The Saskatoon MQG met on November 28th at the Home Inn and Suites for another sew day. We started with our AGM. Our same Executive will continue with Donna and Anne as Co-Chairs, Bev as Treasurer, and Sherry leading Events. For an icebreaker, we shared what we would pick for a quilting gift for ourselves for Christmas. The idea of being locked in our sewing rooms for a few days, with regular meal deliveries, was very appealing!

Our educational topic was to share our orphan projects. We started with a big pile as shown on the right. On the left, we hope we inspired Margaret to finish her project! Lots of us went home with inspiration for new projects as we shared each other’s blocks. For those blocks left over, an idea was to cut them up, re-sew them together, and insert them into the front of a modern bag.

There were so many neat projects brought in. Sherry was working on folded fabric ornaments (top middle) by Crouton Crackerjacks at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwvNU1pGd-Y&t=11s. Linda brought in the light up Christmas tree she made which was so unique. On the bottom right, Sherry also is making first aid kit bags as gifts. Amy gifted herself a KATM labels advent calendar!

On December 12th, from 12 to 4, we plan to host a Christmas social. Please bring your own lunch (Covid safety so we can’t share), or Linda will order in so check your emails if that interests you. It is optional to participate in a gift exchange of perhaps a small hand-stitched gift, or a couple of fat quarters, or maybe a quilting tool. These should be wrapped. Also bring hand stitching as we won’t be setting up any sewing machines. It is renewal time for 2022 and the fees will continue at $60 for the year.

There is enough interest to run a Queen Bee in 2022 so let Bev know if you want to participate. We will kick this off in February 2022. Our educational topic for January 23rd will be zippers so bring something that needs a zipper and/or share some projects that you have made that have a zipper. Linda will lead this topic. Happy Holidays if we don’t see you in December.

The Saskatoon MQG met on October 24th at the Home Inn and Suites for another sew day. For an icebreaker, we shared our favourite Halloween costumes whether home sewn, or related to a memory. It was a fun share for a cool drizzly Fall day.

Our educational topic was HRT or Half Rectangle Triangles. One hint was to start with rectangles 1″wider than the final width, and 2″ longer than the final length of the trimmed-to-size HRT. It was unanimous that you must be alert when you make these or you may end up with a lot of kites. Pam ‘s little grey and white project was stunning and must be grown into keepsake project. Bev brought enough rectangles to play around with to see how they can be made into different designs. And this challenge was enough to encourage Donna to finish making her 2021travelling blocks by the Guild into a completed quilt this month. See photos below. Nadine realized she had actually made HRT’s in a pattern by “Then Came June”. Be inspired by modern quilts and patterns and try to find the pattern on the website at thencamejune.com. Also check out: https://swimbikequilt.com/journal/2019/10/tutorial-how-to-trim-half-rectangle-triangles.html, https://quiltsocial.com/6-easy-steps-for-making-perfect-half-rectangle-triangles/, or Suzy Quilts youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0rHtgayfiE if you want to try some of these.

Our show and tell was absolutely inspiring for Christmas. Pam and Karen brought tree skirts. Karen was also making coordinating advent calendars for the 3 she made. She is making 25 envelopes that she can fill with surprises. Check out this eye candy! Pam has made me want to go out and by glittery trim to make my tree skirt shimmer in the lights.

Emma somehow managed to quilt an entire baby quilt today. She may very well be leading us on a future educational topic of free motion quilting with your home machine. Both the front and back are stunning. And Nancy found another awesome book entitled “Patchwork & Quilting basics” by Jo Avery in the library. This one combines modern crewel embroidery with quilting. Jo Avery’s colour palette is so bright and cheerful at the website https://joavery.co.uk/. Or equally colourful was Charlene’s Dot+Dash project that she was working on from https://www.modernhandcraft.com/pdf-patterns/dot-dash-pdf-pattern.

November 28th is another sew day and our AGM. Don’t avoid the meeting to avoid being elected. Donna and Bev for sure will continue in our positions if no one else wants them. Though we are most happy to step back and support new leadership! Anne has been a great new addition as Co-Chair and we can’t wait for Sherry to be back at assisting with planning. Our November educational topic is going to centre around our orphan projects or UFO’s. So get digging in your stash and see what you can find. Please bring anything unfinished and collecting dust, or being squished at the bottom of your piles.

On December 12th, from 12 to 4, we plan to host a Christmas social. Please bring your own lunch (Covid safety so we can’t share), and a small hand-stitched gift to share if you would like to participate in a fun gift exchange activity. Then some hand stitching as we won’t be setting up any sewing machines.

If there is enough interest, we would like to run a Queen Bee in 2022. Starting in January, the first Queen Bee will show the block she would like and then everyone participating will make one for February. Then in February, the next Queen Bee shows her block and so on…. How many blocks each person gets depends on how many sign up. Please let Bev know if you are interested in participating. Happy sewing now that the weather is cooling down!