Heather Jones's Visit to the STLMQG

Last week, the STLMQG and its guests enjoyed a fun and inspiring weekend with Heather Jones, modern quilter, painter, and author of Quilt Local.

The weekend started with Heather's trunk show and lecture on projects from her book, ways to find inspiration, and how to document inspiration and translate it into quilting projects. She discussed how she finds and documents her inspiration, how she translates her inspiration into her quilts, and how we can follow her process to make our own quilts using ideas from all around us if we stay present and open our eyes. Her quilts epitomize the ideas of modern traditionalism, negative space, and minimalist design, and her trunk show was inspiring in its own right.

On Saturday, she expanded on the ideas from the trunk show in her first workshop, From Inspiration to Design. Students used pictures they'd brought to class to work through Heather's process, identifying the elements they wanted to focus on from the images, translating them into sketches, and then working out the math so they could head home and get to work.

One member, Krista Robbins, did just that -- finishing the quilt she designed in class just a few days later! It was so fun to see the range of images people chose to work from.

 

On Sunday, members took part in the Color Choice: Palm House workshop, which focused on the effect of fabric placement on a final quilt composition. Students experimented with different fabrics and layouts, looking at how secondary patterns are created and discussing the use of negative space in a design. This class also included some guests from outside the guild, and we were so pleased to have them join us! 

 

 

Thank you for a wonderful weekend, Heather!

Reminder: No June meeting

Reminder!

We don't have a monthly meeting in June due to a scheduling conflict with The Heights, but there are plenty of other ways to stay connected. Consider joining us for any or all of the following this month:

• Registration for Giuseppe Ribaudo's workshops opens Thursday, June 13 (check your emails for details)
• Guild sew-in at Jackman's on Saturday, June 15 (spots remain; check your emails for the sign-up link)
• Hand-sew happy hour on Tuesday, June 18 (details here)
• Heather Jones's visit on June 28-30 (trunk show and lecture on Friday, June 28; workshops on Saturday and Sunday, June 29-30. Details in this blog post.)
• Finish prepping your quilts for the quilt show (get that binding on, add your quilt sleeve, and get it in a labeled bag). Details on quilt drop-off were sent via email earlier this week. The deadline for dropping off your quilts is our July 13th meeting.

STLMQG's Second Quilt Show Coming July 20-21

Save the Date!

 

 The St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild is excited to announce our second quilt show, This Is Modern, will be taking place this July! The show will present the beautiful work of our guild members, showcasing the modern quilting movement with more than 200 quilts in a number of categories, such as Improvisation, Modern Traditionalism, Appliqué and Handwork, Use of Negative Space, Minimalist Design, and much more.

When:

Saturday, July 20, 2019
10 AM-5 PM

Sunday, July 21, 2019
11 AM-4 PM

Where:

Kirkwood Community Center

111 S. Geyer Road

Kirkwood, MO 63122

 

Cost:

Admission $5
Ages 5 and under are free

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Raffles!

Rocketeer Sewing Machine Raffle

As part of the show, we're also excited to be raffling off a beautiful vintage Singer Rocketeer in a mid-century modern cabinet. The machine is freshly tuned and ready to get to work! It will include its manuals, as well as a box of attachments. The drawing will take place on July 21, 2019. Tickets will be sold at the show: one for $1 or six for $5.

 

The Confluence Quilt Raffle

Each year, the Modern Quilt Guild hosts the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge. They map out the parameters and challenge guilds to submit a quilt for display at QuiltCon, the MQG’s annual national conference and quilt show. Guilds then donate the quilt (or money from its sale) to a charity. The 2019 challenge featured tiny piecing, defined as one inch or less. The Confluence was the STLMQG’s entry. It depicts the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a geographic marker that is a defining symbol of the St. Louis region. To capture the small-piecing element of the challenge, the guild used our own Leila Gardunia's Scrappy Triangle patterns in our featured river blocks. Over 75 members participated, each contributing their own improvisational or scrappy triangle blocks to provide the texture and beauty of this quilt. We are proud to present this unique representation of our region, our members, and the talent within both.

All proceeds from the Confluence quilt will be donated to the Red Cross for flood relief. We hope the comfort provided by the quilt itself will be reflected in the very real assistance provided by the donation. The drawing will take place on July 21, 2019. Tickets will be sold at the show: one for $2 or three for $5.

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 Help Us Spread the Word!

Please consider marking your calendar to spend a few hours with us and our modern quilts in July. And don’t forget to forward this email or our flyer on to your quilting friends. Bring a group to the show and make a day of it! We can't wait to see you next month.

Meeting Recap (May 11, 2019)

Thank you to everyone who came out to Saturday's meeting! We hope everyone had a great time.

• Gayle, our Treasurer, gave us the updated financial info. Don't forget your 2019 dues of $40 are due immediately to remain a member in good standing. You can pay via our Paypal link or mail a check to Gayle (see our member roster for her contact info).
• Krista, our Secretary, announced our membership numbers and passed out our MQG and STLMQG membership pins. Note: This year, the MQG is no longer sending printed membership cards. If you'd like a paper copy to use for discounts, etc., you can access and print it online. To access your digital card, log in to your MQG account, click on "My Dashboard" in the right sidebar, then click the orange "Membership Card" link at the top of your profile page.
• Marie, our VP, announced several pieces of quilting news and happenings (more about these will be sent via email). She also announced that the deadline for the Block Lotto #2 blocks has been pushed back to July.
• Jessica, our President, covered several items:
• Our second quilt show is coming up July 20-21, 2019. It will be held at the Kirkwood Community Center. The latest info about the show can be found on the blog Quilt Show page. Registration ended April 30, and all members who registered a quilt should have received an email about their acceptance status and information on dropping off their quilts.
• This month's Hand-Sew Happy Hour will take place on Tuesday, May 21 at the St. Louis Bread Co. in St. Louis Hills. More info here.
• We're welcoming two speakers to the guild for lectures and workshops this year: Heather Jones in June and Giuseppe Ribaudo in September. Registration for the Heather Jones workshops is now open for members and non-members. More info about her trunk show/lecture and workshops, as well as the registration link, can be found here. Registration for Giuseppe's workshops will take place in June.
• Remember, we don't have a meeting in June! Instead, we'll be having a sew-in at Jackman's on June 15, as well as our visit with Heather Jones. More info about the sew-in will be sent via email.

• We held a vote on whether to change our guild by-laws to fix the problem we have with the entire board turning over every two years. The change passed unanimously. The current guild by-laws can be found here. 
• The Charity Committee announced our third long-arm quilting winner for the Project Linus project. Congrats to Nancy Dlugosz, whose quilt top will be quilted by Lilo Whitener-Fey. Thank you both for participating! The committee thanked everyone who donated fabric to make quilt kits for people who want to participate but don't have time to put their own quilt materials together. They are working to put those kits together now and will begin distributing them in July. You can find all the info on the project here. 
• This month's activity was all about the design process. First, we viewed part of Tara Faughnan’s recent MQG webinar on her design process and then had an interactive Q&A panel with some of our member designers about their own design process. They offered some great tips and ideas about how to think through designing our own quilts and putting our own spin on published patterns. Thank you to Krista Robbins, Kristy Daum, Casey York, and Lilo Whitener-Fey for giving us a peek into their process.
  [You can find Tara's webinar here. We watched from minute 5 to minute 29 (when "resolving design issues" begins).]
  
  

• We announced that the Rainbow BOM skill for May is paper piecing (details here)! Then, we raffled off a copy of Adventures in Paper Piecing & Design to those who brought their completed April half-square triangle blocks to the meeting. Aren't they lovely? We love seeing the variety each month.

• Finally, we enjoyed an amazing show and tell from everyone who participated in the No Excuses Challenge. The beautiful flying geese table runner below was made by Jolene Grosch. Be sure to click over to our Instagram page to see all of the wonderful entries. Thank you to everyone who participated! This was one of our most successful challenges ever.

• We wrapped up the meeting with another great Show and Tell, which included these lovelies by Vicki Ash and Brittany Westermier. Keep an eye on our Instagram page to see lots more pics of the meeting, show and tell, and our members' projects throughout the month.

See you at the July meeting or one of the fun events before then!

Meeting #93 (May 11, 2019)

Hello modern quilters! Our agenda is jam-packed with fun and information this month, so make plans to join us!

Date: May 11, 2019
Time: 10 am-12:30 pm
Location: The Heights
8001 Dale Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117
*Childcare available, please see info here*

**Note: The west parking lot at The Heights will be closed until at least the fall due to renovations taking place in the building. We should be fine, but you might want to give yourself a few extra minutes to arrive on time. The main (east) lot remains open. Additional parking is also available near the AB Green Park on Laclede Station Road and Dale Ave.

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Agenda:

 -Welcome & Guild Business
     :: Membership Information
     :: Financial Information
     :: Quilting News / Around Town

     :: Reminders and Announcements

- Updates on 2019 speakers
- Block lotto update
- Update on quilt show registration and collection of accepted quilts 
- Info on Jackman's sew-in in June
- Raffle and update for Project Linus charity project; first quilt collection takes place this month!
- Vote on change to bylaws regarding board elections

 
---Break--- 

- Activity: Let’s Talk Design!
We will view part of Tara Faughnan’s recent MQG webinar on her design process and then have an interactive Q&A panel with some of our member designers about their own design process. Come pick up some great tips and ideas about how to think through designing your own quilts or putting your own unique spin on patterns designed by others!

- No Excuses Challenge Show and Tell and gift card raffle

- Announce next Rainbow BOM skill and raffle book for finished April blocks
- Show & Tell (time permitting)
- Door prizes
- Mix & Mingle 

-------------------------- Reminders --------------------------

:: It's not too late to pay your dues! Dues are holding steady at $40 for this year and can be paid by cash, check, or credit card. You can pay at the meeting or online through our Paypal link.

:: STLMQG members came through in a big way at the April meeting! Thanks to the generous donations of over 230 yards of fabric, the Charity Committee has determined that we have plenty of yardage to cut and assemble kits for Project Linus. No additional donations are needed. We had originally planned to request fabric donations for May, but your copious donations at the April meeting have made further donations unnecessary. Please accept our sincere thanks and appreciation to all who donated. We look forward to creating the kits for whomever wishes to make a quilt for Project Linus.

Remember we have lots of items due in May, so keep these in mind as you prepare:

• No Excuses Challenge projects
• 1st collection of Project Linus quilts
• Half-square triangle blocks for the Rainbow BOM (Be sure to bring your finished April Rainbow BOM blocks for a chance to win a book about the May skill.)
• Accepted quilts for guild quilt show

 Note: The deadline for the Block Lotto #2 blocks has been moved to July.