November Block Lottery - Improv Triangles with Hand Stitching

Laraine's Improv Triangles - cool handstitching!
It's Loree's block this month and she has put together a beauty with two things she loves - improv and hand stitching.

Prints you need for the triangles:

  • Black and white
  • Gray - low value - think low volume - no darks
  • Beige - low value
  • Pink - low value - think pastel
  • Brown - any value
Background - Kona Geranium only

Handstitching in black embroidery floss - 3 strands preferred

Instructions:
  1. Cut a piece of Kona Geranium fabric 11 1/4" X 11 1/4"
  2. Make an improv triangle of any size and shape not to exceed 10" in width or length
  3. Lay triangle on top of background fabric, the bottom of the triangle should line up with the bottom of the background fabric. A little wonky is good!
  4. Lay ruler along the right side of the triangle, cut, and slide piece to the side. This becomes piece #2.
  5. Repeat along the left side of the triangle. This becomes piece #1.
  6. Save the Geranium triangle you just created for another project.
  7. Sew piece #1 to the left side of the improv triangle. Press. Trim.
  8. Sew piece #2 to the right side of the improv triangle. Press.
  9. Trim entire block to 10" square.
  10. Add black running stitches with embroidery floss. This can be a little or a lot - your choice - Required!
  11. Repeat and make more =)
Have fun with this improv block!

ECMQG 2018 Anniversary Meeting in Pictures!

Mega prizes to win for our Anniversary meeting
More prizes to win! It's the luck of the draw

What an awesome grand prize!
Linda was the lucky winner.

Maureen's HST blocks in black, white, and Kona snow were quick and easy.
The two lucky winners were Maureen and Roxie.
Take a look at all the beautiful creations made for our annual scrap swap. Loree challenged the creators with a crayon draw.
Lisa created for Laraine.


Laraine created for Linda

Lori created for Maureen

Maureen created for Faye


Faye created for Cindy

Cindy created for Lisa
And some fun Show and Tell
Laraine's Jelly Roll Rug

Lisa's cute zipper pouch

Faye show us her block lottery finish!

Roxie shows us her Jelly Roll Rug

October Meeting Minutes 2018


Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild Meeting         October 13, 2018
Meeting came to order after moving into our new home at 10:40.  We are now meeting at First United Methodist Church in Crestview.
Moment of Silence especially for the Hurricane Michael victims.
Loree explained our cute Pumpkin Surprise drawing.  We can buy chances for $1.00 to raise money for the guild.  We also have our door prizes and block lottery to buy tickets for.
  • We discussed ways to help the church for donating the meeting room free of charge.  We all took in food items (nonperishable) for this month’s meeting, which they donate to the homeless. If you choose to donate canned items, make sure they are pull tops.
  • We also talked about helping the Girl Scout troop that meets in that room.  We could help them earn their sewing badges by helping them sew items and make a simple pouch or something.  Roxie will contact the church and find out the name of the GS leaders.
  • For Hurricane Relief help we decided to wait awhile and find out what will be needed after the dust settles.  We may decide to help a quilt guild that has lost fabric and supplies.
  • Update:  Plus Quilt is finished except for making a back for it.  It will be used for a charity quilt. 
  • Do we want to change the rules back on the Block Lottery?  We decided to leave as is.
  • Pictures will be taken today of auction items thanks to Natalie and Loree.  Thanks for helping with that.
  • Linda gave us a Treasurer’s Report.  She decreased our D&O insurance through negotiations with the agent. Way to go Linda! 
  • We took nominations for the board.  A slate of candidates will be presented at the November meeting to be voted upon for the ECMQG Board 2019.
  • The ByLaw proposal passed so now there is a new committee position of webmaster to handle our online accounts. Lisa has shown interest in this position.
  • Committee positions will be discussed and volunteers for these roles will be taken at the November meeting.
  • November 30th is the entry deadline for quilts in competition at Quiltcon 2019 in Nashville.  Natalie encouraged us to do the miniswap where you get to meet your fellow quilter at Quiltcon.  She did this last year and really enjoyed it.  Sign up for the miniquilt swap is due by Oct. 25th. 
  • We did not receive a proposal from anyone or a group to do a Charity quilt for Quiltcon this year.  In April or May of next year we will have the colors for 2020 and can decide if we want to do one for 2020.
  • Flying Needles is doing a retreat.  It will be held the same weekend as Quiltcon.  We do have people interested.  So, next month a lady from Flying Needles will come and educate us as to what their Retreat is like.  Nancy Majone is their featured quilter at this 2019 Retreat.
  • The Guild is requesting that all debit cards be returned to the treasurer next month.  We are approaching our new year.  We should pay our membership next month and elect new officers. 
  • Natalie would like to do an Amy Butler swap in January since she is retiring.  You can purchase Amy Butler fabric from online stores, local quilt shops, and destash sites.  Post what you buy on our FB page so that everyone will know what to get and what not to get.  It will be a Fat Quarter swap.  You purchase 2 yds of the same fabric and cut it into 8 Fat Quarters.  Then, you will receive other Fat Quarters so that you have a total of 8 Fat Quarters.  There is a two print per person limit.  We are swapping large, modern florals.
  • Loree shared her new Block Lottery block for November.  It is a improve triangle block with Kona Geranium as the background.  She brought Kona Geranium to cut and allow us to buy.  Loree gave out written directions for the Wonky Triangle Block and we looked at her pretty examples.  She used the Kona Geranium, light pinks, beige, grey, and black and white prints.  All are prints except the Kona Geranium.  She also did a black running stitch with 3 strands of embroidery floss (DMC).  You can put the black hand stitching anywhere you want on your block.
  • Next month we will have a sign up for next year’s Block Lottery.  Laraine encouraged us to sign up for 1 or 2 months.  

Expenditures
We had a request for some expenditures by the board.  They need money for promotional materials with our new address on them…business cards.  Expenditure not to exceed $50.  It was motioned, seconded, and passed.
Also, we discussed having rotating people to do the purchasing for door prizes.  We budgeted $50 a month or $150 a quarter and approved that and Laraine to be the first purchaser for Quarter 1 of 2019.
We also approved an expenditure of $60 for 6 yds. of Membership Fabric for complimentary Fat Quarters for membership renewal for 2019.
Show and Tell
  • Laraine had a beautiful scarf or kitchen shawl for the auction to share.
  • Marsha shared her quilting of the beautiful popsicle quilt which will become a charity quilt, also. Maureen will bind it for us. 
  • Lisa shared her beautiful charcoal pillow tops with flying geese for the auction.
  • Natalie shared her gorgeous Sew Together Bag for the auction. She also shared a nice Open Wide Bag by Noodlehead.  It had blue cork on the bottom.
  • Natalie also had a scrappy blue and brown quilt top 
 We adjourned for Lunch and selling the Kona fabric and sewing time.








September 2018 Anniversary Meeting Minutes


ECMQG general meeting minutes                                  September 8, 2018
The September Anniversary meeting was called to order at a bit after 10:00.
We celebrated our Anniversary with Quilting Terminology Bingo. There were several nice prizes for the winners, including a “fill your card” last round for the Grand Prize, a basket of sewing goodies, Linda was the lucky winner. Members used buttons from their button boxes as markers for bingo. We saw lots of pretty, interesting buttons.
Door prize tickets were given to members based on their attendance to our monthly meeting.
Linda purchased a special Anniversary cake with the ECMQG logo.
Old Business
Reminder to member to arrive early to help set up our meeting space.
Any and all spending must be approved by the board before bringing in receipts for reimbursement.
We are looking for charity organizations for the upcoming year, 2019. Discussed for next year were, The Emerald Coast Hospice in the 1st quarter and possibly ARC Gateway , a Christmas Quilt in the 4th quarter.
Quilt of Honor quilts are still being completed.
Linda gave a Treasurer’s report. She is going to inquire about how we might bring down the cost of our D&O insurance.
New Business
Nominations for the executive board will be due at the October meeting.
The guild voted at the meeting to change the responsibilities of the Secretary. It was decided that a committee will be formed to relieve the secretary of some of the responsibility, this includes social media. A vote will be taken in two weeks through Survey Monkey, look for it in your email from ECMQG.
Upcoming possible programs for 2019 were discussed: 
  • Jelly Roll rugs, at sit and sew.
  • Labels for quilts, this October (cancelled due to move)
  • Franken Batting
  • Curved Blocks
  • Sew Together Bag
  • Binding a quilt (Nov.)
  • facing a quilt
  • Ruler work on a DOM
  • pineapple blocks
  • thread painting
  • Quick Curve Ruler possibly taught by Michelle from Chalkboard quilts.

Online Auction items are due at the next meeting, October 13.
Auction dates are November 1-15.
Block Lottery, Maureen’s black and white half square triangles were very popular, there were 47 blocks that were divided between two winners, Roxie and Maureen.
Roxie introduced her green and yellow green slice and insert with a white strip block. She provided written instructions and will provide instructions for a blog tutorial to Loree and Natalie.
Our Anniversary Scrap Swap/ Color Challenge was a success. It is always so exciting to see the talent shine in our group. The creativity with the color challenge was amazing!
Door prizes were won by Laraine, Linda, Bobbi, Laraine, Cindy, Loree, Linda
Show and Tell
  • Jelly Roll Rugs by Roxie and Laraine
  • Pillow Covers and Arm Chair Pin Cushions by Natalie (auction items)
  • In the Hoop Zippy by Lisa
  • Block Lottery quilt top by Faye.
  • Marsha showed the start of her quilting on the popsicle charity quilt.

The meeting was followed by Lunch, Bingo and Sit & Sew.

August 2018 Meeting Minutes


ECMQG Meeting Minutes                                         Aug. 11, 2018

Rachel is back.  She was here last month, and was a previous member a few years ago.  She joined today.  Yay!

Moment of silence.

New junior member, Athena, introduced.  (Linda’s daughter)

Loree set up the ECMQG Fun Fair for this months meeting, featuring concessions of popcorn, cotton candy, cracker jacks, peanuts.  For $1.00, you pick your snack.

Loree baked a homemade peach pie to raffle off, $1.00 per ticket to win. 

If you are still supposed to receive Faye’s blender fabrics, see Loree.

Food Sign Up Sheet for next meeting was available to sign up.  Please spread the love!

Auction items are due at the Oct. 13 meeting so we have time to catalog, take photos, etc. 
o   The auction is Nov. 1 – 15.  Cindy will be organizing the auction. 
o   Please help support our guild and make items! 
o   There is a form to fill out per item.  The form will be posted on our guild Facebook page. 
o   We need volunteers to help catalog, take photos, and then afterwards to help pack and ship items.  We would like to make the packing exciting to receive.

Dress a Girl Around the World will be headed up by Maureen.
o   Please bring fabric for these projects. 
o   There are patterns to use. 
o   The fabric requirements:  a) you should not be able to see through it when you hold it up, b) don’t use fabric with licensed logos like Disney, movie themes, etc., and no americana (red, white & blue),  c) good choices are flowers, stripes, and solids, d) trim, ribbons, etc. should be washable, e) fabric does not need to be modern. 
o   Maybe we can do these together in a sit-n-sew.

Charity quilts
o   We decided to pay for 2 charity quilts for this year (last Feb.).
o   The Hospice Quilt is done and delivered. Yay!
o   The Popsicle Quilt still needs more quilting.  (Natalie’s long arm broke.)  Marsha volunteered to finish the quilting, Faye volunteered to do the binding, and Loree will do the label.
·       We need to chose a charity to receive this quilt.  Fischer House has already happened this year.  ARC Gateway is usually a Christmas theme, and we determined that it could not be used for the next Hospice quilt.
·       Keep your eyes open for a charity that could use this quilt to auction off.   

o   Lorraine made a quilt top from the pluses we had.   See Show & Tell today.  We still need to make the back, and quilt it. 
                  o   We have more pluses to make another charity quilt.
o   Rachel volunteered to quilt the red, white & blue Adore-La quilt. 
o   MQG QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge
·       The theme is small piecing with a set of allowed colors.  See the website for details. 
·       Does anyone have any ideas?!
·       If you have an idea, it needs to be presented by the next meeting, Sept. Please submit a design proposal, an estimate of fabric costs (top, back, binding), and a timeline for completion.
·       The guild has batting for this quilt.
·       Check out our guild Pinterest board for ideas!



 Athena won the 1st door prize! Yay! 

Loree won twice in a row, and gave the second one of Alison Glass to Wendi who is making a quilt of this.

Linda gave a treasurer’s report.  The bottom line is that we are staying just above the red, so we need to continue to think about not spending too much money.

We discussed our insurance, and about possibilities to reduce this cost.

We purchased the accounting software Aplos, which was comparible to other software.  On nice feature is that any board member can go online and get updates on our finances.

Anniversary Meeting is coming up next month in September!!!!!!

o   We discussed how to celebrate and budget.  We voted to keep the budget at $100 or less. 
o   Wendi will shop for fabric, tools, etc. as prizes.  We discussed types of fabric and tools, etc. that people would like.  cool!
o   Linda will bake a cake, to save the money from buying a cake, and well, homemade tastes great!
o   We discussed how we should award tickets to win prizes and which prize you win.  We decided that everyone will get one ticket for membership, plus one additional ticket for every meeting that you have attended Jan. – Aug. 2018.  When your ticket is randomly picked – you get to chose out of all of the prizes, which prize you want.  Yay!!!!!!!

Go to QuiltCON.com to see the guest speaker, the different quilt challenges, charity quilt challenge, the swap opportunity, etc. 
o   Natalie told us about her experience with a swap event at the conference in Savannah, GA.  She had to make something for one of the instructors so she was nervous, so she said she had to “step up her game” but that it was a good opportunity to grow as an artist.
o   For the Swap opportunity, you get to sign up for your level: beginner, intermediate, and expert (maybe other categories…). 
o   There is a 2-color challenge.  Tone on tone fabric counts as 2 fabrics.  hunh! 
o   There is a list of categories and prizes to enter quilts.
o   Entries are due Nov. 30, which means you fill out a form and pay the fee, $15/quilt (even if not accepted, overhead expense…)

Our Swap for next month, the Anniversary Meeting was discussed.
o   Last month, everyone interested blindly chose 3 crayons, then picked scrap fabric with these 3 colors and add one neutral.  We brought these in a one quart bag to today’s meeting.
o   Later in the meeting, we picked a bag of fabric that was hidden. 
o   The maker talks to the person whose fabric they chose, to find out more what they want. 
o   Everyone is to make a table top that must be a least 12” x 18” or larger. 
o   The item must be finished for the next meeting, including machine quilting or handiwork, etc.  However, some people like Loree, have asked that hers does not have a binding on it because she wants to make a pillow case with it.  Other people could be interested in making a tote out of it, for example.
o   The maker can also add one other color.
o   Natalie presented many examples of what colors that makers could chose, using color fabric squares on the board with the color wheel.  Examples:
·       Lorraine had picked 3 analogous colors:  dark green, yellow-green, and yellow.  Complimentary color that could be added would be purple, and if used sparingly could make it peaceful.  Blue-green could be added as an analogous color scheme.  We couldn’t really pick colors for a triad with these.
·       Lisa chose red-violet (looked pink), blue-green, and blue, which is an anologous range, and could stay happy if added purple, red, or blue-violet.  She tried a split complimentary with red-orange, but it didn’t look great.
·       Maureen also had analogous:  red-violet (pink), orange, and a yellow-orange.  Can add other colors in the same analogous region or a complimentary color, blue-green.
·       Her advice was to play with your scraps on a design board.
·       Cindy had red-violet or ~mauve, blue-violet, and sky blue, an analogous scheme which you can add another analogous color, or make it pop with yellow-green.
·       Faye had contrasting colors yellow, red-violet, and blue-green which was a triadic scheme already.  Probably don’t want to add a different color, maybe one from the same family.
·       Linda had purple, red, sky blue, an analogous scheme.  Could pop with yellow but then looks like primary colors, or add another blue or blue-green.
·       Loree had cerelean blue, cornflower blue, and pink (red-violet), which is fairly analogous.  Here I didn’t write down what she said…

We discussed this month’s Block Lottery, the Improv Curves.
o   Different people had advice.  Cindy didn’t use starch, and did use a small stitch length.
o   Wendi suggested to snip the curve seam allowance on the back to help prevent puckering, as in garment sewing.
o   Many people agreed that it turned out better if you matched the curves in the center first (instead of the ends).  Lisa started pinning at the center, and then pinned outward to the ends.
o   Lisa won the Block Lottery. Yay!  Pictures of blocks:

Maureen presented the new Block Lottery for September.
o   They are half square triangles. 
o   Use a 6” square of Kona snow and a 6” square of black and white print fabric.
o   Place them right sides together.  Maureen marked the diagonal with pencil first on the Kona snow.  Then sew ¼” away from diagonal on both sides.  Cut apart to make 2 squares of half square triangles.  Do this one more time, to have a set of 4 squares (of the half square triangles), and this will be considered “one block”.  However, do not sew them together, to allow the winner many options of how to put these blocks together.  Cool!   These are pictures showing different ways they could be arranged by the winner:

Show & Tell:
o   Lorraine made a plus quilt top from the pluses the guild had in red, white & blue.  Loree will make the back and Rachel will quilt it.  It looks awesome! Thank you!   This will be a quilt of honor for our inventory, until someone recommends a recipient. 
o   Cindy put together a red, white & blue Adore-La quilt.  Cindy will make the back and Rachel will quilt this one too!!!  We hope Rachel doesn’t get burnt out. ;) 
o   Natalie showed her quilt made on vacation.  Pieced with her mother’s very old maching and then quilted on a Bernina rented for $10/day.  We had no idea it was this cheap!  Really cool pattern!
o   Marsha showed 2 Quilts of Valor.  The first one was from the Quilter’s calendar (maybe June or July?).  This is for her son in the Air Force, and is entitled “Third generation”.  The second one is for her husband using blocks of the month from her other guild.  Nice work Marsha!  Marsha added beautiful labels and a label with washing instructions. 
o   Lisa showed a Patriotic quilt for her stepson in the Navy, and just flew off to start training in the Navy Seals.  (He couldn’t take the quilt with him yet.) 


o   Rachel showed a quilt top she made from her winning the block lottery at our guild in 2014!  The blocks were a tutorial quilt-a-long, and she also used the trimmings from these blocks.  It looks cool!  She will use wonky log cabins from her recent guild, McKinney Modern Quilt Guild (in Texas).  Welcome back to our guild and Florida, Rachel! 
o   Maureen showed a quilt she made and had Rachel quilt it.  Cool!
o   Faye showed fancy comfortable underwear for her daughters, using a pattern called “Scrundies” (spelling?).  Fancy!
  Wendi showed large strips of a quilt top using all polka dots.  At the sit-n-sew today, she has sewn all of them together and worked on the Quilt of Honor that others had helped make a few blocks. 

Faye won the homemade peach pie! Yay!

We will discuss quilt labels in a future meeting since we the meeting has been long enough.

See you next month!

Written by Lisa, substituting for Roxie this month.  Hope you enjoyed it!



The End of an Era

 Hello Modern Quilters! Thank you for visiting our blog. Sadly, ECMQG is no longer meeting on a regular basis. Feel free to browse the blog,...