July Meeting/Sew

At our July meeting, Melanie talked about participating in craft fairs, since the Niceville UMC World Bazaar and Benefit is coming up in October, and some of us will be participating in that.  Melanie participated in the bazaar last year and learned a lot of great things that she passed onto us.

For instance:

*Smaller items (like bags, key fobs, burp cloths, etc.) sell better than bigger items (like quilts)
*Since this bazaar is in October, a lot of patrons will be looking for seasonal items (tree skirts, seasonal pillow cases, etc.)
*If you sign up for a SquareUp account, they will send you a device that you can attach to your phone to accept credit cards (with a fee)
*If you don't want to sign up for a SquareUp account, you can get paid through PayPal on your smartphone, but only if your customer has a PayPal account

Melanie has reserved two booths - one is primarily for her items, and the other booth is for those of us who don't think we can fill an entire booth, but still want to sell things.

I know a lot of us are looking forward to participating in this event!

The blocks for our charity quilt are starting to come in.  So far, we have 5 out of 12 blocks completed and turned in.  It's looking great!

We're looking to complete this quilt sometime in October.  Once it's complete, we'll be setting up a page on FirstGiving to raise money for our charity, Children in Crisis.

Here's some pictures of our Show and Tell...

Marcy's "Swoon" quilt.  She didn't use a pattern for the blocks - she figured it out on her own!

Marcy's iPad covers - again, her own pattern.

Another quilt by Marcy

Mary's quilt

Kelly's lined drawstring bags, using Jeni B.'s pattern

Kelly's quilt top, using a pattern in Modern Minimal by Alissa Haight Carlton

Kelly's block for the QuiltCon Block Challenge

Another WiP of Kelly's

Leslie's not-quite-finished block for the QuiltCon Block Challenge.  It's going to be amazing when it's done!

Some things to keep in mind for August:

*Our Sew Day is on Saturday, August 18 at First Baptist Church in Crestview from noon to 6 pm

*Our meeting i at 10 am on Friday, August 31 at Lynn's Sewing Center in FWB), we'll be doing another scrap swap, like we did back in December.  At our August meeting, bring in a sandwich size ziploc bag, filled with scraps.  We'll swap those scraps, then make something out of them, bringing back the finished item to the September meeting (which is our one year anniversary!), and giving the item to the original owner of the scraps.  Basically, we're making something for someone with their own scraps.  What could be better?  Also, if you have a block for the charity quilt, they are due at our August meeting, so don't forget to bring those in.

June Meeting & Our First Combined Meeting/Sew Day

We had a great meeting last month.  Marcy talked about long arm quilting, and showed us some different techniques for it - like using a stencil with a chalk pounce pad, or using pantograph patterns.  She also brought in the book, Modern Quilting Designs by Bethany Pease which shows several free motion patterns you can use on a long arm.  Marcy also showed us just a few of the quilts she's quilted on her own long arm, to give us a feel for some of the quilting designs she's used.

Due to some technical difficulties, Marcy wasn't able to actually demo on the machine at the store, but offered to let us come to her house and use her personal long arm.  A few of us took her up on that last week!  We enjoyed her talking us through this process, and she answered a lot of questions we had about long arm quilting.  

Our June meeting was when we had our name tag challenge!  Everyone (except me) remembered to bring in their hand made name tags.  We'll have to get a group picture at our next meeting.

And as usual, we had a great time of Show and Tell...

We also passed out fabric for our Charity Quilt.  We're doing the Modern BOM that was featured on Sew, Mama, Sew, and created by Alissa Haight-Carlton.  Here's a look at what all the blocks look like:

(image taken from Sew, Mama, Sew!)

We'll be doing these blocks in colors that represent the beautiful Emerald Coast of Florida - teals, aquas, and of course, emerald green.  We're using a variety of Kona solids, plus a few prints from Lizzy House.  A couple of people have already finished their blocks, and all I can say is this is going to be one beautiful quilt!

Faye's "January" Block

Melissa's "November" Block

We did decide to give the money raised by this quilt to Children in Crisis of Fort Walton Beach.  Stay tuned for further information!

Our next meeting is coming up this Saturday, July 28 at First Baptist Church in Crestview at 10 am.  This is a change from our normal meeting time and location!  We're combining our meeting with a sew, so we'll be at the church until 6 pm.  A couple of things to remember - this meeting is our deadline for the QuiltCon Block Challenge.  If you want to submit a block for this with the guild, please bring it to the meeting.  NOTE - This is just the deadline if you want to send your block in with the rest of the guild.  You can still submit your block up until August 15, it just won't be with the guild.  Also, if you're planning on staying for the sew, remember to bring whatever you need for that - sewing machine, cutting tools, etc.

Hope to see you there!