March Meeting Information

March is fast approaching! Our next meeting is March 1 at 6:30pm. Social time will be from 6-6:30

March Program: Own It! By Melissa Eubanks
Our Speaker in March is our very own Melissa Eubanks of My Fabric Relish. Her program will be:

Own It! How to Take Creative Ownership of your Quilt
In this presentation I will talk about ways to put your own personal take on your quilts such as, taking an existing pattern and make it your own or modern, designing your own patterns, adding personal elements such as dyed fabric or fabric that you design (ex spoonflower or  screenprint) into your quilts, and end with ways to push yourself creatively along with sharing your talents on social media. I will also give a trunk show with some of my favorite quilts that demonstrate my topic. 

We will also have a brief recap of QuiltCon!

March Challenge: Modern Fabric Coasters  
Modern Coasters: Make FOUR, 4-5" coasters with a modern theme. Wondering what a modern themed coaster might look like? There are many possibilities. If you're new to experimenting with modern themes, you might start off by just using modern fabrics or solid fabrics with a more traditional design (such as a 9 patch, a star or any 4" block). If you're feeling up to more of a challenge, you might consider using one of the modern quilt guild's principles for modern design. Here are their criteria:

• the use of bold colors and prints
• high contrast and graphic areas of solid color
• improvisational piecing
• minimalism
• expansive negative space
• alternate grid work
• "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs

We will swap coasters during the March Meeting- you will come home with coasters from four different people! Want some coaster inspiration? Here's a Pinterest board with some ideas and tutorials

March Fat Quarter Lotto: Low Volume
Bring modern low volume fabrics for the fat quarter lotto. We're looking for fabrics with a white/off-white/beige/very light grey backgrounds. Here's a great article with some pictures of Low Volume prints that might help if you're new to low volume. You can also ask any staff member at your favorite local quilt show and they'll be happy to point you in the right direction!

April Challenge: Mini Charms
The Mini Charm Challenge issued by Lissa Alexander in January will be due at our April meeting. You received 4 mini charm packs from Moda. You must at at least 1 yard of Moda Solids or Moda Grunge to the charms and make something. (Min 1 yard, but you can add more). You need to use some of each of the 4 mini charm packs.

Upcoming Events:
April 5 : Lee Monroe from May Chappel Designs will be presenting Tips & Tricks and a Trunk Show. She will also be teaching her Hattie's Dresden pattern at Stitched with Love on Saturday, April 9 from 10-4. Spaces are filling up quickly for the class so sign up soon!
May 3: Lori Hartman of Lori Hartman Designs will present about using low volume fabrics.

Volunteer Opportunities
Sign up on this form  to volunteer for meeting setup and take down. We're really in need of help for setup! If you can come early one month it would be greatly appreciated. If there are other ways you'd like to help in the guild, you can also indicate that on the form.

February Meeting Minutes 2016

Call to Order

Our February meeting was called to order on time by our President, Stephanie Schroer.  

Membership Renewal & Directory

Martha Wolf (Membership) and Chris Simon (Treasurer) again oversaw collection of dues for our new year!  Annual dues are $50 and not only give you the benefit of membership in our local guild, but also the benefits of membership in The Modern Quilt Guild.  If you forgot this month, please bring your dues to the next meeting - pay with cash (correct change) or check (made out to the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild).

As requested, Martha is also developing a directory of guild members with contact information, including name, email, and Instagram "handle".  Members are given a choice whether to opt out of publication in the directory.

We have 4 new members this month and had 9 visitors.  We had at least 50 in attendance!

Committee Reports

Secretary - The minutes from January 2015 are posted to the website.
Treasurer - Chris presented our current treasury report.  National dues were paid in January. Community service - Dusty Allendorf is our community service committee chair, she presented the idea of sew days on Fridays and Sundays.  We are also accepting orphan fat quarters for our charity quilts.

Business 

We now have a set-up and tear-down sign-up for individual meetings!  It's a great way to contribute and socialize with much responsibility.  See the sign-up form to volunteer.  If there's another way you'd like to be involved, there's space for you to enter your ideas as well!

QuiltCon West will be held in Pasadena, CA February 18-21 and we have a few members going!  They promise us some photos at our next meeting.  You can also follow QuiltCon on Instagram as it happens.  #quiltcon2016 is already a hashtag in use as people prepare!

Remember the @ModaLissa challenge due in April!  Find more information here.

Catherine Dutton ran our FQ Lottery of modern, high quality quilting cotton.  The theme for this month was Red, Pink & White.  Paula Ramsey, Sharon Aguilar, Brittany, and Dusty Allendorf each won a bundle of 13-14 FQ's.  March's theme is Low Volume Neutrals - think fabrics that read cream, white, off-white, very light grey.  Avoid colorful low volume please.

Our quilting bee's collected blocks.  Ellyn's group took this month off and Allyson's group made a large star block for Catherine Dutton with Moda grunge and low volumes.

We have a new swap!  Due in March we will host a McKMQG swap of 4 modern coasters.  Use modern fabrics to make 4 approximately 4" X 4" coasters.  Bring yours to the March meeting, we will draw 4 different names, and you will leave with 4 coasters.  Think Modern!

Program

Ellyn gave us a peek at a future programs.  Our program this year focuses on the talent that all our guild members have.  Melissa Eubanks of My Fabric Relish will present in March.  In April Lee Monroe of May Chappell (Lee Monroe) will be presenting again - she was a hit last year!  Lori Hartman of Lori Hartman Designs will discuss low volume fabrics in May.

Our own Martha Cavazos Fipps is a self-professed swap addict.  She shared some of her wisdom with us tonight about how Sewists Want Awesome Parcels (not Packages).  There are several reasons people participates in swaps - loving the instagram (IG) community, making things for others to have a great purpose, getting something handmade, becoming a better sewist, and friendships that are created through the process.  She reviewed lots of vocabulary surrounding swaps.  Several popular swaps are the Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap, Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap, Cotton & Steel Mini Quilt, etc.  You find swaps on IG via posts from people you follow, seeing screenshots about swaps, and following @openquiltswaps or the #swapaddict hashtag.  Martha passed along strategies for swap success: Make IG account public or make a public account for your swaps & share yourself online by posting often so your partner can get an idea of who you are and what you like.  Consider that all skills and abilities may be a part of your swaps. Be mindful of the requirements and the theme of the swap when participating.  Before you decide to participate, consider the costs involved - not only fabric & notions for the swap, but also postage, extras, and time.  You will need time to make the item, shop for extras, participate on IG in the swap, and thank your partner publicly!

Thanks to Martha for her wonderful presentation about the ins and outs of Instagram swaps!

Show & Tell

UFO Challenge Reveals -  In October 2015 we had a program by Martha Wolf called "Get it Done" and guild members wrote down 3 projects that we wanted to complete.  This month was the reveal!  Every finish received a numbered gold star.  We held "Show & Tell" at the same time - showing recent projects/completions/swap items.   The oldest UFO completed was 13 years old, completed by Catherine.  Mary's EPP quilt won the "most complex" and Sharon won the "Best in Show" award for the UFO projects.  9  birthday certificates were handed out.  Door prizes & UFO prizes were drawn.  Lisa won the charity drawing.     

Next Meeting: March 1 @ 6:30

Preparing for Retreat!

Are you ready to go on retreat? I sure am! February 11-14 MCKMQG will host our 4th quilt retreat. If you're a seasoned retreater, you probably know all this (and more!- share more pro tips in the comments). If you're a new retreater, I hope this information will help you prepare for the fun to come!

About Sunset Retreat Center

We'll be retreating at a lovely facility! Be sure to fill up with gas before coming. When you arrive, pull up to the covered parkway- grab one of the hotel dolly's and load your stuff on it. When you come in, you'll be in the main sewing area and we'll all shout hello!  Our retreat hostess will probably come say hi and get you situated.

On site Quilt Shop

There is a small on-site quilt shop. It's very helpful in the event that you forget something essential (like your rotary cutter or pins). It has a small, but pretty wide selection of fabrics. I wouldn't depend on it to build a whole project, but we always seem to find something that works there! The shop works off the honor system- you keep a running tab at the register and settle before you leave on Sunday.

Rooms

Rooms have 4-5 beds each.  Since we're a pretty big group, there won't be a lot of empty beds in the rooms. Some people requested roommates, so some rooms will be "booked" even if everyone's not yet there. I hear there will be signs. 

If you didn't request an ADA accessible room, please leave those open for the people who asked for them (and their friends).  A bath and double vanity are in each room.  

Sleeping

Let's be honest, some of us snore (definitely not all of us, but I've heard rumors). They have some pretty nice ear plugs on a cart outside the rooms - there are other essentials there like extra sheets, towels, small toiletries. Oh and blow dryers- if you're inclined to actually blow dry your hair there's only one dryer at the retreat center, so you may want to pack your own. Each room has it's own thermostat (and a ceiling fan) to help you control the temperature (I like to bring an extra blanket since I get cold at night).

Food & Snacks

"The middle of nowhere" is actually a pretty good descriptor of the location. The closest thing nearby is a gas station. Walmart and Starbucks are 20 minutes away. Feel free to bring beverages and snacks. We will have a communal snack table where you can share goodies and healthy snacks. Breakfast is continental- there's a waffle maker, and usually hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, bagels, juice, milk (usually almond and cow), and muffins.  Lunch is served at noon and dinner at 6pm. 

There's a communal fridge and microwave in the sewing room for us to store/warm up our own food and snacks. Please be considerate and keep in mind that 33 people are sharing one fridge (do you need the whole 12 pack in the fridge at once? :)) They also have a coffee pot, endless iced tea, water and a Keurig machine (bring your own k-cups if you have a favorite coffee- they have plenty of regular, decaf and hot chocolate).

Clothing

Dress comfy! It's only us girls, so no worries about dressing up. Some of us never get dressed. That's fine. Some of us wear yoga pants all weekend. You may want to have a sweater if you get a little cool. 

Exercise

I hear it's lovely to go on a jog while you're there. (I haven't tried it), but people who are into that might want to pack exercise clothes, bra, shoes, etc. 

Shoes

You probably do want to actually wear some sort of footwear just to be safe. Slippers, socks, house shoes are all common. Again, no one dresses up!

Sewing

There are two giant cutting tables and two giant ironing boards in the sewing room. You'll have two 4-foot tables to cram all your stuff on. They have very comfy sewing chairs (height adjustable, rolly chairs)

Keep in mind that it's better to have too much to work on than to end up with nothing to do by the end of the day Friday. You can always leave things in your car and get them as you need them (I once brought bolts of every interfacing we had at home because I wasn't sure how much I'd need).  You'll want to have a variety of projects. I recommend packing by project with everything you need for a project in it's own bin, including pattern, specialty rulers, thread, etc. Pre-cutting is best- trying to plan a project from the beginning doesn't work for me at retreat- there's too much going on for me to concentrate).  

I made a fantastic portable ironing table that fits perfectly at the end of my tables- Here's a tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman on how to make one (I only used 2 layers of batting so it isn't too poofy). Pro tip: Target sells inexpensive individual tray tables!

Swaps & Fun Activities

I hear rumors of a swap- you can choose to make a one hour basket or a small zipper pouch (any pattern- I like the curvy clutch pattern). These are optional, of course, but a fun way to mingle with fellow quilters. There's also rumors of a game of...strip poker?? Not sure how that's going to work, but it's on Friday night. If you're interested you need to bring a yard of low-volume fabric cut into 2 1/2" strips (or 14 strips total). 

Packing List

Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild has a great word doc download so you can customize it to fit your needs, 

What other words of wisdom do you have for fellow retreaters?  I look forward to seeing you there!

Ferburary Meeting Packing List

Just a reminder of the following things to put in your bags for tomorrow night's meeting:

• $50 Check or cash for dues renewal (checks made out to McKinney Modern Quilt Guild)
• UFO Challenge Items to Show off- there are prizes!
• Fat Quarter Lotto - Theme this month is Red, Pink & White
• Bee Blocks (or packets if you're the queen bee this month!)
• Show & Tell Items
• Want to help out with setup and take down? We're looking for volunteers to help for the next few months. Sign Up today!

Mingle time begins at 6:00pm and the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30pm!
See you there!