Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Goodbye 2011!

I thought I would take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season. Wether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanza, may the Holidays bring you love and happiness and good times with family (and perhaps a bit of time for quilting???). Thank you to everyone who has been following our blog and to all the members of BMQG; we wouldn't be a guild without you. Keep a lookout in the new year for blog themes and project ideas.

See you all in 2012!!!

xoxox

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

December Show and Tell

After our kitchen swap, and after we stuffed our faces with all of the food people brought, we did a little show and tell. 
Alice made this table runner when she was testing out patterns for the kitchen swap.

Rebecca is working on a Dresden quilt.

Alexis is working on a Swoon quilt for her son who wanted a red quilt.

 And here's a table runner that she's finishing the quilting on...

Laurie made this quilt for her son.  He's been really into motorcycles lately.
Here's the back! 
Jane made this cute Christmas wreath quilt.
Emily tackled this quilt after drooling over it for a while.  Turns out it was super easy.
Here's a closeup.

Finally, I showed my first whole cloth mini quilt (It's 10" square). 

As always, the talent of the group is always impressive.  I can't wait to see what people bring to the next meeting in January.


Monday, December 12, 2011

Kitchen Swap Reveal

On Saturday we met and revealed our kitchen swap items. As always, the ladies out did themselves and created some fantastic items.
Laurie, the Dresden queen, made a table runner for Alice.

Alice made me this amazing wall hanging.
I made pot holders and hand towels for Rebecca.
Rebecca made napkins for Alexis.
Alexis made a basket, mini quilt and coasters for Jane.
 
And Jane made some awesome goodies for Laurie!


Thank you to everyone that participated in the swap.  I think I speak for everyone when I say THANK YOU.  Everyone did an amazing job. 

Monday, November 21, 2011

November 19 Meeting Show and Tell

Saturday's Meeting was a lot of fun. We worked on a charity quilt and had a fabric swap. Show and Tell did not disappoint:

Rebecca was asked by a good friend and neighbor to make this t-shirt quilt: Check out the funny concert t-shirts she put on the back:

Rebecca has also been working on this gorgeous fan quilt for a little while now and was happy to share its' completion. She came up with her own design:

I brought in my recent completion of Sarah Fielke's Dotty for Dresden pattern:

Alexis is impressing all of us by continuing to work on guild meeting lessons/instruction at home. Here, she showed us the cathedral window pillow she completed after Amy's lesson from October:

Alexis also put her new knowledge of paper piecing to work (taught at our September meeting by Jen) on this impeccable anniversary quilt:

Lea, another fan of Sarah Fielke's work, has begun the "Wing and a Prayer" pattern from Sarah's newest book - Quilting from Little Things. I can't wait to see the progress on this beauty!


Finally, Alice shared an adorable i-pod case she made out of a 2.5" charm pack she received at Market. Her tutorial can be found here:

It was a great meeting and wonderful to see everyone. I hope more people can join us for our holiday party and Kitchen Swap exchange - December 10 in Arlington starting at 1 pm.


Laurie

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Twilight Saga Charity Quilt

Hello dear Boston Modern Quilters! Just a little tangent to promote my group's charity quilt.

For the third year, Twilight Quilters Coven is proud to present Give to Win, a contest where you could win our original Twilight-themed quilt. For each 5$ you donate to our selected charity through our website, you get 1 chance of winning. This year, we are donating the money to Alex's Lemonade stand (for children with cancer) and Childhelp (for abused children). Last year, we raised just over 1800$! 100% of all the money we get is donated. We do not use any of it to pay for our materials or website hosting and such. IT ALL GOES TO CHARITY!

The blocks and layout are based on the Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) book. This quilt has been designed, assembled and quilted by us. Most of the blocks are also original designs. But it gets even better. 8 of our blocks are actual autographs from actors from the saga!



To check out our quilt and donate for a chance to win it:



To visit our blog:


Thank you so much for helping us raise money for children who are in need. Good to everyone who participates!

Mel
xoxox

Monday, November 7, 2011

Charity Sew-in Part 1

Last weekend we held a sew-in at my home to make quilts using donated fabric I picked up leftover from a yard sale. Most of the fabric was from the late 70s and early 80s.

We decided to pick out the striped and plaid fabrics, and create a quilt inspired by the "Of Stripes and Bunting" quilt by Rita (of Red Pepper Quilts).



We got to work ironing and cutting....














And then got to sewing....



















On the design board....












And here is our partially finished quilt top











Our next step is to make half square triangles to use in a border, and hopefully we can finish this one up at our next meeting.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

October Guild Meeting

Our October guild meeting took place in one of our usual meeting spots, the Arlington Public Library.  Amy provided a wonderful class on creating cathedral window blocks.

Show and Tell was, as usual, wonderful.  New member Linda latest obsession is using t-shirts, shown in this quilt:


and these place mats:


These place mats were made from vintage blocks purchased on eBay:


Jane's wall hanging:


Jen's layer cake quilt top:


A beautiful baby quilt:


And another use of t-shirts:


Amy's sampler quilt, made for her husband:



And Laurie's baby quilt, a gift for a friend:

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Retreat 2012: Committee Recruiting

As announced at the last meeting, we are looking for volunteers to help organize the next BMQG retreat. The tasks involved include booking a venue, organizing attendees, working with the treasurer to facilitate deposits, and planning any programming. We would love to see anyone who is interested to get involved. Please contact me if you would like to join the committee.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Jay McCarroll Habitat Challenge

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild participated in the Free Spirit Jay McCarroll Habitat Challenge.  We were all given fabric back in July and were asked to create something using the fabric provided.  It could be whatever we wanted with no size restrictions, the only caveat- we could only add solid fabrics..  The world fabric was our oyster.  On Saturday we go together to unveil what everyone had created.  Boy, were there some great quilts and other items.
This was my quilt.  You can read more about it here

Alice goes ghetto!

Laurie made this cool stuffed animal. 
Rachel's interpretation of the paint splatter fabric.
 Rebecca's awesome bag (which rotated sideways on me and won't rotate back... just tilt your head)

And the winning quilt!