June 2015 Meeting - Last meeting before the Summer

Yes, its very sad, but we do take a little bit of a break in the summer. Not from quilting. Heavens no, we are all still probably quilting up a storm in our respective homes, but we of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild take a little break from meetings. The Summer is so short and there are only so many weekends to go around and people camp and travel and go to weddings and whatnot, so we decided it was easiest to just take a brief hiatus in the summertime. 

Our last meeting of the year was great though. We kicked things off with a gift. Zoriana, one of our members is going to have a baby soon (in fact, at the time of this blog, she probably already has!) and we got together to make her a little quilt for the baby. Nothin' more fun to make than a baby quilt! So small and manageable and it can be just a colour free for all! We all made quilt-as-you-go log cabin blocks in a bright fun palette and the result is perfect for a little tummy time. 

Here are some of the blocks that were made for the "Flood Texas with Love" charity quilt call. Its the Just One Slab block, which is a simple improvisational block, designed by Cheryl Arkison. It was a really fun block to make, and a lovely way to use up all the fun scraps. 

And here is the result of our first block lotto! We got one ticket for the draw for each block you entered into it, so its no wonder Adrienne won! I think she's got eight tickets there. Those are some good odds. Its the Pick Up Sticks block and if you want want to make one yourself you can find the tutorial here.

Berene brought this cool project in to show us. Its called "The Ultimate Equipment Tote". 

Its a giant portfolio case for bringing all your rulers and cutting mat and whatnot with you when you quilt away from home. This is a brilliant idea because mine are forever falling out of too small bags and getting their corners chipped. I hate that. 

If you are interested in making one of these handy bags yourself, you can get your hands on a copy of this new book "Make It, Take It" in which the pattern is included. Berene was kind enough to raffle off her copy of it.

And Cath was the lucky winner!

Marilou brought in this centre piece of the Marcelle Medallion quilt that she is working on. The pattern can be found in the Liberty Love book by Alexia Abegg. Its an intense bit of patchwork, but has quite a following as a simple google search will show you. 

Marilou also brought in her finished "Modern Bear Claw". She had brought in the top to show us previously, but its always so nice to see things all quilted down and bound together. 

Cath brought in this gorgeous little number.

 Its only her third quilt ever (!), and when I asked her what she called it she quite succinctly replied "Quilt Number Three". 

Debi showed us her completed Castle Treasury quilt. Which is Lizzy House's reinvention of the classic Granny Cross block.

 I love this quilt so much! Now all I need is to find the time to make one myself!

Lisa brought in this small piece, inspired by "Low Volume" quilting, as she really enjoys the subtlety of items that are less high contrast. She came up with the pattern herself. It has a lovely rhythm to it, doesn't it?

Valerie brought in these nice little stars. She's not quite sure what she's going to do with them, but they sure are pretty. 

Adrienne is almost done binding this punchy little baby quilt. Its called "Baby #6". She's had a bit of a baby boom amongst her friends and family of late, but she's a trooper and keeps the quilts coming. She originally bought this Riley Blake Jungle Alphabet fabric to make some sort of soft book, but ended up using it for this quilt instead. 

Catherine had planned to use this gorgeous William Morris fabric to make a table runner for her daughter, but somehow, it ended up NOT being a table runner. Instead its this fantastic small quilt. 

Lorna who was visiting our guild for the first time brought in this appliquéd block to share with us. She'd taken a hand sewing course with Jeannie Jenkins at SewSisters and really enjoys the process. She also told us about volunteer work that she participated in through Sistering, an organization that serves homeless, marginalized and low-income women in Toronto.  They have drop in sewing classes that teach women to do their own clothing repairs, and also drop in classes to teach knitting and crochet. If you're interested in volunteering there, you can fill out a volunteer application online, (click the link at the bottom of the page) and their volunteer co-ordinator will contact you. Sounds like a great opportunity to use your skills to help others. 

Jaqueline had this amazing cat themed quilt to show us. And of course, she used the Lizzy House "Cat Nap" fabric line to make it with. Very clever! Its a pattern she designed herself, based on a vintage Tumbling Cat block.

Jaqueline also made this concentric circle wall hanging. 

It was made as a gift for Katrina (who is holding it in the picture here) to hang in her new office. 

The concentric circle quilting and matchstick quilting on it are so great in close up. I love really dense quilting like this. 

Zoriana wasn't able to attend the meeting last month, and so did not get to show us her Not Really President's Challenge piece even though she did make one. Above you can see the random magazine page she got as inspiration. She decided to focus on the stack of bowls in the bottom right corner. 

And here is the piece she made. She decided to use no new fabric, and learn a new technique. Which is why she decided to appliqué the bowl shapes. She used the finished small quilt to make a tote bag. 

Rebecca showed us this notebook cover that she made as part of the Modern Quilt Guild's Riley Blake Challenge. Notebook covers are another great way to make small, cool projects that don't require the workload commitment of an entire quilt. 

Once show-and-tell was done, Julie led us in a tutorial/demo about sewing curves. She shared some great resources with us, including a very useful handout, and highly recommended this book, "A Quilter's Mixology"

She showed us how to make this block from the Sheildmaiden quilt from the sew scatterbrained blog.

And impressed me with her demonstration by sewing while standing up. I know that was not the intention of the tutorial, but it was a bonus take-away from the lesson for me! I feel much less scared about sewing curves now, and really like the tip about using a shorter stitch length. 

So that's it for meetings until next fall. Though I will be back here with a post after our quilt retreat in August. Have a great summer!