May meeting photos and stories...

Hi everyone,

SPRING IS IN FULL SWING, YEAH!!

 I confess that this green color takes my breath away EVERY year, over an over....

I am finally getting around to write this blog post!
My life has been busy and exciting these past weeks, so much so that I was late for the May meeting (have a good excuse, I promise - but more about that later!), and forgot my camera too!! - so for this meeting's photo journal I am grateful for all the wonderful photos taken by other members (thank you Robi and Jan!). To add to that - I was so overjoyed and excited once I came to the meeting that I completely forgot to write down meeting minutes too! Oh my.... total failure of the official...

Sew, what's going on you may ask? Well, if you haven't heard already (now that would be a miracle, since I practically shouted from the rooftops and harassed everyone in my reach) - I became a grandmother!!! YEAH! Our beautiful Juliana Marie Vujcic was born just few days before our May meeting (now you see my excuse??) and she is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen!

But if that wasn't enough joy - on Saturday, when I finally made it to our meeting - I got another surprise!! Yup - this my silly, surprised face and some tears too...

 All of my wonderful, amazing, creative WNY MQG friends MADE A QUILT FOR ME AND JULIANA!! AAAHHHHH!!!! To say I am thrilled, overjoyed and grateful is all the understatement galore.

Isn't it beautiful???
Everyone made a star block AND a lovely, lovely label for the back:

This quilt will stay in grandma's house, for all the snuggles and stories and songs...CAN'T WAIT!!!
I even have a rocking chair, where it lives now.

 

I smile every morning when I get up and see it!! 

So, once more - thank you everyone, from the bottom of my heart!! Love you put into these stitches is going to wrap around our precious granddaughter like a cape of strength and love, the most precious gift. :)

And for even more photos, you can click HERE, to see the story on my blog.

OK, of course other things happened at the meeting too, ha ha!
Lets get right away to all the fun of Show and Tell:

Anne's beautiful work in progress

 Anne is discussing her progress and thoughts? :)

Anne also brought her lovely mom to join us - what pleasure!!

Rebecca's work in progress:

I love those "whispering" colors! And so much good quilting space too!
Janice's colorful, cheerful quilt:

 Pam's latest creation:

You can read more about Pam's circles on her blog too! And I really, really like the label!!

Another one of Pam's beauties:

 LOVE that quilting:

Robi - The ScrapMaster finished another stunner!

 Nice quilting too!

This month's Queen Bee is Kim and here is what we will be making for her - what fun!!
And all over good time was had by all...

Now my friends, if you are wondering what was the business part of the meeting (aka - the minutes), I would have to apologize again - I was just too excited and overwhelmed with joy! :) But in some informal form, here is what we talked about:

1. Reminder that Feather blocks for our swap are due next month! Steph is collecting them only at the picnic and will divide and deliver them at July meeting.

2. June meeting/family picnic!! Don't miss the fun and - bring your family! Look at the pinned (up on top!) post at out Facebook Page to leave a comment on what you want to bring (food-wise). Visitors and potential members are welcome!!

3. Next MQG Challenge - fabric was divided to all paid members at April meeting and we did realize that MQG did not send us enough for everyone... However - it seems that everyone who WANTED to do the challenge has the fabric, so all is well. Also, few of us are willing to share, if you didn't get it and still want it - so please speak up!

4. Think, plan and quilt - for our next quilt show exposure - Quilting Around Chautauqua 2014!! Anne will have more information and details as it is set. Last year's road trip/meeting there was fabulous and this one will be so much better since we will have OUR quilts in the show - YAY!!

Well, that is all this bad secretary can remember folks. Promise to get my brain back and do better next month! :)
Enjoy spring in full swing, keep calm and quilt on,
Marija

PS - stop and smell the lilacs every chance you have!

 Look up to see this stunning green!!

 Peonies will be blooming soon!! (these are from the Gullo's nursery I visited over the weekend...droool...)

May Meeting Agenda

May Meeting Agenda

May 17, 2014 at 1pm
Audubon Library Buffalo, NY

• Intros
• Show and Tell
• Michael Miller Challenge
• What are you cooking up?  Wanna give us a hint?
• Due Date = July 25, 2014
• What is Modern Fabric?
• Blog Series (photo permission)
• Modern Fabric Episode 1
• What other questions might you want to explore?
• Reminders:
• Birthday Swap
• Feather Swap
• Due Date = June Meeting!
• Any early submissions?  Hand to Steph
• Handouts
• Low Volume Fabric Swap - Rebecca to handout fabric to participating members
• New Member Cards - Rebecca to handout
• Do you have an MQG pin?  Rebecca might have extras
• Upcoming Meetings
• June Meeting - June 21, 2014
• Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY
• 11am-5pm
• Potluck Picnic
• Bring families!
• July Meeting - July 11, 2014
• Quilter's Haven
• 167 West Fairmont Avenue, Lakewood, NY 14750
• 11:30am
• WNYMQG Bee
• April Queen - Marcia's Blocks hand 'em over!
• May Queen - Kim tell us what you want us to get busy on in May
• Questions? 
• Closing.

What is Modern Quilting?

Recently we have started a dialogue in the guild regarding what is considered "modern."  As my guild members know...this is a loaded question and well, I could really go on and on about it.  So let's start with one question at a time shall we?  How about this...

What is modern fabric?

Off the top of my head I would define modern fabrics as those with large bold patterns.  But, as with most things, this type of topic has been explored before and so I asked my good friend Google and found this article...  Craftsy - What is Modern Quilting Fabric

In my experience, again I'm hardly infallible but let's run with it, when a swap calls for "modern quilting fabric" I interpret that as:

• designer label
• quilt shop quality 
• 100% cotton
• no JoAnn's, Hancock's of Paducah, or Michael's fabric

If you still feel unsure about what qualifies as modern quilting fabric my suggestion is to do some homework from the safety of your home...browse a few online fabric shops that specialize in modern quilting fabric!  You can confer with my buddy Google with a simple search for modern quilting fabric or pop on over and visit a few of my favorite virtual fabric shops here, here, and here.  

Let me know what questions you have by posting a comment below!

- rebecca lynne

April meeting fun in Arcade, NY

Hi everyone,

even though we were not in full roster this month (due to all of the unforeseen circumstances called LIFE :)  ), April meeting was great fun!
First - a HUGE thank you goes to our host - Creekside Fabrics, Quilts and Yarns !! Sandy and Cheryl made us feel welcome and special, not to mention refreshments, door prizes and overall fun!!

 Here are just a few  shoots of this lovely store:

In terms of minutes from the meeting - above mentioned life's circumstances were responsible for us missing our entire executive board, except for yours truly, so since I was flying by the seat of my pants running a meeting, secretary notes are a bit sketchy...but here it goes:
WNY MQG April meeting minutes:
- meeting was called by Marija at 1:30 pm and first we had a welcoming remarks from our lovely hostess and shop owner, Sandy Pirdy. Sandy distributed door prize tickets and we were busy filling them and putting them in the basket (fun!)
- Marija started the meeting and we had introductions from several guests and potential new members - always a joy to meet new quilters!
- MQG challenge fabric was distributed to all present members, with a note that deadline has changed - it is now July 25th. Several members will deliver them to ones not present at the meeting and all remaining challenge fabrics are with Marija.
- We had a reminder about our Feather block swap that is due in June, with a wonderful visual from Deb (see below!)
- As per Rebecca's plan, we talked about questions anyone can have about "What is a modern quilt?" - suggestion was to think about this and plan on having a more general discussion about it during our May meeting. Janice particularly mentioned need to also discuss what is "modern fabric" as often instructions in swaps can call for use of "only modern fabric" - and that can be confusing.
* therefore all WNY MQG members and potential members or guests - think about all you want to talk about on this topic for May meeting!
- last part of the meeting was our first Bee demo and discussion given by April's Queen Bee, Marcia! You can see photos of Marcia's block and instructions HERE or on our Flickr page as well. We all agreed that this will be a fun block to make! Marcia distributed strips for the block's background to all present participants and rest will either be mailed and personally delivered. These are due to be given to Marcia in May!

Here is Marcia doing her demo:

And then the highlight of every meeting - SHOW AND TELL!!

Cheryl, in dual role of one of our hostesses and a guest, showing her Kona Color Card quilt:

 Lisa showed us her daughter's quilt that got a whole new life! Story of this quilt is as beautiful as the quilt itself - Lisa and her mom Vicky would tell it so much better (please feel free to do so in comments girls!), but in short: this was Lisa's daughter's quilt that she had since childhood and it was loved to pieces - literally. Lisa decided to give it a new life and her mom, Vicky took on the task - repairing, re-quilting, re-binding... Now it will be given back to Lisa's daughter for her birthday - what a present and what a sweet story!

 Not to mention beautiful quilting by Vicky!!

 Deb brought her feather gorgeousness:

 Kim - aka a champion of Show and Tell - had several beauties for us:

 quilt for her son's wedding is now quilted...

 ...with a beautiful, beautiful label, only mother can do...

 more beauties from Kim - this one for a friend that is "granola kind of girl", so fitting! :)

 This one is "just because"...so it is waiting for some lucky recipient!

 ...and the back:

 This beauty is from Cheryl's young daughter, Naomi - WOW!!

Did I mention - I LOVE Show and Tell? I do.

Thank you to all who came to our April meeting - it really was fun and inspiring, although we all did miss you our "founding mothers" (you know who you are...he he) and everyone else who couldn't make it!!

Hope to see everyone and many more new faces in May - 'till then, KEEP CALM AND QUILT ON! :)

Have a wonderful week,
Marija