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Funny how we say “Summer is over” and not “Autumn is here”. I do love summer but find it goes by so fast. I hope all our members enjoyed some relaxation, the weather, family, friends and even some traveling adventures. Although no doubt some of you have done lots of work on your projects over the summer, autumn is a great time to really getting back to work on mixing fabrics to produce real works of art. Welcome back everyone. The dedicated group of volunteers have put together a great program this year which I know you will enjoy. Work is underway for our quilt show this spring and the CQA Quilt Canada 2019 show will be just down the way in Ottawa in June. I look forward to seeing all of you at our first meeting on September 26th for all the news, program and activity updates, challenges and so much more.
P.S. Don’t forget to bring your summer projects for Show & Tell. See you soon! Donna Sheaves, President  'Twas the night before Christmas, Quilters version
'Twas the night before Christmas, And the quilts were not made. The threads were all tangled, the cookies delayed. The stockings weren't hung, the pantry was bare. The poor weary Quilter, was tearing her hair. Stacks of fat quarters, tipped over in streams. Visions of Log Cabins, had turned into dreams. When what to her wondering eyes should appear, But a bus full of quilters with all of their gear. They went straight to work with just a few mutters, Sorting and stitching and brandishing cutters. The patterns emerged from all of the clutter, Like magic the fabrics arranged in a flutter. Log Cabins, Lone Stars, Flying Geese & Bear Tracks Each quilt was a beauty-even the backs. Her house how it twinkled, her quilts how they glowed. The cookies were baking, the stockings were sewed. Their work was all done, so they folded their frames, And packed up their needles, without giving their names. They boarded the bus, and checked the next address. More quilts to be made, another quilter in distress. She heard one voice echo, as they drove out of sight, Happy quilting to all and to all a good night! Author Unknown Donna Sheaves President  "Sea Side" Donna's happy place The leaves are gone, the sun beds early, and the snow is not far away. I have selected my images for the Presidents challenge, “Sea Side”, my happy place. I’m gathering my fabric and my pattern which I hope to show you soon. Here is the image I have selected from a magazine to inspire my quilt. I hope many of you will participate as well.
We are very excited about our guest speaker this month. Sherri Hisey will be at the meeting to speak about settings and borders as well as present a trunk show. You can read more in the programs section of this newsletter. We are pleased to see so many new members. Janet Brownlee has graciously agreed to take on the role of Ambassador to help our new friends get acquainted with the guild offerings and our group. If you see Janet with a new member, please introduce yourself to make our new friends feel more at home and find out about their interest in quilting. If we need to cancel a meeting due to bad weather, we will send out an email around noon to advise the members. Since many of you arrive with a friend, if you see an email about the cancellation, help out others that may not check their email often and let them know. If you personally feel the weather is not good for traveling, your safety must be the first priority, do not venture out to the meeting. Donna Sheaves President Welcome quilters! As I write this, fall is upon us. The foliage is starting to change as well as the weather. I hope you are inspired to capture some of that autumn beauty in a quilt to admire all year.
Last month, the challenges were announced and they will be fun to make and to see at the end of the year. Planning a quilt around a theme or pattern is a creative way to stretch your quilting imagination. Read about them and please consider participating! I have started planning my President's Challenge quilt which I will share with you as I go along. This month I will share my magazine inspiration image. The beach is my true happy place which is why I have selected this image. I hope you are looking for your inspiration image and will participate in the challenge. Our first retreat is coming up and I can see everyone is looking forward to the event. This is the opportunity to get away and focus on your quilt work, get some tips and tricks from fellow quilters and socialize with new and old friends. There is still some room available so if you are interested in attending, you can see Joanna Vlaming at our October meeting. Please don’t forget to sign up to bring something sweet or savory for sharing with other members at a meeting. I am certain that, like your quilts, you all have something great you can share. Just see one of our kitchen volunteers and let them know what you could bring (preferably nut free). Looking forward to seeing all of you at our October 25th meeting. Donna Sheaves President  Welcome to the Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild 2017-2018 season.
Fall seems to have arrived quickly and I hope you find great inspiration for your quilts in the changing colours of our landscape. I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me to participate in the guild executive. I believe these next couple of years are going to be exciting. The executive met earlier this month and I can tell you each of them were implementing great ideas and I know you will be pleased. I will leave it to them to present their plans. One of my personal goals and interest is to increase our membership. There are many quilters of all level in our community and I would like to have them join our guild and share their experience and works with us. The people in our guild are truly friendly and inclusive so I know they would love to be part of our community. I would also like to see more youths get involved in our guild. I will develop a strategy and a plan to see how this can be done. I hope to have something to share with you by December. If you have any ideas on how we could improve the way the guild operates, events we should consider hosting or how we might increase our membership, the executive team is available and you can contact me any time to chat and share your ideas. As this year’s president, I am issuing a challenge to the members of our guild to design a project using a page from a non quilting related magazine or book as the inspiration. The challenge is to make a quilted project that relates to something on that page - it could be color related, based on a word or phrase on the page, based on a picture on the page, etc. When you submit your challenge project, I would like you to include the page from the magazine and a short write-up of how it related. I look forward to seeing all of you on September 27th at our first meeting of this season. Please don’t forget your beverage mug and your beautiful items for show and tell. The executive will provide the snacks. Donna Sheaves President  This newsletter blurb is coming to you live from Quilt Canada. I have seen a few people from our guild as well as folks from the Ottawa area. This is my second day here and there is so much to talk about and be inspired by.
I would like to highlight the Youth Challenge. I was blown away by the quilts. A group from Belleville worked with 10 youth aged 5 and up and created some fantastic pieces. They worked on PD days and went through machine safety, cutting and then piecing and appliqué. I have long wanted to get a group like this underway and feel inspired to do so in our area. Then there's the Trend Tex challenge where I saw work by one of our members. The Ottawa Modern Guild has a special exhibit as do Quilts of Valour, Fibre Art Network, and Cantik Batiks. Of course, what would a quilt show be without shopping! I may have done a bit of that! Getting to guild business, I want to thank everyone who came forward for next year. I look forward to sitting in the audience for a while... I will try to keep up with my UFO's and have things for show and tell. Enjoy the summer & happy quilting, Brigid Whitnall President  Brigid's 3D Building Blocks wallhanging Congratulations again to everyone on a very successful quilt show. Now that the mad rush to finish last minute entries is over, we can start new projects or focus on longer term UFO's.
I have somehow acquired a few unexpected projects for family. Can't wait to get started, these are for our nephews and the fabric is loads of fun. I just emptied my one project bin, had to get it filled up again! As usual, May is our elections month. For those new to the guild, we call it elections as we optimistically hope to have numerous volunteers lining up. It is really first come, first to choose a position until they are all gone! There are still a few spots left. Once the executive positions are filled up in May, we will have membership renewals for next year at the June meeting. We typically have a draw for one free membership for anyone who pays at the June meeting, we have decided to be extra generous this year and have two draws. Don't forget that the June meeting, our end of year pot luck, is on June 21st, the week after Quilt Canada. I am sure we'll have lots of stories to tell. I had been hesitating about going and just registered for a couple of classes. It should be lots of fun. Ah spring and its conflicting demands - gardening, quilting, outdoor maintenance, taking down snowmen decorations which may have been forgotten!! Yes, I may have a few of those that hide in plain sight!! I will get to them eventually. Happy Quilting everyone! Brigid Whitnall President Happy Spring everyone!
Mother Nature seems to be confused about which season it is this year, so if we keep saying "spring", maybe it will happen. I too may be slightly confused as I still have all my winter decorations up and am only replacing them because of the date on the calendar. We are only about a month away from the quilt show. There's lots of quilting to be done between now and then. If I bind a few quick projects, they'll be done. Then onto quilting some projects that I would like to have in the show. Don't forget about your red and white president's challenges. A great big thanks to everyone who was at the February meeting and who helped us get the quilt tops done for the CQA Big Quilt Bee. It was loads of fun, and very productive too. A reminder to arrive early and bring lots of small bills for our garage sale this month. The folks selling should be set up by 6:30 or so. We are still starting the meeting with our speaker at 7:00, you'll have an opportunity to shop before the meeting and we'll have a slightly extended break where you can shop then too. We have lots happening, it's very exciting! I better get sewing, that binding does not attach itself! Imagine, self sewing binding instead of, or as well as, self driving cars!! Hehe Happy Quilting, Brigid Whitnall President Happy Spring everyone!
Mother Nature seems to be confused about which season it is this year, so if we keep saying "spring", maybe it will happen. I too may be slightly confused as I still have all my winter decorations up and am only replacing them because of the date on the calendar. We are only about a month away from the quilt show. There's lots of quilting to be done between now and then. If I bind a few quick projects, they'll be done. Then onto quilting some projects that I would like to have in the show. Don't forget about your red and white president's challenges. A great big thanks to everyone who was at the February meeting and who helped us get the quilt tops done for the CQA Big Quilt Bee. It was loads of fun, and very productive too. A reminder to arrive early and bring lots of small bills for our garage sale this month. The folks selling should be set up by 6:30 or so. We are still starting the meeting with our speaker at 7:00, you'll have an opportunity to shop before the meeting and we'll have a slightly extended break where you can shop then too. We have lots happening, it's very exciting! I better get sewing, that binding does not attach itself! Imagine, self sewing binding instead of, or as well as, self driving cars!! Hehe Happy Quilting, Brigid Whitnall President  Hello everyone,
I am watching the snow blow around as I write this. Isn't February just a great month to quilt! Our quilt show is only a few months away ... yikes ... better get some items ready! That also means that spring is only a little while off. For those who may have started to see the Canada 150 passports around Arnprior, please note that the only part of the quilt show which is free is entrance to the tea room and special Canada 150 travelling exhibit. Admission to the show is still $6.00 and includes the market mall. Did you get some great ideas from our demo night last month? I know that I walked away with a couple of tips that I will implement. Now if I can get someone to volunteer to come fold my fabric neatly .... haha I have a better chance of getting the new executive in place by March!! I have actually started and have two shelves out of 12 done! This might take a while. I am really looking forward to our February meeting when we will assemble some tops for the CQA big quilt bee. We have enough quilt blocks for 8 quilts now and may have enough for 10 by the end of the month. Don't forget to bring in your finished blocks. Happy Quilting, Brigid Whitnall President |
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