Meetings and Workshops

What makes a quilt truly exceptional? Do we even agree on what beauty is? This lecture with pattern designer and illustrator Karen Brow-Meier of Java House Quilts is about creativity, inspiration, and motivation. Where do good ideas come from? (Karen says she has done some of her best quilting in the shower!) How do our emotions affect creativity? Does room color, time of day, or fabric limitation change how we create? Viewed through the lens and experiences of a quilter, Karen will shed new light on science's findings on how we create, solve quilting problems, and ultimately do our best work.

We're better together ... and this month we will learn from each other in a series of mini-lessons. Learn techniques for beautiful machine binding, quilt-as-you-go, and more!

If there is a particular topic you'd like to see us cover, reach out and let us know!

If you'd like to do a mini demo at the meeting, reach out and let us know!

We might think we are our own worst critics (or maybe you're your own best cheerleader!), but as a trained judge, Ann Turley has seen it all on the judging floor. If you've ever wondered what happens behind those closed doors, Ann answers your questions as you sit in on a mock judging process.

Ann is an award-winning quilter whose quilts have been exhibited at Road to California, Vision Art Gallery (Chandler AZ), California Heritage Museum, Paducah, the Hoffman Challenge, Paige-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary, NC, Texas Quilt Museum, a selection of SAQA exhibitions, and several AQS shows nation-wide.

Anne Sonner will share Hawaiian quilts and the history of Hawaiian quilting (and Hawaii!) with us in our September program. If you've always wondered about these beautiful applique works, be sure to join us for this fascinating program. Check the workshops page to register for the associated workshop on September 3, 2022.

At the July meeting, we will have materials available for members to make nametags for guild meetings, because with all of the Zoom time we have had, many folks have lost track of their name tags or are just looking for a refresh! We will also indulge in some summertime frozen treat fun!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! At our May meeting, we will conduct our elections and review (and rest and recover!) from our Tea and Quilt Auction on April 23.

The May workshop is "Inspired by Architecture" with David Owen Hastings and will feature a small quilt-as-you-go project. The workshop will be via Zoom and will run from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. David is a popular and highly acclaimed modern quilter. Signup can be done online or in-person at the meeting.

This month we will have the famous Acacia Brown Bag Raffle -- our first since February 2020! Quilting and non-quilting items donated by members will be available. Purchase some tickets and pop them into the bags for the items you want to win. At the end of the meeting, we'll make the drawings. Winners will go home with some super fun items!

What DO you do with all your scraps? Become a frugal and “green” quilter by using your scraps and making quilts! Learn Michele’s “formula” – the more the merrier (fabric that is), to create quilts using Color Value to offer contrast, depth, and movement in your quilts! Michele will present an informational and inspirational presentation of various types of scrap quilts along with a trunk show of her own original scrap quilts. Her mantra is “No scrap left behind”!

This meeting will be held via Zoom. If you're not an Acacia member and you'd like an invite, just click here to be added to our Zoom invite list.

David Owen Hastings is a quilter, graphic designer, print and textile artist, and former president of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild. David's presentation will give an overview of his process for coming up with simple graphic quilt designs with a modern touch. He'll show examples of how to translate an architectural photo into a quilt design, share some thoughts on walking foot quilting, and how to break free from stitch in the ditch quilting.

This meeting will be held via Zoom. Acacia members will receive a zoom invite by email. If you are not an Acacia member and you'd like to attend the meeting, just click here to be added to our Zoom invite list.

Our October and November workshops will be shared with our sister guild, Quilters by the Sea. The Zoom workshop on November 13, will be by Karen Brow-Meier of Java House Quilts, teaching her pattern "Infrognito." In this workshop, we’ll create a modern frog block using the “Middle to Middle Piecing” method which makes sewing the frogs deceptively simple!

The charge for the workshop, which includes the pattern, will be $35.00. Please note the date for the shared workshop is the QBS customary workshop Saturday, which is a full week after the Acacia General meeting, and the start time is 9:00 a.m., not the Acacia usual at 10:00 a.m.

To register and pay online for the workshop, please click here.

Does the crick in your neck and the ache in your back match the size of the quilt you're working on? Maybe your sewing space has issues! Come and hear Steve Shuman talk about how to create an ergonomically sound, comfortable sewing space.

Please remember that this meeting is an in-person meeting at the Ehlers Event Center Plaza. Face coverings and social distancing measures will be observed. The meeting will be simulcast on Zoom. Acacia members will receive a Zoom link as usual. If you are not an Acacia member and would like to check in on the proceedings, please use the Be Our Guest feature to be added to our invite list. We'd love to see you!

Our September workshop will also be an in-person event at the Ehlers Center Picasso Room. Jo Melis, a former Acacia member, will teach paper piecing techniques to use without sewing through your pattern. Re-use your paper patterns and save time tearing your papers when the piecing is done. The cost of this workshop is $10.00. All workshop funds will be donated, at Jo's request, to the Seal Beach Animal Care Center. Make sure you sign up to reserve your spot.

Click here for fabric requirements for Jo's workshop.

After a long three-year wait, our 2022 Tea and Quilt Auction is almost here! On April 23, lucky ticket holders will gather to see--and bid on--a beautiful array of quilts at our Wonders of the Sea-themed event. If you don't have a ticket yet, you can add yourself to the waitlist online, but whether you're attending the Tea or not, you can join us for a preview of quilts from the Tea and a discussion with a well-known quilter, teacher, and pattern designer, Lyn Brown.

This meeting will be simulcast via zoom. Guild members will receive Zoom information in their email. If you're not a member and would like to attend the Zoom, just click here to be added to our Zoom invite list.

We are thrilled to welcome Meg Cox as our May meeting speaker. Meg is a nationally known leader on the topics of quilting and family traditions. Her expertise on quilting stems partly from the 25 years that she has been a passionate quilter. She served on the board of the national nonprofit Quilt Alliance for ten years and was President for 6 years. She has been published by dozens of national magazines and the Wall Street Journal, where she was a staff reporter for 17 years. She is the author of The Book of New Family Traditions, The Quilter's Catalog, The Heart of a Family, and Got Traditions?

Meg will be speaking on Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Quilt Museum in the World, and we will see many of the quilts featured at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. Meg will also share how we can view those amazing quilts online at our leisure.

Lori Dickman will demonstrate her techniques on how she portrays her love of nature in beautiful art and landscape quilts. She’ll inspire us with her simple and amazing applique and thread techniques, and she’ll demo how she incorporates her love of ‘scraps’ in her art quilts to create visual eye appeal and drama. Lori's presentation will be followed by a workshop on Saturday, March 6th, to work on Sleepy Sunflower art quilts. What fun!