Block Challenge/Fabric Giveaway

February 27, 2013March 7, 20131 Comment

My apologies for not discussing this at last night’s meeting…with everything going on, we simply forgot.

We have a challenge for you all that includes a very cool fabric giveaway. It all started at our awesome fabric panel at Stitch Modern which featured a wide array of really talented local fabric designers. One of those designers was Jennifer Moore from Monaluna.

She has a new line out called Modern Home that is super cute. Jennifer explained to us how this line included a lot of herself such as llamas (which were at her wedding), her cat, her home, etc. She gave us fabric to give to our guild memers, but sadly it was not a lot. And while it is tempting for me to just keep it and not say anything, I won’t;) Instead we are proposing this…participate in the challenge for a chance to win some of this super cute fabric!!

So the challenge is this:

1. Create a 12″ block that describes you. Much like Jennifer put herself into her fabric design, we want you to put yourself into your block. This may be simple piecing, paper piecing, applique…whatever. We just want a block that expresses who you are.

2. Quilt the block as you see fit. This means it must have three layers and can be tied, hand quilted, or quilted by machine…what ever fits you best.

3. Bind the quilted block as you see fit. We are open to creativity on this. You can do a traditional binding or a zig zag/serging stitch.

4. Bring the block to the March EBMQG meeting to share and be entered in a drawing for a fat quarter bundle! It is just that easy!!

We look forward to see what you guys come up with! Please keep in mind that this will not be judged, you just have to participate:)

East Bay Modern Quilt Guild Meeting, March 2012

April 9, 2012Leave a comment

There were so many beautiful quilts at the March meeting, but before I tell you where to go see them in detail, I have a confession. I must admit that I got a bit busy last month. (I even forgot to wish my Mom a happy birthday, that’s how busy I was – sorry, Mom!) I was also too busy to post the February meeting notes. Bad girl! The guilt has kinda been keeping me up at night, so let me do a little recap of the February meeting real quick. We spent a lot of the meeting discussing our favorite threads and battings. We also got to take home some samples packs of all the battings offered by Quilter’s Dream Batting. Thanks, QD!

Because I know you’re dying to know, here’s the list of favorites:

Joel – Fairfield batting
Kristen – Sulky rayon thread, Warm & Natural batting
Asija – Nature Fill Bamboo batting
Cyn – Aurifill 50 wt thread, for machine quilting she likes Superior King Tut thread, for hand quilting it’s YLI and Kinkame silk thread. She’s also a fan of Thread Heaven to prevent hand quilting thread snarls.
Dan R. – Warm & Natural battting, Aurafill threads (50 wt for peicing, 40 wt for quilting, 20 wt for topstitching on denim)
Terri – Warm & Natural batting, Gutermann poly for peicing, King Tut for machine quilting, Gutermann silk for hand piecing
Allison – King Tut for quilting, Mettler for piecing
Dan – Gutermann Sew All thread
Claudia – Quilter’s Dream Cotton Request batting, Aurafill thread, Lecein multi-strands
Stacey – Warm & Natural and Quilter’s Dream Cotton batting, Gutermann thread

You can see all of the photos from the February meeting over on Flickr.

Whew! Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I can talk about the March meeting! As I said, there were a bevy of beautiful quilts on display which you can see in great detail on Flickr. Lots of quilts and projects are coming in using the Daisy Janie fabric line, Shades of Grey. It’s cool to see all the different colors that are being paired with the grey and white fabrics.

We were also treated to an appearance by Carol Van Zandt who talked about her new fabric line for Andover called Tokyo Rococo. She came with STACKS of gorgeous fabric to share with the group. She also talked about how she got the idea for the collection and showed us pieces of the vintage French fabrics that inspired her.

There was so much swag at this meeting as Amelia also brought in bags and bags of vintage textile and quilting books to give away. So generous! I would have been hoarding those books on dusty shelves for at least 20 years, if it were me! As it was, I only came home with about 5. Inexplicably, I’m attracted to 1970’s books about tablet weaving. Dusty shelf, here you go.

We also shared a top secret project that the group has been working on. I can’t talk about it or show pictures of it yet, but it is C.U.T.E!!!! Perhaps, it will be shown publicly next month?

We discussed the possibility of a group trip to Quilt Con next February. Wow, it’s difficult to commit to something that far away! We’re still tossing around ideas. Amelia has suggested a custom bus with tables in the back for sewing all the way to Austin!

Just a little heads up, the next Stitch Modern Quilt Show will be happening in February of 2013. We thought we’d give you a little more notice this year!

And finally, congrats to the two EBMQ members who had quilts accepted to The Modern Quilt Guild Showcase in Houston. Since there were only 33 quilts accepted from hundreds of applications, this is such a huge honor!

Interested in coming to the next meeting? Facebook is our events hub, you can see the next meeting over there!

The Daisy Janie Shades of Grey Organics Challenge

January 12, 2012March 7, 20137 Comments

The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild is working on an exciting new challenge! Jan DiCintio of Daisy Janie organic fabrics sent us BOLTS of her lovely Shades of Grey organic cottons. They came one day after our monthly meeting (darn you, UPS!), so I had the pleasure of getting to cut it all up into fat quarters. It was so much fun to “play shop” and lay out all the pretty fabrics into scrumptious bundles. It was like making little holiday presents for all of the wonderful EBMQ members!

Jan’s fabrics are so special because she not only designs the collections, she also produces it all herself and uses only organic cotton, so you can feel eco-conscious about your hoarding tendencies. (At least it makes me feel better about mine!) She puts such an amazing amount of work and care into her products!

As for the parameters of this challenge – we decided to just make something wonderful! I can’t wait to see what we come up with. Perhaps the earliest examples of the challenge fabric will make an appearance at the Stitch Modern show, but the big show and tell for the challenge will be held during the February EBMQ meeting. (Remember, our meetings are always the last Tuesday of the month and are currently being held at New Pieces Quilt Shop.)

To thank Daisy Janie for donating the fabric, please remember to blog, Tweet, Facebook, Flickr, and TELL everyone about what you’re making! You are also encouraged to upload photos to the EBMQ Facebook page and Flickr.

*If you missed the November meeting, but are interested in taking part in the challenge, I have a wee bit of fabric left. Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!

Designers, start your engines!

November 21, 2011March 14, 2012Leave a comment

There has been talk at a couple of the previous meetings regarding an upcoming challenge using Daisy Janie’s organic fabric collection, Shades of Grey. Well, it’s ON! Fabric will be distributed at the next meeting, so you can get busy working over those loooong winter evenings to come. Maybe you want to enter your challenge project in our upcoming show, Stitch Modern. Perhaps you’ll be brave enough to submit it to the Project Modern Showcase at the International Quilt Festival in 2012?

Shades of Grey, Organic Cotton from Daisy Janie

There won’t be any restrictions for you on this challenge. We all know you won’t follow the rules anyway! If you want to participate, you MUST attend the Nov. 29th (2011) meeting to pick up your fabric. More details can be found on our Events page on Facebook (you don’t have to be a Facebooker or a fan to see the details).

So, get busy designers! The fabric will be in your hands soon! And thank you so much, Jan!