January Meeting Recap

Meet the new Board for 2013!

(L-R) Holley, Pam, Lynn, Christy, Laura, and Nicci

January's meeting was packed full of information to get us in the quilting mood for the new year! Included in the announcements was a listing of upcoming quilt shows. For those of you who asked for the links, here they are:

Road to California http://www.road2ca.com
Quiltcon http://www.quiltcon.com 
Best of the Valley http://www.BOTVquilts.com
HMQS in Salt Lake City http://www.HMQS.org

Did you know that the new color of the year is Emerald? I don't have a lot of greens in my stash, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this color is used in fabric lines this year! If you are interested in participating in a color challenge using Emerald, check out http://www.asquaredw.com

This month's program was to make goal/inspiration boards for 2013. We made them for 2012, and I think that most of us found them helpful in staying on track. It was fun to see what members had marked off of their 2012 boards and to see what goals they set for this year! 

"A goal is a dream with a deadline" - Napoleon Hill. If you want to make your own goal/inspiration board, grab a sheet of poster board, a glue stick, and a marker. Add photos, notes, inspirational quotes, make lists, add fabric swatches, etc. Make it something that will inspire you!

We had a great Show 'n Tell this month! In spite of the holidays, it seems that everyone was very productive!

Sandy's son made the quilt, and Sandy added the boarders

 

 

 Pam made this table runner for an online swap partner. The pattern is Cartwheels by Freshly Pieced. Pam quilted it on her Bernina sewing machine. 

 

 Jane made both of these beautiful table runners.

 Margaret used Aneela Hoey's embroidery pattern for the center block, then added some of her fabrics to this cute drag along quilt.

 Margaret's fairies quilt

Margaret hand appliqued these trapunto leaves on this quilt! Absolutely amazing!

 Nicci's gorgeous Christmas quilt. Longarm quilting done by Lynn Douglass

 

 The back of Nicci's quilt

Pam's gorgeous modern silk quilt

How's everyone coming along on the Madrona Road Challenge? We will be revealing our challenge projects at the February meeting. We have a fabulous program lined up for February, so stay tuned to this blog for upcoming details! This is going to be exciting!

Until next we meet,

Lynn

Secretary

Book Review - Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe

With designs from truly wonky to fairly familiar, Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe showcases a variety of designs and approaches to modern quilting.

Some of the quilts featured use traditional blocks, incorporating bright colors with solid white or gray to give them a modern update. For example, "Juicy" by Monica Solorio-Snow (thehappyzombie.com) alternates square and quarter-square triangle blocks using Monica's own colorful line of fabric, Happy Mochi Yum Yum, on a white background. Jeni Baker (incolororder.com) takes a similar approach with her "Mini Claw Throw." It features the very traditional Bear Claw block, but she gives it that modern flair with a teal, gray, and school-bus-yellow color scheme.

Perhaps the most modern of the quilts is "Improv Color Blocks" by designer Kati Spencer (fromthebluechair.com). If wonkiness makes you nervous (even spell check doesn't like that word!), the 12 four-sided but irregularly shaped blocks, surrounded by more than three yards of solid gray fabric, will ease you into unfamiliar territory without a huge time commitment.

Fun features of the book include the Designer Bios and the tips and techniques for adding your personal touch to the quilts. No quilt police here! It's a treat to see so many of our favorite quilting bloggers together in one publication. The photos of each project are large enough to see detail, including the quilting in most cases, and the instructions are clear and well-diagrammed.

Retail price on this book is $26.99, which may be a bit pricey for some budgets. However, the publisher, Martingale, is sponsoring a giveaway of 19 eBooks (one from each designer plus the publisher). Go to http://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/beautiful-quilts-from-top-bloggers/. The giveaway closes one week from today, on January 29. Best of luck!

Laura Haywood
BMQG Vice President

Question of the Week

With Road to California's classes starting today, it made me wonder: If you could take any quilting class you wanted, what would it be and why?