Thru the Eye of the Needle

April—2009

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear fellow quilters,

I hope all of you have picked up your directories and have taken the time to read through our Policies and Procedures section and also our By-Law section. For those of you who are new to the guild, this will give you answers to most of your questions. For those of you that have been members for years, it will remind you how our guild operates and all the opportunities your membership provides. If you still have questions or concerns, please seek out the committee chairperson and she will be glad to help. We have a group of dedicated women who serve us all as committee chairs and devote many hours monthly keeping our guild running.

We are still working through some problems with our new location. Every effort is being made to make our meetings run smoothly and your experience enjoyable. Adding to the stress is the building construction projects. These should be over soon, so please be patient. Marion Carrier has agreed to be our building/site liaison. We hope this will help us resolve concerns timely. Until the walkway/breezeway is complete the library may not be open. This decision will be made by our librarians at each meeting and will be announced. It is our plan to hold all general meetings in the main sanctuary where there is sufficient seating and a sound system. Unfortunately sometimes the decision is beyond our control.

I enjoy our time together, and with each meeting I come away with ideas and inspiration. So remember to Quilt, Quilt, Quilt!

Joyce Thompson

DAY CHAPTER

Well now, I would sincerely like to thank everyone who showed up for the March meeting braving the torrential downpour and squeezing into the smaller reception room, but it was well worth it all, don’t you think? We had a lot of timely and pertinent information given out by the different committees, a fabulous techno-demo of the souvenir block, lots of wonderful Show and Share items and a most informative panel discussion from our long-arm quilters. Even though the entire meeting was lengthy it was well worth it. Be sure to thank the ladies when you next see them for the presentation they gave.

It is our hope and request that we are able to meet in the sanctuary for the April meeting. The Gulf Coast Christian Church is doing some landscaping and remodeling of the grounds, which has complicated our utilization of the facility, but this minor problem should be ironed out before too long. Please bear with us as we are adjusting to our new surroundings and they are adjusting to our needs and requests.

The April meeting is one that you don’t want to miss. A Sulky National Educator, Eric Drexler, will be presenting “Thread Jazz for Quilting and Embellishing – Needle and Thread Know-How”. Come and learn how easy and fun it is to use all of those glamorous Sulky threads that you see on award-winning quilts. It is sure to be packed full of hints, tips, and breathtaking samples to inspire us to “quilt outside the box”. Why not invite a friend to come with you? Also, you will need to have your Favorite Block completed and ready to turn in to be eligible for a door prize. The fourth and last installment of the Mystery Quilt will be available. Don’t forget to make time to work on your 2009 Challenge Quilt. I can hardly wait till June to see them all; I know they will be wonderful. See you at the April meeting.

Sheree Jimmerson

NIGHT CHAPTER

The April meeting is going to be presented by one of our own, Kim Brackett. Kim is now a published author and her book, “Scrap Basket Surprises,” comes out this month. She is going to be sharing her quilts with us and the process of how she started it all. I am so excited for you all to meet her and see her work. She will have some books at the meeting for purchase through “The Quilting Station”.

I hope everyone is working hard on their challenge pieces. If you have finished and want to try another, just let us know and we will get you another kit. I am so looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with. See you at the meeting.

Deila Hiebert and Ingrid Whitcher

FRAME BASTING

Due to the rain our framebasting was postponed until after the April day meeting. We will set up in the fellowship hall immediately after the program finishes. Virgene Coursen has a large quilt so plan to bring a sandwich and help for 30 minutes or so.

Linda Richardson

SOUVENIR BLOCKS FOR QUILT SHOW

Deborah Broxson made a set (25) all in two Christmas fabrics … what a good idea! Mary Fairhurst made a set (20) using the same fabrics for the center diagonal strip … another good idea! Dora Janosko turned in 29 blocks, all blue Christmas fabric, and JoAnn McKeithan turned in 20 bright-colored blocks.

Ingrid Whitcher has shown both day and night guilds how easy it is to make her Pensacola Star block. Looking forwarding to seeing lots of these. CORRECTION—Cut two 4-inch squares diagonally for the star points. Angie Madden will provide information about the painted art blocks. Questions?

Fran Moore

QUILT SHOW 2010

Things are going along, and getting done. I was very pleased to hear a couple of people say they were turning in silent auction quilts this past month. I know the generous donations of time and talents will help our guild, if you want to help in that way, please let Karen Williamson know.

Also a huge thank you to all who took fabric to kit for the community quilt booth. They are making kits of simple-to-sew blocks with all components cut and ready to sew so that we can allow anyone who comes to sit down and try sewing a block. All quilts will go to community quilts for gifting.

Just for your information, our guild has expenses that far outreach what we collect in dues, and our main fundraiser is our show. The income from the show helps with everyday expenses and 10% of the show’s revenue provides money for the Memorial Fund, for scholarships and trunk shows. If only 100 of our members will buy or sell a 6-ticket book every month until the show, we will sell over 7000 tickets. That is only one way to increase our intake. Please look around and see if there is some other 8way that we can improve our revenue from this, our main avenue of income.

Angie Madden

COMMUNITY QUILTS

The next Community Quilts workshop will be on Thursday, April 16, at 10 am at the home of Suzanne Wernick. Bring basic quilting items and a sewing machine if possible. Lunch will be provided. There is space for only 14, and there are only a few slots remaining.

Our goal is 60 quilts this year, and we have already donated twelve to Habitat for Humanity. We will be happy to accept your unwanted quilt tops or blocks to assemble at our workshops.

Let’s get together for a good cause and good fellowship with other quilters.

Suzanne Wernick

QUILTING TIP

Postcard Quilts – A few pointers by Linda Siska

If you plan to mail your postcard quilts, you need to keep in mind several guidelines: Size – minimum size is 3 1/2”x 5;” maximum is 4” x 6”. Postcards should not be more than 1/8” thick. You can make bigger cards but you will pay extra. And if the card is too stiff, you will be charged parcel post rates!

Addressing – address the cards as you would any postcard but with two exceptions. First, it is a good idea to include a return address in the upper left hand corner – just in case postage is insufficient or the card is undeliverable, and second, if the postcard is all fabric, it must have the word ‘postcard’ written on the back.

Stamp – most of the time, your postcard can be sent using a regular, self-adhesive postcard stamp. Exceptions are if the postcard is oversize or overweight. Also, you may opt to send the card in a clear envelope, especially if you have embellished with textured fun stuff such as beads or feathers. If you do mail the card in an envelope, you will need to pay first class postage.

Mailing – you can drop the postcard in your mailbox but it will be machine-cancelled. Or you can take the postcard into your friendly post office and ask that it be hand-cancelled.

There are a lot of good websites that offer advice and patterns for postcard quilts. These are my favorites: here and here

WORKSHOPS

What a great day we had with Marilyn Rose this past Saturday. She is a terrific teacher and, boy, does she have a stash of “stripes”. I will never look at striped material the same way again. She has all the qualities of a good teacher. She knows her class material, loves what she is doing and believes in having a good time.

We have only two classes left on our schedule this year. I scheduled a night class so that the ladies who work during the day could attend. I’ve been told they will take classes if they could. Please sign up, this class is for you.

Flavin Glover,www.flavinglover.com—Flavin, who is from Auburn, Ala., has visited our Guild before. Check out her web site for information and quilts.

Aug. 24, Night Meeting program. Topic will be ”The Care and Feeding of the Patchwork Design.”

August 25, Full-day workshop. The “Colorful and Creative Log Cabin Diamonds” class will cost $35.00.

August 25, Half-night workshop. The three-hour “Patchwork Houses and Buildings” class will cost $20.00. This will be a lecture/demonstration with design exercises on grids and diagrams. You can start signing up and paying for your classes now. Remember your space cannot be saved unless paid for. Carolyn Milligan, Workshop Chairperson

AT HOME IN THE GUILD

Saturday, May 2, Portrait painting—Angie Madden

Tuesday, June 9: Curvaceous curves log cabin: Kathy Bullard

The Techniques of Quilting class has ended after five weeks. I know the ladies learned a lot and we owe a big thank you to Barbara Meloy.

If you are willing to share your time and talent with other guild members, please volunteer to teach an At Home in the Guild class. It is a lot of fun getting to know the members better. Barbara Doster

DATES TO REMEMBER

  • April 2009
    • Thursday 16 Community Quilts
    • Thursday 23 Day Chapter Meeting & Frame Basting
    • Monday 27 Night Chapter Meeting
  • May 2009
    • Saturday 2 AHITG Portrait Painting