Stephanie Ruyle - 3rd Place Negative Space - QuiltCon 2015

We will be discussing and demonstrating the design of these quilts including the quilting of the Negative Space.

We will be asking for volunteers to interactively try these designs - bring your thinking caps.

Everyone would love to see your Negative Space 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.

See you on Saturday!

An Update on Our Logo Competition!

Hi, everyone. We have now received 10 entries to our SFMQG logo contest!

The contest was announced at our June meeting. We're accepting submissions until August 15, at our next meeting. 

The logo we choose is very important; it will represent us on a global scale. And we may at some point put the logo on T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, etc., and sell them as a fundraiser. Plus we'll be a walking advertisement for SFMQG.

If you, as we hope, are planning to submit a design (or several, as the case may be), we would like it in a jpg, png, or eps format, with a resolution of 300 dpi and 6 inches on the longest side. If you can't do that, no worries—we'll accept it even if you give us something you draw on paper.

To submit your logo, you can fill out the Contact SFMQ form in the sidebar on the right or submit it in person at the August 15 meeting. 

The winner will be announced at the September meeting, on September 19.

And now here for some virtual eye candy, the submissions we have received so far.

All About Activity Councils

When the current Executive Council (EC) starting putting together a plan for formalizing and growing our guild, one objective that we kept in mind was a desire to build a guild that was inclusive and active. We wanted all of our members to feel hands-on and to be able to contribute to our work. 

When we looked at other guilds, both traditional and modern, for inspiration, we found some guilds who were structured so that all members actively participated in guild projects by contributing to an Activity Council. This concept allows members to have a role in steering a part of the guild’s activities that interests them most, or in an area where they may have special skills to contribute. 

Planning our Blocks Of The Month lottery is one of the activities members can help with.

And so, we have decided to follow this concept within SFMQG.  The EC has identified 9 areas which encompass the majority of our activities and goals for the coming year. Each of these Councils will have a mentor from the EC.

A brief overview of the Councils :

• Block of the month lottery
• Choosing appropriate blocks, selecting fabric palettes, putting together fabric bundles, making sample blocks, writing tutorials and giving demos.
• Challenges & swaps
• Choosing projects and themes, creating samples, writing tutorials and giving demos, setting rules and deadlines.
• Community service
• Identifying charities for the guild to work with, selecting projects and leading them through to completion and delivery.
• Education & teaching
• Research, suggest and plan demonstrations and workshops, teaching or finding teachers, looking for community outreach possibilities (schools, libraries, festivals) for modern quilting skills.
• Special events
• Suggest and plan retreats, sewcials, mixers and other special events or meetings.
• Membership
• Enrolling and renewing memberships, coordinate member sign-ins at meetings, promote the guild and looks for ways to increase our membership.
• Historian
• Document the work of the guild by creating online resources like meetings archive, quilt archive, member gallery, and document archives.
• Meetings
• Organize meetings space, secure supplies required, prepare meetings spaces, coordinate refreshments.
• Quilt-a-long
• Suggest modern quilt projects to make together, coordinate demos, tutorials, instructions, prepare blog posts and emails for participants, lead discussions at meetings.

We are asking everyone to indicate a preference for at least one Activity Council when applying for membership in SFMQG.  Members are welcome to serve on as many Activity Councils as they have time for. Members can leave or join an Activity Council at any time, but we will aim to keep Activity Councils going for about a year before playing musical chairs and mixing things up a bit.

Bear in mind that different activities can require different commitments in terms of time and skills. However every Activity Council should be able to adjust to the capabilities and availability of its members. Activity Councils are about having fun and working together! The objective is to enjoy ourselves!

The EC officer responsible for mentoring an Activity Council will reach out to everyone who expresses an interest. Eventually a chairperson will be chosen for the Activity Council and that person will be the main link between the Activity Council and the EC when finalizing plans for all of these amazing activities. 

If you did not indicate your interests when you registered, you can still do so! There are a few ways to do this:

1. Find any of the recent newsletters from SFMQG and locate the “Update your preferences” link at the bottom of the page. This will open up your registration details and allow you to make selections (it’s the last section of the page).
2. Send an email to us, (or use the contact form to the right of this post) and an EC officer will get back to you!
3. Talk to the EC in the Members Facebook Group.

If you are not sure what to sign up for, or have any questions, the Facebook Group is a great place to start.

We are super excited about the activities we are going to be planning! Thanks to everyone for taking part.

Allison
VP of Administration

SFMQG Sewcial (Sewing Social)

SFMQG Sewcial (Sewing Social) following the general meeting starting August 15th.
Free to members and paid general meeting guests.

Bring your lunch, hand sewing or quilting and get to know everyone better.
If you don't have a hand project there will be scraps to Improv piece!
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!

Stick around after the meeting on August 15th to sew and socialize!