Thank you...

Now that all of you have read about all the fun we had at the meet, here's my sincere thanks to all those who helped make it a success.

First and foremost, my sincere thanks to Ajay Gupta and his team at Bernina India for being a great support.

Special thanks to Usha Belose, NSP - Bernina India for teaching us the FMQ secrets.

This meet would not have been possible without your help and belief in us.

Also special thanks to Sai & Shrinath Shinde of The Machine World.

Also, thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring the wonderful Sew Emma Pattern. Thanks to  Fat Quarterly for sponsoring the perfect corners challenge.

Next, I'd like to thank all the members who worked really hard to make this meet, first a possibility and then, a success. It was only because of you guys that we could have so much of fun!

Shilpa - Thank you for being there with me throughout the meet. :) Right from Day "-2"!

Brinda - Thank you for the words of wisdom. I'm sure they'll help me not just in this meet but in my life as well.

Tina - Firstly, thank you for putting out mission & vision into words! Thank you for your enthusiastic efforts to help make this meet a success. The blog posts are a blast!

Veena - Thank you for capturing the essence of the meet through the lens! You've made the meet memorable for all of us and also helped those who could not come, enjoy the meet!

Vidya & Tanuja - Thank you for taking care of the registrations. :)

Sonalee - Thank you for being such a wonderful help in making the newsletter.

Vidya Parthasarathy - Thank you for designing the wonderful poster!

And a big thank you to all the other members who attended the meet. I would also like to thank those who did not attend but continued to support us by cheering us on the FB page! I'm really looking forward to seeing you all at one of the next meets.

Thank you to Chaitanya, Nikhil & Neha for helping me at the moment when I needed it the most! 

Thank you Beyond Breads, for the yummy food and the awesome cake.

I would also like to thank the family members - not just mine, but those of all the members who attended - for taking care of the homes while we ladies took some time off to enjoy what we're all passionate about!

I think I have covered everyone concerned. If I've left someone out, feel free to tell me. I'm sorry if I've forgotten your name. 

Cheers!!!

IMQG Meet - And so we sew

The last day of the IMQG meet was for challenges. Though 4 challenges were initially planned, only 2 could be accommodated - The Perfect Corners challenge and the Free Motion Quilting challenge. The Perfect Corners Challenge required 16 equal squares to be sewn into a 4x4 block. Here are the challengers busy preparing their fabric..

.. and here are the entries..

Sonalee, who won the Perfect Corners Challenge, gets a one year subscription to The Fat Quarterly.

Here's why..

After a brief demo of FMQ by Usha of Bernina and FAQ session by Mr.Ajay Gupta also of Bernina, the FMQ challengers presented their entries. Mr.Gupta chose 3 winning entries each of whom got a set of lovely threads.

  Winner 1 - Vidya

Winner 2 - Sonalee

Winner 3 - Elizabeth

Mr.Gupta presented the IMQG office bearers with gifts and Shruti presented him an IMQG mug.

There were lovely giveaways too sponsored by 13 Woodhouse Road. Here's what I got (my 9 yr old has laid claim to them!)..

And here's Shilpa thrilled at getting that soft snuggles pack..

Hemlata was quite literally jumping with joy at getting that FQ bundle..

 Two more entries today for the widest/brightest/goofiest smile contest :
1.Usha

2.Ajay

Okay, here are the finalists ! (Of course I chose something with me IN it :-))

The best part? Everybody won!!

Thank you Bernina. Thank you Fat Quarterly. Thank you 13 Woodhouse Road.Thank you IMQG.

Happy quilting !!

The April BOM

Apologies for posting this so late on the Blog! Better late than never! The April BOM for the VAANI challenge is the flying geese! Happy sewing!
http://www.connectingthreads.com/cftutorials/tutorial_display.cfm?ID=15&media=FBK&utm_source=media&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=FBK

IMQG Meet - The Blast Off

The first IMQG meet took off to a great start. There was cake and camaraderie, newsletter and non-stop fun, learning and laughing, gallery and gup-shup, giggles and giveaways ! The beautiful cake was cut by a junior guest. This is how they made him do it...

But this is how he wanted to do it !!...

Shruti gave the welcome address and outlined the mission and vision of the India Modern Quilt Guild and Brinda introduced the Office bearers.

Vidya did us the honour of publishing the guild's first (quarterly) newsletter 'Dreamcatchers'.

All the members introduced themselves and with Tina's vote of thanks, the official inauguration came to an end.

Then began the exciting part of the meet..The Show-and-Tell.

Shruti (from Sangli) showed us her first quilt and told us what NOT to do in a quilt. Undoubtedly, Trial-and-Error is the best way to learn..especially other people's trial-and-error :-)

Tina (from Chennai) spoke a bit about quilting  'Kaudhis' in the traditional Karnataka style of quilting.

Sonalee (from Mumbai) showed us how to paper piece hexies.

Brinda (from Kolkata) showed us a beautiful memory quilt in crazy patchwork style.

Elizabeth (from Goa) spoke about machine embroidery and gave us valuable information on setting up a self-help unit.

Kalpana (from Sangli) showed us her art quilts.

Post-lunch we had sessions on 'Quilting Basics' by Shruti and 'Rotary Cutting' by Tina.

The folks from Bernina showed us demos of their machines and it was fun trying out the different Bernina models.

There were giveaways every once in a while..

And now the most awaited part : The contest for best/widest/goofiest 'quilters smile' ! Todays contenders -
1.Brinda

2.Sonalee

3.Vidya

4.Kalpana

5.Veena

6.Shipra

7.Hemlata

8.Sandhya

Whoa! Thats a lot of smiles! Like Chumkie rightly said,"Quilters are happy people".  And why not? Did I mention the yummy goodie-bags?! :-)

Wow!!