March meeting Re-cap

What a great meeting we had at the March GreatFul Threads. There were ten of our regular members there and one visitor, Tricia Steadman. Thanks to Bill Klingensmith for being man of the hour and getting us online to view the youtube video "textileart - how to make a brooch - Jan Tillet". It was only a five minute video but Vista expanded on the fiber art technique and had fantastic examples as you will see in the pics. You could feel the energy in the air as our artsy brains were clicking with ideas how each of us could utilize this technique in our own artwork. 

There will be a workday at Children's Discovery Museum May 2, 9:30-11:30. If you have gone in the past to CDM you know how much fun it is. If you have not gone I would like for you to give it a go. You will leave exhausted with a glow in your heart. If you did not give me your name at the meeting, let me know asap if you are up for this fun filled morning.

Our first GT retreat is planned for April 24-6 at Home Harvest Retreat in Trenton, GA. The cost will be $140.00. It is being opened to quilters outside our group, so if you would like to attend let me know now to insure you a spot. 

2015 Bird Challenge is due in October. Size 30" wide X 36" long.  It will need to have text and a bird theme. 

Thanks to Jackie Cory for suggesting we do a monthly give away. If you would like to participate your name goes into a drawing. If it is pulled out you win the small handmade item for the month. Next month you make the handmade item and all who have not won in the past get their name (if they choose to participate) in the drawing. Jackie made the first item and Miriam won. Miriam is obliged to make the giveaway for our next meeting. WHAT FUN!  We get a chance to display in our home a small artwork from our fellow fiber artist. 

A new quilt shop, Sew 'N So is opening in Rocky Face, GA. Anna Quarles is the proprietor.  Opening day is Wednesday, April 1. A new Janome dealer is going into downtown Ringgold between Home Plate Restaurant and Caffeine Addict's coffee shop. Name will be It's Time to Sew, opening date not set, owner is Kathy Graham.  A new quilt shop is going in on Signal Mtn. If you know the particulars please let us know. 

Our upcoming schedule for GT looks like this:

April 23- no meeting due to AQS in Paducah and  retreat in  Trenton, GA

May 28- Catherine Price has the program

June 25- box project workshop. Bring a small box and lots of ephemera, trinkets and found objects  to put on it. We will begin working on them. 

July 23- Kim Callaway  program

August 27- Karen Young program

September 24- Melissa Klingensmith program  (notice Melissa I switched you with Jackie)

October 22- Sandi Suggs program

November and December no meeting 

Any questions send me an email.

Denise

March meeting of GreatFul Threads

Artist of the Quilt World,

Thursday evening, March 26, is our GreatFul Threads meeting. We have a lot of catching up to do since we missed the February meeting due to weather conditions.  Vista has the program and I understand it involves using small scraps of fabric. We quilters do not like to throw anything away, and with good reason, high quality fabric "ain't cheap"!   Do not forget to bring the work you made using  program techniques from the January meeting. If you attend Stitchin' In the Mall today you will get to see mine hanging on the clothesline. (1:00 - 4:00 in Center Court) This is going to be a great event. I do hope you make a special effort to thank the sponsors. A lot of time and expense has gone into this event for you and our quilting community.

See you Thursday night at the Bernina shop, 6:00,

Denise O.

Stitch In the Mall

Art Quilters,

Saturday, March 21, is the National Quilting Day event at Hamilton Place Mall. If you have a 36" X 36" art quilt to hang on the clothesline during the event it needs to be there between 12:00 and 12:30. . If you have an art quilt you are particularly proud of that is not 36" square  bring it and we will use it at our table to show interested potentials what we do.Thanks to Josie for designing the GreatFul Threads handout, it looks wonderful. 

It's going to be a fun time seeing all of our quilting friends and ultimately pulling in  new members to our quilting community. Be sure to purchase a raffle ticket for the quilt give away, you might not NEED the quilt but the proceeds go to those who DO NEED.  There will be some really nice door prizes given by sponsors but you will have to be there to register. Sponsors are Spool, Chattanooga Quilts, Chattanooga Sewing Center, Bernina Sew 'N Quilt Studio, and Ready Set Sew. 

 I hope to see each of you there whether you are with GreatFul Threads or another guild. 

Denise

GreatFul Threads meeting for February

I know it's cold outside but this is PERFECT quilting weather!  Thanks to the frigid temps I have stayed home all week and gotten so much accomplished;  hope you have as well.

 

Thursday the 26^th is our GT February meeting. Karen and Delores will be presenting the Youtube video.   The topic for the evening will be borders.

                  

Have you played with any of the techniques we saw at the January meeting?  If the answer is yes, bring those in for show 'n tell. I trust nobody burned her house down with a soldering iron!

 

If you have a quilt to hang on the clothesline during STITCH IN THE MALL, please bring it, if it is finished. I am hoping to have mine quilted and bound by Thursday night, fingers crossed.

 

Be sure to bring Show 'n Tell with you, it is my favorite segment of our meetings!

 

See you Thursday night, February 26, 6:00 at the Bernina Quilt and Sew Studio.

 

Denise 

Photos from January Meeting

Welcome to GreatFul Threads 2015.

Welcome to GreatFul Threads  2015.  When you were a child did you ever ponder on what the world would be like “in the future”?  For whatever reason, the year 2025 was always my futuristic date. I was thinking about this last week and realized we are only 10 years away from what I deemed “the future”. If you watch the daily news programs our future is questionable. Although, if you, like me, hide in your quilting studio, only read quilt magazines and only watch quilt programs and quilt classes, our future looks like great fun and I can’t wait to jump in with both feet!!

We had thirteen members attending the January GreatFul Threads meeting. We are so GreatFul (har, har) to Bill and Melissa for hosting our group in the Bernina store for a second year.

The group is still collecting fabric, trim and recycle items for the Children’s Discovery Museum.  We decided to table the Blanket project in conjunction with the CDM due to lack of woman  power.

A retreat at Home Harvest in Trenton, GA is scheduled for April 24-6, cost approx. $140.00. Due to that being the weekend of AQS Paducah, it was questionable whether any members were able to go. If you are interested contact me, we need a minimum of 6 to attend.

National Quilting Day is March 21. Sandi Suggs, in conjunction with Hamilton Place Mall, has planned  “Stitch in the Mall”  to promote quilting and the Chattanooga Quilting Community. Eight guilds will be given a table to set up 2 sewing machines. Each guild will hang 2  36” square quilts ”. Shoppers can admire the quilts, talk to the quilters and get info on joining a guild that appeals to them. Josie is going to design a handout with information about GreatFul Threads. If you are interested in hanging a quilt or sewing, please contact me by February 1.

GT 2015 Challenge will be “Birds”.  Make it whimsical and add text to it. We discussed submitting our challenge to Chattanooga AQS 2016 but found out there will not be a challenge this year or next. In fact the only challenge is at Grand Rapids.  Hmm, was there not enough participation in the past? So, back to our question of  “What size  will our challenge quilts be?”  How about 30” X 36”? If anyone has a better suggestion….bring it on! 

There will be 4 of us going to the Children’s Discovery Museum February 14 to assist with the annual Make it Day. We will be helping the children sew pillows. The Museum needs help from 12:00 to 4:00. That happens to be the 2^nd Tuesday of the month which is the day Modern Quilt Guild meets and several of us attend that until 12:00. If you are available and not in Modern it would be great if you could be there at 12:00 to assist and back up will be there as soon as we can grab lunch and get from E. Brainerd to downtown. Let me know if you can and I’ll get you a parking pass.

At the May meeting, in addition to our program we will be creating a multi-media project. Bring a square box, approximately 4” to the meeting. 

I want everyone to know that I used the soldering iron today and cut my synthetic fabric. It cut like butter and was SO MUCH FUN.  It could be addictive. I only burned myself once, my finger slipped but I very quickly put some aloe burn lotion on and it neither hurt nor blistered.  If you need to watch the youtube videos again they were, “Cutting Fabric with a hot knife” by Don McCunn, Fusing Fabric with Jane Davies, and “Craft Ideas with Textile Artist Margaret Beal”

Thanks to Josie for taking pictures and helping with the blog while I’ve been locked out. 

Next month, Vista will be choosing our program videos. This will be interesting to see just what strikes everyone’s fancy!

See you at the February meeting. Be sure to bring in a project you have created by fusing. Don’t forget to add some sheer fabrics you cut with your soldering iron!

Quilt every day, it takes the Winter blues away,

Denise

Thursday January 22, 6pm at Bernina of Chattanooga, First Meeting of the Year!!!!!!!!!

Next week is our January GreatFul Threads meeting. We have much to discuss and I hope much to show 'n tell.  I plan on getting there early (5:00) to set up the computer with the TV. I will choose our first Youtube video for the 2015 program. 

I do hope this is going to be a good year with a lot of participation. I am looking forward to it and hope you are as well. 

See you Thursday at the Bernina shop. Meeting begins at 6:00.