December Meeting - The CliffsNotes Edition

Wow - what a cram-packed meeting we had today! Let me get right into it...

First, Kelly B. gave us a great FMQ demonstration. She's really great at free motion, so she was the perfect person to show those of us who aren't as experienced how to do it. She even brought some quilt sandwiches for some of us to practice on!

Here's Kelly telling and showing us how it's done...

And here's some of our people trying it out...

By the way, we had some really great food this time. It was like our own little Christmas party! I should've taken a picture of just the food, but you can see it in the corner of this pic. By the way, I think we all share a love of food in this guild, so coming soon will be a Recipes page, featuring recipes of what people have brought to the meetings.

Next up was the reveal of our scrap swap! This was so much fun! At our last meeting, whoever wanted to participate in the swap brought in a sandwich bag filled with scraps. We swapped those scraps, and whatever scraps we received, we were supposed to make something out of them to bring to this meeting, and swap the finished item back to the original owner of the scraps. I think we were all very happy with what we received!

Up next was another big reveal - thanks to Robert Kaufman, and their awesome support of the Modern Quilt Guild movement, the ECMQG is going to be participating in the Kona Solids Challenge! Haven't heard of it? Go here to read about how it started, and go here to see some of the amazing quilts that have been made for this challenge! Or just google "kona solids challenge" and you will be hit with pages of results! Our deadline for these finished quilts is going to be our March meeting, and I just can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!


Next we had our show and tell. I got a few pictures of what people brought before my camera battery died.




Check out our Flickr pool for more pictures.

All in all, it was a great (but busy) meeting! The next time we'll see each other is at our first Monthly Sew at First Baptist Church in Crestview on Saturday, January 21 from 12-6. Our next regular meeting is the following Friday, January 27 at 10 am at The Sewing Center Around the Block in FWB. Hope to see you at one of those. But in the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Giveaway Day + Meeting Reminder!

Are you familiar with Sew, Mama, Sew? If not, you should be! It's not just for quilters - there's a blog that talks about just sewing in general, plus they have a store with fabrics, notions, books, patterns, etc!

Today (actually, all week) SMS is hosting their annual Giveaway Day. Hundreds of bloggers from all over the world are linking up to Sew, Mama, Sew, and giving away all sorts of goodies! There's lots of categories - Handmade for the Home, Sewing Supplies, Non-Sewing Craft Supplies, Handmade Baby & Kid Items, Handmade Bags, and Handmade Accessories. You really need to check it out, and enter as many giveaways as you want! It's also a great way to find blogs you might never find otherwise.

Both of the ECMQG Kelly's are participating in Giveaway Day. Here's the link to Kelly B's giveaway (she's been very generous lately), and here's the link to the other Kelly's.

In other news, the ECMQG is having it's December meeting this coming Friday, December 16 at 10 am - but instead of meeting at our usual spot, we'll be meeting at someone's house in Crestview. If you want to come, and you need the address, please email emeraldcoastmqg@gmail.com. We'll have a time of show and tell, a free motion quilting demo from Kelly B, and we'll have the big reveal of our scrap swap! It will be so much fun to see what everyone made with someone else's scraps! And as always, we'll have yummy treats and door prizes. Plus, a big announcement! Huge!

It's said every time, but this is a meeting you won't want to miss! Hope to see you there.

November Meeting Wrap Up and December Meeting News!

Okay, I'm a couple weeks late in posting about our November meeting. I'm sorry! But I have a feeling I'm not the only one who's been busy, what with Thanksgiving and Christmas-related sewing going on!

Our November meeting was great. A little different, since we met at 2 pm, instead of 10 am, but everyone made it, and we even had a new face! We love to see new faces!

We talked about starting to meet for monthly Saturday sews in the New Year! We decided that we would try to split up our sew-ins between Crestview and Pensacola. So, on January 21, we'll be meeting in Crestview at First Baptist Church, 171 Hickory Avenue, from 12-6. We're hoping to meet in Pensacola for the month of February, but the details have not been finalized yet, so stay tuned for that.

These monthly sews will be a great way to spread your stuff out and get alot of work done!

We also talked about starting to take dues in January. We agreed that dues would be a good thing to start, but haven't settled on an amount yet. We'll talk more about that at our next meeting.

I talked about my recent trip to International Quilt Market in Houston. If you're interested in that, I blogged about it here. The good thing about going to Market was that I brought back alot of stuff that ended up being door prizes! Don't worry, if you missed the November meeting, I still have some Market goodies that will be given away at the December meeting.

Then came the really exciting part - the scrap swap! Almost everyone brought a sandwich bag filled with scraps to swap with someone else. Our next meeting is going to be so great, seeing what everyone made with the scraps, and giving the items back to the original owner!

In other news, for our December meeting we will not be meeting at The Sewing Center Around the Block!!!

Did you get that?

The meeting will not be at the store!

We'll be meeting at my house on Friday, December 16 at 10 am. If you want to come to the meeting, email emeraldcoastmqg@gmail.com to get the address. I don't want to post it here for all to see.

So again, our next meeting will be on Friday, December 16 at 10 am at my house.

I just want to make sure that's clear.

Not only will we be exchanging our swap items, but Kelly B. will be doing a free motion quilting demonstration, so you definitely don't want to miss that.

That's it! Hope to see you in a couple of weeks!