Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild Newsletter - September 2021
President's Message
President's Message
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to an exciting and truly inspiring 2021-2022 season of quilting.
To those of you who have joined us for the first time, welcome! I wish we could meet in person, but I am sure we will soon get to know each other, through our Show & Tell program, during the Presenter's Q&A period, and if you log on a bit early, before the meeting starts, you will catch up on some chit chat.
This year marks our Guild's 20th Anniversary. Just think, what a great honor it is to be part of a guild that has helped our community with quilted donations for 20 years! We should all be very proud members, so stay tuned, Brigid has a wonderful celebration brewing for us!
President's Quilt Challenge
I will explain the rules during the upcoming meeting. If you miss this meeting, the rules will be posted on our guild's web site shortly after the meeting. Until then here are two clues to start your creative juices flowing:
- I personally believe that quilting and wine go so well together, therefore, the Drunkard's Path Block came to mind! LOL This block can be used in any variation or size, be it traditional or modern.
- Also to keep in the spirit of our guild's 20th anniversary, the traditional colour for the 20th year is emerald green. Can you accommodate some/or a bit of this colour in your quilt?
Here are some helpful links that I found: The history of the Drunkard's Path Block. AQS Blog on Drunkard's Path Blocks
Good luck and hope you join the challenge for some fun and comradely. The quilts will be due by mid June, and revealed at the June meeting.
Covid has not been the most favorite topic on everyone's list for the last two years, however our guild has managed to change with the times and survived safely thus far. Therefore, rest at ease, we are planning all our events with the Covid health protocol and restrictions in place to continue to help keep us all safe. We will be continuing with Zoom meetings and events until February, and then we will re-evaluate the Covid situation going forward.
If you haven't already done so, I urge you to encourage new members and former members to sign up for this season. Let them know how easy and convenient it is to get a front row seat to each of our exciting speakers, hear everything they say, no travel required in cold dark nights, and still enjoy a fun filled season of quilting!
I would like to thank our new executive team once again for volunteering to make this season another great learning journey.
-- Vickie MacNabb, ADQG President
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September Meeting
Our kick off meeting for the new guild year is on Wednesday September 22 at 7 PM. We're so looking forward to the start of the new guild year and hope you'll join us on Zoom. Watch your email a day or two before the meeting for instructions for connecting to this meeting.
We are welcoming guests to our meetings this year for the guest fee of $5.
Our kick off meeting for the new guild year is on Wednesday September 22 at 7 PM. We're so looking forward to the start of the new guild year and hope you'll join us on Zoom. Watch your email a day or two before the meeting for instructions for connecting to this meeting.
We are welcoming guests to our meetings this year for the guest fee of $5.
Guest Speaker - Lise Bélanger
http://en.libexpression.com
Everyone is creative; you just have to listen to your creativity. This lecture introduces you to my competition quilts, my creative process, and the techniques I use to create them. What is most important to me is to show you how it is possible to relax into the creative process, what I call making space, getting inspired and trusting yourself. You will see that I don't have all the answers when I start a project, and that's often best.
-- Lise
http://en.libexpression.com
Everyone is creative; you just have to listen to your creativity. This lecture introduces you to my competition quilts, my creative process, and the techniques I use to create them. What is most important to me is to show you how it is possible to relax into the creative process, what I call making space, getting inspired and trusting yourself. You will see that I don't have all the answers when I start a project, and that's often best.
-- Lise
Show and Tell
We'd love to see what you've been working on at our Show & Tell. To share your work at the 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.
Please send the photos to the guild email account arnpriorquilters@gmail.com by 12 noon on Tuesday September 21.
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.
We'd love to see what you've been working on at our Show & Tell. 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
- Submit a written description that we will read during the meeting - if you go for this option please include the description with the 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 September 21.
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.
Zoom Meeting Etiquette and Tips
As we continue to meet together via Zoom, here is a reminder of some tips to help make our meetings more enjoyable for everyone.
- A link to the meeting will be sent 1-2 days ahead of the meeting. If you have not received a link by Wednesday 1:00 pm, please check your Junk mail or Promotions folders in Gmail to see if it landed somewhere other than your Inbox.
- We will have the Zoom "meeting room" open between 6:40-6:45 pm for those who want to chat.
- We try to admit everyone quickly, please be patient!
- If you are not speaking, we recommend you mute yourself to avoid possible background noises interfering with conversations
- At the start of the meeting everyone will be muted
- As the speaker is getting started, no one will be admitted for a few minutes
Tips we’ve learned along the way:
- Zoom uses up your battery... make sure your device is fully charged before the meeting, or you may prefer to have it plugged in while on Zoom.
- Use the Chat function to ask questions - Mute whenever possible
- If leaving your computer, you may want to turn off video
- You can change your screen name, we ask that you have first and last name for door prize purposes
- If you have a TV, radio, or even a microwave running in the background, it can interfere. Please Mute your sound as it creates static for everyone listening.
The most important thing - have fun! Enjoy the visit with friends!
Much more information is available on the Zoom web site
For our members who may have had difficulty joining us on Zoom last year, if you would like tutorials on accessing Zoom, please reach out to us at arnpriorquilters@gmail.com and we will plan a date to get you up and running and comfortable with using Zoom. It’s really just as easy as clicking the link that comes in the email. You can even click it early, but it’s like trying to get into the church before the doors open, you just won’t get in yet and may have to wait a bit for the person with the key.
Programs 2021-2022
Challenges
We all enjoy seeing the challenge results live and voting for our favorite. With that in mind, we will highlight various aspects of last year’s challenges and bring in some new ones. We are going to wait until we can meet in person, hopefully March 2022 and at that time we will have a huge challenge reveal. While we are at it, if you have other past year challenges that need finishing, why not dig them out and as Karen Brown would say “Get it Done”!
Guild Meeting Speakers
We are excited to announce our 2021-2022 line up of cross Canada speakers. We hope you will join us in embracing the biggest advantage that the Zoom platform offers - we can book speakers from anywhere.
Since we frequently have trouble meeting in January and February due to weather, we will have our first in person meeting, fingers crossed, in March 2022. Save your backs, we’ll be looking for folks to help set up the room, chairs, tables .. all that ... oh and coffee, we need refreshment folks for March!
So all you snowbirds, grab your iPads, even if you are traveling, as long as you have an internet connection, you can join the Zoom calls from anywhere! Some math may be required if you are in a different time zone.
October 27 - Cheryl Arkinson, http://www.cherylarkison.com
Quilter, writer, and mom.
Make Time to Play: Far too often we focus on the results, the product, the finish line in lieu of the process. A huge part of the process is simply playing. In quilting it is about matching the pattern and perfecting our points but where is the release, the relaxation, the revelation in that? Play is an important part of a child’s development but I don’t think it should stop when we become adults. The presentation is all about adding a spirit of play back in to our creative pursuits.
November 24- Brandy Maslowski, Summerland, BC https://www.quilteronfire.com
Brandy Maslowski is a serial quilter and fibre artist, and loves humans, hiking and tea. She brings more joy and less overwhelm to quilters as a speaker, teacher and world traveler.
Your Only Limits Are The Ones You Choose… One quilter’s journey through a challenging career as a female fire fighter to following her passion as a fibre artist. It has been a journey that has forced her to grow in ways she could never have imagined. In her comforting and creative studio she has discovered her true passion.
December 15 - Melissa Marginet, Beausejour, MB http://melissamarginet.ca
Quilter, Author, Designer, Teacher. Join us for My Journey as a Quiltmaker: My creative journey from growing up next door to a creative and resourceful grandmother in rural Manitoba to how I became addicted to quilting and ending where I am now. A trunk show filled with quilts and stories.
January 26 2022 - Krista Hennebury http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com
A geologist by training but quilter by choice. I live, sew, walk, bake, take photos and love life in beautiful British Columbia.
Who Gives a Flying FQ About Accuracy? In this live Powerpoint slide show, Krista presents an updated version of her webinar originally produced for the Modern Quilt Guild. In it, she discusses the why and how of cutting, piecing and pressing accuracy, then follows up with the “but when is it really important?” part. This presentation is chock full of information, myth-busting tips, many detailed photos, notion recommendations and piecing tricks. We may even get into the side vs open pressing debate!
February 23 - Kim Jamieson-Hirst https://www.chatterboxquilts.com
I started Chatterbox Quilts over 8 years ago. It’s come a long way from a simple blog talking about what project I was working on that week to the company it is today. Chatterbox Quilts has always been about offering solutions to help people improve their quilting but now the solutions are offered in many formats, from a blog, pattern shop, YouTube videos, courses, Facebook, and my membership, The Quilter’s Way.
HOW TO CONQUER YOUR FEAR OF FREE MOTION QUILTING - What are most quilters afraid of? Free motion quilting! In this presentation, Kim addresses the reasons behind this fear and how to overcome them and actually enjoy free motion quilting.
The balance of the year has been optimistically planned as follows and will be updated in the new year as rules and health protocols evolve. Currently, our meeting space only allows 70 people, which is less than our anticipated in-person membership, we won’t leave anyone out, so please be patient and stay tuned for more details.
March 23 - Yippee!! Our first in person meeting in 2 years … Giving night and Show & Tell - We’ll plan on tea and coffee, maybe some snacks. Won’t it be nice to see all of you in person. Let’s recap all our challenges and have one huge Show and Tell. If many of you have donated quilts and would still like to show them again, we’ll arrange a slide show as well as in person quilts.
We will also be inviting representatives from the various charities that we support to hear about how they use our quilts and take this opportunity to present them with a few quilts.
April 27 - Marie-Claire Charette http://www.laquiltingcoach.ca
After spending 32 years in leadership development, I am now indulging in my other passion which is sewing and quilting. Through this passion, I can create, learn, challenge myself but most importantly connect with others. I keep in mind that there is "Sew little time" so I do more of what makes me happy.
May 25 - Garage Sale & Annual General Meeting
As per our by-laws, May is our Annual General Meeting. As needed, we’ll elect new members to the executive and discuss any new items that need sharing / voting by the guild members. After that’s done, let’s have some retail therapy!
After spending the last 2 years at home in your sewing room, you likely have some items you would like to get rid of. Book a table at our garage sale and let’s clean out that sewing room! More details to follow in the new year as we iron out details (anyone have a spare ironing board we can use?)
June 15 - End of Year Pot Luck Social
Keeping with tradition, let’s end the year and celebrate being back to our regular programming with our June Social and Pot Luck dinner. It’s a time to visit with old friends, socialize with new faces and just have a nice relaxing night.
... that’s it for now... stay tuned for more great news!!!
-- Brigid Whitnall, Program
And the Survey Says!
Thank you to those who completed the survey. We value the information we gather in these. For those who have been with the guild for a while, if you felt that you had already been asked the same questions, well the answer is YES, you had. We took almost all of the questions from surveys in 2006-2007, and beyond .. the questions haven’t changed in all those years, but your answers have, we just added the Zoom component .. I think it’s safe to say there was no Zoom in 2006. Was there internet then? Even since the last survey in 2019, interests and priorities change. We’ll recap the survey results and announce some fun activities at our September and October meetings. Stay tuned!
-- Brigid Whitnall, Program
Summer Scrap Challenge
Well we did it!! We turned these lovely little bags filled to the rim with scraps (see photo from my design wall) of all shapes and sizes into some beautiful quilts.
Sealed bags of scraps
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Contents of Brigid's bag on her design wall
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I would like to thank the 16 participants from near and far who participated in Arnprior’s first Summer event. We will unveil the various quilts during our meetings this year, and give the participants a chance to talk about their quilts and the inspiration behind them. We’ll likely start at the October meeting, as a number of us got our inspiration from the book "Sunday Morning Quilts", which was co-written by Cheryl Arkison, our October speaker.
This was a timed challenge. Quilts had to be finished by September 1st. The participants had received the bag filled with scraps early in the summer, they were to add up to 1.5 metres of pre-selected background fabric, and perhaps a sashing colour and make a quilt in any size. Most of the quilts will be donated to the various charities that we support in the area.
The quilts from this challenge were all so beautiful that we approached Nancy at Sew Inspired and she’s agreed to hang the quilts in the store for a few weeks in late September / early October. On Sunday, September 26th we are turning 20! What better way to start off our 20th birthday celebrations than a mini quilt show and retail therapy!! Now please be mindful of Covid restrictions - don’t all show up at once, she has a maximum number allowed in the store. :)
-- Brigid Whitnall, Program
This was a timed challenge. Quilts had to be finished by September 1st. The participants had received the bag filled with scraps early in the summer, they were to add up to 1.5 metres of pre-selected background fabric, and perhaps a sashing colour and make a quilt in any size. Most of the quilts will be donated to the various charities that we support in the area.
The quilts from this challenge were all so beautiful that we approached Nancy at Sew Inspired and she’s agreed to hang the quilts in the store for a few weeks in late September / early October. On Sunday, September 26th we are turning 20! What better way to start off our 20th birthday celebrations than a mini quilt show and retail therapy!! Now please be mindful of Covid restrictions - don’t all show up at once, she has a maximum number allowed in the store. :)
-- Brigid Whitnall, Program
Membership News
We are excited to be kicking off this 2021-22 season with 71 members currently enlisted. A warm welcome is extended to our newest 12 members and we look forward to meeting you once we resume our in person meetings. The 2 winners from the early-bird draw, members who had paid their fees before June 15th, are Emma Russell and Frank McCarron.
Membership cards will not be printed this year but we are hoping to be emailing each of you a verification of your membership in the guild. More information to follow on this topic.
The Renewal form is available online and will be processed on an ongoing basis. We continue to welcome both new and returning members so let your friends know to join us for another exciting year!
-- Martha Palmer, Membership
Library News
September Library Draw Prize
Where did that summer go? I can’t believe it’s the start of a new quilting year – and our guild’s 20th Anniversary! There will be some special challenges and events I’m sure, even with our Covid-19 restrictions. I really enjoyed Brigid’s “Summer Scrap Challenge”! There were 16 of us in on this challenge and I hope more of you will consider taking part in ADQG quilt projects this year – just doing one is a great way to start and join in the fun!
Once we are able to meet in the Hall, the Library will be ready! I plan on doing a new and complete inventory of our books and I hope to share that list with you later. I just have to find time when my fabrics and sewing machine aren’t calling out to me!
The Library prize this month is all about inspiring you to start your Christmas quilting gifts! We have 2 magazines, a book of patterns and a festive fat quarter for you to win! Good Luck!
Lucy is still enjoying the weather in Cape Breton and I hope she has been able to do a bit of quilting, too! I hope you all have been enjoying the summer and your summer quilting!
Happy Stitching!
Nancy
Preemie Quilt Update
Our guild received this touching email message and photo in June.
Hope you are all well and safe. We wanted to thank all of you again. Zara-Kathryn had a eventful year with a hospitalization, a surgery and two new diagnosis, but through it all your generous gift of her favorite blanket was with her at every step. This email is to recognize that what you do matters and changes lives. We never expected having a preemie. Zara-Kathryn is the last of four and her sisters were the type of baby to settle in for the long run, past due and chubby, so when Zara-Kathryn was born early and weighing so much less than her sisters your gift was just so precious. We wish you all the best.
Leadership Team
Here's our 2021-2023 leadership team
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Carp Fair Raffle Quilt
A lucky winner will take home this beautiful Queen size “Granny's Quilt” from the Carp Fair on Sunday September 26. The individual 12 1/2" unfinished blocks were pieced by local quilters and entered in the “Quilt Block Challenge” category in the Homecraft division at last year’s fair. Open to anyone, entrants were required to include some of the fabrics provided in their block. Members of our guild, Brenda Davidson-Payer, Lana Dean, Kathy Foster, Martha Palmer, Mary Cohan-Pekarchuk, Joyce Trafford, and Brigid Whitnall each contributed a block.
Congratulations to the prize winners: 1st Brenda Davidson-Payer, 2nd Lana Dean, 3rd Lin Dickson.
The blocks were assembled by Joyce Trafford and Sharon Bishop, and it was quilted by Huntley Quilting Studio.
The quilt has been on display at Sew Inspired in Arnprior and it will be headed to Carp where you can see it at the fair from September 24-26. Raffle tickets are $5 each and are on sale at the fair office, at the fair, and at Sew Inspired while the quilt is there.
The Quilt Block Challenge is being offered again at this year’s fair with the theme “Seas the Day”, so those blocks will be on display at the fair, along with the quilts entered in the other quilting categories.
For more information about the fair, see the Carp Fair web site.
Placemat Donation
After enjoying one of last year's guild meetings as a guest, a generous quilter very kindly dug into her stash of batiks and made these 7 lovely cheerful placemats for our initiative for the new Grove Nursing Home in Arnprior. Thank you to everyone who has donated placemats for The Grove.
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A YouTube Demonstration Submitted by Vickie MacNabb I watched a Facebook video of Karen K. Stone, describing her quilts at an exhibit. Wow, she is quite an accomplished quilter and very interesting to watch. Watch the Video Advertisers
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. And do enjoy finally getting back to in person shopping this summer. -- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor |
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Thank You
A VERY BIG THANK YOU to to Vickie, Brigid, Martha and Nancy for their guild updates and other news this month.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor