October Meeting Recap

It.Never.Fails.

After spending an entire Saturday talking, sewing, seeing, and touching all of the projects everyone has made, I need a few days to decompress and let it all settle.

ECMQG has so many talented, inspiring, creative women.  Our October meeting and Sew-Day was no exception.  

We started normally - energetic and frenzied - as everyone signed in, purchased door prize tickets ($1 each), claimed table space for the Sew-Day portion, introduced their guests, set out potluck dishes on the communal food table, paid a no-name-tag penalty (.25¢) if they'd forgotten theirs, entered blocks in the block lottery ($1 each), or just caught up after being apart.  It's crazy!  It's fun!  It's exhilarating!  It is, so I've been told, what makes us different from some of the other local guilds.

Door prizes this month came from members - Marcy (Halloween mouse) and Gina (Halloween pillows) - as well as Aurifil, Michael Miller, and Robert Kaufman.
  

Our first and most important business item was the discussion of board elections next month - November 9th - for the coming calendar year.  Marcy provided a list of job descriptions for the major positions as well as some of the ancillary positions necessary because of our growth.

Diane, who attended Camp Stitch Alot earlier this summer, was scheduled to present her projects and dish on her experiences, but had a last minute conflict.  Luckily, Kim, having just returned from Sewing Summit agreed to share her experiences.

While public speaking is not to her liking, (but hey, we're all friends here) in our back and forth, question and answer format, Kim told us everything.  From why she chose to attend; the process and excitement of signing-up and selecting classes; her self-described introvert trepidation about traveling (and meeting and talking to all of these people that although you know them online, you don't really know them); the shopping and camaraderie; the keynote speaker; the hospitality (and swag!!) of the Salt Lake MQG; and her Sewing Summit projects made both before traveling and while there. 

Because I was talking and not taking pictures, I'm thankful Kim is active on Instagram.  Her photos tell her story so well.    

I'd say Kim had a fantastic time, wouldn't you? 

Next, Kira who recently volunteered to be our Block Lottery Captain, spent a few moments describing and showing details for November's block.

  

It is a simple snowball.  It is a traditional block, BUT with the use of MODERN fabrics and colors, it fits our aesthetic.  All of the details - color palette, size, types of fabric - can be found here.

These are just some of the 80, (Yes, you read that right!) pinwheel blocks turned in this month.  

The lucky winner?  Me.  Aren't they beautiful, colorful, and cheery?     

After the drawing for the block lottery, came the door prize drawings.  Again, lots of smiling faces and squeals of delight.

The reveal for the Spoo-ky Swap was next.

Nona made these Screamin' Halloween strip-pieced pillows for Kira.

Bobbi,  inspired by an image from Pinterest, made this 12" x 12' HST pillow cover for Melissa L.

I made Amy three small items, including a wonky-pieced Spook-tacular stand-up container, a coffee cozy from Jeni Baker's tutorial, and a tiny Hello, Halloween! ticker tape inspired mini quilt. 

Dee made Faye an Autumn colored pillow with Thimbleberry fabrics.

 Kira made the appliqued Boo Bat mini-quilt for Kasandra. 

Amy made a set of Autumn inspired coasters for Wendi.  Upon signing-up for this swap, Wendi let us all know she preferred Thanksgiving to Halloween.  Amy's coasters were EXACTLY right for Wendi.

Kasandra made this mini-quilt for me.  I love the intricate piecing and jack-o-lantern colors. 

Melissa L, not having any Halloween fabric in her stash, went shopping at our LQS/Pharmacy, A&E, for the fabrics for Dee's trick-or-treat basket.  Check out those pom-poms!  

Wendi, through the swap discussions on Facebook, knew Bobbi preferred Autumn colors.  She pieced a smaller Modern Maple leaf and surrounded it with long strips of saturated color.  What this picture fails to show is the hand quilting.  A beautiful understated table runner Bobbi can use well past October 31st.

Faye made Nona two mug rugs.  The one you can't see is a smiling jack-o-lantern!

Our meeting ran long, because as wrote at the beginning of this post, our group of women are talented, creative, and fun.  We are also enthusiastic prolific quilters. 

Stay tuned for the pictures, and what I can remember, from our Show & Tell, and Sew-Day scenes.

Cindy

ECMQG Secretary

November Block Lottery - Snowball

At each month's meeting we have a block lottery.  If you are new to the group or our blog, you can read the general information here.

For the November 12th meeting, we are making the Snowball block using a red and green color-way with Kona Ash as the background fabric.  The blocks will be 12.5 inches unfinished.

This easy block has long been used as a filler block in traditional quilts, but this time we want the fabrics to be the focus.  Although the Snowball block is a very traditional block, the use of modern prints and pale gray create the modern traditional feel.

Please use red and green modern prints for your Snowballs and Kona Ash in the corners.  If you are an active member and can not locate Kona Ash, please email Kira, or, leave a comment below.  As always, use quilt shop quality fabrics in a modern print please.

*Edited to add Kona Ash can be found locally at A&E Pharmacy in Pensacola and at Lynn's in FWB.

This tutorial makes one 12.5" x 12.5" Snowball block and four bonus HST (half square triangles) which I'll talk more about later.  


Let's get started...

You need one 12.5" x 12.5" square in the red/green color-way, and four 4.5" x 4.5" squares in Kona Ash for the corners. 

Using your ruler, draw a line diagonally from corner to corner on the 4 1/2" squares. 

Next measure 1/2" from that line and draw a second line. (The photo above shows the offset line). 

These lines will be your sewing lines.  This is a neat trick so that nothing is wasted :) 

Next pin the 4 1/2" squares to the four corners of the 12 1/2" square.

See the arrow pointing to the diagonal corner-to-corner line?  It is towards the center of the large square and the 1/2" offset line is to the outside.  That is how we want to place them.  

I put a pin in the corner-to-corner line to help keep me from placing it the wrong way.  

Now take it to your sewing machine and sew on top of both lines.  Do this in all four corners.

With all eight lines sewn, use your rotary cutter to slice in between each set of two lines.  This makes the Snowball and 4 extra bonus blocks.

Press towards the Kona ash.  Now that sure was easy-peasy!!

Please share your progress photos on the flickr page or the Facebook group.

Design possibilities are endless!!

Oh, you want to know what we are going to do with those bonus blocks?

How about we have a second winner who will be able to enjoy those little HSTs?.   :)

See you at the meeting, and good luck!!!

Kira

ECMQG Block Lottery Captain