Bee Signups Through January 26th

Don't miss out on your chance to join our round robin bee! Sign ups are open through January 21, 2012. To join, please contact our Bee Keeper, Jaime Moilanen. The fun starts when you bring your center block ~ 12 or 24 inch square or rectangle ~ to the February monthly meeting. All the details are posted on the Meetup website and are accessible to guild members.

Last Saturday Sew of 2011

This is your last chance in 2011 to join us for a fun day of quilting with friends!  We will have ironing & cutting stations set up; just bring your machine and project. The fee for this event is only $5.

The Weekend Sew space is on the 4th floor (Christus Conference Center) of the 6363 N. Hwy 161 in Las Colinas. It's a very nice space with a kitchen, large tables, plenty of outlets, lots of light and room to spread out.

This event lasts from 9 am to 4 pm. Please reserve your space via Facebook or Meetup. Hope to see you there!

December Meeting - Ornament & Cookie Swaps

Our December meeting is just one week away! Come join us for a jolly good time. Celebrate the holidays with a an ornament swap and cookie exchange.

To participate in the swaps:

• Bring one handmade ornament to swap {directions for the project would be welcome as the recipient might like to make some too}.
• Also bring 2 dozen cookies to exchange and your own container to bring the yumminess home.

Also, the Community Outreach team will be accepting donations of wonky cross blocks {tutorial is here} or Road to Tennessee blocks {packets were provided at Nov. meeting} for our charity and community outreach projects.

Volunteers Needed to Piece Wonky Cross Blocks

The community outreach team is currently asking for volunteers to help piece the wonky cross blocks for our Charitable Projects Initiative. If you are interested, please comment below or contact us via meetup so we can coordinate the effort.

Thanks to all members who have donated wonky cross blocks.  Here's just a sample of what we've received so far:

November Meeting - Retreat & Market Recap

Join us next Thursday {November 10th} for an exciting recap of our annual retreat! Michelle and Jaime will also be sharing the latest and greatest of their adventures at Market. Please remember to bring your wonky cross donations for Lovetta and the Charitable Projects Initiative.

Additionally, we'll be sharing all the details for our December ornament swap and tasty treat potluck! So bring your show and tell items and get ready for some fun.

Call for Wonky Cross Blocks, Fabric, & Batting

Thanks to our Charitable Projects Initiative committee volunteers! Lovetta, the coordinator, is calling out for your help. Here's what the committee is requesting:

Wonky Cross Block Donations. For our first charitable project, we are requesting 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" (finished) Wonky Cross blocks from DMQG members. No rules or guidelines for fabrics or colorways - so go crazy creative and bust that stash! The tutorial for this block can be found here. Bring finished blocks to our November meeting, and we look forward to seeing your blocks.

Fabric Donations. We are accepting fabric donations for fabric cuts of fat quarter-size or larger; and pre-cuts such as jelly rolls, charm packs, and layer cakes.

Batting Donations. We are also accepting donations of packages of batting.

All items donated will go toward projects that will be given to community organizations and members that will benefit from the comfort of DMQG quilts.

Please contact Lovetta with any questions. And thanks in advance to all members for being so charitable!

August Applique Demo Wrap-Up

Thanks to Tammy Fickel, our guest blogger this week! She was so impressed with all the demonstrations on our applique night, she wanted to share everything she saw. Take it away, Tammy...

Three applique techniques were presented at DMQG’s August 11th meeting - each demonstrated by a talented Guild member. I will say, they made it look oh-so-easy, and yes, anyone can do this!! I gave each technique a try in the following week, and found two much easier than, ahem, one.

Raw edge applique is a quick, fun way to applique, resulting in a textural, rather informal look. In a sound bite, you cut out the shapes, pin/hold/fuse to quilt-top, and sew about 1/8” (or whatever your preference is) from the edge of applique fabric. It’s a very forgiving type of applique, the raw edges easing slight discrepancies – so you can go the perfection route, and make a precise, eye-popping, colorful, textural quilt, or a, yeah-it’s-supposed-to-do-that eye-popping, colorful, textural quilt. Either way, it’s fun, and even if imprecise skills are used, you will still create a quilt anyone would love to have.

Sarah Huechtman demonstrated this technique by making circle pattern quilt blocks:

Sarah with examples of her raw edge applique.

Reverse applique takes its substance and color from the underlying fabric, the shape is created when the top fabric is cut and turned over to reveal the final applique - reverse applique has a distinctly different feel than not-reverse applique - gaining another dimension, visually and texturally. Lisa Calle demonstrated a simple reverse applique shape:

Lisa showing reverse applique sample

Back of reverse applique square

Needle-turn applique is the technique one often associates with Baltimore Album-style applique. Shapes are drawn onto the backside of a fabric, the shape is cut out leaving a small (about 3/16" to 1/4") seam allowance, then the fabric is turned over, placed onto foundation fabric, and the seam allowance is tucked/turned under, and applique is attached using an invisible stitch.

Of the three applique techniques, I found this one to be the most challenging. Michelle Kitto, our very expert demonstrator, made it look easy - though even while watching her, I kind of discerned that some mad needle skills might be needed to turn the applique as easily as she did. Michelle is making a beautiful heirloom quality quilt using this technique, and I believe that type of quilt is a brilliant application for needle turn applique.

Michelle smoothly showing DMQG members how to to do needle turn applique

A fresh twist to traditional applique can be seen in Sarah Fielke’s work. For a little bit of applique and patchwork quilt inspiration, you can view some pages from Quilting From Little Things here.

Whirligig quilt from Quilting from Little Things, reprinted with permission

And I'll leave you with an inspired modern, minimalist approach to hand applique, the pattern from Quilts Made Modern. (An interesting post asking "what is modern applique" and a little background about the Birds on Wire quilt can be found here.)