Our charity quilt for the MQG Challenge “Modern Traditionalism” is coming together well, thanks to the efforts of our charity quilt committee and all the members that contributed blocks and their time. We spent our last sew in assembling!

Eileen is collecting blocks to send to the Las Vegas MQG chapter as part of their #quiltsforvegas initiative. The pattern requested is Cluck Cluck Sew’s “Grayscale” block, and each quilt will also include a heart block (the same design that was used for #quiltsforpulse). The quilts are being made in whites and bright primary colors (prints ok). Eileen will be collecting at our next meeting – please contact her with any questions you might have. Thank you.

We know them, we love them, we covet them – our own Eileen D is going to lead us through the somewhat daunting process of making our own Sew Together Bags at our September sew-in: Here’s the info! The pictures above are a few examples of front panels Eileen has made up for this class.

Hey kids, September is right around the corner and if you are interested in taking my “class” at the September Sew In we should probably talk about school supplies!!

First, and foremost, you will need to purchase the pattern. It is the Sew Together Bag and it is available for purchase at sewdemented.com in PDF form for $12.  I have been told it is available in some quilt shops but I don’t remember which.  If you do purchase in PDF form make certain you print in “Actual Size” as there is one paper pattern piece included.

Before you consider fabric choices and how you may or may not want to piece or embellish your Exterior Panel, I strongly urge you to use Instagram and check out the hashtags for some super creative ideas   #sewtogetherbag #sewtogetherin2017 and #sewtogethersewalong  or simply use Google Image and search Sew Together Bag.  

Materials:

Exterior Fabric:  The pattern calls for one Fat Quarter of fabric.  Now if you want to simply have your exterior made from a single piece of fabric this is the way to go.  If you would like your Exterior Panel to be made from patchwork or some other form of piecing please keep in mind that the actual, unfinished size of the panel is  13 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches and this piecing needs to be completed before the class.

Lining Fabric:  1/2 yard x WOF  Self explanatory and this will yield all the same interior bag linings.  I would stick to this for your first go at it, but you certainly don’t have to.  If you want to go all out and use more than one interior lining fabric you will need to cut four pieces,

B1, B2, B3, and B4   8 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches.  The fabric you need for the side panels (the actual pattern piece included in the pattern) is  also included in the lining fabric 1/2 yard.

Pocket Lining Fabric:  1/3 yd xWOF   Again this will yield three pocket lining of the same fabric.  Here I like to use three different fabrics and simply cut (2) 4 x 9 3/4 inch pieces of three (3) different fabrics and use some colorful, coordinating zippers.

Binding: 1 Fat Quarter

Batting or Fusible Fleece: (1) 18 x 22 inch piece.  I personally, use a thin batting but either is perfect and work equally the same.

Interfacing: 1 yard of lightweight fusible.  I highly recommend Pellon ShapeFlex SF101.  Me personally, I would not bother using anything else.  (I am not being paid to say that!!)

Zippers: (1) 18 inch zipper.  This is for the outside of the bag and there is no deviating in size.  (3) 9 inch zippers: This size is perfectly fine: however, if you fear the zipper I urge you to buy longer such as 12 inch or any size that is longer than 9.  I do not fear the zipper and I always use longer because it allows me to easily install it without the fear and the bulk of the zipper pull and stop and we will cut it after we finish installing it. NYLON ZIPPERS ONLY – NO METAL ZIPPERS!!

You can definitely pick up zippers at Joanns or Walmart. I order mine in bulk from Zipit and I will be placing an order before we have class so if anyone wants one in particular let me know I will include it in my order and I do own a lot already and I share nicely.

I love hearing from all of you so if you have and questions or concerns call or text me.

Next up, things you need to do prior to class!!

You guys are going to love this bag!  Thanks for having the confidence in me to teach it to you..

Eileen

At this month’s meeting we will be finding out more about the prep for this year’s QuiltCon 2018 Charity Quilt – remember, the theme this year is modern traditionalism – something I think our group really excels at! The Charity Quilt committee has asked that we pull tone on tone fabrics from our personal stashes in this year’s colors – remember, solids and prints are both ok, but the prints cannot contain colors outside of the palette below. Scraps? We got this. 🙂

Hey all! Our tried and true charity chairwoman, Eileen, will be collecting hexagon blocks for the Manchester Quilting Bee effort. We would love to see everyone contribute at least one if you can find the time! Here are the details (and here’s a link to all their info on facebook: Manchester Quilting Bee). A very  brief summary: Use the templates linked below to create a 5″ hexie that can stand up to washing, then applique it onto a 6.5″ fabric square – please don’t trim the fabric underneath the hexie, as they’d like to keep it for stability. If you are making several, feel free to piece them together. Eileen will be collecting and mailing, or you can mail directly to Chris in Jersey City – just make sure to mail so they arrive before June 11th!  But first a little background info: Why hexies? Why bees? In the 1800s Manchester was awash with textile mills that were commonly described as ‘hives of activity’ and the workers inside them compared to bees. It has been a symbol of the city ever since – I’ve included some images of bee artwork found in and around Manchester as inspiration below. Embroidery and piecing are welcomed as part of your hexagon design.

“This project is already growing far larger and quicker than we ever imagined – thanks so much for wanting to be involved.

Realising that we’re probably going to receive a large number of hexies, we’ve decided to save time in piecing them by asking you to applique them onto squares of fabric (instructions below). If you’d prefer to send just the hexies that’s fine too but you’ll appreciate that it’ll be easier for us to work with squares and to adapt any discrepancies in size 😀

Block Instructions:
Size: to create a 5″ hexie – you can use the google doc or dropbox template provided in the links below – please unclick ‘fit to page’ and print out at actual size or 100%. Alternatively, the length of each hexie side is 2-7/8″ and the distance across the block is: flat side to a flat side 5″; point to point 5-3/4″. The unfinished block is 5″ and there is a 1/4″ seam so the workable, finished block is 4-1/2″.

Template Links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zm7i73qt7pe…/quilt%20template.pdf…

https://drive.google.com/…/0B4cKopbPENr1TzR3WUlRWEM4T…/view…

Fabric + Embellishment: please use any colour of quilting weight cotton to make your blocks. Blocks can be left blank or embroidered, appliqued or decorated in any way, but must be able to survive a wash, and any beading or raised decoration should be away from the 1/4″ seam.

Papers: if you use a paper template to create your hexie and don’t wish to applique it to a fabric square (see below) we don’t mind whether you remove or leave the paper in place when mailing. For ease, we’ll be quilting most of these hexies directly onto a larger fabric but some may still be joined using the EPP method, we’re happy to receive with or without paper 😀

INSTRUCTION UPDATE
Applique: in an update to our original instructions we would love you to machine or hand raw-edge or turn-edge applique the hexies onto 6-1/2″ fabric squares (please remove papers before appliquing). When complete, don’t trim away fabric from behind the hexie as the square fabric will help stabilise the block. If you make more than one block feel free to join them together. We’re trying to make the piecing process faster now it seems like there will be a larger response than initially envisaged and this will allow us to machine piece the blocks easily. Note: if you have already made your hexies, as in the original instructions posted, you are still welcome to send them in as hexies. However, given the scale things have grown to, it will be helpful, but not essential, if you can applique them to squares 😀

Deadline: we now have a deadline for receiving blocks – Monday, 11 June 2017.

UK mailing address:
Michelle Burridge
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
25 Stretford Road,
Urmston,
Manchester
M41 9JY
ENGLAND

US mailing address – ONLY AVAILABLE UP TO 11 JUNE 2017
(please don’t send items to arrive after 11 June as Chris is travelling to Britain to deliver the items that week and then moving home. Items arriving after that date may not arrive/be lost so, please send late items to the UK address only)

Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
110 River Drive #2307
Jersey City
NJ 07310
USA

Canada mailing address:
Amanda Elias @Atelier Fiber Arts
c/o Manchester Quilting Bee
3993 rue Wellington,
Verdun, Quebec, Canada
H4G 1V6

Getting Involved
If there are any quilting groups who could get involved it would be hugely appreciated!

Piecing Parties
We’ll be updating the page with news of piecing parties once the blocks have arrived.

Donations
We’d love backing + binding fabric and batting/wadding donations along with offers for long arm/machine quilting services. Please private message us 😀

If there are any questions, don’t hesitate to message! We’re completely new to all of this and a bit overwhelmed by the response so far! 😀 ”

I’ve included the info on our mini quilt auctions below – please share widely! Feel free to re-post on your instagram and facebook accounts – let’s all work to spread the word!

We are going to be kicking off our mini quilt fundraising auction on IG tomorrow at 10 am….which mini will it be??? Check back tomorrow to find out! Rules: All quilts will have a starting bid of $25. Each auction will run for 48 hours. Must include PayPal address with your bid. Please tag the previous bidder in your comment! Minis will be sent flat rate priority mail within the US – international winners, please pm us with your shipping method of choice. Shipping not included in bid. Auction quilts must be paid for within three days of auction end. Thank you for your support!

Several members of our guild are participating in Lee Heinrich’s 2017 Summer Sampler: Summer Star Medallion quiltalong this year. It is a block of the week program with both traditional and paper pieced blocks running through September 4th. It just started May 15th, so plenty of time to catch up if you would like to sew along with us! You can find the details on Lee’s blog post here. The final product will be 17 blocks, with assembly instructions and “filler block” directions sent out in September to finish off your quilt. I’ll be updating our album here as JSMQG members dive into this fun summer project.  Make sure to tag your instagram photos with #summersampler2017 and #jsmqg to play along!

We had a great meeting this month, with lots of new faces! We agreed that we are all interested in creating a charity quild quilt for Quiltcon 2018, and will explore our ideas next month on how to proceed. Remeber, the theme is “Modern Traditionalism”!

After a great show and tell, an amazing door prize donated by June, and a run through of our latest fabric donations, we discussed our upcoming June pool party/meeting, where Michelle will be running our first “ugly fabric” auction – as she reminded us, bring cash ladies! 🙂

Brandy gave a wonderful presentation for our “Back to Basics” series, on pressing our half square triangles and making design decisions as we move forward with the layout our final designs.

Sherre has been BUSY – she brought in many new quilts, everything from shop samples to her just completed Farmers Wife quilt for her bedroom!

Love the colors and quilting on this one!

Great quilting on this graphic jelly roll race quilt

This charity quilt has the most darling camping and outdoor scenes, alongside beautiful quilting.

Here is Sherre’s completed Farmer’s Wife Quilt – stunning! Check out the details she added to the corners! She is amking shams and accent pillows too!

Here is Sherre’s beautiful Farmer’s Wife Quilt – it is destined for her bedroom, along with matching pillowcases and shams. And look at the border designs she added – love it. I think I need to dig out my book and start these up again!

This ombre shop sample by Sherre was stunning, front and back!

This ombre shop sample by Sherre is just stunning – front and back. Check out all those thread changes!

Next up were two great quilts from Diane, first this uplifiting pink/purple and neutrals quilt, with wonderful dark thread quilting on top, and just as perfect pink thread on the back.

Patti claims this is her “first” modern quilt – pretty great first creation! Love the patterns she created in this quilt.

A great modern top from Kat – YES, batiks can be modern!

Can’t wait to see this cute polka dot number all quilted up!

Eileen finally made one of her amazing bags for herself! This one is a pool tote based on a pattern from Noodlehead Designs.  Diane left us with some great half square triangle inspiration to finish off our show and tell!

Here’s a wonderful letter we received re: the charity quilt we donated to Friends of MCCAC for their charity auction…keep up the good work ladies!

“Dear Eileen,

On behalf of the Friends of the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center, I would like to express our thanks to you and the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild, for the magnificent quilt you created and donated to the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center. The quilt was the focal point of the silent auction at our recent “Wine Sipping, Sampling and Savoring Event” fundraiser, held at Grape Beginnings in Eatontown. Our winner was truly thrilled with her work of art and the funds donated from the quilt will be used to purchase medical equipment for the new Medical Suite in the Phase II building. The evening was a wonderful success and enjoyed by all!

The Friends of MCCAC is committed to doing all we can to raise money to insure the support of Phase II for the Child Advocacy Center. We continue to make progress towards building an advocacy center that is a safe, child-friendly facility where the victims of child abuse, neglect and assault can go to access the necessary prosecution, law enforcement, child protective services, medical, mental health and advocacy services following a report. We can’t do this alone; the support of generous people like you makes our efforts possible.

Again, we thank you and appreciate you and the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild, as true “friends” of the Friends of the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center.

Sincerely,

Angela Juffey
Chair/Treasurer
Friends of the Mo”

“

The guidelines and color palette for the Quiltcon 2018 Charity Quilt competition are out! Quilts must be constructed from the color pallete above, but do not need to include every color in the palette. Coordinating prints can be used in the design as long as they don’t contain any colors outside of the pallete above. As usual, quilts should be twin size – minimum 65” x 88”, no larger then 72” x 92”.

The theme this year is “Modern Traditionalism”…this immediately made me think we could put some of our “Back to Basics” Half Square Triangle Skills to the test. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear everyone else’s ideas at the our next meeting!

An update from our amazing Charity chairperson, Eileen – keep up the good work ladies!

Since September of last year, this guild has done some really awesome things in the name of charity. First the placemat donation to Lunch Break, quickly followed by the twenty two quilts we donated to the residents of the HABcore boarding home,  both in Red Bank, NJ.

Last month it was the thirteen children’s quilts to the Valerie Center at Monmouth Medical in Long Branch, NJ.  Awesome!!

Our latest donation is our Quiltcon 2015 charity quilt submission. I initially reached out to the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center in hopes of donating quilts for the children there. The Advocacy Center is run by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office for children who are the victims of sexual assault, abuse, and neglect. I was told that they are unable to give the children gifts of any kind as they could be misconstrued as a gift in exchange for testimony in court hearings. It’s a shame that the world has become so skeptical even when it comes to an act of good deed, but in the end those quilts went to the Valerie Center and I had the good fortune of meeting Lynn Reich of the Friends of the Advocacy Center.

Lynn accepted our Quiltcon charity quilt to be auctioned off at their fundraising event at Grape Beginnings in Eatontown, NJ on April 22nd. We met at Starbucks and it felt like meeting an old friend.  What was supposed to be a quick handoff turned into the better part of an hour. We enlisted a stranger to take this photo of us.

I sincerely hope they can raise some money with this quilt.  You can read about the event on their website www.friendsofmccac.org

We may have shrunk in size, in terms of membership, but certainly not in heart!  I look forward to the chance to continue to serve our community and another charitable year for the guild.  Thank you to everyone for making all of this possible. Eileen

We had a great sew-in this month! Nat whipped up two gorgeous matching Easter outfits for her twins…

This is the Clara Dress pattern from Violette Field Threads – beautiful!

And this adorable Classic Oxford is from Peekaboo Pattern Shop – so cute!

Brandy worked on her blue and green quilt, and got some binding assistance from Deb L

And Deb L was busy on a blue and green quilt of her own!

Lots of gorgeous work this month – everything from simple and beautful quilts using the rail fence pattern we developed for our “42 Quilts for OG” charity drive to an ornately pieced “Dear Jane” quilt!

Brandy’s star quilt for OG with Bella helping with the basting.
Hopefully the recipient isn’t allergic to dogs…

Eileen’s Split Rail for OG

Michelle also made a beautiful Fence Rail Quilt for OG

June finished up the Split Rail quilt for OG she was working on at our sew-in, using fabric she got from her mother.

Deb L made a quilt for OG with antique style fabrics, inspired by the Victorian homes that line the streets in Ocean Grove.

Sherre used some of the fabric donated by Timeless Treasures Fabrics to make her “Roses” quilt, and quilted it in an all-over rose pattern. She is hoping it can be given to someone named Rose!

Phyllis used some more of the fabric donated by Timeless Treasures to make not just one, but two beautiful donation quilts!

Our visitor Patti showed her Dear Jane quilt which was from a class at Mouse Creek Quilts where she met Michelle! It is all hand sewn and the borders (pictured on the right) still need to be attached.

Sherre brought a recent finish – a custom designed quilt using all Tula Pink fabrics – the entire back is pieced from Tula scraps too!

Sherre also shared another recent finsih – a quilt inspired by Ricky Tim’s “Harmonic Convergence” quilts.

Another great meeting! See you in April!