Toronto Modern Quilt Guild

Hey y'all! At this month's meeting we will be doing our holiday mystery swap - please be sure to wrap your swap present or put it in a bag as this is a blind swap. We will also be reviewing my duties as President and dividing up the work among the new "board of leaders"; if you wish to participate on the new board, please come to this meeting and be ready to lend a hand. This is my last meeting as President, so we do need to be sure and get this sorted ASAP. As always, please bring along your finished projects and/or problems to share with the group. See you all soon!

Hey y'all! So, as anyone who attended the meeting last month knows, no one has stepped up to run for President of the guild. We are currently toying with the idea of creating a "Board of Leaders" rather than having one President. Each of these leaders would take over one or two aspects of running the guild (i.e. one person for checking the email and facebook, one person for the blog and newsletter, one person for being the guild contact and keeping up with MQG headquarter news, etc). If this is something you think you would be interested in, please drop me (Kaye) a line at either my personal email or the guild email. If people do not step up to lead the guild, it is quite possible that the guild will have to forfeit its MQG membership and/or fold. Thanks guys!

Hey all! At this month's meeting we will be opening the floor up to potential Presidential candidates. If you would like to run for President (or co-president) please come prepared to talk a little bit about why you have chosen to run and what your vision is for the guild. If you would like to participate in the scrap swap for the annual holiday/secret santa, please bring a sandwich-sized Ziploc full of scraps to the meeting. Please remember that these scraps are expected to be modern and quilt-shop quality; please don't put anything in your scrap bag that you would not likje to receive yourself. Since the holiday swap is blind you may just end up getting your own scraps back in the form of a handmade gift. As always, please bring along your completed projects and/or problems to share with the group. Just a reminder: I am currentlty in the UK for work and may not be able to make this meeting. If you have any questions or comments about the elections, please feel free t...

*I was going to call this post "The Presidential Address" but I thought that might be going too far, haha!* Hey y'all! As I mentioned in the newsletter, on Facebook, and in the previous blog post, there was an important announcement made at the September guild meeting. For those of you who were not there, here it is: I am resigning as President of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild. I will officially step down at the end of this year, and the new (as-yet-to-be-decided) President will lead their first meeting in January. We'll get to the logistics of this in a moment, but I wanted to address my resignation a little further first. I have been President for over three years now (it'll be just about 3.5 years by the time I step down), and I think that it is time for someone else to take the reins. The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, what with the new MQG fees and structure, and some changes to our own guild. I would love to remain President of the gu...

Hey y'all! At this month's meeting I will be giving a little presentation on Sewing Summit, talking about the EPP class that I taught, and just generally sharing about the classes I took, people I met, etc. There will also be a rather important announcement made at the meeting. It will also be made on the blog/in the newsletter after the meeting, but I ask that all members try their best to attend this meeting so that any questions/concerns can be raised while we're all together to discuss as a group. As always, please bring along your completed projects and/or problems to share. See y'all on Sunday!

Hey all! It's time again for our monthly meeting! At this month's meeting we will be sharing the results of the design challenge that was held at last month's meeting - I hope you all have your blocks finished! I will also be leading a tutorial for a nifty way to cut bias binding. You will need to bring: Fabric (as little as a FQ) Rotary Cutter Ruler While the workroom does have rotary cutters and rulers available, there will probably not be enough to go around while I am doing the tutorial. Bring your own if you can and be sure to clearly mark them with tape or something so that nothing gets mixed up. As always, please bring along your completed projects and/or problems to share with the group. For those members who have not paid their dues, please be sure to bring along cash on Sunday. If you do not pay your dues at this month's meeting, you will not be able to participate in the next fabric challenge organized by the MQG. As you all know, ...

Hey all! At this month's meeting we will be having a Design Challenge - I won't say much more about it now because I want it to be a fun surprise, but be sure to bring along your creativity, ingenuity, and designer know-how! For everyone that was not able to make it to last month's meeting, please be sure to bring your $35 (in cash) for guild dues. If you are not able to make it to this meeting, please get in contact with me (Kaye) about paying your guild dues via Paypal. You will not have access to the member areas of the MQG site until you do this. As always, bring along your finished projects and/or problems to share with the group. Also, just a little reminder that Quilts at the Creek will be happening at Black Creek Pioneer Village on August 10th and 11th . A few members from the TMQG have submitted their quilts and I myself will be attending the show on the 10th (along with my mum - if you want to meet her that will be an experience in and of itself...

Hey all! So we're making some changes at the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild; some of you may know that the international Modern Quilt Guild entity has decided to begin charging affiliate guilds a fee in exchange for some services, discounts, etc. In light of this, the TMQG has decided to start collecting dues, to add more officers to the board, and to draw up a set of guild by-laws. Dues will be $35 per year and will run the calendar year (January to December); since we need to pay our MQG fee next month, we will begin collecting dues now rather than in 2014. By unanimous vote at our May meeting, we have decided not to prorate dues for this year (i.e. they will still be $35 for 2013) in an effort to add a little money to the guild kitty. We are hoping that by collecting dues we will not only be able to pay our MQG fee, but will also be able to have speakers or put on our own show at some point in the future. We also may need to rent space from time to time for lectures and the guild ...

Hey all! It's time again for our monthly meeting! This time around we will be discussing the upcoming changes to guild membership including going over the spiffy new by-laws, election and voting procedures, dues payments, and what these changes will mean for the TMQG. If you would like to have your opinion heard and have a chance to discuss any changes that may need to be made, please attend this meeting. We value your opinion and I am also considering setting up a short (anonymous) online survey after the meeting with a few follow-up questions as things progress. Valerie will also be attending this meeting to go over this year's Quilts at the Creek show - I hope that everyone will be excited to participate! As always, please bring along your completed projects and/or problems to share with the group. See you all on Sunday!

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 guil...

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!

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!

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!

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! ...

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. :)

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!