January 2017 Sew-In

Happy New Year from the PEIMQG! I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays and that they are looking forward to 2017 as much as I am. I have lots of Quilting and Life Goals for the upcoming year. 

We started 2017 with our Sew-In taking place a week earlier than usual because of a previous booking at our venue, but we still had 9 members in attendance or dropping by to say hi. It was so nice getting together to relax and sew after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Dawn was working on a flanged binding for "Kylie's Cuddle Quilt". Front of the quilt features Colleen's Queen Bee Blocks from our first round.

Lucinda was working on 2 baby "Bubbles" quilts for some Twins. Double the fun!!

She also brought her awesome sewing machine cover, Sew Pretty!

Janice was busy working on 2 projects. Firstly her " Modernitional Bear Paw" by sewfreshquilts who featured a free sew-along. This quilt is amazing. such tiny pieces and so many HTS's (Half Triangle squares).

She also showed us this still unnamed wall hanging, with faced binding and featuring some fabric painting. I am not the only one who would love to have a workshop on this project. (Hint, Hint...)

Heather J was working on binding this wedding quilt. Curved 4-patches using the Quick Curve Ruler and her original design make this stunning quilt
"With Love, X O."

Here's a close up of her Curved 4 patch blocks...

Linda was working on binding her "Funky Chicken" table runner. The fabric choices in this were perfection. Love the Whimsy. I will have to try making some of these fun blocks.

Jean was also binding her quilt. This is her "Snakes and Ladders" quilt

And a close up of the blocks....

And her backing suited the quilt perfectly...

Cathy worked on her Amish Medallion Quilt, a Free Block of the Month from Craftsy. After the first lesson she no longer fears paper piecing. Here is her first month completed.

Liz was working on her "Metro Rings" quilt, so many pieces to cut...

Roberta stopped by for a visit and to drop off Susan's Queen Bee blocks (a reminder to all members who still owe Susan her Bee blocks or QOV blocks, please bring them to the January Meeting).

We sure had a lot of fun getting together. I can't wait for the next Sew-In.  Hope to see you there!

The following Meetings are planned for the West Royalty Community Room, Sobeys, 39 Babineau Avenue, Charlottetown.  Save the dates.


January 26th:               PEIMQG Meeting (7-9 pm)

February 11th:              PEIMQG Sew-In (9-4 pm)

February 26th:              PEIMQG Meeting (7-9 pm)

March 11th:                  PEIMQG Sew-In (9-4 pm)

PEIMQG November 2016 meeting

Our little Island has been having some beautiful weather so far this fall, no lasting snow as of yet. With the holiday season approaching and our first PEIMQG anniversary looming, 20 members were in attendance. 

Heather J. opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.

We started the evening with Velda receiving her Queen Bee blocks from her beemates. These awesome blocks were altered slightly from the tutorial found at the MSQC found here. You can find Velda's version on her blog.

Queen Bee for November is Susan and she chose another block from MSQC. The Disappearing Pinwheel arrows block tutorial can be found here. Please bring the completed blocks to the January meeting.

Liz passed around a sign-up sheet for the next round of Queen Bees starting January 2017.

 She also proposed a Round Robin for the following year. Details for this to follow at the December Meeting portion of our Potluck party.

The FQ swap for November is an easy one. Your choice of ANY Modern Fabric. FQ's to measure 18x22. 6 members signed up for the November swap, please bring your FQ's in a plastic bag with your name on it to the January meeting. Here are the FQ's I received from the October FQ swap:

 Book, Blog, and Fabric

This month for Book, Blog and Fabric, Velda presented the Book called Quilt Lovely by Jen Kingwell. This fantastic book was found at the Confederation Court Public library and Velda shared that this book has something for everyone Definitely check this book out. (It will next be available in 3 weeks, although there may be a waiting list, lol)

For Blog Velda searched High and Low for someone a wee bit different and a whole lot saucy - the Bitchy Stitcher. The following excerpt was taken from Velda's blog. To see her entire post, please go here . "This is a blog that’s laugh-out-loud funny, cynical, and edgy; and inside every snarky post Megan Doherty makes, there is a nugget of something very insightful, which is always a bonus for me…be warned though, this blog is NOT always ladylike…you will find the “f” word, along with other very creative and descriptive words.  You’ve been warned."~Velda

For Fabric, Velda shared some gorgeous Alexander Henry prints and a bundle of Riley Blake's Zombie Love.

Next Up Susan had several proposal's for upcoming group activities:

The PEIMQG banner... Susan has requested help from 2 other members in the designing and planning stage of creating our PEIMQG banner. This will be a great way to show our PEIMQG pride and potentially attract attention and future members. Please contact Susan via email or the FB page if you would like to help plan/design our banner.

Charity Quilts -

Dianne was unable to attend the meeting this month but wrote a lovely email expressing the desire for the guild to donate quilts/ duffle bags to foster children of PEI. We have a quilt project in the works, but may be considering future projects as well. Thank you Dianne for researching and putting forth this charitable endeavour for the guild to consider.

QOV

Susan proposed a Quilts of Valor project and members signed up to make blocks. For those who committed to making blocks, please bring them to the January meeting. This is the Bento Box pattern one tutorial can be found here.

150th challenge for 2017 - CQA Great Canadian Beeblocks -

Several Blocks for this challenge were brought in to the meeting tonight. Aren't they fantastic? Of course Heather J and Susan are still looking for more.  Please read the details of this challenge here and bring any completed blocks to Heather J. or Susan as soon as possible.

Anderson House Charity Quilt -

One of the charity projects the guild undertook was an Improv string quilt. Each member participating created an Improv string block. During our May Sew-In, Lucinda assembled the blocks into the completed top, which was quilted by Colleen and bound by Heather J. 

This evening the PEIMQG was pleased to present the Quilt to Dayna from Anderson House. Anderson house is one of PEI's largest Not for Profit organisations. If you are interested in contributing to Anderson House, please check out their current Needs List. Their next fund raising event is their 5th annual Sweetheart Dinner held at Red Shores Feb18th. Please contact them for further details admin@fvps.ca.

Next up we discussed the PEIMQG bylaws and some suggested changes were proposed. Updated versions will be emailed to members. Policies will be discussed at a future meeting.

Our Sew-In for December 10th, will take place at Heather J's house. This will be a Pot-Luck Sew-in/Meeting day. She asks that people please bring folding chairs if they have any. There will be a few fun things taking place throughout the day. 

We are holding a raffle for several fantastic items. Tickets will be $2 each or 3 for $5. Proceeds will go to the PEIMQG.

Also for those who wish to play, Left, Right, and Center: a fun game, and a chance to take home some fabric!!! Please bring in ten 5" squares to participate (who knows you might just win them all!!).

Liz put forth the following swap for the Christmas Sew In/Pot Luck Gift Exchange:

We will make a cushion cover, min size 14” but can be whatever size bigger, but of course make sure it can be used on a standard pillow form.  You can use any fabric colours/theme you want. Your cushion cover will come in a Brown Bag (so no one can see it). If you bring one, you get to pick one.  Please also pin a note on it to say what size pillow form it will need so the quilter receiving it can easily pick a form up to display your lovely creation.  This is to be fun, so be creative.  You don’t have to take part, so no pressure if you choose not to do one. 

Last month Heather J. discussed Shot Cottons, and requested that members bring in any of their projects using them.

Here is Heather J. sharing her quilt :

And Robin sharing a similar pattern, with a bonus she constructed with her precious leftover scraps.

Jean showed us this vibrant beauty with a smattering of shot cottons in just the right places. (Here Heather J. points to one of these little gems).

 Show and Share :

For Show and Share Roberta brought this cute baby quilt made from a panel and some of her stash:

and she was commissioned to make 2 of these "Letters from Heaven" quilts.

here is the back 

Robin brought in her "Sister's Choice" quilt( love these warm spicy colors)

and her "Twisted Friendship" star Quilt

Janice had these adorable "Black Birds" potholders, a favorite of mine from SewFreshQuilts .

Linda turned a so-so quilt into a stunner by changing her original design for this quilt into this Scrappy Rainbow quilt top.

She also shared a great technique for getting a little more width from your fabrics for backing (stay tuned for the December Tips, Tools, and Techniques, for info on how to achieve these results.)

Lucinda shared her free pattern "Poinsettia" table topper from Sew Kind Of Wonderful.

And one of  her backgrounds for 2 baby boy quilts:

and some blocks she is working on for another table topper.

Susan shared her tumbling blocks quilt top

and her "Churn Dash" top made from orphan blocks leftover from another quilt project.

She also shared her quirky "Mussel" pillowcases. Just a few from the many she has made in recent weeks.

Liz and Cathy V. shared their Goody, Goody Binding Bags, they made when they got together for a fun day with Corrine at Blueberry Cove. ( If anyone is interested, I would consider leading a Sew-In day dedicated to making these.)

What a great Meeting. Lots of things being discussed and planned, the future looks bright for the PEIMQG in 2017.

Future Events:

December 10: PEIMQG Potluck Meeting/Sew-In (9-4pm) Heather J's House.

May Sew-In 2016

This months Sew-In was hosted by Liz Dempsey at the Blueberry Cove B&B. http://blueberrycove.ca/. There were 9 members and 3 guests who braved the rainy weather and joined us for a laughter filled day of sewing, cutting and  having fun.


We had lots of different projects on the go. First of all we assembled our charity blocks on the design wall to decide on the layout. This looks fantastic!! What a talented group we have.




Lucinda showed us her beautiful quilt top she completed using the Quick Curve Ruler. It's called Metro Medallion by http://sewkindofwonderful.com/. Liz will be doing the Longarm quilting for this one. Can't wait to see the finished quilt.  It is going to be a stunner!!

Here's Gail cutting out some Hexies for her "I Spy" quilt.




 

Jean was pulling together a great assortment of rainbow fabrics for a future quilt, can't wait to see this gorgeous quilt come together. Jean also worked on binding her "Orca Bay" quilt, she got her hanging sleeve done and a good start to the sides.

  Heather was cutting out some black and white fabrics for her Bee blocks and an ongoing QOV with a really cool curved maple leaf block.

Just a reminder that Queen Bee Heather's blocks are due at the May meeting and the tutorial can be found here:http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2015/01/bee-hive-tic-tac-toe/.

Dianne is our Queen Bee for May, can't wait to  see what she block she brings in.

Helen was finishing up her charity placemats for the Meals on Wheels. Beautiful machine quilting!!!Don't forget, these are due at the June meeting!  Anyone besides me need to get going on these? LOL.

 Cathy spent most of the morning cutting out Half Hexagons using the Hex-n-More ruler (Thanks Lucinda!)


Cathy let Dianne use her vintage Kenmore sewing machine while she was cutting out her fabric, Dianne decided to give it a very thorough cleaning before she started, It's so pretty and shiny now!!!

One of our guests, Corinne (Liz's sister)brought some hand work. Teeny hexagon blocks and Dresden plates, so cute...and some cable-knit socks:


Just before we broke for lunch we discussed our PEIMQG logo. We brainstormed about what we would like our tagline to be. We came up with some ideas about how to verbally represent what we want to be about. Hopefully we can discuss this a bit more during the May meeting, which will take place on the 26th of May at the Sobeys West Royalty location.

For lunch we had a great spread!!! 3 types of salad, chilli and meatballs, hashbrown casserole, and quiche. Some really tasty pumpkin salsa and chips. Fruit and Veggie trays, some shrimp spring rolls and devilled eggs. To finish things off, a really tasty dessert of Rhubarb crisp, apple sauce and vanilla ice cream. Yummy!!!
 

After Lunch, Lucinda finished assembling the charity quilt top.  It turned out great! I can't wait until this is all done. Wonder what the quilting will look like, Oh the possibilities....

 

Heather, Susan, Liz and Jean discussed the logo design and finished the questionnaire requested by the graphic designer. Cathy spent a bit of time going over the members only portion of the blog, trying to work out some of the bugs and seeing who still hasn't accessed it. We will be dedicating a bit of time to this at the May meeting.  Heather has a great lineup for BBF (Book, Blog, Fabric)can't wait to see the results of her recent trip to NS.

Cathy got a great selection of fabric from http://blueberrycove.ca/quilting-studio/. Some cute as a button foxy charms, super chic neutral jelly roll, some kona solid light grey and (I couldn't resist)a batik jelly roll. Oh so pretty!!!

Here's Lydea working on her strip sets for a super fun tote bag. She and her Mom, Heather C. came as guests. So glad to have you both, but especially to Lydea. It's very exciting to have a younger quilter interested in our guild.

Thanks so much to Liz for hosting an amazing Sew-In/ Potluck. It was a blast!!

Just a reminder about upcoming meetings:

May meeting: May 26th (7-9pm) at the west Royalty Sobeys 39 Babineau Ave,Charlottetown C1A 0C9

June Sew- In: June 11th(9am-4pm) High Tide Retreat and Studio  (address to follow by email)

June meeting: June 23rd(7-9pm) West Royalty Sobeys 39 Babineau Ave, Charlottetown C1A 0C9