Maria Dolan, Eileen, Michelle, and a bucket of quilty goodness! 

In the words of our own, amazing charity chair, Eileen DiPietro: “Michelle Lewis and I made our much anticipated trip today to the Valerie Center at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch with 13 quilts in hand to donate. The Valerie Center is a comprehensive health care center for children with cancer and blood disorders. Their mission is to treat the whole child, socially, emotionally and medically and to do this close to home. The Valerie Fund was founded in 1976 in memory of Valerie Goldstein by her parents who had to travel with her to receive treatment. Today it is the largest network of facilities for children, seeing over 25,000 children per year with seven centers in NJ, NY and PA.

Our meeting today was with Maria Dolan, LCSW, who coordinates the care of these children. Maria gave us a tour of the facility. The atmosphere is cheerful and upbeat.  Depending on what the children come in for they could be there for the entire day. There is a waiting room with a huge comfy couch and the walls are lined with bookshelves. Another room is geared toward teens with gaming chairs, video games and iPads. The walls are painted with images of musical instruments. The  television room or “Cinema” room has thick, rich, red velvet curtains with gold fringe lining the doorway and televisions with theatre like seating. Even the examination rooms are pleasant and inviting, decorated in beach themes with a surfboards as an exam table!

We had such a pleasant visit with Maria and her staff and they were beyond thrilled to receive the quilts.  Maria truly “gets” the whole power of the quilt “thing”. She showed a genuine interest in the process of quilt making and the proper care of the finished quilt. I invited them to come and visit with us at a meeting or sew-in.

The quilts we donated today will be given to children who have to be at the Valerie Center for an extended period of treatment. I asked Maria to let us know when they were running low so we could try and maintain a supply for them. Quilts for kids are such a quick make with a long lasting effect and you ladies are so awesome and generous, and I am always in awe of you. Thank you all!!”

Activty Room at Valerie Center

Cinema Room at Valerie Center

Treatment rooms at Valerie Center

Hey all, as promised, here is a primer on incorporating fabric weaving into your quilting, as demonstrated at Quiltfest by yours truly. I discovered fabric weaving, also known as triaxial weaving, mad weave, hex weave, and Japanese meshwork, several years ago and love teaching others how to use this clever and often time-saving technique to create a variety of designs.  The technique originates from traditional Japanese fabric manipulation and traditional basket weaving, and while more commonly taught in areas closer to Asia – Australia, New Zealand, and the West Coast of the US, it began to pick up in popularity again here on the East coast in early 2012. As with all things quilting, what was old is always new again- this technique was popular in the US among quilters and sewists in the 1970’s. Note: Most of the samples in this tutorial use grosgrain ribbon – an excellent way to become familiar with the process before you cut into your much-loved fabrics. This technique can be used to make individual quilt blocks, panels for purses and clothing, or entire quilts.

What you’ll need: Prepared strips (see details on prep below), Foamcore/thick cardboard as large as your finished piece, Straight pins or thumbtacks, and a large safety pin or other make-do device for pulling fabric strips into place – early on in my weaving journey, my friend Tara started 3-D printing a tool specially designed to weave fabric strips, the amazing Wefty needle. She makes them in several different sizes and they make this whole process a dream! I highly recommend picking a few up if you find yourself intrigued with fabric weaving.

 Strip Preparation: Prep your strips – it’s important to remember that you will need approximately 3 times as much fabric as you would for a traditional quilt since there are three layers to any woven design. For the tumbling blocks weave, you will need 1.25 times as much fabric as your final quilted area in EACH of your three weave colors. This is assuming you are cutting 2.5″ strips and running them through a 2.5″ bias tape maker, resulting in 2″ finished strips. I usually cut 2.5 strips on the grain of the fabric (jelly rolls work wonderfully for this), WOF, and starch and press on high heat as I run them through my bias tape maker, then starch and press on high heat. I cut my prepared strips to the right lenght, and piece the “leftovers” together – if you don’t want to fuss with this, you could cut all strips to the right length before preparing. Actually cutting strips on the bias is not recommended – you don’t want your strips to be too stretchy, as this can distort your weave. There are several other ways to make and finish strips, depending on the time you want to invest on the “front end” of your project and its ultimate use. We’ll save that for another tutorial though 🙂

1. For your first layer, you will be cutting strips the finished height of your piece, plus an extra inch to allow for adjustments. You will need enough strips to cover your entire base – how many strips you will use depend on the width of your strips and the width you want your finished piece to be.

2. Prepare your surface. You will need a surface large enough for your finished piece or block – my favorite easily accesible material is foam core board from craft stores. If you buy two trifold boards and connect them with duct tape you can create quite a large surface. For even bigger pieces, sheets of lightweight drywall from a home improvement store works wonderfully. You can adhere your strips with thumb tacks or straight pins, inserted into the foamcore at a 45 degree angle.

3. Lay down your first layer. The sequence of colors you use in this first layer will dictate your final design – for this example, which creates a tumbling block design, you are going to use color 1 (solid blue) as your base. Make sure your strips are stretched tight and are lined up as straight and close together as possible. For any other fellow weavers out there, this is, in essence, your warp.

2. Next, use a ruler to mark a 45 degree angle across your entire piece from the upper left to the lower right side – I like to use painters tape for this, as you will only need it as a guide for the first few strips – after you have pinned your first couple in place, remove the tape and simply use the beginning of your second layer as a guide. Use your 45 degree line to place your first strip of color #2 (white in this example). Your pattern here is basically “two under one over” – that is, strip 1 will go under your first two blue strips, over your third, then under the next two. The next strip will use the same pattern, but shift over one space, so over the first blue strip, then under the next two. The third will be similarly shifted, this time under one, over one, under two. I know this can sound overwhelming, but zoom in on the example above, and remember, nothing is sewn down yet! My mantra when I do this weave is “under two, over one, under one” – the first step every strip in the sequence takes.

As you weave in each strip,  make sure to anchor your starting end with a pin or thumbtack so you don’t just pull it out the other side. When you have completed your second layer, step back and look at your piece – you should have rows of diamonds in color 2 running from the top left corner to the bottom right. At this point,  unpin and reweave any strips that were placed incorrectly. Once this is done, make sure all of your second layer strips are securely pinned down. At this point you may need to tighten up and straighten your first layer as well.

3. Just as in step 2, mark a 45 degree angle with painters tape, this time from upper right to lower left. You are going to repeat the same pattern, taking strips of color 3 (blue and white patterned ribbon) and running them over one, under two of your previous two layers, staggering your sequence as you did in step 2. Think about it in terms of just your first layer – you are still using an over one, under two pattern, but are also going under any overlaying strips from layer 2. A picture is worth well more then 1000 words in this case, zoom in and take it one strip at a time. This may take a few tries to do correctly – I still lose track of my pattern sometimes. Look for a pattern of color 1 diamonds emerging, moving from the top right corner to the bottom left this time. Once you have finished this layer, adjust and tighten as before. You may need to tighten and adjust color 1 or 2 strips as well – look for any slack and adjust as neccessary.

4. The last step – stabilizing – is a little nerve wracking, especially with a large weave, but just take your time and you’ll be fine. I like to put painters tape down over my whole weave as a precaution first. Then, I remove my pins, and gently slide my piece off the foam board. For extra security, you can take white school glue such as Elmers or Roxanne’s and place a dot at each intersection of the weave, then press to dry the glue. After securing my strips in place, I use my domestic machine to zigzap all four sides of my weave. At this point, if you are not going to baste the piece to batting and backing immediately, it can be stored taped or pinned against a hard flat surface such as cardboard or foamboard – I like to tape mine down to rigid cardboard and hang them on pants hangers till I am ready to use them, but they can certainly be stored flat as well (I have a few hidden under my bed) .

If your strips were simply ironed after running them through a bias tape maker, your quilt will need to be thoroughly quilted in the ditch of each “diamond” shape so that it does not distort or unravel in the washing machine. Other strip preparation methods will allow you to do less dense quilting – watch this site for more info on that.

Please leave any questions or comments below, and feel free to contact me with any weaving specific questions at my personal email, silverforgefarm (at) gmail (dot) com with any inquiries.

Resources – Many of the books on fabric weaving are out of print, but readily available used on Amazon. Also don’t be afraid to buy books that are not translated – the diagrams are really what matters in triaxial weaving designs, and most of them are quite easy to understand, even if the text is only in Japanese.

We welcome all helping hands – even if you don’t sew, we can use help with cutting, ironing, and pinning during the quilting process. Irons, Cutting Table, and Ironing Board provided. We have also designed a simple rail quilt pattern and will have the supplies available to create it today at the sew in!

The Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild and VFW Post 1333 in Asbury Park are hosting a sew in to complete quilts to give to the 42 families who lost their homes in Ocean Grove last week. We will sew this Wednesday (3/8/2017) from 1-9pm at the VFW on Lake Ave in Asbury Park. All sewists are welcome. Please fill out the following form to RSVP!  42 Quilts for OG RSVP

Please join us in supporting “42 Quilts for OG” –  a quilt drive to comfort those displaced by the fire in Ocean Grove – Organized by our own Deb Hathaway Hunter, she is accepting completed quilts, tops, batting, fabric, and monetary donations for the cause – email her for more info! deb (at) uniqueandnovel (dot) com

Source: JSMQG Quilt Drive for Victims of Ocean Grove Fire

Our fabric weaving tutorial will be posted here soon, please subscribe to be alerted when new posts are published. We appreciate everyone’s efforts with our ongoing JSMQG quilt drive to help those affected by last week’s fire in Ocean Grove, NJ. See post for more information on how to help!

Calling all quilters and sewists of all levels and talents!!! A section of the historic town Ocean Grove, NJ was devastated by a large fire last Thursday morning, displacing 42 families. Many of our members live in this area, and our own Deb Hathaway Hunter has organized a quilt drive to support those displaced by this massive blaze. Members of The JSMQG are in the process of feverishly sewing quilts to wrap the fire victims in warmth and love. We need your HELP please! Deb H is  accepting donations of pieced blocks and tops, completed quilts, batting, and cotton fabric. If you don’t sew, but would like to help in some way… please consider donating funds to support this effort. For contact info or to donate, please email Deb at deb(at)uniqueandnovel(dot)com. Thank you!

A busy month for JSMQG as we prepared for Quiltfest! Make sure to come by and say hello if you are going to be there this weekend – we have a table, demos, a mini quilt display, and a guild show! We had piles of amazing minis – check out our instagram (@jsmqg)  for closeups! June brought her grey scale mini-in-progress, Deb L showed off her linear mini, Bonnie brought her log cabin inspired mini, and Brandy finished her not-so mini “Modern Crossed” quilt (it is on display as part of our guild show at Quiltfest!)

We had two great tutorials this month too – Phyllis gave a wonderful presentation on quilt labeling options (and the importance of labeling every quilt!) – she showed us embroidery methods, permanent markers that work well on fabric, and printable fabric options. June discussed how (unfortunately)  common quilt theft is and reminded us to use a permanent labeling technique for quilts that we submit to any show – for example, Natalie mentioned that while embroidery is pretty, the stitches can be picked out after it is stolen to obscure its origins. Phyllis showed us the various commercial options available for printing labels onto fabric, such as June Tailor’s line and Dritz’s options. Natalie explained how she fuses quilting cotton to freezer paper so that she can run it through a home printer. A tutorial on this technique can be found here. Don’t forget you can also design and order yardage of custom labels from sources like spoonflower and etsy. One labeling “compromise” that was discussed was writing your information in permanent fabric marker on the quilt back, then sewing over it with your embroidered or pieced label. The “gold standard” seemed to be piecing the label into the actual back of your quilt, so that removing it would be both difficult and very obvious.

Next up was June, providing a much needed tutorial on how to make a proper hanging sleeve for a quilt in preparation for Quiltfest NJ. She showed us how to incorporate a pleat into our sleeves so that regardless of the hanging rods a particular show uses, the sleeve has enough give to hang both smooth and straight, while also being the 4″ completed width most shows require. A video tutorial similar to the technique June described can be found here.

On to the show and tell! Lots of lovely quilts this month. Sherre brought in a cute “bug” quilt she made with her new embroidery machine, made for her daughter since the heat in her VW Bug isn’t always the most reliable. 🙂 Brandy brought her gorgeous finished “Winged Supernova” quilt – made using the Supernova tutorial you can find in our member resources!

Hope to see you at Quiltfest – come find us for lots more info about our little guild!

Best in show this year was this amazing quilt “Bling” both pieced and quilted by Katherine Jones – this piece was created by taking a digital picture of a princess cut diamond and using that to create a foundation paper pieced pattern, then pieced in a range of solids. It’s amazing! You can find Katherine on IG as @twocatquilts

Best Improv Piecing went to Kim Soper for her “Lincoln” quilt – she goes into detail on her process and inspiration on her blog. She based this quilt on an Indonesian style of pop-art called WPAP – specifically a portrait of Abraham Lincoln by  Ihsan Ekaputra This one also won Viewer’s Choice!

First place in minimalist design went to Susan Kyle – I love her story behind this piece, “Wax and Wane”. It is made from the cotton they use to pull off wax at salons!

Susan Clay won first place in the Michael Miller Luxe Challenge that many of us participated in, with her piece “Luxe Modern “.

“Ode to Yashiko” by Marilyn Farquhar won first place for piecing – if you look closely you can see the amazing geometric piecing behind what looks like an abstract, random design.

First place in Applique went to “Inside Out” by Susan Bleiweiss. This piece was made with fused raw edge applique.

Judges Choice was “Selt Portrait in T”, made by Hillary Goodwin from her old worn out t-shirts, and quilted to emphasize dimension.

This one, by Katie Larson, is so much fun! She won first place in the small quilts category.

And look at this proud Mama and her daughter, Lilyanna Kenhle , who won first place in the youth division with “Gemstones”. Start ’em young!

I loved seeing this group quilt, Organic Mid Century Mod,  in all of its completed glory. It was a progressive quilt made at MidAtlantic Mod last year right next to our table – I loved hearing all the discussions and debate as every quilter took their turn to add or modify the finished product. The progressive quilts are raffled off to one of the creators at the end of the retreat, and Laura Bennett @drlbennett of CJMQG was lucky enough to take this beauty home. She finished quilting it at the CJMQG fall retreat I attend every year – a VERY well deserved ribbon indeed!

Politically charged quilts may not appeal to everyone, but I find them fascinating and compelling when done right. “Tea and Skittles” by Thomas Knauer is such a powerful piece – the quilting is text from Trayvon Martin’s memorial service. Did you know Tom is one of our own, an Asbury Park native? He even designed a whole fabric line inspired by the city by the sea, entitled “Asbury“, a few years ago!

There were some fantastic text quilts this year – I loved these two in particular, “Cursive” by Paige Alexander and “Make More Quilts” by Cathy Fussell.

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Now we just need Deb H to give us a report from the field! Deb? Any other quilts from QuiltCon East that caught your eye? Share in the comments below!

Here’s how to play along – you’ll need to dowload the Klikaklu app from the App store (no android version available 😦

Once the menu open, click “sign up”. It will ask you for the year you were born, then ask you to make a username, password, and submit your email address – so they can contact you if you win one of the (totally NOT virtual) quiltcon swag bags! MQG reccomends using your instagram handle as your username if you have one.

After you submit your info, you will see two options, “play a hunt” and “create a hunt”. Choose “Play a Hunt” – at this point you need to scan the QR code from the “digital goodie bag” email we received – this was a little tricky for me in that I needed to open my email on my tablet so I could scan the QR code with my phone, but it worked. To make your life easier, I’ve put the QR code here on our page. After that, click “continue” to go through the screeens till you get to the list of open clues. Start clicking on clues to start playing – more clues become available as you answer others!

Example: So, I clicked on the clue labeled “shopping”. It asked me to take a picture of my most recent quilty purchase. I took a picture of a rug I’m hooking (since it was the closest fabric related item on my desk, lol) and got a badge that says “You’ve completed the first clue. Only 12 more to go” The point of completing 12 is to be entered into the drawing for a real-life swag bag. Let me know if you have any other questions and I hope this helps!

At our last meeting, our own June Mellinger (A 20 year veteran of Brother Sewing!) let us know that MQG and KS productions have collaborated to create a new tv series all about modern quilting, with Brother as a sponsor of course 🙂

Just in time for QuiltCon East, the show went live today! Check it out here – you can watch the first episode on Vimeo and it will also be airing on public television – channel listing is on their website. The first episode includes a lesson on choosing free motion quilting designs by Christina Cameli of A Few Scraps, Allison Evans and Heather Grant discussing ways to organize charity quilting projects online and Jacquie Gering showing the variations that can be achieved with walking foot quilting. Already watched Episode 1? The discussion continues below in the comments section!

From the producers:

“Fresh Quilting, the new public television show co-produced by the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG) and KS Productions, will air in February 2017 with an all-star lineup of modern designers and quilters. In this new series, innovative modern quilters reinterpret traditional techniques with a fresh, modern aesthetic.

In each episode, leading designers give a fresh twist on traditional designs and share quilting techniques to create high-impact quilts. By watching the show, viewers will learn design concepts and techniques they can use to create their own compelling modern quilt designs. Each episode also includes a segment on community sewing with tips from MQG members and leaders.”.

Rebecca’s Reel is looking for a few more quilters to round out their QuiltWeek bus trip to Lancaster, PA – the trip is March 30th, and the cost is $50, which includes admission to the show. Bus leaves from Poricy Park in Middletown at 7 am, and should be back by 9 pm. Remember to drop our name on that long ride to recruit some new members 😉 For more info, see the pdf below. Must register by March 10th!

lancaster-bus-trip

Apologies for the delay – your loyal webmistress was down and out with a stomach bug at the last meeting, so it took me a bit to get all the pictures from our last meeting. Without further ado, onto the the parade o’ quilts!

Eileen D. brought in her completed Minecraft Quilt as well as her modern take on a Christmas Tree Quilt for the holidays….

Michelle stunned us, as always, with her gorgeous work – this time a wedding ring quilt in yellow and blue…

Deb H brought in her epic star quilt…

Kat showed off her mind bending maze quilt – love the optical illusion it creates!

Bonnie B brought her rainbow quilt to share…

Diane showed off her “Stretched Hexies” Quilt

Phyllis showed off the her eye catching mod flower quilt top…

Sherre brought in her finished “Patchwork City” quilt…

And Deb L showed off her finished Circles quilt!

If I missed any designers or patterns used, or if your quilt has a special name, leave me a comment below and I will make sure to add that into our January show and tell. Thank you1 -Your webmistress, Shannon

Hey JSMQG! Looking to jump on the fabric challenge bandwagon? This looks like a fun one and it’s not due (digitally) till September 12, 2017, which means it would be an awesome summer project! You need to create a contemporary style quilt using only the bella solids in the picture above. All colors must be used somewhere on the quilt – this can be either the front or the pack though – any style of piecing, quilting, applique, or embellishment goes. Fat Quarter bundles are available from most of the major online fabric shops – I will see if Pennington is carrying them and update as I find out. Here are the colors you must use and the rules and relevant links:

1. Bella Solids Black (9900-99)
2. Bella Solids Lead (9900-283)
3. Bella Solids Silver (9900-183)
4. Bella Solids Yellow (9900-24)
5. Bella Solids Graphite (9900-202)
6. Bella Solids Summerhouse Lime (9900-173)
7. Bella Solids Purple (9900-21)
8. Bella Solids Smoke (9900-316)
9. Bella Solids Mango (9900-222)
10. Bella Solids Amelia Blue (9900-167)
11. Bella Solids Betty’s Red (9900-123)
12. Bella Solids White Bleached (9900-98)

•  Any type of piecing, quilting, embroidery can be used.
• Quilts must measure 72″ x 90″
• Quilts must be an original design.
• Quilts must be quilted! No quilt tops will be accepted.
• Quilt must be labelled with the creator’s name, city and contact info.
• The 3 winning quilts will become property of Moda Fabrics.
• No limit to the number of entries, and International entries are accepted too!

Update as of 02/08/2017

As per Moda, all 12 colours must be used, but they don’t all have to be on the front of the quilt!That’s great news to hear, as it should open up the possibilities a bit 🙂

Prizes:

• 1st Place: $5,000
• 2nd Place: $3,000
• 3rd Place: $2,000

Moda will be contacting the winners on October 20th! The winning quilts will be on display at the Moda booth during Fall Quilt Market 2017!

How can I apply?

Head over to the Moda blog for full contest rules and details, as well as the application by clicking here.

Inspired by our trip to the Lancaster MQG’s first quilt bazzar, we are having a mini quilt raffle as our first quilt raffle fundraiser! Our members are creating gorgeous mini works of art, which will all be on display at Quiltfest NJ this March!