September Lucky 13 Bee House Block for Maria

I designed this with the two-inch border in mind, then totally spaced it out until after I'd "finished."  Blerg!  I hope it works out for you anyway.

Getting closer...

Thanks to a week of vacation, waiting out several car naps,

and purposeful use of bathtime, I am almost done with my green section! I am very pleased with the way this quilt is coming together, and I hope I can show a finished top at our next meeting.

I am loving seeing all the wonderful bee blocks here and I can't wait to see what everyone's been up to over the summer! See you in a month-

Maria's House Block

I'm afraid my upper margin isn't quite 2 inches, Maria... hope it works anyway.  Here's my house block.  Summer is still in my mind...so here's one from the beach!

Begonia for Naomi

Using the lovely image for inspiration, I looked for a block where the colors would unfold from the center. I found this block called Floor Tiles. I loved this idea and it was fun to choose the colors. Naomi, I hope you like it. 

Can't wait to see how this comes together.

Another Block for Naomi

I volunteered to do a second block for Naomi... Don't know why this looks blurry (jittery photographer?)... anyway, here it is and hope it works for you, Naomi.  Will send it off this coming week... Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Now to get started on Maria's block!

CALL FOR ENTRIES:

Calling all quilters, sewers and needle and fiber art enthusiasts

Exhibition of African Folklore Embroidery  & Quilt/Fiber Art at Road to California Quilting Show, January 22-25, 2015, Ontario CA

You are invited to submit your completed African Folklore Embroidery pieces for exhibit at Road to California.

Winter will mark the largest exhibit of African Folklore Embroidery fiber and quilting art that California has ever seen. 

The exhibition curated by fiber artist, teacher and author, Leora Raikin, will feature the completed work comprising African folklore Embroidery pieces made into quilts, books, wall hangings, pillows, table runners, bags and wearable art. 

Previous winners and entries may be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=234386778169&ref=ts

All entries will be on display in a special exhibit area at Road to California.

The exhibit with over $500 in cash prizes is in its fifth year.

The challenge is open to all: rules of the challenge are at www.aflembroidery.com

Deadline for submissions: December 15th 2014

Contact: Leora Raikin (818) 999-6094 info@aflembroidery.com

Art Quilt Project

Here are my two blocks for the Art Quilt Project led by Michelle and Bernadette ~

Inspired by the colors in the original piece, I tried to follow the color progression.

A simple modern block highlighting the four main colors.

Michelle and Bernadette, I hope it is what you were looking for.  

I will bring them to the October meeting!

August 2014 Three Colour Modern Sampler Bee Blocks for Kim

Two August Bee Blocks for Kim.

As usual I've posted more about the blocks on my blog made by ChrissieD and there's a tute too for one of the blocks :)

June 2014 Fabric Cut Out Art Bee Block for E

Here's my June Bee Block for E.

As usual I've posted about making it on my blog made by ChrissieD :)

Lucky Bee - August Block for Naomi

Another flower for Naomi. I chose the Lupine and here is the block it inspired. Hope you like it, Naomi!

Mod Bee Round 4 - August Block for Kim W.

Kim W asked for a modern block, using only the three colors of fabric she sent. There was a bit of planning but, as usual, the final result is something different. Isn't it great how blocks/fabric have a mind of their own?

Kim also challenged us to play around with the extra fabric to make another, different block. Here is mine.

They are both on their way to you, Kim. have fun putting together your Tricolor Modern Sampler!

Lucky Bee August Block for Naomi

Loved working on this block for your project, Naomi!

And love seeing what everyone is making!

Lucky Bee July - Paper Pieced Fan Block for Judy

Another round of paper pieced fun (fan!) for Judy. The photo does not do justice to the colors. They are on their way to you, Judy. Enjoy!

Submit your photos for Faces of the Quilters!

Submit your photos for Faces of the Quilters!   Are you a quilter? Do you love quilts? Collect them? Do you know other like-minded folks? We're collecting photos to show the diversity of the quilting community. . .and some of their thoughts about life and quilting and the things that inspire them. These photos will become part of a grand collage stretching down "Main Street" at International Quilt Festival this fall, a red carpet display of women and men whose passion for this great American art form has now circled the globe. . .all in celebration of Festival's Ruby Jubilee, its 40th anniversary!  For 40 years, people who love and value quilts have attended Festival and we want everyone to be represented in this great tribute to the needle artists who have kept. . .and are keeping. . .quilting alive and thriving!   But you don't have to limit yourself to current quilters! You can send in a photo of a grandmother who quilted, a great-aunt you inherited a quilt from, friends who love quilts, your favorite quilt shop owner, a daughter who is learning to quilt from you today. In short, we want the full range of our community to be on view, showing the diversity and inclusiveness of quilting.  Find all of the details about how you and your quilting bee friends, your quilt guild contacts, your art quilting buddies, your church group can be recognized for their commitment to fabric, needle, thread at the link below.  Faces Of The Quilters We hope to hear from you soon!  Sincerely, Karey Bresenhan and the staff of Quilts, Inc.

Copyright © 2014 Quilts, Inc., All rights reserved.

Registration is now open and the last day to register is 31 August 2014 through to midnight CDT.

Naomi's Lucky Bee Block

I'm not sure I did what you want, Naomi...and am willing to "redo" if you want.  I took your offer to trim the flower block (hope it wasn't too much) and then entered it into a "wonky" kind of block.  I had fun (even if it wasn't right) and hope it works for you.  Will send off in mail soon.

Lucky 13 Bee Block for Naomi

Here's my August foxglove block for Naomi.  The colors in the print were such a great inspiration.  Can't wait to see the rest of the blocks!

Help Wanted: Photography and Blogging for Meetings

Do you enjoy the stories behind the Show & Tell quilts? Would you like to help capture and preserve them on the NYC Metro Modern Quilters blog?

As much as I love capturing everyone's stories it definitely takes me a while to upload and write the posts for the Show & Tell/Monthly Meeting recaps. As we meet more often, it will definitely be harder for me to keep up with posts, so I am looking for volunteers to help lighten the load. 

I am happy to share the tasks and change them up at every meeting or split out the year's meetings in case someone cannot attend. 

What does this involve?

- Attending the meeting and staying through Show & Tell

- Taking notes during the meeting (you will be provided with a sheet of everyone who has signed up to present a Show & Tell item)

- Photographing each quilt using a digital camera. I have a point and shoot and have it set on "Auto." No fancy photography skills needed!

- Uploading photos into an Adobe Photoshop template containing the NYC Metro Mod logo (I have this ready made and can share the template) and making selections

- Uploading selections into Blogger

- Writing up descriptions for each quilt

- Making updates as needed for links or names (this hardly happens)

I am flexible and open to and welcome any help offered! 

There are many ways we can do this. We can break up the tasks and each person can be responsible for an individual task (i.e. just taking notes at the meeting, just taking photos, or just uploading to the blog). I will really need the help in the upcoming membership year since three additional meetings will be added!

Please email me (mama dot peaches dot ny at gmail dot com) directly if you can assist. Many thanks in advance!

June 7, 2014 Meeting Recap and Show & Tell

I hope everyone has been having a great summer! It's been a while since our June meeting but here is the recap (finally!). Sorry for the delay! 

The last meeting definitely closed out the year with a bang-- we had a trunk show hosted by Cloud9 Fabrics, many updates to the various guild and bee projects, and of course a Show & Tell chock full of beautiful techniques and talent!

The quilts that were raffled off at the end of the meeting.

Of few of the charity baby quilts that members have made. 

Members were each gifted a choice of a fat quarter piece of fabric purchased from Pins & Needles.

The guild's progress on the group quilt made using English Paper Pieced star headed by Jessica. 

First up, an insider's look into Cloud9 Fabrics. Creative Director, Michelle Engel Bencsko joined us to share so many gorgeous quilts and insights into running an organic fabric company.

Above are just a few of the quilts shown from Cloud9 Fabric's latest lines. The company produces about 18 collections a year. The quilt patterns above are all designed by Michelle herself and offered as free patterns on the Cloud9 Fabric's website. Many of the quilts are made and quilted by Linda Spiridon.

In addition to the great trunk show, Cloud9 Fabrics also donated small fat quarter bundles of their latest Ed Emberley collection, Picture Pie to be made into charity baby quilts.

Then we kicked off Show & Tell!

Michelle shared a piece based on the theme of reflections. The quilt she shared is of reflections of old buildings onto new ones, but often, reflections get distorted. She incorporated dyed fabric, hand painting, and gold netting into the final piece.

Although Elaine has been quilting for five years, she still considers herself a novice. Elaine took a class at the City Quilter where she learned to stack patterns, cut, turn pattern 90 degrees. The quilt as you go method was used to finish the quilt. The result makes all the blocks float. The only catch is that you cannot use directional fabric. 

In Deborah's family, once you are married for 50 years, you get a quilt. It is a family tradition. This time around, it was her parents' turn. Everyone in the family gets a packet of fabric in the same colors. Most of the blocks returned are completed by hand. The quilt is pieced by machine with some hand sewing. Deborah designed the center wreath. This quilt is the fifth one in the family and may be the last one for a while. Although Deborah's mom usually helps her with the anniversary quilts, she completed this one all by herself and also enlisted the help of friend and fellow guild member, Andrea Murray. 

Jackie cut rainbow strips over New Year's to make this quilt. After squaring it up, she lost some colors. To quilt it, she experimented with free motion quilting after watching some Angela Walters videos. Jackie also shared two articles she authored in quilt publications!

Karen works at the City Quilter and a customer who likes to practice new techniques, gave her the middle piece so Karen completed the rest!

Karen also shared this robot quilt she made. Karen is obsessed with robots!

I shared a bag I made using Green Bee Patterns Ship Shape Tote. I was inspired after seeing beautiful Doe leather handles in Portland, OR and set out to construct a bag with my own fabrics.

This was Doris's first meeting at the guild. She heard about the guild at a panel at The City Quilter. Doris has a grand daughter in college who is interested in stage productions and will start in a play in May. Doris wanted to bring her something so she decided on this star quilt because her granddaughter would be the "star" of the show. Doris created a template from the Macy's logo found on a shopping bag. Doris has had a Baby Lock sewing machine for 10 years and it was the first time she used it for machine applique. She watched videos on YouTube to learn how to echo quilt. Doris will turn this into a pillow.

Michael was inspired by a Baltimore Album Sampler block and made this from a drawing from 20 years ago! The entire quilt is pieced not appliqued.

Sara made this quilt for the charity baby quilt donation. It is machine quilted.

Maren started a tradition of making bat mitzvah quilts for a friend's daughter two years ago. Her friend has two more daughters so Maren has completed another one. The recipient loves "Paris, France" and the quilt is a "mixed bag" of themes. Mallory and Karen at The City Quilter helped Maren choose coordinating fabric for the back and it will be quilted by Rachael. 

Greer has been quilting for seven years and finally made a quilt for herself after taking Andrea Deal's class. There is no additional quilting on the quilt and it is backed in Anna Maria Horner velveteen fabric.

Melly shared her swatch cards for her newly released fabric line, Meadowlark.

Melly had several friends from the guild (Chris, Jackie, and Stephanie) help make things out of her beautiful fabric!

It was Season's first time at the guild. She made this stunning quilt out of Essex Linen and metallic cotton. It is machine pieced and took a very long time to complete!

We took a break so that participants in the postcard swap could swap their pieces! 

The before photo. Everyone holding the postcards they made.

After. It was a very methodical swap. ;)

Andrea shared a quilt she made for a dear friend from her neighborhood who just had a baby. At the shower for the mother, attendees were given bird-themed fabric to stitch a wish. Andrea incorporated the fabrics into this quilt and will be gifting it to her friend who has just moved to New Zealand.

Monica and Ellen collaborated on this quilt with a teenager, Amina, who is 18 years old. The quilt was a gift for a dear friend who was retiring after 18 years. The mutual friend loves green and stars so this quilt was a perfect combination of both. 

Jody made this charity quilt from scraps in her stash. She quilted it on her "tractor" AKA "longarm."

Nancy shared that left to her own devices, she would "stick rainbows on everything." She had misgivings about putting so much white on a baby quilt, but everyone at the meeting agreed that it is perfect just the way it is!

Margaret finished the quilt that will be sent to France for a charity auction. It is made of 100% recycled fabric and the batting is even pieced from scraps. Five others from our guild sent blocks and Margaret incorporated blocks from Bees as well. Rachael quilted it on her longarm.

Andrea shared her submission to the Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller Challenge. She thought the fabrics "screamed Dresden Plate." When Andrea couldn't find the perfect background fabric, she made her own using a bleach pen!

Sandy's son was getting married in two weeks. For the ceremony, she wanted to incorporate a chuppah made with blocks from family and friends. She sent out 140 and received 81 in return. The pattern incorporates a Jewish star.

Rachael shared one of four quilts that was made for a family whose mother had passed away. The quilts are comprised of fabrics from boxes of childhood clothing. As part of the process, Rachael speaks with the family about pattern ideas.

Detail of Rachael's beautifully intricate quilting!

Maria shared a charity quilt made with fabrics from the Thomas Knauer Challenge.

Maria was inspired by an image from a magazine and recreated this optical masterpiece into a quilt!

Cynthia is new and has decided to join the guild. In 2014, she decided that she would say "yes" to anything that was not dangerous or criminal. She met the editor of Quilting Arts Magazine at a workshop and decided to participate in the Opposites Attract Challenge. Cynthia was inspired to make this 9x9 "piece of torment" summer sunset piece entitled Sunset at Seaside. She was also helped by another member of the guild Chris D. The piece was accepted by the magazine and Cynthia was a finalist!

Chris shared a quilt she made as a sample for her upcoming class at The City Quilter. It is made using a wholecloth Quilt as You Go technique. 

Chris also shared the quilt made by her daughter, Flicky, using the same method. Flicky completed this quilt in one evening!

Lisa shared the latest round of the Round Robin quilt that has been circulating among guild members. There is a twin for this quilt. Each person may keep the quilt for two months. Next up, will be Brian!

Earamichia ran a half marathon 8 weeks before the meeting. She broke her ankle and calls this piece, Ode to Foot.