December 2022 Meeting Recap

The Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild met on December 10 for our December meeting and Holiday Party.  A great spread of food, and a lovely selection of mug rugs in the mug rug swap.

2022 Block of the Month Quilt Along

No block of the month announced this month - all 10 blocks have been announced now and we are looking forward to seeing the completed quilts.  We saw our first two examples:

Jo's completed 2022 Quilt Along Quilt

Michelle's completed quilt top

KMQG Show 2023

We are now accepting applications for members' quilts to be included in the show which will run at the The Arts and Culture Alliance's Emporium Center on Gay St. in Knoxville throughout March 2023.  Details of how to apply have been emailed out to members.  We look forward to showing a selection of modern quilts.  We will also be showing Mystery Purple Mini Quilt Challenge quilts to see how members use the solid purple fabric provided and incorporate it into a 20 x 20 inch mini quilt.

Sewing Resolutions 2022

We did an end of year recap on how many resolutions had been achieved.  Sherry earned a prize for having completed the most with 4 1/2 out of her 5 resolutions done.  Everyone is encouraged to come up with some new resolutions for 2023 (or maybe roll over some from this year)!

Board Elections

Elections were held for the board officers for 2023.

Show & Tell

A number of inspiring finished and in progress projects were shown.

Michelle showed a thought-provoking wall hanging in which she had used color to document daily Covid case numbers and deaths in Knox county from March 2020 to October 2022. 

Jo showed a memorial quilt made from a gentleman's ties

along with an accompanying mini

Kelly's FPP Christmas bunting

Nancy

Erin and Janne showed their Mystery Purple Challenge Mini Quilts

Janne

Erin (inspired by an amethyst geode)

Merikay and Annie both got into the mug rug making and showed extra examples on top of the ones they swapped.

Merikay

Annie

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful festive season.

We look forward to seeing you next year at our first meeting of 2023 on January 21 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 10:30am.

QuiltCon 2023 Community Outreach Challenge: Radiata

The Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild is thrilled to reveal our submission for the 2023 QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge! This quilt is called "Radiata," and it will hang at QuiltCon in Atlanta in February 2023.

In the summer of 2022, the MQG released the design and color prompts for the annual Community Outreach Challenge quilt. The design theme is Color Shift, and there was both a cool and warm color gradient to choose from. A committee of KMQG members began brainstorming design ideas for the challenge. Committee leader Emily reached out to Melissa, the guild's source of quilt inspiration for previous QuiltCon challenges, and, once again, she didn't let us down. Turns out she was exploring the Knoxville Zoo when she received Emily's text, and she had just seen a radiated tortoise sporting some striking shell markings.

With these images and a sketch from Melissa, Emily switched on her design brain, zeroed in on the cool color gradient provided by the MQG, and drafted an idea involving circles and rays:

Nancy drafted a foundation paper piecing template, Emily and Pat prepared solids, and members stayed after a monthly meeting to piece the components with a controlled improv approach to color placement (lights, mediums, darks).

The blocks were sewn together, and then Nancy sewed on the applique circles. The finished top and backing went to Pat for longarm quilting -- Karlee Porter's Wiggle Worm pantograph -- and Sandy sewed on the binding. The finished quilt measures 64 x 86 inches. We've named it "Radiata" in honor of its inspiration, Astrochelys radiata (aka radiated tortoise).

We are very happy with how our quilt turned out. Because QuiltCon 2023 is in Atlanta and within driving distance of Knoxville, many of our members plan to attend, and all look forward to seeing it hang with the other Community Outreach Challenge submissions.