By the time you read this we should be past all the cold miserable weather (I hope). The one good thing about being house bound is that I got a lot of sewing done. For a couple of days I barely looked outside and certainly didn’t go out. But now we are into March…….spring is coming along with sunshine and buds popping out all over the place. I hope you sewed a lot too in February because in March we will all be out in the gardens. While you were sewing, did you think of things to do for the guild? Did you make a mini or two? Work on your panel challenge? Decide you wanted to be the next show chair? Come on gang. I need some help here.

The web directory is looking better though there are still a lot of you who have not completed your profile. Please take a few minutes to do so.

With the “unmasking” taking place, I hope more of you will be ready to come back to in person guild meetings. Yes, it’s easy to stay home and watch on the computer or phone. And it’s very easy to do something else and just listen to the meeting. But you aren’t meeting the new people in the guild; you aren’t connecting with your friends who do attend and you are missing out on what makes this guild so great……….friends who have a love of quilting and who want to share it with others. Come on back. I’ve missed all of you and am ready to see your happy faces. For those of you who can’t drive at night any longer or who live too far away to attend, we plan to continue with Zoom. We want you to still be part of us too.

Keep on quilting………….

Teresa Duryea Wong loves presenting quilt lectures. She’s been at since 2015 and has no plans to stop. She is a serious researcher, and recognized scholar, who brings quilt history alive. After working in television news, magazine publishing, and 20 plus years in the corporate world, she turned to her passion – quilting. In 2014, Teresa earned a Master of Liberal Studies degree from Rice University. She was named the ‘Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Foundation Scholar’ by the Bybee Foundation and the Texas Quilt Museum. She is author of four, nonfiction quilt history books covering Japanese quilts and textiles, as well as American quilt history and cotton farming. A 5^th book is due out late in 2021. She is a regular contributor of quilt history articles for Curated Quilts magazine.

Learn more at: https://TeresaDuryeaWong.com

Japanese Contemporary Quilts and Quilters: The Story of an American Import
Cotton and Indigo from Japan
American Cotton: Farm to Quilt
Magic and Memories: 45 Years of International Quilt Festival and the Story of Two Women Who Changed Quilt History
Stitching Stolen Lives: The Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project (Available late 2021. Co-authored with Sara Trail.)

Lecture – Hello Modern Art. Meet Antique Quilts

Mid-century modern artists are widely cited as innovators who forged new ground in art history and created entirely new genres of art. The majority of those who succeeded and became well-known are male and were mostly concentrated in New York and Europe. Their ideas, and their art, are seen as inventive and completely original. However, some elements of this new graphic style of contemporary art created during the middle of the 20th century is most certainly inspired by quilt art from the previous 100 years. Even if the artists were unaware of grandma’s quilts, there is substantial evidence to show her influence was profound. This lecture will dissect the art created by women quiltmakers and how their designs, patterns and colors forged new ground in fine art design, yet their voices and art were completely unheard by the art establishment.

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!

The quilt show has momentum! As a result of the hard work of lots of volunteers: Registration, Special Exhibits entries, and appraisal appointments are open. Vendors are signing contracts and sending in deposits. The bookmarks were distributed, and posters are being printed.

What can you do to help?

Make a mini. Thank you to those who already turned in a mini! Making a mini is a fun way to expand your creativity, plus contribute to one of the guild’s major fundraisers. See www.qgplano.org for the specifics.
Share your skills. Demos are being booked by Linda Chappell, Dana Braden, and Alice Payne. Contact one of these ladies if you want to volunteer or suggest a topic.
Spread the Bag Bonanza Raffle Word. Contact Sherry Worley if you have ideas of a place/organization she could sell raffle tickets. Plus, stash a few dollars to buy yourself some extra tickets at the May Guild meeting.
Be the first to know. Follow the Guild on Facebook and Instagram. Watch as we generate even more excitement with an addition to our team, social media coordinator Bonnie Landon.
Mark your calendar. Plan to volunteer Aug 9-13, especially Aug 12 and 13.

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

March 8th from 10-2 will be our next Community Service Sew day at Plano Sewing Center. Join us as we sew on Community Service tops or stop in to drop off completed community service projects.

Last month we took in 38 stockings, 14 knitted caps, 15 cuddles, 45 pillowcases, 12 quilted quilts ready for binding, 7 panel challenge tops and 25 tops sewn by members. In addition 58 quilts were completed and ready for donation. They were combined with the previous months donations allowing us to deliver 15 quilts with pillow cases to the Children’s Advocacy Center, 9 quilts to the Rape Crisis Center, 10 quilts to the Samaritan Inn and 34 quilts with pillowcases went to Children’s Medical Center. It was a busy month!! Thank you to everyone who contributed their time and talents.

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. Have questions? Contact Linda Neal -- lindanealmck@hotmail.com

Record Your Volunteer Hours!

We want to know what you are up to. Record your volunteer hours and receive a volunteer bar for 30 hours of service! For volunteering at Quilt Plano 2022, you will receive a charm for your bar!

To record your hours just email volunteer_hours@qgplano.org. If you do not have access to a computer, you can call Tisha Harms at 214.316.5066.

Record your hours at your convenience – daily, weekly, monthly or once a year noting the following categories: Community Service, Show, Education or Guild Work.

Send an email or make a call and we will keep track of your hours for you.

When you have reached 30 hours, we will notify you that your bar can be picked up at the next general meeting!

You can purchase a Vintage Sewing Machine pin for $5.00 at any guild meeting to hang you bar and charm on.

For more information, contact Tisha Harms (214-316-5066 or tisha.harms@gmail).

Education

COLOR VALUE IN YOUR QUILT

By Cindy Skarin

Value is the lightness or darkness of a color, and when used well, can create depth, emphasis, and add a lot of interest. If our entire quilt is made up of one value, likely that top is less exciting or the design can be muddled. The problem is that value can sometimes be tricky to see, especially when we are using different colors and prints.

The color value of your fabric is relative to other fabrics or items around it. This is a really important fact! This means that whether a fabric appears to be dark or light can depend on the fabrics surrounding it. While white will always appear light and black will always be dark, colors closer to the middle of a color range can appear light next to really dark colors or dark next to really light colors.

A quick tip for seeing the color values of your fabric is to lay them out in a row and take a greyscale photo of them with your phone (this feature can usually be found in the edit section of your photos). Removing the color makes it much easier to see the fabric values.

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 March 16th 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 for Zoom login information.

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 March 7th and April 4th. 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. March 15th and April 19th 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.

Membership

By Mary Alice Caffarel

Thank you to all who have updated their member profiles in the database on the website. If you have not done so, please put your information in soon. Only paid members can access the membership directory. Be sure to check the box that allows us to share the information with our members.

We have one new member. Sarah Beard was a guest at the February meeting and has since joined the Guild. Welcome!

With Covid slowing down, and daylight savings time starting soon, I am hoping more members will rejoin us in person for our meetings. That fellowship is so important to most of us.

Quilters Guild of Plano, Inc.

Letter from the President

Programs

Guild Meeting - Thursday, March 10, 2022

Guild Meeting - Thursday, April 14, 2022

Workshop - Saturday, April 23, 2022

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Quilt Show

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