Uhuru Quilters Guild home page

Next Meeting:
June 16, 2007

  Agenda:

  10:00 a.m.
  Fons & Porter Study Group

  11:30 a.m.
  Business Meeting

  12:30 p.m.
  Refreshments

  1:00 p.m.
  Show n Tell

Note:  Please turn all cell phones to vibrate during the meeting.

Coordinator's Corner

The May meeting at Mt. Rainier Nature Center was well-attended. The facility was spacious, well lit, clean and comfortable. Thanks, Mt. Rainier staff for an enjoyable experience and Brenda McKelvin, for making the arrangements.

After June’s meeting at the Hyattsville Library, we will be at the Cedar Heights Community Center for July and August. Because of its proximity to the Sports & Learning Center, Cedar Heights is underutilized. The director, Debra Savoy, is very interested in the guild using the center on a regular basis. Several members have visited the Center. Thank you, Pansy Lovelace, for suggesting the center. Thank you, Cornelia Carter-Sykes for providing comprehensive notes of your visits to Cedar Heights and also Lake Arbor Community Center.

Other notes from the meeting:

• The guild has renewed its membership to the National Quilting Association.
• The 2008 Raffle Quilt Committee will be making a decision within the next month about the design for the next raffle quilt.
• Raffle tickets for “Uhuru Beauty” are available. Pick up your tickets at the June meeting to sell to family, friends, and co-workers.
• Members present indicated interest in forming an art quilt study group which will meet from 10:00 am – 11:30 am. Watch for more details.

There will be several opportunities in the upcoming months for Uhuru to do trunk shows, presentations, and exhibits of our quilts and wearable art. Some engagements will need only 3-5 members to display our quilts and talk about quiltmaking; others will demand the talents and time of us all in order for the event to be successful. I hope by now you have been able to visit the exhibit of our work at G Street Fabrics in Rockville. Did you know about Margreta Silverstone’s exhibit? Anyone else?

Sewfully,
Carol

Fons & Porter Study Group by Carol Williams

This year our workshops will be formatted as study groups. One group will mainly focus on learning the skills featured in Quilters Complete Guide by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter in order to improve our piecing and appliqué techniques. We will be following the skills-based curriculum.

At June’s meeting we will learn about half square triangles. Try your hand at Shoo Fly, Hole in the Barn Door, or Ribbon Star. Discover whether you are a “pointed or pointless person.” In the Guide (revised edition) the pages are 34 – 39. Whether you wish to complete the block by hand or machine, you will need

• ¼ yard each of three colors
• Basic Sewing Kit [hand sewing needles, pins, thread(s) to match and/or neutral, scissors and/or thread snips, seam ripper, rotary cutter and small mat, ruler, pins, glue stick, pencil, tweezers, thimble]

Machine Piecing:

• Sewing machine in good condition with feet (open toe, quarter inch, etc.)
• Power strip and/or extension cord
• Extra machine needles

There is probably some neat, handy gadget that I’ve forgotten. What’s listed here is enough to get us started. Bring your questions and helpful hints. They are for the good of all. Volunteer teachers and guides are needed for upcoming sessions. Each one teach one.

Note: We did discover a supply of the pattern book, Americana Sampler, which is no longer in print, through a bookseller on Amazon.com. When last I checked, the price was less than $10.00 for both the book and shipping.

The Charm Exchange Cornelia Carter-Sykes, Chair

The theme for the June Charm Square Exchange is "Tangerine." Fourteen people have signed up - they are: Sandra Ealy, Cynthia York, Elsie Houston, Myra Sumpter, Mia Baker, Shirley Hodge, Dawn Felix, Yvonne Nickens, Charlene Marshall, Nadine Mills, Jocelyn Herbert, Pat King, CC Flowe, and Cornelia Carter-Sykes.

To see the complete 2007 Charm Square schedule, as well as a description of each month's selection, visit the Charm Squares page.

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.

If you have any questions, please e-mail or telephone Cornelia. If you have signed up and then are unable to come to the meeting, please mail squares or have them delivered to the meeting. If the number of exchanges is small enough, charm squares will be sorted and distributed before the end of the meeting.

Birthday/Hospitality The Hospitality Quintuplets: "CC" Campbell-Flowe, Dawn Felix, Jocelyn Herbert, Pat Johnson, Deb Sanger

The Hospitality Committee would like to offer light refreshments, i.e., beverage, fruit, cookies. Any member is invited to bring items to share. When the refreshment period begins, please put away all quilts and materials. This will prevent any damage to your valuable items. Upon completion of the refreshment period, please dispose of unfinished food and drinks before we open Show N Tell or continue a workshop. 

When you bring food, please assist in the cleanup after refreshments have been served. We want to ensure that the room is back to its original order before leaving the Center. Thanks! 

A Very Happy Birthday to Yvonne Nickens (2nd) and Cornelia Carter-Sykes (9th)

"Art quilts: If you can see it, you can make it."

Sew Help Me. . .
Tips to boost your creativity

Another handy carrier for small quilts

Panty hose! Roll your small quilt or wall hanging tightly into a tube and, if you have the patience, skinny it into one leg of the panty hose. I don't think I'd store it that way, but it works okay between your home and meeting place.

Remove fuzzies from thread

Have you ever dropped a spool of thread on the floor and it rolled, collecting little bits of dust? Blast it with a can of compressed air; it works like a charm.

Just Sew You Know. . .

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are needed on Wednesday, July 18, 6-9 pm to participate in a salute to textile, millinery and clothing arts and a book signing at the DC Historical Society (located at 9th & K Streets, NW., the Old Carnegie City Library building). This event is being sponsored by Rosemary Reed Miller, the author of The Threads Of Time, The Fabric Of History: Profiles Of African American Dressmakers And Designers From 1850 To The Present, and the owner of Toast and Strawberries.

Volunteers are asked to exhibit quilts, be available to talk about their design/work. The evening would start with a reception, viewing about 5 pm, talk in their auditorium [200 people] at 7 pm, then back to main hall for food, exhibition, etc. until 9 pm.

Please e-mail Tammie (tametha.c.morrow@irs.gov) if you are interested in participating.

Two New African-American Quilt Books

Kansas City Star Quilts has just released two new books on African-American quilting: Bold Improvisation: Searching for African-American Quilts by Scott Heffley and The Soulful Art of African-American Quilts: Nineteen Bold, Improvisational Projects by Sonie Ruffin.

These titles are companion books. Bold Improvisation is a coffee-table art book that displays African-American quilts dating back 122 years. Soulful Art takes 11 of the quilts from Bold Improvisation and redrafts them (and includes original designs as well). The books contain history, information on fabric, stories about community, and lots more. To read more information, learn about the authors, and view pages inside the books, click on the following two links: https://www.pickledish.com/retailer/bookpreviews/bookdetail.cfm?id=58 https://www.pickledish.com/retailer/bookpreviews/bookdetail.cfm?id=59

2007 Block of the Month - "Twelve Days Of Christmas" Renea Bailey, Chair

View the lyrics of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" by clicking the link at the left.

Web sites and books on Applique:
http://www.quilt.com/HowTo/AppliqueHowToPage.html
http://quilting.about.com/od/appliqutechniques/Learn_How_to_Applique.htm
http://www.roserushbrooke.com/how-to-applique-1.html
http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingfour.html
“The Easy Art of Applique: Techniques for Hand, Machine, and Fusible Applique” by Mimi Dietrich & Rox Eppler
“Hand Applique with Alex Anderson”
“The New Applique Sampler: Learn to Applique the Piece O’Cake Way” by Becky Goldsmith, Linda Jenkins

June Block of the Month - Six Musicians Playing. Finished size is 11 X 8-1/2. Get the pattern in pdf. If you have problems printing out the block, let Renea know before the meeting and she will have copies available.