Toronto Modern Quilt Guild

April was an exciting month for our guild. We have grown and expanded our membership over the last year or so, and as a result of having more members, have decided to change our meeting practices a bit. Instead of our usual big circle, we've changed to rows of chairs, and instead of our very, very long "show and share" we've decided to tighten it up a bit and only show finished works (no more WIPs) and have a limited number of slots for show and share. That way we will have time to do more workshop/demo type things. It went pretty well our first time out. We still saw lots of great work, but had time to learn new things too. Things like this:  Jeannie Jenkins gave us a great demo about block accuracy. She had all sorts of tips about cutting fabric.  She showed us two quilts she had made with tiny Half Square Triangles.  Same basic blocks/motifs, but a very different feeling to the two quilts. Colour/value choice makes such a difference.  Also, Je...

About a week ago I posted on the TMQG Facebook page that I had a quilt vision that I hoped my fellow guild members would help me realize, and here (finally!) is the tutorial for the blocks that I'm looking for. The idea is simple, because the way to accept one another is simple:  LOVE.  The most shocking thing to me about the hate expressed by the murderer in Orlando on June 12th is that his hate was for how people loved one another.  I hope this quilt, this small gesture in a very large world, will join with a million other small gestures to tip the balance on the side of love. I am asking for LOVE and IS blocks, in bold, bright colours.  No black, white, grey, etc.  It is also important that the letters be legible, so contrast between the letters and the background is important.  You can achieve this in different ways: using a cool background and warm letters (or vice versa) OR using a light background and dark letters (or vice versa).  Ge...

Hello TMQG'ers If you've been watching CNN lately you'll know it's election season. And the same applies here in our quilty community. Here are all the details that you need to know about our upcoming election. (Sorry, no Wolf Blitzer poling stats or snazzy John King 3D graphics.)  This email requires a good read, so make yourself a cup of tea and get comfy. TMQG ELECTION: SUNDAY JUNE 26 There have been lots of meetings, and discussions about how we would like to improve our guild, where we’d like it to go in the next few years and who the new leadership will be. Well now it’s time to put all that talk into action! The June meeting is your chance to vote on who you would like to run for president and other important roles. This is important info so PLEASE READ all the way to the bottom . HOW DOES IT WORK? • Nominees get put in the ballot • Deadline for nominees is 11am on Sunday, June 26, 2014. • Paper ballots will be cast at the Jun...

The votes have been tallied for our Quilt Canada 2016 Solids Mini-quilt Challenge. Thanks to all of you who submitted a quilt and to everyone who visited our exhibit and voted. We had 1,510 votes and people had a very hard time choosing their favourites! Look how great it looked... And now for the news you want to hear. The winners of our three beuatiful fat quarter bundles courtesy of Robert Kaufman Fabrics are.... First place goes to Rebecca for quilt #9. (No, I didn't cheat! Julie and Laura will attest to our security measures.) Second place goes to Doris for quilt #8. Third place goes to Lynda for quilt #12 I would like to add an honourable mention for quilts #7 and #6 by Berene and Adrienne respectively. They were both hot on the heels of third place! And finally, the winner of our draw from the voters' ballots was Jean Hillis, who happened to be volunteering right around the corner white-gloving on the show floor. She had a beau...