Monday, January 6, 2020

Highlights from the January 2020 Meeting - Free Motion Demo Stations

Program: Free Motion Quilting Demo Stations

Our January meeting featured 3 free motion quilting demo stations. Many thanks to Valorie Kasten, Cheryl Brickey and Faye Jones for putting together and awesome demo with lots of great tips and information! Very inspiring!
Here are the related links and information:

The Power of the Pebble PDF - Link
(Valorie’s doodling device: Blackboard by Boogie Board; they are available from most large retailers for less than $45.)

Five Tips for Successful Domestic Ruler Quilting - Link
Here is a Link to Cheryl’s Amazon page with her favorite tools and notions for doing ruler quilting on her domestic machine. She quilts on a Bernina 710 and has the Bernina ruler foot.

Thanks to Faye for reminding us to have fun and practice , practice , practice our Free Motion Quilting and make it into a Charity Quilt!

Valorie Kasten

The Power of the Pebble

Faye Jones

Free Motion Quilting / Tracing Fabric Elements

Cheryl Brickey

Domestic Ruler Quilting

Membership
• We welcomed 43 members, 5 new members and 8 guests to our meeting this month.

Sew-in Day
• Our first sew-in day at Bernina will be January 17, 2020 from 10 AM to 4 PM. Bernina We’re in Stitches shop is located at 2310 E. North Street, Ste A, Greenville, SC. Your admission is to purchase ½ yd of fabric from Bernina and contribute it to “the pot.” Each attendee then places their name in a basket for a drawing to win all the ½ yard cuts. Bring your machines and a project to work on and enjoy getting to know old and new members of the guild while learning and having loads of fun. If you have never been to Bernina’s there is much to see from a terrific selection of fabrics to beautiful finished quilts in the sewing room.
(Thanks to our Sew in Coordinators, Sandy Helsel & Rita Sassone. Our Sew-in /days will be held the third Friday of every other month.)

Spring Retreat at Wildacres April 2-5th
• Registration is underway and 17 of the 24 slots have been filled to date. Those that have registered, but not paid the fee ($240) please gets your checks to Sandy Helsel, 209 Scenic River Way, Taylors, SC. 29687 to confirm your registration. For more information contact Sandy by email: shelsel65@gmail.com (Sandy Helsel, co-chair of Spring Retreat)

Note: Saturday, April 4th, our regular monthly meeting will be replaced by an all day Mini-Retreat held at our normal location, St. Giles Church. More information will be provided at future meetings and online as plans are made.

Quilters of SC Spring Meeting
• Nichole McLellan, our Quilters of SC Representative, invites us all to attend the Spring Meeting on March 21, 2020 at Hilton Greenville, (45 West Orchard Park Drive, Greenville, SC 29615)
For more information click here.

GMQG 2020 Block of the Month Series:
• This year Cynthia Steward will be creating our Block of the Month Series. She has chosen Modern “Quilting Influencers” as our theme. Click here for this month’s PDF instructions: January Block - Gwen Marston’s String Improv OR visit the BOM Blog here:

Quiltfest Greenville, SC
• Quiltfest’s spring quilt festival will be held April 30-May 2, 2020 here in Greenville, SC! Click here for more info.

Quiltcon 2020
• QuiltCon 2020 will be in Austin, Texas, Feb. 20–23, 2020 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Click here for more info.

Didi Salvatierra Class
• Didi Salvatierra will be teaching a class called “So You Want To Hand Quilt?” on Thursday March 19, 1-4 pm. PDF here. Sign-ups for this class are being handled by Beginnings Quilt Shop on Greenville Highway in Hendersonville. Class size is limited.

Show and Share

Cindy Lammons and Cheryl Brickey

Cindy Lammons

Paige Alexander, Faye Jones, Valorie Kasten, Cheryl Brickey, Cindy Lammons and Travis Seward - Group Quilt

Dana Blasi

Cindy Lange

Linda Cassell

Lynn Harrell

Cheryl Sane

Rita Sassone

Nicole McClellan

Johnnie McKenzie

Michelle Blake

Valorie Kasten

See you next month!

Friday, December 27, 2019

January 4, 2020 - Free Motion Quilting Demo Stations

Free Motion Quilting Demo Stations

On January 4, 2020, the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild program will feature 3 free motion quilting demo stations and a Q&A opportunity for those wishing to either start free motion quilting or improve their quilting skills.

Station 1- Valorie Kasten will demonstrate and discuss quilting pebbles on a HSM. Learning how to make pebbles is a first step in advancing quilting skills. Valorie also has a long arm with a computer "robot" and would love to answer questions about that.

Station 2- Cheryl Brickey will demonstrate ruler quilting on a HSM and will provide useful tips to either get you started ruler quilting or advance your skills. Cheryl quilts most, if not all, of her award winning show entries as well as her magazine/book featured quilts. Cheryl designs modern quilt patterns which often are finished with ruler quilting combined with free motion designs.

Station 3- Faye Jones will bring in her 18" sit down mid arm to demonstrate general free motion quilting and how the basic skills ( such as pebbles and ruler lines) can evolve into designs ranging from simple fillers to elaborate feathers.

If you have a finished quilt top and wish a discussion of quilting suggestions, bring it in and we will review as many quilts as time permits.

Looking for a Sew In Day Coordinator:

The membership has voted to continue our popular Sew In Day and we are in need of a coordinator to work with Leslie White of Bernina...We're in Stitches Sewing Shop to schedule and conduct the Sew In days. This is an excellent way to become involved with your quilt guild and meet new friends in a smaller group. It is not a difficult task and does not require that you attend all of the sew in days. You can always recruit a friend to oversee the customary drawing of fabric purchased at the shop as a gesture to thank Leslie for her hospitality. Any questions or concerns may be addresses to Faye Jones at birdie1345@aol.com

Greenville Modern Quilt Guild 2020 Meetings and Activities:

Check out the GMQG Meetings and Activities page for a look at our 2020 schedule.
Be sure to check back often for updates as plans develop.
See you at the meeting!

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Highlights From the December 2019 Meeting

Our last meeting for 2019 was a festive one! In addition to food, fun and laughter, many of our members left with some awesome winnings!

We enjoyed wonderful food and tasty desserts...

And placed our tickets with hopes of winning...

Lots of smiling faces!

Many thanks to our party planners, Darleen Sanford, Jill Erickson, Ruth Freyer and Dana Blasi.

We presented our 2019 President, Elise Dunbar, with a Signature Quilt. Thank you Elise for your leadership in making this year fun and informative!

A Few Announcements

2020 Board Member Change

We want to thank Michele Blake for volunteering to be Secretary next year, but she recently found out that she will be moving out of Greenville. Leigh Ann Lukens has stepped up to take the position in 2020. Thanks, Leigh Ann!

2020 Retreat

Next year's retreat will be held Thursday, April 2^nd thru Sunday , April 5^th, 2020 at Wildacres Retreat. Signups begin on January 4^th at the January meeting and continue until all 24 slots are filled. (double occupancy of 12 rooms). Eligibility is for current, 2020 Greenville Modern Quilt Guild members.
Your registration is complete when payment has been received in the amount $240 which is all inclusive (lodging, meals, use of sewing room and gratuity). Make checks out to GMQG and present or mail to Sandy Helsel (accepted after January 4, 2020 at 1pm).
Once all slots are filled, a Wait List will be started. At this time guests of GMQG retreaters will be allowed to register. Should a registered member need to cancel, wait listed individuals will be notified in the order in which they were received.
It will be possible to do a “split” between 2 people if there is a member that cannot attend all 3 nights: for example a person may only be able to come for 2 nights, the second person would come for just one night. Please make these arrangements yourselves and provide one payment for the slot.
Check-in begins: Thursday at 2:30 pm. Check-out Sunday afternoon - last meal served on Sunday is Breakfast.
Optional activities during the retreat will include, but not limited to:

Dirty Santa (Fat Quarter swap of 4 fat quarters)
Mystery Project
Member demonstrations
Sale/swap Boutique
Field trips to local stores

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and look forward to seeing you all in 2020!

Our next meeting will be Saturday, January 4, 2020 from 1-3 pm at St Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

Friday, November 29, 2019

December 7, 2019 - Holiday Lunch and Auction

Hope you can join us Saturday, December 7th from 1-3 pm to celebrate another great year of friendship and growth as modern quilters!

Bring your appetite, as we'll be providing a light lunch, complete with holiday sweets!

The highlight of our December meeting is always our Lottery Auction! Here's how it works:

Bring any new or nearly new items that you'd like to donate to the meeting (items should be unwrapped).
Tickets for the auction can be purchased for $1 each (cash or check only).
Place your tickets in the container provided for each item for your chance to win! You can bid as many tickets as you like for an item to increase your chances of winning.
One ticket will be drawn for each item to determine the winner.

Remember, this is a wonderful fund raiser for our guild and future programs and activities. We thank you for your support!

A few other reminders:

We will be collecting dues for 2020 of $50 (cash or check).
There will be no Show and Share this month.
The library will not be available for check-out, but we will accept returns of GMQG library books.

See you Saturday, December 7th from 1-3 pm at St Giles Church, 1021 Hudson Rd., Greenville, SC.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Highlights From The November 2019 Meeting

Program: Hand Quilting

Many thanks to Didi Salvatierra who shared her expertise and love of hand quilting for this month's program. We learned about many of the tools and notions needed, and how important it is to try different tools to find what work best for you. Didi also shared many of her beautiful hand quilted creations.

For the second half of the program our members watched a demonstration by Didi of her hand quilting technique and Cindy Lammon helped with some hands-on practice. Batting was generously provided by Hobbs Batting.

Visit Didi at her website: Didi Quilts

Membership

We welcomed 43 members and 3 guests to our meeting this month.
2020 dues are $50 and must be paid by January 31st. Bring your dues (check or cash) to the meeting or mail to Paige Alexander.

QuiltCon Charity Quilt

Our charity quilt, "Zoomville", raised $950 in the Synnex Share the Magic Auction for local children's charities.

Sew-In Day

Friday, November 8th will be the final Sew-In Day for 2019. Join us at Bernina We're In Stitches anytime from 10-4 and enjoy some fun sewing time with friends. We ask that you purchase a 1/2 yard of fabric at the shop to be raffled off at the end of the day.

Golden Hour Photo Shoot

Our next Golden Hour Photoshoot will be November 4th at 5pm (weather permitting) at the Wyche pavilion behind the Peace Center. You must contact Elise Dunbar if you'd like to participate, otherwise she will not be there.

2020 Board of Directors

The following were elected to next year's BOD by unanimous vote:

President - Dagmar Theodore
Vice President - Faye Jones
Secretary - Michele Blake
Treasurer - Cindy Lange
Membership - Sarah Snider

The 2020 Board is looking for a Block of the Month Chair for next year. Blocks can be chosen from free online patterns or designed by our members. Contact us at greenvillemqg@gmail.com for more info or if you're interested in serving.

Block of the Month

The October Blocks, Tailgate shown this month:

Thank you to Travis Seward for designing our Block of the Month this year! Shown below is Travis's completed top.

The instructions for finishing your quilt are here. There are two layout options (click on the link below each option for the pattern):

Layout Option A

Layout Option B

Holiday Luncheon, December 7th from 1-3 pm

In December we will host our annual fundraiser and we appreciate new or nearly new items for our auction/lottery. Attendees buy $1 tickets and place them into containers for each item. The winner for each is then drawn from the container. Suggested donations include: quilts, quilted items, quilting supplies, gift certificates, fabric, books, patterns, art, gift baskets and holiday items.
If you would like to donate something, but cannot attend the December meeting, contact the committee members listed below by mid November.
We ask that you please RSVP for the luncheon, so we can plan accordingly. RSVP by contacting one of the committee members listed below. We would like to have a final count by November 23rd.
Contact any of the committee members: Jill Erickson, Ruth Freyer, Darleen Sanford, Dana Blasi or the guild at greenvillemqg@gmail.com.

Library

The library will not be available for borrowing books in December, but we will be accepting returns for any GMQG books that have been checked out.
Thank you to Darleen Sanford, who will be taking over as librarian in 2020.

Spring Retreat

Mark your calendars for April 2-5, 2020 for our guild retreat at Wildacres Retreat Center in Little Switzerland, NC.
Sign-ups will begin in early 2020 with a maximum of 24 participants.