June meeting Recap – Daisy A. | Bloomington/Normal Modern Quilt Guild

Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

The meeting was called to order by President Noemi B at 6:03 pm. Nancy P, Program Chair, introduced our speaker, Daisy Aschehoug of @warmfolk, who is visiting the US this summer from Norway and speaking to us on “Anatomy of a Curve.” She lives in Nesodden which is south of Oslo. Daisy began her interest in curved piecing when she saw Kaffe Fasset’s crocheted blanket with half circles and wanted to recreate it as a quilt. She used Jen Carlton-Bailey’s quarter circle templates. Since then, and also because she designs quilts in Illustrator, she still uses a quarter circle for most of her curved piecing. She noted that piecing curves is not the same as lining up square pieces, as two different edges are coming together-a convex piece and a concave piece. She cuts precise pieces and uses pins and glue to baste the pieces together before sewing together with a SCANT 1/4 inch seam, sewing slowly. Because of the bias edges, she is conscious not to stretch the pieces to fit too much, especially bigger curves. For smaller 3” circles, she uses an inset circle, and has created a template and method for those.

Daisy wrote her first book in 2018, Quilt Modern Curves and Stripes, which included her Sirkel quilt. She has had quilts in and has taught at QuiltCon and will have her own exhibit at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England this August. She designed templates to create Giant Nested Curves, and then bought a laser cutter to make them herself. She now uses it to cut fabric as well, but noted that it’s harder to keep edges on the straight of grain with it. When she
pieces for her quilts, she does piece slabs at right angles and tries to keep them as straight as possible. Daisy uses single fabrics for some of her quarter circle pieces. She has used traditional blocks as a basis for inserting curved piecing, saying that wherever there is a 90 degree angle, you can use a quarter-circle block. She has created a curved pieced Squash Blossom block and quilt that way. While experimenting, she created her Gothic arch block and
has been using it in some of her latest quilts. Daisy has just finished a teaching session at Estelle Creative Arts Center in LaVeta, Colorado, and will be hosting a retreat with Jo Avery in Svalbard, Norway this November. She will also
lead a retreat in Clos Mirabel in southwest France in March of 2027.

After the break, Noemi B thanked the hospitality volunteers – Cheryl A, Tonya K, Nicole M and Pam T- for bringing snacks.

Committee Updates:
Programs- Nancy P reminded everyone that Daisy is teaching the Giant Nested Circles workshop tomorrow, beginning at 9 am. Participants can arrive at 8:30 or after.

For our July program, the Community Outreach Committee will present Christmas in July and demo how to make the ornaments we will be using to decorate the BNMQG Christmas tree at the Festival of Trees for the Baby Fold. We will also have guild elections for the 2026-27 year.

In August, we will have our annual potluck, presentation of 10-year membership pins and the Upcycling Challenge vote and awards. It has not yet been decided who is bringing what for the potluck.

The Upcycling Challenge kicked off at the May meeting. Categories are Quilts, Clothing, Household, Accessories and Misc. See the sign-up genius for category definitions and to register your items. Each item has a $1 registration fee, payable at the August meeting. The winner of each category will win $25 plus the entry fees for that category.

Community Outreach: Nicole M said that all but 4 of the HeartBeat Quilt kits have been taken by members to finish. Completed quilts are starting to be turned in, with 4 completed and 2 tops returned before this meeting. For Christmas in July, 3 types of ornaments will be demonstrated, including a fabric pinecone, Foundation pieced ornaments and a fabric folded star. Kits will be available to take home to be completed and returned at the August meeting.

Kathy C said that three quilting bees have been formed, and are in various stages of organizing. We can still form another bee if there is enough interest.

Sew Days- The remaining dates for the 25-26 guild year are July 11th and August 8th. PLEASE NOTE that the July sew day has been moved to the Bloomington Public Library and the time is 12:15 to 4 pm. Please sign up on the Sign Up Genius so we know how many tables to set up.

The August 8th sew day will be at the Church beginning at 9 am.

Sip and Sew– Dates remaining are July 21, August 18, September 15 and October 20. These
are Zoom-only sessions to sew and visit with other members. An invite is emailed to all
members on the Sunday prior. Log in and join us!

Exhibits- Nancy P reported that our mini-quilts just were sent to travel with the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo from this July until next spring. There were 29 Nocturne Quilts.

Membership- Tonya L said we had 99 members and added 4 new members tonight. Ileen, Nikki, Kathy joined in person and Amanda joined via Zoom/Paypal from Alaska. We had 53 members attending in person, 7 on Zoom and 4 guests.

Library- Noemi announced that Molly B needs help with the library. The books are brought from the storage unit by Noemi, so we just need someone to set out the books and check them in and out. Let Noemi know if you’re interested in helping the guild with this.

Treasurer’s Report- The treasurer’s report is available on the members only section of the website.

Nominations– BNMQG Secretary Ann U announced the slate of officers put together by the
nominations committee of Marge E, Anita T and Lisa B. They are:

President – Noemi B
Vice President – Sheila R
Treasurer- Erin H
Secretary – Ann U
Member at Large- Paula M
Member at Large – Kathy C.

Ann asked for any nominations for any position from the floor, and there were none. The elections will be held at the July meeting.

Fall Retreat – Dates for the October retreat are October 9-12, 2026. It will be held at the Holiday Inn near the airport. The cost is $175, with a deposit of $75 or full payment due tonight, June 23. Members who have signed up for the retreat should sign up for a retreat job. There are still spaces available both for the retreat and jobs for the retreat on the sign up genius lists.

QuiltCon 2027 will be held in Atlanta Feb 25-28th and the schedule is now available on the MQG website. Quilt submissions, including all challenge quilts are open from Sept 1-October 31. Challenges include the Community Outreach Quilts for Guilds; the theme this year is Half-Square Triangles. The other challenges are the American Patchwork and Quilting Pick a Color Scrappy Challenge and the Windham Fabrics Handloom Challenge. More info on all challenges are on the MQG website.

Member Monthly Survey – the question this month was “What kind of workshops do you want us to schedule?”