guild activities

All the programs/activities run by our Amherst Museum Quilters Guild, and other guilds in our area.

May 10, 2012

seminar spotting

Hello all, ME here. Did my weekly grocery run yesterday. Instead of going to the small Tops near me (where I can buy just the basics), I went to a Wegman’s. I’ve avoided Weggies lately, since I find I buy way too much “fun” but not “necessary” stuff when I shop there. I picked up 2 quilting magazines. (Which group do they fall into?) The first is the summer issue of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks. Both of our seminar teachers for this fall have blocks featured in this issue. Beth Ferrier’s block is called Butterfly Dance-a lovely appliqued piece. Anita Grossman Solomon’s is called Ginger and Fred, an interesting and versatile pieced block. I’ll bet there is a quick trick for cutting it as well. Maybe she’ll share it at seminar. One of our future teachers, Bonnie Hunter for 2014, has a block in the issue too. Her block is called […]
May 8, 2012

L. Goosey has been a little persnickety

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It seems there is some interest out there in the Loosey Goosey Quilt-a-Long. Hopefully the problems some of you had, trying to print the paper piecing pattern have been resolved. Thanks to Marija for her help too, while I was “out of the office” today. Just a few general comments that may help some of you–first make sure that you have a recent version of Adobe Reader installed on your computer. Almost all pdf file that are posted, whether at Google Docs or any other such sharing site, are readable with Adobe Reader. Sometimes it automatically opens them; sometimes you have to first save the file and then you open it yourself via Adobe. If we get into more of this type of sharing on our blog, Adobe Reader will definitely be a help to you. Secondly when you are going to print patterns or […]
May 1, 2012

getting back to real life

Hello all, Mary Ellen here Aren’t those photos on Marija’s post fun to look at? It’s nice to have time stand still for a moment in each shot, so I can really give a good look at everything in each photo. Somehow when it’s all happening in real-time, things go by so quickly they can’t be savored. How did Marija find time to take all those shots, with everything else she was doing at/for the show?! Real life is back–getting caught up on laundry, tried to catch up on yardwork but the rain intervened yesterday (will finish when it dries out), grocery shopping, dog training class, sewing for an upcoming class, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. When I chose the pattern I will next be teaching, I was looking for a small-scale project that used some traditional blocks and could be made up quickly for gifts. I chose one that uses just […]
April 30, 2012

Monday lunch post – or overdue Quilt Show photo-log

Hi everyone, yes, I did have a great ambition to post photos (even videos!)  every night during our Quilt Show this past weekend, but every night after all other family happenings after the show I simply – crashed! My husband did catch me falling asleep with the laptop, pointed out the silliness, so I realized it ain’t going to happen. 🙂 Oh well, but today is a new day and here I am during my lunch break – ready to have some blogging fun and hope you will too, reading it. First of all, I have to say it again – IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL, INSPIRING AND FUN QUILT SHOW! BRAVO AMQG MEMBERS!! And equally as important – I want to express my heartfelt thank you to all volunteers at the show and all Museum staff, but specially all of you who helped with the Show set-up and take-down – […]
April 30, 2012

Kelly’s glorious speech

Hello all, Mary Ellen again. We all were so impressed by Kelly’s  (Kelly Miller, the chairwoman of our quilt show) speech at our preview party. I am sharing it here with you. Thank you to Kelly for permission, and for providing the text. “Quilts, Glorious Quilts.  It’s finally here!  We made it to the show.  All of the planning and preparation has come to an end and we get to enjoy the result of all our combined efforts.  Quilts, Glorious, Quilts!  What a truly grand name for a quilt show.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about this show title when we first voted on it as a guild.  I thought that maybe it was lacking a theme.  No garden flowers, no sea of quilts, no artist’s palette, no theme… But that might be because I trained as a teacher and many teachers group their lessons by themes.  However, then […]
April 30, 2012

Glorious Quilts

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. What a quilt show! The whole thing was glorious in my book. If you weren’t able to attend, the photos will be coming at our website (see sidebar) soon, and who knows what you’ll see right here at our blog in the near future. I saw Marija in paparazzi mode several times, and I know she is anxious to try out our guild YouTube channel (yep that’s right, she’s got us on YouTube!). Sincere thanks and compliments to all the members, particularly Kelly Miller the chairwoman, for our glorious show. Two years in the making and a spectacular success. Brava! If you are not a member of our guild, please consider joining us. You can go to the museum website (in our sidebar) to get info on how to join the museum, with an add-on guild membership. That would include all the perks of museum […]
April 28, 2012

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. The canine and I have been back from our walk for a bit, I’ve had my coffee and yogurt and am getting ready for another day at our glorious show. It is a great morning for a walk. Chilly but no wind-once you get moving it’s no problem. The dog was scampering like a puppy-especially when I would not allow him to chase all the bunnies we encountered. Spent the whole day at the museum yesterday. Didn’t get to walk around much-that’s on today’s agenda. Talked with lots of ladies-it’s interesting how you can chat with a complete stranger about quilts as though you’ve known one another for a long time. Is that one of the things that makes quilts glorious? Lots of those I spoke with about the fabrics, mentioned that they don’t need to buy any more fabric because they have so much […]
April 27, 2012

what makes a quilt glorious?

Good morning all, Mary Ellen here. Soon I’ll be heading out to meet a friend at Timmy’s for breakfast and then to the museum for the first day of our show “Quilts, Glorious Quilts”. Indeed they are. I am awed every time by the work of our members, and a few non-members who also join in the show. (Gotta rope them into the fold!) Last evening’s preview party was wonderful. Kelly, our quilt show chair, finished her remarks with thoughts on what makes a quilt glorious. She graciously agreed to give me a copy of her speech so I can share it here. Of course she was a little busy (LOL) last night, so I don’t have it yet. In the next few days I’ll post it here, so we all can think a bit about our own ideas on “what makes a quilt glorious?” Does it have to be […]
April 25, 2012

Places, everyone!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It’s almost show time! I was out at the museum yesterday, dropping off a few things. I took a quick spin around our show; it is almost ready. You got a bit of a peek from Marija’s post earlier this week, but it’s much better in person. Love seeing everyone’s work up close. The new museum exhibit of Bobbie Fuhrmann’s life work (a former guild member) is quite impressive too. Beautiful lace and quilts in one woman’s work. She was amazingly talented. I never met Bobbie, except now through her legacy. Alice Bachraty’s exhibit (our guild’s founding mother) is worth the trip too. We can all appreciate Alice through our participation in the guild she loved so much. Today, I believe, is judging day. Personally the awards mean little to me-I pick out my own best of show and favorites. I have always loved and […]
April 24, 2012

Any gardeners out there?

Hello all, it’s ME. Just in case we ever get to dig in the dirt here’s something for the gardeners among you. Got my shoes muddy this morning looking around to see what survived the snow yesterday. The trillium which were gorgeous 2 days ago, are looking pretty sad this morning. And I think the jack-in-the-pulpits are a lost cause, I’m afraid. The later daffodils are iffy. What a strange weather year we’re having. I’ve heard it said that gardeners are eternal optimists, since we don’t usually see the fruits of our labors right away. I have a coffee mug that says “A garden is never finished.” Ain’t that the truth?! We’ve seen quilt gardens before-love the plantings arranged to look like quilt blocks. I think a feature telling exactly what plants were used to execute the garden is new though. I went to Nancy Zieman’s new website looking for […]