There were lots of new faces at this meeting – we signed up 9 new members!

We began our Sew Day with Show and Tell.  Here are some recent projects by our members, including a couple projects for the Riley Blake Fabric Challenge:

We talked about making a banner quilt.  This will be a group effort, and we are so excited to get started.  We’ll need a bunch of 6.5″ unfinished quilt blocks for this project, and we’re planning to have a block-making frenzy for next month’s sew day.  Check out our Quilt Block Tutorials Pinterest board for tons of inspiring free tutorials.  We made sure to put the block size on each pin!

Then we shared a couple of news items:  the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge and 2015 QuiltCon.  Exciting stuff, folks!

Lori Wambolt (our Treasurer) shared her experience from SewDown Portland, along with her “conversation” quilt block.

Lori showed examples of quilts that focused on composition and use of negative space. Then we made some quilt blocks along this theme, using this tutorial by Alissa Haight Carlton: This Way Quilt.

Join in the fun! We are looking forward to another Sew Day in our roomier space at the downtown Boise library. Last month was our first month at this location and everyone enjoyed having a bit more elbow room to work.

When: Saturday, February 22, 1pm – 3pm
Where: Boise Public Library, 715 S Capitol Blvd, Boise, ID (Marion Bingham Room on 3rd floor)

Our discussion topic for our February sew day will be composition and the use of negative space in a quilt.

We will be working through the recently posted tutorial on the Janome website by Alissa Haight Carlton, one of the founders of The Modern Quilt Guild.

“This Way Quilt” by Alissa Haight Carlton

Yes, the tutorial is for an entire quilt, however, we will start with the foundational block that the quilt builds upon. How much of the quilt you make after we make the very graphic, simple block will be up to you.This quilt does appear to be one that will come together quickly (once you tackle all the cutting!) and would be a great example of modern quilting to showcase in the upcoming BBQ 2014 quilt show.

For the foundational block, you will need the following materials:

Fabric A (Background Fabric)

• 1 – 3.5” x 3.5” square
• 2 – 2” x 2” squares

Fabric B

• 1 – 2” x 5” piece
• 1 – 3.5” x 2” piece

If you’re interested in completing more than the starting foundational block, here is the link to the tutorial that details remaining cutting instructions:

http://content.janome.com/index.cfm/ProjectCenter/Project_Detail/This_Way_Quilt

Additional supplies you may also want to bring:

• Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter
• Iron and small ironing board (if you have something portable)
• Sewing machine, thread, small scissors
• Power strip/surge protector if you have one

As always, be sure to bring your latest show and tell finished quilts for all to see! You are also welcome to bring your own project(s) to work on if this tutorial doesn’t peak your interest or you are focused on a current project and simply can’t tear yourself away from it to start something new. We look forward to seeing you for our February Sew Day.

UPDATE: If you are participating in the Riley Blake Fabric Challenge, bring your quilt.  We’ll take photos of our entries.

We began our Sew Day with Show and Tell.  Here are some recent projects by our members:

Christy showed examples of how modern fabrics and color can transform traditional blocks into something modern.

We began with some inspiring modern quilting found on our Pinterest board.

Some modern fabric lines we like!

We like to support our local quilt shops in Boise, but we also buy online. Here are some of our favorite online shops.

We worked through an online tutorial together to illustrate how tweaking the design of a traditional quilt block can make it modern.  Here are some Modern Sawtooth Star quilt blocks we made from this tutorial.

Join us for our monthly Sew Day! We are meeting at a NEW LOCATION – the Boise Public Library on Capitol Blvd, in the Marion Bingham Room on the 3rd floor. Please note that we are meeting at an EARLIER TIME, for this month only.

When: Saturday, January 25, 11am – 1pm
Where: Boise Public Library, 715 S Capitol Blvd, Boise, ID (Marion Bingham Room on 3rd floor)

This is going to be an exciting year for the Boise Modern Quilt Guild! Over the next few months we will be exploring some of the different elements that make up modern quilting.

We will kick off the year at our January 25th Sew Day (note the different time and location) learning more about one of the components of modern quilting: reinterpreting traditional design with design and fabrics.

We will show examples of how modern fabrics and color can transform traditional blocks into something modern, and explore some of our favorite modern fabric lines and designers (and where to purchase that great fabric online!) We will also work through an online tutorial together to illustrate how tweaking the design of a traditional quilt block can make it modern.

Tutorial Supplies :: Modern Sawtooth Star from 42quilts.com

• Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter
• Iron and small ironing board (if you have something portable)
• Fabric
  • Outside fabric – 2 pieces of 3”x5” and 1 piece cut 4”x4”
  • Fabric for points – 4 pieces (same color, mix of colors, your call) at least 3.5” wide and about 10” long
  • Center fabric – 5” or larger square
• Sewing machine, thread, etc.
• Also – bring a power strip/surge protector if you have one.

Below is an example of the modern Sawtooth Star. Everyone’s will turn out different!

Hope you join us!

As always, bring completed projects for Show & Tell.

We had a lot of fun at our after-Christmas party on Saturday. The highlight of the event was the pincushion exchange. Everyone was so creative!

We also had a few members share recently completed projects.

Join us at the Library! at Cole & Ustick on December 28 for our after-Christmas party! We will provide the music and cider. You just need to bring:

• A treat to share (savory or sweet)
• The pin cushion you made for the exchange
• Items for show and tell, including sewn items you may have received over the holidays
• 2014 dues if you haven’t paid yet

Please note that this will not be a regular sew day and due to the food we advise you do not bring your sewing machine.

We will meet at the Library! at Cole & Ustick (7557 W Ustick Rd, Boise) at 1 p.m.

Happy Holidays!

We spent the first part of our November Sew Day for our first-ever annual meeting. Now that we are an official non-profit, we are required to hold an annual meeting to take care of a few quick – but important – items of business: voting on the board of directors, submitting annual dues, and reviewing our financials.

The founding board members were elected to serve again in 2014: Christy Foltz-Ahlrichs, President; Angela Bowman, Vice President; Lindsie Bergevin, Secretary; Lori Wambolt, Treasurer.

The guild also voted on our new logo. Of the two that Lindsie Bergevin so graciously and expertly designed, the spring-colored theme won out.  It’s awesome, don’t you think?  Thanks, Lindsie!!!

Lindsie unveiled our new website, gave an overview of the content, and taught a little about photos and hashtags. Our official hashtag is #BoiseMQG.

Christine Brady of Hotdish Aprons occasionally brings in fabric scraps leftover from her apron-making. She brought several boxes this time, for all guild members to freely partake 🙂

The rest of the time was free-sewing and Show and Tell. Here are some featured projects by our talented members: