Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild Newsletter - February 2022
President's Message
President's Message
Happy February & Bring a Friend Month!
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I hope everyone is appreciating the longer days and warmer sunshine. Great weather to enjoy a bit of the outdoors as well as settle into some winter quilting. Unfortunately I haven't gotten much quilting done this month. I have started painting a few rooms in our house, and what a big job that is!
Have you had a chance to join our Guild's Facebook Group? if not, I encourage you to give it a try. It's another way to communicate & share with our quilting friends. I can tell you, I sure am enjoying this tool! It has been quite a bit easier to communicate instantly, and show pictures! It has significantly helped out with the Charity sewing endeavors.
President's Challenge: Here is just another example of the Drunkard's Path block with the link to a free pattern by Sarah Griffiths to keep you motivated / sewing your challenge quilt or perhaps time to start a new project! Doesn't this quilt look like a touch of spring to come?
See you Wednesday February 23 at our next zoom meeting; and once again we are offering the "Bring a friend" (for free) to this meeting. I hope you have fun, take advantage of this opportunity and invite a friend to the meeting. Last year, some of us did and we had a great time introducing our friends to our guild members.
Take care, and keep on sewing, Vickie MacNabb President |
February 23rd Meeting
When?
We hope you'll join us on Wednesday February 23 at 7 PM on Zoom. Watch your email a day or two before the meeting for the link to connect to this meeting.
Win!
The meeting will feature draws for "door" prizes, and a prize provided by Nancy on behalf of the Library.
Bring a Friend!
Guild members are encouraged to "Bring a Friend" to this meeting. There is no charge for your guest to join us for this meeting. When you receive the email message with the meeting link, please forward it on to your guest. Guests are expected to be familiar with Zoom.
Note: Only the guild members attending the meeting will be eligible for the draw prizes.
Show & Tell
We'd love to see what you've been working on.
- To share your work at the meeting please send a photo of each item and indicate if you would like to tell us about it during the meeting (this is the best!) or if you'd prefer to submit a written description that we will read during the meeting along with your photo(s).
- Feel free to send along multiple photos of a quilt if you want to also show the back, or a close up of the quilting, or any area of the quilt.
- Please send the photos to the guild email account arnpriorquilters@gmail.com by 12 noon on Tuesday February 22. The photos will later be added to the web site Show & Tell page (just like after an in person-meeting), unless you specifically request in the email message that the photo not be.
Program Notes
Where did February go? It’s both the shortest and longest month of the year. I hope everyone is managing to make time to Quilt and create. I am slowly finishing some projects that were started last year.
For those of you who were also doing the 2022 Declutter challenge, I hope that you had better success than I did. I did very well with books and magazines, but when it came to projects, UFO’s and fabric, well… not so much! Part of the challenge is that you decide how much room you want to allocate to your hobby. If you have a small space, you may want to only have a few shelves of fabric, books, whatever. If you have a larger space, then you may allocate more room to each item. I decided that I’m comfortable, for the most part, with how much room the fabric and projects have, so I’ve assigned some homework to make the fabric more readily useable and we’ll see how that goes. If they haven’t moved by next January, maybe I will be a little more ruthless with things.
Kim Jamieson-Hirst
February Speaker
Our guest speaker Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts is a teacher and creator of several quilting courses, such as First Steps into Free Motion Quilting, Stitch Composer Basics, and others. Kim shares her quilting knowledge through her YouTube channel, Chatterbox Quilts’ Facebook group, and her private online membership, The Quilter’s Way, where the focus is on free motion quilting.
Kim’s patterns and articles have been featured in various quilting magazines and she has been a guest on several quilting podcasts. Her YouTube videos have been viewed by thousands of quilters who appreciate her upbeat personality and easy to understand tutorials.
Kim is helped in her quilt studio by her purry assistants, Teeka, Victor, and Salem who are always eager to lend a paw or two. When not quilting, Kim can be found binge watching shows on Netflix, creating in her studio or filming videos with her hubby, Gary.
Kim believes that quilting is more than stitching an accurate ¼” seam, that chocolate is an essential quilting tool, and that “practice makes improvement”.
Connect with Kim at:
Chatterbox Quilts: http://www.chatterboxquilts.com
The Quilter’s Way: http://thequiltersway.mpqs
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/chatterboxquilter
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chatterboxquilts
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/chatterboxquilts/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.ca/cbquilts/
Challenges
Block of the Month - January - The No Name Block! This was a nice and easy block, and a good practice piece for ensuring a consistent 1/4” seam. I am using up leftovers for both the blue and the background colours, so there will definitely be a scrappy feel. Can you spot the different whites? They were supposed to be at opposite ends, but well … hmmm … OOPS! I have moved the blocks around, this month’s block is the same size as the November block, so we’re starting to have some interesting design choices. I may run the disappearing pinwheels around the Ohio Star .. we’ll see what gets added over the next few months. |
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Workshops
The March workshop date has changed - It’s on March 12th.
There are still a few spots available for the March Mini Maker Case via Zoom, so sign up today.
Here is the link to our Workshop page where you can register: https://www.arnpriordistrictquiltersguild.com/workshops.html
There are still a few spots available for the March Mini Maker Case via Zoom, so sign up today.
Here is the link to our Workshop page where you can register: https://www.arnpriordistrictquiltersguild.com/workshops.html
Mini Maker Case
Date: Rescheduled to Saturday, March 12, 2022
Time: 9:00 AM - noon, with time open in the afternoon to finish
Location: via Zoom
Fee: $20 for guild members*; $25 for non-members and is based on space availability
Guild member Johanne Vajda is offering this workshop. This little case is perfect for storing and transporting your travel iron, and is very versatile for other uses. If you have taken a workshop with Johanne in the past, you won’t want to miss this one. Your travel iron will also be happy to have a nice comfy place to call home!
This case is 8” wide x 4” deep x 4.5” high
For workshop registration and payment information click/tap here.
Date: Rescheduled to Saturday, March 12, 2022
Time: 9:00 AM - noon, with time open in the afternoon to finish
Location: via Zoom
Fee: $20 for guild members*; $25 for non-members and is based on space availability
Guild member Johanne Vajda is offering this workshop. This little case is perfect for storing and transporting your travel iron, and is very versatile for other uses. If you have taken a workshop with Johanne in the past, you won’t want to miss this one. Your travel iron will also be happy to have a nice comfy place to call home!
This case is 8” wide x 4” deep x 4.5” high
For workshop registration and payment information click/tap here.
Retreats & Sew Days
As the world starts to open up, it might be nice to start planning Sew Days and Retreats. For the Sew Days we’ll need a good location with lots of plugs and electrical breakers that can handle our Sewing Machines and Irons. We have had days at a Retirement Home in the past, we’ll have to see when they might be comfortable having strangers back in for an extended visit. Some of you are also already booked with spring retreats, so we would be planning events for Fall 2022, if you would like to organize one or both of the retreats and/or Sew Days, let us know. Without someone to organize these, we will assume there is not any interest in them and leave them for now.
-- Brigid Whitnall, Programs
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Charity
Pick Up Sticks Kit
Charity quilts
Thanks to our new Facebook Group, we have had success finding members to quilt our three Bethlehem Star quilts. We have also delivered 4 Pick Up Sticks kits to volunteers to sew quilt tops. Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to help out! I believe there are still two Pick Up Sticks kits left to put together, so if you would like to help out just let Vickie know!
Walker/Wheelchair bags
Please stay tuned for this new project. We are still working out the instructions and required sizes for both walker and wheelchair bags. If you are able to help us out with this project we would be grateful, please contact Vickie.
Preemie quilts
Preemie quilts are ongoing as we use up a lot of our scraps and orphaned blocks. If you have any finished little quilts please contact Marilyn Erskine to make arrangements to deliver them to her home.
Charity Volunteer Needed
Our Charity executive position is a very important part of our guild, and not having someone stepping up to this position has made it quite difficult for the other members of the executive. We sure could use the help if you have some skills to volunteer. Some of the charity duties include: leading a team, planning sew days (logistics: Zoom or in person), cutting/making kits, delivery, community outreach, updating the executive team, and preparing engaging newsletter updates, etc. It is not a very busy position after December, so joining now is a great time to settle into the position. If you have any questions, or are considering joining our team don't hesitate to contact us at ADQG. A couple of us have held this position in the past and can help guild you. Note: The Charity position can exclude the Vice President duties if this is a concern.
-- Vickie MacNabb
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Vickie and I sorted through our charity fabric bins this past month and made up kits of the Pick Up Sticks blocks as well as a number of Fidget quilt kits. We still have kits open for grabs. Email us and we’ll arrange to get the kit (s) to you. We also sorted through the bins and have fabric cut to make Christmas bags, if you want to get a head start on these, let us know. All these are quick projects that can be finished in less than a day, grab your kit and plan an easy sew day for yourself.
-- Brigid Whitnall
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Membership
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We are excited to welcome another new member to the ADQG - welcome Gerri! Ongoing registration is available online on the website throughout the year. Our "Invite A Friend" night for February means you can have a friend join us for free this month! -- Martha Palmer, Membership |
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Communications
Guild Facebook Group Have you joined our members only Facebook Group yet? If not you are missing out on all the fun. The group now has 34 members and is a great way to get to know your fellow guild members, to ask questions, learn a new block, a new tip or trick. With our Meme it Monday’s, it’s a laugh to be had. As a fellow guild member, I love to see what others are doing and creating, gives me new ideas too, so on Friday’s with What’s Under Your Needle, we get to see all those WIPs, UFOs and new projects too. Hope to see all of you soon. Join the group now! -- Tina Matte, Group Administrator/Moderator |
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Quilter's Last Will and Testament
Frank came across this article in PATCHWORK, The Vernon Silver Star Quilters Guild September 2021 newsletter, and he suggested that it would be of interest to our guild members. We have received permission from The Vernon Silver Star Quilters Guild to reprint their article which is based on a blog post as noted below.
Their newsletter editor wrote to us that "I am the current editor of our newsletter ‘’Patchwork’’, as well as our webmaster, and by the way I happen to have been born in Arnprior! My parents lived there before my birth, and only moved to Montreal when I was three years old. I still feel a connection to the upper Ottawa Valley as I still have cousins in that area."
What a small world!
-- Janet
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Edited From: https://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2021/05/quilters-last-will-and-testament.html - Sunday, May 23, 2021
Suggested by Gail Mitchell of the Vernon Silver Star Quilters Guild
Edited From: https://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2021/05/quilters-last-will-and-testament.html - Sunday, May 23, 2021
Suggested by Gail Mitchell of the Vernon Silver Star Quilters Guild
Every day we get older, and no one gets to live forever. I don’t want this to sound maudlin or creepy, but if I were gone tomorrow, my family would have a BIG job ahead of them, dealing with all my quilt stuff. My friends and I have seen what happens when a quilter passes away with a huge stash. I often say I have a “sinful amount of fabric”, as well as books, notions, supplies, patterns, magazine articles, projects on the go, etc. For some time now, I have planned to help my family prepare for the day this all becomes theirs by creating a Quilter’s Last Will and Testament. Here are 10 Top Tips on what I think your family needs to know about your stuff:
1. Who to call? Which quilter friends are willing to help your family sort through and arrange to sell or give away all this stuff? Name at least three good friends and provide their phone numbers. Discuss this with those friends in advance - are they willing to take on this task?
2. Sewing Machines: How many do you have, where are they and their serial numbers, when did you buy them and for how much? Your family has no idea how much your very valuable machines cost or are worth today. If you have a certain person you’d like to have a particular machine, make it known.
3. Your Important Quilts: Which mean the most to you and are the ones you really want to stay with your family? Do you have some that have won major awards or been published that will increase their value? These “Best Quilts” need to be documented in writing, with photos, to help ensure that information stays with those quilts. Make a LIST - who do you want to get your favourite quilts? Include any other quilts you want given to the “quilt worthy” person who will be so happy to have a piece of you in their life. If you are lucky enough to know when your end is near, add their name to those quilts in advance. Or, give that special friend your special quilt while you are able to see them receive it.
4. Your Quilts that can be Sold or Given Away: Is there an organization you want to support? Certain charities come to mind, but there are organizations that conduct fundraisers which might appreciate a quilt or two. You might have small wall quilts laying around that have little value for sale but could raise a little money for something you’d like to support.
5. Put Labels on ALL your quilts. If you don’t automatically put labels on ALL your quilts, start doing that today.
6. Important Quilts Still Under Construction: Find good friends who would be willing to finish that really important quilt you are working on, as a gift for your family – not every quilt you ever started, just that special one you ran out of time to finish. Someone will say “yes”.
7. Be aware that most of our stuff has little value to others, even quilters. People will be happy to take some of it off your hands, but not for money. Now is the best time to start purging that stuff. Have a “swap” or “giveaway” for close quilting friends. This takes work, but you bought it all so you really ought to help your family by dealing with some of this stuff now before it becomes their problem. Save only special things for keepsakes.
8. The Fabric: It has value, to a lot of quilters, but it’s a matter of quantity. Try to reduce some of the “sinful” amount you have. Do you LOVE all the fabric you currently own? 10. Antique Quilts and Tops: Take time to create a LIST of these, what you know about them, what you paid and where you bought them. Sure don’t want my kids to think these are just junky old rags.
Lastly, write a note to the future about what quilting has meant to you. Any of these things can be done now, in bits of time. It doesn’t have to take a month of hard work. Just get started. Take one of these ideas a month and do just that. Your family will thank you.
1. Who to call? Which quilter friends are willing to help your family sort through and arrange to sell or give away all this stuff? Name at least three good friends and provide their phone numbers. Discuss this with those friends in advance - are they willing to take on this task?
2. Sewing Machines: How many do you have, where are they and their serial numbers, when did you buy them and for how much? Your family has no idea how much your very valuable machines cost or are worth today. If you have a certain person you’d like to have a particular machine, make it known.
3. Your Important Quilts: Which mean the most to you and are the ones you really want to stay with your family? Do you have some that have won major awards or been published that will increase their value? These “Best Quilts” need to be documented in writing, with photos, to help ensure that information stays with those quilts. Make a LIST - who do you want to get your favourite quilts? Include any other quilts you want given to the “quilt worthy” person who will be so happy to have a piece of you in their life. If you are lucky enough to know when your end is near, add their name to those quilts in advance. Or, give that special friend your special quilt while you are able to see them receive it.
4. Your Quilts that can be Sold or Given Away: Is there an organization you want to support? Certain charities come to mind, but there are organizations that conduct fundraisers which might appreciate a quilt or two. You might have small wall quilts laying around that have little value for sale but could raise a little money for something you’d like to support.
5. Put Labels on ALL your quilts. If you don’t automatically put labels on ALL your quilts, start doing that today.
6. Important Quilts Still Under Construction: Find good friends who would be willing to finish that really important quilt you are working on, as a gift for your family – not every quilt you ever started, just that special one you ran out of time to finish. Someone will say “yes”.
7. Be aware that most of our stuff has little value to others, even quilters. People will be happy to take some of it off your hands, but not for money. Now is the best time to start purging that stuff. Have a “swap” or “giveaway” for close quilting friends. This takes work, but you bought it all so you really ought to help your family by dealing with some of this stuff now before it becomes their problem. Save only special things for keepsakes.
8. The Fabric: It has value, to a lot of quilters, but it’s a matter of quantity. Try to reduce some of the “sinful” amount you have. Do you LOVE all the fabric you currently own? 10. Antique Quilts and Tops: Take time to create a LIST of these, what you know about them, what you paid and where you bought them. Sure don’t want my kids to think these are just junky old rags.
Lastly, write a note to the future about what quilting has meant to you. Any of these things can be done now, in bits of time. It doesn’t have to take a month of hard work. Just get started. Take one of these ideas a month and do just that. Your family will thank you.
The 2022 CQA/ACC Re-run Quilt Along
Vickie suggested this to us.
A new Quilt Along has begun, and it’s open to everyone! Share your progress and ideas on Facebook in the Quilting in Canada group, and the Canadian Quilters Association – Quilting Projects page.
CQA/ACC has decided to have a “re-run” of the 12 original blocks that were designed for publication in the Canadian Quilter magazine. The original project titled “Quilt Blocks for a New Millennium” was introduced in the Spring 1999 edition of the Canadian Quilter and finished up in the Summer 2000 edition. Read more...
Vickie suggested this to us.
A new Quilt Along has begun, and it’s open to everyone! Share your progress and ideas on Facebook in the Quilting in Canada group, and the Canadian Quilters Association – Quilting Projects page.
CQA/ACC has decided to have a “re-run” of the 12 original blocks that were designed for publication in the Canadian Quilter magazine. The original project titled “Quilt Blocks for a New Millennium” was introduced in the Spring 1999 edition of the Canadian Quilter and finished up in the Summer 2000 edition. Read more...
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How Long Does a Needle Last?
A recent Schmetz Needles newsletter that arrived in the guild Inbox included the following. Click the link at the bottom to see a magnified photo of a damaged needle.
How Long Does a Needle Last?
Who knows? Maybe three seconds? Twenty Hours? The general rule of thumb is to change the needle every six to eight hours, BUT who “times” their sewing time? No one! Better to rephrase the question and ask,
What are the clues to changing the needle?
- Threads break or shred.
- Stitches skip.
- Fabrics pucker or become damaged.
- Wiggly squiggly stitches.
- Sewing machine makes clicking, popping or clunking sound.
Familiar with any of these clues? Hey, it’s time to change the needle!
https://schmetzneedles.com/blog/sewing-machine-needles-dont-last-forever/
Get to Know Your Guild Member
Would you like to share a little info and photos about you and your quilting? Just let us know at arnpriorquilters@gmail.com
We hope to continue this feature next month.
Would you like to share a little info and photos about you and your quilting? Just let us know at arnpriorquilters@gmail.com
We hope to continue this feature next month.
An Invitation
The Bay of Quinte Modern Quilt Guild is excited to be hosting Karen Eckmeier via Zoom from the Quilted Lizard Fibre Art Studio on Monday February 28, 2022 at 2:00 PM EST. Her presentation , Happy Villages and Accidental Landscapes, will be around using fabric collage and layered topstitching in your quilt making.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite for $10. The link is below.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/karen-eckmeier-from-the-quilted-lizard-fibre-art-studio-tickets-258043875177
Regards
Debbie Laughton
Co-Chair of Program Committee
Bay of Quinte Modern Quilt Guild
Quilt Canada 2022
Contacting Guild Members
If you would like to get in contact with any fellow guild members - perhaps to ask about a pattern of a Show-and-Tell quilt, or follow up on something you hear at a guild meeting, or read in a newsletter, please send along an email message to the guild and we'll ask that guild member to contact you by email. You can reach us at the guild email address arnpriorquilters@gmail.com or with the Contact Form
You can also connect directly with fellow members via the members only Facebook group.
Advertisers
Thank you to our 2021-2022 advertisers! Your support funds our Communications budget which includes the hosting of this web site. We are very grateful for this financial support.
To our guild members, please support our advertisers. You can click/tap on any of the advertisements in this newsletter to access the vendor's web site. These vendors are also listed on the Links page.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor
THANK YOU to Frank, Debbie and Vickie for recommending interesting articles, and to Brigid, Tina, Martha, and Vickie for their guild updates and other news this month. And special thanks to Nancy Bradley, newsletter editor and webmaster for The Vernon Silver Star Quilters Guild for allowing us to include the quilter's will article.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor
We hope to see you at the guild meeting on February 23th