Uhuru Quilters Guild home page Next Meeting: Agenda: 10:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. 1:00 p.m.
Note: Please turn all cell phones to vibrate during the meeting. |
Happy New Year! Highlights of 2007 include three trunk shows, four exhibits, a bus trip to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, a successful quilt raffle, growing participation in guild activities such as charm squares, challenges, show and tell, and workshops/study groups. We ended the year with 71 very active members. Take time to browse the website for mementos of the year. In 2008 we are looking forward to continuing to fellowship around the love of quilts and quilting and developing our skills and knowledge as quilters. The January meeting will be at the Cedar Heights Community Center. Planned activities include the Fons & Porter Study Group Show & Tell, the 2007 Challenge Show and Tell, photography for the National Quilting Association (NQA) Virtual Gallery, and the New Year’s Survey and Resolution. The February meeting will be held at the Largo-Kettering Library and will be followed immediately by a trunk show celebrating Black History month and African American quilting. In the event of inclement weather, please listen to the news for announcements about closings. Generally, if the public school system is closed, we do not meet. Our quilt show is scheduled for June 28, 2008. More details and opportunities to volunteer will follow. Sewfully,
My quilting room has gone to pieces!
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This year our Ugly Fabric Auctions are scheduled for January, April, July, October, and December. We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... so pull out some of that "beautiful" fabric you be holdin' (in usable sizes) and bring it to the January 19th meeting. All proceeds go to the Uhuru treasury. Address any questions to Tammietrekkie@yahoo.com.
The theme for January's charm squares will be "Geometrics!" We have 23 participants this month: Shirley Hodge, Deb Sanger, Jennifer Morris, Cynthia Wilson, Jackie Stafford, Sandra Benjamin, Sheryl Smith, Brenda Brown, Nadine Mills, Linda McKenzie, Sandra Ealy, Jayne Hirst, Dawn Felix, Cynthia York, Myra Sumpter, Mia Baker, CC Flowe, Lisa Lewis, Cornelia Carter, Pat King, Denise Davis, Willie Mae Miller, and Jackie Tyson-Hope. Cut 6-1/2” (six-and-one-half-inch) squares of 100% pre-washed cotton (please make sure that the size and quality of your squares are what you yourself would like to receive). Please remember to cut off the selvedges before you cut your squares. Place squares in a baggie with your name on it, and put it in the "Charm Squares" basket or hand them to Jackie. If you signed up but are unable to come to the meeting, please mail your squares to Jackie or have someone bring them to the meeting. If the number of exchanges is small enough, charm squares will be sorted and distributed before the end of the meeting. Please e-mail or telephone Jackie if you have questions.
My Dearest Quilters, Let's make 2008 a "Nine-Patch New Year!" As the 2008 Block of the Month chair I have chosen 12 nine-patch blocks, all directly from Quilter's Cache, for us to make this year. The blocks vary in difficulty; I hope that as we proceed we'll find that we've learned something new, or at the very least, recalled a familiar block to use in a quilt this year. Remember our "each one teach one" motto, so if you find you have a suggestion or pointer for completing any of these blocks, please share it with your fellow quilters. This is a good time to start thinking about your fabric selections - do you want a quilt with a "scrappy" look or do you wish to set aside a set of fabrics at the start to complete the entire quilt? I've chosen the latter , so here's my first tip: There are no more than four colors in any block; most blocks have a base fabric and two additional color fabrics, so check your stash. Also, choosing a primary fabric and using your lovely charm squares would make an absolutely "charming" quilt. Below please find my list of blocks for the year, along with their links on Quilter's Cache (here's my January block!):
January: Shooting Star Block http://www.quilterscache.com/S/ShootingStarBlock.html Happy New Year,
Pecan Graham Bars (submitted by Linda McKenzie) 1 pkg graham crackers, separated /
1 cup dark brown sugar / 1 cup butter / Place crackers in single layer on a cookie sheet. Bring pecans, sugar and butter to a boil. Pour over the crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes; break apart when cool.
The Hospitality Committee will offer light refreshments, i.e., beverage, fruit, cookies; any member is invited to bring items to share. To avoid damage to your items, please put away all quilts and materials when the refreshment period begins. Upon completion of the refreshment period, please dispose of unfinished food and drinks before we open Show N Tell or continue a workshop.
Last chance to show how crazy you can get! The Crazy Quilt challenge show-n-tell exhibit will be at the January 19, 2008 meeting. Be sure to email Jennifer Morris if you plan to participate. Remember, anything goes! 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Place Viewer’s Choice Prizes will be awarded!
Organizing Your Stash into Books You have lots and lots of fabric in your possession. It's piled high everywhere. You know you have the PERFECT piece for your current project but you can't find it. You are discouraged. To make yourself feel better, you go fabric shopping. And repeat the cycle. The solution to this problem is ... ORGANIZATION! Create a folding template by cutting a stiff piece of cardboard 9" by (at least) 13" (I use a green file folder-ed.). The folding template will help you make very uniform "books." Lay out your fabric as it came off the bolt, with the selvedges at the top and the fold at the bottom. Bring the folded edge up to the selvedge edges. This will result in an 11" high by however long your yardage is. Place the folding template on the extreme right-hand side of the fabric, aligning the bottom and right sides with the fabric. There will be a small piece of the template sticking out of the top. Pick up both the fabric and the folding template and flip them to the left. Continue flipping to the left until you've reached the end of the fabric; if you have a little bit left over, simply tuck it inside the book. Using the excess height of the template as a grip, slide the template out from the book. Why 9"? Well, 1/4 yard is 9". Therefore every fold you make will be 1/4 yard. Every 4 folds is 1 yard. It is a very easy (and approximate) way of estimating how much yardage is folded up. I don't worry about folding precisely at 9" because as you fold, the book becomes incrementally larger. If you have enough yardage to fold, your resultant book absolutely will not remain at 9" wide; it will be wider. BUT ... it's still a good estimate. The key is to create UNIFORM books ... of whatever size best suits your needs. Having everything folded to a uniform size (of whatever dimensions you like, not just 9"x11") makes storing your fabric much more efficient and easy to get to. Thanks to Shelly Rodgers of Walnut Creek, CA for these instructions. If you'd like to see her explanation along with photos, visit her site at http://pir8.freeservers.com/quilting/Stash-Folding/index.htm
The Community Service Committee would like to thank all of you who contributed quilts and toys for St. Ann’s Infant & Maternity Home. We delivered 38 quilts. I would like to personally thank you for the great looking quilts that were turned in. You did quite a good job on your quilts; being a member of UHURU it made me proud to give them to the Home. They were very happy about the quilts and toys and loved the look of all the quilts that we could pull out for them to see. I also would like to give a special thank you to Sara Vogt-Knox, who took time after our Christmas party to give me a ride home with all the toys. Thank You, Thank You, Sara. I'd like to also thank Charlene Marshall and Mr. Arthur King (Pat King’s husband) for helping deliver the quilts and toys to St. Ann’s. You all should be proud of your efforts in making quilts for those who need them and giving of your time. We are now thinking of our next community service project for 2008, and will run ideas by you at our next meeting. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Community Service Committee
G Street Fabrics Education Class Special Take any one-session class from January 4th through February 15th, 2008 and get one of equal or lesser value during the same time period FREE! For further information and to register for classes call 301-231-8998 ext. 240. Check out the February 2008 issue of Quilter's World! Valerie C. White is the featured quilter, and she continues to use her God-given talent to create unique quilts. You can download a pdf file of her beautiful quilts at http://www.quilters-world.com/webbonuses/pdfs/fabric_jazz.pdf. Valerie was a founding member of Uhuru Quilters Guild.
The Show & Tell of our work will be held at the January 2008 meeting. Remember you must have a minimum of twelve (12) blocks. We will be discussing how to square up your blocks, various ways to assemble the quilt top, and how to work with sashings and borders. Plans are in the works to ensure that you will have assistance with the process of transforming your quilt top into a quilt. For this session you will need
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