Charity Sew Down Reminder - note the new location

Quick reminder of our charity Sew Down this Saturday, September 28, 2013 11A - 4P.  Be sure to note the change of location to the Saddlebrook Library 14850 Laurel Ave., Omaha, NE 68116.   This is just off 144th & Fort and is attached to the Saddlebrook Elementary School. 

We have a fun new project to make quick quilts using a scrappy Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method of string quilts.  Not to worry if QAYG is new to you because it is quick, easy and fun!  We will provide the demo for this method along with precut pieces of the backing and batting.  These blocks work up very quickly and should allow us to quickly complete charity quilts for donation to those in need.   (Check out the sneak peak below...)

Please bring your usual BS (basic supplies) including your machine (and power cords and pedal foot - just sayin' in case some of *us* might leave these behind occasionally...), piecing thread, scissors,  etc...  If you have a walking foot for your machine it would be helpful, but not a must.  Please scour your scrap bins for scraps and fabric you might wish to use and donate.  This project uses strips of varying widths from 1" - 3" of cotton fabrics.  If you have any fun variegated thread to use in your bobbin (this will show on the back of the quilts) these would be great to bring along as well.

Of course, we will have some sort of treats as well.  Am considering trying a new copycat recipe of Starbucks Lemon loaf...  Haven't done a test run yet so that could be dicey!  Hope to see you Saturday!  And remember, this is open to all quilters who wish to do some charity sewing, not just members of the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild so feel free to bring a buddy!

BOC Sew Down #2

Just a quick reminder about the Beads of Courage Sew Down this Saturday, August 24, 2013 @ the Millard Public Library (13214 Westwood Lane) from 12:30pm - 5:30pm. It's a great way to sew for a very worthy cause and meet up with guild members. Feel free to join us for some or all of the afternoon! All are welcome and supplies and instructions will be available.

some reminders. . .

Greetings OMQG members!

A few notes about our upcoming meeting on Tuesday, August 6th, 7pm at A Quilting Place Omaha (11019 I Street). It is an important meeting as we will be voting on the bylaws previously posted and electing officers / directors. You will find a link posted below to the nomination form for the officer / director roles if would like to be nominated or would like to nominate another (with their permission, of course), along with a link to the description of the roles. Feel free to submit the form electronically or print a copy and bring it with you to the meeting.

• Officer / Director Responsibilities
• Officer / Director Nomination Form

We are also asking that all members who are planning to attend the OMQG Quilt Retreat August 9, 10 & 11 at Quilts and Other Notions in Creston, Iowa pre-register by our next meeting if possible. A link to the registration form is posted below. Pre-registering will help us plan for activities, treats, door prizes, etc... We hope many of you will be able to attend some or all of the retreat. You are welcome to attend any time starting at 8am on Friday August 9. The retreat closes at 3pm on Sunday, August 11. It is a short 2 hour drive from Omaha. The retreat is only $30 and there will be lots of fun demos and collaboration. Treat yourself to a few days of quilting and fun!

• Quilt Retreat Registration Form

Hope to see you all at the meeting!

Thanks to everybody who was able to attend our first Sew Down on 7/13--eight participants were able to make 28 bead bags for Beads of Courage!

If you were unable to attend, we will have other sewing opportunities in the future. You can also make bags on your own using the Beads of Courage bead bag tutorial or Lori's tutorial. If you do make some bead bags, please bring them to our next meeting on August 6.

proposed bylaws

Below you will find a link to the proposed bylaws for the OMQG. We understand these may not be perfect and cover every possible situation, however, following the statutes required and practices and experiences of other guilds, this document was drafted. We will be voting on the passage of these bylaws at our next meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 7pm at A Quilting Place (11019 I Street). We wanted to be sure anyone who desired had the opportunity to review the proposed bylaws and provide feedback. 

Upon passage of bylaws, we will then proceed with the elections of officers / directors. We will be posting general descriptions of what each officer will be responsible for managing. We encourage each of you to consider running for office. Our guild has many members with great talents who can contribute to making the OMQG a dynamic organization. All are welcomed and encouraged to throw your hat in the ring. We need a diverse board and that means we need your input. Please consider running for office or serving on a committee. Sharing your talents will help the guild grow!

Click here to read the proposed bylaws.

Beads of Courage Sew Down!

At our July guild meeting last night, a member shared a great charity opportunity--making fabric bags for Beads of Courage. We will be getting together on Saturday, July 13, 2013 at the Millard Public Library (13214 Westwood Lane) from 9am to 12:30pm to sew bags. You can find instructions for making the bags here, so gather up your sewing machine and supplies and join us on Saturday 7/13! (If you are planning on attending, please leave a comment on this post so we can have an idea of how many people to expect.)

For more information....

Beads of Courage Sewdown Flyer

quilt retreat!

Alright everyone, we're planning the retreat in Creston, Iowa at the "Quilts and Other Notions" retreat center. I'm putting out a poll to find out which weekend would be better. Details (such as price, location, directions, roommates, etc) will follow. Keep in mind our August meeting would be August 6th. Please vote for which option would work better for you if you can attend either. There will be more retreats in the future, I'm sure.

Which weekend would work better for you for a quilt retreat in Creston, Iowa?

June block(s) of the month

I'll be back later with more info from the June meeting, but I wanted to post the links for this month's block(s) of the month so you can get started.

Both blocks use half-square triangles (HSTs). The pink and green block on the right is a variation of flying geese made with HSTs. You can find the tutorial here from Jeni at In Color Order. If you'd like to use HSTs to make a zigzag block (the pink block on the left), you can find that tutorial here from The Sometimes Crafter.

Feel free to use the tutorials as a guide and alter them if you wish. I am overrun with 5 inch charm squares from participating in numerous swaps so I'll probably end up using those instead of 4 inch squares. Post pictures of your blocks in our flickr group and be sure to bring them to the July meeting!

modern BOM2 {from Sew, Mama, Sew!}

In March, Sew, Mama, Sew! introduced a new Block of the Month (BOM) series. The series is designed by Alyssa Lichner from Pile o' Fabric and will run for 6 months. (Thanks to Kris for bringing this series to our attention at the April guild meeting!)

The great thing about these blocks is they are huge at 24.5" so you can make a fairly quick quilt. Instructions for the March "Up From Here" block can be found here. Kris made this block and shared it at our April guild meeting.

Instructions for the April "Stained Glass" block have just been posted. . .find them here. If you make any of these blocks, please bring them to the May meeting to share!

April meeting recap

The exec members are trying to make sure the OMQG is meeting the needs and expectations of our members. First up at the April meeting, members were asked to complete a short survey. We want to know what other guilds members belong to and what you do/do not like about your other guilds. We also want to know what activities members are interested in (sewing day, overnight retreat, day-long demo) and if there are any charities your want the guild to consider making quilts for. If you were unable to attend the meeting, feel free to leave any comments on this post or you can e-mail your comments to info.omqg@gmail.com.

Once again we had a lot of great show-and-tell items. It's always inspiring and encouraging to see what everyone is working on so continue bringing your quilts to share.

There were also a few more Madrona Road projects to share. As a guild, we rocked this challenge!

The demo topic for this meeting was hexagons. Michelle showed her block from this Hexagon Rose Star Tutorial:

Michelle also showed several other hexi-inspired projects (click on the names/links below to be taken to the websites for more info).

• Hexagon baby quilt
• Patchwork Prism Quilt by Anna Maria Horner
• Graph paper generator (great for printing all sorts of graph paper to use when planning your projects!)
• Machine piecing pre-cut fabric hexagons (from Moda)

We will be starting a monthly block challenge! Up first is a paper-pieced star. Here is Michelle's beautiful sample block:

The templates can be found here. If you haven't tried paper-piecing before, there are some good tutorials here and here. ***When printing the templates, be sure scaling is turned off.  For the 12-inch block, the top side of section A should measure 4.5 inches (not including the seam allowance).***

We hope you were inspired at April's meeting. See you in May!

March meeting recap

Since it's almost time for the April meeting, I figured I'd better get a March meeting recap up on the blog! Sorry for the delay. . .

We started off with show-and-tell:

There were also more Madrona Road projects to share. Thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge and transformed their fabric into something beautiful! Hopefully we'll have more challenge opportunities in the future.

Lori gave a brief talk about her impressions of QuiltCon. It sounds like a good time was had by all and there was a pretty impressive turnout. The next QuiltCon will be held in 2015--start saving your money!

Michelle gave a scrappy trip around the world demo. You can find the free tutorial here and there are so many beautiful pictures. If you need some inspiration, just look at some of these on flickr.

The meeting ended with giveaways. Huge thanks to Jill Hanna for providing fabric prizes for the giveaways!

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, April 2 at 7pm at A Quilting Place (11019 I Street). Hope to see you there!

National Quilting Day 2013

National Quilting Day 2013 is Saturday, March 16 and the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska is offering a free day at the museum from 9am to 4pm. There will be continuous lectures, demonstrations, and gallery tours.

Lectures:

• 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. - "Not Your Grandmother's String Piecing" by Shelly Burge, quilt designer and author
• 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - "Indigo Dyeing" by Jay Rich, fiber artist
• 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. - "The Making of 'Posing with Patchwork'" by Marin Hanson, curator of exhibitions
• 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. - "Contemporary Quilted Textiles" by Molly Anderson, textile artist

Demonstrations (from 10am-3pm):

• "Document Your Quilts," "You Use THAT for Quilting?" and "Discover Nebraska" on the second floor
• Demonstrations by Handi Quilter and Bernina Sewing Studio of Lincoln
• "Let's Learn How to Piece a Quilt" and "Hand Work" demonstrations on the third floor

More information about these events can be found here.

February meeting recap

Our February meeting was held on Tuesday, February 5 at A Quilting Place. The meeting started off with some show and tell:

It's always nice to see what everybody has been working on. (And for me there is always that extra motivation to make progress or finish a project so I have something to bring in and show off!)

Members also brought Madrona Road projects to share. At the January meeting, participating members received fat eighth bundles of Violet Craft's Madrona Road fabric line from Michael Miller Fabrics.

Even though we all started with the same fabrics, there was a variety of creative and beautiful projects:

And a huge congratulations to Katie! Her "Here Comes the Sun" wall hanging (bottom row, second from the right) was one of only 8 projects chosen by Michael Miller to be displayed at their booth at QuiltCon. There were 262 amazing projects that were submitted so way to go, Katie!

Lori gave a great demo on improv piecing. We are lucky to have such talented group members, and if you are knowledgeable about a particular quilting topic or technique, please let us know. We'd love to have you share your expertise!

At the end of the meeting, we had a discussion of what members would like to see at future meetings.  English paper piecing, machine binding techniques/tutorials, sewing curves, free motion quilting, and color were some of the suggestions and we'll keep you posted about topics for upcoming meetings. A sewing day and a sewing retreat were also suggested. We concluded with a round of introductions since participation is increasing with every meeting.

Thanks for attending and we'll see you Tuesday, March 5!