January Meeting Recap

January was one of our most informative meetings ever!!!  The amazing Erin of Daley by the Yard shared her tips for "Keeping Your Machine OUT of the Shop".  I think we were all blown away by her animation of how a machine actually makes a stitch:-)

A few of the tips she shared:

• Change your needle.  She recommends every 6-8 hours which for some of us power quilters means every time you sit down at the machine.  As she puts it, "Needles are cheap, repairs are expensive!"
• Use quality threads and thread less than 5 years old.  Cheap/old thread easily breaks and can tangle in the inner workings of your machine.  Cheap thread also produces more lint which dries out your machine and can cause your machine to jam.
• Oil your machine regularly according to the manufacturers specifications and ONLY use sewing machine oil.
• Get your machine serviced annually, whether you use it or not.  For those of you not using your machine regularly (LOL) the oil dries up.  If your machine is getting regular usage than the oil is being used up.  In either case your machine will not be properly lubricated which causes friction and wear on the machine.  Also, timing problems tend to be gradual and cumulative so servicing will correct them before they become a problem.

For those of you going on retreat, this is a great time to have your machine serviced.  There is nothing worse than having machine problems when you have unlimited sewing time!  

Announcements...

MQG
We renewed our membership with the Modern Quilt Guild and will receive our 2014 membership cards soon.  Everybody should also have access to the MQG Forum.  We are using this for guild communications (along with the blog, Facebook and Twitter @BostonMQG) so be sure you have access.

February Meeting
Please join us for the launch of fabulous founding member Rachel's book Quilting With a Modern Slant.  Bring you Riley Blake Challenge quilt to share.  The meeting will be held Friday, February 7th from 7-9 at Gather Here.

Riley Blake Challenge
The deadline for completing your Riley Blake challenge is February 17th.  Photos must be uploaded to the MQG forum by that date.  Also bring your finished challenge to our February meeting to share.

Retreat
Payment is now due for those attending retreat.  Payment can easily be made using Paypal on our retreat page.  You may choose to pay your balance in full or split the remaining balance in two parts.  Full payment is due by February 16th.  We'll be sending more suggestions about logistics, what to pack, etc... soon but this is a great time to think about having your machine serviced to prevent any mechanical problems on retreat:-)

Quilts for Boston
Our goal is to distribute all the remaining Quilts for Boston at the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21st.  If you still have a quilt please finish it and make arrangements to drop it off to me, alice@alidiza.com, by the end of March.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thank you to everyone who added a label to our Quilts for Boston quilts!!!  I came home with all of our finished quilts ready to distribute.  Thank you also to everyone who took the 6 remaining quilts to be bound and a huge thank you to Patrice for taking the one last top that needs to be quilted that I found buried in my studio.  You all are the reason this project has been such a huge success!

Thank you to Laurie our 2nd BMQG President.  Laurie did so much to help grow our guild from the early days.  This was her last meeting as she is moving to Colorado at the end of the month.  We will miss you and your enormous quilts;-)

Thank you for the beautiful pink birthday cake and all the birthday wishes.  I couldn't have asked for better way to spend my day:-)