April Announcements & Meeting Reminders

April Announcements & Meeting Reminders

Our next meeting is Tuesday, April 5 at 6:30pm. Social time will be from 6-6:30. We have an exciting meeting with a National speaker and the Moda Mini Charm Challenge. 

April Program: Lee Monroe of May Chappell Designs

Lee will be presenting tips & tricks and a fabulous trunk show. She will also be teaching a workshop on April 9 at Stitched with Love. 

April Fat Quarter Lotto: Modern Dots, Stripes & Chevrons 
Be sure you're contributing quilt-store quality fabrics.

April Challenge: Mini Charms

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

If you are bringing a mini charm challenge item, please try to bring it by6:20pm. Challenge items will be displayed on the shop's design boards prior to the start of the meeting.

Charity Sew
Charity Sew Friday, April 29 from 6-9pm at Stitched with Love- learn to make a Scrappy Trip Around the World and sew for a good cause! We need lots of fat quarters to make this a success. Bring Fat Quarters that you might not love as much with you and we will use them in our 2016 Charity Sew projects.  Read about happenings with Community Service on the blog!

Show & Tell
Since this month's meeting will have a great program and challenge reveal, members are encouraged this month to select up to two finishes from this month for show and tell. As you're choosing, try to pick your most modern finishes to showcase.

Mark your Calendars!

April 9 Workshop with Lee Monroe:
Lee Monroe will be teaching teaching the Hattie's Dresden pattern at Stitched with Love on Saturday, April 9 from 10-4. Just a few spots are left- call the shop if you want to sign up!

Guild Charity Sew, Friday April 29
Charity Sew Friday, April 29 from 6-9pm at Stitched with Love- learn to make a Scrappy Trip Around the World and sew for a good cause! We need lots of fat quarters to make this a success. Bring Fat Quarters that you might not love as much with you and we will use them in our 2016 Charity Sew projects.  Read about happenings with Community Service on the blog!

Guild Meeting, Tuesday May 3
Lori Hartman: 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.


For updates & quilting inspiration be sure to follow us online:

Charity Sew Update!

We will be having our first Charity Sew Day for 2016 on April 29th, 6PM – 9 PM at Stitched with Love. 

In April, we will be working on the Scrappy Trip Around the World with Chris Simon. She has graciously offered her time and knowledge to teach us this quilt block that works wonderfully for those un-loved fat quarters (the ‘what was I thinking’ fat quarters) we all have. This is a quilt block you will be able to go home and use with your stash! 

We hope you will join us on April 29th to learn and stitch for others who need the beauty and warmth a special quilt can provide. The quilts we will be working on will be donated to Alberta’s Hope, the charity MMQG supports; this charity was set up by our favorite shop owner, Lynn F. of Stitched with Love.

We need lots of fat quarters to make this a success so please bring those un-loved/WWIT fat quarters to donate and place your name into a drawing for an awesome quilting item; of course your well-loved/favorite fat quarters are welcome too.

We will have a sign-up list for volunteers at the April meeting or feel free to contact Dusty Allendorf directly. If there is a part of the process you prefer (pressing, sewing, cutting, etc.) after looking through the link above you may request a ‘station’ but we will/can rotate throughout the evening so everyone who wants to can work on each step of the process. You may also bring FQ’s to the charity sew day.

If you have the time in your busy schedule for a fun night out and learn this wonderful block, please sign up for April 29th. A reminder email will be sent the week of (to the address you provided to the guild) because I know everyone gets busy and things can slip through the cracks.

To recap: in April bring your un-loved/WWIT fat quarters (or favorite FQ’s) to be entered into a drawing for a wonderful quilting item (1 Fat Quarter = 1 Entry; 1 Completed Quilt = 10 Entries)


Mark your calendars now for future charity sew dates: 5th Fridays during 2016 from 6-9pm: July 29th, September 30th, and December 30th.

-Dusty Allendorf, Community Service Coordinator

March Meeting Minutes 2016

Call to Order

Our March meeting was called to order on time by our President, Stephanie Schroer.  Our Icebreaker quiz this month was "How many sewing machines do you have?" and our members answered 1-14 machines.  4 machines seems to be the most common number, if you need help convincing a significant other that you need another!


Membership Report 

Martha Wolf (Membership) and Chris Simon (Treasurer) again oversaw collection of dues for our new year.  If you haven't updated your membership this year, it is now expired.  Expired members will not be included in our directory that has been developed by popular request.  Our directory includes contact information, including name, email, and Instagram "handle" so we can stay in contact through the whole month (you can opt out of publication in the directory).  As a reminder, 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).

We have 3 new members this month and had 3 visitors.  We had at least 35 in attendance!

Committee Reports

Secretary - Rachel Reid posted minutes from February 2015 to the website.
Treasurer - Chris Simon presented our current treasury report.  National dues were paid in January. Community service - Dusty Allendorf reminded us she is accepting orphan fat quarters for our charity quilts - this is a great opportunity for your ugly less loved FQ's taking up space in your stash.  We will have a sew day one Friday evening in April to make #scrappytriparoundtheworld quilts for charity.  Dates and more announcements to follow.

Business 

We now have a set-up and tear-down sign-up for individual meetings!  It's a great way to contribute to the guild and socialize without 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 was held in Pasadena, CA February 18-21, Melissa and Christina went and have posted photos on Flickr here.  You can also follow QuiltCon on Instagram via #quiltcon2016.

Remember the @ModaLissa challenge due in April.  Your completed project will be "Ooh'ed and Aah'ed" over by all your guild mates and your finishes will make you eligible to win prizes!  Find more information here.

Riley Blake fabric arrived for the Riley Blake Fabric Challenge Spring 2016.  11 of us were able to sign up online.  Follow the link for more information and challenge guidelines.  If you missed the signup, you can still participate!  Just purchase some of the Sashing Stash Collection and make something quilted!

Catherine Dutton ran our FQ Lottery of modern, high quality quilting cotton.  The theme for this month was Neutral Low-Volume.  Gayle, Lynn, Jeanette, and Susan each won a bundle of 13-14 FQ's.  April's theme is Modern Dots, Stripes, and Chevrons.

Our quilting bee's collected blocks.  Ellyn's queen bee was Sarah with #spellitwithmoda blocks and Allyson's group made her self-designed paper-pieced circle block.

Program

Ellyn gave us a peek at a future programs.  In April Lee Monroe of May Chappell 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 Melissa Eubanks of My Fabric Relish presented her program "Own It" and treated us to a trunk show.  She encouraged us to make our crafting our own.  We can personalize our projects in several ways.  You can make changes to the pattern - change the fabric, play with the borders or get rid of them altogether!  Play with the blocks - change the number, type, or sizes.  Add your own element with your own dyed or screen printed fabrics.  Design your own fabric via Spoonflower or using recycled/reused fabrics.  Design your own quilt - graph paper is cheap and plentiful or go high tech with EQ7 or Adobe products.  Finally, share your work!  Use social media to your advantage or enter a quilt show.  Thanks to Melissa for her wonderful inspiration!!

End of Meeting Fun

We swapped our Modern Coasters - introducing participants, drawing names for the swap, and telling a little about what made our coasters modern.  We also had show & tell for our WIP's and completions of the month!  3 birthday certificates were handed out.  Door prizes were drawn.  Join us for our next meeting!

Next Meeting: April 5 @ 6:30