Meet the Milltown Quilters Guild

Part of our mission at Spring Water Designs Quilting, along with introducing the art of quilting to the next generation, is to support and promote our Local Quilt Guilds and highlight all the good work that you all do.  With that in mind we will be featuring a Local Guild each month this year in our Newsletter and on our Blog.  
 

We are so appreciative of all the support we’ve received from the guilds in our area since we’ve opened our doors in our Brick & Mortar shop, that we’d like to give back and have a special Appreciation Month for each of our Local Guilds - For the month of June we are featuring Milltown Quilters!  So…during June, any member who comes in any day during the month and shows their current membership card to Milltown Guild will received 15% off regularly priced items they purchase!  

Remember, Every Monday is always our Guild Appreciation Day at our shop, and members of Any Guild receive 10% off of regularly priced items.  (Just let us know on a Monday that you are a member of a quilt guild).  

Here is a little bit of information about the Milltown Quilt Guild:

Milltown Quilters Celebrates 19 Years in 2016! Milltown Quilters became a member of the National Quilting Association, Inc. (NQA) in 1983 and was chartered as Chapter 214.  Initially, Milltown Quilters met at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Ellicott City.
In March, 1997, a group of women, including some of the original members, founded Milltown Quilters as it exists today.  The mission of Milltown Quilters is to provide fellowship and inspiration; to share the appreciation, enjoyment, and knowledge of quilting with members and the community; and to support the community through charitable efforts.

The members of Milltown are invited to participate in all activities.  In addition to educational workshops and lectures, by both nationally recognized teachers and their own talented members, Milltown sponsors bus trips to local quilting events, an annual quilt retreat, and two luncheons each year.  Milltown publishes a monthly newsletter, Milltown News, which highlights their many activities and provides updated information to members, and they maintain a website which contains relevant information:  www.milltownquilters.com.

Milltown supports the community by sponsoring a yearly Silent Auction to financially assist the outreach efforts of First Presbyterian Church during the holiday season.  The Friendship Quilts Committee organizes the construction of quilts and other items to be donated to various charitable organizations within Howard County and neighboring counties.  At the biannual Quilt Show, a Raffle Quilt is featured designed and made entirely by members to help raise funds to ensure the continuation of all our activities.

Milltown Quilters meets weekly on Mondays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church, located at 9325 Presbyterian Circle, Columbia, MD 21045, near the corner of Route 108 and Route 29.  Bring a lunch and spend Monday mornings quilting while making new friends.  

During the summer months (June, July, and August) members meet informally.  The first official meeting will be on August 29th, 2016 and many special events are already on the calendar - Friendship Quilts work days, a bus trip to the Hershey Quilt Show on July 22, a lecture and workshop by Gyleen Fitzgerald on August 19th, "Boo Bingo" in October, a Quilt Retreat scheduled on November 1, 2, and 3, and so much more.  Contact Milltown Quilters for more information if you want to join in on the fun!

 

Thank you again to our Local Guilds for all you do in promoting and keeping alive the art of quilting that means so much to so many!

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

Are you Feeling Lucky?

So Are you feeling lucky?  This amazing beauty is the Raffle Quilt that's up for grabs at the Southern Comforter's Quilt Show this weekend.  It's aptly named "Color Play", and some of my sewing friends worked on making it ~ and I know you want to come out to the quilt show this week and buy some tickets so you have a chance to win it :)

Southern Comforter's Quilt Guild 22nd Annual Quilt Show
Saturday, March 23 , 10-5pm and Sunday, March 24, 2013, 11-4pm
C. Elizabeth Reig School
15542 Peach Walker Drive, Bowie, MD 20720
Free parking, Handicap accessible

Admission: $7.00 (bring a nonperishable food item(s)
to the show to donate to the Bowie Interfaith Food Pantry and receive $1 off your admission price)

Quilt Show Activities:* Quilt appraisals by Phyllis Twigg Hatcher
* Demonstrations
* Children's activities
* Merchant's mall ***(Spring Water Designs is Vending!!!)
* Silent auction
* Out of the Attic
* Many Handcrafted items and a wonderful variety of vendors, come join the fun!!!

Misty Cole is the Featured Quilter ~ Misty has made some amazingly creative quilts that will be on display at the show!

...And did I tell you Spring Water Designs is vending at the show!!!  We'll have two Handi Quilter machines there with special Show Pricing (an Avante with Pro-Stitcher, and the Sweet Sixteen Sit Down machine) for you to test drive, along with exclusive Spring Water Designs Patterns and Quilt Kits.  Plus, lots of fabric cuts, notions,  some bargain books, and quilter's goodies and gifties :)

Come by and stop by my booth and say Hi!  Tell me you read this Blog Post, for at least 15% off your purchase ~ See You There!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little Customer Quilting

I took some time the other day, before I take my machines down to head to upcoming events, to get this little sweetie quilted for a customer.  

Now the rest of the week is devoted to getting ready to vend at my first quilt show!  If you are going to be in the Bowie Maryland area this Saturday or Sunday, stop by the Southern Comforter's Quilt Guild Show and say Hi :) 

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Little Winter Handwork

Another little project I finished last month was this bird applique block.  It's going to be in the raffle quilt that my quilt guild is making for our next quilt show.  It's a modified version of this Zebra Patterns block that Debra Gabel graciously allowed us to use for our quilt (It's from the Birds 2 collection).  The Zebra Patterns are written for fusible applique, but for our guild raffle quilt we are making them all with hand applique methods, and a different size.

I had a terrible time with the long thin points on the bird's chest this time. (Don't look too closely)  I'm usually pretty good at points, but that black fabric just kept fraying on me.  So I've turned my block in to our raffle quilt coordinator, Margo who is adding embroidered embellishments to the blocks.  I can't wait to see the finished block after she works her magic on my sad little points.  I'll post a picture of it some time in the future after it's all put together in the quilt :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn    

Challenge Pillow Finish

We had a challenge in the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild, in honor of our guild's second birthday.

We were challenged to make a 16" pillow using the fabric that you see in the center of my pillow (we had a fat quarter of it), plus any other fabric that I wanted to add in.  I used a hunk of it in the center, and in some strips going across my pillow.

I used it on the back too :)

I was in the middle of my photo session, taking pictures of my pillow from different angles so I could list it in my Etsy Shop...

...and Maddie decided to check out what I was doing...

 ...then she made herself comfortable...

...and I knew that my photo shoot was over :)

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

A Little Break to the Regularly Scheduled Life...

I took the day off today and hopped the bus with my Quilt Guild and headed off to God's country...

...we set a course for Lancaster Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the beautiful country and lovely October weather.

And of course there was fabric shopping involved!  Our first stop was Sauder's.

I love exploring shops like this...

 ...you never know what treasures lie in wait :)

And there were many treasures to be had (can you see the prices on the bargain tables?).  I'll just say, it's a good thing we had a large cargo hold in the bus!

After a wonderful lunch at Shady Maple, and a little shopping in Goods (where I picked up some great gifts for Christmas, some household finds, and even some boxer shorts for the hubby ~ and of course some more fabric), we headed over to Intercourse, PA and I had to stop in Zooks first.

Then down the street to The Old Country Store (and yes ~ I bought some fabric at each and every stop).

And to top off my day, Jo Morton's quilts were still on display at the Quilt Museum!

(I asked and was given permission to snap a couple pictures for my blog at the entrance of the museum.)  It was small, but admission was free and it was displayed nicely ~ well worth the stop if you're ever in the area!

Tomorrow is back to work for me...I have some catch up to do with my sewing (and no, I still haven't finished that Halloween Quilt yet, but I'll get to it) ~ this past week was spent moving out of my multiple sewing rooms (the upstairs bedrooms), and combining it all into one large sewing studio in my basement.  So now I have my very own Quilt Cave!  Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I get a little more of the fabric put away, and a large, no-longer-used weight bench apparatus out of the way for more important things :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Some Good News & A Friday Finish :)

Today, in the middle of frantically trying to get all of the work done for my day job, Spring Water Designs deadlines, pick up some groceries and get my household squared away before taking off on a week visit to spend some quality girl time with my Mom, I received an email with some good news that really perked me up ~ My entry for AccuQuilt's Barn Quilt Contest has made it to the Finals!  Now I need the help of my friends to go and vote for my design.  If you don't mind taking the time, here is the link to go vote (My design is #26):

http://www.accuquilt.com/barnquilt/entry.html

In between all that, I did finally get my Flamingo Challenge quilt quilted today, so I do have a Friday Finish too!  It's the first larger quilt that I've quilted on my HQ Sweet Sixteen :)

...Well I do still have to finish the binding, but it's pretty much finished!

I was running out of week quickly, so I didn't do anything fancy for the quilting, just my regular all over meander, but I think that will make for a nice comfy donation quilt.  I wanted to get it finished before leaving on my trip, because right after I get back I have to have it turned in for our Guild's quilt show display of all of the Flamingo Challenge quilts.

I used every last bit of the Flamingo fabric, with the last piece used in the backing :)

...And since it'll be a donation quilt, the guild gave out special stamped labels that I signed and pieced into the backing too.  It was a fun quilt to make, I hope someone gets lots of love from it :)

I'm a little late for WIP Wednesday, but you can still check out the Quiltsy Team blog to see what others are working on.  

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A WIP Challenge

This is what I've been working on this week.  My quilt guild issued a challenge ~ they handed out Flamingo fabric donated from a long time member who was downsizing and she was quite a flamingo fan.  I received two yards of this blue fabric with flamingos on it, and a little of the dark pink fabric.  We were challenged to make a quilt to be donated to a charity.  So this is my "Flamingo Paradise",  I knew I wanted it to be bright and happy, so that's why I went with the neonish yellow ~ I hope some young girl gets a kick out of it!  Now I'm working on using up the last remaining scraps of flamingo to piece my quilt back, and then I'll try to quilt some happy shapes on it :)

If you want to see some more Works in Progress, head over to the Quiltsy Blog by clicking the button above and get a little WIP Inspiration :)

Enjoy the Day!

~ Dawn

A Sneaky Peek

Here's a sneak peek of a happy little finish that I've had this week (...ahhh, great feeling!).  It's at the quilter's right now being turned into a real quilt :)  I can't show the whole thing yet, but hope to introduce you to it come January!

This morning I'm going through my bag of goodies that I brought home from my Quilt Guild meeting last night, it's like Christmas here!  We had our Annual Silent Auction with the proceeds going to charity.  Everyone brought in items to donate, and of course bid on things to bring home.  I bid on many things that I got out-bid on, but I did come home with a bag full of circular knitting needles to add to my collection, a really cool doily runner, A Quilter's Christmas Cookbook (so I can read recipes, and pretend that I actually cook...I've been terrible about that lately), and a bag full of little organizer totes (I'm a sucker for containers).  This was the first time I've attended the Silent Auction, and I had a ball, but somehow I came home with more little items than I donated...that was poor planning on my part ~ I will definitely have to fix that next year :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Aunt Pitty Pat Leaves an Impression

It's been quite a week.  Tuesday I had the dreaded yearly Gyn appointment, and today I have a dental appointment for a teeth cleaning.  I don't know how I lined all these "fun" things up together, but I guess I'm getting them over with. 

But it hasn't been all bad, last night was the first meeting of the Baltimore Applique Society for this season.  Sue Troyan and her "very dear friend" Aunt Pitty Pat gave a lecture on the Power of Quilts (I apologize for not having any pictures of that, but I didn't have the chance to clear it before the lecture, so I didn't take any.  It was a delightful lecture though, and if you ever get the opportunity to socialize with Aunt Pitty Pat, definitely take it).  

She showed many quilts, both old and contemporary, and shared their stories and illustrated that just as the quilter influences the creation of a quilt, each quilt affects everyone it encounters.  It was powerful (and I ~ in my currently pitiful perimenopausal state ~ cried through most of the program...but I wasn't alone).  The stories attached to these quilts (that ranged from very elaborate to captivatingly simple) added emotional impact to the quilt itself and are literally touching generations.  It shows how important it is to label and document your quilts!!

So the pictures that I do have are the items that I purchased last night at the meeting.  The notebook is is a compilation of quilt history and tributes from the Quilters Hall of Fame at the Marie Webster House in Marion Indiana.  I hope to visit here sometime soon, in the meantime the book has many full page color photos of beautiful historic quilts and some wonderful stories of the quilters that are honored.  I'm looking forward to my easy-chair time tonight so I can delve more into it.  You can purchase one here from the Quilters Hall of Fame gift shop :)

And I'm excited to have a pattern pack of the BAS latest project, the Lady of Victory Quilt.  The original quilt is owned by Mary Koval who very generously allowed the BAS to trace the patterns.  It is 109" x 109" and is dated to 1846-1848 based on both the block patterns and the fabrics used in the quilt.  Stay tuned as the BAS members will be making two reproductions of this quilt, one of which will be raffled.  I'm very excited about this project ~ this type of block is my favorite Baltimore Applique style, and I hope that I get to make a block for one of the quilts!  I'll keep you posted on the progress of this project as it comes together :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Day with Nancy Odom

Nancy Odom came to our guild and I spent a delightful day yesterday hearing her speak and taking a class with her.

She did a trunk show and told us all about how she got started in the business of pattern design and her journey into designing fabric lines for P&B Textiles.

Beautiful quilts were paraded by, but unfortunately my pictures aren't very good (you can see better pictures of the quilts at Nancy's website. I turned off my flash to try and be considerate, but quality was definitely sacrificed.

This one is called "Wildberry Vines", a four part pattern series.

This is "Stars are Gathering". Originally published in Designer's Quarters magazine in 2005 it was made with Nancy's "Gather Sunshine" fabric collection.

Everyone got up close and personable with Nancy and her quilts. She was very easy to talk to and get to know.

The class I took was a very enjoyable hand blanket stitch class done on rough edge fused applique. I was thrilled to learn Nancy's tip of copying the pattern template pieces onto freezer paper through an ink jet printer, and ironing them on to the top of the fabric (that has fusible on the back), then cutting out on the lines. Thus tracing patterns, and reversing the patterns for fusible applique is eliminated! I love taking classes, because I always walk away with some tip of how a technique can be done differently. As a bonus I got Nancy to sign my little block to ensure that I will go ahead and finish it :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn