may meeting announcement.

Hello, Everyone!

Photo courtesy of Melanie Tuazon

Happy May! We have a fantastic meeting planned for you this month! Guest Speaker, Melanie Tuazon will be here!

Photo courtesy of Melanie Tuazon

You may be more familiar with Melanie by her IG handle @MelintheAttic. You will definitely recognize her work, especially her quilt Flounce, which took 1st Place in the Modern Traditionalism category at QuiltCon 2016!

Photo courtesy of Melanie Tuazon

Melanie will share the story of her quilting life, from a time when she had disdain for anything “crafty” to her career as a quilt designer, teacher, and ribbon-winner. She will talk about her mental and aesthetic approach to quilting, as well as major milestones, including showing quilts at Quiltcon 2015 and 2016, designing samples for Cloud9 Fabrics, and publishing patterns in magazines. 
You do not want to miss this meeting!

As time permits, we will also be:

- sharing the results of our monogram/logo challenge

- show and share, and

- the destash raffle.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Pieceful Quilting on Tuesday, May 17th!

april meeting recap.

Hello! 

This month our very own Lorraine Lucas gave us her tried and true tips for successful free motion quilting on a domestic machine.

Lorraine used the block of the month skill-builder quilt (below) to hone her skills. Each block is quilted with a different free-motion motif. Lorraine said that she would practice each design on a practice block and then just GO FOR IT!

Lorraine even provided us with a demonstration of one of her favorite free motion designs -- the paisley.

Afterward we had a brief show and tell:

Irene shared her finished monogram (not pictured) and these sweet tulips all made with her mom's silk scarves

 Lorraine shared her finished Jay Bird Quilt top in using the Lotus pattern

 Julie showed off a mini she made with a leftover "house" block from a larger quilt

 and Karen shared her progress so far on her Block of the Month. She's trying not to twitch while she talks about its' lack of symmetry.

It was another great meeting. A special thanks to Lorraine for sharing her skills with the group. See you all in May for a guest speaker and sharing our monogram/logo designs!

april meeting, and march meeting recap.

Hello, hello, LIMODers!

This month, our very own Lorraine Lucas will be giving a talk on free motion quilting, including how to prepare the quilt for quilting, and how to free-motion quilt on a domestic machine. She'll be referencing the lovely modern sampler seen above, and trust us, you won't want to miss it!

Of course we will still be doing show and share, destash raffle, and reminding you about the upcoming initial/logo challenge (May) and round robin swap (June).

If you missed our March meeting, you missed our presentation on Off-The-Grid Quiltmaking.

We also had some great show and shares.

Stella shared her finished Swoon quilt:

 Teri made this fun and meaningful tribute quilt:

and this happy quilt top

Lorraine shared this disappearing pinwheel quilt:

Judy shared her Mustang quilt, made with Cotton & Steel fabrics,

a mini, round log-cabin quilt

an Off The Rails mini

this Cluck Cluck Sew Mini Quilt,

 AND a Goody Goody binding kit!

Awesome job, ladies!

Looking forward to seeing everyone on April 19th! Till then, wrap yourself in some quilts to keep warm!

march meeting.

hello, again! The march meeting is comin' atcha like a lion! Here's what we've got planned for you this month:

- BOM:  Carol will also have this month's block ready to demonstrate and will answer any questions anyone might have on the construction of prior months' blocks. How's your skill builder BOM coming along? Are you getting to the point where you have to start thinking about your layout -- but don't know where to start? Well, we're here to help.

- Presentation on Off-The-Grid Quilting: We're going to make the process of creating an off-the-grid layout easy-peasy by showing you examples of quilts that were constructed using this method. We'll break it down for you so that you will be assembling those mixed-size BOM blocks like a pro in no time!

- Upcoming Challenges: We touched on these at the last meeting. But there was a slightly lower than usual turnout (probably due to the changed week) so we will go over the challenges again, and get you all thinking about how you're going to approach these upcoming projects.

- Show and Share: We will have lots of time to show what we've been working on. Feel free to bring works-in-progress to share, too! It's always fun to see each other's work and get inspired!

- Raffle: tickets will be available for this month's destash basket. Bring your dollars!

See you all on the 15th!

meeting recap: valerie zeman

It may have been a cold night to venture out, but the February meeting was worth the trip! Guest speaker, artist Val Zeman, brought a stunning collection of hand dyed fabrics and quilt pieces. She is preparing for an upcoming gallery show out east detailing the plight of the Piping Plover, and brought  a snippet to share with us as well. The lighting in the photos don't necessarily capture the subtleties of the hand-dyed fabric, so you will have to take our word for it! Or, even better you can take a workshop with Val to learn the process of making your own fabrics and see how fabulous they can be for yourself! See the bottom of this post for more details!

But first, the quilts!

 Part of the upcoming show:

 And some hand-dyed fabric goodness:

We also had show and share:

And introduced a new challenge! Due at the April meeting, we are all challenged to make either our initial, or if you have a business or blog, your logo, out of fabric. No rules on sizes, colors, or embellishments. Just remember to have fun and let your modern self go!

Finally, if you would be interested in visiting Val's studio or scheduling a workshop with her this spring (and, come on, after this, who wouldn't??), you can contact her by email at vzeman@mac.com

Workshops include but are not limited to:

• low water immersion dyeing
• printing with textile paints and thickened dyes
• screen-printing
• shibori
• breakdown printing
• soy wax resist
• flour paste resist
• paper lamination
• gold leaf lamination
• discharging

To check out more of Val's work, visit her website.

february meeting.

Well, would you look at that? We're already a month into 2016! How did that happen so quickly? We hope the snowy days have created lots of time for stitching this month -- and don't forget -- our February meeting is going to be held one week later this month, so you'll have some extra time to get your projects ready for show and share!

We have another great meeting planned for this month! Here's what's on the agenda:

• First, just another reminder that this month's meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 23rd. That's a date change. For this month only, the meeting will be held one week late.

• Second, we have an awesome guest speaker -- Val Zeman -- coming to discuss the techniques of hand dying fabric. She will bring some examples as well as talk about her process and her new studio.

• Third, we have two new challenges to introduce at the next meeting. Get your creativity caps on!

• And as always, we will have Block of the Month, Show and Share and the Destash Basket Raffle!

Looking forward to seeing you all on February 23rd!

LIMOD Sewcial

Ladies,

A reminder that this Sunday, January 31st is our Sewcial Event! 

Where?

At Pieceful Quilting.

What Time?

Starting at 11:30 and ongoing till 4pm. Feel free to stop in at any time or stay for the entire day!

What Will We Do?

We will be sewing for charity! We'll be making jackets for adult dogs in connection with the The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and America's Vet Dogs. Oh, and of course we'll have lots of fun hanging out and sewing together for a good cause.

What Should We Bring?

Bring your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies (scissor, needles, seam ripper). Also if you have it, we will need black and yellow thread. 

And snacks. Snacks to share are always a good thing!

We are excited to host our first (of hopefully many) Sewcial Event! Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!