October meeting recap

We were glad to see some new faces at our October meeting--thanks to everybody who attended.  The meeting started off with some show and tell. . .

We had a small enough group that we were able to have a good discussion about our favorite part of quilting, how long everyone had been quilting, and what drew us to modern quilting.

After everyone had a chance to show off their projects, I gave a presentation on internet/social media and modern quilting. (I am not a huge fan of public speaking so I really appreciate everybody's support!)  If you were unable to make it to the meeting, you can see the power point here.

The challenge for October is to create a flickr account (if you don't already have one), find the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild on flickr, and upload a picture of your convergence challenge piece (or another photo) to the group page.  In case you missed the meeting or forgot how to do this, I will be back with another blog post later this week with step by step instructions.

on-line fabric swaps

Looking for a way to build your fabric stash? Fabric swaps are a fun way to do just that. Most involve swapping 5 inch charm squares but others swap 10 inch squares, fat quarters, or any number of other sizes. After you find and join a swap that interests you, you purchase and cut the assigned amount of fabric (usually one yard) into the assigned size, and ship them and a pre-paid return envelope to the swap hostess. The hostess then sorts the fabric and mails it back to you.  If you're looking for a swap to join, there is a Fabric Swap Finder flickr group where people post swap ideas and links to sign-ups.  Some of the swaps that have occurred are polka dot, stripes, I spy, rainbow, neutrals, solids, Christmas, and modern designer fabrics.

I participated in my first fabric swap on flickr this past spring and I've been hooked every since.  We swapped 5 inch charms of polka dot fabrics.  I used mine to make this polka dot pinwheels quilt top.

(I've been working on it forever but I'm almost done quilting it.  My goal is to have it finished to share at the October meeting.)

If you don't find the swap you want, you can always host your own.  I was looking for an I spy swap but there were none going on, so I jumped in and hosted one in March.  There's some great instructions on how to host a swap here.

quilting and the internet

When it comes to quilting, where do you find your inspiration? In the modern quilting movement, the internet seems to play a large role in how quilters communicate and share ideas. Much of my inspiration comes from other quilters I have "met" through blogs, flickr, and online fabric swaps and bees. (And I admit that I would probably get a lot more actual quilting done if I spent a little less time on the internet!) While there are numerous places on the web you can find and share what inspires you, today I'll talk about Pinterest and flickr.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that lets you "pin" almost anything you can find on the internet. To me, it's a better way of "bookmarking" something because you have a visual reminder of what you pinned. Once you open an account, you create various categories of boards and start pinning! On my Pinterest account, I've created boards for quilts to make, quilt blocks, quilt tips and techniques, and my quilts. Just looking through some of my quilting boards is often enough to motivate me to get going on a project. The drawback of Pinterest is potential problems with copyright infringement.

Flickr is a website that allows you to organize and share your photos. You can create an account for free, but there are limits to the number of photos you can have and groups you can post in.  Upgrading to a paid account avoids a lot of those limits.  You can also create and join groups and there are over a thousand groups centered around modern quilting.  Did you know the Omaha Modern Quilting Group is on flickr?  Come join us and add photos of your projects to our group pool!