October 2019 Meeting Highlights

The excitement of a new guild year was still very much in evidence at our October 23rd meeting amongst the 62 attendees which included 6 guests. We have 84 members registered this year and we especially welcome our 13 new members. 
​

Guest Melanie MacDonald

​Our guest speaker was Melanie MacDonald who dazzled us with her trunk show displaying her talents with paper piecing and much more. As one of only six Be Colourful teachers worldwide, Melanie shared her early quilts right through to her latest works that feature Be Colourful fabrics and patterns.

​Entertaining and engaging, Melanie shared tips with us such as starching straight seams to improve accuracy, and observations that "not everybody in your life is quilt-worthy!" Melanie often backs her quilts with flannel, and she takes pride in recycling jeans that are no longer wearable, into quilts that are fun to make and  indestructible. She's come a long way from her first quilt that was made on a borrowed sewing machine from a pattern in a magazine. Many of us may have had similar starts.

Melanie's work with Be Colourful provides her with plenty of travel opportunities to share the unique patterns made with bright rainbow coloured fabrics. The patterns are rated from 1-6 in difficulty, and a show of hands at our meeting indicated an interest in having Melanie teach one or more workshops to us - level 1 placemats, and/or a higher level quilt such as Bright Star or Chasing Dreams.

Melanie also offers products through her Lazy Lab Quilting Company online store.

Chasing Dreams

Bright Star

Click or tap on an image in this gallery of more of Melanie's quilts, to see the image in full.

New Challenge

The Block Party challenge was announced with fabric kits ready to go, and many were snatched up. See the Challenges page for details.

Coffee Time Demo

Mary DeVries was the break time demo lady and she attracted a crowd of interested observers.

Block of the Month

The new format Block of the Month program resulted in a variety of interesting ​​Churn Dash block creations. Members constructed an item of their choice in their choice of colours, and showed them at the meeting.

Draws

​Our meeting wrapped up with our draws and as usual, some happy winners!

Guess the number of pages in the library book:  Liz G
50-50 draw:  Betty R
Gift Basket: Marion M
Door Prizes: Penny C, Rennie, Cathy F, Debbie C, Eleanor, Marilyn R, Barb D, Marion M, Agathe, Jane E