Wednesday, February 26, 2020

March Events

First, a big THANKS to Mary Mills for February’s program on readying our quilts for the ‘longarmer’! For those who attended, we all learned some important tips!!
I hope that many of us will get a chance to spend some time at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival Feb. 27 - March 1. For those who go, please bring back your favorite remembrances of the show - a quilt, a new tool, a class you took, a book you found! Our March program, 3/10, will be devoted to our sharing of the highs and lows!! The following weekend is Sewing Days - Friday, 3/13 and Saturday, 3/14. Bring your own projects to work on with the camaraderie of friends. Bring your machines, and leave them overnight in safety; bring lunch, and we’ll picnic together. I can hardly wait to get together again! Marcy

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

New Photo Album and need for a new Program Coordinator


Photo Albums

Thanks to a lot of work by Margaret Griffiths we have a new photo album! Our old album reached the max limit. We discussed in a previous meeting that we would not download older photos and people were given time to download any photos that they wanted to keep. We now have a new album with photos starting with the 2019 meetings.

New Photos starting in 2019

Program Coordinator

Last month Marcy asked for a volunteer to take over the Program Coordinator role that she has had for over 2 years. Marcy has done a great job for us as did Julie before her! We are grateful to both for giving us some great programs for the past several years. Our group is only as good as the contribution of our members. 

For anyone considering taking over this role for a while I thought I'd give you some background on what's involved and, maybe, some motivation to take on this role for a while. 

There are 12 programs each year and 3 of them are always already set:
July - pot luck
October - Trash to Treasure
December - pot luck and WHEAT collection

That leaves 9 programs to schedule and we have a lot of talent to pull from. Most of the work involves asking people to do programs and coordinating the schedule. If you are not comfortable doing a program you can make the program coordinator's job easier by committing to be responsible for a program and inviting a guest to do a program. If we each did that we would have programs schedule out for several YEARS!

This weekend at sewing we sat around and brainstormed ideas for programs. Is there something here that you could do or know someone that could do for a program?


  1. With the ever popular 2.5" jelly rolls it would be nice to have a
    program on different ways (patterns?) to use them. Do you use Jelly Rolls a lot and can share some pattern ideas for them?
  2. A program on batting - discuss the pros/cons of various batts. We
    could probably get one of companies to send us samples.
  3. Member show and tell for a particular style of quilt (log cabin, stars, etc). Maybe include a presentation on history of the block
  4. Show and tell favorite quilting book
  5. First Quilt/ Last Quilt
  6. English paper piecing 
  7. Embellishment techniques for quilts
  8. Making quilt labels
  9. Binding techniques/binding embellishments like piped binding
  10. Hand embroidery stitches
  11. Show and tell favorite/least favorite gadgets
  12. Mistake month - everyone bring in a mistake (colors, damage, out of square, etc.). Talk about how you fixed it and how to avoid it in the future
  13. Bring in an old quilt and tell the story of it
  14. Veterans mystery quilt (Vicki will plan this)
  15. Machine raw edge applique (Nancy volunteered to do this one)
  16. Do you know a physical therapist that could come in and talk about exercises/stretches for quilting, rotary cutting, etc.?
  17. A couple of years ago we had an orphan block program where we took orphan blocks and the designed new quilts with them and created kits that were returned at the next meeting. We might do something like that again.
  18. Would one of our artists be willing to do a program on a specific design concept?
  19. Small handmade gifts - maybe a few months before Christmas
  20. Recycling ideas for batting and fabric scraps
  21. Curved piecing tips (Durnkard's path, Cleopatra's Fan)
  22. Half square triangle design ideas
  23. Quilt game night
  24. Art quilters discussion of how they get inspiration and translate that into fabric
Maybe something on this list will give you an idea for a program that you can do and hopefully, convince someone (or a couple of people) that they can take on coordinating programs.

Monday, February 3, 2020

Books to give away


Rita Galaska is parting with over a third of her beloved quilting library.  She will have books at Friday afternoon sewing, Saturday sewing, and will leave them for Tuesday meeting. They include a large number of quilting books of many aspects of quilting, garment sewing, other hand crafts and cookbooks. Email ritagalaska at reagan.com for more information. Most books are in like new condition and a few are collectible.

These are the books Rita is giving away: 

101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts - Hopkins/Martin
400 Calorie Fix Cookbook
A Fine Finish - Cody Mazuran
A Modern Mix - machine & hand quilting - Anita Shackelford
A New Turn on Drunkard's Path - Mary Sue Suit (with special ruler)
Aberdeen - booklet by Jinny Beyer
Applique Paper Greetings - Elly Sienkiewicz
Basics of Bead Stringing - Kanan
Back to Beadin' - Elbe
Color Confidence for Quilters - Jinny Beyer - with Portable Palette
Color Fusion - Laura Heine
Convergence Quilts - Ricky Tims
Country Style Appliques - Mary Mulari
Creative Beginnings in Machine Embroidery - Patty Albin
Crewel Embroidery - Audrey Francini
Cutting Corners - Joan Hanson
Curved Two-Patch System (The) - Joyce Schlotzhauer
Curves Unlimited - Joyce Schlotzhauer
Dating Fabric 1800-1960 - Trestain
Decorative Alphabets - Dover books
Decorative Floral Designs - Dover books
Designing Tessellations - Jinny Beyer
Discovery - booklet by Jinny Beyer
Easy Reversible Vests - Carol Doak
Electric Bread (recipes for bread machine, could be adapted)
Engine 2 Diet
Exploring Machine Trapunto - Hari Walner
Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Bowls - Linda Johansen
Fine Feathers - Marianne Fons
Fit for Real People (sewing clothing) - Pati Palmer
Floral Designs and Motifs - Dover books
Forks over Knives (plant based weight loss)
Forks over Knives Cookbook
French Braid Quilts - Jane Hardy Miller
Fun with Bargello - Silverstein
Funky Fabric Hats - Suzy Lawson
Hawaiian Quilting - Elizabeth Root
How to Make Bedspreads - Singer
How to Make Draperies - Singer
Jacket Jackpot - Judy Murrah
Kaleidoscope Quilts the Workbook - Paula Nadelstern
Little Hannah (similar to Sunbonnet Sue)
Looking Good (wardrobe and style) - Nancy Nix-Rice
Lover's Knot Placemats - Cynthia Martin
Magic Stack-n-Whack Quilts - Bethany S. Reynolds
Mastering Machine Applique - Harriet Hargrave
Mastering Quilt Marking - Pepper Cory
Mile-a-Minute Quilts - Sharon Hultgren
Miniature Punchneedle Embroidery - Linda Repasky
Monterrey Medallions - Atkinson Designs
Pants for Any Body (sewing) - Palmer/Pletsch
Pieced Roman Shades (window treaments) - Terrell Sundermann
Planet Earth - booklet by Jinny Beyer
Puzzle Quilts - Paula Nadelstern
Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders - Jinny Beyer
Quilters on the Go (bags) - Nancy J. Martin
Quilts from the Heart - (piecing, not the applique) - Renaud
Rotary Magic - Nancy Johnson-Srebro
Secrets of Elemental Quilting with DVD - Karen McTavish
Sew a Row Quilts - Karin Hellaby
Shadow Applique - Hetty van Boven
Silk Ribbon Embroidery (The Art of) - Judith Baker Montano
Simply Sensational Bags (purses) - Linda McGehee
String Fling - Bonnie K. Hunter
Strips 'n Curves - Louisa L. Smith
Strips that Sizzle - Margaret J. Miller
Surface Textures - Anita Shackelford
Teaching Basic Quiltmaking - NQA
Turn Me Over -- I'm Reversible - by Kaye Wood
Ultimate Rotary Cutting Reference - Judy Martin
William Morris - Dover books
Window Essentials booklet - McCalls
Window Treatments (complete photo guide) -