• Charity Quilt for Quiltcon 2015

    QuiltCon Charity Quilt copy
    Our collaborative quilt will be shown at Quiltcon 2015 in Austin Texas Feb. 19-22

    Back in August, the Modern Quilt Guild announced that it would sponsor a charity quilt drive that would be displayed at Quiltcon, and then returned to the community and guild it came from, and then donated to that community’s local children’s shelter.  Without hesitation, our guild knew we would enjoy putting a quilt together.

    There were a couple of parameters given for the challenge.  A palette was given; along with the directive to use alternate-grid in planning your overall design.

    color_palette_2

    Tami, Tina, Gabrielle, Heidi, Mary convened at Pam’s house and scoured Pinterest to locate a design that we could use as a jumping off point, hoping to take a kernel of an idea, and then making the quilt design our own.  This was the quilt that really  jumped out to us as something that would be great for making by a group.  Here it is in all its glory:

    15077144909_c9f4ee1cdb_z
    Photo by: Ara Jane Olufson; a quilt made by the Do.Good.Stitches bee

     

    We loved the idea of different sized strips and squares and the alternating horizontal and vertical strips.  Armed with our fabrics and a design idea, many of us constructed strip sets and then brought them together at a sew day.  Pam and Tina started cutting up the strips in varying sizes and sewing them together and then sometimes cutting once again to add more white background in to balance out the negative space.  Pam took home larger pieces of what we constructed and finished the assembly of the quilt top.  Then, it was time to hand it off to Tami of The Quilted Lemon.  She selected an interlocking squares and rectangles quilting pattern for our quilt.

    quiltcon charity closeup

    It was the perfect choice for our quilt design and we’re so thankful to Tami for donating her time, thread, effort and talent which provided just the right quilting for this quilt.  Pam then did the binding and put on the sleeve.  Our quilt is now in Austin and waiting to be in the big show, Quiltcon at the Austin Convention Center Feb. 19-22.

    When the quilt is retuned to our guild, the quilt will be happily donated to a local children’s shelter and we will be honored to do just that.

    And as an aside, three of our guild members will have quilts shown at Quiltcon this year and we’re proud to announce that Anne Sullivan, Pam Rocco and Tina Michalik will have work hanging in the show.  SBAMQG represent 🙂

     

     

     

     

  • Quilts for Boston

    The community of Boston has been changed by recent acts of violence.  There are hundreds of people who are not only suffering from bodily harm and physical loss, but also invisible wounds from witnessing and hearing what occurred.  Quilters are always quick to respond in situations where comfort is needed and in this difficult time, naturally we want to respond.

    The Boston Modern Quilt Guild has put a call out for blocks.  quilts for boston

    From their blog:

    “As a guild we plan to make and distribute quilts to those who would benefit from a show of support, and we need your help.  We are asking the modern quilt community to support our efforts by sending us blocks for these quilts. Additionally, we will accept donations of fabric to be used for binding, sashing, and quilt backs. We would like to have the quilts ready to deliver to those in need as soon as possible, so we ask that you send your blocks to us within a month, by May 24th, 2013.

    Blocks sent to the Boston Modern Quilt Guild should be blue, yellow, gray, and white. All blocks should be 12½” tall x the width of your choice. That could mean 12½” x 7”, 12½” x 12½”, or anything wider, more narrow, or in between. Please machine piece your blocks in any style you would like. Please use only “quilt shop quality” 100% cotton or cotton/linen fabrics. Both print and solid fabrics are welcome. Our preference is white or light gray 100% cotton thread, but any coordinating thread of good quality will do.”

    quiltsforboston2

    Do you have an hour or so to make a block for our sister guild?  Show your support and dive into your scraps and your stash and send a block off to Boston!!

    From their blog:

    “Our goal is to make bright and modern quilts that will bring cheer to those who need it most! We chose this color scheme as these are the colors of the Boston Marathon, and have become the colors representing the One Fund, an organization formed to accept monetary donations for the victims, as well as the tribute tees sold to benefit the One Fund. Be creative with your blocks, and make any pattern or design that inspires you!”

    Please mail all blocks and fabric to:
    Quilts for Boston
    P. O. Box 79225
    Belmont, MA 02479

     

  • Arriving in Austin….The Finished Quilt!

    quiltconsurfer

    And here she is!  All quilted up and on her way to Austin.  It was the usual beautiful day in paradise here in Santa Cruz so Karen and Anne went around to some spectacular spots along with our quilt for Quiltcon, and their Madrona Road Challenge quilts and took some pretty sweet shots.

    Here are a few more shots of our Quiltcon Quilt…front and back with the Boardwalk in the background…

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    Made with the colors of the Quiltcon logo, the blocks come from members of other Modern Quilt Guilds and we put them together using Kona Ash as a background, and Karen did the amazing quilting, Miriam did the binding, and Susan did the label and sleeve.  This was truly a collaborative effort!  The back was designed by Tina who took solids in the Quiltcon logo colors and pieced a” Little Bits” backing on Kona Snow.  And, many others put their efforts in as well.   There’s a lot of love in that quilt which is good because it’s going to be donated to the Austin Children’s Shelter along with all the others made by other Modern Quilt Guild chapters.

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    and one more!

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  • Going to Stitch Modern!

    We’ve scheduled a field trip to see our sister guild’s show Stitch Modern.  The date of our outing is February 2nd.   We’ve planned an afternoon and evening of fun starting with gathering at the SueDee’s parking lot and jumping into Tina’s minivan at 1:30.  From there we’ll go on up to the East Bay and head straight to Piedmont Fabric and do some fabric accumulation and general poking around.  Later, we can refuel at Fenton’s Creamery.  

    We’ll then head over to Piedmont Center for the Arts and attend the opening reception for the quilt show.   It should be an incredibly fun day and evening!  Please join us!

    stitchmodern

    Although we know that some of you will be at THIS fabulous event:

    http://heatherross.squarespace.com/workshops/

    …with the fabulous Heather Ross and Gertie, two incredible designers and seamstresses extroidinaire!  Lucky Duckies – can’t wait to hear about all the fun!

     

     

  • First Sew Day of 2013

    The South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild had the year’s first sew day.  From 10 am until 10 pm we pieced, sashed, topped, sandwiched, basted and quilted lots of quilts.

    First order of business was to team up and collaborate on our Quiltcon donation quilt.  Sew day enabled us to work as a group.  Here’s Carol measuring away…

    carole

    And here’s Rebecca tending to the blocks and placing them into perfectly imperfect rows…

    rebecca

    Which resulted in THIS…

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    And now pieced together with Kona Ash and looks like THIS!!

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    We quickly basted…

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    Karen got her gloves on and went at it…

    karen quilting1

    And she made some major progress…

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    Look at the lovely teardrop quilting.

    Besides the quiltcon project, other projects were being worked on…

    jenny

    Jenny started a project after taking Weeks Ringle’s Craftsy workshop, Designing Modern Quilts.   Jenny claimed to be inspired by Weeks and loved how the craftsy classes work, particularly how you are able to drop in a note or question at the exact point in the class you want to give or receive input from the instructor.  This is really fresh Jenny!!

    paul

    Paul sandwiches his Madrona Road Challenge piece.

    Look at what Renee worked on…

    renee

    Wow…just wow!

    Sometimes we chat while we quilt…

    susy

    and sometimes we don’t…

    batik

    quiltyfood

    But we always have delicious food and we always have a great time.