    A Guild Sewing Machine President Frank unveiled a newly acquired sewing machine for the guild. It's a basic Pfaff model and will be much appreciated by the members doing the break time demonstrations at our meetings, who will longer have to haul in their own machines in addition to the supplies for their demos. It will also be very handy at our hands-on sewing meetings. Thank you Mary deVries for the suggestion, Vickie for acquiring it, and to Nancy (Sew Inspired).  Black & White Block Exchange After dinner the people participating in the Black and White Challenge distributed their blocks to the other people in their groups. The 43 participants in this challenge were divided into 4 groups, so each quilter made either 10 or 11 blocks to distribute among their group. 
 Entertainment Anne Cruickshank led another round of the annual game featuring Anne's story about fictitious quilter Jenny Right. The fat quarter and lovely thread prizes were passed to the right, left, and across the table at a whirlwind speed as we heard those 3 words in the story. At the end the happy winners were holding their prizes. Thanks Anne! And thank you Joyce for a funny story that rang true with many of us! Draws Our meeting wrapped up with the draws and as usual, some very happy winners! Guess the number of pages in the book: Betty R 50-50: Marion M Name tag: Joanne K Gift Basket: Marilyn E Door Prizes: Liz C, Vickie M, Barb D, Diane A, Joanna V, Barb H, Julie C, Mary D, Paulette M, Anne C, Georgene B, Jane E Merry Christmas! What a treat we had at our November meeting. Kudos to our Activities team who calmly dealt with a late cancelling ill speaker and enlisted Bruce Young to entertain us with his fascinating 30 year quilting journey and his amazing quilts.  Left, Bruce Young and our president Frank Some of the interesting information Bruce shared with us:
Bruce showed us more than 60 of his creations! A selection of Bruce's pieces that reflect the diversity of his work are pictured below.and You can see photos of all of Bruce's creations in his trunk show in this photo gallery.          Hooked rug More photos - You can enjoy photos of the other pieces that Bruce showed us in this photo gallery.  Taking a close up look at Bruce's work Charity The hard work of our members on our various charity projects was in evidence at this meeting from the holiday placemats for clients of Arnprior Meals on Wheels, the large stack of Christmas gift bags for the local food bank, and 20 premie quilts for the little babies in a neo-natal unit. Several of these premie quilts were Christmas themed.  Placemats and git bags  Christmas premie quilt  Christmas premie quilt  Christmas premie quilt Coffee Time Demo Members enjoyed Shirley Fedoruk's demonstration of how to make bags for baking potatoes in a microwave oven.   Draws
Our meeting wrapped up with our draws and as usual, some happy winners! Guess the number of pages in the library book: Joyce T 50-50 draw: Daria H won $51.50 Gift Basket: Barb D Name tag draw: Eleanor K Door Prizes: Julie C, Louise V, Margaret F, Penny C, Mary D, Tina M, Jane E At the retreat, November 3 - 7, which was attended by 17 ladies at Providence Point in Lanark, a good time was had by all. We played a game with 2 1/2” strips black and white which were won by Ann Poll and Mary DeVries. There were also door prizes won which were donated by Sew Inspired. It seems that each time we come together for a retreat someone always goes home with a new technique learned or a simpler way to make a block. It seems that we do all get many projects started or completed. We do all enjoy spending this time together. -- Joanna Vlaming, Retreat Coordinator    The game!  Ann and Mary - Winners of the game             Click or tap on a photo in the gallery to see it in full. 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
 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 We kicked off our 2019-2020 guild season on September 25 with a high energy, information packed initial meeting led by our incoming president Frank McCarron. We heard about this year's exciting challenges, charity projects, Sew Days, and Block-of-the Month, and we saw lots of amazing quilts during our guest Jen Swallow's trunk show, and at Show-and-Tell. We were delighted to welcome 11 new members and one guest to our meeting, for a total of 67 attendees.  Guild President Frank McCarron Guest Jen Swallow Guest Jen Swallow First up was our guest Jen Swallow, the enthusiastic owner and operator of Happy Wife Quilting, an online and retail store located in the front of her home just outside of Carleton Place. Jen showed us many of her quilts that she has made, and illustrated some of her favourite tools that she used in making her quilts. Jen's colour choices illustrated her recommendation to use colours that we love, and included a quilt that brought her to this conclusion. Her quilts highighted her patience for fussy-cutting, and hand work, including hand embroidery and hand appliqué. She also included several quilts that are the product of the various classes that she teaches. Jen showed us a quilt with 2 layers of batting - one wool, and one cotton. She likes to piece her quilt backs to use extra fat quarters and scraps. And she included a quilt with a digitally printed Santa Claus panel to highlight the advantage of getting more than the standard 16 colours in in a fabric, and a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process. And she included a feathered star quilt made by her great, great (great?) grandmother. The many tools Jen showed us included a seam roller that can replace time at the ironing board, and a seam ripper that has made her a self-confessed expert seam ripper. And Jen recommended fabric manufacturer web sites such as Henry Glass & Co (and others) for free patterns for our projects. Click or tap on an image in this gallery of Jen's quilts, to see it in full. New!! Coffee Time DemoOur new coffee-time demonstration were introduced during the break by guild member Ada Gawlik who showed us how to make microwave bowls. Thanks Ada! We look forward to seeing other guild members presenting during the break at each meeting.   BOM Prize DrawAmanda Vajda drew the name of one of the 5 last year's Block-of-the-Month block winners who completed a quilt top or quilt from the blocks. The prize was won by Joyce Trafford for her quilt using the Festive Flocks blocks that she won at the March 2019 meeting. In Joyce's absence (due to her Carp Fair commitments), her friend Cathy Russell happily accepted Joyce's prizes.  Cathy Russell accepting Joyce Trafford's prizes  Joyce Trafford's "Festive Flock" block quilt DrawsOur meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
Guess the number of pages in the library book: Liz C 50-50 draw: Geraldine L Gift Basket: Paulette Door Prizes: Diane A, Patti M, Lori B, Tina M, Nancy H, Claudette T, Bonnie M After our exciting quilt show at the end of April we bounced back with lots of energy at our May meeting. And what a treat our Programs team had in store for us. Instead of one guest we had 4, all members of the Kanata Quilt Guild who each shared their quilts and their interesting and amusing quilting stories with us. Kanata Guild Trunk ShowOur first inter-guild Show-and-Tell was a huge success. The four visiting presenters from the Kanata Quilt Guild were introduced by our guild's Past President, Brigid Whitnall, who is the current president of the Kanata Quilt Guild.  First up was Beth who included 2 slab block quilts reminiscent of our past contributions to the Canadian Quilters' Association (CQA) for quilts for Ronald McDonald House Charities, in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday. Beth sells patterns and her lovely nature and geography themed quilts on her Etsy web site. She left us with the thought that "value is more important than colour." The first quilt that Beth showed was the Kanata Guild group quilt for their concurrent show at Quilt Canada. It was made by many members of the guild specifically for Quilt Canada in Ottawa, and it's the first quilt in the gallery below. Click/tap an image in the image gallery to see it in full. Then Lynn showed us her lovely quilts which included a shop hop quilt, and a mystery quilt in "the ugliest fabric in the world" (her words!) Lynn's Duck quilt is a David Taylor appliqué pattern. She has taken many of his workshops and made many of his patterns. Debbie was unable to attend our meeting but she generously sent along her stunning quilts for Lynn to show us - a row-by-row farm themed quilt, a round robin quilt with multiple borders, and a French General star block quilt. Judy was up next and blew us away with her 19th century patterns with vintage and Civil War fabrics of beautiful needle turned hand applique and hand quilting. Her hexagon quilts were interesting too - many of us were reminded of the fun we had learning how to make hexie blocks at a guild activity several years ago. This amazing trunk show was finished up by Leslie, the "colour lady". Leslie's travels, her work around the world with aboriginal peoples, and her interest in endangered species was in evidence in her quilts. Her animal sampler quilt was a President's Challenge. Kanata Guild Trunk ShowDrawsAnd as usual our meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
50-50 draw: Liz Carroll Gift Basket: Katrina Kahn Door Prizes: Dawn M, Geraldine L, Gwen P, Mary M, Lynn J, Amanda V, Betty R, Joan M, Nancy H, Rennie H, Pam R Two Sew Days were held in May to work on the Bethlehem Star block quilts that will be donated to various local charities, including the Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital, and couch-surfing homeless youth in Arnprior. Led by our charity project co-ordinators, Ada Gawlik and Jane Wickware, some dedicated guild members gathered in the lovely bright, recreation room at Island View Suites, a retirement residence in Arnprior, to sew away. They made excellent progress and assembled 3 quilt tops. They also welcomed visits by a number of the residents of Island View.    There were 8 ladies in the last of this year’s workshops on Saturday May 11. 12 had signed up but only 8 could make it to the class. Chris Gordon instructed and the ladies spent more than half the day cutting and gluing villages together. This workshop involved a lot of patience and creativity. I think the majority enjoyed learning a new technique, based on the work of Karen Eckmeier. -- Chris Gordon    With only a couple of days to go before our quilt show, there was a lot of excitement in the air at our April 2019 guild meeting.  Guest Speaker - Roslyn Hanes Our guest speaker was Roslyn Hanes, a self-taught quilter who lives in Kingston Ontario. She is a member of the Kingston Heirloom Quilter's where she claims she learned to do things properly. Ros also belongs to Limestone Quilters and the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Art. Pictorial quilts and abstract quilts are among Roslyn's favourites. She excels at both piecing and appliqué, although she prefers the latter. Her quilts are often embellished with hand embroidery. In 1990, Ros designed a quilt for the 50th anniversary of Nursing at Queen's University. It is now part of the quilt collection at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Ros is a very community minded individual who coaches high school field hockey, plays soccer and is involved in bringing back prison farms amongst other things. This was Ros' first ever publicaly presented trunk show and her quilting journey has been simply amazing. Read on to find out the significance of the magazines she's holding in this photo. Ros started her fabric art projects in the mid 1970s while living in the university city of Cambridge, UK where her husband was studying. From a Cambridge banner to quilts often inspired by nursery rhymes or children's stories, she was very creative in finding fabrics at affordable prices, and self-taught from books. Her simplistic, primitive, whimsical style emerged in her quilts.
 Three Little Kittens
  By 1980 Ros and her husband were living in Australia where Ros continued to be inspired by her environment and made this hand quilted piece that depicted local rock engravings. It was so popular that instructions were published in a magazine and a picture of the quilt was on the cover!  
 Ros' delightful baby block quilt also was pictured on a magazine cover, By the mid 80s Ros and her husband had moved to Kingston and Ros had joined the Kingston Quilters where she made this treasure map challenge quilt. Ros' preference for diamond shpaed pieces are often featured in her quilts. Ros was very much leading edge with her quilting designs and techniques and we were entertained and inspired by her interesting story and her beautiful creative quilts.  Draws
Our meeting wrapped up with our draws and some very happy winners! Block of the month: Patti Moore and Mary DeVries Guess the number of pages in the library book: Liz Carroll 50-50 draw: Ann Hunter Gift Basket: Dona Lamoureux Door Prizes: Pam Ross, Anne Cruickshank, Kathy Foster, Betty Rehbein, Cathy Russell, Blanche Leclair, Liz Carroll, Rennie Hickey, Bonnie Parker, Emma Russell What a lot of activity at this meeting! Our annual challenges were due and the quilts in all 4 of the challenges were displayed in preparation for the "viewer's choice" voting for the prize winners. Refer to the 2019 Challenges blog post for photos and results of the challenges. Guest Speaker - Gary Devries Gary Devries joined us to share his talents and passion with Quilt Inspired Wood Designs. Gary has been working as a cabinet-maker for 45 years. He began his career in London Ontario where he did his apprenticeship. In 1979 he moved to the Valley and was joint owner of Gary and Ron's Cabinet-Making. Since 2000 he has been working from home in a small business known as Gary's Wood Designs. He has enjoyed working with wood since early in his teens. He has made many interesting things from tables, beds, and cupboards to urns for ashes, gigantic chairs and event props.  Gary began his story by showing his fabric creations and sharing his entertaining stories about those projects. His first was a self taught, secretly made bed quilt to surprise his wife Mary, a long time quilter and very active member of our guild, as an anniversary gift.   Then Gary turned his attention and talents to his primary interest in working with wood to combine that with quilting. This is a very unique niche and his work is exacting and spectacular. He used familiar quilting terminology, including "on point" and "flying geese" in his descriptions of his work.  Gary uses many different colours and types of wood, mostly hardwood, including cherry, maple, ash, poplar, rosewood, walnut, ebony and teak. He reserves the most expensive woods for small accent pieces and he told us that quilting fabric is a bargain in comparison. If he's driving down a road and sees a pallet from a foreign country, he's thinking about the exotic wood the pallet is constructed of. He's also been known to go "dumpster diving" for wood!  Gary gets ideas for his designs from quilting magazines and from architecture. He builds from the inside out and does not plan out his full pattern ahead of time. Exacting carpentry skills and knowledge of geometry are required. Cuts are often made on an angle, for example to cut an oval from a circular piece of wood.  One of the many challenges in this work is clamping to ensure that he can glue the tiny pieces without them sliding all over the place. Gary uses a water based glue followed by a beeswax treatment, or heated vegetable oil. He also has to consider the placement of adjacent pieces of wood due to properties of specific types of wood such as colour bleeding and changes in colour over time. Because wood cleans itself these are ideal for use with food.          Smaller pieces of wood can be used for coasters and the smallest pieces in jewelry.
  Draws
Our meeting wrapped up with our draws and some very happy winners! Block of the month: Joyce Trafford Guess the number of pages in the library book: Paulette McCarron 50-50 draw: Paulette McCarron Gift Basket: Nicky Barham Door Prizes: Geraldine Lynn, Donna Curtis, Suzanne deJoode, Anne Cruickshank, Margaret Fisher, Karen Maheral, Barb Devries, Nicky Barham, Katrina Kahn, Joyce Murray |
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