Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild Newsletter - June 2020
President's Message
Good Day All!
Hope you are all doing well! It has been 5 months since we were all together last. We had the snowstorm in February and then Covid-19's Quarantine ever since. I pray that by September when our new Guild year starts that we can get back to our "new normal" (whatever it is by that time) and have meetings again.
I have missed you all and our Show and Tell and our presentations and our prize draws and all. And most of all I miss seeing everyone. A key part of the quilting experience is the social part.
It's also why I miss quilt shops because not only do I love visiting quilt shops and touching and dreaming of all the beautiful fabrics, but it's also the interesting people you meet in shops (both the workers and the fellow customers). Funny part is that before Paulette & I joined the Guild we met the Guild President (Brigid) in a quilt shop in Newmarket one day.
Did I ever mention that I love my mother-in-law? No? Well I do. We were recently away for a visit to Paulette's family and while we were there my mother-in-law bought a used quilt for $50 on Facebook for the bed that Paulette and I sleep in when we are there. The seller was a 70 year-old lady whose great-grandmother had made the quilt. Here's a picture.
I hope that you all have a great summer, enjoy your gardens, enjoy your driveway visits, enjoy all your summer activities. I hope to see you all in September. We shall see what that "seeing you in September" looks like. Several quilt guilds are running their meetings via the internet. I've also seen groups of friends who meet in parking lots with their lawn chairs and their show and tells.
Have a great summer! See you in September! Stay safe!
-- Frank McCarron, President
Advertisers
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Thank you to our 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 out advertisers, particularly during these times which are challenging for any business. You can click/tap on any of the advertisements in this newsletter to access the vendor's web site. Happy summer quilting! -- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor |
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Charity
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I am sure you are as disappointed as we are to see the guild season close without a chance to meet again before the summer. Oh well, we will have twice as much to catch up on in the new season, if all goes well.... In the fall we hope to announce a new fun group charity activity that you can look forward to participating in. As you know the Pick Up Sticks charity block is still on hold till we get together again to handout the foundation blocks. It is a fun block and I am sure once we get started we will have lots of beautiful blocks come forth. Feel free to continue to try out new blocks or techniques while making preemie quilts, they are always appreciated and needed. Marilyn Erskine is the preemie quilt volunteer who will collect them, and ensure that a guild label is attached. You can drop off completed preemie quilts in the bin at Marilyn's home, 261 Bell Street, Arnprior until the end of June. We would like to thank everyone who has considered the volunteer charity position, however, thus far we haven't received any names. This position can also be shared by two people, if you want a friend to help out, the more the merrier! Please feel free to drop Jane or myself an email if you would like more details or to submit your name/names. Thanks and have a sew great summer, Vickie MacNabb and Jane Wickware Your Charity Team |
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Library News
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The HOT weather is here and some days, our sewing rooms are a cool oasis where we can lose time doing the best thing ever…quilting! Lucy and I are into baby quilts, it seems; she has a beautiful “I Spy” quilt almost ready to mail (!) out west and I have a Paddington Bear quilt ready to be sandwiched and quilted. I shall try to quilt it myself, so there’s a challenge ahead! I know the rest of you are spending time in your “happy room” too, so let us know what you’re up to. It’s wonderful to have our fabric store, Sew Inspired, open again! I’ve missed being in the store so much! I’m not much of an on-line shopper, so I loved going there today and finally getting more ….elastic! If we are going to wear masks more often, then a selection is needed. And, of course, not only for us, but for family, friends and anyone who needs one. Thanks to everyone who has already made many masks! Remember to continue sourcing the internet for ideas and tips to help with your projects. I’ve found that if you have a question/problem there’ll be an answer somewhere out there. Keep your spirits up and continue to be safe and careful and we’ll see each other …. Sometime soon, I hope! Have a happy, quilting summer, Your librarians, Nancy and Lucy |
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Virtual Show-and-Tell
Many thanks to those of you who have sent in photos of your recently completed projects for our Virtual Show-and-Tell.
Gwen P made this pillow for her mom for Mother's Day. It was made from a Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) class.
And from Allison K
"I made this quilt for my son’s wedding, was to have happened on May 23, but now postponed until next May. I presented it to them anyways, their names and 2020 were quilted onto the border."
Allison's wedding gift quilt to her son
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Gwen's Mother's Day gift to her mom
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Vickie's table runner
I invite you to send in photos of your completed projects to us at arnpriorquilters@gmail.com and we'll post them for all of us to see. We would love to see whatever you've been working on, including any premie quilts. And we look forward to also seeing these projects live at our next real time show-and-tell.
-- Janet Brownlee
-- Janet Brownlee
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Brigid's Latest Charity Projects
Welcome June!
As mentioned in the May newsletter, I have been playing with my quilting toys. It’s fun to rediscover things that you haven’t used in a while and freshen up some skills.
While at a retreat in February, someone was making blocks that were part of the Border Creek 2020 Stashbuster Challenge ... they were quite colourful and looked easy to make. I thought I should jump in and try some. In March, I started cutting scraps to make a quilt or two ... those are still in a box and I will get to them eventually.
When we had to isolate and it seemed like it might be a while, my Mom was looking for something to do with her scraps. I suggested she cut 2.5” and 4.5” squares and I would send her the pattern. Well... she cut, and cut, and cut some more. I mailed the pattern and some 2.5” off white, white and beige squares ... she did not have enough of those. She got tired of cutting, and started assembling blocks.
I used my Go Cutter and had 100s of squares to mail. I can do that pretty quickly, good thing, she ran out of the first batch and I mailed her some more ... trying to keep to the same values... I may need more whites myself!
That was the revised plan, she would make a few blocks and hand them off to me when we finally saw each other. A few weeks went by, somewhere around the end of April or early May, she decided that it would give her satisfaction to see the quilt tops put together and maybe the quilt top would take up less room than all these squares.
If you look at the pattern, they suggest different layouts, so Mom likes a challenge and decided to try different layouts.
We finally were able to go and have a distanced outside visit and I picked up two quilt tops. They are quite beautiful although she struggled to get the pattern placement to work out.
Here they are quilted and donated to someone at Quilts of Valour for binding. The grey one is from leftovers from a quilt we made for her bed! The other is more scraps from projects.
As mentioned in the May newsletter, I have been playing with my quilting toys. It’s fun to rediscover things that you haven’t used in a while and freshen up some skills.
While at a retreat in February, someone was making blocks that were part of the Border Creek 2020 Stashbuster Challenge ... they were quite colourful and looked easy to make. I thought I should jump in and try some. In March, I started cutting scraps to make a quilt or two ... those are still in a box and I will get to them eventually.
When we had to isolate and it seemed like it might be a while, my Mom was looking for something to do with her scraps. I suggested she cut 2.5” and 4.5” squares and I would send her the pattern. Well... she cut, and cut, and cut some more. I mailed the pattern and some 2.5” off white, white and beige squares ... she did not have enough of those. She got tired of cutting, and started assembling blocks.
I used my Go Cutter and had 100s of squares to mail. I can do that pretty quickly, good thing, she ran out of the first batch and I mailed her some more ... trying to keep to the same values... I may need more whites myself!
That was the revised plan, she would make a few blocks and hand them off to me when we finally saw each other. A few weeks went by, somewhere around the end of April or early May, she decided that it would give her satisfaction to see the quilt tops put together and maybe the quilt top would take up less room than all these squares.
If you look at the pattern, they suggest different layouts, so Mom likes a challenge and decided to try different layouts.
We finally were able to go and have a distanced outside visit and I picked up two quilt tops. They are quite beautiful although she struggled to get the pattern placement to work out.
Here they are quilted and donated to someone at Quilts of Valour for binding. The grey one is from leftovers from a quilt we made for her bed! The other is more scraps from projects.
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Let me clarify, for Mom definition of scrap: fabric was used in past project, don’t think I will use it again ... no size is too big to be considered a scrap!
She thought that had been fun and it kept her occupied. You see, she moved to a retirement residence last fall, so for her, isolate meant “can’t leave the premises” ... she still drives, and not being able to go out is driving her mad!
After the first two tops were done, she announced that she still had blocks and that she thought she had enough for two more tops. Ok, that’s great ... I will pick them up when they are done.
Fast forward a few weeks, there are three more tops to be quilted. I have attached photos of the tops, as they will be quilted and gone by end of June.
I will likely use a maple leaf pattern on at least one of these, but will also try something different that will suit the layout.
She thought that had been fun and it kept her occupied. You see, she moved to a retirement residence last fall, so for her, isolate meant “can’t leave the premises” ... she still drives, and not being able to go out is driving her mad!
After the first two tops were done, she announced that she still had blocks and that she thought she had enough for two more tops. Ok, that’s great ... I will pick them up when they are done.
Fast forward a few weeks, there are three more tops to be quilted. I have attached photos of the tops, as they will be quilted and gone by end of June.
I will likely use a maple leaf pattern on at least one of these, but will also try something different that will suit the layout.
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I hope this inspires you to try something new. You can follow the scrap-buster challenge on Facebook, people are posting photos of great quilts, many colour combinations. Many are adding piano key borders which is quite effective as well. When I picked up these last three quilt tops, I dropped off three kits that were sitting on my shelf and that I knew I would not get done any time soon ... I knew she would like the colours and it’s three different patterns, so lots a reading. I can’t wait to get shopping after all this and rebuild my stash with new things!! Although, I have enough Christmas and Halloween to last at least a year ... maybe 2021 will be the year of Halloween and Fall projects, followed by 2022 the year of never ending Christmas! Oh, and that scrap buster that I started cutting ... oh yeah ... and there’s my UFOs that have been set aside for mask making ... shopping will be fun. However, I am not running out of fabric any time soon! -- Brigid Whitnall |
Quilt Canada
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While Quilt Canada 2020 has now been cancelled due to COVID-19, the Canadian Quilters' Association is developing plans to present some aspects of the show in a virtual manner, including for the Gateway to Adventure - CQA Member Guild Challenge. Visit the CQA web site for more information as it evolves. |