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!