Letter from the President

By Linda Neal

I have been a quilter now for 16 years.  When I started, I was just looking for a creative outlet away from cross stitching.  After making a million little X’s on aida cloth, I was ready for a change.  I went to the Dallas quilt show.  I could not believe the quilts, the vendors, the people.  It was a loud and vibrant convention center with people all enjoying a common interest--quilting. 

I purchased a machine and started taking some classes.  I heard about quilt guilds, but I did not think I was good enough to join a guild.  But, over time, I met a lady in a class who invited me to visit her guild and attend a retreat.  It was then that I realized that quilting was not just about sewing pieces together with a  perfect ¼ inch seam.   Quilting was about socializing.  Guild meetings are  just a big party every month for quilters.  And small groups--those are just like block parties with your neighbors.

And then COVID-19 hit.  All the parties came to an abrupt halt.  No quilt shows, no guild meetings, and not even a block party.  But, as quilters we adapted.  We have found another way to party--online with Zoom.  Guild meetings, small groups, and even some quilt shows are happening.  We are once again gathering and sewing.  Instead of speakers traveling to lecture, they are able to “Zoom” into our houses.  Small groups are organizing and thriving. I have joined a class on Zoom where the instructor is in the San Francisco Bay area.  It all kind of reminds me of that line in Jurassic Park, “ Life will find a way.” 

Renew your membership today.  Come out and join us on Zoom.  Join us at guild meetings with an awesome line up of Zoom speakers.  Join us in the small groups we are organizing. In September we are starting with small groups for Featherweights, Machine Embroidery, Hand Applique and English Paper Piecing.  Yes, it is different. But, we will still all be together doing what we love. And together we will get through 2020!  Happy Stitching.

2020 Raffle Quilt

By Donna Petrick

Congratulations to Tina Connolly for winning the two beautiful raffle quilts for this year!!  We had a nice turnout on Saturday, August 8th to turn in community service items and to draw for the quilts.  We made just over $4000 which though not as much as we had hoped was still a nice sum.  Thank you to all of you who bought tickets and made donations.

Let’s hope that next year we get to have a quilt show and make money on our next quilt.

Programs

By Jeanne Smith

The guest speaker for our September Zoom guild meeting has changed. Leo Ransom, who was previously scheduled, will be rescheduled when we are able to meet in person again.

We now will welcome Ellen Lindner! Ellen comes to us from Melbourne, Florida.

She is a talented quilt artist and teacher, who is passionate about making fabric into art.  She says, “I make art for the pure joy of doing so!”  Known for its strong contrasts and vivid colors, her art has been shown throughout the United States, and beyond, has been commissioned by several well-known hospitals, and has been published in several magazines. Ellen has been seen on Quilting Arts TV, where she taught some of her techniques.  She’s also written two books and several magazine articles.

Her work is very diverse, ranging from pictorial still lifes to modernist abstracts.  In addition to using commercial fabrics, Ellen has recently started dying much of her own fabric. This enlivens her pieces and gives her one more way to control the results. She works in a freeform collage style, while borrowing heavily from traditional quilt making techniques.

Guild Meeting – Thursday, September 10, 2020

Ellen Lindner – Lecture: Adventures in Color 

Color is the first thing we notice about a quilt. It either attracts us or repels us. Learn how to avoid color surprises in your quilts, and how to get color to work for you. Basic color theory is explained in simple terms, and demonstrated with fabulous quilts. A variety of different color combinations are discussed, from subdued to dramatic.

Quilt Plano 2021

By Donna Petrick

It certainly seems strange to be thinking about 2021 quilt show when we ought to just be recovering from the 2020 show.  But that is what this year has brought to us.   We will have a zoom show meeting later this year to talk about our options.

If you are interested in being on the show committee, please contact me.  We can always have more than one person doing any job.  It helps with the learning curve for each job.  I’m not sure what positions will be open at this point.  But we will put you to work.

I still have not disposed of the old hanging system and would like to clear it out of the storage unit in the near future.  If you know of anyone who could use wooden poles in various lengths, send them my way.

Community Service

By Dolores Williams and Valerie Salter

Community Service is remaining active during the Pandemic. I have been taking about one day a week and doing community service sewing.  So far I have made about twelve tops and have sewn at least 50 backs for the quilt tops we have stored in the ‘Barn’. For a while our charities were not allowing donations to come in.  They are now opening their doors to donations and are ready to accept quilts, huggies, baby hats, etc.  We are collecting donations from members and distributing them to our organizations. 

We will have another pick-up and drop-off day on September 22, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am.  More information about where will be posted on the website plus we will have an email go out for a reminder.

Both Valerie and I will be returning as co-chairs of Community Service next year and hope to keep the guild’s momentum going forward for helping our communities’ charities. I want to mention that we have a lot of fabric stored in my ‘Barn’ (an air conditioned metal building that is 24’ x 30’).  If you would like to do community service sewing but are running out of fabric (Ha, Ha), we have plenty stored here.  Some people send me a shopping list and I pull fabrics they need.  Others come out and pick their own.  We need to remember that this fabric is owned by the guild for guild use, so please feel free to use it to make things for our charities. We use the fabric to make kits for tops and then make the backings.  Smaller pieces are used for pillowcases.  We are hoping to start making kits for tops again.  We will not be having our Community Service Sew days for a while yet, but the patterns we make are easy and fun to make.  We will be distributing them at the drop-off, pick-up day. 

Quilts Made by Members for Community Service

New Sewing Bees

By Donna Petrick

At the August Zoom guild meeting, Linda and I announced we were interested in starting some new “bees” with our guild and holding them via Zoom. Since then Jeanne Vogel volunteered for one also. Information is listed below for the Bees and contact information. We will also post it on our website under Activities – Small Groups

• Machine Embroidery Group – anyone interested in meeting about machine embroidery, please contact Donna Petrick (petrickdl@outlook.com).  We are going to meet on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 10:00 am. Our first Zoom meeting will be September 17th. You will need to register with me so that I can extend the invitation to the meeting.
• Singer Featherweight -- anyone owning a featherweight machine and interested in joining a "bee," please contact Jeanne Vogel (pickincotton26@verizon.net). We will continue to meet with the same schedule. Those who have not previously notified me, please email me to get the invitation to join the Zoom meeting.
  • • Chicks with Feathers—3rd Saturday @ 1pm — Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Nov. 21, Dec. 19 (Formerly meeting at Sunrise of Plano).  
    • Fourth Friday Featherweight Friends--(Formerly meeting at Best Little Retreat Center in Texas)--1pm — Sept. 25, Oct. 23, Nov. 27, no meeting in Dec. 2020. 
• English Paper Piecing -- Whether you like to glue baste, or thread baste your papers--all are welcome.  You just need  a love for English Paper Piecing to join our group.  We are meeting on Zoom at 10:00 on Sept 22, Oct 20, Nov 17 and Dec 15. Contact Linda Neal (lindanealmck@hotmail.com) to be added to the list and a Zoom link will be sent out the day before.  
• Hand Applique -- Love to hand applique?  Grab your  WIP ( Work in Progress) and let’s all stitch together.  Our meeting dates for 2020 are:  Sept 29, Oct 13, Nov 10 and Dec 8. We will start at 10:00.   Email Linda Neal at lindanealmck@hotmail.com to join or for any questions.  A Zoom link will be sent out the day before.

Do YOU want to lead and start a guild small group? Contact Linda Neal.  We are open to adding other small groups to the list.

More Projects Completed

Guild Activities

By Leigh Knox

Happy September Everybody.  Surely fall is just around the corner.  Happy Birthday to all of us September babies!  Mine usually falls on Labor Day weekend, and so I milk it for a week!  My poor husband.

So I hope everyone enjoyed the table runners.  All of my fabric is packed up and in storage so I have not had a chance yet to make anything.  The only thing not packed are quilts that need bindings (yawn, lol). 

For September I have a super simple tote.  If you have been looking for something to do with those charm packs that you’ve been hoarding - this is it! The pattern will be uploaded to the website under activities. 

Enjoy and please send us pictures of your totes and your table runners!

Membership

By  Sue Rentz & Karen Edmondson

Our August Zoom meeting attendance increased to approximately 73 members.  We’re looking forward to having a speaker in September, so our numbers should continue to rise.  We awarded door prizes using a random number generator to Bri Loftis, Mary Ellen England, Ginny Cherry, and Aggie Meszaros.  Thanks go to the donors of our door prizes:  Box Car Quilts, Not Your Mama’s Quilt Store, Sew Let’s Quilt It, and Rockin’ Bobbin.

Membership dues for the year 2020-2021 are now coming in.  Our quilt show normally brings in lots of new members plus renewals, but that wasn’t to be this year, thanks to the global pandemic.  We know that our loyal members will want to renew now, as we need to support our guild during these difficult times.

There are two ways to pay your dues, and you can pick the one that works best for you.

• By credit card:  Login under membership, click the button labeled Pay Your Dues, and fill in necessary information to charge to a credit card.
• By check:  Under the membership heading on the website, click on Membership, then Membership Information.  In the first paragraph on that page, click on Membership Form.  Print the form that appears and mail it with your check for $30 to the post office box indicated on the form.

• 9/1 -- Elaine (Sue) Bowe
• 9/1 -- Katherine Berend
• 9/2 -- Martha O'Grady
• 9/3 -- Tom DeMoss
• 9/5 --  Leigh Knox
• 9/5 -- Margaret Wolf
• 9/5 -- Rodawna Wiant
• 9/7 --  Fran Levy
• 9/8 -- Debra Linker
• 9/10 -- Leanna B. Williams
• 9/10 -- M.J. Fielek
• 9/11 -- Janet Carver
• 9/11 -- LaDawn Dalley
• 9/13 -- Gwenn Erlinger
• 9/16 -- Beverly Driscoll
• 9/17 -- Valerie Salter
• 9/18 -- Carolyn Miller
• 9/23 -- Dena Smith
• 9/23 -- Terry Johnston
• 9/24 -- Betty Moreland
• 9/25 -- Patsy Padgett
• 9/26 -- Susan Gipp
• 9/26 -- Sally Hamilton
• 9/29 -- Carole Glover
• 9/29 -- Gwen Schroth
• 9/29 -- Marilou Wimmer

Stocking and Pet Beds Report

By Martha O'Grady

I finally got around to counting the stockings, a little less than 1600. The ones in the “barn” will probably put us over that amount. Good work guys! I am so glad that we completed this before the shutdown. I hate to think how we might have been scrambling to complete this project as the deadline came. Y’all are so wonderful!

I contacted Soldiers Angels to get the process started of passing them along. In the past, we have met at the Starbucks across the street from Joann’s in McKinney. Not sure how we will get drop off to work now. We shall see.

Yep, I still have beds donated in March.  YAY.

Most of you know that one of the small groups in our guild is “Art Quilter’s of Plano”. We take turns demoing a technique, and I had signed up for June. Since our group is no longer meeting, I did mine totally online using stocking leftovers, and the tutorial is on the Facebook group, including pictures of each step, if anyone is interested. I will have a very beautiful quilt when I’m done.

A friend from church gave me a big bag of quilt leftovers. Mixed together I found yardage, fabric that I can use for stockings, fat quarters still in their packaging, fabric and batting pieces big enough to be cut up and used, crumbs, sliver trims; a very nice assortment. Very little of it needed to be put into a pet bed. No, I don’t want anyone else to do the same. That would be quite overwhelming if everybody did it. My point is that we need to be creative with our leftover chunks of fabric, as shelters are taking fewer beds.

I also found something that I had not seen before. My friend had taken a jelly roll of batting and cut it into about 10 inch sections then used it for crumb piecing. Crumbs are pieces that most of us would discard, but that measure at least 1.5 inches. She sewed these crumbs going down the length of each and it yielded units of about 2.5 inches by 10 inches, batting on one side and fabric on the other. She made dozens of these. She had taken one, and put a backing onto it, making a bookmark sized little quilt. My guess is she did what I have done so many times. She came up with a grand idea, spent lots of time working on it, and at the very last step found out that OH, NO! It doesn’t really work. So, I took them and applied them to a fat quarter. The joining method that I used was the same on most of us use when we join sections of batting. I zigzagged between two. After each seam, I checked and made sure I was happy before doing the next.  POOF! I had a “pieced” cuddle. It turned out really cute.  It is ready for the next Community Service drop off. I did a bunch more. I will have several cuddles to take. 

I saw an article about taking what I would call slivers and threads and making a new fabric out of them. She arranged them between a sandwich of wash-away stabilizer, and then stippled all over it. After washing away the stabilizer, she had a new fabric to be used as embellishment or whatever. It was very pretty.

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