Friendship Quilters Guild Presentation

We hope you are able to join us when we  present “Today’s Modern Quilting” at the Friendship Quilters Guild March meeting.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10 and begins promptly at 10 a.m.

The location is:

Argyle Church of Christ
7310 Collins Road
Jacksonville, FL 32244

Here’s a map and driving directions from the Friendship Quilters Guild’s website:

Driving Directions:

From Downtown Jacksonville via I-295 West Beltway:
Drive South on I-295. Take exit for Blanding Boulevard and Collins Road. Move to Right hand lane – Exit at Collins Road. Turn right (west) and go approximately 1/2 mile to stoplight at Rampart Road.  Turn left (south) onto Rampart Road.  The Argyle Church is on the left. Proceed approximately 100 yards to parking lot entrance.

From Beaches, Southside or  Orange Park via I-295 West Beltway:
Proceed over the Buckman Bridge.  Follow signs for Blanding Boulevard Exit.  Move to left lanes to drive to special lanes, but do not exit at Blanding Boulevard.  Continue approximately 1 mile to Collins Road.  Move to Left lane and exit onto Collins Road – be in left lane.  Turn left (west) at stoplight at top of exit ramp onto Collins Road.  Go approximately 1/2 mile to stoplight at Rampart Road.  Turn left (south) onto Rampart Road.  The Argyle Church is on the left. Proceed approximately 100 yards to parking lot entrance.

Local from Westside Jacksonville:
Proceed on Blanding Boulevard to Collins Road.  (Burger King & CVS on West corners).  Proceed approximately 2.5 miles to stoplight at Rampart Road.  Turn left (south) onto Rampart Road.  The Argyle Church is on the left.  Proceed approximately 100 yards to parking lot entrance.

or
take Argyle Forest Boulevard west approximately 2.5 miles to Rampart Road.  Turn right and go about 1/2 mile.  The Argyle Church is on the right before the Collins Road traffic light.  Turn right into parking lot entrance.

 

Red Cross Charity Quilt Update

Best Sew-In turnout ever!

Many thanks to Angie,  Candi, Janette, Jen, Laurie, Robin, Ruth and Symone for their diligent efforts to finish our Red Cross Charity Quilt  (top and back) today.

The view as you enter Room D from the Library main floor.  Eight happy JMQG sewists sewing elbow to elbow (literally) in one of the smallest rooms we’ve booked.    Here are Candi, Symone and Angie making it work.

 Next to Angie is Laurie then around the corner is Jen.  Don’t you just love the symmetry of the alternating placement of sewing machine and ironing stations?

Jen and Robin saying….”Enough with the photos already.  We have to get this quilt done!”

And last but not least in the final corner of the room are Ruth and Janette.   Then back to Candi’s work area.

You can see the quilt top folded on the chair and the back taking shape with bold orange, yellow, turquoise and red fabric on the design wall.

We’ll have the big reveal in another week or so, so stay tuned.

 

 

Sew-In and More QuiltCon

This is a reminder we have a Sew-In planned for Sunday, March 1st at the Southeast Regional Branch of the Jacksonville Public Library, located at

10599 Deerwood Park Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32256

The Library and Sew-In hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and the Library is located next door to the Sheraton Hotel at the intersection of Deerwood Park Boulevard and Gate Parkway just south of JTB.

Our goal is to finish the back and sandwiching of the Red Cross Charity Quilt.

Donna Lee, my new QuiltCon bestie from Illinois, sent me a quick message today that she was reading Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s blog and VFW mentioned she had as QuiltCon students two bloggers she has followed for years.  Links to their blogs were there, so Donna clicked through and started to laugh as she scrolled down to the fifth photo and noticed guess who waiting patiently in the registration line on Day 1.

http://kristinshields.typepad.com/

I must say it is one of my best photos….so from now Mr. DeMille, I demand all photos be shot from my left side!!

Kristen Shields is a well known quilter and blogger from Bend, Oregon and I enjoyed reading about QuiltCon from her perspective.  Loved the Convention Center photos shot from her hotel room.

More posts coming during the week, so stay tuned.

Maus

 

 

February Meeting – Saturday

Wow did the month fly by!!!

It’s already time for our February meeting:

Saturday

February 28th, 2015

10:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m.

Where?  you ask….

Right here, at the Jacksonville Public Library, South Mandarin Branch on San Jose Boulevard.

Don’t forget, we have …

The BOM (Block of the Month)

for the February Meeting is the Fractured Block.   The  block specs are as follows:

• color palette is red and brown  (or any fabric from your stash that has at least a speck of red and/or brown)
• use any combo of prints and solids
• size is 12.5  inches unfinished (or slightly larger if you choose not to trim)
• one block to donate to the BOM member drawing
• second block to donate to charity / misfit block stash (this is optional)

here is a link to a really good tutorial for the fractured block….

http://reannalilydesigns.com/2011/02/fractured-background-quilt-block-tutorial/

See you all at 10.

 

Maus

QuiltCon 2015 – The Weekend, Part Deux

Sunday was the last day of QuiltCon 2015.   First day all week, I could actually get into Starbucks at the hotel without being 50th in line.   It was a cold windy walk over to the Convention Center and I noticed it just wasn’t as busy anywhere.

My class on Sunday was with Victoria Findlay Wolfe and entitled “15 MInutes of Play.”

The class was superb and since I follow VFW’s blog and her FB feed, I really knew what to expect.    My new friend Donna Lee from Central Illinois, with whom I began the week in the class with Katy Jones, was once again my table mate.  We also shared a table with another new friend, Liz Hoyland, from Melbourne Australia.

We spent the first hour making fabric from our scraps only to “Cut it Up” our new catch phrase from class.    We then took a little break to have an up close and personal trunk show with Victoria.   She started by modeling her polyester patchwork jacket.

Here is “Double Edged Love” the QuiltCon 2013 Best of Show.

Here are more…

The centers of her improv hexies are english paper pieced misfit blocks Victoria picked up in her travels.   Amazing what she did with them.

Being a farm girl, Victoria vowed she would never make a cow quilt…

Finally, here’s a photo of Victoria’s design wall of blocks.

Here’s the class design wall and Victoria posted a photo of the middle panel with my little hexie flower on her blog.  Woo Hoo!!!

During the lunch break I had a final opportunity to visit the show floor, so here’s my last group of quilt photos.

QuiltCon was a blast and it was sad to peek through the show doors after class to see the vendor booths being packed up and dismantled.   So looking forward to QuiltCon 2017 in Savannah, Georgia.

The MQG held a Leadership Conference for guild officers on Monday and it was an informative day with insightful presentations in the general session and then breakout sessions  covering, Sponsorship, Programs, Legal, and Sewlebrities.

Well, that’s it for my report of QuiltCon 2015.  Hoped you enjoyed reading about the event and viewing the photos of these fabulous quilts.

Time to get ready of our guild meeting this Saturday,  February 28th.

Maus Out

QuiltCon 2015 – The Weekend

Through the end of the day on Friday, QuiltCon 2015  had more than 6,500 attendees, which surpassed the total 2013 attendance.    The projected total four day attendance should be upwards of 10,000 people.

Saturday at QuiltCon brought the public masses into the show.  It was literally a sea of people in and around the vendor booths.

I found the Tattoo Booth for das Pretzel and yes, that is a woman getting a tattoo on her side.  They were quite busy during the event  but I wasn’t brave enough to try to sneak a tattoo home!

The Cotton + Steel booth had a temporary tattoo counter, so I went there and just picked up the do-it-at-home sheet to bring back to Jen.

Another small gift I found for Jen was this lovely…

My Saturday class was “Piping Hot Binding” with Susan K. Cleveland.    Susan received the highest instructor evaluation rating at QuiltCon 2013, which I didn’t know until I opened the survey after the class.    I almost didn’t take this class since I was waitlisted for quilting with your walking foot with the Chairman.   So glad I spent the day with Susan…..the class was a total delight and her delivery was pee-in-your-pants funny!!!   Best prepared instructor and best class ever.     If you have a chance to take a class with Susan…do not hesitate.

Aside from being totally delighted and entertained, I also got so many tips and tricks for perfect piping and binding.    Here I am with Susan showing off my LadyBug mug rug.

I used the fabric bundle I purchased at the The LadyBug Quilt Shop during our Sew-In on Monday before I left for QuiltCon.    Candy:  I got a roll of the small piping cording and Susan offers a great price on her website.

We played on the Janome 3160 machine during class.   That’s another benefit of QuiltCon classes: getting to use all these different machines.  This was a really good machine , but still not giving up my Opal 690Q.

Here are a few photos of some of Susan’s quilts from her trunk show.

Also got some great applique’ and quilting tips from Susan.    If you didn’t hear me before…This was the best class ever!!!!

QuiltCon – The Weekend Part Dos  coming later tonight, so stay tuned.

Maus Out

 

QuiltCon Day 2 – Just Like Being Here in Austin!!

Before I regale in the events of Friday, I thought I should show you my accommodations.

When I registered for QuiltCon last July,  all the nearby hotels were sold out at the event rate, so I booked a hotel out at the airport and planned to drive in each day.   A couple of weeks ago, I started to look at parking rates and realized that added cost plus traffic in and out of the state capital would dampen the experience.  My ever generous hubby offered up a mere 175,000 points and got me a spacious one bedroom corner suite at the Marriott Residence Inn.

And here’s the view of the Austin Convention Center from my window.

The suite is SWEET.    I admit I did have to tidy it up a bit for the photo shoot since I had fabric everywhere trying to decide what to bring for class these first two days.

Today’s class was Paperless Paper Piecing with Christy Fincher.   What a fabulous class and I cannot wait to show our JMQG foundation paper piecing disciples (yes, you, Candi and Jen) this amazing process.  We might want to consider inviting Christy to JAX for an event.

Here is Christy doing a little show and tell with her quilts; all of them pieced using the process she created with her mother, multi award winning superstar quilter, Sharon Schamber.

You also see in the photo above we each got another Baby Lock machine to play on…

The “Jane” is an industrial grade mechanical machine with bottom loading metal bobbin and it was fun showing folks how to thread it and use the needle threader.  All that training at the Viking Sewing Gallery allows me to quickly master using these Baby Lock machines. Still not giving up my Ruby or Opal 690Q.

Here’s a photo of me with Christy at the end of class

I had a chance to walk through the Quilt Show again and here is a photo of the Best in Show:  i Quilt by Kathy York of Austin MQG.  Kathy, a volunteer at QuiltCon gives the quilt she pieced and quilted the white glove treatment.   

and the back

Here are some of my favorites from the show

who doesn’t love a little Baby Got Back?

The quilt above was quite dizzying when you see it from the side…but front on is a stunner

This next quilt won best hand quilting

Then I scooted and skipped back over to the vendor hall for a wee bit of shopping and who did I bump into…

 I never knew Jenny was so tall.   Her husband took a number of photos of us….me on tiptoes, Jenny shrinking down and the two of us breaking up laughing.

After five attempts, I finally got into Ballroom and Lecture Hall B to see our Silly Goose…

As I was taking pictures of the other quilts in the room, I noticed two women oohing and aahing and taking pictures of Silly Goose…so I had to run back  over and talk about it.

Following are photos of all the QuiltCon Charity Challenge Quilts

The day ended with a fun time at the MQG Leadership Meet and Greet where I hung out with Lora Douglas and Vanessa Vargas Wilson of the Gainesville MQG.   We all know Vanessa as “Crafty Gemini,” and I urge everyone to check out her YouTube videos, website, FB group page, etc.

Just prior to leaving for a late dinner with Lora and Vanessa, we took a quick photo with the Chairman herself..

 

More fun coming with QuiltCon – Day 3, so stay tuned.

QuiltCon Day 1

Started the day with a long line when Registration was supposed to open at 8:00 am; there were a couple hundred people in front of me.   Once they got the computer glitches fixed around 8:20, the line moved very quickly and I was through in about 5 minutes.

Many of us also got a great goody bag, based on the number of sessions and events for which one registered.

And inside the bag…

They also sent us this cool QuiltCon App for our phones

Once you login….here’s the main screen

 
You can even set alerts for yourself  and my class on Friday  is the next event (since I took the photo late on Thursday).

Here’s the screen for the Quilt Show and Vendor Hall  layout

 

Last screen I’ll show you is a diagram of where each event is held. This is actually a multi- screen tab since QuiltCon is on different levels in the Austin Convention Center.   You can click on the red dot and a dialog box opens and tells you what the event is.  Pretty cool!!

 

My first day was six hours of sewing (yes….SEWING!!!) with Katy Jones of I’m a Ginger Monkey fame.   Her class was all about taking traditional blocks and making them modern….basically we supersized them.  Her quilt top of nine blocks is on the left in the photo above and we all made four 24 inch blocks.   That’s my Shoe-Fly block on the right (the gray and orange).   It took Katy about an hour to notice the yellow block (top middle) was wrong.

Katy’s materials did not arrive in Austin from the UK, so we had to wing it, which was part of the fun.   Lot’s of math and a bit of seam ripping.  We each had a Baby Lock “Rachel” sewing machine which we could purchase for the low price of

Where’s my Opal when I need it!!!   Kept looking for the exclusive sensor system and scissors.

Here are my four finished blocks

The day was a blast and Katy signed my badge
As you can see, I had a lot of events scheduled (and purchased ) for Day one.  Didn’t make yoga….hahahaha…..what was I thinking when I selected that every day.   Didn’t make the copyright lecture either since I did have to get a bite to eat.   Stayed for half of the lecture with Alexia Marcelle Abegg.   It was just okay and I was distracted since many of the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge quilts were hanging in Lecture Hall A.   Our Silly Goose was not there, so I had to find it ….  It was next door in Lecture Hall B which is a more intimate setting.   Just got a peek from the door since I wasn’t signed up for that lecture.  Will get some photos on Friday.

Since I had some time (all of ten minutes)  I stopped by the Sizzix booth and got a great deal on the Big Shot Pro which will be shipped to the house..  Also had fun with, guess who…
Hmmmm…might be time for the Botox or eyejob!!!!  Yikes.

Then I quickly walked the show floor looking at the winning quilts.  Here are a few of them…

More quilt photos coming on Day 2.

We wrapped up Day 1 with the Moda Dance Party.  They had to move the event because of the number of people who purchased it.  It was held at Mohawk Bar a multi-level rustic locale about a twenty minute walk from the hotel.  When I got there….it was like the morning all over again… a few hundred people back in line but this time in the cold windy night.    Here’s a shot from the rooftop deck of the line about an hour after I got in.

Ended the evening with a Pecan Dark Ale….yum

 
More QuiltCon fun coming your way.

So, We Had This Sew-In

 

We had our sew-in during the evening of February 16th to work on the charity quilt for the American Red Cross Silent Auction event planned for March 15th.

Robin, Jen, KC and Yvonne played with scrappage, shown below on just one of the three fabric tables.   We took this …

and turned it into this….

We were still playing with the layout at 9:30 p.m. when Jen volunteered to take the blocks (after many photos were snapped) and finish piecing the top this week.

We did start with a vision of red crosses on white tone-on-tone background and the opposite white crosses on red background.   Our plan was always to have the crosses a little to a lot wonky.

The creative juices were definitely flowing and after we added some very structured blocks to the layout ,  we all decided to add our personal signature color into the mix.

KC created a stunning purple and red block.

 

Robin added her signature teal to a cross.  Jen made a wonky orange toned star and Yvonne  added her signature Kona Ash.  Jen then added Kona Steel to the mix and it became magical.   You can see some of the magic in the layout photo above.

Jen is making an improv section for the quiltback and Robin will put it all together and do the quilting.   Yvonne will add the binding and we expect to showcase the finished product the first week in March.

Many thanks to Rikki at Ladybug Quilt Shop for providing her space, encouragement and insight in getting the blocks to come together.  Many many thanks to Robin for taking the lead on the project and to KC, Jen and Yvonne for working on another labor of love.

Can’t wait to see it finished, so stay tuned.

 

Maus Out

 

 

Reminder: Sew-In on February 16th

Don’t forget ….we have a sew-in planned for tomorrow, Monday, February 16th from 5 p.m to 9 p.m. at the Ladybug Quilt Shop on Cassett Avenue.

We’re finalizing our charity quilt for the American Red Cross silent auction scheduled for late March.

So bring your red, white, and gray scraps plus any signature color fabric you want added.

Hope to see you all there.

Maus