A great turnout on October 23rd at our 2nd meeting of this guild year, for an inspirational, educational and fun Skills Demonstration Night. 

​We lost no time in splitting into 4 groups and starting the rotation through the 4 demo stations. My group started with Gwen Pennings' demonstration of two methods of sewing on binding by machine. Gwen's presentation and demo covered measurements, joining strips, cool corners, joining ends, and sewing the second time around. A great timesaver, and like free motion quilting, it takes a little practice and some patience.

Next stop was Debbie Cauvier and her awesome scrap quilts.  Debbie shared her appreciation for scrap quilting with her "Scrap block building: Three different samples to use up those scraps!".

Our 3rd stop was hosted by Jen Swallow from Happy Wife Quilting in her pop-up shop of the month, where she presented" Jen’s 5 Favourite Tools”. ​

After the impressive demos of Jen's tools and at the break, there was time to browse and buy in Jen's pop up shop of the month. ​

Our last stop  was with with Allison Kubiseski who demonstrated making Flying Geese Blocks. Great tips for experienced and inexperienced makers of Flying Geese blocks.

The "Creative Grids Ultimate Flying Geese Tool" that Allison demonstrated is carried by Sew Inspired. See it here.

Thank you to guild members Gwen, Debbie, and Allison and to Shop of the Month's Jen Swallow for your excellent presentations. A great learning experience for all of us. And a huge Thank You to Lucy for organizing this fabulous program.

Fat Quarter Club
This meeting debuted our new Fat Quarter Club. Members who brought in a fat quarter were eligible to win draws for the fat quarters. The theme for this month was green fabric - our co-president Joyce's favourite colour. There was a great response to this new activity with 32 blocks! They were split into 2 sets of 16 blocks which were won by Emma R and Brenda K.

We welcomed Marilyn, our Charity co-ordinator back from her travels, and she had an extensive display of the ongoing Charity projects.
The completed bird blocks for our 2026 quilt show raffle quilt are gorgeous! 

Our members are so dedicated to our preemie quilts initiative - preemie quilts are pictured at left.
The Charity table also featured panel quilt kits for members to take home and make a quilt for donation to our Charity initiatives. See the Charity page for more information about our Charity initiatives.

The Block of the Month table was a busy spot for members dropping off their square-themed September blocks, and checking out Jacquie's October leaf block.
​Refer to the Block of the Month page for instructions for the October leaf block.

There were 2 different September blocks that members were invited to make, with separate draws for each block design.

Rennie H won the "Square in a Square" on point blocks, and Liz G the "Block in a Block" blocks. There were approximately 16 blocks of each. 

This month introduced a new theme-based display of quilts. October featured fall colour/themed quilts which  displayed around the hall. What a wonderful addition of these creations of our guild members for us all to see.

Some terrific items were offered at the "free" table.

Draws
The meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
Library "Guess the number of pages" prize - Lesa W
Gift Basket- Brenda G
50-50 Draw - Vickie took home $48
Door Prizes  - Allison K and Lucy S

Thank you!
Many thanks to those who brought the tasty snacks and prepared the coffee and tea.
And thank you Emma, our guild photographer, for these awesome photos. 
​-- Janet Brownlee

Tinners
Co-president Anne gave a great description of our Tinners program.
​Participating members choose a theme for a project, some fabric and put that in a tin (or plastic or any type of container) which will be passed around to other participants - a different person each month, who will each make a block for that tin's project.  In June each participant is given back their tin full of blocks. 
During Show and Tell Louise showed us her wall hanging and table runner that she made during the summer from her Tinners music themed blocks from last year.

​Retreat co-ordinator Sue updated us on the fall (October 28 - November 1) and winter (January 27-31) guild retreats at Spruceholme Inn in Fort Coulonge, Quebec.
Participants can attend for 2-4 nights. Registration is now open for both retreats.  
​More retreat info

Block of the Month
Past President Vickie kicked off our optional Block of the Month (BOM) program with 2 "square in square" blocks that members can make to try out something new and fun. Blocks can be brought to the October meeting to contribute to a draw that all participants have a chance of winning.  One draw entry per completed block; you can make as many blocks as you'd like.

Instructions for these 2 BOM blocks can be found here.
Members were also given the opportunity to lead a Block of the Month. This means choosing or designing a block, providing the instructions (which can be a link to any online pattern), and make the block samples for that month's guild meeting. Response to this invitation was excellent and we have a volunteer for each month's meeting!

English Paper Piecing Workshop
An English Paper Piecing workshop is planned for this fall. Course teacher and guild member Brenda D told us about the workshop and brought along a sample of her own talented work. Programs team rep Brenda K was also on hand with her attractive fall-themed table decorations and candies!
​See the Workshops page for more information.

Welcome New Members
Membership co-ordinator Martha invited each of our 7 new members to introduce themselves by telling us something about their quilting experience and interests. Welcome to our guild!

Favourite Gadget Show and Tell
While our Programs executive Lucy was unable to attend the meeting, she was ever present with this great start to our various guild programs, and in particular the program she planned for this meeting, a Favourite Gadget Show and Tell.
​Lucy wrote in the September newsletter: 
"There are so many different quilting gadgets and notions available on the market that it can be hard to figure out which works the best. This September, we are asking you to help a fellow quilter make informed decisions by bringing your favourite quilting gadget to the meeting.  Tell us what it is, why you like it, how you use it and why we should consider investing in one. This could be anything in your quilt room: a particular ruler, a needle minder, a marking utensil, your favourite pully-pokey-pushy thingy or a Dollar Store hack! Whatever makes your quilting so much easier and makes you wonder how you ever got along without it.
​My husband recently made me a ruler organizer out of a piece of 2X6 inch wood which he had laying around the garage. It holds all my rulers and fits on my cutting table perfectly… and best of all, it was free!"

Seated in a big circle, we got a close look at the tools as we heard each one's "pitch".

We saw a large variety of favourite gadgets and tools including:

• pill box for sewing machine feet
• magnetic seam guide for 1/4 "
• external bobbin sidewinder, will do 2 bobbins at a time
• blue light for white on white material
• foam board covered with flannel and added binding, for block planning
• spool holder for the large thread spool
• empty Aurifil or Gutterman thread spool is good for fitting into the larger spools, prevent them from wobbling 
• thread picker, picks up loose thread
• seam guide for checking seams
• peep hole - use in reverse to see if material matches. $3.99 at hardware store 
• razor blade tool for cutting chain piecing threads (e.g. Gypsy Quilter Chain-Piece Cutting Gizmo)
• Alaska Ruler for measuring 45 and 60 degree
• take pictures of pieces before you start piecing together, also can use the black and white image 
• back side of a plastic tablecloth for a 
• Command brand hook, stick to sewing machine for hanging snips
• Easy Press Pen with starch 
• Ott lite 
• Striplology ruler, cuts up to 6 layers at a time
• AccuQuilt Go Cutter with dies for different shapes
• 5 lb weight to hold down material
• cutter with roller  
• needle threader

A number of these tools and gadgets are pictured in the photo gallery below.
​Click/tap on an image in the gallery to see it in full, and then click to scroll through the photos.

Show and Tell
Following the break we were treated to Show and Tell of some beautiful work.
We saw some now finished items from the summer Presidents' Challenge to complete an unfinished project,  and some pieces made from last year's Block of the Month, and other stunning items.
Here are a few of the items we saw.   See photos of all projects on the Show and Tell page.

And Rennie showed us her stunning wall hanging that was accepted into the Canadian Quilters' Association's National Juried Show at Quilt Canada in Edmonton in June 2024. Congratulations Rennie!

Check out the Show and Tell page for photos of all of the items we saw.

On Saturday June 15, seven guild members joined fellow guild member (and immediate Past President of our guild) Vickie MacNabb, for a painted barnboard workshop.
Equipped with the necessary supplies and protective clothing, the participants set up their workstations in the bright and inviting hall in ​Bethel St Andrew United Church in Fitzroy Harbour.
A very productive day!

-- Janet Brownlee

We capped off our 2023-2024 guild year with a fun social evening on June 19th. 
The meeting showcased some beautiful work of our members.
​
A number of stunning bird blocks were brought in to Marilyn our Charity co-ordinator.  Guild members were given the white backing piece and invited to make a bird block of their choice.  The blocks are amazing! These blocks will be made into a quilt that will be raffled off in conjunction with our next quilt show in spring 2026. Proceeds from the raffle will fund our  guild's Charity initiatives. 

Block of the Month coordinators Emma and Mary displayed their entire set of blocks - one for each month of the year. Thank  you Mary and Emma for an excellent BOM project. 
​Refer to the Block of the Month page for more information and patterns for these blocks.

Our members contributed little preemie quilts that will be donated to newborn babies in hospital special care nurseries. See the Charities page for information about our guild's charitable endeavours.

Co-President Anne announced her Summer President's Challenge! The challenge is to complete an unfinished project. Participants are asked to take a picture of an unfinished project and bring it and the completed project to the September 25th meeting ... something fun to keep us motivated and in touch during the summer.

Ellie showed us the quilt top she assembled from the blocks made at our November 2023 Sew Night.
This quilt will be completed and donated to our guild's Charity initiatives.

Our first ever Free Table was a great success! Many of those quilt related items that you no longer wanted found new homes.  And hopefully there weren't too many items that the donors got to take back home.

And an big thank you to our outgoing long time librarian Nancy pictured at right. At left is incoming librarian Jacquie.

We enjoyed the conversation over our yummy potluck dinner. Thank you to members with surnames beginning with the letters A-L for bringing a potluck dish to share. 

And after dinner entertainment was quilt block BINGO!  A big thank you to our president Anne for her diligent work in creating the colourful BINGO cards. I think we all became acquainted with some new blocks.

Show and Tell featured more of our guild members' beautiful creations. Here's one example.
See the Show and Tell page for photos of all of the quilts.

The meeting wrapped up with the 50-50,  basket, and door prize draws.
The grand finale was the draw for the 2 free memberships for next year and they were won by Brenda G and Carol L.  

Special thanks to our guild photographer Emma for these and other wonderful photos throughout this past year.
​--  Janet Brownlee

Our May meeting is our guild's mandatory Annual General Meeting. 

We were treated to an excellent presentation by our guild member Wendy Foster Birch. While Wendy typically wows us with her creative and stunning show and tell projects, at this meeting she was educating us about the usage of different types of threads, and giving us tips and techniques for machine quilting.  There were many examples of her beautiful machine quilting and creative designs in her accompanying trunk show.  

Wendy started off by emphasizing the importance of using high quality threads. She talked about different types of thread - cotton, polyester, silk and metallic. Then she moved on to identifying the characteristics of high quality needles. She also addressed thread tension and knowing when to change the factory tension settings and much more. She said these 3 factors are responsible for 95% of the problems people have with thread, and she gave us plenty of tips to avoid or correct thread-related problems.

Wendy's trunk show included a large variety of items including bed runners, table runners, wall hangings, clothing, quilts and even purses! They illustrated her design creativity, along with her sense of fun evidenced by her novelty and whimsical items, her use of colour, and her impressive machine quilting skills.

Joyce was manning the Charity table where members were dropping off little preemie quilts and picking up supplies for various Charity projects.

Show and Tell showcased a variety of stunning items. 
Here's just one example. See the Show and Tell page for all of the quilts we were treated to seeing.

This meeting was our mandatory Annual General Meeting. The official business went smoothly (e.g. Treasurer reports).  The terms of our executive team members Librarian Nancy Hayley and Treasurer Rennie Hickey are ending this year. Thank you both for your many years (that included the Covid-19 disrupted years) of dedicated volunteering on our leadership team.

A long time "sustainable quilter", Katrina is very disciplined and committed to minimizing waste fabric. She cuts up leftover fabric at the end of each new project into primarily 2" squares, slightly bigger squares for HSTs (half-square triangles) and 1 1/2" strips. She pieces all of the 2" squares as "leaders and enders" while she's piecing other quilts. Two patches expand to 4 patches and bigger as needed, all sewn as leaders and enders. While many people cut their scraps into 2 1/2" squares, Katrina prefers the mathematical flexibility of working in multiples of 2", and she's been doing this for a long time, before the popularity of jelly rolls. She cuts scraps with her AccuQuilt cutter using various dies and in creative ways.
All of these bits and pieces are organized and stored in plastic containers, and in little plastic mushroom containers.​

The 2" squares also make lovely sweatshirt-based jackets.

The scraps can be used in an infinite variety of creative designs.

Tina confirms that Katrina's QR code quilt, constructed a long time ago, still works and takes you to her web site blog Sunshower Quilts.

Katrina's designs often evolve as she goes and in this quilt, the white edges inside the pieced border, needed some unplanned adjustments.

Katrina uses a variety of neutral colors in her quilts, including chartreuse, red, grey, beige, brown, some golds and silvers, in addition to white. This is an example of a red neutral, Kona Paprika.

Katrina suggested making preemie quilts with alternating 16 patch scrap blocks and 6 1/2" squares of child-themed fabrics.
The 16 patch blocks can also be alternated with pinwheel blocks.

More photos of Katrina's quilts are in the gallery below.   Click/tap on an image to see it in full

Thank you Katrina for an excellent and most enjoyable and educational presentation.
You can see more of Katrina's work and link to her social media accounts, on her extensive web site blog Sunshower Quilts, 

Charity
The Charity table welcomed bird blocks made by our members for the quilt that will be made and raffled off at our 2025 quilt show. The deadline for these blocks is June. They are stunning!

Many delightful preemie quilts were brought in. Thank you!

And we saw a nearly complete quilt made from the blocks produced at our November 2023 sew night challenge.

Block of the Month
Mary and Emma brought in their sample Blocks of the Month. Mary has completed all 12 of hers and she's put them together into 4 seasonal wall hangings.

Emma introduced this month's Hummingbird block (bottom right in the photo below) at the meeting.
Photos and templates for making the blocks are on the Block of the Month page.  The final 2 blocks will be introduced at the May and June meetings.

Retreats
Sue had sign up sheets for the fall 2024 and winter 2025 retreats. Refer to the Retreats page for more information and online registration.

Draws
The meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
Library prize - Brenda G
Gift Bag - Marilyn E
50-50 Draw - Anne C
Door Prizes  - $20 gift certificates from Sew Inspired - Shirley F and Katrina

Many thanks to those who brought the tasty snacks (surnames starting with L and M) and prepared the coffee and tea.
And thanks to the volunteers who held up the quilts: Wendy and Sandy for Katrina's quilts,  and Rennie and Sue H for Show and Tell.   Show and Tell photos
And thank you Emma, our guild photographer for these awesome photos. 

-- Janet Brownlee

Our January meeting featured Bridget O’Flaherty, "The Sustainable Quilter" on "How to Make Our Passion for Quilting and Textiles More Sustainable".
Through captivating storytelling and visual examples of her own work, Bridget demonstrated how sustainability and artistic expression can harmoniously coexist. From repurposing fabrics to exploring innovative techniques, she showcased the incredible possibilities that emerge when creativity and sustainability intersect.  

There's lots of interesting information about Bridget on her Website ​

Our speaker, Joanna Dermenjian, explored the valuable role quilters of all ages in Canadian communities, large and small, supported the war effort, particularly in the Second World War. Sharing information about this little documented area of quilting was of high interest to all attending. 
Joanna's extensive Suture and Selvedge Website provides access to her extensive research. ​

​Our March presentation was by Sandra Mollon, an award-winning quilter living in Northern California. In heer "Adapting an Image for an Art Quilt" lecture, she described in great detail the process for adapting an image or photograph into an Art Quilt.    Sandra's Web Site

Our winter 2024 retreat was held at Spruceholme Inn, Fort-Coulonge, in Quebec, from January 29 to February 2nd, thanks to the efforts of Sue Hodgins, the organizer. Sue sent us a list of everything we needed to bring and also snacks and treats. 22 sewers attended, 16 from our guild and 6 others that quickly became our friends too!  

There was something each day to bring everyone together from walking around to check in on each others’ progress to a bit of clothes shopping at Jane Toller’s store in town. We shared tips and tricks throughout the time together, including: how to square up with the stripology ruler,  shown some neat borders, and easy patterns to use scraps up.

We had different activities each day: Show and Tell, strip dice game, and a trivia game, organized by Lucy. One of the most enjoyable aspects of coming together as a community was the communal eating time. We were told to each bring a placemat, which would be moved around by the staff as they set the tables. This enabled us to chat with new people at each meal, getting to connect with pretty much all the people at the retreat. It was a wonderful experience and we are grateful to Sue for organizing it. Looking forward to the next one in the fall!
 
-- Martha Palmer

This was a very active meeting! On November 22 we had a Charity project sew night combined with a challenge. The hall was set up with several sewing stations fitted with sewing machines and other equipment and tools that the members brought.
We were placed in teams of 2-4 people and our challenge was to make 12 blocks from the small paper bag containing instructions for a simple block, and strips of coloured and white fabrics. Tasks included cutting, pinning, sewing and (optionally) pressing. Each 12 1/2" block was assembled from 2 of the colourful individual units. The blocks were to be assembled in an alternating horizontal/vertical 3x4 configuration.

Away we went and the hall was filled with quiet chatter, laughter and heads down workers!
This first photo shows some of the blocks coming together.

Challenge Winners!
Congratulations to Brenda G and Debbie C who were the first, and only team to complete the challenge at the meeting!

Charity Project Kits
The challenge wasn't the only activity going on.
Some members chose to work on preparing and assembling kits for Charity quilts, placemats, and fidget quilts. The kits are available to any guild members who would like to make a quilt top (or an entire quilt) for one of our Charity initiatives, or a smaller item.

There was even time for Show and Tell.  Show and Tell Photos

Marilyn, our Charity coordinator, showed a very creatively designed Charity quilt top that a member made incorporating a donated panel fabric.

Draws
The meeting wrapped up with our draws and some happy winners!
Guess the Number of Pages - Jo P
Gift Basket - Barb H
50-50 Draw - Carolyn P
Door Prizes  - Jo P and Joyce M

Many thanks to those who brought the tasty snacks and prepared the coffee and tea.
And a very big thanks to Joyce Murray who organized the challenge including preparing the bags of fabric and instructions. Well done Joyce!
And special thanks to the meeting attendees who so happily worked together on our Charity sew night.
​
-- Janet Brownlee

Our October 25th guild meeting was attended by 42 guild members and 5 guests.

Trunk Show
We were treated to an amazing trunk show by very creative and talented quilting sisters Cathy Price and Carol Darou. They make the most stunning quilts, each with its own interesting, and well told story. Carol and Cathy are very active and long time members of the Lanark County Quilters Guild and some of the quilts we saw were displayed at their quilt show in Smiths Falls in July.  And congratulations to Carol who placed 1st in the 'Books and Patterns' category at Quilt Canada in June. 
Carol and Cathy's colour preferences and quilting styles are often quite different and that was particularly evident in their different interpretations of various guild challenges.  Their trunk show featured about 40 of their creations and Carol and Cathy have generously allowed us to post a few photos of their work.

Thank you Carol and Cathy for a most fun and information evening.

Programs
The Tinners program kicked off with 12 participants.

And the 2nd Block of the Month (BOM) was revealed.  

Charity
Marilyn introduced the plan for our raffle quilt for our next "QUILTING IN THE VALLEY" quilt show in April 2025. Each participant will be given a 10" square of background material and we're to use our scraps to create a colourful bird block - pieced, appliqued, paper pieced or embroidered. The blocks are to be handed in at the April 2024 meeting, (early bird...) so there's time to finish and quilt another successful, beautiful Raffle quilt.