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Our May 28th meeting started off with a surprise guest! Chris Gordon of the Quilt Guild of Renfrew and Area came to introduce a challenge from their guild to our guild. Chris, a long time former member of our guild, received a very warm welcome. The challenge is to make Burrito Pillowcases, which are also described as Magic Pillowcases. These pillowcases will be delivered to a group called Comfy Cases Ottawa who will wash and label them, then distribute them to sick children and youths (up to age 18) at CHEO, Ronald McDonald House, and Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice, all in Ottawa. The pillowcases will be collected at the September guild meeting. Sue Hodgins is coordinating our guild's efforts in this challenge. Chris, an experienced quilting project instructor, came well prepared with several samples for us to see.  L to R: Sue H, Chris G  ,The pillowcases are made for regular use and frequent washing, with no exposed seams on the inside. The magic and burrito part is the quick and easy method of making them. Chris invited volunteers to demo the "magic" part of the burrito rolled fabrics she had already stitched together. Vickie, Martha and Joyce eagerly volunteered.  They turned the roll inside out...  ... and revealed the almost complete pillow cases, ready for folding and stitching the final French seams along the side and end.  The pillowcases have a main body, a wide cuff, and an optional narrow trim in between. Fabrics should be 100% cotton. Instructions are available here. Show and Tell was next. After showing our little preemie challenge quilts at our May meeting, this was our first opportunity to show our winter projects in person. Georgene started off with an amazing custom quilt that she made for her adult granddaughter. The quilt was designed by Georgene's husband, and her granddaughter who is a lawyer and has Métis status.  A number of the quilts were related to previous guild activities. We saw 2 of the completed table runners from the Urban Runner workshop with Katrina in March.
Included in her numerous quilts, Joanna showed us this one that featured the Pick Up Sticks block that we made for Charity projects in 2021-2022.   Mary completed her Block of the Month from last year - an applique project with a different block for each month of the year. Information and instructions for that BOM program are here.  And Mary also made this colourful and creative preemie quilt  A number of Millennium Stars from the recent Star Strip Paper Piecing workshop. Well done!  Another of the Charity quilts constructed from the blocks we made at our November 2023 Sew Night meeting has been completed and handed over to Marilyn.  Photos of all of the Show and Tell quilts are posted on the Show and Tell page. Members enjoyed a closer inspection of the Show and Tell projects during the break. A number of books from our guild library were offered on a free book table. The various heavy trollies that are stored under the stage, including our guild's trolley, are causing damage to the floor so we were asked to lighten ours up. So Jacquie culled a few for this free table.   Tinners  More preemie quilts Elizabeth's April "Double Disappearing Nine Patch" Block of the Month, made a colourful display.  Allision introduced her May "Grandma Mae's Economy" block at the meeting with a lot of ideas in her sample blocks and baby quilt. Instructions are on the Block of the Month page. These blocks will be due at the June meeting.   Allison with her Grandma Mae's Economy Block of the Month The last item on our agenda was our mandated Annual General Meeting. Our treasurer Sandy came equipped with all of the numbers and she gave us a reassuring summary of our financial position. Sandy oversees the guild's 2 bank accounts: an account for our Charity endeavours, and a General account for our other income and expenditures. The Charity account is funded by the raffle quilt ticket sales at our quilt shows, which are typically held every 2 years and sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances, every 3 years. These proceeds fund the purchasing of fabric, batting and other needs for our Charity projects. Anne announced the volunteers for opening executive positions:
Thank you for volunteering for these key roles that will enable our guild to function for the upcoming 2025-2026 guild year which begins on July 1. After that official business Martha had us rearrange our chairs into 6 small groups and do some brainstorming on Program ideas for next year. Martha summarized how this session would work and she was well prepared with clipboards, paper, pens, and highlighters to record all of the ideas generated in each of the groups, and then highlight the top 3. Then one spokesperson for each group reported those top 3 (and in some/many cases 4!) to all of us. The ideas were awesome and varied, and the brainstorming process was very efficient and effective. Martha is very well equipped for planning next year's programs for us.   The meeting wrapped up with the draws and some happy winners.
Purple Fat Quarters - 7 blocks each for Eleanor L and Liz G Blocks of the Month - Elizabeth C Books - Joanna V, Martha P Basket - Nicole C 50-50 - Jo P Door Prize - Elizabeth C -- Janet Brownlee, Communications  Our guild had a wonderful day on Tuesday, May 20, as 17 eager participants gathered at the Horton Community Centre in Renfrew to take part in a Millennium Star workshop led by Helen Gunn. The workshop focused on a beautiful yet complex strip-piecing technique, and everyone was keen to learn. The community centre was perfectly set up for us, with individual tables for each participant and plenty of space for lunch tables. We were especially grateful for the many outlets and extension cords provided—perfect for our sewing stations! We started the day at 9:00 a.m. as Helen walked us through the detailed steps of creating the star.  Helen Gunn  Then it was time to get to work. The process involves nine steps, and most participants made it to step six by the end of the day. It was a sunny, and cool day, and, with plenty of natural light in the hall, we were delighted to spend it together, learning and creating.              A few standout stars, like Emma Russell, finished early—her completed block became a great teaching aid for Helen as she demonstrated the final assembly steps. We were so inspired by Emma’s beautiful finished star!  The stars that emerged were absolutely stunning—crisp points, vibrant fabrics, and plenty of shining talent on display. It was inspiring to see so many variations come to life using the paper piecing method.  We’re looking forward to seeing all the completed stars soon—hopefully during Show and Tell at our next guild meeting.
Great work, everyone! A special thank you again to Helen Gunn for arranging the hall rental and for teaching us this star strip technique! Keep those stars shining! -- Martha Palmer There was an energizing buzz in the hall on April 23rd when we came together for our first in person meeting of the year after our 3 winter Zoom meetings.  L -> R: Jacquie, Marilyn, Joyce We had a marvelous trunk show by 3 sisters, Jacquie, Marilyn and Joyce. They showed quilts they had made, and some made by their mother Edna Snyder. All 4 have been members of our guild; Joyce and Marilyn both currently serve in guild leadership positions. Edna, at age 90, was the Quilter of Distinction at our 2017 Quilt Show. Here is one of Edna's treasured and functional quilts that started off the trunk show.      The quilts were stunning and it was interesting to see the different styles and colour preferences of the three sisters.  Below is Marilyn's Black and White Challenge quilt. The challenge: Participating guild members signed up at the September 2019 meeting and were placed in groups. They made identical 9 1/2" unfinished blocks with black and white fabric, one for each member of their group. The blocks were then distributed to their group at the December meeting and each participant went home with 10-12 black and white blocks. From these blocks and one or two other colours/fabrics of their choice they made a quilt or other item.           The Snyder family quilt Jacquie's quilts featured darker, stronger colours and lots of fun and whimsical applique. And they had to fit in her suitcase for her trip from her home in Calgary.     Thank you Jacquie, Joyce and Marilyn for sharing your amazing quilts and their stories with us. Many of the little preemie quilts made during our March Preemie Challenge were on display and they are gorgeous. Members were invited to show their preemies.     Library  Tinners and Yellow Fat Quarters  50-50 and Basket Raffle Ticket Sales  Table of Free Stuff Mad Moody Quilting Fabrics was our Shop of the Month. We enjoyed welcoming Phyllis Moody and the amazing fabrics and accessories she brought along. Mad Moody Quilting Fabrics  The Block-of-the-Month table was very busy as blocks from 4 months (December - March) were collected.
The meeting ended with the other draws:
Our first In-Town local Quilting Retreat was held on Friday, April 11th and Saturday, April 12th at the Kinburn Community Centre. Lucy Shorey, our program director, organized this as an opportunity for members to gather and sew together for longer than a few hours in a nearby location. The space was perfect with three tables for each group and a full kitchen. With 19 people attending, it was a busy, buzzing hive of activity! Despite the rainy start, there was lots of energy as a whole lot of material and patterns were brought in, sewing machines, two ironing surfaces, four irons, donated food and the fun began!                       Our delicious meals were lunch and supper on Friday, and lunch again on Saturday. The delicious lunch on Friday was thanks to soups made by Anne and Jacquie, and the sandwiches were made by Nancy and Joyce. Snacks and delicious desserts were shared as well. Friday night, Carp pizza arrived hot and yummy! Saturday lunch was a home made chicken Caesar salad made by Lucy.    We got a chance to share ideas around quilts that were being made, and some finished there. Some particular quilts of interest were Marilyn‘s quilt, that she has had in her UFOs for a while and it’s about to be for her bed. Renee brought fabulous Tula Pink patterns with 41 colours in it. She just started it and we can’t wait to see what that looks like completed.   Emma also completed a project she has had as a UFO for a while.  Gwen’s green and blue quilt was amazing.   Gwen  Johanne  Annie made a unicorn crib size quilt for her granddaughter that she made start to finish. We are excited to see Linda’s animal baby quilt finished, and Georgene’s One Block Wonder quilt.  Betty and Georgene  Early Saturday morning keener group arrivals: Martha, Georgene, Linda It was so much fun to be able to share ideas, sew together, with lots of laughing, and even singing. Everyone went home happy and the sun came out too! Thanks so much for organizing this Lucy. I know there will be more to come!
-- Martha Palmer  On Saturday, March 15th, 14 members of our Arnprior & District Quilt Guild gathered to attend the Urban Runners using the Quick Curve Ruler workshop given by Katrina Kahn. The workshop and location, arranged by Lucy Shorey, our program coordinator, was located in the gathering room of the Arnprior library. The room, spacious for 14 people, included tables and bright windows. We all paired up in twos and set ourselves up for learning with Katrina in the center. Katrina, an experienced quilting teacher, was well prepared with a list of materials needed, including pre-cut instructions for creating the Urban Runner by Sew Kind of Wonderful. She not only knows the pattern really well, but she also is very familiar with the language and writing style of the pattern designer. She was able to guide us through the step-by-step instructions very clearly; one of the most memorable reminders to us was ‘use each sentence like a bullet statement’. The many steps were broken down clearly and understood by all of us. Using the curved ruler on the precut pieces was our first big task of the class. Seeing the benefits of the ruler helped us begin to appreciate the multi-use design. It has a beautiful guided curve and allows for some additional “oops” areas. We cut and completed at least four sections of our urban runner under Katrina‘s careful guidance and tutelage, and everybody was very happy with their results. Katrina also brought a number of the quilts that she had used from this pattern and the Sew Kind of Wonderful curved ruler designs, which were extensive in both design and colour. They were an inspiration to us all. We very much appreciated Katrina‘s skills, patience, humour and dedication to creative quilting. -- Martha Palmer     In December 2024 we continued our long time tradition pre-Christmas tradition of making placemats with Christmas-themed fabric on one side, and another fabric on the other side, so the placemats can be used year round. This year 30 Christmas placemats made by our guild members were delivered to Arnprior’s Meals on Wheels clients. Our guild charity initiatives have carried on during the winter months despite not meeting in person from January through March. Our March guild meeting, via Zoom, was a sew night where we worked in the comfort of our own homes making little 24"x 24" "Preemie" quilts for babies in the Ottawa Hospital's neonatal Special Care Nursery. In March our Charity coordinator Marilyn delivered 5 quilts (pictured below) to Interval House in Carleton Place.      We opted again this year to hold our 3 winter guild meetings remotely via Zoom. These meetings featured excellent guest presentations. Thank you Lucy for securing such compelling and informative speakers for us. January  Cyndi McChesney Our guest speaker at our January 22nd Zoom meeting was Cyndi McChesney of Cedar Ridge Quilting with her Panel Palooza presentation. "In this informative and entertaining trunk show I'll show you how to take that panel you fell in love with and turn it into something truly unique. You'll experience my good, bad and AH HA moments as I learned how to work with the different styles of panels and how adding interesting block treatments and borders and filling those pesky open spaces with patchwork or applique results in a truly special quilt or unexpected project." And show us she did! Lots of examples of how to creatively use different types of panels in all aspects of our quilts.   Our guild librarian, Jacquie has since added Cyndi's book Playful Panel Quilts to our guild library.  February Our guest speaker at our February 19th Zoom meeting was Bonnie Rankin, a CQA/ACC Certified Quilt Judge, and the National Juried Show Coordinator for this year's Quilt Canada in Toronto in June 2025.  Bonnie Rankin In her presentation Bonnie showed and discussed the winners of the 2024 National Juried Show, outlining what judges are seeing at all levels of quilt shows. She also pointed out the most common problems quilters encounter, and provided some tips on how to prevent them. A great presentation! Photos of the award winning projects from Quilt Canada 2024 can be found here. Click/tap on a photo for details about the maker and the project. March Our last Zoom winter meeting on March 26th was a fun sew night. From the comfort of our own home sewing spaces, we worked on making little 24"x 24" "Preemie" quilts for babies in the Ottawa Hospital's neonatal Special Care Nursery. It was a relaxed, social and productive evening with casual conversation as we worked away. Show and Tell was throughout the evening as members showed their completed preemies and quilt tops.
I thought I would write a short blurb about the retreats. Mostly for those of you who never get to go, or have never gone yet. I am not sure what I like best but it just might be when one of the worker girls comes to the door and says "Ladies, lunch is ready". The service is wonderful. Three meals a day and no dishes to do. We all have our own room and bathroom so all we do all day is make our bed. This retreat is held at Spruceholme Inn, a lovely complex in Fort Coulonge. About an hour from Arnprior. They have cabins, Carriage House, Toller House (which is like a nice motel, with a kitchen and meeting room), and two old mansion houses filled with antique furniture. In the Bryson House you do share a bathroom with one or two.  There is a large room where we get together to sew. There are windows down 2 sides and I have seen over 30 people there and you still have lots of room to set up. They are very accommodating with extra tables and chairs though many bring their own. There is a snack corner where they always have coffee, tea and ice water and many of us provide extra snacks.       The last retreat cost $425 plus $25 for the tip for the 4 days. I just spoke to a friend who had to stay in a hotel for 2 nights in Whitby and the hotel bill alone was $428, for 2 nights nothing included. I travel a fair bit and really believe you get a good deal. Think of it as a short vacation for yourself. It is a wonderful thing to spend the whole day quilting, sharing with everyone in the room and you never come home without learning some new technique or wanting to go searching for some new gadget. It is almost necessary that you spend some time checking out other projects. When something gets completed we all gather to congratulate and compliment. Of course we also spend a short few minutes getting together to play strip poker or some other game. Last time it was for 6" squares.  The real best part is the camaraderie of spending time with friends with the same interest. You not only get to know gals but pick up tips as well. We all take a placemat and these are mixed up so you have your meals with different folks every day.
Hope to see you at our next retreat. -- Joyce Murray Editor's note: Photos are from the January 2025 retreat and provided by guild photographer Emma We wrapped up our 2024 guild meetings with our traditional holiday potluck dinner meeting on December 11th. It was a festive evening with plenty of red, green, and bling-y attire and our members' festive Christmas quilts and other quilted items decorating the hall.    As always the food was delicious and an excellent variety of dishes to choose from. Thank you to those members with surnames beginning with M-Z for contributing to the buffet table.  Anne's new dice-rolling gift exchange game was a lot of fun - everyone had brought along a wrapped gift of something from our quilting rooms. Everyone got a turn to roll he BIG green multi-sided dice and then carry out the direction to trade or pass gifts along according to the instructions on the top.     Our generous and talented guild members brought in Christmas-themed placemats that will be donated to local residents who receive pre-cooked meals.  Placemats And several preemie quilts were also donated.  Preemie quilts We saw 3 delightful projects at Show and Tell.  Vickie's colourful stag  Wendy's little Christmas trees  Martha's charm square baby quilt Martha also introduced her Eight Point Star December Block of the Month. She brought along several samples of finished blocks, and in progress blocks at various stages of construction to explain the they're assembled. Instructions  The completed Christmas themed "Scrappy Christmas Sparkle" Blocks of the Month from November added to the festive decorations. Shirley M's name was drawn as the winner of these blocks.   Tinners tins ready to be exchanged There were a large number of blue fabric contributions to the Fat Quarter Club. The fat quarters were shared between draw winners Mary D and Shirley M.  As usual the meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners! Library "Guess the number of pages" prize - Eleanor K Gift Basket- Sue H 50-50 Draw - Lynda N took home $33 Door Prizes - Georgene and Elizabeth C Again thank you to those who donated food for the potluck and those who prepared the refreshments, and to Anne for her very fun gift exchange game.
And to our talented photographer Emma for these photos. -- Janet Brownlee Our November 27th meeting featured a very special guest and our first celebrity guest, Joan O'Malley. An excellent storyteller, Joan told us the fascinating story of how she stepped up at the last minute in 1965 to sew 3 prototypes of the Canadian maple leaf flag in mere hours.  Joan O'Malley  3 finalist flag designs Joan brought along a large assortment of scrapbooks of news clippings and other visuals, and even some gifts for us - little Canada flags and pins!  Here's an excellent article from the Ottawa Citizen (and other newspapers) which includes much of the information that Joan shared with us. She kept her story secret for 10 years.  The 50th anniversary of our maple leaf flag was celebrated widely in 2015. Joan was invited to Waterloo for various 50th anniversary celebrations, including the introduction of a new song, Canadian Flag Waver written by Steve Bergen, a teacher and choir director at Smithson Public School in Waterloo. The song was sung by the school's 29-member student choir. Read about that story here. Joan played the song for us on her tablet!  Joan played the song for us And here's a short news clip about the production of the song. Here's a short news clip about production of the song. You can listen to the song here. Joan was given this quilt in Waterloo.  A quilt gifted to Joan  And its touching label Joan's story was very warmly received by our guild.  Joan happily posed for selfies with us!  Thank you Joan for an amazing and entertaining story and a most enjoyable evening with us. Baby Quilts This month our members were invited to bring along baby quilts to decorate the hall and they were so inspiring and delightful.     Inspired by our guild's recent English Paper Piecing workshop, Ruth went home from that and worked diligently on her hexi table topper project that she showed us at the meeting. Well done Ruth!  Charity Projects  Little preemie quilts  Christmas placemat Charity co-ordinator Marilyn (pictured at right) showed us this stunning farm-themed panel quilt made by one of our guild members. It's gorgeous we would love to know who made it! This quilt will be donated to a charity recipient.  Activities Lucy announced a new challenge to us - to make our own nametag. In response to the rapidly increasing cost of the magnetic nametags, Lucy invited us all to design and make our own nametag to wear starting when we meet again in person at the April meeting.  Tins were ready for our Tinners participants to exchange.  Tinners This month's Fat Quarter Club colour was RED and the 44 FQ's brought in were split amongst winning participants Tina, Lucy S, Jo and Linda N.  Our quilters' recycling table is a continuing hit!  Quilters Recycling Table The 28 October Feather Leaf Blocks of the Month, were gorgeous and were won by participant Elizabeth C. Thank you Jacquie for a delightful scrappy fall-themed block.  October Feather Leaf blocks Debbie introduced her Scrappy Christmas Sparkle blocks this month - they'll be due at the December meeting. Thank you Debbie for this fun Christmas-themed block.  November Scrappy Christmas Sparkle blocks Brenda brought in samples of her Potato Chip block that will be our January Block of the Month. Since our January meeting will be via Zoom so this was our opportunity to see the blocks in person. Stay tuned for more information about making this block in January.  Show and Tell when we see the projects made by our talented guild members is always a highlight of our meetings. See photos of all of the projects we saw here.  Show and Tell quilt As usual the meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
Library "Guess the number of pages" prize - Sandra P Gift Basket - Jan S 50-50 Draw - Elizabeth C took home $61 Door Prizes - Mary D and Sandra P And thank you to our talented photographer Emma for these great photos. -- Janet Brownlee |
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