News and Information

Remember last week's post about Aardvark & C closing? Well... Look what Brandy made with some of the fabric she purchased that day. Woo! Hoo!

So... what have YOU been working on??? A quilt? A tote bag? New dress? No matter what it is... send a photo to deb@debhathaway.com and I'll post it. 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! 

Knowing we are a MODERN QUILT GUILD shouldn't stop us from attending more traditional guilds and 'ohhhh' and 'ahhh' over their talent and creative spirit. Here is a list of somewhat 'local' guilds holding shows in October and November. Let's support our fellow quilters! If you know of any others... please let me know!

October 16-18, 2015

South Shore Stitchers Biennial Quilt Show
Upper Township Community Center
1790 Rte 50, Tuckahoe, NJ
www.southshorestitchers.com

October 24-25, 2015

A Harves of Quilts Show 
Evening Star Quilter's Guild 
Belvidere High School, Belvidere, NJ 
www.esqg.com

November 6-7, 2015

Brownstone Quilters Biennial Quilt Show
Northern Highlands High School
289 Hillside Ave, Allendale, NJ
ww.brownstonequilters.com/Quilt_show.html

PINCUSHIONS AND WALNUTS!!

It has been decided our December meeting will include a PINCUSHION SWAP as the activity. To that end... Carolyn has created a PINTEREST board to post all our fabulous inspirations to. Contact her through our Facebook page if you want to be added to the board.

One of our members, *ahem* Bonny, needs a little help with her pincushion. Does any one else need help??? If so... comment below and we'll work out a time and place to hold a mini-lesson.

One of the biggest concerns with finishing a pincushion is... what to stuff it with. Fiberfill can be packed in tight to provide the hardness you need, but it's too light and the pincushion might constantly fall over or get pushed around when you push the pins into it. Steel wool (without soap) is a good option, and with the addition of a sandbag base the pincushion would stay in place AND keep pins from rusting. After doing a bit of research online, ground walnuts seem to be the preferred stuffing by many quilters. Soooooo.... I purchased a BIG bag of them, and am eager to share. If you decide you would like to stuff your pincushion with ground walnuts, bring a ziplock baggie to our next meeting and take some home.

BUS TRIP!

Did you know that you get a 20% discount coupon to use during your BIRTHDAY MONTH at Pennington Quilt Works??? I grabbed Bonny for a road trip to PQW to use mine last week. As we pulled up to the parking lot we noticed a large touring bus parked along the curb. The store was overflowing with quilters all wearing name tags, talking, laughing, and buying fabric. .. yards and yards of fabric. We found out they were all from a guild in Watkins Glen, NY. They were attending Quilters Take Manhattan the next day, but were touring as many NJ Quilt Shops as they could before spending the night in Newark. After attending Quilters Take Manhattan... they had plans to take NYC by storm. What fun!!! What do you think... are you interested in taking a bus trip sometime next year? Reply in the comments below with your thoughts.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE...

Speaking of Pennington Quilt Works... they are holding their annual Holiday Open House this weekend. Friday October 2nd and Saturday October 3rd. Music, refreshments, gift ideas, holiday projects, and Make-it Take-it tables.

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT

Do you like the new direction of this blog??? If so... then help to keep it up to date. If you know of any quilting news you think others would like to hear about... let me know! Things can be posted either on this site... or our Facebook page. Or simply comment below for all to read.

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Aardvark & C Closing!!!

It's always so sad to see another independently owned Quilt Store close it's doors. This time however; it's not from lack of customers, but retirement.

In addition to Diane shopping on Thursday... four other guild members took a 'road trip' and nabbed a few 'deals'. Sherre, Bonny, Brandy and Deb all met at 8:30am Saturday morning to begin the voyage north to Morris Plains. It's funny how these things work out. Our original plans were to head down to Pins and Needles in Mullica Hill on Sunday... and attend a wine festival across the street when we were finished shopping. But then someone mentioned FABRIC and SALE in the same sentence and we changed our plans in an instant!

Our timing was a little off... as we arrived before they opened, but as our luck would have it the weekly farmer's market was being held in the parking lot across the street... and LOOK... they have WINE!!! It wasn't even 10:00am and Brandy and Bonny decided it was 5:00 somewhere in the Universe and tasted a sample! Getting side tracked with Key Lime Pie, Pickles in a barrel, and fresh fruits and veggies, we almost missed the doors opening at Aardvark & C!!

Once inside it was utter chaos. Moving around was a bit tight. Florescent signs as big as life were hanging from every inch of ceiling and covered all the doors and windows. Every time you turned around you either bumped into someone, or knocked some knick-knack off a shelf. No worries... all in all it was a party atmosphere.

All fabric was currently selling at a 20% discount. This first week was a 'private' sale as the official announcement hadn't been posted in the newspaper as yet. I was told they assume they will be open up until Thanksgiving... and the discount will increase as the fabric dwindles.

Brandy won by purchasing the most fabric... but Bonny and Sherre weren't too far behind. Only Deb kept her head and purchased some fat quarters to add to her collection of black and white for her Improv quilt.

It was such a beautiful fall day. We topped off our shopping with lunch at Arthur's... and snacking on chocolate on the drive home.

Bonding over shopping, eating, and talking outside of regular guild meetings was so much fun. We hope to offer more 'road trips' in the future and hope you will be able to join us!

Charity Quilt News

In our last two meetings we have been discussing our guild's participation in The Modern Quilt Guild's Charity Quilt Challenge. More information can be found HERE.

So far... Diane has purchased the fabric in the correct color scheme and is currently creating fabric packages for all of us wishing to participate (and of course our goal is that EVERYONE will participate). The theme is IMPROV with INTENT. At the September meeting Brandy and I presented a few samples of what that meant.

While we are waiting for our fabric... why not check out the archived webinar on The Modern Quilt Guild's (MQG) site just to get your creative juices flowing?? As a paying member of our guild, you are also a member of MQG. Go to their site (www.themodernquiltguild.com), log in, click on the EVENTS tab at the top of the page, Click on Past Webinars, scroll down to IMPROV QUILTING Cheryl Arkison July 2014... and enjoy. *The visual doesn't appear until 9 minutes in, so just keep listening until then. It's about 1 1/2 hours long, so get comfy.

Phew! I know that seemed like a lot to do just to listen to a webinar... but the site won't let me send you all a direct link as you have to be logged in as a member before you can view it.

ALSO... you can purchase ($20 currently... increasing to $29 in 10 days) and view another Improv seminar by Cheryl Arkison on Creative Live (www.creativelive.com). Click on the word CLASSES at the top of the page, then search for Cheryl Arkison. It will take you right to it. I watched it for FREE the other night, but that's because I just happened to stumble upon it by accident as it rebroadcast. Lucky me!

Pull out those scraps and start playing with Improv!!! Check back for updates and a tutorial next week.