Beth Donaldson's Presentation

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild 

Welcomes 

Beth Donaldson                                             

On November 24, 2014 Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild had the pleasure of hearing Beth Donaldson from Michigan State University Museum.  Beth wears many hats at the museum but the one that most interested us was being in charge of the Michigan Quilt Index.  The MSU Museum has 900 quilts in its collection dating back nearly 200 years, many made by Michigan quilters.  Beth spoke with our guild about "Quilts and Human Rights".  This thought provoking slide presentation contained many quilts and their stories depicting  significant human rights events or people involved in the human experience - for example people like Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and events like the Holocaust, segregation in the United States, textile workers, civil rights marches - to name a few. Thank you Beth for this meaningful presentation.

Ami Simms' visit to Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild is less than a week away and we are so excited to have her!!  Ami will be here on Monday, October 27, 2014 at Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church where we meet.  Her presentation is called "Living with Quilts :  A Survival Guide".  The presentation begins at 7 but you'll want to get there early.  Snacks are ready at 6:30 as well as a mini- demonstration on bias strip applique.  Hope to see you there! 

 

We had a delightful day with art quilter, Vikki Pignatelli.  At the daytime workshop, we learned her wonderful method of piecing curves to create organic designs, which are her expertise.

The evening program was both informational, about her path to becoming an art quilter, and a visual feast with her one of a kind, nature inspired quilted wall hangings.  If you missed meeting Vikki, you can check out her work at her website  www.vikkipignatelli.com/ or her blog Kindling the Creativity Within  http://nurturecreative.wordpress.com/

Here are some of art quilts that Vikki has made and that we had the pleasure of seeing at our guild meeting!  Vikki works with many hand dyed fabrics as well as batick fabric to help her get the different tones and textures in the natural world.  She does all the piecing and all the free motion quilting herself on her domestic sewing machine.

Vikki Pignatelli

  Join us on Monday, September 29, 2014  for Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild's September meeting at Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church to hear Vikki Pignatelli from Reynoldsburg, Ohio.  Vikki is a full-time professional quilt-artist, designer, international teacher, lecturer and books, national publications and exhibitions. Her topic will be "Interpretations of a Nature Lover".   She has won 32 awards in national and international competitions and exhibitions.  A self-taught artist with experience in painting and sculpture, Vikki enjoys a passion for color and flowing designs. She developed a simple layering technique that is a blend of piecing and appliqué. She is the author of two books featuring this technique, Quilting Curves and Quilting by Improvisation.  The program will be at 7:00 with a social time and mini- demonstrations beginning at 6:30.    There are still a few spots for a daytime workshop on Monday, September 29.  Contact piecesandpatchesquiltguild@gmail.com no later than Friday, September 26 for more information.

Please note that our September 29, 2014 meeting will be held at our new location:

Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church

120 E. Main Street

Spring Arbor, MI  49283

Click on "Schedule of Meetings and Programs" page to the right for the latest information.

See you there!

Officers For The New Program Year - September 2014 to August 2015

Here is our Executive Board for Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild for the coming year.

Anne Richards - Director for Programs

Bonnie Streeter - Corresponding Secretary

Becky Kopicko - President

Janice Stitt - First Vice President

Suzi Walker - Mystery Quilt Projects 

Caroline Miller - Treasurer

Aggie Straub - Director At Large

Chris Carothers - Quilt Retreat Chairperson

Ann Midkiff - Director for Community Outreach

Not Pictured 

Jan Robertson - Second Vice President

Sue Couch  - Secretary    

Elizabeth Hewett - Quilt Show Chairperson

Pat Abersold - Past President

Carol Waudby - Membership

Joy Phillips and Barbara James - Hospitality

Sharon Bannister - Historian

Dorothy Lowe - Parliamentarian

Mystery Quilt Reveal and More - August 2014

Take a look at some of the completed tops from our Mystery Quilt challenge.  In a mystery quilt, each month you are given clues for part of a quilt.  You don't know what the finished product will look like until the last clue is given and you can put all the pieces together.  Look how different but wonderful, each of these quilts turned out to be.  Watch for more examples in the upcoming month, as more people finish their quilt tops.  Thank you to Suzi Walker and Carol Waudby for organizing this fun project.

  

Cheryl Zombo was the first person to Michigan to complete the Row By Row Michigan Experience.  Congratulations, Cheryl.  What a great looking quilt!

Take a look at these great lap quilts made for Hospice House by guild members.  Nice Job, Ladies!

3 - D Quilting Techniques with Jodie Dobbs - August 25, 2014

The last meeting of this guild programing year was on Monday, August 25, 2014.  This program  featured Jodie Dobbs, a retired educator who is now using her teaching expertise to teach quilting classes, currently at Quilts at Marshall House shop in Marshall. Jodie's presentation was about 3-D Quilting Techniques. She showed many samples of  wonderful techniques that helped us learn new ways to embellish our quilts using products like Texture Magic, Heat & Bond Ultra and beading, to name a few, as well as techniques like weaving & folding fabric, couching, using yoyos and ruching, again to name just a few!  

 Here is Jodie, next to a hand quilted quilt made by her mother.  It seems that the quilting gene was passed on to Jodie!

Jodie is publishing some of her own patterns now, so you may want to purchase one.  She has joined our guild, so let her know if you'd like more information.

Quality Quilting Quilt Shop visits Pieces and Patches Guild - July 28, 2014

We enjoyed a visit from Rhonda Loy, owner of Quality Quilting,  who shared with us how her quilt shop got started in Ann Arbor.  It's a family affair with her husband Jim and all their daughters involved in the business.  The most exciting news, however, was that the shop has moved closer to those of us in the Jackson area.  They are now located in Stockbridge, Michigan at 4983 Bird Drive - on M-52 behind McDonalds restaurant.  They have a wonderful selection of high quality quilting fabric, specializing in reproduction fabrics, including Jo Morton and Moda.  They have a great variety of classes, as well as long arm quilting and binding services.

Diary of a Serial Quilter with Laura Wasilowski June 30, 2014

We thoroughly enjoyed Laura Wasilowski's presentation - "Diary of a Serial Quilter" at Monday evening's monthly guild meeting.  She had us "in stitches", laughing at her humorous, clever talk (with some singing thrown in for good measure) about how her ideas often snowball into a series of similar projects.  Thank you, Laura!  A Great Time Was Had By All!

Summer Fun - Workshops with Laura Wasilowski

 We thoroughly enjoyed two workshops with Laura Wasilowski on June 29 & 30, 2014 at Hankerd Inn in Pleasant Lake.  The workshops were "Tiny Houses" and "Garden of Eden".  We learned Laura's free style method of fusible applique and got to work with her amazing hand-dyed fabrics.  By the end of the afternoon, we had each earned a "degree" from the Chicago School of Fusing!

     This is Laura. (above)

These are examples of some of the flowers that we could make by cutting, layering, and fusing Laura's hand-dyed colorful fabric.

These are ways to "build" using bits and pieces of fused fabric.

Below see some example of "Garden of Eden" mini-quilts.

C

Janet, as usual, created something a little "outside the box" !

Below, Cheryl shows her version of "Tiny Houses".

More "Tiny House" scenes from our playing around!

Here are the Tiny House Architects with our Head Master Laura.

Meet Bella the Inn Dog with her master, Janet, our gracious Innkeeper and fellow quilter.

Laura Wasilowski was a fantastic teacher !!!