MMQG March 2017 Meeting: a Recap

It felt like forever since we'd met - the meeting after a cancelled one is always jam packed and so enjoyable. The March MMQG meeting was exactly that.

Lots of activity as our meeting got started - 25 excited quilters filled the room. 

President Crystal shared the budget with us in Treasure Aimee's absence and as a result we had a great discussion on some opportunities to expand our guild activities. Thanks to everyone for your contributions.

Each year, we choose a charity to receive quilts that we make from a particular block - we were thrilled to learn at the meeting that this year, as chosen by membership, Ronald McDonald House in Halifax will be the recipient of our quilty efforts. We will be making string blocks as demonstrated by Linda at our January meeting. More information on the Charity Quilt program is available, by emailing Charity Coordinator Anja at mmqgcharity @gmail.com

We heard about our upcoming Poppyprint workshop with the lovely and talented Krista Hennebury coming up in May - thank you Workshop Coordinator Lori for herding us all and making sure we are registered. Krista has had interest from people all over the Eastern Seaboard in these workshops - so maybe we will meet some new friends too! We will be doing the Quarter Round pattern on Saturday May 13 and the Speed Dating with Improv pattern on Sunday May 14. What a great opportunity.

An IMMENSE thank you is due for our Retreat Coordinator Amanda - the retreat update provided huge excitement and it's coming up so quickly. Last we heard, 22 excited quilters will be retreating at the beautiful White Point Beach Resort and we just can't wait. Thank you Amanda for getting this all together - it's a lions share of work and is so appreciated.

Wasting no time - we had two excellent programs presented to us: Our Mary G. provided a wonderful overview of her trip to QuiltCon and our Mindy M. shared a sweet demo of her hand quilting technique and kit.

Mary's QuilCon presentation was so amazing, we've invited her to write a guest blog post - so eyes peeled for this special feature in the coming weeks. 

Here are a few shots from her presentation:

Mary describes the many things to see - and buy! The scale of the event, was immense.

Land and Sea by our Andrea Tsang Jackson (3rd Story Workshop) spotted at Quilt Con!
Land and Sea hung in the Modern Traditionalism category.

Shots from a workshop Mary attended.

Thank you Mary for sharing your trip with us. You lived many of our dreams!

Then, we were so fortunate to have Mindy show us some samples of her hand quilting, using perle cotton and any needle at hand! We loved her easy going style and the portability of the hand quilting techniques she demonstrated. Many of us hustled in the next few days to find some heavier weight thread and got to hand stitching, the program was so inspiring! Thank you Mindy for sharing  your time and samples of your work, (the Fruit Dress Quilt is so touching and just adorable) and inspiring us to get back to hand sewing. 

Look at those big, beautiful stitches!

Thank you Mindy for showing us your work!

As usual - Show and Share was jam packed. All this winter wonderland weather has apparently kept us inside sewing!

A string block pillow from Jeanette

Triplet Sew Together Bags from Linda - that Cork Leather is amazing!

String block piecing tip - phonebook pages!

New member Charlotte shares her first finish.
The four year old recipient says it's "perfect" - and we agree!
THANK YOU for sharing!

Polka-dot heaven from Ann.

and the back...

Sandra shares her better late than never Valentine!

Anja is behind this masterpiece, literally and figuratively.

Caitlin shares her first FPP project - which she now needs to make more of for family members.
Lucky family! 

We have a neat negative space cat pillow - Thanks for sharing!

Another beauty from Caitlin.

And a cutting mat holder! Caitlin sure has been busy.

Told you the cork leather was popular...

Brenda shares a well loved treasure with much sentimental value.

A white on white creation from Andrea - not pictured is the clever Hudson Bay Company inspired binding inserts.

Welcome Andrea! Thank you for sharing this subway tile beauty with us.

Susan is behind this festive weight of love with wild quilting.
It's marvelous!

Amanda has joined the sew-together team. Brave souls!

Cathy was playing with the circle attachment on her machine at sew-in last month, here's the result!

Susan, another new member of team sew-together.
She had some hiccups - and she persevered!

What an intricate beauty.

100% SELVEDGE GOODNESS!

Mary shares her colour theory dresden plate from a QuiltCon workshop.

Thanks for stopping by for our meeting recap. We missed you if you couldn't come, and look forward to meeting you at an upcoming event if you're new to us or wondering about joining!

Sew-In: March 25, 2017 from 10am - 5pm

RETREAT: April 7, 8 and 9, 2017 @ White Point Beach Resort - email maritimemqgretreat @gmail.com for information if you'd like to come sew for the day, last minute - the fee is $30.

Next Meeting: April 13, 2017 from 7-9pm

MMQG February 2017 Sew In - ReCap

If it seemed as though you hadn't heard from us in a long time - you're right!

Our February meeting got canned on account of terrible weather, and so we went right from our Record Breaking January Sew In to our February Sew In. Over the course of the day, we saw 17 happy faces come to visit and sew. It was so nice to see everyone!

Here's a look at some of the beauties (and the set ups) being sewn on that mild and misty Saturday a few weeks ago.

A quilter needs fuel, you know.

Behold, Sarah's rats nest... Creative people are messy, right?
This could even be considered the "before" picture! :)

Shelly's first Sew In in a little while, she brought her "rescued" featherweight!

All Shelly's gear fits in a neat tote - a beauty to behold :)

Sweet triangles from Julia. Love the warm peachy coral shades.

Sandra was hard at work putting her modern dots charm pack to good use.

Cathy was really industrious and finished more than one work of art that day.

These became the sweetest zip pouches, doesn't Jeanette choose the best fabrics?!?

A very orderly beginning to a Lepidoptera, perhaps?

This is how Sarah rolls now - Santa brought a rolling toolbox!
Inspired by how Aimee has been carting her machine and gear around for a while,
Santa took note of the Amazon wish list.

How could we forget - a beautiful gem by Andrea.

We hope you have been doing some seriously enjoyable stitching, and would love to see what you're working on! We love visitors at our Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Facebook Page and on our Instagram account.

Thanks for checking in - our March meeting is tomorrow night and we have much to catch up on due to February's cancellation. Retreat updates (29 DAYS YAY!) and programs a plenty. The recap will soon follow! Happy sewing!