Since so many of us are members and supporters of both the Dallas and Plano guilds, I hope you got a chance to attend the Dallas Quilt Show. We had a lot of winners in the show—even if they do belong to both guilds—I’m counting them as Plano. So now we can again concentrate on getting ready for Quilt Plano 2022. It’s time to get your entries turned in, make minis to keep Kaye happy and to plan your volunteer time. The May meeting will be show roll out. All of the committee chairs will be ready to tell you about their specific areas and the help they need. The show happens because of volunteers. You are definitely needed to make this a successful show.

You may also sign up online probably starting mid May. Dolores is getting the forms set up with any changes we might need. If you sign up at the May meeting, Dolores and I will get your hours entered on the website also.

Be sure to pick up your raffle tickets at the meeting. Our position is if each member will purchase their $20 packet of 24 tickets to either keep or sell to friends, that will help us keep the membership dues lower. All of the guild expenses are increasing just like your personal expenses are……….help out by selling raffle tickets.

Keep stitching and get ready for a fun spring and summer.

Mary Elizabeth Kinch is a professional quiltmaker, teacher, speaker, fabric designer, and co-author of two best-selling books, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts and Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts. As you may gather from the titles, small, pieced quilts make her weak at the knees. She has been a featured guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. Her work has been shown at international quilt shows, juried into AQS Show Paducah, QuiltCon, and featured in many international quilting publications. She is a frequent contributor to Curated Quilts Magazine.

Mary Elizabeth believes in “Quilting with Abandon”, stretching traditional boundaries and creating quilts with a subtle salute to the past. She is enthusiastic about our quilting heritage and the lessons to be learned from the antique and vintage quilts she studies and collects. Her recent work explores traditional quilt designs expressed through “gestured appliqued lines” and the quilting stitch.

When not quilting, Mary Elizabeth designs interior residential projects where she uses a simple, elegant, well-edited approach, embracing color and light, to create homes her clients can relax and live life in.

She lives in Toronto, Canada and her kids would tell you she has “lots” of fabric!

Jump in and learn the secrets to success in working with these tiny morsels. Precision machine piecing is easy. In this class you will learn the techniques, tips, and tools to achieving accuracy. Learn how to cut once, sew once, with no trimming, allowing your pieces fit together harmoniously and your focus to be on the joy of stitching. After this workshop, you will be able to easily transfer these skills to your other quilting projects, no matter the scale of the pieces. We finish off the day learning about a “knife edge” binding – one of Mary Elizabeth’s favorite ways to finish a quilt. These persuasively addictive blocks will capture your heart and before you are finished you will be dreaming of your next small pieces project!

With the close of the Dallas Show, the Plano Show is just around the bend. Spend some quality time with your sewing machines—we want quilts! Minis are straggling in; thank you if you have donated one. We are not yet halfway to our goal of 80 mini quilts. Registration for the judged show will close June 9—that is a hard close as the layout work session is the next day. Get creative, dig through your stash, go fabric shopping, put in a new rotary cutter blade, plug in the iron, start sewing—we want quilts! As Donna mentioned, the May meeting is when we’ll jump in with both feet.

One project where we could use some specific talent is the Show Program. If you own, or at least have an operating knowledge of, InDesign, we’d appreciate some help. The peak period for pulling the program together is July.

Special Exhibits

by Jeanne Vogel

Special Exhibits are for display only and are the non-judged portion of the Quilt Show. There are 10 different areas to showcase:

Featured Quilter: We choose a quilter to feature and their display is hung at the entrance of the show and has a photo and an article in the program.
Memorial quilts for members that have passed in the previous year are hung with a short bio.
Guild workshop display from previous teachers at the guild.
Guild Activities challenge using the panels for Community Service quilts.
Small group challenges.
Art Quilters Of Plano display of monthly projects with fiber and fabric.
Quilting Sisters of Color—25th Anniversary Celebration in 2022
Quilts of Valor—our newest community service program donating quilts to honor veterans.
Community Service & Christmas Stockings—typically hung in the Children’s Area.
Judges each provide one of their quilts for display.

Special Exhibit Entry forms re available on the website, so keep completing your started projects to display. Please email me at pickincotton26@verizon.net for suggestions.

Community Service

By Linda Neal

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing to Community Service. Members have been piecing tops, sewing pillowcases, making Christmas stockings, and binding quilts. It is never ending! (Just like the pile of tops that need quilting!)

Everything has been running smoothly the last few months, which makes my job much easier. Thank you! If you are interested in volunteering to help community service–send me an email or stop by the Community Service table at our live meetings and I will get you started. Also, if you are interested in becoming VP of Community service–now is the time to let me know so you will have an easy transition. I have enjoyed being VP, but it’s time for someone else to serve.

Community Service is great for Plano and helps promote quilting. Just one quilt could help inspire a new generation of quilters. Have a great month! Linda Neal (lindanealmck@hotmail.com)

Community Service/Guild Activity Panel Challenge

It is not too late to join the Community Service Panel challenge! You may use your own panel and donate the top to community service or contact Linda Neal to see if any panels are available. Tops can be any usable size. If possible, please include matching binding. Entries can be turned in at any of our in person meetings or at the monthly Community Service sit and sew day. Please remember to attach a piece of paper with your name, top size, and contact information. You may turn in the top or a completed quilt. Due date for the Panel Challenge is the May 12th guild meeting. We will be drawing a name at the May meeting for the winner of an awesome prize!! Have questions? Contact Linda Neal — lindanealmck@hotmail.com

These past two years, we have had great success with our Zoom small bee meetings. I’ve been thinking about adding one more. Are you interested in making bags? Would you like to meet once a month on Zoom to discuss what you’re currently making? Or to ask questions if you need help? I know there are a number of us in the guild who do make bags. I want to reach out to those who would like to learn the techniques as well as add those of us who have made numerous ones.

If you would be interested, please email me with your name and the time you would like to meet. It can be any time……I haven’t set a time or day/evening for it. Just checking to see if there is an interest. Donna Petrick petrickdl@outlook.com

Worker Bees – Sharon McGinnis

Join us on April 19th at 6:30 pm. Come enjoy being with other quilters from the comfort of your home. We will share tips and tricks, answer questions about your project, have show and tell, and encourage each other. Contact Sharon McGinnis at sharon.mcginnis@verison.net to be added to the email notification list.

Sew Happy Quilters – Aurora Chancy

We meet at Sam Johnson Senior Center corner of 75 and 16th Steet on first Thursdays 9:00 to 4:00. We are a sit-n-sew, so bring your favorite project and enjoy the fellowship! Contact Aurora Chancy achancy@msn.com

Featherweight Fellowship Groups – Jeanne Vogel

Singer Featherweight sewing machines make happy owners as we sit and sew. We share tips for caring for the machine, our best notions, and have several members experienced with problem-solving both machine and quilting problems. If you work, join us on a Saturday! When we share a lot of tips and tricks we follow the meeting with an email to those attending. Those who have not previously notified me, please email pickincotton26@verizon.net to get the invitation to join the Zoom meeting.

Chicks with Feathers—3rd Saturdays Zooming 1-3pm — (Formerly at Sunrise of Plano)
Fourth Friday Featherweight Friends—4th Fridays @ 1-3pm on Zoom or in person meeting at Best Little Retreat Center in Texas all day.

Pieceful Organization – Sarah Krauss & Jeanne Vogel (Now we will meet twice a month!)

If you are feeling “abode overload,” we will: relieve clutter, stress, struggle and feelings of being overwhelmed. We are Zooming on the 3rd and the 4th Wednesday’s from 1:30-3:30 pm using the inspiration from a workshop we attended. Organization will change your clutter and chaos to start the day fresh with your stuff organized. Less chaos leads to more productive quilt making. Please contact pickincotton26@verizon.net for an invitation.

Free Motion Quilting Bee (we actually sew during the meeting!) – Monica Hendewerk

Our meetings have been a huge success. It turns out that Zoom blocks out background noise, so we can sew and chat at the same time! Monica or one of the other members provide some designs to practice on a small sandwich which you can choose to use or not. The designs are sent out in advance and include step by step instructions, with both beginner and intermediate designs. A number of us generally “doodle” on paper first, and then sew. Some people do the designs that have been sent out, others do their own thing. We have beginner beginners all the way to advanced members of the group. We also share our samples and ask/answer questions. Meetings are on the second Monday of the month, from 1:00 – 3:00 (or longer sometimes!). Please contact Monica so that she can send you the Zoom link if you are interested. mhendewerk@gmail.com (713) 569-8798

Hand Applique Small group – Linda Neal

We meet the first Monday of each month at 10:00 on Zoom. Our next meetings are April 4th and May 9th. We work on our individual projects and offer encouragement with lots of hints and tricks. If you are interested in joining our hand applique Zoom group, please email Linda Neal (lindanealmck@hotmail.com) for the link.

English Paper Piecing Small Group – Linda Neal

We meet on the third Tuesday at 10:00 on Zoom. April 19th and May 17th are our next meetings. Whether you are new to English Paper Piecing or a pro, we would love to have you join our group. Our group is informal and fun!! For a link, please email Linda Neal (lindanealmck@hotmail.com) for the link.

Hoop It Up Bee – Donna Petrick

The machine embroidery group meets the third Thursday each month on Zoom. We talk about problems or successes we might have had in using our machines as well as having show and tell. We are open to all levels of users. If you have an interest in machine embroidery, please join us. Email me petrickdl@outlook.com so I can send you the Zoom invitation.

Quilters Guild of Plano, Inc.

Letter from the President

Programs

Guild Meeting – Thursday, April 14, 2022

Lecture – Random Acts of Quilting

Workshop – Saturday, April 23, 2022

Guild Meeting – Thursday, May 12, 2022

Quilt Show Roll Out and Skill Builder Demos

Quilt Show

Quilt Plano 2022 will be August 12th and 13th.

Special Exhibits

Community Service

Community Service/Guild Activity Panel Challenge

Quilts of Valor

Education