Make a Bag - Make a Friend - Our MAY ECMQG Project Swap

Hi!  Wendi Mihalik here with a preview of our May project swap (just in case you want to do any shopping at A&E when we're there on our field trip next month).  =)

One of the comments I hear a lot at guild meetings (and one that makes me smile) is how friendly everyone is at our guild....  How guild members make everyone feel welcome.  I will say that it is one of the things that makes it fun for me to get up and drive 45 miles on a Saturday morning also!  What a wonderful group of ladies we have in our guild!  We have grown very fast - when I joined the guild just over a year ago, we only had about 20 members.  Now we're at more than 50 members and seem to be growing every time we meet.

One of the reasons I think we all come to guild meetings is to develop friendships with others who love quilting as much as we do ourselves.  With that in mind, our next project swap will be to make a Friendship Bag from the tutorial by Rachel at psiquilt...

and fill it with some fun goodies we think our guild members might like...

Bring it to the May meeting, and we'll swap.

So here are the rules:

1.  Make your Friendship Bag according to the tutorial from psiquilt.  Even though you are following the tutorial as far as general dimensions, feel free to make the bag your own.  (For example, if you use jelly roll strips {2-1/2" wide} instead of honeybun strips {1-1/2" wide} adjust the number of strips accordingly.)

2.  Use only quilt shop quality fabrics.  No "big box store" fabrics, with the exception of the designer lines they may offer.  Joann's offers designer lines by Denyse Schmidt (DS Quilts), ModKid, Patty Young, Juliana Horner, and a few others.  

3.  Make your item with a modern aesthetic.  We are a MODERN quilt guild, after all.

4.  Make your item the best you know how.  Be sure to make something you would like to receive.


5.  Fill your Friendship Bag with some fun items you think your new friend will like - Make them something to coordinate with their new Friendship Bag.  Add a tool or a spool of thread.  Maybe add a little sweet treat.  You might add a charm pack or some favorite scraps (at least charm square sized {5" square}, please) or a fat eighth or fat quarter.  Make the bag something you yourself would enjoy.  It shouldn't be expensive, but it should be fun!

6.  Bring your filled bag to the MAY guild meeting.  We'll draw numbers and swap our Friendship Bags - and provide a little time to socialize with your new friend.

7.  Be sure and say "thank you" when you receive your gift.  It's only good manners, after all.

8.  Have fun!