March - National Quilting Month

As a way to honor National Quilting Month, we chose to watch an episode from The Kentucky Quilt Project's Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics. This is a very interesting and inspiring series that was aired on Public Television. The 2-disc set can be found in our library.  This nine-part television series presents quilts as more than just a hobby. It takes the viewer on a journey and introduces new ideas and uncovers the depth of the quilt culture through history.

During our break there were two demonstrations to stop by and see.  Debbie Barrett showed how to make chenille quick and simple.  And Aggie Straub did a "Fold and Stitch" runner. 
 

During the day Cathey Newhouse held a workshop on Ricky Tims Kaladoscope quilt.  Linda Burke had her strata piece from the workshop with her.  I'm sure it's very simple but it sure looks complicated!

Our Favorite Valentine

Our very own in-house Quilt Designer, Mary Lou Hallenbeck, was our guest speaker for February. We can always count on seeing something new and very special when she speaks at the Guild.  Leave it to her to find quilt patterns in antique glass dishes!  Her presentation on seeing the pattern in glassware and designing quilts patterns was so enticing.  Mary Lou had us all going home to see what patterns we could find in our dishes.

New Beginings for the New Year

Debbie Barrett started out the evening with a simple explanation of how to do the “Y” seam in the LeMoyne Star for this month’s technique segment.

Sue Stanton from Sew Unique Threads Quilt Shop in Battle Creek had so much to show us using many different techniques to enhance and embellish our quilts and projects.  She shared many different embroidery tips using different threads and yarns.  She also explained how to paint on fabric to make our own unique blocks. 

Cathey Newhouse showed an example of what is in store for her March workshop.

Asymmetrical November Fun

Marj Hobe introduced the second block in our Block of the month. Many of our members have a good start on the first block, including Clara Rauner who scaled it down to a miniature size.



Debbie Barrett demonstrated how to cut and weave strips fabric for a dimensional effect. 

 

Many of our members took the workshop held during the day and it was fun to see what they had accomplished.

 

We had a great time with our guest speaker Sheri Jaqua showing us several asymmetrical blocks and multiple ways of putting them together to create quite a variety of different looks.

Everything Coming up Quilts

Make sure you check out the information for our Quilt Show in May.  Click on the pages to the right to see the four raffle quilts and more details on the show.

October Fall Fun

Debbie Barrett and Marj Hobe introduced a Block of the Month Quilt for us to work on this year.  Each month before our meeting (at 6:00 & 6:30) they will be showing us how to make a different block. With each block, we will learn a different technique.  In October they showed both Blocks 1 & 2.  By the end of the year we should all have a quilt made in our own fabrics and colorways.  Hope you are ready to see Block 3 in November!

Marj and Debbie also introduced our 2012 Quilt Challenge - "Pure Michigan".  The rule is you cannot use the fabric as one whole piece or use the waterfall as a waterfall in your quilt.  This year there are no size restrictions.  Each kit is $5.00 and contains a fat quarter and rules for the challenge.

   

We had great fun with the Fall Lunch Bag Exchange!  We had 26 lunch bags filled with many delightful fall fabric collections.   The finished 12 1/2" blocks, and hopefully your finished projects, are due in February.  We should have enough blocks to do a quilt for our Quilt Show Silent Auction and one for Hospice.  Anytime you have your blocks done, please bring them to a meeting and give them to Sharon Bannister. 

Sherrie Jaqua will present a lecture/trunk show on Asymmetrical Block Quilts for our November meeting.  During the day she is holding a workshop at Hankerd Inn on the "Bouquet" Block.  The wonderful thing about her blocks are the many ways you can twist and turn the blocks to make dozens of quilts, each one interesting and different. Join us for  Sherrie's presentation on November 28th.               

September Dinner

In September we had our annual dinner and installation of officers.     

This year’s officers are:

President – Marilyn Deverell 

President Elect – Cheryl Zombo (revised)

Treasure – Lyn Compau

Secretary – Karri Howe

Correspondence Secretary – Bonnie Streeter

Directors – Sharon Bannister, Mary Jane Erwin & Delores Ray

Our previous President, Janet Rochefort, holds up one of the many beautiful flower quilt blocks she received as tokens of our thanks.

We all enjoyed White’s Chicken for dinner.  Not to mention all the fabulous desserts brought in.  No one walked away hungry that night.

Jeanne McGill from Hospice stopped by to thank the Guild for all of the quilts that have been made and donated to Hospice.  A total of 267 have been donated since we started back in July 2007.  She was also asking for us to track our “volunteer” hours we spent in making the quilts.  If anyone has questions they need to talk to Karen Davis for more details on how this can be done.

Many of our ladies enjoyed the workshop on August 30, 2011 with Dan Burke using paper foundation.  They had quite a nice collection of table runners to show us!

In November, our guest speaker  Sherrie Jaqua will be presenting a lecture and trunk show on Asymmetrical Block Quilts.  During the day she will be teaching a workshop at Hankerd Inn featuring the “Bouquet” block shown above.   Be sure to get with Mary Jane Erwin if you are interested in attending the workshop.