The Saskatoon MQG met on October 22 for a sew day at Home Inn & Suites in Stonebridge. We went around the circle and many members shared their experiences with improv quilting. Pam has been following Sujata Shah on instagram as a result of learning Kawandi from Roxanne. She purchased Shah’s book “Cultural Fusion Quilts”. It teaches about improv quilting in a more structured way, and is a great book for those of us who are transitioning to improv and who really like patterns. Here are some of the gorgeous projects that were shown. These are great stash buster projects, or just another great excuse to buy some new fabric. The bottom right quilt was from the most recent “30 Days of Improve Quilt Along”. See https://shannonfraserdesigns.ca/2023/07/21/how-to-get-ready-for-the-30-days-for-improv-qal/

Diane is known for her art quilts and one can argue that this is a form of improv quilting (left). On the right, Linda brought her quilt from the 20th Anniversary Challenge from the 2023 Saskatchewan Stitches Conference. This was a challenge to include 21 techniques for a provided map. The centre trees are improv. See https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hZzsJeHXjxhx83ku1vhSwbTkI15r9Ug2Uz1tCpKNrLs/edit#slide=id.p. That is a really cool idea for improving our skills.

To continue on from last month, a few hexagon projects were shown. They are all gorgeous. The second from the left was by Donna C’s grandmother. Thank goodness the blocks weren’t thrown away. I love her modern take in the photo on the right. That is “Homage to Grandmothers’s Flower Garden. See https://www.katjasquiltshoppe.com/quilt-alongs/homage-to-grandmothers-flower-garden/.

Our upcoming meetings will be: Nov. 26, Dec. 10, Jan. 28, Feb. 25, Mar 23&24 (retreat), Apr. 28 and May 26. Our membership is currently full due to space restraints. We will maintain a waiting list. Just a reminder that you are welcome to participate in the gift exchange at our December meeting. Bring hand-made (by sewing machine is OK) wrapped gifts if you would like to participate. We don’t expect that the project is larger than 48″ in perimeter if it is quilted.

Happy Halloween and Happy sewing.

The Saskatoon MQG met on September 24 for a sew day at Home Inn & Suites in Stonebridge. Roxanne did an amazing job teaching us about English Paper Piecing (EPP). The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek is a great book for learning about EPP . Roxanne taught us about cutting, basting & gluing, needles & whipstitching, and removing the paper. She brought examples of her work which demonstrated her progression in learning. A great hint was to purchase pre-wound bobbin packs in different colours as lighter thread is great for attaching pieces. We can all continue with learning by checking out the resources on the Modern Quilt Guild website. Thank you Roxanne for providing us with lots to think about, as well as templates so we can all try this.

Show and tell as always was so much fun and inspiring. There were lots of Kawandi quilts! This led to us identifying our education topic for October 22. Anyone that has done improv quilting is to bring samples for an open share. And those participating in travelling quilts have passed the half-way mark. We enjoy seeing the monthly blocks.

We formed a committee for organizing our quilt retreat on March 23 and 24, 2024 at Queen’s Retreat house. Thank you Gisele, Joanne, Bonnie and Roxanne. We also decided that for our December 10 meeting that we will do a voluntary gift exchange. The only rule is that the perimeter is 48 inches or less.