Pin Cushions, Bees, and your favorite tools!!!

(here is the link for all the great makers!)

I hope all of you enjoyed Thanksgiving and are enjoying a little break time too. (For those of you working in retail, chin-up! You can make it through this CRAZY weekend.) Last Sundays Sew- Day was great fun. 11 of us showed up to sew. There were tension issues resolved--I am not mad a Mike anymore for missing the meeting, really I am not.--no, seriously, sewing machine tension issues can make using your machine an AWFUL experience! Cyndy and Jen hooked up and were able to get Jen's machine sewing well again. Some wonderfully sweet Zakka inspired patchwork was created and there were laughs and smiles all around. I am still not done with my mug rug, due to sickness ALL WEEK, but I was amazed at all the piecing and quilting that was done in just one afternoon!

Did you get a load of those pincushions?? Are they inspiring?? I thought so, for more exciting inspiration follow the link over to flickr and do your OWN pincushion search...there are so many to look at, to drool over, to inspire you to make your OWN for the December meeting... Maybe? Perhaps?? Come On! It will be fun. I am starting a forum thread for good pincushion tutorial links, please add your own finds, or maybe even a link to your OWN tutorial.

The December Pincushion swap will be run as a brown paper swap.... so what YOU do is this:

1) Make a pincushion that is so fun that you would like to keep it for yourself (or make 2 and keep one for yourself.)

2) Wrap it in brown paper (a paper bag is a good source)

3) Bring it to the December meeting.

4) Put it in the Basket

5) At the end of the meeting take a different one home.

** Some one mentioned that they wanted to make 2... that is GREAT, if you bring 2 you can take 2 home with you!

Wrap-up and Reminders--

*Let us know which Saturday would be better for the December sew day, the 4th, or the 18th.

*The Quilting Bee currently has 7 members... there is still room for you! There is room for everyone here, please don't let your skill level stop you from participating. The hosts for the month with provide information about how to finish the blocks. It could stretch your skills, but that will only make them better! And remember you have a whole group of people ready to help you as their own skills allow. Sign-ups end December 1.

*Take a moment and check out the forums. Stuff is going on and you might learn something cool. Hopefully our scheduling issues can get resolved here and we will have more time during the meetings for quilting loveliness. If you are having problems with the site, email me and I can try to help you with them.

*Let's do a "favorite tool" night for the December meeting. Everyone brings their favorite tool and tells their neighbor what is so great about it. It is a great way to get to know each other AND find some new tools to make our quilting life more easy and fun. (it can be something that you bought or something that you made yourself)

I think that I got everything but... I probably post again next week just to keep things lively! Have a glorious, sick-free weekend! (that is what I am shooting for!)

--Jessica

Sharing...getting on track...

Say "Hi" to the cutest member of the EMQG! James was a fantastic model of his mom, Katie's, mad sewing skills. She made this carrier with some fantastic fabric from her own pattern. AND she is willing to teach us! Show and tell was definitely my favorite part of our second meeting.

Cyndy did some quick thinking and showed us some fun ways to quilt with a geometric theme. The effect on the quilt was beautiful AND she said it wasn't too hard to do. I like that A LOT.

and Phyliss... Fearless Phyliss... WOW! The edge treatment on this quilt was just lovely, fluttery, bright and delicate. She kept saying (I paraphrase) I didn't know what I what I was supposed to do, so I just did it! We all could take a page from Phyliss' book. Worry about the outcome less and just TRY IT! Thanks everyone (pictures are up in the Photo Gallery) for putting a bright spot in my week.

Did any of you leave the meeting feeling like there was A LOT of talk about "details" and not enough about quilting? Well, I did, my bad. I want the meetings to be built around learning and sharing and community rather than nuts and bolts stuff like when and where are we going to meet and/or going to sew. I think, in the future, we can figure these things out in the forums, through the web site.

We are a more robust group than I originally envisioned, this is WONDERFUL! I am so happy about it. There are so many fantastic points of view, visions, and ideas that I know that I am going to be a much richer quilter from knowing all of you and your work. Being larger also creates a different dynamic when trying to plan things. In the interest of being transparent and pro-active, I think we should move forward in the new year towards these 3 things:

1)Set dates each month for the Meeting, Sew Night, and Sew Day for a set period of time (Quarterly or yearly)

2)Set a calendar for meeting topics.

3)Get a 3 or 4 person "Board" together to make decisions to bring to the larger group.

On a smaller scale, I have been doing my duties and checking up on our sewing opportunities for the busy month of December. I talked to Mary Jo at OUR SEWING ROOM and December is a busy month for them as well. Another group is scheduled to meet the second Saturday (December 11) and they have other commitments on the 12th, so I thought that we could either meet on the 1st or 3rd Saturday (4th or 18th). Their hours on Saturdays are 10 to 4. The second Thursday (Dec. 9) night is a go. What they would like us to do when we come as a group is have one person collect all the money and then pay as a group. Normally I can do this, I will not be able to attend the Thursday night sew (Dec. 9) so I need a volunteer to be the money collector/payer.

Tomorrow we get to have a Sew Day!! It is scheduled from 12-5 and the cost is $5 (cash in small unmarked bills would be best!) I have some supplies to make name tags for those of you who didn't get to the first time around. I am also thinking of bringing some treats to share, maybe I have just been looking for an excuse to bake something. See you tomorrow!

--Jessica

P.S.

As always, for any questions or ideas, you can comment here or write me a message!

November Meeting minutes.

November 10, 2010

I. Pre-meeting

More than 20 (final count 24) people arrived between 6:30 and 7PM. We chatted.

II. Update on Meeting Site Possibilities

Jessica introduced herself. She passed around a sign-up sheet. She noted that she was still researching meeting sites. We agreed we want a fairly central meeting site. Market of Choice was eliminated as too small. South Library would likely charge a fee. The Atrium was a concern. Jessica is waiting on results from EWEB. She planned to pursue potential sites at LCC Downtown and the Eugene Public Library. We realized that none of our potential sites will be ready before January 1, OUR NEXT MEETING IS DECEMBER 8, @ Piece By Piece Fabrics. We will have a Pin Cushion swap for those interested in participating. Thank you Becky for letting us meet at Piece by Piece Fabrics.

III. SEW NIGHT

A. First Sew Night-- about 6 people showed up for the first sew night at OUR SEWING ROOM in Springfield. Those who attended said that it was a good place and a good night.

B. Next (November) Sew Night-- OUR NEXT SEW DAY IS SUNDAY NOVEMBER 21, 12-5 @ OUR SEWING ROOM. Jessica will confirm with OUR SEWING ROOM.

C. December Sew Night. There was lots of discussion regarding the December sew night. We eventually agreed to offer Thursday, December 9 AND Saturday, DECEMBER 10. This allows members flexibility during the hectic month of December. Jessica was going to check with OUR SEWING ROOM to make sure that these dates are available.

IV. QUILTING BEE

Jessica was speaking for Mike who could not attend tonight's meeting. She discussed her experience with different Bees and showed her projects. For more detailed information and to sign-up for the EMQG Bee, check out the Forum-> General Discussion-> EMQG Bee. Sign up by December 1 if interested.

V. SHOW AND TELL

Beautiful and inspiring beyond words!

Submitted by Wanda

Transcribed by Jessica

Gobble gobble, It is HERE!

Hi there, welcome to NOVEMBER!

I feel like I am just riding the time wave this year, every month I think "Where did April go?" But it is LONG gone and here we are peeking in to the holiday season.

For those of you interested in getting a EMQG button for your blogs and whatever other fun media you are attracted to (wait, that just doesn't sound right), we are having an ongoing discussion about which button we like better. The current front-runner is pictured above. To participate in the cheering or to post your own button for discussion (or to just try and figure out what I am talking about, it is OK, we are all learning new things around here.) Check out the General Discussion under the Forum tab.

Are you ready for this month's meeting?? It is right around the bend, Wednesday night, Nov. 10th at the usual haunt, Piece by Piece fabrics. I was thinking it might go like this:

6:30-7:00 Meet and greet.

7:00-Gavel thuds!

Quilting Bees

Examples,

Sign-ups.

Update on Meeting spaces.

-EWEB

-Atrium

-Market of Choice

-Rec Guide

Sew Nights-

Thursdays? more? informal?

Sew Days-

3rd Saturday or Sunday? Rotating?

Web site.... come on people, how is it going?

7:20ish-Show and Tell

*We all bring our wonderful creations to share and speak about... I was thinking that it also might be fun to share our favorite piece of fabric that we are afraid to cut into. (maybe we will get inspired to use it!)

8:00ish We all go home, inspired and glad that we came!

A little bird told me today that there are some "Practical Guide to Patchwork" books in town (at Piece by Piece Fabrics) from our own (OK, from Portland) Elizabeth Hartman (of Oh Fransson! fame). It looks pretty cool. I might need to add this one to my library.

See you all soon!

--Jessica