This last week a friend needed some help after falling and breaking a wrist. I got to thinking about how much I depend on my quilting buddies for help………maybe sewing advice and design, but lots of time it’s for moral support, for close friendship, for being someone I can count on. Each year, my quilting friends become more dear to me………..you are my chosen family. I hope each of you have found that friendship in someone in the guild or your immediate sewing circle. Think about what you would miss if your sewing friends were not in your life. Do something special for someone in your sewing circle or at the guild. Be that special friend to someone else today.

And speaking of help, we need to help each other with the new show entry method. It’s new for us. There are bound to be hiccups, but remember that we need to make this daunting job easier. And we need to be working in the current world. Computers run our lives. You can either fight it or embrace it, but your life is much easier because of computers. (Even when we get hacked as I did this last week, again.) Approach our new process with a sense of adventure and a positive attitude. Then be sure to read the fine print.

Last year we didn’t receive many quilt entries until we put out a call for quilts at the last moment. Then we were swamped with entries and nowhere to put them. This year we are trying to even out the load. Get your entries in early so as to not incur a late fee and to ensure that we have as beautiful a show as we have had in the past. I just finished one quilt for the show–except for the label, which will happen soon. Need to take the picture and go to the website to enter it.

Keep stitching and make a new friend at the next guild meeting.

Michele Markey

About Medina Domestic Arts Studio

Michele saw her first long arm in 2002 and vowed one day she would have her own long arming business. She got her wish when she retired from the oil and gas industry in 2009 to start her own quilting business AND fabric store. (Sometimes you should be careful of what you wish for!) After three years of running both businesses, she sold the fabric business to focus on the long arm offering custom quilting and embroidery, machine rentals, long arm and coloring fabric classes and custom digitizing. For the last 9 years Michele has been teaching classes both to groups and one-on-one in her studio, in quilt shops, quilt guild workshops and in private homes.

Fabric Painting 101 – The Elephant

Learn to Use Fabric Markers, Gel Pens, Paints and Inktense Pencils on this 16 Inch Doodled Elephant Block! Even if you don’t sew, if you can color in a coloring book you can color on fabric! Here is the best part of this class: you just show up! Michele will provide a block (for this class it will be a 16 inch block stitched out in black as seen below) and a coloring box full of her tools. You will learn several basic techniques on how to color on fabric as well as how to bling your block (if you so choose). When the class is done you will have a beautiful block to use in a quilt, pillow or on a bag!

Interested in seeing more fabric painting items? Check out www.medinadomarts.com for other blocks and coloring tools.

Instructor: Michele Markey

Time: Friday, April 14, 2023, 9:00am – 4:00pm (1-hour lunch)
Location: Best Little Retreat Center in Texas
7989 Beltline Road #168, Dallas, TX 75248
Workshop Fee:

Online – $47.00 (member), $57.00 (non-member)
Cash or Check – $45.00 (member), $55.00 (non-member)
Kit Fee: TBD

Intermediate Fabric Painting

Several years back while attending the Houston Quilt Show Michele met Sherry Rogers Harrison, another Innova quilter, who completely painted her wholecloth quilts. Intrigued, she took classes from Sherry as well as Linda Poole (another incredibly talented fabric painter). She was hooked! Since then, Michele has developed a niche – painting long arm and embroidery patterns (often redwork or lined designs). As more of her long arm clients saw the end product, they too wanted to learn how to color on fabric. So, she began to teach and developed a series of single and Block of the Month classes that range from beginner to expert as well as various price ranges. Her kits contain all the necessary tools to color each block and there are downloadable instructions as well as YouTube videos to complement each coloring block kit.

Instructor: Michele Markey

Time: Saturday, April 15, 2023, 9:00am – 4:00pm (1-hour lunch)
Location: Best Little Retreat Center in Texas
7989 Beltline Road #168, Dallas, TX 75248
Workshop Fee:

Online – $47.00 (member), $57.00 (non-member)
Cash or Check – $45.00 (member), $55.00 (non-member)
Kit Fee: $65.00

How is your show quilt progressing? Registration is open! The early bird discount to enter your quilt in the show at no cost for guild members ($15 for non-members) closes at the May 11 guild meeting. You need a picture of the completed top and the dimensions to enter. The registration form is online at www.qgplano.org/quilt-entries/. There will be friendly faces at the April, May and June guild meetings with computers to help you with your entry, if desired. Just email the picture of your quilt to showregistration@qgplano.org in advance or bring it on a flash drive. Give some thought to your “Quilter’s Statement” for the sign. Guild members can enter quilts between the May 11 and the June 8 guild meetings for $20 (or $35 for non-members).

The mini-quilt auction is looking for more minis. A mini is a quilt no larger than 24” per side. Please put a sleeve on your mini and bring it to an April or May guild meeting or community service sew day.

The May meeting is the Show Roll-out. It’s your chance to learn about the many roles behind a quilt show and sign up for those that are for you. There are literally hundreds of shifts Tuesday – Saturday. You will also have a chance to buy a lunch for show days, pins, raffle tickets, and show T-shirts—if any are left. It’s a fun and rewarding way to make new friends, connect with old friends, and give back to the guild.

And, as a preview to what you can see at the Show, we have quite the bonus treat! Our guild board member Michael Davison has secured a dozen (12!) of Judy Niemeyer’s quilts to show at the May meeting. To be clear, these are Judy’s quilts, not quilts made from her complex patterns. This is your chance to see in person her color and fabric choices, plus the first class quilting of award winning quilters. As a bonus, Michael may let slip a couple of secrets behind these amazing quilts. Michael’s show booth will offer Quiltworx paper, kits and rulers. Joining Michael is Lorrie Gray, both are training to become certified instructors for Quiltworx.

Plan to attend the May meeting in person!

Guild Activities

By Michael Davison

It’s time for a super fun class in May! It’s all about Orphan Blocks with MJ Fielek. This class will help you clean your stash of all the leftover blocks, half-square triangles, four-patches, and all the unfinished projects from classes you’ve taken! You can use embroidered linens, old blocks, etc. You will work with value, not color. This is a good quilt to use all those fabrics that you do not like the color. Points don’t matter; if a block does not fit, add a strip or just cut it down in size. When the quilt is finished, quilted and bound, you will then dye it to a color of your choice.

The Leftovers quilt is designed to use all the strips that we cut after each project intending to make a quilt out of them. We just sew all strip sizes together in a unit and slash into sections at angles and add a small strip of color or black and white. This is a great quilt with some strips of novelty fabrics that we buy and never use. Black and white calms the other colors, brings the whole together, and makes a quilt that has a modern feel.

Join MJ Fielek as she guides us through this fun class on Saturday May 6 at Best Little Retreat Center in Texas. Follow this link for more info! https://bestlittleretreatcenterintexas.com/events/orphan-blocks-leftovers-class-with-mj-fielek

Community Service

By Bonnie Cook

Thanks to your generosity, in March, we donated 40 quilts and pillowcases, nine baby quilts, seven dog beds and 21 crate liners.

We’re finishing up our house/tree project. Thanks to the members who’ve participated at the Community Sew Days, Quilt Retreat and those picking up kits at the February guild meeting, we have a total of eight quilts to donate – and they’re beautiful!

The next Community Sew Day is Tuesday, April 11 from 10:00 – 2:00 at Plano Sewing Center. It’s a great group of people who come together. Now’s a great time to join since we’re starting on a new quilt project.

Don’t forget to bring your scraps of fabric and batting to the guild meetings next week. We will have dog bed covers available for stuffing.

Finally, are you working on your Birthday Quilt for the 2023 challenge? Each member who donates a completed quilt (including quilting and binding) in celebration of their birthday will be entered into a drawing for a bundle of fat quarters.

Quilts of Valor

By Evelyn Cheek

The mission of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing.

QOVF Core Values:

Treating people with respect
Promoting excellence
Valuing service over self
Being accountable

www.QOVF.org

Last month I attended the Guild Meeting by zoom and was so delighted to see the number of quilts, quilt blocks, and quilt labels returned to QOV at the community service table. I picked them up from Valerie S the following Tuesday at Community Service Day. Thank you, Val for collecting!

Browse the community service table and have a look at the new 2023 QOV block. The pattern is on the QOV website at www.QOVF.org and is available to print. For some of us it’ll be a welcome challenge. For others, it will be a piece of cake to make a few individual blocks using your own fabric for us to send to the national offices of QOV in South Carolina. Remember a scant quarter inch is your best friend! Make as many as you’d like throughout the year. Jeanne Fletcher turned hers in last month and did a beautiful job. Thank you, Jeanne!

Thank you, thank you thank you to the young lady who donated a small basket with a beautiful pieced quilt top to be finished that she’d received from a loved one. And Julie C did a marvelous long arm job on the most recently donated patriotic. It’s stunning! Thank you, Julie!

A HUGE shout out to Jeannette G for creating labels on her embroidery machine and donating them to the Guild! They are very fine in the making and are ready to attach to our donated quilts. Thank you so much Jeannette! We’re ready for 6 more as you find time to donate again.

As you browse the Community Service table (where QOV is located) you may be interested in picking up a Patriotic Quilt Bag to finish. There’s binding, quilting, labels, etc. to be completed for each quilt to be ready to wrap around a deserving veteran later this year. Below is a list of jobs to be done. Plano quilters are sooooooo generous with their time and talents and we see the fruits of our labor each time someone offers to make a donation.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Feel free to meet me at the table!

This month we have available quilt bags that need:

1 backing and quilting
2 that need binding attached
1 that needs binding and label attached
6 that need labels attached

Happy Quilting!

**Worker Bees – Third Thursday on Zoom – Sharon McGinnis**

We are buzzing with excitement to start this new group! Held via Zoom on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Our next meeting will be April 20th at 7:00 pm. This small group is a great fit for anyone with time available in the evenings. This group will include ANY type of quilting activity—piecing, hand quilting, machine quilting, embroidery, you name it. The name of our game is friendship and fellowship around our virtual quilting circle. Contact Sharon McGinnis at sharon.mcginnis@verizon.net to be added to the roster and a Zoom link will be sent out a day or two before each meeting. Any questions can also be directed to Sharon at 972-467-5799.

Sew Happy Quilters – Aurora Chancy

We meet at Sam Johnson Senior Center corner of 75 and 16th Steet on 1st Thursdays and 4th Tuesdays 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

Pieceful Organization – Sarah Krauss & Jeanne Vogel (Now we 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. 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. 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.

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 at pickincotton26@verizon.net to get the invitation to join the Zoom meeting.

Chicks with Feathers—3rd Saturdays Zooming 1-3pm — or in person at Sam Johnson Recreation Center at 401 W 16th St. Plano, TX
Fourth Friday Featherweight Friends—4th Fridays @ 1-3pm on Zoom or in person meeting at Best Little Retreat Center in Texas all day.

Membership

By Mary Alice Caffarel

Keep ‘em coming! Thanks to all who have already turned in 9 patch blocks. The colored pieces should read as a solid, and the light pieces should be white or very light cream/beige color. Directions are available on the web site under Activities/ Nine Patch. You may drop them off at the Membership table at each meeting. This is a good way to use up scraps, especially those in short supply.

It was good to see so many of you with NAMETAGS at the March meeting. Keep it in your purse or car so you’ll have it every month.

Hoping each of our members has a Happy Birthday celebration in between all of the April showers.

2 – Donna Petrick
7 – Jeanette Grimm
7 – Kim Stevenson
8 – Sara Lindsay
9 – Liz Beaty
9 – Tina Connolly
13 – Sharon Holliday
15 – Laurie Bechtel
17 – Beverly Geise
17 – Deanna Tucker
19 – Jamie Engle
23 – Ann McDougal
27 – Mary Alice Caffarel
27 – Anne Leather
28 – Elaine Henry
28 – Jennifer Waters
29 – Pat Fowler
29 – Deborah Skorepa

Quilters Guild of Plano, Inc.

Letter from the President

Programs

April Guild Meeting – Thursday, April 13, 2023

Workshop

Workshop

May Guild Meeting – Thursday, May 11, 2023

Quilt Plano 2023

Quilt Show T-Shirts

Guild Activities

Community Service

Quilts of Valor