I made a name-tag for our swap today.

I put this in the mail to Kim last week, hopefully it arrived by now.
This is going to be such a happy quilt.  Hope my little guy gets along with the others.

It was really great to see everyone at the meeting today.  As I was looking around though, I saw so many of us still don't have nametags, or didn't remember to bring them.  So I was thinking... how about a nametag swap?

Who's got the nicer nametag??

What is this?!  I can't even read that!

I know it's got a lot of letters, but can someone help Bernadette out?

If you'd like to make a nametag for another guild member and have one made for you, comment on this post (make sure you're not a "no-reply" commenter!) or send an email to jessunderquilts at yahoo dot com and I'll send you someone's name.  (Sign-ups close next Sunday, Feb. 12th, at midnight) Make them a nametag and bring it to the April 4th March 31st meeting, easy enough, right?

But what if I have a nametag already?  Doesn't matter, it's fun to have more than one!  None of us ever stopped at just one quilt, have we?

Here are some of the amazing nametags already on display at today's meeting:





Feel free to use these for inspiration or come up with your own design.  Anything goes really--

• any shape
• any size (within reason)
• made from fabric (but any fabrics will do)
• embelish or don't
• bind it, pillow case it, or raw edge with pinking shears

"Write" your partner's name legibly in the center. 

• pieced in fabric
• written in marker/fabric pen
• painted
• thread painted
• rubber stamped
• embroidered

Make some way to wear the nametag.

• attach a string to hang around the neck
• add a safety pin to the back

I don't doubt the creativity of this group for a moment!  I'm sure anything you make will be great.

So who's in?  (Sign-ups close next Sunday, Feb. 12th, at midnight)

I have received 9 wonderful window blocks for the MOD Bee, and I wanted to share.  Thank you so much for everyone who made me a block.  Some came in the mail and some were added to the floor arrangement at the meeting last weekend, but as I hung them on my design wall this wee, I realized I don't know who made a couple of them.. if you know, can you please help me out?  Thanks!
Helen:

E:

David:

Mary:

Nicole (yay, I got some gnomes!):
Lisa:
Maureen?  Kimberly? (sorry, lost the envelope!)

______? (my son loves the sneeches!) Carole:

_____? :
If these are yours, please let me know!!

here's a shot of them all up on the wall (with the 3 I made).  I am still waiting on 2, and hope to put it together over my winter break from school.  Thank you everybody for helping me create such a neat quilt.  I'll keep you updated on my progress..

This week I decided to do an easy topic in hopes of increasing participation..
(It's mid November, I know we're getting busy.)

Please tell us all about your favorite fabric designers.

Share pictures of fabric, bolts, fat quarters or quilts.. what makes you love them?  Who do you go back to buy again and again?

I didn't set out to be a designer fabric fiend.. but I do find myself attracted to a few designers even without trying..
Since I started quilting, I've loved Alexander Henry.  Not every print, but man, some of them just make me so happy!  I could copy and paste some links, but it's more fun if you just browse the website.
And then there's Erin McMorris.
And most recently, Kate Spain.. but I don't own any of her fabric yet..
I guess the secret's out, I like leaves and foliage.  Scenes of nature, flowers, trees.  I wonder if I like it because it's out there, or if it's some deeper level of my aesthetic sense?
So, who does it for you?

Hey Mod Bee members~
I finally wrote up my bee block instructions and will be emailing them to you shortly.  This month, I'd like you to make me a Mock Kitchen Windows block!

If you have questions, please let me know~

Thanks everybody!

I know it's a little last minute, but if anyone is available this Saturday and would like to come out to Long Island, the Evening Star Quilt guild of Mineola is having their annual show this weekend, and I'd love to get together to see the show and then go for coffee/lunch afterwards.  Anybody interested?
I was planning to be at the show around 11 am Saturday, and head to the Panera on Rt. 25 (5 mins from the show location) for coffee around 12:30?
Show details are in the link below, but a bit about the guild--
it's large (100 members?) and the show should have between 50-80 quilts.  They're pretty traditional, but there's always someone trying something new, so it's worth a look.  They have two small rooms of vendors too.  I thought it would be nice to see the quilts together and then share our impressions. 

http://www.eveningstarquilters.org/id6.html

(email me [jessunderquilts at yahoo dot com] and I'll send you my cell # for meet-up details.  I may be able to pick up 2~3 people from Mineola station on the LIRR..)

I finished Mary's on time~

This was probably the easiest, quickest bee block I have made to date.  And SO. MUCH. FUN.
Thanks Mary~  your quilt will be awesome (and finished by the december meeting, right? hehe).

And at long last, David's:

I hope there's room left for this on in your quilt top.  I'm sorry it's late.  At least I got it done before your 42nd..

I've got November, so I'll be posting about it on Tuesday, with instructions sent by email.  I am sending some solid fabrics, but bee members will need to choose 5 prints from their own stash.  (the largest being 6.5" x 6.5")  Before I head to the post office tomorrow, is there anyone who would like me to send the print fabric also?  I'd prefer to have prints of your choosing, but I don't want anyone to go out and buy fabric for this block.  I assume everyone has prints, but thought I'd double check to be safe...

Today I came across the 12 Days of Christmas blog hop and realized I should probably get started on my holiday sewing too, but instead, I came here to give us all a new talking topic for the week..

Have you made any holiday-specific quilts? 
Bed and throw quilts, wall hangings, table runners, tree skirts, dreidel mug rugs?

How and why did you make it?  Do you pull it out only for the holiday or does it get used year round?  Snap some pics, write a post, and tell us all about it!

I have always wanted to make a halloween quilt, and bought fabric and made sketches for one in May a couple years ago, but the project got shelved.  I'd also like a Christmas throw (because Victoria's are just adorable!!), but that hasn't happened yet either.  The one holiday piece I have made is a small tree wall-hanging (miniquilt?) for my mom:
(sorry, I took the pic before the quilting was finished.)
I made it for her one year when we knew we weren't going to be home for Christmas, and thought she might need some cheering up.  She ended up keeping it up year round, it's still on the wall across from her bed.
This was my first time embellishing a quilt and though I think it works on this piece, I haven't tried it again.

or, your biggest accomplishment.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to last week's talking topic, I wasn't surprised to see that we all love shopping, but it was interesting to hear what parts of the process drive us to "make" the quilts we do.  (I still can't believe some of you enjoy cutting, uugh!)

This week please write a post (and share a photo?) of the quilt you are most proud of, the one you worked the hardest (longest?) on, that you were really happy to finally put in that last stitch and call it done.

Tell us its story, from start to finish, and let us know where the treasured quilt resides now.
If you don't have a chance to write a post (or aren't a member of the blog), please write some comments on this week's posts to encourage us all to push through the harder parts and get it finished so we can appreciate a new quilt in the world.

for me.. my  biggest labor of love (of the ones I've actually finished..) would be this one:

My T-shirt Quilt (2010)
Made from t-shirts collected from 1990-2005, this quilt represents 15 years of my life.  Childhood, high school, college, studying and living in Japan, meeting my husband, moving up an down the east coast.. and pieced in with all the shirts are my favorite fabrics from 1998-2007.  Like this one with the little fish:
and the fold-dyed Japanese one.  I was never a huge fan of t-shirt quilts, but I am a supporter of preserving material culture and personal histories (um, quilter), and I couldn't bring myself to throw away or donate any of these shirts, like this one from my traveling drama troupe in Hokkaido:
My life changed a lot in my 20s, and certain decisions set me on a path I couldn't have predicted.  A lot of  teenage dreams were set aside in exchange for options I hadn't thought possible.  But still, old dreams die hard.  For me, putting these t-shirts into a quilt gave me some closure on a chapter of my life I was sad to see end.

It's not my favorite quilt, but I'm really happy it's done, and I think 15~30 years from now I will really appreciate having made it.  Right now, it is folded on the quiltrack in my bedroom, and we put it on the bed in the coldest winter months, underneath this one.  I don't really show it off, but it's warm, and it's nice to keep the memories all in one place.

As I was thinking about a topic for this week's chatting point, I kept thinking about all the time I spent in the sewing room since my last post, what I made, and what I liked about it.  I have several projects going at the same time (as I'm sure most of you do), and I tend to jump from project to project, doing what I can when I have time, getting to the more unplesant bits when I know I've got a few hours available to push myself through it... and so, that brings me to this week's topic..

What are your favorite steps of the quiltmaking process?
And which ones don't you like as much?

Please write a post telling us how your mind and emotions work, when it comes to quilting.  What steps do you get excited about, which make you want to up and leave your sewing space?  Perhaps you can make a list, ranking the steps in order from favorite to least favorite, i.e.

1. fabric shopping
2. machine quilting
3. binding
4. choosing a pattern
5. piecing
6. cutting
7. squaring up blocks
8. ironing

(for example, my own ranking would be a bit diffferent).  Feel free to use more steps that I've used, tell us what the process is for you.

As for my quiltmaking.. On the spiderweb I've been working on, I love love love "choosing" scraps to add next to a block, pinning them in place, and chain stitching them down.  The step of removing the pins and ironing I'm indifferent to, but I'll happily do it because it means I can get back to choosing the next round.
I like trimming up the full triangle templates and laying them out to see which ones make pleasing blocks.
I don't like piecing the triangles together into blocks, ironing the seams open, or removing the papers.
I'm not really a fan of cutting out the paper templates, or cutting the kites, but being able to play with my strip stash makes it worth it.. like, as I'm holding the kite template down and rotary cutting a stack of 8 at a time (with a dull blade), cursing when the blade nicks the template, I'm really just looking forward to getting to choose and chain piece some colorful strips, and that makes the dull jobs easier.

Other steps I'd rather skip include squaring up (anything, but esp. HSTs), piecing fabric for backings, and cutting patches (except diamonds, I like cutting diamonds).  Oh, and putting fabric back on the shelves!  that's no fun~

So, which steps are your favorite?  Tell us as much or as little as you'd like, but please post this week!!

Hey guild!  How have y'all been?
Next week at Victoria's I'm sure the conversation will be free-flowing, but it still probably won't be enough time to reconnect with everyone after our loooong summer break, so why not get the party started now?

What have you been making this summer?

• Give us a sneak peek of your show-n-tell, or write a post to share all the projects you can't bring with you next Saturday (like the ones you gifted away since the last meeting!).

I for one have had a long long summer which started on 5/22 when I graduated with my MA! (woohoo)
The next day we left for a 5 week trip to Greece..
(picture me quilting on the beach-- I have photos, but I'm not posting any bikini-clad ones here)
I spent the entire trip focused on this quilt, and I'm happy to say it's almost all pieced!
We also visited an awesome Folk Art Museum in a tiny mountain town on the island of Paros.
I asked if anyone in the town still made things, but they woman said no, most able-bodied people had left the village and everyone left was too old.  That's just how it goes, but I'm glad they are making some effort to preserve things. 
This summer I also worked on my guild show submission, and made a Trip Around the World quilt for my cousin's wedding. 

Just last night I finished the backing and basted this quilt (from our February meeting!), and I'd love to show it to you all finished on Saturday, but I've got another wedding to go to, so I won't be there.

See, now you know why I want to get the party started early.. It's killing me to miss two meetings in a row!

So get posting and tell us what's been going on!

("Let's get talking" is a weekly* conversation starter posted by your overly cheerful blog-chair, Jessica.  Guild members are encouraged to write their own blog posts on the topic at anytime during the week, and comments are welcome from all readers. 
* by "weekly" I mean the weeks I remember to post something.  Suggestions for new topics always welcome.  Email me. )

in case you didn't know it,
And now everybody that visits our traveling quilt show will know it too.  My submission reflects my belief that blogland is an integral part of the Modern Quilt movement, and I am grateful for it.  Without blogs and the online quilting community, I never would have found you guys..
Modern quilters still make all kinds of quilts, and I don't yet see one common thread that is visible in all our work, but I think it is undeniable that the way we communicate, gather, share and stay connected with each other would not be possible without the internet.  I think that is what we have in common and that is what sets us apart from the quilters that came before us.  No one color, technique, or aesthetic goal, just being part of a larger community that accepts each quilter for who he or she is.  Thanks you guys.

Hey Modern Quilters!

The Modern Quilt Guild is putting together a new project for their blog, if you're interested in submitting a quilt to be featured, see below...

The Modern Quilt Guild is preparing for 100 Days of Modern Quilting and we want you to join us!

100 Days of Modern Quilting will be a 100-day celebration on The Modern Quilt Guild’s blog that will feature fabulous modern quilts and tutorials. We want as many MQG members as possible to help us create an “online exhibit” to show off all of the wonderful work going on in our community.

We’re currently seeking submissions in the following categories:

Quilts and their stories
We want to see photos of your favorite modern quilts and hear the stories behind them. To submit your quilt, send us the following information:

1. Your name and contact information

2. The name and size of your quilt

3. One photo of your quilt. If we select your quilt, we may ask for more, but please send just one for now.

4. A brief description of the quilt including what, in your opinion, makes it modern. If the quilt is not your original design, please include information about the pattern or inspiration. If you didn’t do the quilting, please include the name of the quilter.

5. A brief description of you as a quilter. If you’re a member of a modern quilt guild, tell us which one.

 Please submit only finished quilts made by you. We will consider up to 3 entries per quilter. Images previously published by you (for instance on your blog or Flickr) are welcome.

Online tutorials
One of the best things about the modern quilting community is the wealth of information its members share online. We want to hear about your favorite online tutorials. Tutorials can be new or old, written by you or written by someone else. Tutorials don’t necessarily need to be block or quilt patterns, but should be quilting related (for instance, patchwork pillows or machine quilting techniques). Note: We will not feature any tutorial without first obtaining the permission of the author.

To nominate a tutorial, please send us a link to the tutorial, along with a brief explanation of why you love it.

Please send your submissions to 100days@themodernquiltguild.com by midnight Pacific Time on August 30.

(reposted with permission)

 Late again!  somebody needs to ground me and not let me out of the sewing room until I finish some more blocks..
Anyway, this is my attempt at "texture" for Kimberly.  I didn't know where the block was going until I looked down at what I was wearing and noticed the ruffles on the front of my sundress. 
I hope it works in your quilt, Kimberly!!  It will go in today's mail.

I am late on this, I know, but I was a good bee member and emailed E before the end of her month to let her know.  Still, please don't follow my bad example!
I had good reason to be late though, I was away from my sewing machine and inspiration was no where to be found for the entire month of May!!  But in June, we escaped to Paros, and that's just what I needed..

I hope my block captures enough of all the elements-- fire and water are obvious, and a sail boat equals wind, right?  The boat is made of wood, and that is as much earth as I could fit in the scene (I tried to get in a beach or an island, but couldn't manage it..).

E, hope you like it.
xoxo

Me with Mom & Dad, December 1980.

My mom is awesome.   She came from a very creative family where her mom and grandma used to make matching dresses for her and her sisters.  Being the youngest of 8, she said she got really tired of wearing the same damn dress all those years..
My mom started her family young (she had 3 kids by the time she was 23) and I remember her working two jobs most of my childhood, so she never really had time for long-term crafts like quilting.  I do remember that she used to make frilly barrettes for me and my sisters when we were little, and there were always crafts in the house.  She taught me how to make doll faces out of panty hoes, and she once decorated teddy bears to be the centerpiece at a friend's wedding.  She encouraged all of my creative endeavours, and still does.  She always seemed to be happy when I was happy, and never pushed me to do anything that I didn't want to.  She's pretty laid back like that, even now.  I know too many pushy moms, with unreachable expectations and drama at every dissapointment.  My mom was never like that, she always let me be who I was, and I think that gave me a lot of confidence.

I made her one lap quilt-- Bento Boxes in pinks and oranges, and a small Christmas wall hanging.  I started working on another project that I'd like to have done to give her next winter.. it's a bear though, so I might need the guild's encouragement to get it done on time.

Yes, I know, I've been letting my responsibilities slide the past couple weeks.. leaving you with nothing to talk about and the blog suddenly went quiet..

I had a whole other topic planned for this week, but then I remembered it's Mother's Day, so let's make this one easy.  This week, please write a post about your Mom.

"My mom?" you say, "but what does that have to do with quilting?"
That's just it, you tell us.  Does your mom quilt? Does she sew?  What is her creative outlet? 

and the official questions:

1. What does your mom think about your quilting?
2. Have you ever made a quilt for her?

Tell us as much or as little as you want about your mom, but please, put her first name as the title of your post.  Pictures encouraged (especially if they show younger versions of you!)

Inspired?  I am.  I was actually re-inspired by going back and looking thorough my quilt photos (and flickr) to write a post about it.  Too bad I still can't quilt this week (darn grad school!).. but soon~

Well, let's keep talking.  This week our topic is SHAPE.

I find I am drawn to quilts with certain shapes in them, and I tend to use certain shapes in my patchwork and others in my quilting.  What about you? 

Don't forget photos to help illustrate your ideas..

And the questions:

1. What shapes are you drawn to?   (you may love them but not use them..)
2. What shapes do you use?  Why? (Ease of construction?  Quilts well in a continuous line?)