July 2017 Meeting: Christmas In July!

For this month's meeting we met at Jane's house for a little get together with food and drinks. We got a chance to talk and mingle before all sitting down for show and tell.

Jan started us off with presenting next month's Block of the Month. 
It's called the Scrappy X and Plus Quilt Block.

Next we had a drawing. Each member received a ticket for coming and there were two door prize winners:
Patti won the Culcita Box, which is a subscription box that comes in the mail once a month, and Maritza won an Improv Book.

To start off Show and Tell, Patti brought in 3 baby quilts She didn't have anyone in particular to make them for but just loved the fabrics. The 3rd was made from a charm pack.

She also made this table runner as a store sample for Primitive Gatherings.

Susan made this adorable mini quilt in memory of her dog Manny. The embellishments were hand quilted.

This circle quilt was one she started 2 years ago and just recently picked back up again to finish.

Susanne made this T-shirt quilt top for her friend's teenage son.

Linda shared an old quilt she made 8 or 9 years ago.  The pattern was the "1 block wonder" and was all made with one fabric.

Natalie brought in this quilt which was originally created for her solids challenge. She even matched the binding with the quilt.

Jane shared with us one of her oldest quilts from 1995. She had taken a class when her kids were little, and when she made it her and her family were living in Minnesota.

Maritza  showed us her mermaid quilt she made for her 1 year old granddaughter's birthday.

And this quilt was made for 3 year old grandson (which will be for Christmas).

After Show and Tell Jessica led us in a game of Charades where we had had to guess which animals we were. It was quite hilarious.

And we ended our evening with the hot pad swap. Here are all the beautiful and fun hot pads which were swapped.

Our next meeting with be back at Primitive Gatherings on Thursday, August 17th, at 6:30 pm. We'll he having a scrap swap and a DIY pressing board demo by Susan. Hope to see you all there!

~Angelica Jones

July Member Interview: Taylor Darby

This month's interview was with Taylor Darby. Enjoy! 
~Angelica

            Hello, my name is Taylor and I have been sewing since my grandma taught me when I was eight years old. She taught me to crochet and knit as well. For most of my sewing career I have focused on making clothing and tailoring for my family and friends. Then six years ago I attempted starting a baby clothing company, but a year later I became a mother and things started to fall apart for the company. I drastically underestimated how much time a child would consume. When we decided to have a second child I completely gave up the idea of the baby clothing company and returned to sewing occasionally.

            On the glaringly bright side of things I have two daughters, Alanice and Danica, with my wonderful husband, Colt. 

 We live in Winchester, CA with our two dogs, Kimber and Blue. 

            My other hobbies are soccer, painting, traveling, and raising my babies. In the fall I start grad school at CSUSM in pursuit of a Masters degree in Biological Sciences.  I have a humble little sewing room in our humble little house and I pack it with as much sewing paraphernalia as I possibly can. I have my industrial sewing machine on wheels so I can store it in the corner then pull it out when I use it. I also save space by using a folding dining table as a work area. 

            It’s a 7.5 foot long table, but it folds into thirds so I can customize how much work space I need depending on the project (2.5 ft, 5 ft, or 7.5 ft long area). I need to be smart about my space because I recently had a blossoming seamstress invade my sewing room (she’s sewing next to me as I write this).

            For my daughter’s fifth birthday in May 2017 I got her her first sewing machine. Naturally, I had to set up a little mini station for her in my sewing room. It’s amazing how quickly she learns. She wants to be sewing with me every time I’m in my sewing room. I love it, but, although she gets a lot done, I don’t get much done at all.

            I have always considered myself an artist and I enjoy almost every way of expressing myself including through my sewing.  At one point I wanted to be a fashion designer, but I wasn’t interested in the sales and competition aspects of being a designer. I decided to create custom clothing more as a hobby than a source of income. I hadn’t discovered quilting as media of artistic expression until January 2016.  A friend invited me to the Road to California convention in Ontario, CA and I loved it so much we decided to go to QuiltCon 2016. I absolutely fell in love. I really connected with all of the quilts I saw and I appreciated the unique way each one touched me.  At that convention I went to a Victoria Findlay Wolfe lecture and instantly became a fan girl. I love Victoria more because of her contribution to the modern quilting arena rather than her quilts themselves. She is so motivational and supportive of genuine, individual expression.

            Each corner I turned at that convention I was learning something new, and my mind was exploding with ideas and possibilities. I felt so robbed of all of the years I could have been quilting but didn’t because I had written it off. As a young girl quilting wasn’t cool, and it had a reputation for being a hobby meant for an older demographic. That convention proved my preconceptions completely wrong and opened my eyes to the possibilities of quilting I had never taken the time to learn about. When I saw the signup booth to join the Modern Quilt Guild in Temecula I didn’t hesitate at all.

            Today I have finished one quilt since joining the TVMQG. It turned out okay, but it definitely needed rescuing at one point. Using a long arm is definitely harder than it looks. I attempted zigzags because I didn’t know any better. What a mess! To rescue it I used my DHM to sew straight lines across the entire quilt and freehand little monsters peeking over the straight lines (check out the pictures, I think they turned out kind of cute).  

            Besides a quilted bag I made, the rest of my quilts are in progress. I’ve learned I am a multiple project kind of quilter. I’m hoping to have my second quilt done by July 15^th so I can enter it into my first quilt show in San Diego.
             This is just the beginning of my quilting career.  I’m hooked and I have a feeling I will be hooked for the rest of my life. Thank you, TVMQG, for helping me through the beginnings of my journey.