July 2020 Newsletter Hello TMQG! We are now into those glorious lazy hazy days of summer — YAY!— but your guild exec has been hard at work planning some exciting programs for the next few months. Read on to find out about upcoming speakers, workshops and challenges. This Month's Meeting We are excited to announce that the TMQG and the York Heritage Quilters Guild will be welcoming Chawne Kimber  at our Zoom meeting on Sunday, July 26. Dr. Kimber will present her lecture   When the Cotton is High: Social Justice and Textiles For centuries women have used their utilitarian and decorative textile work to express their politics and opinions on issues of the day. We'll take a look at some historical examples and then romp through my own work. My quilts use the lens of identity and difference to confront social conflicts like campus rape culture, Black Lives Matter, and censorship.   Chawne Kimber is an award winning textile artist who exhibits quilts and embroidery in museums, galleries, and festivals in all over the United States.  Through cultivation of cotton in rural Alabama, some of her ancestors (unwillingly) participated in building the United States. Inspired by quilts made by these ancestors in the late 1800s, Chawne interprets traditional patchwork forms in an improvisational style and indulges in political confrontations in quilt form. When not manipulating cotton, Chawne is a professor of mathematics at a small liberal arts college in the Northeast. This will be a Zoom meeting. Unlike previous Zoom meetings,  we won't be able to have non-member guests joining us for this meeting. Here's what's happening: WIP and welcome! Starting at 3:00, share what you have been working on and get encouragement, feedback and advice from guild members.  We'll be having a Social break, so please email us to share photos of any delicious things you've been baking in the last few weeks. We will be doing a Virtual show and Share on the Zoom call. Please email us to share a quilt!   https://www.quiltcon.com This online version of QuiltCon will still feature a juried quilt show as well as workshops and lectures. The five day event will include live lectures, panels, and tours, as well as on-demand workshops. Registration opens on July 15th, 10 am EDT Check out the catalogue of workshops and lectures here.   QuiltCon's Charity Quilt Challenge has a new name. It's now called ...  Community Outreach Quilt Challenge. This year, the design's focus is curved piecing.  The TMQG is going to try something different this year by changing up the order of operations. Instead of having the design first, we are going to make the building blocks and then use those to create an improv design.  To start, we are reaching out to you - our wonderful members - to make some blocks, as many as you'd like! Here are your guidelines: Use at least two of the colors in the palette in each block. You can find coordinating colours listed in Indah Solids, Moda Bella Solids and Free Spirit Designer Solids here. Each block must include at least one curve (big or small!) Sew some filler blocks. We always need some blocks to 'flatten the curve'. (Sorry about the Covid humour!) The deadline for the completed blocks is TMQG's October 25, 2020 meeting. If we are meeting in-person then bring them with you. If we are still virtual then we will find another location for drop off.  You can find a list of Frequently Asked Questions on the QuiltCon website. A question of note is: Can you add colors that are not in the palette, or an additional neutral?  The answer is NO, you cannot. Part of the challenge is to work within the color limitations and theme. Feel free to use prints as well as solids if they stick to the theme. We may end up with more blocks than we will use for the top, but that will just give us better building material to come up with the best design. Any extras can be used to create a unique backing!   Please use this spreadsheet to let the group know how many blocks you will be contributing.    Thank you for participating! Workshop Recap:  Melissa Marginet Our Guild hosted the Planning Your Walking Foot Quilting Workshop with Melissa Marginet on June 28th via Zoom.  It was her first time teaching with the virtual format tools, but we still got one on one consultation time with our "problematic" quilt tops.  We sent her photographs and she drew possible designs on each top while explaining her approach, and even gave thread weight and color recommendations.   Cristina Kathryn She taught the concepts from her book, Edge to Edge Walking Foot Quilting Designs, which focus on walking foot quilting that minimizes loose thread ends to bury.  She divides your quilt design into quadrants and then creatively weaves the quilting pattern between and among the quadrants.  She also promotes an organic, loosely imperfect style which minimizes the time spent quilting, but still results in a sturdy, ready to be loved quilt.  Because it was virtual we had many guests from diverse locations including California, Arizona, Ottawa, Simcoe, and others; along with several members as well.  Elizabeth Brandie Colleen Kim Other Announcements The Maritime Quilt is finished and has been delivered to Nova Scotia! The TMQG collaborated on a quilt for the The Maritime Modern Quilt Guild and we're very proud of the results.The Maritime Guild in Halifax, Nova Scotia is collecting quilts to be distributed in order to show love and support to the victims' families and first responders affected by the tragedies on 4/19/20. Thank you to all those who contributed to the effort, especially Karen Brown who masterfully pulled it all together. Karen used the quilt as an example in her latest Just Get It Done Quilts YouTube video. You can see it here.  The guild executive is thoughtfully working on a long term action plan for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity. As a member guild of the MQG, we follow the MQG's Community Guidelines. We welcome the input of all our members as we examine our policies, learn, and develop plans going forward. We welcome our members to explore the Anti-Racism Resources curated by the MQG. If you signed up to do the President's Challenge, your assigned characteristics can be found on the sign-up spreadsheet. It's not too late to sign up!  Do you have an area of expertise to share with the guild? Sign up to give a Spotlight Presentation at one of our upcoming meetings! Click here to sign up, or to suggest a topic you would like to see included.    Looking Forward There will be no August meeting. Instead we are holding a virtual Stitch n' Chat on Sunday, August 30 with a focus on sewing curves for the QuiltCon Community Outreach. If you are interested in joining us, stay tuned for details in next month's newsletter. September 27, 2020 meeting: Krista Hennenbury (aka Poppyprint) will be giving a talk. She will be leading two workshops that weekend as well. Speed Date With Improv: Saturday September 26th, 10am-5pm Round Peg Square Hole:  Sunday September 27th, 10am-2pm You can register for these workshops in the TMQG online shop! We don't now yet whether the workshops will be on-line or in person. We will keep you posted closer to the date. October 25, 2020 meeting: Mary Elizabeth Kinch will be giving a talk called  RANDOM ACTS OF QUILTING  "An entertaining look into "real life" quilting where I reveal inspiring ideas, the lessons I have learned (some of them the hard way), and several sacrosanct rules that can, and should, be broken. Learn about the chaos theory of quilting, fabric shockers, industry secrets – did you know fabrics can "explode", approaches to borders and bindings, and other brilliant quilting insights".