Arnprior & District Quilters' Guild Newsletter - October 2020
President's Message
Happy October!
We just got back from a vacation in Northern Ontario. Before you get all excited and say "oh they must have beautiful fall colours" the answer is no, they don't have the variety of tree species we have so in the North in the fall you have two choices of trees - green and yellow.
I love Fall because I enjoy the parade of the seasons, but also because Fall means quilting season is back with a vengeance. Paulette and I recently celebrated our 6th Quiltversary. Here's a picture of me on the day that we bought the sewing machine six years ago that started it all for us.
We now own much more than just that one machine, but it's still going strong as Paulette's backup machine.
And how can you not love the fall colours? They are always so inspiring - I've seen so many beautiful quilt ideas on Pinterest using them all.
We had our first meeting on Zoom - 34 members in attendance. It's not as fun and as social as regular meetings, but for the next while it's either Zoom or no meetings at all. So Zoom it is.
We hope to see everyone at our next meeting. Our guest speaker will be "Zooming" in to join us from Belleville. One nice feature of Zoom is that we aren't paying travel and hotels for guest speakers. In addition we could enlist speakers from ANYWHERE in the world.
Take care & happy quilting!
-- Frank McCarron, President
October Meeting
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Our October guild meeting is on Wednesday October 28 at 7 PM. We hope you'll join us on Zoom. Watch your email a day or 2 before the meeting for instructions for connecting to this meeting. Our guest will be Bill Stearman who was scheduled for a meeting last spring so we're pleased to welcome him to a virtual visit! September Highlights
You can take a look at these 2 recent blog posts for photos and more: September 2020 Meeting Highlights 2020 Challenges in the Park |
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2020-2021 Meeting Dates are listed on the Schedule page
Quilt Canada 2020 Guild Member Challenge
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You can now vote for your favourite entry in the CQA 2020 Guild Member Challenge. Tilted "Gateway to Adventure” it required using Kona’s Jungle green fabric. Quilts in this challenge are normally displayed at Quilt Canada but since it was cancelled this year, the show is online and we can all participate in the voting. Our guild's single entry was made by Emma Russell and she called hers “Experience the Great Outdoors”. It's gorgeous! We are so proud of Emma to be representing our guild. Online viewer’s choice voting continues until October 31. You can see all of the entries here. To vote you can follow the voting link in the text above the photos, or directly from here. The ballot lists the names of the quilters and the title of their piece. We hope you're looking for Emma's name when casting your vote! And you can see and vote for other Quilt Canada challenges here. |
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Advertisers
Thank you to our 2020-2021 advertisers! Your support funds our Communications budget which includes the hosting of this web site. We are very grateful for this financial support.
To our guild members, please support our advertisers. You can click/tap on any of the advertisements in this newsletter to access the vendor's web site. These vendors are also listed on the Links page.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor
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Charity
Well, haven't we been blessed with such beautiful fall colours this year! I am sure it has inspired many of you to sew with all your lovely fall coloured material.
Preemie Quilts
You can drop off any completed preemie quilts to Marilyn Erskine's home at 261 Bell St. in Arnprior. She will have a bin on her front step to drop them in, the week of October 25 to the 31st. Don't forget that you can take a picture of your preemie quilt donation and send them to Janet and she can add them to the gallery of preemie quilt photos. We all enjoy seeing the cute little ones.
Holiday Projects
I hope everyone is considering making one or two holiday placemats for the Arnprior Meals on Wheels. Approximate size is 15 X 11inches, and one side with a Christmas theme. The instructions can be found here. This is a great opportunity to try making an Xmas block or use up an orphan block. To ensure we have time to deliver the placemats to Meals on Wheels they should be completed by November 30th.
For those who have been zipping up the Christmas drawstring bags for the Arnprior and District Foodbank, these bags as well will need to be completed by the end of November.
Drop off - Sew Inspired
We have officially found a drop off place for our Christmas placemats & drawstring bags! Nancy & Sue at Sew Inspired will be happy to collect them for the guild until the end of November.
Anyone know of any local charities that could use our help? If you know of an organization that would be able to use, and appreciate some of our guild's handmade treasures, please send us an email with their info to the guild (arnpriorquilters@gmail.com or from the Contact page) and Jane and I will look into the possibility.
Michelle Johnston and Carol Beatty of Arnprior Regional Health
Charity donation update
On Tuesday, October 20th, I delivered quilts to Arnprior Regional Health.
Michelle Johnston, Activities Director, and Carol Beatty, Palliative Coordinator, were very pleased to receive them from our guild.
Michelle mentioned that 4 touch quilts will be kept at the Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital, and 4 quilts will be given to The Grove Nursing Home . More Touch quilts would be greatly appreciated!
Carol said one quilt will be given to a current palliative patient, and the second one will be kept on hand for the next patient. Jane confirmed with her that the palliative quilts are a gift of comfort and warmth to the patient and to their family afterwards.
They were so pleased (see photo) and thanked me several times.... so consider the thanks passed on.
Jane Wickware
On Tuesday, October 20th, I delivered quilts to Arnprior Regional Health.
Michelle Johnston, Activities Director, and Carol Beatty, Palliative Coordinator, were very pleased to receive them from our guild.
Michelle mentioned that 4 touch quilts will be kept at the Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital, and 4 quilts will be given to The Grove Nursing Home . More Touch quilts would be greatly appreciated!
Carol said one quilt will be given to a current palliative patient, and the second one will be kept on hand for the next patient. Jane confirmed with her that the palliative quilts are a gift of comfort and warmth to the patient and to their family afterwards.
They were so pleased (see photo) and thanked me several times.... so consider the thanks passed on.
Jane Wickware
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Charity volunteer required
Our guild is still in the need of a second charity volunteer. Jane is continuing to help out until someone steps forward. This is a very pleasing job and not that taxing. It would be a good position for someone who wants to get to know and help their community. Thanks, Vickie MacNabb and Jane Wickware, Guild Charity Team |
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Thanking our guild
A Thank You from for donations of gift bags last December.
Our guild previously donated an animal themed quilt to the Arnprior & District Humane Society. They are currently offering it an online raffle and they recently sent us these photos they've posted on their Facebook page.
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Library News
The season is moving on and now the trees are looking a little bare. I checked my calendar and realized that it’s time to get started on Christmas gift sewing! I made a small “Noel” banner for a friend’s new home and then tried a quilt-as-you-go runner from a Pinterest pattern that a friend recommended. I liked it so much I’m keeping it!
I’ve also been trying some new tools and a new foot for my machine. The “Bloc-Loc” rulers (3 sizes in the package) fit snuggly into the centre seam when you’re squaring up blocks and prevents slipping. I realized how great it was after trimming 4.5 in squares without it…..slip, slip, slip.
The new foot I tried is the Narrow Edge Foot (Pfaff) and I love it for the last step of putting on the quilt binding. It makes a neat trim look. Thanks to a friend for that idea, too!!
Since we can’t have our “Guess The Pages” draw right now, we’ve made a small package of quilting books and magazines (older, but still great!) and someone attending our October Zoom meeting will win it! Good Luck!
We hope you are staying safe and healthy …and enjoying your Fall sewing time!
Nancy (and Lucy)
Nancy's Bloc-Loc ruler
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October meeting gift pack
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Membership
As mentioned previously, membership fees for renewing guild members are waived for the 2020-2021 season. This is due to the number of meetings that were canceled last year and lower expenses anticipated for this year. New members will pay $15 for this year instead of the usual $25.
For last year's members, your membership has been automatically renewed, and a membership form is not required this year. If any of your contact information has changed please notify the guild (arnpriorquilters@gmail.com). This includes any changes to your phone number, email address, or mailing address.
We welcome new member Sandra to our guild. Sandra joined us for our September get together in the park and for our September meeting.
What's Brigid Doing?
Sewing furniture - let’s get creative!
At last month’s meeting, I was interrupted with a furniture delivery for my sewing area. I wanted to be sure that the people delivering would place it where it was going to stay as it’s pretty heavy. What did I get? Well it’s technically, an antique tall boy dresser... for me, it’s a craft and notions storage cabinet.
I have to say that I have been searching for a unique piece of furniture for some time now, and was quite happy when I saw this. There was a gap between buying and delivery, so from memory, I thought it had 6 cubbies and 4 drawers. Turns out it’s 9 cubbies and 5 drawers ... wow, that’s lots of space, maybe I can store some fabric scraps and fat quarters in here too! It’s October - here’s where you insert eerie sounds and creepy laughing!! Who am I kidding - seriously! No, there is not room for anything fabric! I barely have room for crafts and notions.
Let’s admit it, I am a sentimental gatherer of things sewing (some might say hoarder)! Here’s a short list of contents:
- One drawer for ribbons and trims (some of which belonged to my great aunt)
- One cubbie for embroidery floss that belonged to my aunt (in case I decide to try embroidery - not likely, I have a machine for that!)
- Another drawer full of buttons ... Oh wait, they don’t all fit (let’s use that last cubbie) ... buttons are from my Mom, estate auctions, friends. Actually, this is one drawer that does get used a lot. I will use buttons on quilts instead of embroidery for noses and eyes. I have larger old buttons on snowman quilts. Caps and headband making, to use as ear savers, that took care of many medium sized buttons earlier this year. I need different containers for the buttons, Mom’s old Tupperware spice set is not as convenient as it first was.
- And then there’s knitting, crochet, zippers, roving, etc., etc.
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All my little craft projects and notions in one cozy cabinet! After getting everything put away in this cabinet, it cleared up a few bins and boxes and set me on a task to clean up my fabric area... and find my Go Cutter, buried under blocks and preemies.
I have a metal rolling cart that was purchased at Princess Auto. It’s my Go Cutter storage station and holder of blocks, preemies, etc. When my husband assembled it, he purposely put the top piece upside down, so it’s flat. All my dies are conveniently stored on the second shelf. The smaller ones are held up by dividers... I think that was supposed to be for albums or CDs. This cart is great as it’s on casters and I move it to where it’s needed.
If you have a cabinet or piece of furniture that you’ve repurposed for storage of quilting or craft supplies, please share with us.
Next month ... let’s look at cutting and ironing stations.
-- Brigid Whitnall, Past-Past President
Go Cutter in its "natural habitat"!
Vickie's Quilt Restoration
I just wanted to share my quilt restoration project with you to demonstrate the importance of using the correct threads with the type of material you use in your quilt.
I recently took on a well loved quilt to restore for a neighbour. The quilt was made in the early eighties with broadcloth. The quilt material and the piecing was well done, but the hand quilting did not stand the test of time after all those years of use. It was definitely a labour of love for the quilt! I literally had to (by machine) requilt the whole thing, there were just small sections of hand quilting left.
The reason the hand quilting didn't last wasn't because of the owner not taking good care of the quilt, it was simply because the quilter used cotton thread to quilt with. The broadcloth is a stronger material than the cotton thread and it caused the threads to break when there was and tension put on the quilt.
The quilt has been fully restored using poly thread to ensure that the quilt will stand up for many more years of use.
-- Vickie MacNabb
Jane's Tip
Hi there
I would like to share a tip with you!
i love my her Sidewinder! I have it conveniently tucked in a drawer of my sewing table. When my bobbin runs out, I don't have to unthread my sewing machine to wind a bobbin; just use the sidewinder to save time.
Don't we all need one of those!
-- Jane Wickware
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An invitation...
Do you have a story or a tip you'd like to share with us? Just send it along and I'll be delighted to include it in a future newsletter.
And a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Brigid, Vickie, and Jane for sharing their stories with us this month.
-- Janet Brownlee, Communications & Newsletter Editor