sbamqg – Page 2 – South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild

July Meeting Recap

July 21, 2013
Apologies for the late posting! We did cover a lot of ground at our last meeting, and so here are the highlights!

Jo’s quilt, adapted from the Modern Mystery Quilt. This was a pattern from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of the Modern Quilt Studio. Fabulous!

We were so honored to have Susan Osorio, director of Jacob’s Heart visit and present to us a certificate of appreciation for our Pay it Forward efforts benefiting 31 young people who are battling cancer in our community.

Before the meeting got underway, Isabel Michalik (age 6) and daughter of Tina showed us all what a little determination can do and held up the quilt she designed and made for her dad. It took about a year from beginning to end, with feverish quilting as father’s day approached. She was very nervous to talk in front of a group, but she made it through just fine 🙂

Julia, our guild secretary is moving on to go do exciting things in Los Angeles and will be attending design school to learn surface and fabric design! Way to go Julia! Meanwhile, Emily Sardo will be our interim secreatry until we hold elections for new officers in December. Emily hails from southern California, and was an original member of the LAMQG. Welcome Emily!

Tina gave the second talk about the principles of modern quilting focusing on the subject of negative space. A separate blog post will focus on these talks. We hope this new part of our guild meeting is interesting and helping to inspire new quilt ideas for everyone.

Speaking of negative space, we announced our “quickie” swap, making a small item for a secret partner using negative space. We will return with our finished gifts to our partners at our August meeting. How is everyone coming along with their projects??

Pam Rocco spoke to the guild about her own ideas and approach to fabric selection. Pam’s style is often one that uses many solids with small bits of print. Her fabrics come from a variety of sources; flea markets, thrifting, old clothing and from other unexpected places. She enjoys repurposing fabrics. Pam can tell the story of where her fabrics came from and how she chose them for that particular project and her storytelling is always enjoyable. Thanks Pam!

Julia then spoke about Heather Ross’s most recent fabric collection, “Briar Rose”. Heather is now designing with Wyndam Fabrics and is back with using a quilting cotton as her base goods. This is great news for quilters! Karen has made an incredible quilt with these very sweet prints.
We have one, possibly two spots still open for the Weeks Ringle workshop for August 3rd. If you are interested in attending, please email Tina. tinam@cruzio.com
- PIF donation quilts for the Community Bridges are due at the August meeting.
- Welcome new members, Kelly and Barbara!
- Friday Sew Day dates in Aptos at the community center are July 26, Aug 23 – final dates for 2013
- Intrepid Thread in Milpitas hosts an open sew on the third Friday of the month. Tina, Karen and Anne recently went and it was good fun. (Thanks Julie!)
- 2nd Annual Quilt Show of the SBAMQG will be held at Sue Dee’s in September. Please consider entering a piece for the show! Small items are welcome. Items to be in the show should be turned in by the last week of August.
- Fall Retreat committee is still open for volunteers and we plan to meet soon!
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South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild
To Jacob’s Heart – Made with Love

May 10, 2013

Never underestimate the power of love (or a quilter for that matter 😉

When members Susan Raineri, Mariah Flanagan and Pat Goulet decided to spearhead a charity quilt committee, none of us had any idea how much our guild could do in such a short time-frame. The first project for our committee; make enough quilts to create a quilt for all the kids served by Jacob’s Heart in Santa Cruz who are fighting cancer.

“Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services mission is to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and support their families in the challenges they face.”

We then learned that 31 kids are currently being helped by Jacob’s Heart. Was it really possible for our guild to made that many quilts in as many days? Despite the wild enthusiastic response at our meeting, we were concerned that we could meet the deadline. Leaving out even one child was not an option. We had our list of ages, and gender of each child and we got to work. We started seeing progress on our Flickr page. Oh, maybe we could make one more for an older boy, someone asked. We got together and pieced and quilted in our homes and at Mariah’s restaurant Woodfire Woodie. We emailed, texted and checked in with each other throughout the month. Some of us made one or even several more than originally promised.

And at the May meeting, we all brought the quilts we had finished, and this is what it looked like:

We had actually exceeded our goal and the grand total ended up at an incredible 36 quilts!!

During the meeting, members sat and attached labels to the backs of the quilts and we shared what we had made with each other. The happiness in the room was evident on everyone’s faces.

It was decided that the extra 5 quilts will be donated for the auction that will be held at “Mama’s Night Out” an annual fundraiser that benefits Jacob’s Heart that will be held this Saturday in Santa Cruz.

Our guild plans on many more projects to Pay it Forward, but our first project will always hold a special place for us as when we remember how we were able to stitch 36 quilts with love. Here are some more examples of the quilts…

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South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild
Quilts for Boston

May 7, 2013

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.

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.”

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

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South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild
A Little Lunch with Heather Ross

February 16, 2013

When we talk about awesome, modern fabrics, we often think of the large-scale prints of Amy Butler or Joel Dewberry. We think of the saturated color palette of Anna Maria Horner, the hidden design elements of Tula Pink. We think of the originator of “put a bird on it” Japanese designer Etsuko Furuya. We think of these fabrics and designers and many others who make up the growing genre of what is called ‘modern’ in quilting fabrics.

One particular favorite designer has to be Heather Ross. Her designs have charm and whimsy but never overly sweet, and often depict images from magical lands or the sea.

So, when our guild heard that Heather Ross herself would be traveling to Santa Cruz, we jumped at the chance to host her for a guild lunch. Gladly, she accepted.

Guild member Mariah Flannigan and her husband Pat have a brand-new pizza joint Woodfire Woodie which serves incredible artisan pizza. It was the perfect place to have a private lunch.

This was a particular favorite…capers, caramalized onion finished with truffle oil….. I know, right?

Heather talked a bit about her daughter, her life in New York, her necchi sewing machine, and not least of all, her designs. Heather’s newest fabric line with Windham will be introduced this spring at Quiltcon and also at Quilt Market in Portland. She let us see the computer images and we can show you a tiny peek!

The most beautiful jade green is used throughout the whole line and it’s very fresh. It’s nice to look forward to having her prints on quilting cottons once again!

Another fab quilter/designer/blogger and expat Badskirt Amy happened to be in the area at the same time and so we invited her to come join us as well! She said that since she pretty much slept every night in Heather Ross pajama bottoms, and had loved Heather Ross since the early days of ‘fishes I have loved’ that it only seemed natural for her to travel from Australia to Scotts Valley to have lunch with her. 😉 We’re so glad you joined us Amy!

Look at Amy’s Liberty print top!! Julia’s Heather Ross Skirt!!! Look at Jenny’s cute smile!

Many thanks go to Heather who is lovely and chatty and doesn’t mind her adoring fans….to Amy who joined us on her anniversary (and to her husband for being a good sport about it!) and to Mariah and Pat Flannigan who let us take over their awesome restaurant. Everything about the afternoon was beautiful and delicious.

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South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild
Arriving in Austin….The Finished Quilt!

February 1, 2013

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…

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.

and one more!

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South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild