Highlights From the July 2019 Meeting

In this month's program, our members shared their favorite books, notions and fabrics. We learned about some books that are great to have on the shelf for repeated reference, along with recommendations of color cards and some handy notions, such as Fiskars cutting tool. We got to catch a glimpse of some fun new fabric lines and even learned of some non-traditional quilting tools such as weights, hammers and special sewing eyeglasses. Thanks to all our members who shared their favorites! 💚

Attendance

• We welcomed 30 members, 2 new members and 1 guest for a total attendance of 33.

Sew-In Days

• Our next Sew-In is Friday, July 26th, from 10 to 4 pm at Bernina We're In Stitches. We ask that you purchase a half yard of fabric to be raffled off to one lucky participant.
• July 26th is also the final day for assembling quilt tops for the Hurricane Relief Quilts. If you have blocks to donate, please bring them with you or drop them off at the Bernina store prior to July 26th.
• Future Sew-Ins are scheduled for September 13th and November 8th.

Charity Quilt

• Our 2019 QuiltCon Charity Quilt "Zoomville" has been entered into the Asheville Show held September 27-29 in the Group or Team category.

QuiltCon 2020

• QuiltCon class registration is now open for the show in Austin, TX, February 20-23. 2020. Early Bird registration for members of MQG is open until July 10th, when class registration will open for non-members.
• As a guild member and member of MQG, you can get a free show pass until November.
• Quilt Show entries are now open and continue until November.
• GMQG will not be entering a charity quilt in 2020; however small groups within the guild may choose to do so.
• See all the information on the QuiltCon website.

Fall Retreat

• Information on the Fall Retreat can be found in the May blog post.
• Sign-up for the retreat using the online Registration Form or email us at greenvillemqg@gmail.com.

Block of the Month

• The previous two months' blocks Yield and Cul-de-Sac:

• Next month's block is Cardinal Points. This block is paper pieced and you can find the templates here.

Philanthropy

• We collected 7 charity quilts this month!
• Many thanks to Faye Jones for encouraging our members to make and donate quilts, and for delivering them every month.
• Faye shared the following message from Laurel: I want to THANK-YOU so much for the quilts your group continues to provide.  I am privileged to see the joy and amazement on the faces of the children and families when the quilts are offered at the end of medical visits.  They are very appreciative and grateful for these beautiful quilts, and usually immediately wrap themselves up in them.  So, again, Thank-you to you and your group!! Laurel Wanner, CCLS, Certified Child Life Specialist, Child Abuse, Pediatrics, Prisma Health.

Guild Challenge

• Our 2019 Guild Challenge quilts are due next month! 

Announcements

• Be sure to visit our Events Page for all the upcoming local activities, including a Community Sew-In on August 17th.
• Are you a garment maker? Frocktails of Asheville has a meet-up scheduled for Saturday, August 24th. More information at ashevillefrocktails.com

Cheryl Brickey from Meadow Mist Designs has started her fifth Mystery Quilt. Mosaic Mystery is a free quilt-along that will run from July 2019 to April 2020 with a set of directions revealed the first Thursday of every month. The Mosaic Mystery is a lap size design, that can easily be made larger with the addition of borders.

Show and Share

Cindy Lammon - "Midnight Mystery" and "Pivot"

Cindy Lammon - "Meadowland" and "Trinket"

Dagmar Theodore - "Chevron"

Sandy Helsel - "Twisted"

Michele Blake 

Bonnie Cunningham - "Disappearing Nine Patch"

Paige Alexander - Pantone Challenge

Dalene Sanford

Johellen George 

Madeline Farner 

Leigh Ann Lukens 

Leigh Ann Lukens - tiny piecing used to mend jeans

Mary Kelley - Pincushion doll with tiny piecing

Denise Frick - dress and quilted card

Faye Jones

Valorie Kasten - Riley Blake Challenge

Leslie Riekert 

Nancy deJong 

Our next meeting is August 3rd, from 1-3 pm at St Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

July 6, 2019 - Our Favorite Things

Do you find that your fellow Greenville MQG members are a wealth of information? This month we're asking each of you to share your favorite book, notion and fabric designer. Please bring to the meeting a book that you're finding inspirational, a notion that you have found super helpful and fabric that's just begging to be your next project. We'll be sharing your favorite items with the group and you're bound to leave the meeting with something new to try!

A Few Meeting Reminders

• This month we will continue taking sign-ups for the Fall Retreat (November 8-10th). Details can be found in the May Blog Post. Sign up at the meeting or use the Online Registration Form.
• We're excited to see your past 2 Block of the Months, Yield and Cul-de-sac.
• Please return all library books that you have checked out.
• We will have the "Free to a Good Home" table set up this month. Feel free to bring anything that you no longer want/need.
• Since we had no "Show and Share" last month, we're looking forward to seeing all your projects from the past two months.

Hope you can join us Saturday, July 6th from 1-3 pm at St. Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

Highlights from the June 2019 Meeting

This month, we were excited to welcome a special guest who traveled all the way from Maine to Greenville, SC! Kitty Wilkin inspired and taught us all her tips and tricks for meticulous cutting (aka fussy cutting), English Paper piecing, Tiny Piecing and Quilt Photography.

In Friday morning's workshop, we learned to make the most of the tools we had to shoot great photos of our quilts and projects. Kitty also suggested the use of some simple and helpful items to ensure even better results.

On Friday evening, Kitty presented a lecture on what she likes to call meticulous cutting rather than the common term used in quilting, fussy cutting. She shared examples of some wonderful designs that can be created by meticulously and intentionally cutting specific motifs from fabric for piecing.

On Saturday morning, Kitty taught a workshop on English Paper Piecing for beginners, including 3 methods for basting and 3 methods for sewing.

The workshop presented on Saturday afternoon was Tiny Piecing. We were amazed at these 1 1/4" blocks, but Kitty made it easy for us to create our own.

Thank you, Kitty, for sharing your time and knowledge with us! We saw a lot of smiling faces as we stretched our creativity and enjoyed the community of our fellow guild members and guests. We hope to see more meticulous cutting, EPP and tiny piecing in our future Show and Shares!

Be sure to follow Kitty on her blog: Night Quilter and on Instagram @nightquilter

Important Reminders this Month:

• Fall Retreat - Sign-ups are now open for the Fall retreat, November 8-10. The details can be found in the May meeting post and you can register online: Fall Retreat Registration. (If you prefer not to register online, email the guild at greenvillemqg@gmail.com)
• Block of the Month - The June block is called Cul-de-sac. The pattern: Cul-de-sac and the Templates. We'll be sharing both the May and June blocks at the July meeting.

• Philanthropy Request - We received a request from a nurse for Nurse Family Partnership. They are a free home visiting service for first time, low-income moms, serving clients through pregnancy and until the child is 2 years old. She would like to provide her clients with small quilts to be used for supervised infant tummy time. The organization serves Greenville, Pickens, Laurens, and Oconee counties. The website is Nurse Family Partnership. If you would like to take on this project or know a group that would, please email us at greenvillemqg@gmail.com for more information. 

Our next meeting is Saturday, July 6th from 1-3 pm at St. Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

May 31 - June 1, 2019 - Lecture and Workshops with Kitty Wilkin

Greenville MQG is thrilled this month, to host Kitty Wilkin from Night Quilter! Kitty is a national instructor, lecturing and teaching at QuiltCon 2018 and 2019.  Her quilts have been featured in international magazines such as Love Patchwork & Quilting, Make Modern, and the Quilter's Planner.  Kitty has produced professional photography for the Quilter's Planner, Aurifil, and Amy Butler's magazine.

The details are here and the schedule is listed below along with links for all the Workshop Supply Lists. The Friday night lecture is open to all members and guests free of charge, The workshops on Friday morning and Saturday are for registered participants only.

Friday, May 31st: Photography Workshop, 9 am - 12 pm

• Photography Workshop Supply List

Friday, May 31st: Lecture - Meticulous Magic: The Many Faces of Fussy Cutting

• Social Hour, 6-7 pm
• Lecture, 7-8 pm

Saturday, June 1st: English Paper Piecing Workshop, 9 am - 12 pm

• English Paper Piecing Supply List

Saturday, June 1st: Tiny Piecing Workshop, 1-4 pm

• Tiny Piecing Supply List

Please note:

• There will be no regular business meeting this month. This includes no Show and Share, Library or "Free to a Good Home Table".
• Fall Retreat - We will be taking sign-ups for the Fall Retreat. You'll find all the details in the previous blog post. You can also sign up online using the Fall Retreat Registration Form.
• 2019 Crayon Challenge - Valorie will have her bag of crayons available if you still need them to participate in this year's challenge.

This is bound to be an inspiring and fun weekend to learn from one of the best! You don't want to miss it! All events will be held at: St. Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

Highlights from the May 2019 Meeting

Choosing Fabric for a Quilt

This month two of our members, Cindy Lammon and Faye Jones, gave us some guidelines to use in choosing fabric for a quilt, no matter what the style. We learned that we should consider not only color, but value, type and scale of print, background color and more. 

We then broke up into small groups and used our scraps to come up with some winning fabric combinations. 

As suggested in the program, for color inspiration, be sure to check out Design Seeds.

Attendance

• We welcomed 2 guests and 1 new member for a total of 33 present this month.
• Please note that our 2020 meetings in July and September will fall on the second Saturday due to holidays.

Sew-In Days

• Our next Sew-In Day is Friday, May 10th from 10-4 at Bernina, We're In Stitches. Stay as long as you like and work on a charity project or your own project. We ask that you purchase a half yard of fabric at the store to be raffled off to one lucky winner.
• Future Sew-In Days are July 26th, September 13th, and November 8th.

QuiltCon Charity Quilt Donation

• We have decided to donate our charity quilt to SYNNEX Share the Magic, which benefits local SC Children's Charities. The quilt will be auctioned at their annual event which takes place October 5, 2019.
• The auction goes live 30 days before the event and the proceeds from our quilt will be split between the four children's charities that they support.
• Items in the past have met or exceeded the value placed on the donation. We're hoping our quilt provides some ample funds for children in need!

Spring Retreat

• The Wildacres GMQG Spring Retreat,  with its beautiful surroundings and ideal weather, was again a terrific time for all. Adding another day and night gave the group more time to sew and engage in  projects lead by Michele Blake and Cheryl Brickey, whose methods and techniques were outstanding.

•  Most everyone completed both a Needle Case and a Cathedral Window pincushion while at the retreat, and worked on many new projects, as well as completing some UFOs! 

• Our surprise entertainment was our own “stand-up comic” Dana Blasi! She was adorable, and has plans for more next year. Hiking among the beautiful wild flowers and trees, against the breathtaking bright blue sky, was all part of the experience.

Fall Retreat Proposal

• We're excited to propose an opportunity for an additional retreat in the Fall!
• Dates: Friday, Nov. 8 (sewing room available at 1 p.m.) through Sunday, Nov. 10 (depart by 6 p.m.)
• Location: Charlotte Marriott South Park Hotel. Adjacent to the hotel is a small pedestrian plaza with restaurants and a French bakery. The South Park Mall is located one block away and offers numerous restaurants and shops. There are at least two quilt shops within 20 minutes of the hotel.
• About the Retreat/Sew-in: This event is being sponsored and organized by GMQG and is open to all GMQG members and their guests. In addition, we are considering opening this event to the Palmetto, Charleston and Charlotte Modern Guilds to help us extend our outreach to other area guilds. As part of the planning process, the retreat committee will identify opportunities for demos, mini-classes and/or trunk shows throughout the weekend. 
• About the Sewing space: We will have exclusive use of the hotel’s well-lit ballroom, with enough space for every attendee to have their own 6’ rectangular work table, plus at least 4 raised cutting/pressing stations, heavy-duty electrical outlets/extension cords, vertical space for design walls, classroom space for demos and Show and Share, free WiFi, dedicated restrooms and a private outdoor terrace with tables, chairs and heating towers. The hotel’s security staff will monitor the sewing room after hours to ensure that only registered attendees can access the room.
• Registration Fee: $200 per person for all three days. Registration fee includes access to sewing space, catered breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, boxed lunch on Saturday, WiFi in ballroom. Additional amenities may be added depending on number of participants. (Note that the hotel has requested that we not bring outside food or beverages into the Sewing space, but hotel guests are welcome to bring food and beverage to their hotel rooms and consume either in their room or in public spaces (e.g., lobby and pedestrian plaza outside the lobby).)
• Sleeping Rooms: The hotel has reserved 25 guest rooms for us at the rate of $139/night single or double occupancy (Includes free parking, free WiFi in guest room.) All rooms are recently renovated and are equipped with mini fridges and coffee makers). Attendees will make their own room reservations and may elect to stay elsewhere if they so choose, or commute from home.
• Registration: Register by completing the registration form: Fall Retreat Registration Form. Registration must be accompanied by a check for $200 per attendee, made out to the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild. Please note: The registration form is publicly accessible. If you prefer not to use the online form, send the required information to Elise Dunbar (her address is noted on the form) and your information will be kept private.
• Cancellation Policy: Once we have paid registrations from 18 participants (to cover the cost of the ballroom and the hotel’s food and beverage minimum), we will send our non-refundable deposit to the hotel. Any cancellations prior to that time will be refunded in full, and if we fail to reach our 18-participant minimum, all registration fees will be refunded. 
• Once we have committed to the hotel, participants who cancel their registration before October 31 will be refunded as long as we maintain our minimum of 18 participants. Cancellations on or after November 1 are non-refundable. 
• Registration is now open!

Philanthropy

• Thanks to our very talented and generous members, we collected an all time high of 14 beautiful quilts this month, one large quilt for the hurricane relief project and 13 quilts of various sizes for our Quilts For Kids project. These quilts mean so much to the recipients and provide much needed comfort in the greatest time of need. Most go to very young children who have suffered unimaginable abuse and the larger ones to young women who have received services after sexual abuse. Old wives tales claim that quilts have magical healing power and I do think there is some truth in this! A million thank yous to all - Faye Jones  Philanthropy Chairman
• PS- I cannot stress enough that these quilts do not need to be perfect -  they are loved just as they are!!

Block of the Month

• The May BOMs, Parking Lot, from this month's meeting:

• This month's block is Yield. Find the templates here.

Guild Challenge

• The 2019 GMQG Challenge is due at the August meeting.
• Find all the details here.

Local Quilt Shows and Events

• There are several local shows and events happening in May! All the details are on our Events Page.
• Be sure to let us know via email about any local happenings that aren't listed so we can add them to the Page.

May/June Workshops with Kitty Wilkin

• There are still a few openings for the workshops coming up next month.
• Details are in the workshop blog post along with links for all the Workshop Supply Lists.

Show and Share

Cindy Kaiser

Leigh Ann Lukens - charity quilt

Bonnie Cunningham

Paige Alexander - wrote the foreward for Mitzie Schafer's new Machine Quilting book

Ruth

Cynthia Steward - Hurricane Relief Quilt

Michelle Blake

Michelle Blake, quilted by Valorie Kasten

Valorie Kasten - charity quilt

Rita Sanssone - minis from Gee's Bend Retreat

Faye Jones - framed batik and charity quilt

Faye Jones

Susan Rink

Susan Rink

Susan Rink - all quilts above for charity

Nancy deJong

Darlene Morse - wallet and bodice for dance outfit

There will be no business meeting next month. Our regular meeting will feature a lecture by Kitty Wilkin called "Meticulous Magic: The Many Faces of Fussy Cutting" on Friday evening, May 31st. Social hour begins at 6 pm and the lecture will begin at 7 pm. All members and guests are welcome free of charge. The lecture and all workshops will all be held at St. Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.  You don't want to miss this fun evening!