The spirit of Christmas :: Giveaway Raffle

Hello Bakersfield and surrounding areas.

Many of you local folks know the Strawberry Patch family.

Please take a few minutes to read a post put together for Suzanne's grandson.

He has dedicated his life to find a cure for a disease called ALS.

please help us spread the word.

and visit the post here for prizes .

http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2010/11/spirit-of-giving-giveaway-raffle.html

Jake's ALSA Foundation

Using Our Talents for a Greater Cause

Hello fellow quilters! I want to take a few moments to share with you a special project I have going. I really would love to have all of you wonderful future BMQG members join me in this effort! Earlier this year I became more aware of the sex trade in the U.S. and more specifically here in California. Through a radio program I learned of an organization that is doing what they can to deal with this issue. Courage to Be You works in the U.S. and in Africa to help children who have been sexually exploited. Currently they are working to open Courage House in Sacramento, which hits close to home.

It is unbelieveable and heartbreaking to me that teenage girls in this country and especially nearby (anywhere for that matter; but who knows, quite probably here in Bakersfield) have been victimized by the sex trade. Law enforcement is working hard to put the perpetrators behind bars, but there is little to nothing for the girls who are rescued. Courage House is to be a place for these girls to live and heal and have their needs taken care of.

Upon learning of the Sacramento House I immediately wanted to volunteer for this effort. But living 6 hours away (in Tehachapi!) makes that pretty much out of the question. So I got to thinking about what I have the ability to do with my own talents. I've seen various efforts by individuals in the online quilting community to make quilts for others, so I decided that would be perfect. I want to make quilts for these girls, something that can be special to them, give them warmth and comfort, something they can keep to remember someone cares. I have been in contact with the Sacramento House and they agree that special quilts for the individual girls would be wonderful. I think the modern quilting community especially has a lot to offer in the way of something that is appealing and meaningful for these teenage girls. And it's a way for us to extend part of our own hearts to them as well.

In the Flickr community, earlier this year I joined the second quarter of the [3 x 6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee so I could collect some blocks for this purpose. As the third quarter rolled around I started to receive help from wonderful quilters who were generous enough to send blocks. To date we have received one quilt top, 33 quilt blocks, and more are on the way! My goal has been to have three finished quilts to send in time for Christmas. Here are a couple more photos of the quilt blocks that have been sent by fabulous quilters all over the world. I also have set aside personal quilts and projects to donate proceeds directly to the Sacramento House, including one particularly special quilt that I hope to auction in the coming months.

Megan, Terri, and I have talked about the possibility of the BMQG making our own contributions of making quilts for the rescued girls. I do hope you would like to join me, that as a group we can offer our abilities to give to others who have had heartbreaking experiences in their youth. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for all of the help that has been received as well as all that is to come. I'd love to hear what you think!

A few tidbits to get you excited

Let me say first that the group we are already forming is absolutely amazing. Both in personality and talent. I have had the chance to meet a few local quilters here and even stop by a few blogs to see all the excited faces getting ready to be a part of this internet phenomenon we call Modern quilting.

I will be posting soon about how to get started in project modern if you are interested in the second round. You can find the details here if you cannot wait to read about it.

Also a few people have taken the initiative to do whatever they can to make this a true community of quilters, and friends. Meg has started a flickr group for everyone to share photos of there quilts with the group now before we all meet in January. Flickr is a free website for photo sharing and has become a great resource for us modern quilters.

We have also added tabs to this blog sharing free patterns and tutorials with some of our favorite modern quilts. It will also offer business services, other internet quilters photos to inspire you, and any up an coming events. Please feel free to share any events that you may know about by leaving a comment with the link.

Also a BIG announcement! Me and Jen were in Strawberry Patches today when Suzanne's excitement reared out of  her and she showed us all the pretty Kona solids that she had ordered. 60 colors to be exact! And she will be offering these at a fantastic price for retail customers as well as an added discount for the modern guild.

A big thanks to everyone who has helped spread the word, we are all looking forward to meeting the faces behind the quilts very soon. this group is community run and we would love to hear any input on what you would like to see from our modern quilting group.

Welcome to BMQG

Welcome to the BMQG!

Bakersfield Modern Quilt Guild

We are excited to officially launch the blog for all modern quilting enthusiasts here in Bakersfield or other surrounding areas. As the first meeting is being planned, we encourage everyone to follow the BMQG blog for updates and exciting news.  To follow us just click the follow button at the top right of this page.

We would like to extend our modern quilting group to all members, whether your a traditional quilter who would like to learn modern quilting, someone who just wants to learn how to quilt, or even a modern quilter already.

Please feel free to view the tabs above where we will provide wonderful links to other modern quilters throughout the Internet.

Do you have a blog? let us know and we will link it to our guild sidebar for everyone to meet you as well.

A BIG thank you to the main branch of MQG as this would not have came about without the fabulous idea to bring our modern craft from the Internet to our local cities.

A very special thank you to a few ladies who made this branch possible

Jennifer

Megan

Terri

We are excited to have been offered wonderful meeting spaces with some fabulous local shops to start meetings once a month, as well as sewing sessions, and we will provide dates when those have been decided.

A huge thank you to Robin of  "To Quilt 'n Sew" for offering her space to us for sewing sessions once a month. These session will be approx 4-6 hours long and will offer a fantastic space for everyone to bring in their machines to finish WIP's and gab with other modern quilters. You will also have the freedom to come later or leave earlier. Robin will also be going to quilt market very soon so if there are some collections that you would like her to check out please send her an email here  toquiltnsew@sbcglobal.net

I would also like to thank Suzanne of "Strawberry Patches" For offering her beautiful shop for our main guild meetings. These meetings will be only about 2 hours long and will provide show and tell times, swaps, tips and tricks, guest speakers, book reviews,  and much much more. Suzanne will also be attending Quilt market and you can also send your requests to her at spatches@etcrier.net

Thanks to everyone who helped get this started and we all look forward to meeting you at our first meeting.

Stay tuned for dates! We hope to see you there.