Meeting Follow-up, Updates and Other Good Stuff!

Tomorrow is the "official" first day of spring.. let's hope we see these soon.

Wasn't our meeting this week great? So much good info given by our three presenters. A big Thank You to Gwenda M., Jean K. and  Trudy C. for a wonderful talk on quilting - long arm, machine and hand quilting. Lots of good info and tips for everyone!

Here are a few "follow up" items from Tuesday night:

It was mentioned that we might have some workshops with Elaine Quehl if there is sufficient interest. Click here for a link to her website if you'd like to have a look at her work and review her list of class offerings. Give it some thought.

Do you listen to Podcasts? I have just recently found one podcaster I thought you might like to check out as well. Brandy Lynn Maslowski does a weekly podcast called Canadian Quilt Talk and currently there are 74 episodes. Topics range from inspiration, techniques, ergonomics, and planning your studio to interviews with well known quilters such as Ricky Tims, and Canadians Kathy Bissett, Ionne McCauley, Daphne Greig and Monica Kinnear-Whalen, among others.  Episode 58 features Elaine Quehl, and Episode 40 features Leah Day, who Jean K spoke about (the binder she showed with all the free motion designs is Leah's.) So check Brandy out! Download a few of her podcasts for when you have a long drive, your daily walks or time in your studio. I bet you'll like them as much as I do! Click here.

Here is the link to Leah Day's website:  www.leahday.com   Check out all her Free Motion designs and Youtube tutorials. She is one talented young lady!

And some Updates:

March is National Quilting Month, and this Saturday, March 21, is National Quilting Day!! So be sure you plan some time in your studio space to celebrate!! If you are not familiar with The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, this is a good weekend to check it out. To celebrate International Quilting Weekend, ALL shows are FREE to everyone this weekend! You can watch as many as you have time for. What a wonderful resource and a wealth of information. Be sure to take some time to check it out. You won't regret it.  Click here.

 We've heard some wonderful tips at our meetings lately. I am starting a list here on the blog, and there will be a link on the sidebar to quickly and easily take you to the list. I will add to it each month with the most recent tips at the top. If you have given a tip this year, please remind me of it as I cannot remember them all, and we want the list as complete as possible! You know how to reach me: leave a comment here, send me an email or give me a jingle on the telly  :)  I'll post the Tip Time List next week, but it will be an ongoing growing "work in progress"....

Lastly, I have added a "Subscribe by Email" button to our blog. You will see it on the right at the very top. If you add your email address in the box and hit "Submit", you will receive an email each time there is a new post here on the FQG Blog. That way you won't miss anything. No one will be able to see your email address (not even me!) and it will not be given out to anyone, no worries. Just another service to our members!   :)

Inspiring October meeting

What a wonderful October meeting we had. An inspiring program by Nancy Elaschuk of Moncton had us all admiring her many talents. Nancy comes from a long line of quilters and she showed us quilts done by her great-grandmother, her grandmother and her mother as well as a number of her own. Nancy's four sisters all quilt as well and she assured us she's "working on" her daughter too!
Nancy has made many traditional quilts and then has moved on to designing original works, exploring art quilt techniques and pushing herself by joining challenges.We were so lucky to have her spend an evening with us. Thank you Nancy for a wonderful and inspiring Trunk Show. Here are some of the wonderful works Nancy shared with us....

Off to a Great Start

We're off to a great start this fall. Our September meeting was so much fun! And there was lots of laughter - laughter is, indeed, good for the soul! The program was of the participatory type, with members "showing and sharing" quilts that they had made from books in our Guild library. We saw many fine examples of projects that had come directly from books, or resulted from the inspiration they provide. This program was a great reminder of all the wonderful resources we have at our disposal, for loan each month. Our meetings are busy and sometimes we don't always

get make time to visit the library. I'm sure, after this program, the library will be seeing more "traffic". Thanks Susan, Donna, and Marijke for an inspiring start to our "new year".
We saw a few changes...for the good... our new microphone system with both floor mike and table mike which can be hand held, provided great sound. We encourage everyone to use the mike when they are speaking so all can hear well... The decision to reduce the "business"  portion of the meeting to just three times a year met with no opposition, and will allow us more

time at meetings for program, show and tell, and more time at break to socialize and get things done (library visits, signups for workshops and workdays, etc.)
It was great to see so many familiar faces and some new ones too! We welcome our new members, and hope that those who were visitors "checking us out" will decide to join us! During our break, I overheard a visitor say: "I'm overwhelmed!  I'm definitely out of my league here..." That is a common response and I reminded her that we ALL start as beginners, and progress. We all have strengths which we must discover, and build on. Many of us in the Guild have been "at it" a long while so we have learned, improved our skills and  grown as quilters.But we LOVE to help new quilters learn and grow too! 

We all start at square one, as with any skill - playing piano, basketball or anything else. So please if you are a beginner wanting to learn, or a new member feeling "out of your league", don't worry. We will help you learn basic skills, answer your questions and help you along on your journey as a quilter. Join us and have fun! Meet new friends! Learn new skills! Enjoy our resources (like our wonderful library!) Get involved in a Community Project!

Last Saturday, Sept. 26, we held a very successful "Intro to Quilting" day for beginners (along with our "Quilty Pleasures" workday for members). We had nine enthusiastic "newbies" join us for lots of helpful info and demos. They learned some basic skills in cutting, piecing and pressing, and are now ready to tackle their first project. It was a great day, with lots of enthusiasm on both sides - the teachers and the "students". Members who attended were working on various projects, some were working on piecing for the Mystery Quilt project, others were doing their own thing - cutting, layering and pinning a quilt ready for

machine quilting, etc. so the "newbies" had a chance to see projects underway, at various stages. Overall, a great day for all! I can't wait for our next meeting on October 15th! See you there!
Prospective new members are welcome. Meetings are held the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30pm, at the Johnston Ave. Seniors Centre. If you are heading upriver from the bridge, towards Nashwaaksis, Johnston Ave. is just after MacDonalds at the intersection of Main and Brookside, on your left - 777 Chinese restaurant and Na'sis Memorial School are on the corner.  

What a Meeting!!

Odyssey Coat- of felted wool, silk and bamboo, lined with Dupioni silk

What a fabulous February meeting we had! An awesome program with such creative pieces of art by an inspiring guest, some good tips/demos, a "blow you away" Show and Tell, and lots of laughter. What more could you want?

Detail of Odyssey coat lapel

Our sincere Thanks goes out to Sharon Riley of Whisper of Spirit. She shared many of her wonderful pieces of felted fiber art with us. Sharon has been working in a wide range of mediums for over 40 years, including clothing design, fiber art murals, quilting, vintage restoration, Liturgical and costume design, mixed media sculpture, screen printing and dyeing, hand felting, needle felting, leather craft and painting.  Sharon's creations are deeply influenced by nature. She uses a wide variety of materials, including Merino, Corriedale, silk, bamboo, angora, alpaca, tulle and silk chiffon. She embellishes with  novelty ribbons and yarns, embroidery and metallic threads, seed pearls, vintage prayer beads, seed beads and Swarovski crystals. She also incorporates found objects - "gifts from Mother Nature", such as stones, bone, feathers, moss, seed pods, shells and driftwood.
Sharon shared with us a number of her felted creations, including cuff bracelets, garments, wall hangings, vessels and art dolls. Although our "topic of the evening" was embellishment, we were all very interested in the felting processes she uses as well - both Nuno felting and wet felting. She kindly allowed me to photograph her work to share with you here.

You can view more of Sharon's creations at   http://www.whisperofspirit.com/index.html
Thank you Sharon for an inspiring program!!

Luscious Lavender Morning Cuff bracelet

Hummingbird's Garden  Cuff Bracelet

Metamorphosis - Rebirth of the Phoenix art doll

Felted vessel

Felted Vessel

Felted wallhanging Earth Sky - 14" x 36". A celebration of the dance between Mother Earth and Father Sky

Detail of Earth Sky

Detail of Earth Sky

Flying Geese, fast and easy

At the April meeting, I gave a quick demo on a speedy way to make the Flying Geese unit, with only one seam! This is a method I learned from Ricky Tims, who learned it from a quilter in England. Here are the quick and easy steps for a finished unit of 2.5" x 5".



1. From your "background" fabric, cut two 3" squares. From your "goose" fabric (the triangle) cut a rectangle 3" x 5.5". Of course if you were making a number of units, you could cut 3" strips, then sub-cut.

2. Now make your "sandwich": Lay one background 3" square right side up. Fold your rectangle in half, right sides out, and lay on top of the 3" square with the folded edge at the top and raw edges aligned at the bottom. You'll notice the folded edge will not line up with the square at the top, it will be about 1/4" short of the top edge. This is correct, don't worry. (see photo above) Lay your other 3" square on top to complete the "sandwich", right side down, with all edges carefully aligned.



3. Stitch a 1/4" seam on the right hand side of the sandwich.






4. Press seam to one side. Then open up the rectangle to form the "goose".













5. Press. You now have a Flying Geese unit which measures
3" by 5.5". When it is sewn into your project the finished dimensions will be 2.5" x 5".






Here are the cutting sizes for Flying Geese of other sizes:

Finished Size 1" x 2", cut squares 1.5" and rectangle 1.5" x 2.5".
Finished Size 2" x 4", cut squares 2.5" and rectangle 2.5" x 4.5".
Finished Size 3" x 6", cut squares 3.5" and rectangle 3.5" x 6.5".

If you would like to watch a video of Ricky Tims demonstrating this method, click here

Bits and Bytes - notes

As promissed at the meeting on April 2oth, here are some links to references made in the program.


EQ Software - http://www.electricquilt.com/ - is a software used to design quilts. There are many quilting software packages in this website.

Sew Precise by EQ - click here - a software that will print paper piecing patterns

Print graph paper - click here for a free site that will print various graph papers including hexagons.

Online Learning - http://www.lquilt.com/ - 50% off classes for a limited time.

Free DIY Bag tutorials - http://www.diybaglover.blogspot.com/

Memberships - http://www.thequiltshow.com/

Free quilt videos - http://www.quilterstv.com/

Quilters News network - http://www.qnntv.com/

Search 225 quiltshops online - http://www.quiltshops.com/

Remember to email for specific shipping charges before ordering.