FALL RETREAT
Get ready for a weekend full of sewing, laughter, and fun!
Bring your projects, share tips and ideas, and enjoy a judgment-free space—whether you love traditional quilts, modern designs, or something in between.
We’ll be gathering at the library, a great venue with a full-size kitchen. Each participant will have their own table and chair, and while the lighting is good, you’re welcome to bring an extra lamp if you’d like. The chairs are decent, but feel free to bring your favorite chair if you have one!
Community cutting and ironing stations will be available, along with a freebie and “sale” table where you can pass along quilty items you no longer want. And of course, there will be food to keep us fueled throughout each day; bring your favorite snack(s) to share!
Hours FRI & SAT: 9am - 9pm; SUN: 9am - 3pm
Jordan House Jubilee
JORDAN HOUSE JUBILIEE
Step back in time at the Jordan House Heritage Jubilee. They are throwing a good old-fashioned party at the historic Jordan House to celebrate its 175th anniversary and CIAMQG will be displaying an array of quilts at the event!
Family friendly fun planned includes:
Hands-On Heritage: make apple cider on antique presses, create heritage crafts and play historic games.
Toe-Tapping Tunes from “The Weary Ramblers.”
Indigenous Experience: Learn about the history of the tribes that were once in West Des Moines.
Legacy Woods Update: Learn about the exciting progress at Legacy Woods.
Historical reenactors.
Build a Log Cabin: Practice your pioneer skills and build a cabin!
Laundry Station
Corn Grinding & Bird Feeder Project
Dissect Owl Pellets & Identify Bones
Building a wattle fence
Preserving herbs for winter & tea station
Seed saving
Creating a floral arrangement
Bulb lasagna
Pressed flowers
Quilt display
October Guild Meeting: Guest Speaker Rochelle Peters
Magazine Challenge Reveals! Show off your creations and magazine pages that provided the inspiration.
Guest Speaker: Rochelle Peters
Rochelle is the owner of Treasuredgiftsllc.com. She specializes in Shannon Fabrics (minky). On her website she also sells Tula Pink, Tim Holtz, as well as other fabric, webbing, patterns, threads and more. You may have seen Rochelle at some of the local quilt shows.
Rochelle will give us a demo on the best way to work with minky and show us how to make an infinity scarf. She will bring along a few offerings from her shop in case anyone wants to get started on some Christmas sewing projects.
Organic Shapes Workshop with Carolina Oneto
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13th, 2025 9am - 12pm CT
In this class I will teach you how to make curved shapes with your sewing machine! I explain step by step, in detail, how to make these beautiful shapes, which will give you the possibility to freely create shapes on your quilts! It is not Appliqué. In addition, I will show you 3 variants of these forms (one form on top of another, one form next to another and one form within another) and I will give you ideas to inspire you in your next creations! - Carolina Oneto
3 hour workshop will be live on Zoom and include demos and one on one assistance.
Instructor: Carolina Oneto
Non-Member registration opens mid-April.
Sept. Mtg: Lecture with Carolina Oneto
Carolina Oneto will be joining our September meeting via zoom presenting a virtual lecture on “Limits & Creativity”. This will be a PowerPoint presentation with question and answer time to follow.
Limits and Creativity lecture: Limits and an be counterintuitive but limits are essentials to create, they allow us to create connections, to avoid choose paralysis and to get a deep understanding of our medium. In this lecture we will talk about what kind of limits we can use to empower our creative process.
President's Challenge Sew Day
August 9th at the Urbandale Library. 9:00 am
Bring 1 yard of a signature fabric of your choice. It needs to be modern. Pattern or solid. You may bring coordinating fat quarters if you choose.
Background fabric will be provided.
Please bring inspiration. Quilting books, patterns, etc.
You will be split into groups. Background fabric will be selected. You will have 30 to 45 minutes to come up with a plan using resources. There may be some mini challenges added throughout the day.
Goals:
Make a bed sized quilt.
Stretch our creativity by adding constraints and collaboration.
HAVE FUN! And get to know each other.
June Guild Meeting
Joseph will share his story with us, talk a bit about his blocks, the technique he uses to capture the pictures he uses on the quilts, and his amazing quilts; he will also be giving us a truck show.
Joseph, aka @the_gay_church_lady , began quilting during the pandemic. After George Floyd was murdered he decided to create social justice themed quilts which eventually led to the format I first encountered on Instagram, his strong women quilt tops #strongwomenquilt.
His quilts are scrappy and consist of a picture in the middle of the a block - actors, singers, police officers, judges, fictional characters, professionals (mathematicians), movies, astronauts, royalty, Barbie, and so much more. I’ve seen blocks made in log cabin, courthouse steps, sawtooth, kings crown and other block types that bring a focus to the center of the block.
If you follow the_gay_church_lady instagram account you’ll see each entry is accompanied by a biography of the person pictured in the quilt. For some charity quilts he has compiled a companion hardcover book with those biographies included.
April Guild Meeting
Aprils Topic: Memory Quilts
Join us in welcoming Lisa Ohnemus to speak at our April 14th meeting!
Lisa is a member of the Eastern Polk Quilters guild and a quilter that learned the craft from her mother, a long time quilter. In 2023, Lisa took on a labor of love to create a pixelated quilt of her daughter and used the Youpatch pixel software to create a pixelated quilt pattern. The Youpatch app allows you to submit a photo to that will come back as a pixelated pattern and includes the colors you will need to create your quilt. That sounds easy but when you see the quilt that Lisa created you’ll realize what a unique process it really is. Lisa's made a second pixelated quilt which she'll bring as well. Lisa will also share some other memory quilts she's made.
Show and Share: Have you made a memory quilt? Bring it to share with the group!
March Guild Meeting
Meeting Theme: How Do I Quilt It?
6:30 - 7pm Socializing
7 - 9pm Meeting
Spring Quilt Retreat
Join us for our first quilt retreat of 2025!
Retreat Days/Hours:
Friday, Feb 28th: 9am - 9pm
Saturday, March 1st: 9am - 9pm
Sunday, March 2nd: 9am - 3pm
Location: Roy R. Estle Memorial Library, 1308 Walnut Street, Dallas Center, Iowa
Cost: $35 Members
Non-members: registration opens Feb. 14th; cost $45.
February Guild Meeting
Doors open at 6:30pm, come early and socialize!
Meeting: 7-9pm
Februarys meeting is all about getting to know each other. We’ll have some fun ice breakers, play left/right/center, host a ufo swap, and check in on the block lotto. Can’t wait to see you there!
• Ice Breakers, Games & Left/Right/Center: If you are interested in playing Left/Right/Center, please bring 3-4 SOLID fat quarters.
Please bring a phone to participate in other fun activities.
• UFO Swap: Do you have any unfinished projects and/or orphan blocks that you are no longer interested in completing? Bring them to Februarys meeting and swap with the group!
• Raspberry Kiss Block Lotto: Due at Aprils meeting. Make as many as you would like; each block is a drawing entry and the winner takes all!
Blocks should be made with a black or dark background with brightly colored “X”s. Tutorial Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0SHlJOCZlmcTKmoWzkFr4wl2LMdCWfGTygh4vIlDHk/mobilebasic?sfnsn=mo
• Show and Share: Bring your latest quilty finishes to show and share with the group.
CIAMQG January Meeting
Next meeting will be at the the Westside Community Center on January 13th.
Member Stephanie Bracelin will be discussing color theory with an emphasis on using patterned fabric. Come prepared to discuss all things color and participate in a hands-on activity to help utilize your new knowledge.
Agenda:
Pre-Meeting social time from 6:30 to 7:00. Meeting to start at 7:00 PM.
Officer’s report
Color Theory with Stephanie Bracelin
Show & Tell
Steph Skardal, "On Creativity"
Lecture by Steph Skardal
Guest passes available in the shop
Event Five
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Event Three
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Event Four
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Event One
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Event Two
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.