Apr
2021

April 21 Meeting & Guest Artist Rebecca Klundt

categories: Monthly Meetings, Sew Days

Please join us for our April 2021 virtual Guild meeting!
When: Saturday, April 24, 1 pm – 3 pm
Zoom: (email [email protected] and we’ll send you the meeting link)

Featuring guest artist Rebecca Klundt: “Gather. Break down. Reconstruct.”

Utah artist Rebecca Klundt makes quilt-like art, working primarily in wood and acrylic to create two-dimensional “reconstructions.” Rebecca’s artwork uses resources that might otherwise be wasted, is inspired by Utah’s mountain landscape, and is driven by a desire to foster thoughtful conversation. “I love the challenge of using simple materials to say something…or to hear something,” she says. If you’ve ever dug through your scrap bin to source your next project, you’ll appreciate Rebecca’s resourcefulness and design ingenuity. Find her on Instagram @rebeccaklundt or at rebeccaklundt.com 

Our meeting will also include:

  • Modern Moment: We’re revisiting the characteristics that help to make a quilt modern. This time, we’ll talk about High Contrast & Graphic Areas of Solid Color.
  • Updates: How are those hexis? And, what did you think of Club Mod, our Friday night sewcial?
  • Show and Tell: Do you have anything new you are working on? Show it to us! If it’s a larger item, consider sending a few photos that can be shared on screen during the meeting. Send a photo of the whole thing, and one or two of details we might not see otherwise. Submit by 5pm on Thursday (April 22) to [email protected].

If you haven’t been able to join us recently for a virtual meeting, we promise Zoom is really easy to set up. Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to it!

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Mar
2021

March 2021 Guild Meeting Recap

categories: Community Projects, Events, Modern Quilting, Monthly Meetings

Spring has arrived and we’re giddy about the sun, and what’s ahead for the BMQG. Our March meeting was full of information and updates. Here’s a recap of what happened:

Announcements

  • April 9 Club Mod: Join us for the launch party of Friday night sewing at Club Mod, April 9, 7-9 p.m. on Zoom. Then, pencil in the second Friday night of the month for upcoming Club Mod sewing parties. Sew on your projects, chair dance at your machine, and maybe win a prize!
  • April 24 Meeting & Guest Artist: Next month we’ll hear from artist Rebecca Klundt, who creates quilt-like work with reclaimed wood. We’ll meet again on Zoom; plan for an abbreviated show and tell so that we have plenty of time for Q&A with Rebecca.
  • May 22 In-person Meeting: We’re planning on meeting outdoors and in person beginning in May. Plan on wearing a mask and social distancing, and watch for more info on locations, including availability of tables, electricity or covered pavilions.

We have a couple more fun events planned for this year that are still in the early stages. Be sure to join our guild so you can participate in our upcoming activities and be the first to know about them!

Modern Moment: Use of Bold Colors and Prints

  • Have you ever wondered if your quilt was “modern” or “modern enough”? Well, you’re not alone. To help demystify the topic, we’re taking a few moments at each meeting to talk about characteristics that help define modern quilting. This week we looked at quilts that use bold colors and prints. Watch for more on this topic soon!

Giving Back

  • Get ‘Er Done: We’re keen to share our quilting with others in need, while helping members finish projects. At future meetings, we’ll take time for Get ‘Er Done Projects — a virtual or actual table to facilitate quilts going from start to finish. So, if you’re only interested in making quilt tops, this is the place to let others know, and they can take it to the next step or to the finish. From there, we’ll provide a list of organizations on our website that can use the quilts.
  • Sisters of the Hex: You’re invited to help sew hexies that will become a memorial project for past member Denise Arellano. Find out more here.

Show and Tell

We had some great shares this month for our Show and Tell portion of the meeting. Here are some of the patterns and resources mentioned that you might find helpful.

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Mar
2021

Sisters of the Hex

categories: Community Projects, Modern Quilting, Monthly Meetings

You’re invited to help make a quilt in memory of our friend Denise Arellano. We were devastated when Denise took her life in August 2020, but we treasure the bonds created over good food, conversation, and of course, quilting! Denise was drawn to making hexies, jump started after seeing the amazing giant quilt made by BMQG member Shelly Harshman and her sisters … who Denise dubbed “Sisters of the Hex.” From there, Denise made hundreds of hexi forms and collected the fabric to cover them. Now we’re inviting you to join the sisterhood in making Denise’s hexi collection complete. The final product will be gifted to her beloved and any leftover hexi blocks will be sewn together into additional quilt tops which we’ll finish and donate to a local charity.

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE

  • Pick up your packet of hexi-making supplies. (email us at [email protected] for location details)
    • March 28 (Sunday), 2-3 pm. or March 30 (Tuesday), 7-8 pm.
    • You can also get packets by contacting us at [email protected]
  • Hexi-making supply kit: Your packet includes English Paper Piecing (EPP) forms and fabric supplies to make 4 hexi flowers. Feel free to swap out fabric of your own choosing if you like! There are also 1-2 pre-made hexies in your kit, which you can use as an example and to incorporate into your flowers.
  • Make the hexi flowers: each flower is made up of 6 hexi petals + 1 hexi center in a contrasting color. Stitch the individual hexi first, then stitch them to each other. (Below, examples of completed hexi flowers and what completed blocks might look like. Photo credit: SameliasMum.com used by permission.)
  • Return: Please remove the papers from the hexies and press the flowers well; or, if you prefer, leave the papers in and we’ll remove them later. (Please feel free to keep the papers for future EPP projects or recycle them!) Bring your completed hexi flowers to the May BMQG meeting. The flowers will be handed off for machine stitching to background fabric, making 6.5-inch unfinished squares. Depending on how the project progresses, there may be an opportunity to help machine sew blocks together at the August BMQ Quilting Day Camp.

HEXI TUTORIALS TO CHECK OUT
https://www.redhandledscissors.com/2013/06/27/tutorial-english-paper-piecing-hexies-part-1/
https://www.redhandledscissors.com/2013/07/17/tutorial-english-paper-piecing-hexies-part-2/
https://weallsew.com/how-to-sew-english-paper-pieced-hexagons/ (links to a variety of techniques)

Thanks ever so much for your help! Please let us know if you have questions.

Mar
2021

March 2021 Meeting – join us!

categories: Events, Monthly Meetings

Please join us for our virtual March 2021 Guild meeting!
When: Saturday, March 27, 1 – 3 pm
Zoom: (email [email protected] and we’ll send you the meeting link)

Join us for our monthly guild meeting, where we will be using Zoom to conduct our meeting.

Meeting agenda:
For the meeting itself, we’ll cover the following. Some of these items are new and we can’t wait to tell you all about them!

  • Updates
  • Modern Moment
  • Giving Back
  • Show and Tell: Do you have anything new you are working on? Show it to us! If it’s a larger item, consider sending a few photos that can be shared on screen during the meeting. Send a photo of the whole thing, and one or two of details we might not see otherwise. Submit by 5pm on Thursday (March 24) to [email protected].

If you haven’t been able to join us recently for a virtual meeting, we promise Zoom is really easy to set up. Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to it!

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Mar
2021

BMQG Quilt to Benefit Ronald McDonald Charities

categories: Community Projects, Modern Quilting

Check out this beauty of a quilt! We’re so excited to contribute it to this month’s 2nd Annual Red Shoes Shindig fundraising auction, benefitting the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Idaho. An online auction is open March 9-18, with virtual watch parties happening March 11. It all supports RMHC’s mission of keeping families together and near the medical care their children need.

You might have worked on the quilt a few years ago, when BMQG members help to designed and sew it. The quilting was done by Laura Pukstas (thanks, Laura, your quilting is amazing!). It was all part of a QuiltCon challenge to local guilds. National MQG gave us just a handful of guidelines: to work collaboratively to create completed quilts, use a predetermined color palette, and use an alternate grid work design. The end result showcases our members’ impressive talents, if we do say so ourselves.

You can get in on the virtual Red Shoes Shindig! There are plenty of options to host a watch party with  friends, coworkers or family. Get ready to kick up your heels, boots, or sneakers and enjoy a safe evening of food, fun, and fundraising. For more information, visit rmhcidaho.org/redshoe/.

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Feb
2021

January 2021 Sew Day recap

categories: Modern Quilting, Sew Days

We had a wonderful meeting via Zoom at the end of January where we shared our recent makes. The following resources or patterns were mentioned as part of the show and tell:

We also showed off the fabric postcard swap as part of our After Holiday Party annual swap tradition. They all turned out so well! Here are a few of the post cards shared. If you don’t see yours here, nudge your partner to email us a pic and we’ll add it to this gallery!

 

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Dec
2020

2020 Annual Meeting – Join Us

categories: Events

Please join us for our virtual Annual Guild meeting!

Join us Saturday, December 5 at 1 pm for our monthly guild meeting, where we will be using Zoom again to conduct our meeting. Please note that we are combining our November and December meetings. Instead of meeting in both November and December, we will meet December 5. Our annual after-holiday party will be January 23.

December 5th Meeting Agenda:
For the meeting itself, we’ll cover the following:

  • Check in
  • Annual Meeting Tasks
  • Show and Tell: Show off our modern projects and share what we’re working on.
  • Virtual Sew Day

Annual Meeting Business:
Since we are a non-profit we are required to hold an annual meeting to take care of a few quick – but important – items of business. We promise to make the business part go quick! Below is an outline of the meeting as well as some other announcements.

  • Dues: This year you will have two options for taking care of your membership: 1) go to the Boise Modern Quilt Guild Membership page and use the PayPal option to pay your $20 dues online, or 2) you may mail your $20 dues to Shelly Harshman at 1196 W Bear Track Drive Meridian ID 83642. Checks should be made payable to Boise Modern Quilt Guild. Please have your dues in by December 8, 2020.
  • Financials: We will review our financial information – where money was spent in 2020 and what we expect our expenses to be in 2021.
  • Voting: This year brings a few changes to voting due to COVID, as well as some changes to our Board of Directors.
    • Since we cannot vote in person we need to amend our bylaws to allow for us to vote virtually. Below is the language we will vote on:
      • Voting can be done by either paper ballot or digitally. After voting, the ballots must be tallied (or the vote must be officiated and verified) by two members in good standing who are not in consideration for an officer position. Virtual voting results may be automatically tallied by either the online platform used at the meeting or via an online survey platform and shared with members. Screenshots or saving the results of the poll digitally is acceptable.
    • We will then vote virtually on the Board of Directors. Our Board is currently comprised of: Christy Foltz-Ahlrichs, President; Angela Bowman, Vice President; Lindsie Bergevin, Secretary; Sally Bradley, Treasurer. However, this year Christy and Angela are not running for board positions. Therefore the board has nominated the following members to be on the ballot and they have all graciously accepted:
      • President – Lindsie Bergevin
      • Vice President – Darla Christiansen
      • Secretary – Cassie Koerner
      • Treasurer – Sally Bradley (incumbent)
    • A few rules about the vote:
      • At the meeting any member in good standing may nominate another person to the board with the second of another member.
      • To be qualified as an elected officer, a member must be in good standing, and have been active in the Guild for at least one year (with exception for the founding officers).
      • Renewing and new members are allowed to vote.
      • A member does not have to be present to be on the ballot, but you must be at the meeting to vote.
      • See Position Descriptions of Board Members for more information.

Annual swap:
At our virtual January 23 after-holiday party we will exchange fabric postcards.We found this great tutorial by Sarah Ruiz and thought it was perfect for our pandemic times. And, who doesn’t love to get mail?! Check out ideas and instructions: Tutorial: How to Make Quilted Fabric Postcards. More information and a sign up form will follow in a separate email.

Zoom Guidelines

  • If you haven’t been able to join us the past few months, we promise Zoom is really easy to set up! If you haven’t done this before, we recommend that you do the following ahead of time to make sure you have it set up correctly before it’s time to meet.
  • You’ll need to choose a device with a camera, microphone and speakers. This could be a computer, tablet or phone. Keep in mind that some computers don’t have a microphone built in, so by testing ahead of time, you can decide which device would work best.
  • Next, follow this link (to be emailed) and it will walk you through downloading and installing the Zoom app. You’ll be prompted to create a free account but once you do so, you won’t need to log in again.
  • Then on Saturday Dec. 5 at 1 pm, come back to your email, click on the link again and it’ll bring you right into our meeting.

Here’s a few best practices for our virtual guild meeting:

  • Plug your computer or device into a power source
  • Use a headset if you are in a crowded or noisy space
  • Mute your microphone when not actively speaking
  • Be aware of your surroundings and behavior (We can see you!)
  • Add questions/comments in the “Chat” section to be addressed by moderators
  • Use the “Raise hand” button if you would like to address the group
  • Make comments short and succinct, mute for responses
  • Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to it!
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Oct
2020

October 2020 – join us!

categories: Sew Days

Please join us for our virtual October Guild meeting and Sew Day!

Join us Saturday, October 24 at 1 pm for our monthly guild meeting where we’ll be doing something a little differently! While we’ll still use Zoom, it will be a Virtual Sew Day and we encourage you to pick a project to work on during the meeting. See below for a few tips on making this work successfully.

Meeting agenda:
For the meeting itself, we’ll cover the following:

  • Check in
  • Show and Tell: Show off our modern projects and share what we’re working on!
  • Tip Time — Ironing: One of the great things about belonging to a group like the BMQG is all the experience and knowledge our members have — and their willingness to share that knowledge. Recently, one our members reached out to us about her struggles with ironing piecework and quilt tops….so, let’s discuss what types of irons you use, ironing boards and wool pressing mats, tips on pressing seams and finished quilt tops, how to store pressed pieces and tops, starch solutions, etc.

Tips for making this Virtual Sew Day meeting work for everyone:

  • Pick a project to work on during the meeting, and set up your device to allow you to see the meeting and us to see you while you work on it. You might experiment with your device’s camera position if you are going to be sewing at your machine or cutting at your table, for instance. If you can’t reposition your device very easily, perhaps you can pick some hand work to do.
  • Be sure to mute! We love discussion during our meeting — we just don’t want to hear everyone’s machine’s humming loudly in the background. So know how to mute yourself when you aren’t chatting and how to turn the mute off when you are ready to talk.

Next meeting
We will be combining our November and December meetings as we do every year. Instead of meeting in both November and December, we will meet December 5. This will be our annual meeting that will include board elections and an amendment to our bylaws so we can vote virtually.

Some notes about using Zoom if you are new to it:
If you haven’t been able to join us the past few months, we promise Zoom is really easy to set up! If you haven’t done this before, we recommend that you do the following ahead of time to make sure you have it set up correctly before it’s time to meet.

  1. You’ll need to choose a device with a camera, microphone and speakers. This could be a computer, tablet or phone. Keep in mind that some computers don’t have a microphone built in, so by testing ahead of time, you can decide which device would work best.
  2. Next, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/signup and it will walk you through downloading and installing the Zoom app. You’ll be prompted to create a free account but once you do so, you won’t need to log in again.
  3. Then at our meeting time, go to the email that you received as a member, click on the Zoom link at the top of the email and it’ll bring you right into our meeting.

Here’s a few best practices for using Zoom:

  • Plug your computer or device into a power source
  • Mute your microphone when not actively speaking
  • Be aware of your surroundings and behavior (We can see you!)
  • Add questions/comments in the “Chat” section to be addressed by moderators
  • Use the “Raise hand” button if you would like to address the group
  • Make comments short and succinct, mute for responses

Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to it!

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Sep
2020

September 2020 – join us!

categories: Sew Days

Please join us for our virtual September Guild meeting!

Join us Saturday, September 26 at 1 pm for our monthly guild meeting, where we will be using Zoom again to conduct our meeting.

Meeting agenda:
For the meeting itself, we’ll cover the following:

  • Check in
  • We are going to keep our meeting this month quick and casual. Since we haven’t met for the past two months we want to see what you have been working on! We will only have 40 minutes of meeting time, so have your projects ready to show off!

If you haven’t been able to join us the past few months, we promise Zoom is really easy to set up! If you haven’t done this before, we recommend that you do the following ahead of time to make sure you have it set up correctly before it’s time to meet.

  1. You’ll need to choose a device with a camera, microphone and speakers. This could be a computer, tablet or phone. Keep in mind that some computers don’t have a microphone built in, so by testing ahead of time, you can decide which device would work best.
  2. Next, follow the link (sent to members via email) and it will walk you through downloading and installing the Zoom app. You’ll be prompted to create a free account but once you do so, you won’t need to log in again.
  3. Then on Saturday Sep 26 at 1 pm, come back to this email, click on the link again and it’ll bring you right into our meeting.

Here’s a few best practices for our virtual guild meeting:

  • Plug your computer or device into a power source
  • Use a headset if you are in a crowded or noisy space
  • Mute your microphone when not actively speaking
  • Be aware of your surroundings and behavior (We can see you!)
  • Add questions/comments in the “Chat” section to be addressed by moderators
  • Use the “Raise hand” button if you would like to address the group
  • Make comments short and succinct, mute for responses

Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to it!

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