On Friday I took the Long Arm Quilting Class from Rachel at 2nd Avenue Studios. The class was held at Modern Domestic and was fantastic. Now I need to set my quilt frame back up and "just do it!" I was so inspired to continue to practice my long arm skills after taking Rachel's class.
Friday evening was the Kick off party at Modern Domestic. I was incredibly thrilled at the number of new faces and new friends that I made during the evening.
As part of the event members could choose to participate in a tote bag swap using some denim fabric provided by Robert Kaufman. I chose to make The Divided Tote Bag by Kerri Made. It was a pretty easy bag with two outside pockets and a divider pocket with a zipper on the inside. Here are the fabrics I chose to go along with the denim.
My bag was picked out (randomly) by Caroline at Trillium Design. I forgot to take a final photo but there is a photo on her blog of her and other members of the Corvallis Modern Quilt Guild with the bags they received in the swap.
I received the tote bag below made by Kim at Perfection Not Included. She used the Super Tote Pattern from Noodle-Head. I absolutely love the bag and the fabrics she used. It is so big I can carry everything I need with me everyday (although sometimes I wonder if I ever really NEED the things I drag around with me).
Finally, I was the lucky winner of the first door prize of the night. Shown below on the far left in the photo which I have borrowed from the meet up blog. I was so excited and happy when I got home that I forgot to take my own photo of my treasures.
On Saturday there were two options for sewing. Charity were being made at Modern Domestic from 10:00 to 5:00. An all day sew was also scheduled at Fabric Depot from 9:00 to 9:00. I chose to attend the all day sew at Fabric Depot. I met some wonderful ladies from Bend, Oregon and Vancouver, B.C. I worked on some swap blocks from a Halloween Swap on the Quilting Board.
Here are the blocks that I completed:
On Saturday night several ladies attended dinner at the Food Carts at 12th and Hawthorne. Sunday morning was a hosted brunch at Acapulco Restaurant followed by the final event at Cool Cottons. I didn't attend the dinner or brunch as I was exhausted from sewing all day on Saturday and still recovering from returning from my trip to Illinois on August 13.
I did attend the final event at Cool Cottons so that I could join in on their contest. Every modern quilt guild member registered for the meet-up received a bag of fabric scraps with the instructions to "make something" out of the scraps. The only rule was that you could only add one fabric to the scraps for your project. Here is the pile of scraps I received:
So, the question was, what to make. You guessed it! Inspiration from the tote bag swap led me to try my hand at a tote using the "quilt as you go" method. I didn't have a pattern or instructions, I just went for it.
I had so much fun meeting fellow quilters from all over the northwest. I am so glad that I attended and I can't wait to see what the guild's have in store for next year's meet up. I've heard rumors that we will be traveling to Canada!!
