New Mexico Quilters Association
"We're Enchanted With Quilting!"
Join NMQA's Community Service Committee every Tuesday to cut, sew, & quilt! Pick up kits and drop off work! Stay the entire time! Everyone welcome!
NMQA members donate more than 500 quilts per year to Albuquerque’s sick and needy children and adults. Community Service is a cornerstone of the organization! Our mission is to give the gift of warmth and love through beautiful handmade, lap-sized quilts.
We meet every Tuesday from 9:30 - 1:30. Bring your machine and favorite tools. We have the fabric. There are two restaurants at either end of the mall or you can bring your lunch to the refrigerator in our area.
Join the Quilt Bank Committee, a respected NMQA tradition!
We meet the third Monday of each month. Members work together to create stunning quilts for not-for-profit groups in the Albuquerque metropolitan community to raffle for their own fundraising and outreach efforts.
A Brief History of NMQA Balloon Raffle Quilts & Demystifying the Balloon Quilt Design Process
The 2026 Balloon Raffle Quilt "Call for Entries" is open! Celebrating NMQA's 50th Anniversary could be what inspires you to submit a design for the 2026 Balloon Raffle Quilt . . . or maybe it's the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States happening in 2026. Whatever your inspiration, during this presentation on the Balloon Raffle Quilt Design Process, you'll see a slideshow of some of the past Balloon Raffle Quilts and learn:
We'll also have Show & Tell at the meeting! If you're attending in person, bring your item with you and if you're attending through zoom, send your photos to Kris Lange, klange@email.com at least 48 hours before the meeting.
FUNdraiser Sew Day
These fun events are generally held after the daytime meeting and are open to all guild members!
Bring your lunch, sewing machine, and basic sewing tools and plan to spend the afternoon sewing crafts to sell at Balloon Fiesta. We have mats, rulers, cutters, irons and extension cords.
In March we'll work on Triple Decker Wall Hangings. You will apply premade balloons and baskets to quilt blocks, adding pre-cut sashing and borders. Please bring neutral, black, white and medium brown thread.
Volunteers from NMQA, both for the Fiesta and NMQA's booth, will be needed and they will get in free. Signup will be on-line after March 1. We still need Doo-Dahs and they are due at February's membership meeting. NMQA members can buy parking passes in advance for only $5. Those with a blue handicap parking placard can park for free. See Laurie Marnell at the guild meeting in February or March to purchase your discounted parking pass.
NMQA's 50th Anniversary celebration continues, with a program to be determined! Virginia Walton's lecture has been moved to July.
Community Service Showcase
Celebrate NMQA's 50th Anniversary by attending this meeting, which celebrates NMQA's Community Service initiative that distributes over 500 quilts every year to Albuquerque area non-profits.
Bring your machine and spend the afternoon helping us meet our goal of sewing 50 quilts in 5 hours! We can do it!!
Let's Sew 50 Quilts in 5 Hours!!
Mark NMQA's 50th Anniversary by attending the “50 Quilts in 5 Hours” sew-in for Community Service on May 20, 2024, after the membership meeting. Yes, that’s a lofty goal and a lot of quilts to finish in a short amount of time! But with your help we can do it!
We will be working on 2 layouts—our familiar Warm Wishes and a new pattern, 50 for 50. We will have something for everyone—from piecing tops, pinning a quilt sandwich together, to doing simple crosshatch quilting on already pinned quilt projects. Bring your machine and other tools and join in!
The 50th Anniversary Committee will provide a Frito Pie lunch (fritos, meat, cheese, lettuce) for participants. Or you can bring your own lunch. And bring your own snacks and beverages!
NMQA's 50th Anniversary celebration continues, with a special Zoom presenter
My Top 10 Art Quilt Techniques
with Helen Godden, internationally known quilt artist from Australia
With a slide show and Q&A discussion, grab a cuppa tea as Helen shares her favorite techniques that she uses to create her art quilts. She will discuss painting with acrylic on fabric, her easy ways to paint with dye & salt, and her "secret squirrel" technique of painting with bleach. She'll share how she designed the yarn couching foot and how she physically manages her current passion to quilt BIG!
"How to Balance the Use of Color & Patterned Fabric"
featuring Virginia Walton
NMQA's 50th Anniversary celebration continues, with a lecture from Virginia Walton, a National BERNINA Ambassador and an international teacher who regularly teaches throughout the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Virginia was NMQA President in 1986! This Lecture shows through examples how to combine fabrics to create a wide variety of quilts. From Traditional to Modern, approximately 100 quilts, tops and other ‘pieces’ are shown to illustrate how color along with the value or depth of color will effect patterns.
Virginia is the inventor of the CREATIVE CURVES RULERS, the CREATIVE CURVES ELLIPSE RULERS, as well as the non-curve CREATIVE CURVES KALEIDOSCOE RULER and the MULTI-ANGLE, WEDGE RULER. Her specialties include easy sewing machine techniques (a ‘No Pins’ curved piecing method in particular) and color or fabric selection. Virginia’s quilts can be seen in numerous national and international magazines and on her website. www.creativecurves.com
"Friendship Forever" Workshop
with Virginia Walton
Using the Creative Curves Rulers, you'll learn to make curved patterns based on a square, half-square triangle, quarter circle and the matching inside curve – with seam allowances included. There are a wide variety of curved shapes that that can be created using either individual curved pieces or by doubling (or more!) the number of squares that are the basis for these Rulers.
Virginia Walton is the inventor of the rulers for the CREATIVE CURVES QUILTING SYSTEM, which substitutes curves for half-square triangles (circular curves) or half-rectangle triangles (oval curves). The following rulers have been designed by Virginia: the CREATIVE CURVES RULERS, the CREATIVE CURVES ELLIPSE RULERS, the KALEIDOSCOPE RULER, and the MULTI-ANGLE, WEDGE RULER. In addition there are numerous BOOKS, PATTERNS, and DVD’s that include patterns for the different rulers. As a lecturer and teacher, her specialties include easy sewing machine techniques (machine piecing curves without pins in particular) and color or fabric selection (how to combine fabric to create the effect desired in a quilt). As an international teacher, Virginia regularly teaches in the US, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Her original blocks and quilts are featured in many national and international quilt magazines. All of that, and she was a former NMQA president too!
Celebrate NMQA's 50th Anniversary Year by treating yourself to this fun workshop! Appropriate for Beginner to Advanced quilters!
Cost: $25 Member/$45 Non-Member, plus $35 Kit Fee payable to Virginia Walton.
NMQA Cancellation Policy: If NMQA cancels a workshop, you will receive a refund of the workshop fee via U.S. mail. However, due to contract obligations with instructors, NMQA is unable to provide refunds if you cancel your participation in a workshop and the Guild is not able to fill your place from a waiting list.
Entering Quilts in Shows:
What a Judge Sees
featuring Maribeth Schmit - NQA/NACQJ
NMQA's 50th Anniversary celebration continues, with Maribeth Schmit, an accomplished fiber artist, quilting instructor, author and NQA Certified Quilt Judge.
Ever wonder how quilts are judged in competitions? Want to know what takes a quilt out of ribbon contention? Learn about quilt judging standards and processes. Hear about the common mistakes quilters make and how to avoid them. Become a savvy exhibitor and increase your chances of success at any show!
Offering a variety of quilting and fiber-related workshops and lectures, Maribeth actively judges quilt competitions across the country. Her art quilts have been exhibited in museums, national shows and fine art galleries.
"Pick Up Stix Wall Hanging" Workshop
with Maribeth Schmit
Learn this technique which creates a dynamic, complex design. You’ll be amazed how easily this technique can be applied to other designs. Modern quilting design at its best! Works best with low-volume and solid fabrics. Stunning results.
Skill Level: Confident Beginner and Up.
Cost: $45 Member/$65 Non-Member, no extra pattern or kit fee required!
A Challenging Year for Two Friends
featuring J. Michelle Watts
This new lecture and trunk show shares the creative process and completed quilts of two longtime friends. Michelle has known Alice for many years, and they encourage and support each other creatively. They decided to challenge each other each quarter. The rules for each challenge are different and they have created some wonderful projects through these creative challenges. Their hope is to inspire other quilters to step out of their comfort zone and explore new techniques and colors with their friends.
50th Anniversary Celebration!
featuring Gail Garber
NMQA's 50th Anniversary Celebration is here! Registration begins soon!
Schedule:
10:30 - Doors open & registration. Come early to browse the many quilts we'll have displayed
11:00 - Welcome & Introductions
11:30 - Luncheon
12:15 - Presentation: "What Goes Around Comes Around," featuring Gail Garber
1:15 - Wrap up and door prizes
Cost: $25 for members and former NMQA Presidents
$45 for non-members
About Gail: Bold, colorful, and stunning geometric designs with flying geese galore – that’s how you know you’re looking at one of Gail’s quilts! Her style has become immediately recognizable because of her talent for combining vivid colors with intricate piecework. Her geometric star quilts and pictorial quilts have won awards at shows throughout the U.S. and have been featured in publications worldwide. For Gail, quilting began as a whim, when friends convinced her to take a hand-quilting class. Quiltmaking quickly became a passion. Gail’s early quilts are traditional with conservative fabric choices. By 1984, she began exploring original design. In 1987, she was NMQA's President.
Member-Led Techniques
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