Cambridge Modern Quilt Guild: November Meeting Recap

Maritza lays it down for the hand quilters.

Looking through this November recap you might think "Wow, what an amazing group. We're so fun and innovative. We make such cool stuff. Geez, I'm not usually this shallow, but we're so attractive." Of course these things have always been true, but this is the first time our recap post has captured our all-around fabulousness so accurately. That's because this month Taz of Bring To Light Photography has taken the photos. So enjoy scrolling through what we really look like!

We had a great demonstration by Maritza Soto and Julie Reuben on hand sewing. Maritza started with the ins-and-outs, or maybe ups-and-downs (in a continuous rocking motion) of hand quilting.

She's using pink, because hand quilting should be seen.

If you're not familiar with the quilter's knot, it will revolutionize your hand sewing.

Julie Reuben shows us her beaded quilting and a world of possibility opens.

Two words: seed beads

Julie blends more than one color bead to give it more texture.

Then it was time to collect the food and hygiene products for Cambridge Rindge and Latin's Falcon Pantry. You all gave super plus mountains of goods and CRLS asked us to pass on an enthusiastic thank you for all your donations.

CMQG makes sure everyone is covered.

Our Alternative Materials challenge deadline finally arrived and with it some really cool and unusual quilts:

Gwen made the most luscious and cuddly baby quilt;
double gauze on the front and minky on the back.

Sue's beautiful Blue Heron quilt, made from denim and Marimekko canvas ...

...was beautifully designed and executed, both front and back.

Julie wasn't thrilled with her fall leaves (made from wool suiting) when she put them all together.

So she tried again with an eye on bringing out the negative space
and was thrilled with the result.

Kaesmene's festive and soft santa hat quilt was made with cotton sateen velvet and minky.
Each hat was quilted with a different stitch using gold thread,
hitting the perfect note between fancy and cuddly.

Julia's quilt, made from oil cloth, reflective tape, canvas and something furry,
is a masterpiece of variety from reflective to matte - all in black.

Charlotte showed off her awesome and textured ski quilt from clothes in her closet. Materials ranged from
white leather to gray fur and something kind of shiny that made the old half square triangle look like something we'd never seen before.

Allison showed off her vibrant Sparkle Punch quilt made
from lawn, canvas, linen, gauze and a touch of Liberty.

Kathy made this futuristic shower curtain quilt that made us all rethink what we have hanging in our bathrooms.

And then it was on to our usual show-and-tell where you all continued to impress:

Kim made this beautiful junior king quilt for her lucky daughter.

We can't wait to see what she makes with her little birdies!

Heather and Rebecca shared some of their stuff from Glamp Stitchalot,
including these stripped pieces from a class with Sherri Lynn Wood...

...these four-square stack and whack quilt-letts they worked on with Nicholas Ball...

... and these tops made with literal tops (shirts) made with Luke Hayes.

Rebecca also showed us this lovely hand appliqued quilt that she
had barely started at Sew Boston (was that just a month ago?)

Gretchen's festive tree skirt from Modern Patchwork Christmas
is a wonder of Cotton & Steel holiday fabrics.

We were all excited about the border and varied yellow background
that Reva used in this quilt inspired by A Quilter's Table.

Chris got so into our lotto block that she made a whole quilt
and showed us how it was done! We love how the border and colors
gave it a totally different feel from the original.

FINALLY we got to the pièce de résistance: our QuiltCon charity quilt. If this quilt is a reflection of the CMQG, we have a lot to be proud of: talented designers in our midst; dedicated quilters who came together at numerous sew-ins to get this done, and done early; and support from generous indie businesses Gather Here, Cambridge Quilt Shop and Laurena's Longarm that gave us places to work and machines to use at no charge because they're just cool peeps. A special thanks to Gwen Marceline who kept us on track, showed up for everything and insisted on an early finish (we're all thanking her for that now, eh?) and to Jenn McPhilimy who came up with our reptilian scale design and took on finishing up the front and sewing the whole back, solo.