QUILTCON News:MQG Member Registration for QuiltCon 2025 opens Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 10 a.m. EDT / 2 p.m. UTC..

Be sure your dues are paid up before that date or you will not be able to register as a DCMQG Member

Schedule for QUILTCON 2025

QuiltCon 2025 will be in Phoenix, Arizona. It will return to Raleigh in 2026!

RESOURCES:

Check out our NEW QuiltCon page with all the faculty members and their websites, vendors, sponsors, and a link to QUILTCON 2025!

Quilt Con 2025 (Phoenix) information has been sent out. Hotels are already sold out and the schedule has been published. Be sure to get your choices lined up for when registration opens up in July. (See your email from MQG for more information. If you are a member of our guild, you should be receiving these emails at the email you used to register with DCMQG.)

This is the last Stitch you will receive if you have not renewed or signed up as a new member after May. So hurry up now and renew your membership in our website. 

Payment of dues gets you access to our monthly meetings, periodic zoom lectures, retreats(!), workshops, challenges, swaps, and of course this little newsletter, plus early registration for QuiltCon and all the other resources the national MQG has to offer.   This year's membership cycle runs from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025.  Ind

ividual Member dues are $55, Business Member dues are $95, and we also offer Junior Member dues for members under age 22 at $25.  

We are again offering scholarships to those in need, and we encourage members who can afford to do so to donate to our scholarship fund! If you are interested in a scholarship or in donating to the scholarship fund, please contact us at dcmqgtreasurer@gmail.com.

UPDATE: Only 1 spot left at the time of this update. Please be sure your membership dues are up to date if you wish to register.

DOUBLE WEDDING RING - BY MACHINE Students will learn how to sew a scrappy Double Wedding Ring block. In this class we will cover all the basics of making and using freezer paper foundations, creating templates, color choices and the importance of value for creating a successful design.

Level: Intermediate to advanced; 6 hours (August 24th from 10:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m.)

Sign ups for this workshop will open on Thursday, July 25 at 6 pm. This 6 hour workshop is open to 22 attendees. Sign ups will be restricted to DCMQG members until August 10. If there are spots still available, the workshop will be open to non-members on August 11. The link will be sent through The Stitch.

Enter the Retreat lottery by August 8th!

Every year DCMQG hosts two retreats at the beautiful Blue Mountain Retreat Center near Harper's Ferry. There are spots for 13 people to attend overnight, plus 5 day pass spots available on Saturday (hand sewing only). Spots are available through a lottery system. The cost is $290 for overnight guests arriving on Thursday evening and $240 for overnight guests arriving on Friday evening. This includes the cost of lodging, meals, an individual sewing table, and games/activities. The cost for a day pass, including meals that day, is $85. Two 50% scholarships are available; please contact dcmqgtreasurer@gmail.com for more information.

If you are interested in joining us, please visit the retreat webpage or click on the button in The Stitch to enter the lottery. If you have questions, or would like any additional information, contact dcmqgtreasurer@gmail.com.

We need you 
Our next Wrapped in Love for Justice quilt is LGBTQ pride-themed (recipient TBD). We need people to make blocks! The blocks are small (6.5" x 6.5”) and easy to make. You can traditional piece it or we can provide the FPP pattern.The instructions are here. In that same page, there is a link to the sign up sheet to let us know you are making blocks. We need ONE HUNDRED blocks for this quilt, so please sign up!

The finished blocks are due at our August meeting or they can also be mailed if you won't attend the meeting.

Theme: Coping with Quilting


Dates: November 2-14, 2024


Location: Create Art Center, Silver Spring, MD


Maximum Size: 140" perimeter (but if you have a larger quilt you’ve already made, reach out. We may be able to accommodate!)

Quilting has a long history of being both a practical craft and a form of artistic expression. For many, quilting serves as a therapeutic outlet, offering a space for reflection, mindfulness, and emotional processing. This exhibit aims to explore the ways in which quilting can be a tool for managing and navigating mental health challenges.

Are you interested in taking part? Let us know! Click here.

We had the pleasure of hearing Carol Lyles Shaw speak via Zoom at my local (Frederick, Maryland) quilt guild meeting recently, and one of the methods she talked about caught my eye - she described how she created a quilt, titled Pinwheel Abstraction 102, by cutting apart traditional pinwheel blocks and piecing them into a larger composition (here’s a photo of the quilt she shared with us: https://carolelylesshaw.com/astra-portfolio/pinwheel-abstraction-102/)

This got me thinking how fun that idea might be for a guild challenge! I propose that we create traditional blocks of any type/shape/size, cut them (freehand/improv or with a plan) and piece them into a new composition, with or without additional fabrics.

See directions here.

Do you have orphan blocks? Don't we all?

Do you have orphan blocks laying around with no purpose? If you do, bring them tothenext meeting and we will put them to good use while creating charity quilts! If you prefer to mail them, send an email to dcmqgcharity@gmail.com for address.

When we collect enough we can have a fun DCMQG sewing afternoon designing and sewing the quilts.

Looking for our next Instagram Queen!

DCMQG is looking for a new Communications Coordinator. Carolyn Giunco has held this post for several years, ensuring beautiful and timely Instagram posts as well as monitoring our private Slack channel. If this role interests you, please email dcmodquilts@gmail.com.