Meeting Recap: June 2014

While we are at an all-time high of 63 members (Yippee!), the somewhat sparse attendance at June’s guild meeting was an obvious sign that summer is here! So if you were not there…(a) we missed you; and (b) no meeting in July. We’re going to take a little summer break ourselves and meet up again in August at our new location: Newchurch, 9201 N. Rockwell. Lots of reminders will be coming, so just keep an eye on your email, this site and our private Facebook page.

A big THANK YOU to Regina and New Hope OKC!  We've LOVED meeting in your facility. Thanks for opening it up to us.

So…the meeting…

The meeting was really great fun! Our program director, Amanda, planned another fun and informative night. Several members shared their methods of quilt labeling. If you already label your quilts, you may have a favorite method. If you haven’t yet found a method you prefer, here are some ideas to inspire you.

Becca machine embroiders her labels, which relate to the theme of the quilt. 
Here are a few examples of her work:

Christy also machine embroiders, but she embroiders on a miniature quilt block that she’s machine-paper pieced. It was really fun to watch her pre-programmed machine “do its thing”.

Amanda L’s labels are hand-embroidered with a little message. She gets free clipart from the internet to make her design and prints it from her computer. She then uses a light box to trace the design onto her fabric and then, with a layer of batting underneath, embroiders with Pearle cotton. She binds it (yes, just like the quilt) and hand-stitches it to the quilt.

Elizabeth A shared the basics of printing your own labels through Spoonflower. She created her graphic, laying it out 2 x 2, and uploaded to the Spoonflower site. Spoonflower then prints it on repeat, and Voila! labels on yardage. Just cut the label and stitch on or into the quilt. The fabric comes in many colors too.

Teresa hand writes her labels with fabric pens (colors them too!) and then heat-sets them.

Ann showed us iron-on labels using Transfer Magic Ink Jet Transfer Paper. After designing your graphic, create a mirror image and feed the sheet through your printer. Set with a hot, dry iron. When cool, remove the paper covering, place the image face down on your quilt and use a hot, dry iron to transfer the image.

Thanks, Ann, for the labels we took home!

Agnes prints her labels on fabric with her home printer. You can use the sheets that are already adhered to paper or use Wonder-Under and create your own sheet to feed through your printer. After cutting to its desired size, Agnes uses the selvedges to create a frame for the label.

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to label quilts. Use your imagination to experiment and discover what works best for you!

Jana rescued this quilt top and gave it new life! Stunning quilting! Keep yours eyes out for quilt tops in antique stores or garage sales. You never know what they can become.

And this is a quilt top that Jana pieced herself using beige linen.  We're looking forward to the finished project!

Regina completed her "Your Color Story" project that she started at our May meeting. After stitching down the scraps that spoke to her, she turned it into a pillow. Her husband loves it and asked, "Do we get to keep this one?" 

Regina also shared this cute and quick baby quilt. It's basically four fat quarters (squared up of course) border and binding. This is a quilt where the fabric makes all the difference. Love it!

...and the back is just as cute!

 Rebecca made this wonderful quilt top of golds and greens. Looking forward to seeing this one finished as well.

One day on Facebook, Rebecca posted photos of some random blocks she had and sought advice on what to do with them. She turned this bird into a cute mat or mug rug.

And a shoe block into a shoe BAG! Love it!

I love when a demonstration really inspires. Agnes continues to find great inspiration from Elizabeth R's "Your Color Story" presentation. A terrific pillow...

...and a scrap catcher with scrappy fringe!

 Ready for summer....Jemellia had been sewing clothing, including these cute shorts!

If you're making one pair, you might as well make two!

 And even though Shana is currently cutting back on the coffee, she completed this cute quilt top made with coffee themed fabric.

That's our meeting wrap up!  Check back often to see what else our members are creating!

A Monthly Dose of Inspiration: June 2014

Summer is up and running and the weather is heating up quickly.  Take advantage of the cool air conditioning and the long days to get in some productive sewing sessions.  What sewing projects do you have planned for the summer?  Here is a collage of some of our members' works to help get you in the creative mood.  Enjoy and happy sewing!

1. Patchwork Bag  2. Granny Square  3. Swoon  4. Summer Banner  5. Economy Blocks  6. Curve Quilt  7. Ticker Tape Mini  8. Block  9. Mug Rugs  10. PB & J  11. Star Light Star  12. Baby Quilt

Flaunt Your Finish: May 2014

One of the things I love about Flaunt Your Finish is the opportunity we have to see projects from those members who aren't able to attend meetings as much as they'd like. We interact a lot on our private Facebook page, but we don't always get to interact face to face. Sharing our projects is just another way to get to know each other. By sharing our projects and expressing our individual styles we can see our commonalities and appreciate our diversity. We inspire, encourage and learn from each other.

Hopefully, we'll inspire you as well. So, sit back and enjoy the lovely projects we have to flaunt this month. Please link your own finish at the bottom of the page. We'd love to get to know YOU as well!

In our May Meeting Wrap-Up post we shared our activity "Your Color Story". Agnes finished her little ticker tape mini quilt she started at our meeting. "Our Queen Elizabeth was right, ...this is totally addictive, I am going through my scrap bin, and actually raiding other people's scrap bins too!"

Bri had not one...not two...but three BIG finishes this month!

#1 – the 2^nd baby quilt from last year’s Stash Bee swap.  Bri asked for red, white, and blue blocks using the ‘asterisk’ block.  She says she "tried to put them together in an ‘improv’ fashion with some large areas of blank space but it doesn’t come natural. I got a bunch of blocks so I made two baby quilts which I plan to donate." How can you not love a red, white and blue quilt!

 

#2 – the ‘Happy Quilting’ Star Light Star Bright Quilt Along quilt.  Melissa Corry had instructions for blocks of varying sizes and quilts with multiple blocks.  Bri went with one large block and was able to keep up with the weekly instructions fairly well – only falling behind at the end.  She mailed this one to an online friend who had a birthday this week.  And since we love it, we're not surprised that her friend loved it as well!

#3 – a sampler quilt.  This was a BOM from way back.  Bri's coworker is going to raffle/auction it for a fundraiser for their annual Clothe a Kid Christmas Project. Mmmm....I love the mix of fabrics!

Teresa had a flurry of finishes right before Quilt Market. A lunch tote for Hoffman Fabrics, one for Michael Miller Fabrics, and a few samples (sandwich tote, lapmat, and potholder) for Warm Company. 

Right when Teresa came back from Quilt Market, she made a breast cancer bow and tutu outfit for her new grandbaby, Bailee (cute alert!). "Now, I must focus on cleaning up the studio and actually unpacking my suitcase!"

Heather is very happy to be done with this quilt. She won a fat quarter pack from Michael Miller at Quiltcon 2013. Wanting to do a special project with it, she started this "summer" quilt in March 2013. "I got mad and put it on hold. I finally picked it back up and bam, finally done." Pattern is "Pretty, Simple" from Quilty magazine. "It is pretty simple if you are good at matching seams!" I love the white border and pop of orange in the corners.

Heather's bonus project is made with Amy Butler's new Hapi fabric. The pattern is V & Co Hampton Weekend Bag with some small changes. Heather tucked the handles in between the line and shell, and made a small bottom. Great bag!

"Because really, what else can you do when two of your favorite Trekkies fall in love and make a baby?" Robyn made this Star Trek quilt with fabric from Camelot's Star Trek line and mixed in some solids from her stash and local quilt shop. 

It also has her first-ever hand-stitched dedication.

Ann has been making these great wallets. "Maybe I'm getting to be a bit of a Johnny-One-Note, but I do think about other projects as I work on these. :-)" Ann broke away from the pattern's 'V-pieced' outer and used some of that lovely Essex Yarn Dyed Linen from Robert Kaufman as Angelina used in her 'Feathers' quilt that debuted at the Winter Quilt show. Ann added a couple more Kaffe prints to last month's purchases and used them to piece/curve the outside design. 

The recipient of the second one chose/supplied her fabrics and Ann loves how they work. "I've been purchasing too much fabric with more of these in mind and will try to resist 'flaunting' all of them. Ha ha!" I've been enjoying making these, especially as special thank you gifts for a couple of ladies who've helped me lately and are just pretty darn special!

Now it's YOUR turn. Please share a project you finished this month by linking your blog or Flickr page below. As always, thanks for joining us and stay tuned for next month's Color Inspiration. It's quickly become my favorite feature!

Meeting Recap: May 2014

If I could only use one word to describe our May guild meeting, it would be...colorful!

Elizabeth presented our activity: "Your Color Story"

Elizabeth participated in a workshop led by designer Amy Butler at The Makerie retreat in Colorado. In the workshop, Amy shared how she achieved color inspiration for her fabric designs through her travels and photography.

For our activity, we all brought our favorite fabrics scraps and then cut and glued them to another piece of fabric (then took them home to stitch them down).  It was interesting to see what everyone brought. Some gravitate toward brights, other pastels or batiks. I love how you could often tell who-was-who just by looking at their fabrics. THANK YOU ELIZABETH for a fun activity!

Many of us already knew that Ann doesn't like random. This cinched it.

What does your color story say about you?

About 15 of us participated in solid Fat Quarter Swap. We each brought 12 FQs of a solid color and came home with 12 FQs of 12 different and luscious colors. Like these:

At our April Sew Day, a few members worked on this colorful, happy quilt that will be donated.

Most of the evening, Angie had this quilt on the floor for her daughter (whom she brought along) to lay on. She said it was just a simple little quilt, and I heard someone behind me say, "It doesn't look simple to me!" Great job! 

Need a kid gift for a goodie bag? Audra made a bunch (like over 20) of these cute cases to carry a few crayons and a small notebook. How fun!

Laura made this wonderful "Avalon" quilt.  A few of our members used this pattern in the past, so it's safe to say it's a favorite of ours.

Laura loved the fabric so much that she pieced the back as well. I love this fabric too and this quilt! Beautiful work!

Cameron made huge (and heavy) flannel quilt as a gift. I always think it's so hard to make a good "manly" quilt. This one is great with terrific quilting!

Ellen made this amazing runner and a friend quilted it. We were not only taken by the wonderful design, but also the unique fabrics of Marcia Derse.

Ellen also made this sweet, modern baby quilt. We love those quilted circles again.

Leslie made this quilt for a friend using scraps from the quilt she made for her friend's first baby and combined it with other fabrics from her stash. I think two sisters with coordinating quilts will be adorable!

If you weren't able to join us at the meeting, you can catch up on everything here on the blog our through out monthly newsletter. Hope to see you at June's meeting!

A Monthly Dose of Inspiration: May 2014

Summer is practically here and everyone is starting to make summer plans and start summer projects.  What is on your to do list for the summer?  Here is a collage of some of our members' creations to provide you with a little eye candy and some inspiration.  Enjoy and happy sewing!

1. Pin Cushion 2. Red Riding Hood Quilt 3. Zipper Pouch  4. Wedding Quilt  5. For The Birds 6. Radiate 7. Granny Squares 8. Purses 9. Swoon 10. Technology Bag 11. Love Quilt  12. Star Block

Flaunt Your Finish: April 2014

Most of the projects shown during Show & Share at our guild meetings center around quilty items. Flaunt Your Finish gives our members a chance to share completed projects that they might not normally bring to a guild meeting. I always love to see the many and varied talents of our members.

With every Flaunt Your Finish, YOU are invited to link up your blog or Flickr page and show us your own completed projects.

Here we go!

Ann was thrilled to have tangible finishes this month, especially since she started her quilts 7 to 16 months ago. "It's good to get things out the door!"

First up is her "Despicable Me" Minion hat crocheted for her new grandson, William. "I forgot to stitch on the smirk. Oops!"

Ann's next project was these great wallets. She tried this wallet pattern for the first time after "a friend of mine inasmuch dared me to do one on my own (Zen Chic Sphere fabric) OR pay to take her class. Ha! Making them is habit forming, so I made another for a gift (PB&J fabric). And will make others. I am thinking about doing this for my Michael Miller Challenge."

Then, Ann made these mini-charm square based pincushions as gifts filled with crushed walnut shells. He first Kaffe Fassett project, and she's bought more KF fabric for another project!

The is the last quilt top Ann started before visiting (and joining) OKCMQG early last year! It's made from Kapalua Batiks jelly roll and some solids. She finally finished it to donate to "TeamGage" charity auction to benefit leukemia/lymphoma research. The pieced back helped use up some of her batiks stash. Graciously and beautifully quilted by fellow member, Agnes!

And if you can believe it...Ann has one more finish! I wish I could be this productive! Also being donated to the "TeamGage" charity auction, Ann started this in last fall's Improv Curves class. "Thanks to Shirlene Davis for the moda Giggle layer cake! I'm lovin' the pieced binding. I braved quilting it on my home machine so I should call it Herky-Jerky! Bon voyage!" 

At last month's guild meeting, Agnes presented a fabric printing how-to. After our printing workshop, she felt very inspired by everyone's enthusiasm and excellent ideas...so...Agnes went in to do some more stamp-caving. Her target was to come up with a 2-color stamp sequence that would allow for a more colorful print. "Easier said than done- specially if you have no prior training like myself! Many YouTube video tutorials later I now have a (halfway decent) stamp duo of "Dancing Dahlias". Caution, stamp carving is extremely addictive!" Wow!

Kristine is proud of these dresses that "actually got done in time for Easter!" Her daughters loved them! They fit, and they look great. The pattern is Simplicity 1456. We love the large polka dots!

Teresa made these cute items that make use of Warm Company products – they are samples for Quilt Market later this month!  The lunchbag has insul-shine and warm & natural, the lapmat has insul-bright and warm & natural, and the potholder has a double-layer of warm & natural.   She used a chenille blade on the potholder, but hasn’t washed it yet. The magic will happen when she does!

My mom and I made this quilt as a wedding gift for my niece who got married in January. Mom pieced and I quilted. I definitely got the easier end of the deal.

What finish do you have to flaunt? Link up your project below!