• President’s Quilt Blocks

    July 1, 2020

    Hello SBAMQG!

    Your former President, Chelsea, here! Why? Well, let me tell you!

    In year’s past, former Presidents were made quilt blocks of their choosing by the guild to show member appreciation for their years of service. This idea seems grand until you’re the former president and you’re asking people to make you stuff in the middle of a pandemic, which feels sort of weird and uncomfortable, but here we are!

    So as I retired, I was approached with a request for my plan and I began to plan or as some of you may know, agonize over my plan. This quilt block or that quilt block? This color scheme or that color scheme? I once had a near meltdown over choosing a bathmat in an attempt to redecorate. I don’t make decisions lightly. I don’t like to have extra stuff. I just want to have things I really LOVE (Marie Kondo takes credit for this, but I think I did it first). And this quilt was extra important to me because it was going to come from all of you.

    And then the current board was like “Uh… a plan?” and I was like “Working on it!” And then another month went by and maybe another month and then COVID dropped on us like a bomb. While we’re still working through all our feelings about social inequality, quarantine and the how our pants don’t seem to fit quite right anymore, you can rest easy in the fact that I have made a plan!

    The Plan: You will pick-up a kit consisting of one 3″ strip of chambray to make a scrappy 4-patch block using the color palette of this super fantastic vintage sheet I found for the backing. Each kit has enough fabric to make four 4-patches! If you used a different print for each square that would be super nifty!

    • Fabrics I’d love to see: Small prints, stripes, dots, gingham, floral or anything that fits the vibe and color scheme of the sheet.
    • Fabrics to avoid when making your 4-patch: Solids, solid like (Grunge, Essex linen, etc.) & Batiks
    • Making the Patches: Sub-cut the 3″ strip into 3″ squares. Pair those together with fabrics from your stash to make a 4-patch as shown below.
    • Pressing: If you’d press toward the chambray, I’ll happily nest my seams in the final quilt! Maybe even hand quilt it! I’m still in quarantine, anything is possible!
    • Pick-Up/Return Details: Check out guild emails for details on when and where to grab your kits and return your blocks!

    A Final Note: I just want to say, I really valued the four years that y’all allowed me to be your President. I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you in a way I probably would not have in the general membership. Being President defined my identity for those years and led me towards creative opportunities like teaching sewing and quilting that I might not have explored otherwise. When I look at this quilt, I already know a little TV sitcom highlight reel will play in my head. Thank you for the highlights!

    The Color Palette 

    The Block

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  • April 2020 General Meeting

    April 9, 2020

    We had a different – but fun – meeting this month. We hosted on Zoom, which allowed us to see and hear each other, while also sharing our Sew and Tell quilts from the month. Darlene introduced Mo, Heidi, and Renee as members/previous member guests that were able to join us from out of town and Jen Janisch who will become a member after moving to Santa Cruz County this summer. 

     

    Darlene had us share our socks, which was a fun watch as everyone lifted their feet into the camera view. We gave away a fabric with the words “home” and “love” on them, as a reminder that we love our homes, especially while we are stuck in them! Laura Ryle won the fabric from a random number generation. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ucCKqHxNC/

    Darlene gave an update on masks, which we have been collecting for local needs. Please see our blog for updates

    Mickey put together our BOTEOM color palette vote and we voted by Google Form. Mickey made the palettes based on Émile Alain Séguy prints. The winning vote with 67% of the vote was Dragonflies. This color palette will be used for the BOTEOM demo in May for blocks due in July.

    For philanthropy, two of our members, Ruth and Kathy, finished quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders. Kathrin shared a Disappearing 9-Patch child quilt top for CASA that Monterey Peninsula Quilters Guild, which will tie at annual Tying Event at September meeting.

    Tamlin gave virtual demos of the SBAMQG blog, showing members how to navigate to our payment page, BOTEOM page, and more. She also demoed the MQG website to show members how to find their membership card, sign up for virtual classes, and find archived patterns and classes.

    With all of us spending more time at home, many of us had a lot of quilting progress to share, but also our members made SO MANY masks! It was great to see the variety. We had a very interesting and productive conversation about mask making options. We learned from our resident fabric experts that fabrics like batiks, which are made of poplin and have a high thread count, are best for making masks. Art Gallery Fabrics has a thread count of 200, while other cotton quilting fabric tends to have a thread count of 120-180. The higher the thread count, the better resistance to particle transmission, high thread count sheets, pillowcases, and flannel have been proven to be great alternatives. See NYTimes for more info: https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-homemade-mask-material-DIY-face-mask-ppe.html

    We also learned to use vertical cuts of t-shirt material for ties so that it properly rolls. We were very impressed with Lori Green’s two seam, one piece of fabric mask. We hope she can follow up and send us a video to show us her tricks!

    Quotes of the night goes to Kathrin: “We’re all wearing masks, but who is wearing a bra?” Yes, we’ve replaced bras with masks and at least the braless part feels really nice! And Kathy “No family member will ever tease me about having too much fabric again!”

    14 members (those below + Lori by video) participated in our virtual Sew and Tell by emailing photos of their work prior to the meeting, in order for it to be included in our slide show. When their slide was being presented, members spoke about their quilts. See our Instagram for photos:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v8nJGnl7s/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v9WylHq6e/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v9yONHUn9/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v-WtPnu5L/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v-f0wnuIt/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v-qnnH3Gv/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v_E0lHM-a/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v_dtuH75K/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-v_pilHOho/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wADwsHLOL/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wAd9nHjoL/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wAx0RHnMU/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wBDgYHmSh/

     

    Thanks to all who virtually joined us!

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  • SBAMQG Collecting Home Sewn Masks in Support of Health Care Providers

    March 24, 2020

    Update 4/13/2020: This need has been fulfilled! Please see our newer post for a new need!

    Background:

    There are many resources that are looking into the efficacy of home sewn masks during the shortage of medical grade masks usually provided to protect Health Care Providers (HCPs), you can find some resources here, here, here, here, here, or here!

    SBAMQG has received two specific requests for masks and we are asking for your help to fulfill these requests.

    Current Updates (updated 4/13/2020)

    We are checking comments on this blog, which is one of the best ways to communicate your questions with us at this time.

    # of masks delivered
    # of masks still needed
    Request #1 98 Order fulfilled
    Request #2 39 Order fulfilled
    Elastic Fabric Nose Wires Notes
    Hart’s Fabric yes Yes – Hart’s Fabric reached out through Tina and would like to contribute to the mask making cause. We will be making arrangements for a pick up later this week.
    Lori Green 1/4″ black – 288 yards – – Lori will leave elastic at Pat’s pick up spot. Take what you need for this purpose.
    Sarah Eblen yes, lots avail. – – Sarah has offered elastic when the stash at Pat’s runs out
    Kathy Howard 1/8″ – 40 yards – – If you need thinner elastic, contact Kathy.
    Darlene Talukder – – my daughter has many paper clips I’ll leave a box at Pat’s the next time I pick up there. contact me at dartal6@gmail if you need a delivery

    Styles:  The masks are two different styles based on what has been requested. Request #1 is for a shaped style which can be worn with or without an insert and Request #2 is for a pleated style which does allow for an insert but also provides a minimum of two layers in the body of the mask.

    For request #1, we would like to make an initial delivery of these on Monday March 23, 2020.  Once collected, we will be delivering them to Dr. Moore.
    For request #2, we will deliver the masks to the requester who will take them to the hospital.
    For now we are asking you to provide materials from your stash to make these.

    Elastic: The elastic requirements are very specific and may dictate which style of mask you can make. Elastic is in short supply at many online resources.  We will have more information about elastic soon.  Use what you have at home for now. If any of you have large stashes you are willing to share, let us know.  The patterns have an option for ties; ties are not preferred by HCPs, but work if you don’t have elastic.

    Fabric:  Use 100% cotton fabric – the HCP prefer it’s breathable nature.  Quilting cotton is acceptable. Pre-washing is required. Tighter woven cotton is even better (think 100% cotton high thread count sheets).

    Wire:  This is for both requests.  The wire is desired but optional and you may come up with your own solution based on what you have.  There is jewelry wire and snips at the drop off location (below) which you may use in 3″ segments, they can not be added after the fact.  You may have wire at home which will work as well or the wire may be omitted as it is optional.

    Collection Location:  We will collect and deliver to the HCPs daily as the quantities dictate. We will let you know when the orders have been filled. Pat Goulet will provide 2 collection boxes for these masks on her porch out of the rain, please see email or contact us at sbamqg@gmail.com for Pat’s address. There is no interface needed, simply drop the masks in the appropriate box according to the style.

    Specific Needs

    Request # 1 Shaped Masks

    For Dr Margaret Moore, who works for Sutter Health.
    Dr. Moore plans to distribute masks between Sutter and Dominican depending on how many she gets.  She has 40 colleagues who she would like to provide personal masks.  She has requested 40 masks which are shaped to the bridge of the nose and under the chin.  We think we should provide at least 80 masks to them so they can alternate while washing.  Dr. Moore said “This is all new for us.  Has not ever happened in our health system in my life time ….My goal is to have each of my colleagues to have one of their own washable masks, if we run out of surgical masks…”  We have the following video and pdf pattern which go together and meet her requirements. Kathy Howard has made these masks for her own HCP daughter.

    Link with video & pattern or How to Sew A Face mask Instructions-1 Video Only

    The PDF pattern for  Request #1 Shaped Mask can also be used

    Request #2 Rectangular Masks

    For an anesthetist at Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center.  Following is her mother’s email request for masks.
    “As you may know, my daughter, works as a nurse anesthetist at the Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center (KSCMC). The center is being set up as Kaiser’s NorCal primary coronavirus testing and treatment center.  She said the numbers of patients are increasing rapidly.  And supplies are already in very short supply.  To be honest, since she is pregnant, I’ve begged her to take medical leave, especially since the safety gear is in such short supply.  She insists on being there to help – like others on the front line.
    She sent out a very urgent plea for face masks for the medical workers Each health care provider was each issued only one N95 mask.  They are desperately seeking face masks that can be used over their N95 masks. 
     I tried many different ways to make face masks and this is the easiest that I found:  
     YouTube video:  https://youtu.be/S9RWII2-5_4 [see alterations below]
    There are many other YouTube face mask vids that you may prefer.  I chose this one above for the ease of making it for mass production, relatively speaking.
    If you follow the directions in the video, it is SUPER easy.  However, at least near me, it impossible to buy elastic as the fabric stores are all closed. And Amazon cannot deliver the elastic bands for weeks.  So these are my modifications…also to meet my daughter’s request via the anesthesiologists’ needs.  They need these masks to function as covers over their ONE issued N95 masks.”
    Alterations to meet Request #2’s needs:
    Based on the above video this pdf Directions for Rectangular Facemask (Request #2) were made and the following directions were provided from the mother and modified by SBAMQG contributors
    1.  Cut the rectangular pieces slightly larger as it needs to adequately cover men’s faces WITH the N95s in place.  Cut the outer form to approximately 11”x 8”.  Cut the two inner shapes to  7 1/2 ” x 5 3/4”.
    2. Add a 7” strip of plastic covered wire strips (a member was able to locate some at an open hardware store) under the TOP seam of the  face mask (some were found at an Ace Hardware store, alternatively 3″ strips can be picked up at Pat’s house or jewelry wire can be used). This wire is inserted so the user can shape the top of the mask to the shape of the bridge of their nose. Stitching underneath and parallel under the inserted metal strip helps to hold it in place.
    3.  The opening in the back (see video) is for hospital staff to add whatever extra barrier they deem appropriate.
    4.  Fabric ties were made extra long to secure the mask over the N95s. Cut 1.5” WOF (width of fabric) strips; fold in half and press; open fold; press each side to center crease; press in half again to get 1/4” closed strip. Top stitch; Place end of string into created tunnel on all 4 sides about 1/4” in. Zigzag or straight stitch a few times back and forth to secure.  The ties will go around the head and need to be 8-9 inches long.
    Stay Healthy and Sew On!
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  • February 2020 General Meeting

    March 9, 2020

    Updates

    Member Spotlight: Terry Pohle

    Terry Pohle kicked off our first member spotlight.T erry took us on a journey from some of her first quilts in traditional piecing through her newer modern quilts. She talked about her favorite thing to do while quilting: make it bigger! She showed some enormous quilts! Terry shared over 23 quilt tops and tons of blocks yet to go into a quilt top. At the end she shared her sketchbook, which she uses to doodle possible quilt designs. We were all impressed with the breadth of work from Terry and loved learning more about her quilting life.

    A member asked Terry “When is the last time you bought fabric?” Terry’s answer was, of course, “Yesterday!” For images of some of Terry’s quilts, see our Instagram post:

    BOTEOM

    We voted from three color palettes and “Fabulous Colors 2” won the group vote for May 2020 BOTEOM. Kona Gold (golden brown) Kona Ochre (golden yellow/mustard), Kona Caribbean (turquoise blue), and Kona Terracotta (rust/burnt orange) with Kona Eggshell as background fabric:

    Dear SBABBY,

    Isabelle shared her great pattern testing of Cotton and Bourbon’s Indigo Radial pattern. https://www.instagram.com/p/B8T4_OKHlTr/

    Sew and Tell

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