March 2020 Newsletter

Guild Meeting – Thursday, April 9, 2020

Lecture: Patchwork to Artwork – Journey of an Alaskan Quiltmaker

Non-members: There is a $5 Fee for this National Speaker

Quilt Artist, Maria Shell, will share her work from her first stitches to her most recent pieces along with some fun stories about trying to quilt while raising three boys in the wild lands of Alaska. Maria’s work is grounded in the tradition of American patchwork while also connecting to both the modern and art quilt moments. It is a journey filled with laughter, dark Alaskan nights, and lots of stitching.

In the Know

Entry forms are online and we have received our first entry. Are you finishing your quilt entries? Please plan to enter your quilts, up to 4, and participate in the guild show. Without you, we don’t have a show. This is our showcase. We all enjoy seeing the work of our friends being displayed.

Then plan on volunteering for the show. It takes lots of us working together to put on this production. It’s a great way to meet others in the guild you haven’t yet met and to learn all the things we do as a group. Working 4 hours for the show will earn you a free entry for one day.

If you would like to work on the show committee, it’s time to volunteer to learn what is involved. We are currently looking for a member or two who would enjoy working with our vendors. Please contact Carol Long, Rose Davis or me if you might be the one.

I hope that all of you who gave your time volunteering for the guild in 2019 sent your hour count to Julie Schaefer by the end of January. Soon we will have a program online in which to record your volunteer hours for the guild. As soon as we are set up, you will receive notification on how to enter hours. Until then, please keep a record of your hours that can be submitted online later.

The Presidential Volunteer Service Award information has been submitted and we hope to have the pins and certificates back soon.

If you have already reached your 30 hour volunteer time for 2020, check in with Tisha Harms at a guild meeting to receive your service bar. You qualify for a service bar after you have given 30 hours of time doing any job for the guild. It could be selling raffle tickets at an event, making a mini quilt for the quilt show, sewing any of the community service items available or doing any of the many activities it takes to keep the guild running and active. Your travel time to/from such meetings also counts.

2020 RALLY DAY NEWS

Save Saturday, July 11 so you don’t miss this year’s Rally Day. Doors will open at 9am and admission is FREE to all to celebrate our 20th year!! This year’s speaker is Marti Michell. She is making a return to TAQG’s Rally Day as she was the speaker at the first Rally Day. This is the 20th Rally Day so we thought it appropriate to invite her back to help celebrate. The week after Rally Day, she will be the 2020 inductee into the Quilters Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana. So, invite your non-guild-friends to see an internationally known speaker, have lunch provided by McAlister’s for $10, have a chance to bid on many silent auction items, and raffle gifts. Who knows, you may go home with one of the over 100 door prizes. And for those of you who love them, we will have Goody Bags to the first 500 through the door.

Many of you love workshops, so Marti will teach three. Fat Quarter Log Cabin is on Wednesday, Hexagon is on Thursday and Mariner’s Compass is on Friday. But don’t wait too long to decide as they are already filling up…Mariner’s Compass is already half full!

Our guild continues to thrive and grow- which is great! We have had amazing speakers, first rate workshops, and wonderful attendance at our monthly guild meetings. Members are participating in Community Service, guild challenges, and I have heard wonderful things about the recent retreat at the Hilton Garden Inn. Kudos to Carol Long and her daughter Dorothy for their hard work organizing the retreat for 108 attendees.

With all of this growth in guild activities and the quilt show just around the corner, we are discovering that we need help! We have lots of new members and current members that may like to join to volunteer for a job in the guild. But they don’t know where to start. So, to match up guild members with jobs, we are going to have a “classified job listing” on our website. Volunteering for a job, big or small, is a great way to meet other members and help us keep the guild running smoothly. Some of the jobs are easy and fun. Some of the jobs require technical skills (i.e. computer skills, bookkeeping, etc.). Some of the jobs help you burn calories and some of the jobs are sedentary. Some of the jobs require a short commitment and some of the jobs will be on going.

The classified will list all of the information about the job requirements, approximate number of hours per week/month, length of commitment needed, who you will be working under, and how to “apply” for the job! We hope this will make it easier for members (new and existing) to help the guild and use their talents. It takes a lot of volunteers to run this guild (and quilt show). We need YOU!

Until next month- Happy Quilting

Hi Everybody,

I hope this finds everyone in good spirits and ready for the Spring forward time change, St. Patrick’s Day, and our Pillow Exchange!

Don’t forget to bring your pillow to the March Guild meeting and make sure you sign/date it for the recipient.

If you need the pattern, it is on the guild website under the Activities tab, then click on Challenges. If you need a pillow form, I have been told that Wal-Mart has one that fits the pillow perfectly.

Please do not bring the pillow wrapped or in a gift bag.

Our next ‘guild activity’ will be participating in the Quilt of Valor for TAQG Rally Day. That will carry us through July, and then we will take a small break until after Quilt Plano.

See you at the meeting.

Thank you so much to the 105 ladies and one gentleman, who participated in the Annual Retreat at the Hilton Garden Inn in Denison this last week. We donated over 1,500 items and $830 in cash to Denison Helping Hands. For those who donated to this cause, their name went into a drawing for a new Baby Lock sewing machine that was donated by Plano Sewing Center. The winner of the machine was Ida Sue Rostosky. We made several community service quilts, thanks so much to Pam Walsh and her small group who cut and packaged the kits for the retreaters to sew.

If you would like to attend the 2021 Retreat, please send your $50 non-refundable deposit to Chanda Smith. Registration is open to Guild Members only until September 1st. Please make your checks payable to Quilters Guild of Plano.

Thank you so much for all of the kind words to myself and Dorothy, as hosts of the retreat. We look forward to next year with ya'll!

Thanks so much!

We had 125 members present.

There were 5 visitors, Gayle Meador, Margaret Burke, Mary Marrone, Grace Colbertson, Debbie Evans.

The 7 new members were: Celene Bishop, Cynthia, DeVoll, Roxanne Doelling, Gwenn Erlinger, Roxanne Gross, Linda Kaiser, Tracie Williams.

We continue to take member renewal fees.

The following quilt stores made donations for the door prizes:

Sew Dallas www.shopstitchhouse.com
Against the Grain Notions www.splintersandstrings.com
Linda’s Electric Quilters www.longarmsupplies.net
Savvy Quilters www.savvyquilters.com
The Quilt Asylum www.thequiltasylum.com
Not Your Mama’s Quilt Store www.notyourmamasquiltstore.com
Stitchin’ Heaven www.stitchinheaven.com
Sew Let’s Quilt It www.sewletsquiltit.com
Quilt Country www.quiltcountry.com

Susan Lenox -- 3/1
Rhonda Briscoe -- 3/2
Jeanne Vogel -- 3/2
Janelle Garrett -- 3/4
Sheryl Vaughan -- 3/4
Catherine Daigle -- 3/5
Martha A. Jones -- 3/6
Barbara Collins -- 3/8
Patti Griffith -- 3/11
Carolyn Kohut -- 3/11
Mary Thomas Imhoff -- 3/12
Nancy LaVerdure -- 3/13
Shirley St. Clair -- 3/13
Candi Aulbaugh -- 3/15
Denise Green -- 3/15
Laura Winckel -- 3/16
Karen Freeman -- 3/17
Karen Woodard -- 3/18
Linda Chappell -- 3/19
Alice Payn -- 3/19
Pam Walsh -- 3/19
Fran Casey -- 3/22
Erika Inglhofer -- 3/22
Marty Crouch -- 3/23
Denny Lay -- 3/23
Sharon McGinnis -- 3/25
Margaret Harkins -- 3/26
Alice B. Gore -- 3/30

Our guild members are really stepping up for Community Service. At the last meeting I gave out everything I carried in to be distributed. This included a crate full of quilts to be quilted, a crate of quilts needing binding and a small crate of pillowcase kits. I was so happy they went out so fast. Thank you Guild members, you are amazing!

I do want to remind you that we do not have sign-out sheets for the items you are taking home. Which means that if you take something home and you do not have to bring it to the next meeting, it is something you do when you have time.

QUILTING DAY, April 14

I want to remind everyone that we will be having our quilting day on April 14, from 10 am – 3 pm. We will be at the Best Little Retreat Center in Texas. The quilts will be spray-basted and ready to go. We will not be bringing quilts that need binding – there just isn’t room in our cars to get everything there.

I would encourage you to come to our Quilting Day if you are interested in learning quilting. We will do demonstrations on using your walking foot and free-motion quilting. It is a great way to learn how to quilt. Most of the quilts are on the smaller side so they will be easy to handle.

Let us know if you are coming – email Dolores at quiltingpony@hotmail.com or Valerie at salter125@hotmail.com.

Don’t forget we still have the quilting contest going. You get your name in for a drawing for every quilt you quilt. The drawing will be at the December meeting.

The Least of These

Members of the Quilters Guild of Plano have big hearts. They are concerned for each other and for members of the community. They are helpers and doers and when someone is in need, they are quick to answer the call. Once again, we are gathering items for the PISD School-Age Program Graduation Party. These parents have worked hard to fulfill the requirements for graduation and to learn valuable life skills that will improve the future prospects of their children. We have partnered with PISD to help in this process. I will be delivering your gifts of clothes, quilts, gift cards and other baby to toddler items after the May meeting. There will be a collection basket available at the next three guild meetings. Thank you for your generosity.

Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these …

I had an incredible treat and surprise from the guild this time. Someone embellished the cuffs on 2 of the stockings! That is going to really make a soldier or veteran feel especially loved!

Unfortunately, I also had a few turned in that were dirty. We don’t think about how dusty fabric is, or how dusty our sewing stations can get, but especially cotton, is dusty even straight out of the dryer. My house has gotten much dustier since I started this office. My entertainment center sometimes looks like a dryer lint screen! So, yeah, not to be mean, but we need to clean a little.

In terms of what you could contribute, I could use ribbon in certain colors: red, navy blue, royal blue, baby blue, gold, yellow. Other than that, due to Y’all’s incredible generosity, I have all I need!

I turned in 32 pet beds to 2 shelters this month. Great work guys! And thank you for respecting my rule of “you make ‘em, I take ‘em. That helps so very much.

On that note, a friend came over the other day and we sorted through a big minivan load of fabric that one of her friends had “given” her. Very little was usable. We made and filled 5 pet beds. Then the discussion was what to do with the rest. Guys, we have GOT to stop doing this to each other. We need to apply the Golden Rule when it comes to textiles. Ask yourself whether this is something the other person would actually want. If the answer is no, then find somewhere else to dump!

So, here are a few ideas:

Thrift stores. Also a great place to shop for fabric! And there are lots of them in the area.
Senior Centers and retirement centers
Various small charities. Ask around the guild. Many, if not most of our members are involved in a variety of different programs. These tend to be highly specialized as to what they want. Be sure to ask before donating. For instance, Binky Patrol wants usable quilt scraps only.

Quilters Guild of Plano, Inc.

To bring to the next meeting...

Programs

March

April

Advertisement

Quilt Plano 2020

Volunteer Hours Information

Texas Association of Quilt Guilds

Fat Quarter Log Cabin

Hexagon

Mariner's Compass

Rally Day Pin

Letter from the President

Advertisement

Guild Activities

Retreat

Membership

March Birthdays

Advertisement

Community Service

PISD

Stocking and Pet Beds Report

Stockings

Shelter Pet Beds

Tech Corner

What's New on the Website?

Month Meeting Photos

Advertisement

General Meeting Minutes

Board Meeting Minutes