Author Archive Sarah Watts

We had been talking about it for years, and this year we finally made it happen – our first retreat! We had a great time and stitched up lots of great projects.

The retreat was held in near Eden, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The few storms we had roll through only made for better scenery. The food was yummy (thanks Mindy!) and the company was even better. I was amazed at how much everyone got done!

Some worked on their minis for our upcoming Las Vegas meets Salt Lake mini swap. Can’t wait to see everyone’s final minis!

Those Tula Skulls are fantastic and both the scrappy trips that Mindy got done are amazing.

Thank you to everyone who attended and made it a fun and memorable weekend. I hope we do it again next year!

We had our annual fabric dyeing event a couple weekends ago. We had a blast mixing, painting, twisting, flicking, dunking, soaking, and rinsing.

If you weren’t able to make it this year, definitely try to make it next year. We have a blast and it’s so fun to leave with fabric that you have dyed yourself. I’m excited to see how these hand-dyed fabrics get used in projects.

And a big thank you to Kim S. for hosting!

2017 SLMQG RETREAT
September 14-16, 2017, Bear Lake. The retreat is open to all SLMQG members and friends of SLMQG. Join us for a stitchin-fun time! The price is $160 for members and $190 for non-members. Click here for more information and to sign up.

CHARITY BLOCKS
We have the perfect charity block solution to destash your stash – Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks! These blocks whip up in no time and each block only requires 6 – 2.5″ x 16″ strips of fabric. Follow this tutorial here. Quick Note: We’d like our blocks to have a solid black or dark gray center strip (which is the brown strip in the tutorial block).

UPCOMING EVENTS

Next Guild Meeting – Thursday, August 17th. More details soon on our Facebook events page.

Las Vegas MQG + SLMQG Mini Swap – If you’ve signed up, make sure you have posted your mosaic so your LV partner can get to know you and what you like.

MQG MEMBER PERKS

Creative Webinar: Slow Improvisation – Improv Piecing with a Specific Theme in Mind. Register here for a webinar on Improv with Heidi Parkes on August 24th at 7pm.

Join Heidi Parkes for a 45 minute lecture on her 2016 QuiltCon award winning quilts, “Places Unfold,” (1st for Handwork) and “Night Flight no. 1,” (2nd for Improvisation). Both quilts were improv pieced on the theme of travel, and Parkes will describe her process in detail, from the initial ‘spark’ of inspiration, to the finer points of technique, title, and quilting.

Ready for a fun Mini Swap?!

Our friends with the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild have invited us to join them in a mini swap. This will be a great way to make new friends with our Vegas counterparts. The theme for this mini swap is Rainbow. Each SLMQG participant will make a mini for a LVMQG participant and vice versa.

We (the SLMQG participants) will be turning in minis at the October 17th meeting, where board members will ship in one package down to the LVMQG board. We will receive the minis from the LVMQG and handout during our November 17th meeting. If you can’t make one or both of those meetings but still want to participate, don’t worry…you still can. We can work out alternative drop offs and pick ups with you.

Here’s all the information you need for the Las Vegas + Salt Lake Mini Swap:

Mini Swap Timeline and Important Dates:

Deadline to sign up – July 14th
Deadline to post mosaic on Instagram – August 1st
Deadline to finish mini – October 17th (bring to October meeting)
You will be receive your mini at the November meeting – November 17th

How to Sign Up

Please comment yes and include your instagram username on a post in our private facebook group for members only.

Mini Quilt Swap Guidelines:

• This will be a secret swap, so Sally Seamstress from SLMQG will make a quilt for Nancy Notions from LVMQG who will in turn make a quilt for Teresa Thimble from SLMQG, and so on.
• This swap will be open to Salt Lake MQG members of all skill levels – as long as you can make a mini quilt, you can join!
• RAINBOW is the theme.
• Read this post on swap etiquette for some guidelines.
• When you sign up, we’ll ask you for your Instagram username so that the person making you a package can find out what you like.
• Post an Instagram mosaic to show off some of your favorite quilt styles.
• Please keep the deadline (October 17th) in mind when you sign up. We are giving plenty of time, so you have no excuse to be late!
• The size is up to you, but the max on any given side should be no larger than 20”.
• Swap extras are not required, but are not banned either. It is entirely up to you.
• Please package your mini (and any extras, if including) with your name and the name of the recipient clearly marked.
• Please post pictures on Instagram when you receive your quilt swap package.
• HAVE FUN!

DID YOU SEE THIS?

Have you seen the June Modern Quilt Guild Block of the Month? It’s called Diamond in the Rough by our very own Christine Ricks. Click here for the block and paper piecing lessons.

To top it off, Christine also designed the June Quilt of the Month called Halfervecent! Click here for pattern details. SLMQG member Barbie Mills (The Quilting Mill) did all the amazing quilting. Check out her instagram feed here for more pictures.

Thank you to everyone who came out last month and helped us stitch up some charity quilt blocks! We managed to sew together one quilt top from previously completed blocks and sew together more than a dozen scrappy trip blocks.

Stitchin’ Up a Sweat!

If you missed out or want to make more, we will have fabric strip sets ready to sew together at our next Saturday Sew (July 8th) or you can make them on your own and bring to a future meeting (see below for more information on how to make the blocks).

We also had a fun show and tell.

Don’t forget – next month we have our annual fabric dyeing event on Saturday July 29th, which will replace our typical July meeting. That means NO meeting Thursday, July 20th. Instead, mark your calendars for Saturday, July 29th. More details to come on our Facebook events page.

CHARITY BLOCKS
We have the perfect charity block solution to destash your stash – Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks! These blocks whip up in no time and each block only requires 6 – 2.5″ x 16″ strips of fabric. Follow this tutorial here. Quick Note: We’d like our blocks to have a solid black or dark gray center strip (which is the brown strip in the tutorial block).

UPCOMING EVENTS

Next Guild Meeting – Saturday, July 29^th Annual Fabric Dyeing. More details soon on our Facebook events page.

Next Saturday Sew Day – Saturday, July 8^th from 10-3pm at Pine Needles (1100 W 7800 S #29, West Jordan, UT 84088). We will have charity strip blocks ready for you to sew, or bring a UFO, start something new, and get inspired!

Las Vegas MQG + SLMQG Mini Swap – Early fall. Let us know if you would like to participate.

2017 SLMQG Retreat – It’s going to happen this year! Mark your calendar: September 14-16, 2017, Bear Lake. The retreat is open to all SLMQG members. Join us for a stitchin-fun time! Click here for more information and to sign up.

Next up in our Member Spotlight series, meet Jaime Casselbury! Jaime always brings a smile and a fresh edge to our quilty community. Read on to get up close and personal with Jaime. 

Jaime Casselbury, Quilty Stats:
Instagram handle: jmzblond
Favorite quilty trend (obsession): Rainbows
Favorite color: Rainbows

Q: How did you get started quilting?

A: I got started sewing with my grandmother. She made the old-fashioned tied quilts. I only sewed clothes for my Barbies back then, but that led to costumes and pieced quilts. My tastes didn’t jive with the traditional fabrics and settings and that led me to the modern world.

Q: Favorite sewing notion?

A: Wonder clips! I don’t think I can make a project without them and am loving that they come in a rainbow of colors now.

Q: What’s on your design wall?

 Q: What do you stitch with?

 Q: Favorite quilty trend?

A: My favorite quilts trend would have to be rainbows. Is that a trend? I love them!

 Q: Favorite quilty personality?

A: Angela Walters! She is amazing on air and fantastic in person.

Q: Any quilty techniques you want to learn or try out?

A: I recently taught myself to thread baste hexies. Doesn’t sound like much but I’ve used glue since the beginning and it’s much more time consuming to go needle+thread. I’m looking to tackle the Violet Craft EPP Lion next.

Q: What are some of your favorite projects you finished?

Q: Do you retreat?

A: First retreat was the first Sewtopia here in SLC. That’s where I met peeps from the SLMQG (!!!!!) and I’ve been to every one since.

Q: What are your favorite non-quilt projects to make?

A: Outside of quilts I love making bags. I’ve made lots of pouches and a few harder bags, including the infamous Weekender by Amy Butler.