New Year, New Adventures – Part I

Central Florida Modern Quilt Guild held their monthly meeting January 14th and it was chocked full of information and quilts. So much eye candy! In a nutshell there were baby quilts, show and tell quilts and challenge quilts to see. We also received a ten year pin in recognition of our longevity as Modern Quilters and there was much information shared. In attendance, two guests, three new members for a total of 43 energized quilters – off and running to face the new year.

Now for the specifics. Quilt Con is coming February 22-26 and it appears we have approximately 20 members attending! Many will be first timers – wheet whew! Pack good walking/standing shoes. Our Quilt Con Charity Outreach Quilt has been shipped and hopefully there will be a group photo scheduled on the floor at Quilt Con. More to come on this.

February 11th is our monthly meeting and we will be discussing Modern Traditionalism (modern quilt design elements applied to traditional blocks). Search through your quilts and if you have one that meets this tenet of Modern Quilting, prepare to bring and share as part of our discussion.

Curated Quilts has moved to a digital format for their magazine. A reminder that we have several months of this magazine in our library and will slowly be removing them from circulation. If there is an issue you would like to study, now is the time to check it out. If you know which issue you would like to peruse, please let Karen T know so she can make sure it is with her at our next meeting.

Beth @blue_dragonfly5 will be conducting a Colorplay workshop in March for CFMQG Members. Sign-up is almost full, however waitlists are used to fill in where students have a change in schedule AND often lead to a second workshop depending on the interest. Colorplay is a “method” to identify colors that work well together and deliver a final project based on an inspiration picture and your favorite colors. Supposedly color selection is intuitive, Beth is going to assist you with your intuition and allow you to see what works and why. There will be no sewing at the workshop. Supply lists will be sent to those signing up. If you are interested, please contact Karen E

An overview of the email that was sent to members was discussed. Take a look at it to see all the new features that are included in this notification to our membership, including hotlinks as well as announcements for items of interest. One of those in the January email was for Brenda Gael Smith’s Dreamlines Project 2023 QAL, free by signing up through Serendipity Studio.

The January Show and Tell provided items big and small. The largest was a King sized quilt made by Dana @msddunham called OREGON, measuring 108 by 108. This quilt was inspired by Nicholas Ball Improv quilts and made Dana think of trees and water. The quilt will be a gift to her daughter. It has no borders and is asymmetrical in design, quilted by Dana on her Bernina.

Linda @flourishingpalms shared her “No Name” quilt that measures 65.5 by 83. This quilt is an original design using solids and charcoal colored linen. No borders and bright solids make the quilt design. Linda quilted it on her Bernina 770QE. Check out those spirals.

Shloe @quiltraven created a Kaffe Nine Patch with bright fabrics, just for fun. Quilted by her friend Pat Barry with an edge to edge design. Something that goes together fast and is simple to do.

HAPPY BOO-DAY was created by Gwen @flaquiltz for her husband using a Quick Curve Ruler pattern. Hubby celebrates his birthday on Halloween! Quilted on her Bernina 730 using free motion techniques with no borders, minimal design and loads of negative space to have fun quilting!

JoElla created GREEN IS BETTER which measures 36 by 31 with curved piecing. All improvisation and quilted by JoElla on her Janome.

SCRAPPY BLOCKS was made using the Scrap Snap block pattern. This original arrangement measures 36 by 48 and was made by Beth @blue_dragonfly5 with no borders, bright fabrics, high contrast and asymmetrical in design. It has a corded binding. This is also the first quilt that Beth’s daughter Pam quilted using a serpentine stitch with a walking foot. Some new mother from Healthy Families Florida will enjoy this baby quilt.

Gwen used tiny piecing learned from Debra Jalbert in 2018 and completed this pillow called CRABBY FALL measuring 16 by 16. There are no borders, bright fabrics and high contrast in this design and the end result is a usable pillow!

Ardie @fatquarteraddict did some research about personal item bags for flying. This measures 6 by 12 by 16 and was designed by Ardie to fit 95% of airlines associated with carryon requirements. Quilted on the Handiquilter using bright fabrics. Ardie has made a couple of these and told us – “you can make them fun!” The one shared with Show and Tell is a gift.

Our smallest Show and Tell was from Beth @blue_dragonfly5 called ROSEBUD measuring 15 by 15. It is an original design using freezer paper piecing from her sketch along with curved piece sewing. It has a faced edge and uses negative space, minimalism and asymmetrical in the design. Beth quilted it with her walking foot, echo stitch and big stitch hand quilting.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to two of our members who lost a loved one in December. Jill and Dawne were both at the January meeting “carrying on” as their husbands would want them to do. The CFMQG family wraps them both in hugs and caring thoughts as they move forward on this journey of life.

The educational part of the meeting was the Reveal of the Challenge quilts associated with “Thinking Outside the Pattern.” This challenge encouraged members to explore the MQG website and create their own version of something they learned. We had fifteen members participate in the challenge. That will be Part Two of the report on January 14th, coming soon to the blog.

For those that came to the meeting, there was much to stimulate the senses and get your sewing mojo in gear. See all of you on February 11th for our next meeting! Keep making modern!