Mary Woltmann, president, welcome, 51 members, 7 guests
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- introduction of guests
- thanks to Barbara Hoffman for the Sewing Studio program
- details about the tote class with Beth Jessup on June 13th
- new guild website announced, http://www.rivercityquilts.blogspot.com/
- guild auction moved to October
BREAK
PROGRAM:
- Lynn Roddy Brown lecture - "Scrap Quilts According to Me"
Question, "Who has more fabric than they can ever use?" A show of many hands. Early in her marriage, she received a scrap quilt from a relative and hated it. It was a dark, medium, light quandary.
Scrap Axioms: A well designed scrap quilt makes you "look across" the quilt, not lingering in one spot. Roberta Horton says, 'a scrap quilt cannot be memorized.'
VALUE: the basis of scrap quilting, the placement of value makes the secondary pattern.
MAKE A DECISION AND STICK TO IT: separate darks and lights and stick to it. Don't mix. Arrange all of your fabrics by value light to dark. Look at the sequence. Make sure there is a noticeable "gap" in the value sequence, between the (lightest) dark and the (darkest) light. Do not use fabric that has large dots, the light spots can throw off the value comparison.
SCRAP QUILT BY COLOR - make a 2 color quilt. All the dark values in one color, and all the light values in the 2nd color. Obey the rule, or mistakes will pop out at you. You can "loose the value" if all the red fabrics are the same value. Reds go a long way!! Solids and batiks are for making edges, lines, or stopping points - a soft place for your eyes to rest. Use big prints for borders or backings.
SCRAP QUILT BY RELATED FABRICS - this could be a fabric producer's line (like Moda charm packs), kids' fabrics, Civil War, Thimbleberries, and Kaffe Fassett. Sale table fabrics, the really ugly ones make great scraps. When using children's brights on a common background (either black or white background), use any color other than black to break it up. The edges get lost.
- Muslin goes with everything. "The worse my Life gets, the more I sew."
STAND ALONE BLOCKS - the block pattern is apparent (like churn dash), lights and darks are easily seen on a quilt.
**In Scrap Quilting, through the placement of light and dark values create an underlying structure (or secondary design) and holds the quilt together.
PURPLE GOES WITH EVERYTHING - particularly as a border. Match the value of the quilting thread to the border. Brassy gold thread (Fons & Porter) makes your quilting show up.
BRASSY GOLD FABRIC - makes a great inner border; a clean break. often on the sale table.
SUNKEN COST - THE MANTRA OF EVERY QUILTER - Sunken cost is the money you expended on something that you will not recoup, i.e. you are the mother of the bride, you spend outrageous dollars on a dress you wear only once. The money is spent. In quilting, you purchase fabric for your stash that you just had to have. Same thing. Once the money is spent on your stash, then any quilt you make is in economic terms, "FREE." I like economics!!
LEAVE YOUR GUILT AT THE QUILT STORE DOOR - UFO's don't matter, (see previous paragraph) they are all free. Start another quilt. If the UFO's make you unhappy or pensive, just give THEM away. It's better for your mental health.
A PLACE TO START - Pick a simple block pattern. Pick out 13 fabrics (Fat Quarters). Differentiate between light/dark fabric. Choose fabrics to make 3 blocks. Place in different spots on the design board. Pick other fabrics from the 13, then repeat. Construct a quilt top by moving blocks into different positions. If using "reds" use 1 red per block. Keep making and moving blocks until pleased.
EVERY QUILT IS A LEARNING PROCESS.
ONE-HALF LOG CABIN - by Sharon Cray has a strong shift in value from light to dark.
SCATTER THESE STRONG COLORS IN THE QUILT: red, teal, and gold
SIZE MATTERS - small and tiny prints add interest.
MAKE THE BORDER FIT - for borders, cut "piano keys" the size the same as the block parts (2.5" or whatever works). Then the borders should fit with the use of "cornerstones."
SORT YOUR STASH. LR Brown's stash is separated by hue, then special categories like stripes, plaids, batiks, children's, 30's, Civil War, whatever your quirk is, etc.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? - view the blocks on your design wall through a reducing glass, peephole, digital camera viewfinder, "from across the room, " or just squint.
CUT UP YOUR LEFTOVERS. Take a little time to cut up leftover project fabrics into 2.5" strips, store by value, use at your leisure. Some folks cut several strips just as soon as the fabric is home from the store. LRB had great examples to show and was a real pleasure to listen to.
Birthday raffle winners: Kathy, Debbie H., Cynthia McGee, Elaine Gosselin
Fat Quarter winner: Linda Wiggins
Name Tag winner: Martha deHoop
