Terrific meeting!

My congratulations to everyone who made the meeting a success,gave thoughtful reports, reved up enthusiasm for some community events, or volunteered.
We now have a raffle committee of 2 members. They are going to be looking for patterns and designs for our next group projects. If you have any suggestions, I’m sure that they would like to hear from you.

We finally have some dates for Sat. workbees from the soccer club.
Sat Sept 12th- Community quilts. Sherrill will be contacting everyone via email to describe the plans.
Our guest teacher Eileen Neil will be here on Oct 24th and 25th.
Mark your calendars and bring your $$ to pay for the classes.

Make sure that you check the time for our PotLuck Social.
Sept 17th thurs
Set-up of tables and displays at 5:30
eating ( of course) and visiting at 6:30
then the presentations by teachers , and questions answered about supply lists.
All new members are welcome to check out the library and your questions are welcome on any topic.

If you are interested in Art quilts and alternate /funky art products to use in your work, please come to the Fiber Speak meeting next Thurs ( always the 2nd thurs eve of each month.)

But I’m NOT ready-eek!

oh my – here it is 2 days until the first fall meeting.
Guess you can tell that the bloggers on this site have been busy elsewhere.
So – leaping in…………
Sept Business meeting 7:00 PM Thurs the 3rd at the soccer club.
don’t forget your name tags, as we all try to remember new names and names of old friends as well.
We all love Show and Tell – and it doesn’t have to be a quilt top, just bring a new book, some inspiration from your summer travels, or tell about a special trip to textile or fiber summer school classes.

You have received an email to renew your membership ASAP. You might recall that a membership list was so difficult to coordinate last year and we hope that prompt payment of dues will enable a membership list to be available so much sooner.

Membership lists are not shared with other groups , but it is nice to be able to call a new friend for playdates, arrange rides, easily arrange meetings of committees and
advise of meeting changes.

summertiiiiimeee

and the living is eeeaasssssssssy.
What a stupid bunch of lyrics – the living is certainly not easy when you’re up to your hips in alligators. There’s too much garden produce and the housework suffers. Either we’re complaining about the heat or we’re complaining that it’s too wet to harvest vegetables and everything is rotting or spoiling. But on a cheerier note………
Art in the Park is just one week ahead.
I was seriously concerned about participation this year as no one had stepped forward to coordinate a guild display.
I’m pleased to say that the FiberSpeak group will be setting up and manning the display with some hands on demos. I will setup an info area for new members and newcomers to our community. Please come out and spend a hour chatting with the public about this artform we all love.

And on another cheery note – there’s only 3 weeks until our first Sept meeting.I always feel that the year starts in Sept. – off to a fresh start, renewed interest, and the chance to catchup on everyone’s news and photos.
In the next 3 weeks , I hope that there will be some dusting and housekeeping here on the blog and we will bring you up to date on what’s planned for the fall.
Hope you drop back again often.
Nina

Hurrah! full program committee

Yes, we now have a full committee of 6 – but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can just sit back and wait to see what they propose for the program schedule in Sept.
They need some imput.
What do you want to explore next year?
what did you enjoy last year? do you want more videos, Block of the Month, exchanges like the cookie tin round robin, or a row by row round robin?

Do you have a short 1/2 hour to 1 hour demo that would interest the group, for Thurs nights?
Do you have some ideas for our Sat workshops? Can you teach that class?
I would like to see us explore some areas that we’ve not covered for a decade or so , and it might be of interest to some of our newer members.
There’s several books in the library that I’ve thought would make excellent classes, so I will be attending the meeting on the 9th of July.
Put your thinking caps on and then send an email to Jennie or Gay with your ideas.

This is also the time to bring forward any problems that you feel need to be addressed to make the program run smoothly.

Information arising from the June Meeting

Did you miss the meeting and want to know what is going on?

June 18 – Year End Wrap Up.    Bring your favourite Pot-Luck dish at 6:30.    A reminder that the Brown Bag Swap is due.  Be sure to bring yours, and see what your brown bag has in store for you.

June 20 – Wimpy All-Nighter.  For those of you who may not know what this is, it is our Year-End Wrap Up Class.  It starts at 9:30 am, and goes until the last quilter stops sewing (usually about 9:00pm, or sooner for some).    Bring your own lunch (or duck away to one of the stores nearby), and $5 for pizza that evening for supper.   For more info contact Kathy, or Gay. Kathy O. is facilitating the class “Take 5″ – take 5 minutes, choose 5 fabrics and in 5 hours you will have a quilt 64″ x 76″ .  There is a $5 fee.  The supplies required are:

.5 yards of five different/coordinating fabrics for the quilt top
1/2 yards for the inner border
11/4 yards for the outer border
Approx 3/4 yard fro  binding
4 yards for the back
Batting – 70″ x 82″
Sewing Machine and usual sewing notions – New Rottary CUtter blade
Display Wall
You should be able to sandwich and quilt this the same day, so don’t forger to bring the batting and backing.

Hands Across Water registration deadline is looming.  Fees are due at the end of the month, but should be paid to Jeannette W. at the year end wrap up.  Schoolhouse Quilters of Courtenay/Comox will be the hosts, and they have information at their website.  It is a couple weeks early this year, on October 3.

Some other activities coming up:

Sea Far Artist Pavilion – something new this year.

Studio Tour – August 22-23, 2009 – I would have liked to have seen the TQG invovled in this.  Wouldn’t it be great to have an Open House, and show the community what we do, and what we are all about.  Perhaps someone would like to volunteer to organize?

Art in the Park – August 15-16, 2009.  – We’ve been involved with this for the last few years.  A great opportunity to meet visitors to our community as well as community members, and show and tell them what we are all about!

If I have forgotten something, please feel free to leave a comment, and I’ll add the information.

Thanks a bunch!

-Alice

What makes a good guild?

When I ponder what I gain from my membership in the guild , I believe that I value our program and group activities the most.

And who can have a program of activities without a strong and dynamic planning committee for the program?

Yes! the program committee is the most important of all the volunteer positions in a guild. They not only plan the program for the year , but they promote the teachers, the extra activities, group projects, plan the calendar, and ensure that the Sat workshops or the demonstration evenings run smoothly, checking that supply lists are available, doors are open, equipment is available, and people are happy and enjoy their experience.

The program committee is not a group that meets for a few summertime evenings and is finished – No! they work hard all year to make your guild a very valuble learning center.

Now tonight at our AGM, it was disappointing to see that there are only 4 of the 6 positions on this committee filled. If you did not step forward to help – then what sort of complaining will we hear from you next year when there are gaps in the program schedule and you are not happy with the classes, activities or workshops ?

Did you come forward with ideas, offers to teach, offers to demonstrate a new technique, offers to assist at a workbee, or coordinate something like Hands Across the Water. Every activity requires helping hands, and the Program committee needs YOU!
Call Gay D if you are willing to step up and assist.

While I’m on a rant – it appears that apathy will also close our library. The books do not reappear on the shelf by themselves, the new books do not get cataloged by themselves and they don’t get purchased by themselves. The doors will be locked and the ability to borrow from such a vast collection will cease. We have close to 400 books. We need at least 2 volunteers to spend several hours a month doing housekeeping chores in the library area. I’ve written a 4-5 page set of guidelines and they are available to get you started, so there is no reason for you to say you don’t know what is involved with the job.
Gail W. would be glad to hear from you.

May 30th – community quilt workbee

So how many have had a chance to weed out all those bits of fabrics that are just sour lemons?
Why bear that guilt ?- pass those lemons on and see what treasures can be made into Lemonade.
I’ve gotten 3 quilt tops done since the last post, and have some african safari fabric cut & ready to do some wonky framing for some young man.

A new member was under the impression that we got together to make blocks and I had to further confuse her to explain that blocks were only a minor part of the whole day. If you don’t have piecing skills , then you can press, cut or sandwich, machine quilt or bind.
Perhaps in our next year, we could have a block party day as well as a quilt assembly day just to clarify the work plans.

So come prepared to sew, snip and cut. Bring your lunch and beverage of choice. The quilts will be spray basted – so there is no need to bring your safty pins.

While you’re harvesting those lemons, Kathy O. is on the hunt for 6″ squares for I Spy type quilts. If you have some of those – please know they will have a good home.

If Given Lemons- Make Lemonade

So the official announcement :
There is no planned activity for the May (Thurs night)Demo eve. The guild is closed and if you’d like to go to the guild call Carole F. for the key.
Four of us are disappointed that the Program committee has nothing planned for the May Demo night, and have decided that we would have an online interactive ALL month long workbee for the community quilts.
What’s planned.
1. Break out a new sharp rotary blade.
2. Go into our stashes and scrap bins and start cutting, squares, strips, or whatever shape you want.
I’m going to work on Rail Fence blocks.
3. Find 10-20 minutes every day to cut, sew or press until you have a large stack of blocks- NOOOOO don’t count them – just make a HUGE stack .

Remember the guild is not open for the regular demo night – but we are meeting via computer to report our progress.
It would be fantastic if there were baskets full of building block units ready for our Sat workbee at the end of the month.
It would be even more incredible if there was a nice stack of quilt tops for the June Show and Tell.

Remember – it’s nice to meet together for our monthly demo nights – but if given Lemons- Make Lemonade and we will adapt in this modern time by meeting in the Virtual World of computers to have some fun.

May schedule and agenda

Our guild president asked that we email her ASAP with any additions to the agenda for this week’s meeting.
The year end is fast approaching and if there is anything that must be brought up before the end of June – please call her NOW!
Our nominations are held at the June business meeting, and the nominations committee spends the month of May seeking volunteers to fill committee positions.

Can you step forward eagerly and make their job easier?
Can you suggest any changes to the committees to make the guild run smoother , so we can all enjoy next year’s activities?

I’ve made a suggestion to Gail that the hospitality committee be increased to 2 people and that they are in charge of meet and greet of new members. What do you all think? I’m sure Gail would appreciate some imput and discussion.

DEMO NIGHT for May is not as advertised!!!
It is tentatively planned to be a charity quilt workbee. Please stay tuned for up to the minute news from the program committee.
Scrap bins could be turned out and a new cutting blade in every rotary cutter would make fast work of random bits into useful squares, or strips. Just think of the possible quilt tops that we could make for Sept Show and tell.

Have you checked the blog entry for April 2 and have you posted your vote? Remember we’re trying to improve communications but it seems onesided right now.
Nina

machine quilting magazine

Alice had just commented about her new appreciation of thread after Carola’s talk. I thought I’d AGAIN mention about 2 of my favorite sources of information about thread and machine quilting.

The first of course is Patsy Thompson’s blog/website.  It’s important to bookmark it , as there is too much information to read at once. Not only can you read her extensive blog (and be sure to go back through her archived months and years) but you can enjoy her short clips from her DVD’s and print off her many PDF’s on free motion quilting patterns – all FREE!!
Patsy’s excellent teaching style shows well on all her DVDs and we’re anxious to see her soon to be published new thread painting video.

The second is a excellent , well published magazine that I discovered called Machine Quilting Unlimited. It is only available at this time through a subscription, and I wait anxiously for the next issue in the mail box.  I have been enjoying a series of articles by my friend Sarah Ann Smith. She just wrote extensively on “Design and Contrasting Lines” and includes samples useing different shades of thread to bring out the designs.

UPDATE (23 April 2009):  Patsy Thompson Designs has just released Free Motion Fun with Feathers Volume 2.  The samples she has in the write-up are phenomenal.