Cinthia and Brenda greeted us at the welcome table for our February meeting of the London Modern Quilt Guild.    Cinthia was signing members up for future workshops and Brenda was taking care of checking people in and renewing memberships.  Thanks for welcoming everyone with a smile!

Brenda from Among Brenda's Quilts and Bags was our vendor for February and several members did a little retail therapy at the meeting. 

Our HST BOM (Half Square Triangle Block of the Month) is underway.  It's interesting to see all of the fabrics that everyone is using for their blocks.  The instructions for February's blocks (2 of them!) are in the sidebar.  If you bring your block to the meeting, your name will be put in the hat for a chance to win a fat quarter.

These mini quilts were made for the Modern Quilt Guild "Make a Mini, Make a Friend" swap.  Members could sign up to exhange mini quilts with other Modern Guild Members from around the world and could send the quilts by mail if they were not going to QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, TX, or exchange them in person at QuiltCon.  Gail has already received her Frank Lloyd Wright inspired mini from her partner in Texas.  This is a great way to meet another modern quilter and to challenge ourselves to make something "outside our box".  We hope to see some of the quilts received by our members at our next meeting. 

At Show and Share, Veronica displayed her finished quilt from the Libs Elliott workshop in November 2019.  There were memory quilts, bags and quilts of all sizes to admire.  Thanks for your inspiration!

During our program time, Gail taught the masking tape method of alternate grid construction of a quilt.  Everyone had brought several improv blocks which were made at our last meeting and the members were divided into three groups to plan and begin construction of the quilts.  These quilts will be given to the three families in East London whose homes  were destroyed by an explosion last summer.  By the end of the meeting, the quilt tops were coming together.  There will be more time at our next meeting to complete the tops and work on the backings for the quilts. 

The February Meeting of the London Modern Quilt Guild is this Saturday at the Boyle Community Centre from noon to 5pm.  After our business meeting, we will be using the improv blocks we all made at our last meeting to create three quilt tops. There will be another round robin education/demonstration session about different ways of doing this using alternate grid.  After that, each of the three groups will work on putting their blocks together with background material which will be provided at the meeting.

Here is a checklist of what you need to bring to the meeting:

The improv blocks you made at the last meeting or at home
Your sewing machine and sewing kit
Brown or neutral thread 
Green painter's tape
Cutting mat, rulers, rotary cutter
Paper and pencil

Membership renewals for 2020 can be completed online or at our meeting.  Payment can be made by e-transfer, cheque/cash, debit card or credit card on the Square, or PayPal.  (note that the fees for credit card or PayPal are much higher than paying by the other methods)

Our Vendor of the month is Among Brenda's Quilts and Bags.  Cash, Debit and Credit payments can be taken for purchases. 

We have members who are allergic to peanuts/nuts and scented products.  Please avoid these items when packing and getting ready for our meetings.  Thanks!

If you would like to sign up for the Moonrise Workshop  on Saturday, May 9, 2020, please be prepared to pay the $85 registration fee.  

Instructions for our BOM project were in the February Newsletter that all members received by email this week.  Bring in your finished blocks to show Karen at the meeting and your name will be entered in a draw for a prize!  I managed to get my blocks finished...here they are:  (I decided to use two prints--others may choose to uses solids or a solid and a print--it's your quilt, your choice!)

Don't forget your finished projects for show and share--it is always a highlight at each meeting to see what our members have been making since the last meeting. 

​See you on Saturday!

The following was written by Brenda Miller, owner of Among Brenda's Quilts and Bags in Strathroy.  Thanks for being one of our sponsors, Brenda!

Among Brenda’s Quilts and Bags has been around since 2007 when I began designing quilts and bags for sale locally when I was the ‘designer in residence’ at The Marsh Store in Coldstream, ON.  From there things got entirely out of hand.  As an vendor at Quilt Market I was exposed to fabric manufacturer Hoffmann California Fabrics and worked with them to design free downloadable patterns for their website. Many gorgeous quilts resulted which got me noticed in the greater quilting community.  After being accepted as a designer by three large distributors in Canada and the US things really got busy.  

My patterns have been published in numerous magazines and currently I’m working with Northcott Fabrics to produce my patterns using their gorgeous fabrics.  Watch for two this spring - the Storage Solutions Bucket Bag and The Bevy Bag. It’s been a busy few years, and as of 2020 I have created over 100 patterns.  In 2014 and again in 2015 I was invited by the Chinese Government to help them introduce quilting to China where it’s virtually unknown. I represented Canada at a huge trade-show in the fabric capital of Shaoxing near Shanghai.  There I met with quilting representatives from Taiwan, Japan, China, Australia, the USA and other countries.  I lectured on quilting in Canada at the local university, taught basic technique classes to high school teachers who were introducing quilting as art in the school system and I had my own quilting show.  It was a whirlwind but a good one. 

My grandmother Marie used to say that there's nothing like a trip to expand one’s horizons.  After China anything seemed possible.  I think that’s why I took my business out of my home studio to our location for the new ABQ Sewing Studio (Home of Among Brenda’s Quilts) located at 77 Thomas St. in Strathroy, ON.  Like most of my other ventures, the seed that started this latest journey, was a tender one.  My thought was that it would be great to have more space to design, to teach, to film videos and to hold my overflowing stock of bag zippers (they are part of my bag making line).  With my brother Ralph’s help, we took a dark, dank, dilapidated rental and transformed it into the bright and exciting quilting shop we have today.  

Coming from a family that believes that hard work pays off has also fuelled the fire behind this latest venture.  I opened the door anticipating having a studio and teaching location for my business, and after two years of being open things changed.  We have expanded to carry many bolts of fabric (I’m told I have a great eye for fabric), a robust selection of threads and a huge wall of notions.  My vision of a large, bright teaching space has not altered with these changes.  We love our classes and offer a wide and exciting assortment.  Anything from hand quilting basics for the slow stitching crowd, garment sewing for the fashion minded, bag making for my peeps and classes for quilts and other quilted items hosted by a variety of fine teachers.  My thought was, there are so many things you can do with fabric and thread, so why limit yourself to one type of project?  The sky’s the limit to creativity. 

In support of this belief and as a former Baby Lock Ambassador in Canada we became a Baby Lock sewing machine retailer last January.  The Baby Lock motto is 'For the Love of Sewing’.   That’s what we are all about, from the patterns I design, the classes we host to the sewing machines we sell.  It’s all supported by a network of great people like our loyal and new customers, our terrific staff and by the love and support of family.  

Thanks to you all for being my inspiration!  

Our hours are Tues - Sat. 10 am - 4pm.

Hand Sew Happy Hour is tonight- everyone welcome, hope you can join us!

Our new Co-Presidents, Linda and Michaelanne, chaired our first meeting of 2020!  They encouraged everyone to take part in our new HST (Half Square Triangle) BOM (Block of the Month).  Each month, we will learn a different method of making HST's. Linda showed us her version of this month's block. 

March 21st is National Quilting Day!  Please join us for a fun day of quilting at the Community Centre to celebrate!  The cost is $5 per person.  Please sign up if you would like to attend. 

Most months in 2020, we will have a vendor at our meetings.  This month's vendor was Stache Fabric and Notions and several of our members took advantage of the opportunity to add to our "stashes".  

We had a wonderful display of our members' talents during show and tell.  

Jan, Kristyn and Sonia  taught us three different methods of doing improv piecing. We were divided into three groups and received a 10 minute lesson from each of the teachers.

Soon it was time to start cutting and sewing and pressing to make our improv blocks!  We were each given some solid fabrics in the guild colours and many people had extra scraps and fat quarters to add to their blocks. The sewing machines were humming and it soon became obvious that everyone had been paying attention during class time! 

At our February meeting, we will learn how to put these blocks together into a quilt top. 

​I will leave you with some inspirational words from Pablo Picasso...

The Marsh Store is one of our website sponsors and they will be celebrating their one year anniversary of being open under Tracy's ownership on January 25th from 10 am to 5 pm.  It's fun and inspiring to meander through the store and see what catches your eye. 

Tracy and her staff are always happy to help their fellow quilters find just what they need for the next project!  If you are in the neighbourhood, drop by for a visit and a browse!  

Welcome to The Fabric Curator as our newest online quilting business to advertise on our website.

The Fabric Curator is an online Canadian fabric store, specializing in modern, high quality fabrics. The Fabric Curator is owned by Penelope Hopewell who is also the Curator-In-Chief. (Isn't that a great title?) The Fabric Curator is located in Toronto, Ontario. 

A curator is someone who shares their selection of objects with others. The Fabric Curator was born from Penelope's   love of fabrics and desire to help others create. Follow her on Instagram (the_fabric_curator), Facebook (The Fabric Curator) and sign up on the website with your email address to stay in the loop regarding new collections, information and, more importantly, sales!

The Fabric Curator offers free shipping to Canadian orders over $75.  I wonder if Penelope delivers the orders in Toronto on her cute scooter?  The basket on the back is a great addition!

Saturday December 14th is our
Annual Pot Luck Holiday Meeting
​10AM-5PM (note earlier than usual start time)
Boyle Community Centre
530 Charlotte Street, London Ontario

Everyone Welcome!
Bring a pot luck dish, a secret Santa gift (both optional)
and enjoy our fun Holiday meeting.

We will be making ornament crafts and the fabric and embroidery floss will be provided.  Please bring your own hand sewing kit with needles and scissors etc. as well as some kind of marking pencil.

You can choose to make one or both a reindeer head with embroidered holly leaves and a snowflake (a few patterns will be provided).  The fabric and batting will be supplied as will red, green and a few blue colours of embroidery floss.  If you wish your own colours of floss, please bring to use.  
A 4" hoop will be needed as well, so please bring your own. 
Stay to sew on your own projects until 5pm- just in case you need more time to work on Holiday gift sewing!

Here are some photos of our members listening intently when Libs was explaining the technique.

Here are some photos when the pieces and hexagons were coming together!

And here we are at the end of class with what we have accomplished- can't wait to see some finished quilts at the next meeting's show and share.

Thanks so much Libs for another fantastic workshop!  You are inspiring!

It's crazy to think that only one week ago today excitement was building and our members were busy at work about to set up for our first guild quilt show!  

Here are photos of the quilts that hung inside.  The beauty of the heritage home made our quilts feel like they were on display in a museum.  So many quilt show guests commented on the home, the grounds as well as our quilts.

We hope everyone enjoyed attending our quilt show, and we thank you for supporting our guild!