Sunday, December 2, 2012

Our December Guild Meeting

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our December meeting! We had a really great turnout, with nine of us in attendance, and I think fun was had by all :)

We chatted about our upcoming meetings, currently slated for:

January 19, 2012 at 11AM at the Jimmie B Keel library in Tampa
February 9, 2013 at 10AM at Inspire Quilting & Sewing in Plant City

Please remember that if you plan to attend, please RSVP either by leaving a comment here or by RSVP'ing in our Facebook group.

At the meeting, we discussed the current guild challenge, the Negative Space challenge, and collectively decided to put the challenge on hold for the time-being, due to guild members' time constraints and the impending Madrona Road challenge, sponsored by Michael Miller Fabrics. Stay tuned for more information about the Madrona Road challenge, including sign-ups and details, coming soon, as well as a revival of the Negative Space Challenge some time in 2013.

We had a wonderful amount of projects to see for Sew & Share this month, from beautiful English paper piecing to applique and string piecing and so forth. Unfortunately, the pictures I took seem to have gotten eaten by my camera's memory card. I'm reformatting is as I type this, so hopefully next month, we'll have photos to share.

We also chatted about ideas for the guild over the next year, since 2013 is merely a month away. Ideas ranged from sewing days with a certain technique or focus, like free motion quilting or foundation paper piecing, a day or weekend guild retreat, a block swap or an add-a-border block project, a swap with another modern quilt guild, and so forth. There's definitely plenty of ideas to get us rolling into 2013.

I hope to see at our next meeting. Cheers!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

February Guild Meeting & Sew Day

Mark your calendar - on February 9, 2013 at 10:00 am, we'll have our February meeting and Sew Day.

Bring an recent finished project or work-in-progress to share with your guild friends, and stay along with your sewing machine and sew with us for a while! We'll be meeting at Inspire Quilting & Sewing in Plant City for February, they've been kind enough to invite us to use their classroom. If you haven't been there before, you're in for a treat, the folks at Inspire are not only welcoming and hospitable but kind and funny as well. I hope to see you there!

We'll start the guild meeting shortly after 10am, and the Sew Day can go as long as you'd like, as the shop is open until 6. There's plenty of wonderful restaurants in downtown Plant City for lunch and snacks, and there's also a small kitchen adjacent to the classroom, if you'd like to bring a dish to share or snack/drink for yourself.


Please be sure to comment here if you plan to attend, or RSVP within our Facebook group.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Upcoming Meetings

Mark your calendar - the Tampa Modern Quilt Guild will be meeting on:

Saturday, November 17th - Shopping Day at Rainbow's End Quilt Shoppe in Dunedin, FL at 11am

Saturday, December 1st - Sew Day at the Jimmie B Keel Library from 1pm - 5pm

Saturday, January 19th - Sew Day the the Jimmie B. Keel Library from 11am - 4pm

Please either RSVP via our Facebook group or a comment here on this post so that we know you're planning on joining us!

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Negative Space Challenge

Our next challenge: The Negative Space Challenge

What is negative space? In basic terms, negative space is the space around and between the focal point of an image, work of art, or quilt. In quilts, it tends to not only surround our quilt blocks but is often also a part of the blocks themselves. Negative space is often a key element of composing modern quilts, and is useful in defining the focal part or parts of a quilt. In quilts with busy fabrics or intricate piecing, negative space is also important, for providing the eye a place to rest and therefore increasing the appeal of a quilt in a subtle way.

Negative space can also be a key element of a quilt design. Rather than making a repeating block pattern, many modern quilters "float" a block or blocks on a quilt top using lots of negative space, or create various improv pieces that they then separate with lots of negative space. Take a look at the examples and inspiration below, and see how the negative space enhances each quilt...



Our next challenge will run through our January meeting, and the challenge is simple: make a quilt top using negative space. It can be a small quilt top, a large one, whatever you like. Bring it to our January meeting for the challenge. Feel free to work on your project at our Sew Days between now and the January meeting. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know!

September Block Workshop and Challenge Winner


Congratulations to Carol for winning our first guild challenge, the Name Tag Challenge. Carol made a great nametag using patchwork and fabric markers, and she won a lovely fat quarter bundle of Dear Stella's Bukhara collection.

The September Block Workshop went very well, with six of us in attendance and lots of sewing completed! We will work some more on our blocks for this charity quilt at our next meeting, in October, scheduled for Saturday October 20th at 12pm.


 

Stay tuned for details on our next guild challenge!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Our September Block Workshop

Are you excited for our September Block Workshop yet? For the month of September, rather than having a standard meeting, we'll be working on mastering the improvisational stitch-and-flip technique to create beautiful interlocking wonky stars for a charity quilt, and we now have some gorgeous fabrics to do it with, thanks to Dear Stella Design!

Gorgeous fabrics for the next Tampa Modern Quilt Guild block workshop!

If you are interested in bringing your own fabrics, you're welcome to work on blocks for yourself as well. For your own fabrics, plan to bring 3 1/2" squares of your background fabric, 3 1/2" squares for your star centers, and various 3 1/2" wide rectangles ranging in size from 2" to 5" tall for your star points. I will bring precut fabric for us to work with during the workshop to maximize our sewing time.

Please be sure to also bring your sewing machine, thread, as well as a handy pair of fabric scissors and a rotary cutter.

And don't forget about the current guild challenge: the Name Tag Challenge! Bring your finished nametags to our September Block Workshop for a chance to win a prize :)

The Block Workshop will be held on September 15th at the Jimmie B. Keel Library from 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon, in the Community Room, which is at the front of the library, prior to entering the main library. Please be sure to RSVP by commenting here on this post or within the Facebook group. See you there!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Our September Meeting

Mark your calendar! We'll be meeting next on September 15th at 1:30pm at the Jimmie B. Keel Library, in the Community Room at the front of the library. This meeting is a block workshop, where Elizabeth will teach the improvisational stitch-and-flip technique used to create interlocking wonky star blocks. Plan to bring your sewing machine! Stay tuned for details on how much fabric to bring, and please be sure to either comment here on the blog or RSVP within the group Facebook group to RSVP!

please pardon my horrible cell phone picture ;)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Catching up on our July meeting - and our August meeting!

Our next scheduled meeting is Saturday, August 18th, at 10 a.m. at the Jimmie B. Keel Library. If you plan to attend, be sure to RSVP in our Facebook group or through a comment here on this post.

We last met on July 21st at 10 a.m. also at the Jimmie B. Keel library, with seven members in attendance. It was a great meeting, where we discussed upcoming meeting plans, various challenges and goings-on in the modern quilting world, as well as had a brief sew-and-share before the Sew Day.

Don't forget our Name Tag challenge is wrapping up at our next meeting - be sure to bring your finished name tag for a chance to win a prize!

Mark your calendar for these other challenges and goings-on:

a.       Salt Lake Modern Quilt guild – EZ Dresden challenge
                                                               i.      Link up your quilt/project using Dresden wedges in some way between September 1-9, awesome prizes in various categories
                                                             ii.      For more info, check: http://www.slmqg.com/ez-dresden-challenge/
b.      DC Modern Quilt Guild – 100 Quilts for Kids charity drive
                                                               i.      Make a baby or toddler sized quilt and donate it to an organization in the community, like Ronald MacDonald House, local military support organization,  homeless shelters, etc.
1.       Then after you donate, you can link up your finished quilt online for a chance to win some great prizes!
                                                             ii.      For more info, check: http://www.swimbikequilt.com/
c.       QuiltCon block challenge
                                                               i.      Using the colors of the QuiltCon logo, make a block, to be used as a part of a quilt(s) for Austin Children’s Shelter or possibly for a quilt to be raffled off at QuiltCon in February.
                                                             ii.      Blocks should be 12 ½” tall x the width of your choice. That could mean 12 ½” x 5”, 12 ½” x 24”, or anything wider, more narrow, or in between. Be creative!
                                                            iii.      Deadline: August 15th
d.      QuiltCon
                                                               i.      The Modern Quilt Guild is holding its first conference February 21-24 in Austin, TX, with Denyse Schmidt as the keynote speaker.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

July meeting this Saturday

Our July meeting will be held this Saturday at the Jimmie B. Keel library at 10am, in meeting room #2 at the back right side of the library. Please feel free to bring up to two items for Sew and Share. We'll be discussing the current guild challenge, the Nametag Challenge, as well as future meeting plans and other challenges and activities you can be a part of.

If you cannot make this meeting, our next meeting will be held on August 18th at 10 a.m.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

July Meeting/Sew Day update

I am so excited at the number of folks planning to turn out for our next guild meeting next Saturday, July 21st. We have reached our maximum capacity for the Sew Day for this month. All guild members are welcome to come for the guild meeting, which will be at 10am, however, but due to other existing events at the library that day, we are in a smaller room than usual. In the future, I'll make sure that we get the largest room possible, now that our group is growing. Thanks for your understanding!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Our July meeting

Our next meeting will be held Saturday, July 21st, at 10 a.m. at the Jimmie B. Keel library. We'll be discussing the current guild challenge, the Name Tag challenge, as well as what modern quilting is. Guild members, please make sure to RSVP for the meeting within our Facebook page.  Directly following the guild meeting, we will hold a Sew Day until 3 p.m., so feel free to bring a current project, your machine, and any other items you may need for your project. Hope to see you there!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Name Tag Challenge

This month, we'll be having our first Sew Day. I think it's going to be really fun to get together and work on some sewing together.

Since we are a new guild and we are all still working on getting to know each other, I think it's a great time to have our first guild challenge: The Name Tag Challenge!  At our August meeting, we'll have a show-and-tell for all finished name tags, but feel free to wear yours to our July Sew Day if you're done by then!  Better yet, feel free to work on yours at our Sew Day!

The only requirement for the challenge is that it have your name on it somewhere.  It can be as simple or elaborate as you want, and can be a clip-on tag or a lanyard-style tag, whichever you'd prefer.

Need some inspiration?  Check out some of these really fun name tags made by other Modern Quilt Guild members!

sewn name tag inspiration

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Meeting #1

We had a great first meeting yesterday, with three members in attendance: Ann, Katie, and Elizabeth. We made tentative plans to set up a Sew Day for our next meeting in July, so stay tuned for information about our next meeting on our Facebook page. We also talked about ideas for other guild activities as the guild grows, and we've got some great ideas on the table. I'm really looking forward to our next meeting!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Our first meeting!

It's time to mark your calendar!

Our first meeting will be held on Saturday, June 23rd at 2 p.m. in the Lab at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library in Tampa, FL.

2902 W. Bearss Ave.
Tampa, FL 33618-1828
813-273-3652 
Get Directions / View Google Map

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Welcome!

Are you a modern quilter in the Tampa area looking for other like-minded quilters to connect with?  You've come to the right place :)  The Tampa Modern Quilt Guild is where non-traditional, modern quilters can connect and create together.  If you are in the Tampa area and interested in joining us, we'd love to have you!

Our first meeting will be held in June of 2012, location and exact date TBD at the moment.  If you're interested in attending our first meeting, please leave a comment here!

What is modern quilting?

Per the Modern Quilt Guild website...

Modern quilting is a new and rapidly growing movement in the quilting world. A group of quilters applied their current tastes and points of view to this traditional craft and shared their work online.  Their fresh approach and new designs attracted sewers and quilters and the modern quilting movement was born.

Modern quilting, like all art, changes, grows and adapts from quilter to quilter as they find their own voice. Modern quilts reflect each quilter’s personality and personal style, and as the movement has grown, a modern quilt aesthetic, a set of principles that define and guide the movement, is beginning to emerge.

Modern quilts and quilters:
  • Make primarily functional rather than decorative quilts
  • Use asymmetry in quilt design
  • Rely less on repetition and on the interaction of quilt block motifs
  • Contain reinterpreted traditional blocks
  • Embrace simplicity and minimalism
  • Utilize alternative block structures or lack of visible block structure
  • Incorporate increased use of negative space
  • Are inspired by modern art and architecture
  • Frequently use improvisational piecing
  • Contain bold colors, on trend color combinations and graphic prints
  • Often use gray and white as neutrals
  • Reflect an increased use of solid fabrics
  • Focus on finishing quilts on home sewing machines
Modern quilting has its roots in rebellion, in our desire to do something different, but simultaneously its feet are firmly planted in the field of tradition.  Modern quilting is our response to what has come before.  We are quilters first, modern quilters second. There are however, characteristics that set modern quilters apart from our traditional and art quilting friends.

Modern quilters are a diverse group of woman and men, young and old, experienced and novice, yet each of us feels the need to differentiate ourselves as modern quilters by how we work, the fabrics we choose, and the aesthetic of our quilts. We create in a way that supports our individual creative needs and our lifestyle preferences.  Modern quilters resist the imposition of hard and fast rules for making a quilt.  We pick and choose traditional techniques and methods that work for us and at the same time feel free to redefine or reinvent what is possible and allowable in making quilts.

Modern quilters have embraced the new options available in textiles: bold colors, graphic prints, larger scale prints, and Japanese fabrics.  Much like the Amish quilting tradition, many modern quilters are also exploring quilt designs made exclusively with solid fabrics or with just a hint of print.

The Internet has played an integral role in the development of modern quilting.  Through blogs, online tutorials and social media the modern quilting community interacts, providing inspiration and friendship for each other.  This has helped the community grow at an astounding pace, providing feedback and support at a moment’s notice.

In many ways, modern quilting has taken us back to the basics of the early quilters, when women of the day used the colors and styles of their time to express themselves creatively while finding friendship and community along the way.  Welcome to modern quilting!


How about some modern inspiration?  Enjoy!


1. double plus good quilt-04, 2. City Lot, 3. ModChevron7, 4. Fabricland - full frontal!, 5. kelp quilt with bee members identified, 6. Munki, 7. Button Play mini-quilt, 8. Oaks Park quilt. :), 9. IMG_6861, 10. Progress, 11. Urban Decay baby quilt., 12. tokyo subway map quilt, 13. urban garden, 14. Atomic Connections, 15. the youtube quilt, 16. Mid century modern house quilt, 17. A Day at the Aquarium Front, 18. The Green One, 19. Panaceia's Mantle, 20. Hideaway quilt, 21. flying farfalle quilt - quilting, 22. nautical quilt, 23. Rainbow Ripple Quilt Pattern, 24. Geese Around the World, 25. Mystery Puzzle Quilt