December Events

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I am reminded of how grateful I am for the pleasure and reward of being in such a wonderful and giving group as our CSQ! Coming up is another opportunity. Our meeting is scheduled for December 10th, and our sewing days follow on December 13th & 14th. On the 10th, we will have a holiday potluck which will start at 6:30 p.m. Please bring a dish to share. We do need a volunteer for holiday punch, if anyone can do it, call Marcy. In addition, we will take up a collection of food, cleaning products, and / or funds for the benefit of WHEAT. Show & Tell is also welcome. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families! See you soon.

Janome 11000 for sale!

Rita Galaska is downsizing and is selling her Janome Memory Craft 11000

It includes all manuals, five hoops, more than 10 feet including a walking foot, and more.  This is a well cared for and well maintained machine and she's asking $500.

This is the embroidery hoop.

The table is also available.  If you are interested please email (ritagalask at gmail dot com) or call her. Her phone number is on the membership list. The sewing table is also available.

As she continues downsizing you can expect more items up for offer!

Weather! 11/12

Dear group: As there is some snow predicted tomorrow, please listen for whether there are school closures or abbreviated schoolday hours for Hanover County! If either situation, we will NOT meet. Sorry for the potential issue, and everyone please be safe!
Regards,
Marcy

Let's talk veterans quilts!

After Betsy and Debbie told us about their inspiring visit to the VA Hospital and the department that distributes our quilts we are all motivated to make more! We were talking today at sewing and did a rough calculation and we think that we made as many as 75 in 2019. That's really cool!

I wanted to share a lot of information about our veterans quilt project so to keep this interesting I'll share some photos of quilts you have made over the past few years! Please keep reading.

It's been 3 years since I posted the rules for people who want their quilts quilted so here it is again.

The rules:

• Quilt tops are 48 x 60 - We pre-cut the backing and batting so we can't customize backing for an odd sized quilt
• NO FRAGRANCE - I am VERY allergic to fragrances so I can't work with fabrics that have been washed in fragrance detergent or have any fragranced product sprayed on them (like Best Press). Sometimes one of the other quilters can quilt fragranced quilt tops but it's up to you to note that the top has fragrance because I bring the tops home with me and store them in a closet. I have had to take a top and seal it in a plastic bag until I could return it to the owner.
• Quilts must be pressed and ready for quilting. We do not do any prep work on quilt tops so that we have more time for quilting so it's important for the tops to be ready to load when we receive them. Just press them and fold them neatly and bring them to me at the meeting. I hang them on hangers in a closet to keep them wrinkle free until they get quilted.
• We quilt them when we can fit them in. You might get your top back next month or it might take 6 months. I match them up in pairs to backs so I might need to hold one to get another to match with it or we might simply not have time to quilt them.
• We choose the thread color and quilting design. We can't coordinate specific requests for thread color and quilting design. Some of us quilt with computerized machines and some of us quilt free-motion. So far we haven't gotten any complaints!

Or quilt your own with your own rules!

Of course you can always quilt your own quilts! I will not be able to quilt ALL of the quilt tops that you make. I have some quilting help but 75 quilts is a LOT of quilts for us to do. 

Fortunately, the program this month is about glue basting quilts so that they can be easily machine quilted. A veterans quilt is the perfect size to test this out. I can provide batting and/or backing to anyone who wants to quilt their own quilt. I'll have some batting at the meeting if you need some. (We are currently out of backing fabric as I'm awaiting a backorder wit no target delivery date.)

Quilts ready for quilting:

I announced at the last meeting that I would take quilts at the November meeting. It turns out that our fabric supplier is currently out of backing and I don't know when it will be here. They are waiting for it to come from overseas and said it could be a month or more. I have company coming in early December and staying for 2 months. I store the quilt tops in their closet! If you can hold your quilts until January I would appreciate it. I will not be quilting any veteran quilts until then. Whenever the fabric comes in I can spend December getting a stash of backing fabric ready.

For the longarmers:

We are so lucky to have several longarmers as part of our group and I really appreciate all of the help you have given me with these quilts. I encourage you to think about your commitment to this project for 2020 and let me know how many you would like to quilt. There are NO expectations! But if you can let me know how many you might want to quilt in 2020 I will know how many tops to accept and how much backing and batting to purchase. You quilt these quilts in your own time. There are no deadlines unless you set the deadlines for yourselves.

Thank you!

Vicki