To Boston With Love

Some of you may have heard (via blog, instagram, etc) about an awesome project spearheaded by Berene and the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild called To Boston With Love. All Modern Quilt Guilds have been invited to participate.

The guilds, and individuals, have been asked to sew flags which will be displayed over the Memorial Day weekend at a prestigious Boston location. You can read a bit more about here at the VMQG blog. The basic tutorial is included in that post (please follow the directions as much as possible so that the flags are uniform) and you can find another post with links to tutorials for the centre designs here.

I am the coordinator for our guild and will be mailing the flags to Massachusetts - I do not have a date that I need them by yet (waiting to hear about some couriering stuff) but they do need to be in Boston by May 21st in order to be displayed. That means they need to be done soon!!

Please contact me (Kaye) through my personal email or through the guild email. I would love to get as many flags from the TMQG as possible (if you can make more than one that would be awesome). I think this is a really great way for people to show support and to take part in a project that, I believe, will touch the hearts of many.

Upcoming Monthly Meeting - April!

Hey all! It's time again for our monthly meeting! This time around Doris will be presenting her talk about attending QuiltCon. We also have some very important information to discuss regarding the international MQG and we have some decisions to make. I ask that all members who regularly attend meetings, or who intend to attend in the future, come to this meeting so that you can have your say and so that I can answer any questions that you might have.

As always, please bring along your completed projects and/or problems to share with the group. See you all on Sunday April 28th!

No Meeting This Month

Hey all! In case you didn't see my update on the Facebook page, we will not be having a meeting this month since the workroom will be closed this Sunday due to Easter. We have pushed back our scheduled meetings, so Doris will be telling us all about QuiltCon at our April meeting. We also have some very important guild business to discuss (which will affect all guild members) at the next meeting - I ask that all members who regularly attend meetings or plan to attend in the future try to attend the April meeting so that I can answer any questions you might have as a group.

See you all next month!

Pincushion Swap!

As you all know, at this month's meeting we will be hosting a fun little pincushion swap! Let's make this one a blind swap (just like the holiday scrap swap) so be sure to either wrap up your pincushion or put it in a bag of some sort.

Here are some ideas for you:

Pincushion Mosaic by bluebirdluxe on Flickr

Log Cabin Pincushion by Miss-Print on Flickr

Pin Cushions by verykerryberry on Flickr

For some more fun ideas check out the Pincushions and Scrappy Pincushion Swap groups on Flickr!

English Paper Piecing Links

Hey y'all! Just to round-out the English Paper Piecing workshop that I hosted at the last TMQG meeting, here are some links to various EPP tutorials and projects.

There is a tutorial on my blog for the Quilt as you Go Coaster I brought in to the meeting. This tutorial includes step-by-step instructions (with pictures) for paper piecing the way that I demonstrated and for creating the coaster if you so wish. It can be found here.

You can find a tutorial from The Stitchin' Post in Sisters here that demonstrates not only using glue on your templates, but also sewing through the templates rather than the way I demonstrated. Sewing through your templates is especially useful when working with larger pieces. It also shows a quick demonstration of how to whip-stitch the pieces together.

A really great post from Flossie Teacakes with a plethora of information can be found here. She discusses fabric choice, different template materials, choosing thread, and much more!

A tutorial using diamonds can be found here. The tutorial uses a similar method to the Falling Starburst pillow I brought in to meeting (the pattern for the Falling Starburst pillow can be found in the special Fall 2011 edition of Fat Quarterly magazine).

Pre-cut cardstock templates in varying shapes can be purchased from PaperPieces.com (they also have some free patterns on their site) and various other places online. You can also make and print out your own using a site such as Incomputech (just pick the type of paper you want and then change the sizing, line colours, whatever you'd like! You can preview the templates in PDF format before printing and save them to your computer for future use).

Catching Up...

It's been a while (far too long, in fact...) since we posted any pictures from our meetings.  This is because it seems that I (Sheila) haven't downloaded pictures from my camera since the end of September.  That's right, September.  Yikes!

I thought that it would be good to share what we were up to this past fall before we got started with our 2013 meetings, so here is a selection of pictures from our September, October and November meetings. And check out our Flickr group to see lots more. :)

Upcoming Monthly Meeting - January 2013

Hey all! It's time again for our monthly meeting! This time around I will be teaching a short-but-sweet English Paper Piecing workshop. We will cover basic techniques with some basic shapes. I will supply the templates needed as well as some scrap fabric, but please bring along a hand-sewing needle, thread (can be cheap and ugly), scissors, and your own fabric if you want something specific. I will also bring in a couple of examples of what can be done with your completed pieces. After the meeting I will put a blog post with some resources and references.

As always, please bring along your finished projects and/or problems to share with the group.

The meeting this month also marks the third anniversary of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild! I will be bringing a treat (an edible treat that it!) to share with everyone and any member who wants to do the same is welcome! I will also be bringing along a surprise giveaway so be there or be square!