Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer Snack Mat


I am thinking sunshine--- vacations--- bright color (a little sun-bleached)--- full bloomed flowers--- camping--- carnivals---- relaxation. So if I can't have it in real life I can always quilt it right?? Our swap for this month is a themed snack mat/mug rug. You can read here for more complete guidelines (ok, so not THAT much more complete, but I like that mosaic too!) I like to stick with-- smaller than a placemat, larger than a coaster.

I hope you are all enjoying Oregon's attempt at summer. I do have a few raspberries ripening so I can't be all that grumpy. Have you finished your Kona Solids challenge yet? I finally started mine, I think it is a departure from the usual for me-- and I find that exciting. If you want to see what some of the other Modern Quilt Guilds did with their challenge, there are some pictures here. Remember to bring them to the July Meeting and we will have the final unveil of our tops! IN other challenge news-- I think the Habitat fabric has been sent to L.A. for them to distribute to the rest of the guilds. So we should be getting ours.... sometime soon?

The Habitat Challenge guidelines thus far:
1)Each participant with receive 6 fat eighths.
2)Using the provided fabric + your choice of solid fabric, make a 12" finished block
3)Blocks with be unveiled at the designated meeting and at a sew day will be joined together to make our first charity quilt.

I am thinking a quick turn around on this challenge--

Looking forward to all the awesome summer snack mats and to Katie's Cathedral Window demo!
--Jessica

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Musical Quilt Show...

Hi all!
I was at Our Sewing Room yesterday chatting with Mary Jo and she pointed me to a cool web site. What does this have to do with the EMQG?? Michael plays the accordion and he is doing a project to play in a new place each day for a year. We are so lucky that he was in town for the Bach Festival and chose to play at Our Sewing Room. It is a nice musical video tour of our quilt show.
--Jessica
P.S.
Is anyone else still having needle books on the brain?? Here is a link to a great Flickr swap that is currently doing a needle book swap AND here is a super cute tutorial for another cute book.

Friday, June 17, 2011

HABITAT...

Hey all,
I wasn't sure who all had read this. After reading it, I thought that making our Habitat challenge into our first charity quilt would/could be really neat. THEN Denise forwarded me the link and then Agnes thirded (is that a word?) it... does that make it a motion?? The idea of making a quilt with all of you is really exciting to me. Shall we say it is a go?


Watch this.... I don't know if you were/are a Project Runway junkie, I am and I heart Jay!




I signed us up for 20 entries (numbers had to be in before we really talked about it)
The current list includes:
-Kelly
-Denise
-Kathleen
-Jessica
-Kristin
-Kesch
-Phyliss
-Nancy
-Lillian
-Leslie
-Anne R.
-Katie
-Tricia
-Jen
-Cyndy


(I feel like I have missed a few people... email me again, please!)


(edited to add details on 8-8-11)
We are going to make one block (at least) to finish at 12". You may add solid colors of your choice. The finished blocks will be brought to the September meeting and combined in some lovely way to make our first charity quilt.


-- Gotta get the boy to the Dr. to check on his broken collar bone-- the week before school is out for the summer, can you believe it?


--Jessica

Monday, June 13, 2011

Needlebooks and Notions-- dooby dooby doo...

There was a Notion-- commotion going on at the EMQG meeting last week! Laurie brought so many fun things to share with us.
Coming to the meeting ready to discuss her FAVORITE notion, Nancy showed us how she used the wash-a-way stabilizer to play with some pretty pink selvages! She did recommend soaking it in water longer than she did, because she could still feel a bit of the stabilizer in the seam.
This wash-a-way stabilizer claims you can put it through your printer, to do applique. Hmmmm that would make for a LOT less tracing!!
This ruler looked interesting to me. I think that I might be falling in love with HST again... and this could make marking them easier!
Cyndy and Laurie LOVE, LOVE this starch (Best Press). Laurie used to iron pillowcases as a youth for 5 cents a piece, so she knows a fair bit about starch! She even said that it came in different scents and unscented.
This pedal stop looked interesting, of course what interested me the most was everyone talking about slowly sliding down in their sewing chairs to chase that pedal when it starts to wander. And here I thought it was just me!
Our Sewing Room has a few of these ruler grippers. They are nice to use, in case you are the type that worries about getting your fingers nicked by the rotary blade. This grip keeps them FAR away from the action end of one of those!
This iron cover was really interesting to me... I didn't get to look too closely, but I think you can put your iron inside of it and then the iron can stay down on the ironing board, be really, really hot and NOT scorch the board.

There were SO many more products to look at. Laurie really outdid herself bringing and explaining so many new and improved gadgets to us. Thanks SO much Laurie, there were a lot of things that I didn't know existed, but think I could make good use of. So many things that can make some of the less glamorous tasks of easier and more fun, I am all for that! I will see if I can get a complete list to post ASAP. I will also post all of the notions that our members suggested in a later blog post.

SWAP TIME!! Look at all of the needlebook excitement! Everyone really outdid themselves! I love these circle books, with a whole little sewing set included!
Karen received one from Pat made out of some LOVELY Pendleton wool scraps.
Caroline, can you see what you have done to us?? 50% of us made the hexie needlebooks because we loved making hexagons SO much last month! They really are so fun! (needlebooks and Hexies!)

The swap for July is a SUMMER themed Snack mat!! Think sweet tea, sweltering (in Oregon? HA!) temperatures, swimming, summertime fun... if we imagine it, might it come?? Maybe so!

We also talked about the fees for sew days and nights. I will post the list this week. The show and tell pictures are up on the blog. It was another inspiring month! The Cyndy v. Kelly Rail-fence challenge was BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for keeping us all inspired you two! It is always fun to see what different perspectives can do with the same block idea. The Challenge for August is a 9-patch! (will I ever do more than just "think" of a challenge quilt?) (time will tell!)

ACTION ITEMS:

1)Do you have time to party at the EMQG table during the Coburg Quilt Show on July 30th?? Email me! We have some morning peeps, who's gonna shut down the show with me? The hours of the show are 9-4.

2)I am ordering more Moo cards we raised enough money to cover it!! Woo-hoo! If you have some quilt photos that you would like included send me a picture. I will put it in the account.

3)Finish your Kona Solids Challenge for JULY! They are going to look AWESOME!

4)Email me if you are interested in the Habitat by Jay McCarroll/Free Spirit challenge. We are doing the bright colorway and have space for 20 entrants... details to follow.

5)Go see our quilt show at Our Sewing Room. It is pretty cool!

6)Remind me if I forgot something-- Why did I take minutes, pictures, and lead the meeting? (something may have gotten lost--)

See you June 25 at the sew day! Or @ the July 13th meeting!

--Jessica

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Needlebooks... they are easy and fast!

Needlebook you say? There are so many options, they are so tiny, so fast! They also make you smile a little bit more when you pull out a hand-sewing project, much cozier than a cardboard and plastic needle package. You can make one with a pocket, in a funny shape, or just sweet and easy. I think that I will get mine done by Wednesday, right?? Here are some fun tutorials, someone already made a page of them!! This weekend has been so full... I have to go and plant all of my starts before it rains again!

--Jessica

P.S.
I contacted the Coburg Quilt show about letting us have a table to advertise the EMQG and they are game....if you have some time Saturday, July 30 to sit and sew with me, laugh a little-- maybe answer a few questions about our group... I will bring a sign-up sheet Wednesday!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Oh, what a night!



Watch out!



Soooo many good treats!


Oh-- did I mention that I was talking so much with my camera looped around my neck that I actually forgot to take pictures? Yup, sometimes you just have to rely on the kindness of friends. :) (thanks Emily and Matt!) (Maybe some more pictures with emerge?)

It was so fun to see all the people, looking at quilts, chatting, noshing, looking at quilts, tripping over kids, chatting, and looking at more quilts. I even got to meet some of our online members in person (I always like that!)

Hi Nancy, Carole and Mary Alice! It was so nice to chat with you!

Also, I was not expecting all of the kid-cuteness that came to the show... it was so fun to see Agnes' daughters, Katie's sons, Denise's two, and my three all scooting around looking at quilts and chasing each other. I am so exhausted that I will leave you to look at the few pics that I did get and to encourage you to go out to Our Sewing Room and look at the quilts for yourself... they are so much larger in real life (unless you have a very large monitor, of course!)

Last night I also realized that NEXT Wednesday is our meeting-- it is a good thing that Laurie had already volunteered to give us a look at some of the cool notions that she has been finding in and around the industry. We will be having a needle book swap and man, I have GOT to finish something for "show and tell". I know that it is the end of the school year for so many and that schedules are not as forgiving as other times of the year-- maybe we will scare up some new faces from the quilt show! Mark your calendars for next month-- July--Katie is going to show us her Cathedral Window block! Woo-hoo! I am going to get you all to like hand sewing!! I really am!

--Jessica

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Opening and Reception!!

Hi all! I forgot to post this here yesterday, so sorry! I hope that you all will come out, whether you hung a quilt or not. It is going to be fun! (I know you all HATE fun!-- OMG, I am such a dorky Mom-type!) See you!

--Jessica