• April 2019 Meeting Recap

    May 6, 2019

    We were inspired by the interest in our guild by new members and guests.  We had 10 new/guest members at the meeting who found out about the guild from friends, neighbors and at Modern Handmade & Harts.

    We discussed lots of exciting 2019 activities:

    Pam Rocco’s Home Plate quilt block workshop on April 13, 2019 will focus on variations which can be derived by changing the values, block sizes and layout.  Lynne Nostrant, who pattern tested the blocks, shared her intriguing studies.

     

    Checkout the availability for Chawne Kimber’s June workshops at the break or on the website.  Options include “Hand Quilting” and “Tiny Stitching”.  There are only a few spots left.

    Thirty-three(33) attendees signed up for the SBAMQG retreat in the first day and a half. The waitlist is now open.  Retreat Committee member, Laurie Green, and several members at large shared their favorite things about the retreat.  Swag bags, massages, dinner rolls, games and smores were all mentioned.

    Signups for the Handmade Sewing Notions/Small Organizer Swap started at the meeting and we will keep them open on the website until May 3rd.  Isabelle Selak shared a super cute “mini maker station” which is an over the arm of the couch sewing organizer by Nicole Young aka lillyella. Swap partners will be assigned at the May meeting.

     

    After the fast-paced February visit by Social Justice Sewing Academy’s Sara Trail to SBAMQG, we had six members sign up as embroidery volunteers.  Judy shared the block, “Life of a High Schooler”, which she is currently working on.  She is really enjoying adding her creative touch to highlight the youthful messages.  See the SJSAcademy website for more details on how to participate.

     

    Don’t forget to turn your Emerald City BOTEOM blocks in at the May meeting. Members voted on the Degas color pallet for the next lotto block. We will share the instructions at the May meeting.

    Sew and Tell and SBAbbey were inspiring and we even had new members share their creations.  Check out the website and our Instagram for the photos.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvx9sa1noBz/

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    Lori @sewsewlori showed two great quilts! #sbamqg

    A post shared by SBAMQG (@sbamqg) on

     

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  • December 2016 Meeting Recap

    December 9, 2016

    The December SBAMQG meetings are always special and this month was no exception. As always, it was a night of end-of-the-year business, holiday fun, and excitement for the new year.

    On the business end, we covered refreshments sign-ups, name buttons, and lost and found items. We teased an upcoming bag workshop and presented our 2017 QuiltCon East charity quilt top:

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    We were reminded of a couple important dates. Membership dues must be paid by the January meeting if you want to stay on the MQG roster and our teacups challenge quilt tops are due by the January meeting as well. C’mon everyone – let’s put together another awesome exhibit to show off our modern quilts!

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    For holiday fun, we feasted on a delicious potluck and had a holiday quilt raffle. Congrats to Ruby Dosen for winning a one-of-a-kind Pam Rocco original, “The Holidays According to Pam Rocco.” We also played a very spirited game of “Swap the Quilt Book.”

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    Excitement for the new year focused mostly on our election of new officers. Our new board for 2017 consists of:

    President – Chelsea Hard; Vice Presidents – Barbara Cuseo and Carolyn Irish; Treasurer – Gabrielle Robles; Secretary – Pat Goulet. What a great group of ladies!

    Sew and tell had a few challenge finishes from Isabelle, Karen, and Mickey:

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    Gene showed a top made from neckties and Pam showed a new top as well:

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    Merydith and Gabrielle presented new quilting:

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    Darlene shared progress on two quilts:

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    Laura showed off her beautiful free-motion work:

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    Lori shared hexies and Emily shared a perfectly planned spiderweb top.

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    A huge thank-you from the SBAMQG goes out to Hart’s Fabrics for their generosity in hosting our guild again this year. We love you to pieces!

    (photo credit Karen Foster)

     

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  • November 2016 Meeting Recap

    November 4, 2016

    The South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild rung in November with another great meeting and it was a REAL winner! We started out with a discussion of our “bucket list” quilts. It was interesting to learn about our guild mates’ dreams for future quilt accomplishments. There were so many answers to this question but we did notice some trends throughout the conversation. For instance, we really want to finesse our hand work, with hand applique, hand piecing, hand quilting, and hand embellishing all making the list. Equally as important, many of us want to complete a really LARGE quilt. We also have our sights set on some well-known patterns ranging from super modern to updated traditional. It seems that what we really want is to improve our skills while expressing ourselves as quilters, with impressive works that we can be super proud of.

    Other notable items on the agenda tonight included our December meeting which will include the election for new 2017 guild officers, a book swap, a potluck, and the group challenge we are working on for our exhibit at the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s quilt show in February. Here is a peek at the challenge, which was presented by Karen Foster:

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    As mentioned at the top of this post, there was a lot of winning going on at tonight’s meeting. After drawing names for 11 door prizes, we drew a name for our fabulous prize basket for early 2017 dues payment. Congrats goes out to Muriel, the lucky winner of the basket! And, as always, our guild won big thanks to Hart’s Fabric for hosting our monthly meeting and offering members-only discounts. Tonight’s deal was on all solid fabrics and we shopped like crazy!

    Apparently we have also been sewing like crazy, because we had so much to share! Here is a slightly edited down sew and tell:

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    Susan and Tina shared samples for classes they are teaching at Hart’s. Susan also shared a pair of log cabins:

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    Pam only finished eight tops this month. Here are a few:

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    Tiffany finished her 1/4-log cabin but made it her own with multi-colored ties, OMG!:

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    Tiffany also completed a couple of small quilts:

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    Merydith and Laura have been working with cute animals this month:

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    Karen and Pat shared some lovely triangle works:

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    Mary P. and Mary C. were thinking brights:

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    Gene shared an exotic wallhanging and Tina shared her unique Dresden plates:

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    And, we end with Chelsea’s new Single Girl and Merydith’s vintage Wedding Ring:

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    See you next month at our December meeting. You won’t want to miss it.

    (photo credit Karen Foster)

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  • October 2016 Meeting Recap

    October 8, 2016

    Fall has arrived here in Santa Cruz, bringing the beginning of quilt weather and the beginning of guild dues season. Guild president, Chelsea Hard, reminded everyone that it is time to pay our dues for 2017 and, to entice us to pay promptly, there will be a raffle at the next meeting. Pay your dues BEFORE sew and tell at the November 1st meeting and your name will go into a hat. One name will be selected to win this wonderfully quilty bucket filled with fabric, patterns, books, rulers, notions and, best of all, a gift card to our favorite place: Hart’s Fabric! So, what are you waiting for? You can pay online via the PayPal link right here on our blog or at the November meeting.

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    Next up tonight was a fun (and funny) discussion about our favorite sewing machines. Are you surprised to learn that our most preferred brand is Bernina? Other high vote getters were Pfaff, Janome, and Elna. A couple notches down on our list were Brother, Husqvarna/Viking, Baby Lock, Kenmore, Singer, New Home, and Juki. And, even though we are generally a modern bunch, we have some die-hard lovers of vintage machines like Featherweights and Slant-O-Matics. Last, but not least, were sergers, long arms, and even a few minis and Hello Kitty machines. We are so eclectic! Very few of us own only one machine and someone (not naming any names) owns EIGHT of them!

    In other news: If you want to attend the Sherri Lynn Wood Modern Block Improv workshop on November 5, time is running out. It is sure to be an excellent experience, so don’t wait much longer.

    Lastly, elections for open board officer positions are just around the corner. Our guild is awesome but we REALLY need more people to step up and volunteer to do the tasks that need to be done to be even more awesome. Positions can be shared by two (or more) buddies and it is really fun to be involved. We will be taking nominations for Vice President and Secretary in November and voting in December. If you aren’t able to commit to either of these positions, watch for others coming soon!

    After drawing seven (!) fab door prizes, it was time for our spectacular sew and tell.

    Karen started us off with two improv bee blocks:

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    Laura brought a beauty in blues, and a unique and gorgeous hand-quilted Hawaiian quilt:

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    Susan shared her class sample mini and a newly-finished sunset inspired top:

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    Lynne explored her inner Pam Rocco this month:

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    Meredith showed the front and back of this wild and wonderful improv quilt:

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    Isabelle impressed us with this absolutely stunning top. But, would you believe it is actually a BACK?!:

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    Marlyene finished her top from our Latifah Saafir bias tape workshop:

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    Tami shared her Pattern Jam cheater quilt:

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    Pam shared a few finishes and a colorful new holiday top:

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    All in all, another terrific meeting. See you next month!

    (photo credit Karen Foster)

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