Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild Newsletter - January 2021
President's Message
Happy January!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s! I’m sure they were all quiet affairs like ours was. It was just a day for the 4 of us. Paulette’s recovery from her 2nd knee replacement is going well and she’s getting better by the day.
I’m excited for our new year as I’ve got a new set of plastic templates for making a DWR (“Double Wedding Ring”) quilt. So that’s a future project on my plate. I also discovered that I own enough Go Cutter pieces to make a “Storm At Sea” quilt. So those two quilts are moving to the head end of my list of my next 1,900 quilts (every day I surf Pinterest I see more ideas I add to the list).
Speaking of Pinterest I found this fascinating man named Bruce Seeds who makes these amazing quilts with hexis that he sells for US$4,000-US$5,000 EACH! I followed him to his website where I discovered that he had been influenced by this book called “One Block Wonders”. It turns out that my Mom and I had bought this exact book AND six identical panels for Paulette for Christmas. So we’ll see how that goes.
Our February meeting will be “Bring A Friend” so start thinking about who you are going to invite to join our February Zoom Meeting.
And my final mention this month is that our election is coming up for the new executive that will lead us 2021-2023. Put your name forward and run!
-- Frank McCarron, President
Program Notes
Library draw prize
January Meeting
Our January guild meeting is on Wednesday January 27 at 7 PM. We hope you'll join us on Zoom. Watch your email a day or 2 before the meeting for instructions for connecting to this meeting. Here are some great tips on quilt guild Zoom meetings from the Twilight Quilters' Guild of Norfolk County.
The meeting will feature draws for "door" prizes, and a prize (see photo) provided by Nancy on behalf of the Library team.
We have an exciting line up for you to start off the new year.
We have Peter Byrne as our guest speaker for the January meeting. Peter lives in downtown Toronto and is a member of both the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild and the York Heritage Quilt Guild. His quilts have been shown at Quiltcon and he has several quilts to be shown at the June CQA show. This year’s show will be virtual, but let’s hope the show for 2022 in Vancouver will be live and we will be able to view Peter’s quilts in person. I encourage everyone to check out Peter’s website.
After the success of our virtual Show & Tell at our December meeting we are planning to include Show & Tell in all of our meetings - just like in-person meetings.
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If you'd like to share your work at the January meeting please send a photo of each item AND indicate if you would like to:
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. 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. Please send the photos to the guild email account arnpriorquilters@gmail.com by Monday January 25. Any photos received after that date will be shown at the February meeting. |
Block of the Month Mystery Quilt
The December block photo and instructions are now available on the Block of the Month page. It's not too late to participate! Covid-19 lockdown provides ample time for quilting projects. |
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Upcoming Meetings
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February 24 - Do you have a friend who you would like to "bring" to a guild meeting? This will be our "invite a friend" meeting so do invite a friend to join us. Our guest will be Karen Brown of Just Get It Done quilts. Karen lives in Toronto and her website reflects her interesting attitude towards quilting. She also has YouTube videos. Her ‘Let’s talk about quilt shows' video with Peter Byrne, guest at our January meeting, is very interesting. March 24 - We are lucky enough to have Jackie White from CQA as our guest presenter. Jackie lives in Sudbury and has a website called jackiewhitequilts.com Through CQA, Jackie is presenting us with blocks and instructions for her newest project called Cov-recome on a weekly basis. Check out her projects, it is a good way to be productive while we are self-isolating in our sewing rooms. The remaining meetings are scheduled for April 28, May 26, and June 16. Check out the Blog for highlights and photos of previous meetings including the November Meeting and December Meeting.
2020-2021 Meeting Dates are always available on the Schedule page
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Advertisers
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Thank you to our 2020-2021 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 
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Charity
Happy New Year from the Charity ladies Vickie & Jane. We have been passing the time away accomplishing a lot of sewing/quilting lately, so I can't wait til the January meeting to share with you our progress and see all of yours.
Announcing our Guild Community Charity Project
We have been asked/tasked with making placemats for the new Grove Nursing Home that will be opening this summer! I went by there lately and it looks like they are making great progress on the new larger residence building. The idea is to have 96 new placemats, one for each resident, to welcome them when they move to their new home.
Since the Grove staff aren't aware of their colour scheme at this point in time, we have been asked to make some cheery colourful placemats. So sky's the limit for design: maybe try out some new techniques or blocks, use up your beautiful colourful scraps! Make it scrappy and happy, monochrome in various shades, or very nicely colour coordinated, it is all up to you! The only stipulation is to make them all the same size (approximately 15 " X 11") , so they will fit uniform on the table settings. So please have fun and enjoy making cheerful placemats for this community project.
Update on Pick Up Sticks Blocks
Jane will have more 12 1/2" background blocks in her cute curbside mailbox located at 97 Daniel Street South. She is located directly across from the apartment building, between Michael Street and Robert Street. While picking up a new background block, you will be able to drop off your completed blocks. Then once our new normal arrives we will be able to get together and have a sew day to put these beautiful blocks together and create quilts for many future charity requirements. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far, and please anyone who would like to give this block a try, please drop by Jane's to pick up a background block, and here are the instructions.
Canada 150 Quilt
Our Canada 150 Quilt
For those of you who may be new to our Guild since 2017; our guild designed a beautiful quilt and many members pieced, put it together and quilted it, to celebrate Canada's 150 Birthday. Our quilt proudly toured Canadian Quilt Shows in celebration. After that year it was returned to us and we have been moving it around our community on display in public areas for everyone's enjoyment. The next place it will be on display once the lockdown is over will be at the Island View Retirement Residence in Arnprior. If anyone can think of any other place that it could be displayed and enjoyed please let us know by email
Hope you have a chance to join in the and help on these charity projects. If you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to contact either Jane or myself Vickie by email.
Thanks,
Vickie MacNabb and Jane Wickware
Your ADQG Charity Team
For those of you who may be new to our Guild since 2017; our guild designed a beautiful quilt and many members pieced, put it together and quilted it, to celebrate Canada's 150 Birthday. Our quilt proudly toured Canadian Quilt Shows in celebration. After that year it was returned to us and we have been moving it around our community on display in public areas for everyone's enjoyment. The next place it will be on display once the lockdown is over will be at the Island View Retirement Residence in Arnprior. If anyone can think of any other place that it could be displayed and enjoyed please let us know by email
Hope you have a chance to join in the and help on these charity projects. If you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to contact either Jane or myself Vickie by email.
Thanks,
Vickie MacNabb and Jane Wickware
Your ADQG Charity Team
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Thank You!
Your efforts on our Charity projects are truly appreciated as indicated by these Thank You notes from
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Library News
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Happy New Year!
Some good news from South of the Border, remember my story about Rita’s quilt??? (See the November 2019 newsletter) Check it out if you need to. Well I checked it out yesterday and found the quilt is finished thanks to many wonderful quilters including two Canadians, and is hanging in the National Quilt Museum in Kentucky. Check out the video of the celebration. Shannon Downey, the person who purchased Rita’s unfinished quilt was to take it on tour in the USA and parts of Canada in June but I’m sure it didn’t happen due to Covid. There is a Canadian connection as I read in one of the articles that Rita was born in Canada. Her son who lives in New York City was contacted, he was delighted and said his Mom would be too. If you want to know more google the Rita Smith’s Quilt, I would also check out the National Quilt Museum in Kentucky. Happy surfing! -- Lucy |
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When Lucy mentioned “Rita’s Quilt” (above), I realized I couldn’t remember the story so I’ll have to “check the net”, too! And, while we’re talking about different quilts and quilters, I had the chance to attend the Kanata Guild’s latest meeting and hear Gloria Loughman who Zoomed in from Australia! She talked of her own quilt journey into landscape art quilts. Beginning with washed colours, she has progressed into more vivid tones, sometimes using black and white with one added colour. She has travelled the world giving lessons, has won many awards and was a most pleasant speaker! She also showed us photos of where she lives on the coast in the state of Victoria – lovely, warm summer shots!! I recommend that you visit her website: www.glorialoughman.com to see her work and maybe consider taking an on-line course. The pandemic has caused havoc in many ways, but it has also given us an opportunity to learn more of quilting around the world!
-- Nancy
Take care and take time to enjoy your quilting -- without guilt!!
Your Librarians,
Nancy and Lucy
A YouTube Demonstration
Submitted by Vickie MacNabb
I was supposed to give a short demonstration at one of our "regular in-person meeting break times" and thought that I could submit a demonstration by Leah Day to substitute. I wanted to share how to square up a piece of quilt material after pressing, but before you cut. This helps if you have plaids, panels with a design, lines or any material cut straight grain. How to Square Fabric by Leah Day 3:24 minutes long. Enjoy!
If you enjoy this demonstration and want to share one that you have enjoyed and learned something new please send a short description and the link and we will share it as well. Thanks for contributing to make our newsletters/meetings more enriching. Just remember together we can stay a great team of members who love to share and mentor each other.
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Organizing 101
by Brigid Whitnall
Fabric Storage
What better way to end a sewing area makeover than with fabric storage solutions! Again, this is a personal choice, it depends on how much fabric you have, how much room you have and whether your sewing area is a shared space. All this will impact your solutions.
Common fabric storage includes:
• Plastic bins
• Shelves and bookcases
• File drawers
• Dresser drawers
• Hangers in a closet
• Specialty furniture, like CD shelving
• Etc....
You can see that some of these solutions, like bookshelves, keep your fabric visible and it becomes part of the decor. This also makes it more of a priority to fold it nicely.
I have a combination of solutions. I started with plastic totes and still keep some projects and specific fabrics in totes. I like having a shorter storage cabinet between taller bookcases for display purposes and it happens to frame the window too (photo shows what’s to the left of the window). The current centre cabinet holds totes and storage cubes. I thought I might like more storage cubes, but am glad I didn’t as they are deep and it’s difficult to see everything at a glance, two bins end up being a better solution.
Folding
How do you fold your fabric? Again, depends on the storage method you used. I try to fold the items in bins, which is generally Fat Quarters or scraps, so that I can stand them up and see the various pieces at a glance.
For those who hang their fabric over hanging folders, or on pant hangers, you likely fold it for optimum hanger space.
On bookcases, you are working with the size of the shelves to maximize space. Some people invest in cardboard or comic book dividers and roll their fabric so it looks like bolts in a store. I learned a tip at the guild. Gwen Pennings had shown us how she folds fabric using a 6 x 24 ruler. I liked the idea of uniform stacks of fabric and adapted the idea. You roll your fabric around the ruler, I fold my fabric and start with both cut edges on the inside of the roll, then slide the ruler out and fold the piece in 2 or 3. This gives you a piece that is 6” wide by about 10” long or smaller depending on whether you did 2 or 3 folds. Once many pieces are stacked, you can use your ruler to lift fabric to get to things on the bottom... I am not that neat and just reach in... as you can see in the photo, it needs a cleanup!
Folding
How do you fold your fabric? Again, depends on the storage method you used. I try to fold the items in bins, which is generally Fat Quarters or scraps, so that I can stand them up and see the various pieces at a glance.
For those who hang their fabric over hanging folders, or on pant hangers, you likely fold it for optimum hanger space.
On bookcases, you are working with the size of the shelves to maximize space. Some people invest in cardboard or comic book dividers and roll their fabric so it looks like bolts in a store. I learned a tip at the guild. Gwen Pennings had shown us how she folds fabric using a 6 x 24 ruler. I liked the idea of uniform stacks of fabric and adapted the idea. You roll your fabric around the ruler, I fold my fabric and start with both cut edges on the inside of the roll, then slide the ruler out and fold the piece in 2 or 3. This gives you a piece that is 6” wide by about 10” long or smaller depending on whether you did 2 or 3 folds. Once many pieces are stacked, you can use your ruler to lift fabric to get to things on the bottom... I am not that neat and just reach in... as you can see in the photo, it needs a cleanup!
Placing and Organizing
For as long as I have had bookcases, I have enjoyed looking at a rainbow of colours. Most shelves are a mix of yardage and fat quarters and some collections. I will keep certain types of fabric on their own .. like Christmas, Fall/Halloween, or sewing themed fabric. I have a shelf, or half shelf dedicated to each colour, except for Christmas, it’s two shelves a large tote and a cube! My white shelf is mostly all white prints now and it’s sharing space with solids. Teal and Aqua share space with Asian prints and some projects waiting to get started. Some of this came about as I bought things for projects (like solids) and quarantined that fabric, once the project was finished, or if it got sidelined, the fabric was no longer social distancing and could mix with its peers. Won’t it be nice when we can mix with our friends again! ... I digress!
This is also very fluid, it’s part of my decor so I decide which colour goes where. I will typically, maybe once a year, go through and clean up after some big projects (currently way way overdue, maybe next snow day!). When I do this, something that used to read Teal may become green, or a white print might have enough pink to be moved with the pink.
It helps to see what you have in certain colours and hopefully inspires you to create. At a glance, if a shelf is looking bare, that’s the colour I try to concentrate on when shopping! Some colours are trickier than others though .. like green for instance. I never have the correct shade of green for my projects, so now I wait until I have something to match it to before buying.
I also have a collection of kid friendly prints that I have bought for preemies and I Spy quilts that I keep tucked away on its own.
For as long as I have had bookcases, I have enjoyed looking at a rainbow of colours. Most shelves are a mix of yardage and fat quarters and some collections. I will keep certain types of fabric on their own .. like Christmas, Fall/Halloween, or sewing themed fabric. I have a shelf, or half shelf dedicated to each colour, except for Christmas, it’s two shelves a large tote and a cube! My white shelf is mostly all white prints now and it’s sharing space with solids. Teal and Aqua share space with Asian prints and some projects waiting to get started. Some of this came about as I bought things for projects (like solids) and quarantined that fabric, once the project was finished, or if it got sidelined, the fabric was no longer social distancing and could mix with its peers. Won’t it be nice when we can mix with our friends again! ... I digress!
This is also very fluid, it’s part of my decor so I decide which colour goes where. I will typically, maybe once a year, go through and clean up after some big projects (currently way way overdue, maybe next snow day!). When I do this, something that used to read Teal may become green, or a white print might have enough pink to be moved with the pink.
It helps to see what you have in certain colours and hopefully inspires you to create. At a glance, if a shelf is looking bare, that’s the colour I try to concentrate on when shopping! Some colours are trickier than others though .. like green for instance. I never have the correct shade of green for my projects, so now I wait until I have something to match it to before buying.
I also have a collection of kid friendly prints that I have bought for preemies and I Spy quilts that I keep tucked away on its own.
Destashing
Our tastes change, styles change and our stash may grow out of control (like a virus ... maybe just as dangerous if it falls over!) For those of us that made fabric masks last year, hopefully that put a dent in your fabric ... I had a bunch that was set aside for charity projects and it’s been mostly used up! I used up some larger prints that were never quite right for other projects. At what point do you decide to sell something? I am starting to look at the fabric more critically ... if it’s been sitting for a few years (ok, admit it, maybe even decades) ... it’s being put on notice that it may have to move. I have, admittedly, used some of this fabric for backing. I prefer wideback but for wall hangings and smaller pieces, or if I have 3 metres plus, I will piece a back.
Getting started
If you have grown your stash to a certain size and feel it’s time to get organized, the first step is deciding where you will store your fabric. Once you have the furniture, shelves or closet set aside you can slowly start organizing, maybe concentrating on one colour at a time.
For some inspiration, I have included the following links. Solutions are easy to find in January as it seems to be the season for getting organized.
Our tastes change, styles change and our stash may grow out of control (like a virus ... maybe just as dangerous if it falls over!) For those of us that made fabric masks last year, hopefully that put a dent in your fabric ... I had a bunch that was set aside for charity projects and it’s been mostly used up! I used up some larger prints that were never quite right for other projects. At what point do you decide to sell something? I am starting to look at the fabric more critically ... if it’s been sitting for a few years (ok, admit it, maybe even decades) ... it’s being put on notice that it may have to move. I have, admittedly, used some of this fabric for backing. I prefer wideback but for wall hangings and smaller pieces, or if I have 3 metres plus, I will piece a back.
Getting started
If you have grown your stash to a certain size and feel it’s time to get organized, the first step is deciding where you will store your fabric. Once you have the furniture, shelves or closet set aside you can slowly start organizing, maybe concentrating on one colour at a time.
For some inspiration, I have included the following links. Solutions are easy to find in January as it seems to be the season for getting organized.
Resources
For those of you on Pinterest, if you search for “fabric storage solutions”, there are numerous solutions that pop up. You can Google the same and get a similar set of articles.
Here are a few links for visuals:
- Just Get It Done - Decluttering Part 2
- Folding fabric with ruler
- Pat Sloan’s organizing tips
- American Patchwork and Quilting, February Issue features organization tips and fabric storage ideas
-- Brigid Whitnall, Past-Past President
2021 Colours
Pantone, the global color authority and provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, has announced PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, as the Pantone® Color of the Year selection for 2021, two independent colors that come together to create an aspirational color pairing, conjoining deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the optimistic promise of a sunshine filled day.
Read more
Quilt Canada
The CQA has announced a virtual event on June 16-19 to replace their in-person Quilt Canada 2021 conference.
And what better way to celebrate 40 years than to invite quilters from across the country to join in the online party.
More details will be available in the coming months, with registration taking place in the spring of 2021.
And what better way to celebrate 40 years than to invite quilters from across the country to join in the online party.
More details will be available in the coming months, with registration taking place in the spring of 2021.
An invitation...
Do you have a story or a tip you'd like to share with us? Just send it along and I'll be delighted to include it in a future newsletter.
And a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Brigid for sharing her story, to Vickie for the video link, and to Frank, Vickie, Lucy and Nancy for their guild updates this month.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor