For our October Sew Day we thought it was time to bust some of the guild’s stash of fabric and batting scraps.
With this in mind we decided that string piecing was the way to go. It would bust some of those strings and strips that seem to accumulate exponentially as we make quilts.
Quilt as you go is a great way to use up those batting off cuts. You know those strips that are 10 – 20 inches wide, that get trimmed away after you have quilted those quilts.
Our members busily stitched up 36 rainbow blocks, to make this beautiful rainbow string quilt. After all the discussion around the various methods that can be used to join these quilted blocks, our plan is to complete the quilt at one of our sew days in the new year so members can see how it is done.
We also handed out three complete quilt kits for members to sew up at home. After all this you would think we would notice a noticeably reduction in our stash – but nope, it barely made a dent.
It’s a good thing these days are a lot of fun, because it looks like we need to do this all again…
Sewcial distancing continues as we navigate the current covid normal as practiced in Brisbane. We are so fortunate that community transmission is currently under control and within our borders we are free to move around and have moderate sized gatherings.
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Jan Owen
June Spencer
Lyndell Smith
Vic Mansfield
Kim Howell quilt, quilted by Vanessa
Janet Davies quilt, quilted by Kerry Hermann
The first two photos, are borrowed from my phone as I can’t show my quilts and snap photos at the same time. These quilts are destined for our Community Quilt program. The quilt made by Kim Howell (a former member) has been donated to the Guild and quilted by Vanessa for our Community quilt program. Similarly, the quilt made by Janet Davies (another former member) and quilted by Kerry has also been donated to our Community Quilt program.
We had 25 members attend our September sew day all properly socially distanced of course. Thankfully, community transmission is almost zero again here in Brisbane and the case numbers are coming down in New South Wales and Victoria.
There was lots of lovely show and tell this month, including a couple of finishes from our most recent Jenny Haynes workshop.
We hope you enjoy the photos. Stay safe and healthy everyone, and don’t forget to wash your hands.
As we mentioned in our last post, we are finally back meeting face to face after three months of lockdown . . . and we were finally able to gift our swap items to our swap partners
Our members are an amazing group of makers. We had the most amazing mini quilts, pouches and bags gifted as part of our 2020 Guild Swap and the handover was, as usual, a lot of fun.
We have another online class with Jenny Haynes via zoom coming up. Check out our socials for information on the class, as always visitors and guests are always welcome to join us.
This month we welcomed another couple of new members – welcome Joy and Dianne to our happy band of modern makers. We are gearing up for our next delivery of community quilts to the salvo’s domestic violence shelter here in Brisbane. So we had lots of quilts finished and/or donated to add to our stack of quilts ready for delivery day next month.
Kathi with the mini she received as part of the MQG Swap
Louisa (one of last month’s new members) with her beautiful bargello
Louisa with her Alaskan Salmon Wall hanging – completed from a kit bought in Alaska
Lyndell (another of last month’s new members) with her beautiful Hawaiian Quilt
Lyndell with a beautiful Paris Quilt
Vannessa with her Autumn Stars quilt. This quilt was made from a recent sew sampler box
Alison with her blooming Greenhouse quilt. The pattern for this is by Elizabeth Hartman
Tania with her absolutely giant snowball quilt. We all loved the extra wide stripy binding that finished this king sized beauty perfectly
Kim with her Iheartyou quilt made for her son and his fiancee. Pattern available for this beauty from pen and paper patterns
Kim with a new sewing themed t-shirt. She has been playing with her new cricut cutting machine
Joy, one of this month’s new members, with her Alternate Endings quilt. Joy had Linda from Quilting by Linda quilt this beauty for her.
June is participating in the Mini Masterpieces book sew along. This is her January mini, based on the 4-patch block
June’s February mini masterpiece is a strip sampler
June with a doll quilt – the fox and the bunny
Ruth has donated this beautiful Kaffe Fassett top to be raffled as part of an upcoming Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser
Kim with her Embrace the Chaos quilt that she started in our recent Libs Elliott workshop.
Kim with her modern take on the orange peel block – this one is her flowering snowball quilt
The first of our completed charity quilts for February. Vanessa christened her new long arm machine, quilting this for the Guild.
I Spy charity quilt – the top was put together by Kerry D and Vanessa quilted this one as well
Moroccan Tiles quilt, made and quilted by Nerida, and donated to our community quilt program
Assymetrical Star quilt, made and quilted by Nerida, and donated to our community quilt program
Giant Log Cabin quilt, made and quilted by Nerida, and donated to our community quilt program
Double Strippy Quilt, made and quilted by Julie and donated to our community quilt program
Square in a square quilt, made and quilted by Jan and donated to our community quilt program
Another strippy quilt, this one made and quilted by Jan and donated to our community quilt program
Scrappy improv times 2, made and quilted by Jan and both donated to our community quilt program
Our members have been busy with lots of community sewing – we have a few tree blocks completed to send down to Wollongong MQG to assist in their quilt drive to fire affected communities.
We have also been busy making zippered pouches. A few members spent some time on Sunday packing these with donated toiletries and we will be handing these over to the Salvo’s next month along with a very big pile of quilts
Happy 2020 and welcome to another year of fun, friendship and creativity within the Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild. Our plans this year include a workshop weekend with Jenny Haynes of Papper Sax Sten in the UK in March, an inaugural Mini Quilt Challenge, our annual Quilt Display at the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show in June, a swap, and a retreat. And all of these things will happen in the next six months.
At our January Sew Day we welcomed two visitors, and welcomed three new members to our Guild. Below is a gallery of the amazing show and tell brought along and shared by our members.
1 Hugs All round, the Guild’s group quilt for the QuiltCon 2020 Charity Quilt Challenge. This year’s theme was text.
2 & 3 Greig Wilson’s first foray into shirt making
3 Greig with the improv bag he made to match his shirt
4 & 5 June Spencer with two of the quilts she completed for the Guild’s Community Quilt program
6 June Spencer with her completed Aerial Grove Quilt, a Carolyn Friedlander design
7 June Spencer with her completed Baby Goose quilt
8 Leanne Valiukas with her completed Take a Stand tote, design by By Annie
9 Leanne, again with her completed 2012 Bonnie and Camille block of the month
10 Tania Lindenmayer with her completed time warp quilt
11, 12 & 13 Lyndel Smith with her mesh bags, peg bags and table runners that she makes to sell at markets
14 Jan Owen with her version of the Dream Big panel. This one was completed using long arm embroidery
15 Jan, again, with a table runner, also quilted using the long arm embroidery technique
16 & 17 Heather Ellsworth Turner with her completed One Block Wonder quilt and her completed Pin Wheel quilt that she has called ‘Not enough Pink’
18 & 19 Kathi Slee with her completed MQG Swap mini and a gondola bag
20 Marlene Norris with another completed One Block Wonder, this one was nicknamed the Butt Ugly OBW, although we all thought it was lovely
21 & 22 Liz Beghoin with the commission quilt she has made a co-worker out of her daughter’s baby clothes and the dress she sewed for herself
23 Aidan with a Sushi Cat Messenger Bag
24 Kim Devanny with her completed Polygon Play quilt that she started in a class with Jennifer Sampou
25, 26, 27, & 28 Nerida Mead with her completed MQG Mini, her completed Penguin Party quilt, that includes a piece of her own shibori dyed fabric, her completed Avenue Quilt, designed by Louise Pappas, and her Mod Mountain Quilt, designed by Suzy Quilts
29, 30, & 31 Carmel Ryan with her completed Makers Tote, designed by Noodlehead, her completed Tula Pink Table Runner, and her completed MQG Mini
32 Ingrid Jakobsen with her completed Daisy and Poppy Quilt
33 Vic Mansfield with her successful entry into the Vision 2020 travelling Exhibition ‘The Floater’ This is a thread painting of Vic’s own retina.
34 Kathryn Jones with her completed Alison Glass Radiance Quilt
Happy new year from the Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild.
We started the new year with a huge sew day, we had 31 members attending the January sew day. It just so happened that day was 35oC in the shade, so everyone was getting some relief in our air conditioned room.
We have lots of great plans for the coming year, two retreats (summer and winter), six charity quilts, community sew days and quilt displays.
Here is our Predsident, Vice President and members going through our stash sorting out fabric for some of our charity quilts.
On Sunday 16 October the Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild (BMQG), meet at Mt Ommaney for its monthly meeting. At our meetings we always encourage members to bring along there quilts for show and share.
Here is a sample of our members currents projects.
If if you would like to join us at our next sew day which is the 20th November, email us on brisbanemqg@gmail.com
Just a reminder we have our sew day this Sunday the 16 October, at The Hub, 171 Dandenong Rd, Mt Ommaney from 10am – 5pm. Bring your sewing machine and join us for a day of sewing, chatting, chatting and sewing.
On Sunday 16 September the Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild (BMQG) meet at The Hub, Mt Ommaney for its monthly meeting. The doors open at 10am for members to come together and sew. We sew all day until 5pm, so members come and go as they wish. There is a formal chat from President Fee at 1pm and show and tell at 3pm. The guild currently has 47 members.
This month was exciting because half the membership got name tags, which look fantastic.
In October the BMQG has a stand at the Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair. So to decorate our stand we had a sew machine mat challenge. Members were very enthusiastic and we got about 14 sew machine mats. The requirements for the sew machine mats were 12″ x 24″ and we had to use the Modern Quilt Guild colours. We had one member who didn’t like those requirements and made a very modern sew machine mat which was round.
Our meetings always end with show and tell. below are some pictures of our very talented members.
If you would like to join us at our next sew day, email us at brisbanemgq@gmail.com
Brisbane MQG 