We rounded out this calendar year and our fall in person meetings with the welcome return of our traditional potluck Christmas meeting.
The hall was festively decorated with your charming Christmas themed quilts.

A highlight of the evening was the Christmas gift exchange game that Vickie organized.  The game started with everyone choosing one of the gifts from the stage and choosing a number that determined the order of play. ​

On your turn you had the option of opening the gift you selected, or to trade it, still wrapped, for a gift already opened by someone else. There was a lot of laughter and trading until we all had an opened gift. 

And we even captured a rare photo of Emma, our talented and dedicated photographer, when she handed her camera over to Vickie!

Our Show & Tell included several beautiful seasonal items and other lovely creations.
You can see photos of all of the quilts on the Show & Tell page.

Thank You!
​A huge thank you goes out to Joyce T and Tina M for doing kitchen duty -  setting out the food and cleaning up afterwards. And to Vickie for organizing the evening and for the fun gift exchange game!
​
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications

This Charity workshop evening on Wednesday November 23rd was a huge success, both in the camaraderie and the amount of  work that was done by the 33 attendees.  It was a very active and busy hands on meeting making Christmas gift bags and placemats, and preparing materials for these and other guild Charity projects. We enjoyed meeting and talking to people we hadn’t talked to before or for a long time, including our 2 brand new members, Lucy and Nadine who were attending their first meeting.

Marilyn and her set up crew had many work stations clearly labeled and ready for us to quickly get started on various activities from cutting fabric for Christmas gift bags and placemats, sewing gift bags and placemats, attaching bindings to placemats, attaching the drawstrings to the gift bags, assembling kits to make fidget quilts, cutting batting for preemie and other Charity quilts, and ironing, ironing and more ironing in the kitchen!

A number of completed Charity items were brought to the meeting.

Thanks to all who participated in this big work evening. And an extra thank you to those who took home works-in-progress to finish off for our Christmas donations.

​Show and Tell
We  took a break for Show and Tell. Photos here

Our first Sew Day in a very long time was held on Thursday November 17, 2022 and was enjoyed by 15 members of our guild. The venue was the very pleasant hall at Bethel St Andrew's United Church in Fitrzoy Harbour that offered plenty of space to spread out, and bright natural light flooding in through the windows. A fun day of sewing with fellow guild members! Attendees brought their sewing machine, tools, project(s) and lunch.  Coffee and tea were provided and there was no charge to participate. They had great fun working away at various projects in the company of fellow guild members.

A big thank you to Nancy for arranging for our free use of the church hall, to Vickie for organizing the Sew Day, and to Gwen for teaching her popular notebook cover project.

Program
The meeting featured demonstrations of 5 different types of appliqué to help us learn new techniques, or to brush up on some we may not have used in a while. Unlike other types of workshops we have had in the past, there was no need to bring any supplies. Instead we watched the demonstrations and hopefully learned from them and were inspired to take on an appliqué project.
The excellent demonstrations were given by 5 of our talented guild member volunteers who also provided samples of their own stunning appliqué work and answered our many questions. 
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Rennie showed us wool appliqué.

Allison showed us the starch method and wowed us with her light box.

Christine showed us the interface and turn method and her hand appliqué technique.

Joanna showed us raw edge appliqué which we could examine on her various sample pieces.

Brenda showed us the needleturn method which we could examine on her beautiful quilts.

Thank you to all of our appliqué instructors for your excellent demonstrations and for sharing your knowledge with us. Your efforts, including the preparation for the evening, were very much appreciated.

2021-2022 BOM Challenge
Our last year's 2021-2022 Block of the Month program wrapped up with a display of 6 quilts and voting for our favourite.

Emma and Gwen were the respective winners of the 1st and 2nd place gift certificates from Sew Inspired.

See the BOM Challenge Blog post for more information about this BOM program, and close up photos of all of the quilts.

Show and Tell
Show and Tell was started off with a fun and creative seasonal piece by new member Wendy! It's such a treat to be seeing our members' stunning creations and hear their stories in person again.
See the Show and Tell page for photos of all of the show and tell projects.

Block of the Month & Mystery Quilt
Mary and Emma brought along samples of the 2 October Blocks of the Month.
See the Block of the Month page for details of this year's Half Square Triangle BOM program and instructions for these and all of the blocks.
And see the Mystery Quilt page for instructions and details for this intriguing project.

Draws
The meeting finished up with draws and some happy winners!
Guess the Number of Pages in the book - Emma R
Gift Basket - Debbie C
50-50 Draw of $35 - Mary C-P
Door Prizes $20 gift certificates from Textile Traditions - Jo P and Mary deV

We wrapped up our 2021-2022 Block of the Month / Challenge at our October 2022 in person meeting.

This Block of the Month (BOM) was a celebration of our guild's 20th anniversary and consisted of blocks from the past years' blocks of the month. Each month our BOM coordinators Johanne and Amanda spun a wheel on our Zoom screens to select a block for that month from a large selection of past blocks. And then they reached into the pile of blocks they had made, and showed us that month's winning block. This BOM evolved into a challenge to see how creative our guild members could be to make these random blocks, of differing sizes, and incorporate them into a quilt. There were no restrictions on the fabric used in these quilts.
The results were amazing!

The prizes (gift certificates to Sew Inspired) were awarded based on viewers' choice voting and the winners were:
1st Emma Russell
2nd Gwen Pennings
The voting resulted in a tie for second place and Emma was asked to choose the piece of paper with the tie-breaking quilt number.
Once again our guild members inspired and impressed us with their creativity in fabric and colour selections, placement of the blocks, and their impressive piecing and finishing skills. 
​Well done!

Here are the winning quilts.

Refer to Paul's web site for more information about him and his works, and for access to his Facebook page.
And to our blog for a recap of Paul's previous visit in September 2016.

Our long awaited quilt show is scheduled for April 29-30 2023. Vickie updated us on the activities already undertaken by the quilt show committee, along with an invitation to join that planning group.

We also got a look at the stunning quilt that will be raffled off to a lucky winner at the show. Members were invited to pick up raffle tickets from Rennie at the meeting. All funds generated from the raffle quilt are used for future charity projects. It's a very important fund raiser for our guild and all members are encouraged to sell tickets.

We were introduced to the variety of interesting projects being offered to our members this year. All are scheduled to result in finished projects in time for our quilt show on April 29-30.  We were encouraged to participate in as many of these projects as we'd like, and there's something for every level of experience and expertise, from beginner to expert. And they are great opportunities to try something new, and to contribute to our guild's charitable endeavours. 
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​Click/taps the links for more information about each activity.

• Charity Jelly Roll Quilt - Joyce and her talented team showed us 3 beautiful sample quilts (made by Jackie). Prepackaged kits of fabric were available at the meeting and more are available.
• Block of the Month - Emma and Mary brought along samples of the August and September blocks.  All made of half square triangles, these blocks are a great opportunity to practice our precision piecing.
• Mystery Quilt - Emma and Mary introduced this project and the first instructions were available on the web site after the meeting.
• Challenge  - Emma and Mary challenged us to make any small item from the fabric left over from the Mystery Quilt

The meeting included a fun show-and-tell.  Click/tap the link for photos of the quilts, taken by our guild photographer Emma.

Our meeting wrapped up with our draws and as usual, some happy winners!
50-50 draw:  $55 for Nancy H
Gift Basket:  Tina M
Guess the number of pages in the library book:  Julie C
Door Prizes: Georgene and Frank both went home with $20 gift certificates for Sew Inspired
​
-- Janet Brownlee,  Communications

Our second in person meeting since the looooong stretch of Covid Zoom meetings saw us back in Robert Simpson Park in Arnprior for a delightful outdoor meeting where we happily greeted each other face to face, and saw some amazing quilts. After postponing this meeting twice due to inclement weather our patience was rewarded on June 28th with a beautiful evening in the park along the shore of the Ottawa River.

This was a very casual and relaxed meeting with lots of social time to catch up with each other, and to see the lovely quilts - the challenge quilts, show and tell, and several preemie quilts and touch quilts for our Charity initiatives.

​This was our last meeting of this guild year so that meant the challenges were wrapped up with viewer's choice voting for our favourites.  

The winners of the 2 year long Covid challenge were Rennie Hickey with first place and Mary DeVries with second.

Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all of the participants for completing your challenge projects and sharing your beautiful and creative work with us.

For more information about these challenges and photos of all of the entries, see the 2022 Challenges in the Park Blog post.

 
A large portion of the evening was devoted to Show and Tell where we saw some of the amazing work of our guild members. Photos of all of the projects along with their makers are included in this photo gallery.
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Click/tap on an image to see it in full.

You can see cropped and enlarged photos of the quilts on the Show and Tell page.

​The first draw of the evening was for the 2 free guild memberships for 2022-2023. Everyone who had already renewed their membership was eligible for this draw and the lucky winners were Claudette T and Elaine E. Congratulations!

And the evening wrapped up with our regular prize draws.

The 50-50 draws are a welcome return to our in person meetings and this one for $24 was won by Penny C.

The charming basket of quilting goodies was won by Jane W. Thank you to Amanda and Johanne for putting together another delightful and much sought after basket.

The door prizes, $20 gift certificates for Sew Inspired, were won by Louise V and Mary D.

And this month's Library prize was won by Liz G. Thank you to Nancy for providing the Library prizes this evening and all year long.

​-- Janet Brownlee, Communications

Finally we were able to submit, and see some challenge quilts again! The last time was in September 2020 and now, almost 2 Covid years later, we were back in the park in Arnprior for our June meeting which included the wrap up of the Covid Challenge and the President's Challenge.

Challenges are projects with a particular theme where guild members can showcase their creativity and imagination. Typically issued in September at the beginning of each guild year, challenges are open to all members.  Prizes are awarded based on "viewer's choice" voting results.

The Covid challenge was issued by then Programs lead Joyce in September 2020 and with no opportunity to physically get together in our 2020-2021 guild year, the challenge was extended for another year by this year's Program lead Brigid.

The challenge was to:

"Make something completely from scraps.  No shopping allowed.  It doesn`t actually have to be scraps, as long as you used up material you had on hand."

Guild president Vickie's challenge this year was to: 

Create a quilt using the Drunkard's Path units. The Drunkard's Path is a traditional block that features curved piecing. And for fun, add a bit of emerald green to commemorate our guild’s 20th anniversary.

1. All entries must include multiple Drunkard's Path units.
2. Must use some of the color emerald green. The color is to be easily identified on the front face of the quilt. Use as much or as little as you like.
3. All entries are to measure more than 24" square.
4. No clothing, bags, or accessories. Quilt is to be completed, quilted, and bound. Quilt must have a top, batting, back, quilting and completed binding.

 
​The History of the Drunkard's Path Block

​Our Membership chair Martha greeted us and handled our "no touch" sign in.

The Charity table, hosted by Sue and Joyce, was a busy spot where they had a sample walker/wheelchair bag on display, and pre-packaged kits ready to go out to volunteers. 

There were two completed Pick Up Sticks quilts.

Perhaps inspired by our March meeting Charity night, a colourful completed twin sized quilt, and a quilt top were also donated.

There were well stocked garage sale tables with a variety of fabrics and other items!

Nancy, our librarian, happily welcomed back library books, and offered some magazines and other items for sale.

The raffle and 50-50 ticket sale table was, as always, a popular spot.

The formal meeting began with an introduction of the members of our executive team in attendance.

A discussion of our upcoming quilt show in spring 2023 started with a look at the quilt that will be raffled off at the show. This raffle is an important part of our quilt show as its proceeds will fund future guild Charity projects.

This beautiful raffle quilt top was assembled in 2020 by former Programs chair Joyce and her team, from blocks made by guild members for the 2019-2020 Blue Block Party Challenge. 

There were many more blocks donated for the challenge and those remaining blocks will be used in future guild Charity projects.

You can see photos of all of the completed challenge blocks in the January 2020 Meeting Highlights.

The resumption of the full slate of prize draws was a welcome return.
The 2 door prize gift certificates were won by Tina M and Barb H, and Emma won $31.50 in the 50-50 draw. There were also lucky winners of the gift basket, and Library prize draws.

After the meeting formalities there was plenty of time to visit the garage sale and Charity tables, and for informal socializing.

​It was great to see our guild photographer Emma back in action - thank you Emma for these awesome photos, and for splitting your time between your garage sale table and capturing these photos at the meeting.

-- Janet Brownlee, Communications

Note to readers: I had to leave the meeting early and I've been unable to determine who won the gift basket and library draws. If you won or recall who did please email me and I'll add that to this post.

The program for our March guild Zoom meeting was very unique as we welcomed multiple guest presenters who represented several of the charities that our guild supports with donations of our crafts. This was an extraordinarily touching and very informative evening as we heard first hand stories of how our donations are valued by their recipients, and by the people who work or volunteer at the charities.

​Our guests included:

Nancy Peck  of Arnprior-Braeside-McNab Seniors at Home, recipients of the placemats that we donate at Christmas time, which are delivered along with the Christmas meal to the Meals on Wheels clients ​

 
Pat Tait, volunteer team lead at the Arnprior & District Food Bank Inc. who fill and distribute the fabric drawstring bags that we donate.

​Cathie McOrmond, Resource Development, at Lanark County Interval House and Community Support in  Carleton Place who have been recipients of twin bed quilts

​Nancy Arbogast, Regional Representative in Ottawa for Quilts of Valour, Ottawa. Our guild members have donated quilts of comfort for injured Canadian Armed Forces members past and present.

Gwen Pennings, Vice-President for the Pakenham group of Victoria’s Quilts who make and donate quilts to people living with cancer in Canada. Gwen is one of several of our guild members who are members of this Pakenham group.

We were in awe of the huge impact that our donations can have, and resolved to increase our efforts to support these charities.