Scissor Sharpening - JUNE 10

We will have a scissor sharpening event on June 10, from 10-2 pm., while we are sewing. Richard Hile whose business is SHARP AGAIN will be there to sharpen your scissors or knives. (He is a regular at West End Farmers Market and the Great Big Greenhouse.) You do not have to be sewing to stop by with your scissors. I will not be at the May meeting, so would someone please pass around a signup sheet so we can give him an idea of how many scissors/knives he will be doing.

PRICE: $8 for scissors - any size, including pinking shears

$6 for knives.

We will have zip lock bags to put your scissors in with your name.

Hanover County Spirit of Volunteerism Awards

As most of you know, our group has been nominated for a Hanover County 2022 Spirit of Volunteerism award in the Spirit of Team category.  The county will be holding a celebration on May 12, 2022 where the award winners will be announced.  We are invited to the celebration but need to provide the county with a head count by next week.

The ceremony will be at 7:00 p.m. at Hanover High School, and will include musical entertainment, presentation of awards in eight categories, and light refreshments.  The guest host will be Simone Cuccurullo of NBC 12 News.

There is no limit on the number of people who may attend, so if you want to come you are welcome to bring friends and family members.  I need to know the total number of attendees from our group, so if you plan to attend please send me an email at malshealy <at> gmail.com by Sunday, April 17.  I hope to see many of you there!  - Peg

Upcoming meetings and sewing days

Hanover County is still asking that we register in advance for our meetings and sewing days.  Registration is available on their website at https://secure.rec1.com/VA/hanover-county-va/catalog

Click on Clubs and Social, then Country School Quilters.  You can register for April, May, June, and August.  Please note that for June and August there are separate sign-ups for Friday sewing and Saturday sewing.

 

Our usual meeting place is not available in July, either for our meeting or for sewing days.  There’s a chance that we will be able to have our meeting in the picnic shelter; I am waiting to hear about that.  If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.

 

Our April meeting is on the 12th at 7 pm.  Denise Zapf will be presenting a program on using the Brother Scan ‘n’ Cut for applique and other techniques.  We are still looking for a program for May – if you have something you’d like to present, please sign up on the schedule available through our blog.

 

April sewing days are this week – the 8th and 9th.

March meeting and sewing days

Hanover County is still asking that we register in advance for our meetings and sewing days.  Registration is available on their website at https://secure.rec1.com/VA/hanover-county-va/catalog/index/debf1a5ce9f732d025cdc0fe81fac7d7?filter=c2VhcmNoPXF1aWx0ZXJz for dates through May.

Our March meeting is on the 8th at 7 pm.  Marcy will be presenting a program on crumb quilts.  Also, Pokey plans to be there with registration forms for those who still need to pay dues.  Dues for the year are $15; we accept cash and checks.  If anyone is in need of a partial or full gift membership, please contact me (malshealy at gmail); a very generous member has donated one.

Sewing days this month are the 11th and 12th.

If you’d like to present a program later in the year, you are encouraged to sign up on the Program Schedule  - under Our Links on the blog.

First veterans quilts of 2022 delivered!

Our first batch of quilts for 2022 were delivered to our VA hospital contact Saturday. We start off the year with 31 quilts! If you do not see one of yours in this stack, don't worry. They didn't all make it for the photo shoot but I delivered all that I had.

I wanted to take this opportunity for my annual reminder notes about our veterans quilts project. 

The quilts we make are donated to the Interventional Radiography Department at Hunter Holmes McGuire Hospital. They primarily gift the quilts to veterans with recent cancer diagnoses that are in their department to have chemo ports inserted. The staff says that the quilts are wonderful especially for patients who are extra stressed over their diagnosis.

- Optimal size for the quilts is 48" x 60". We can accept an inch or 2 smaller and a inch or so bigger, but the backing and batting is precut so we do not have a ton of flexibility.

- You can make any pattern or design that you want. As for fabric selection, patriotic quilts are always the first preference but anything masculine or non-gender is fine. Scrap quilts are great too. Avoid feminine quilts. They have so few female patients that those quilts rarely get distributed. Hanover Safe Place is a great option if you are making more feminine quilts.

- We now have several volunteer quilters so once you give us your tops we can usually turn them around within 60 days (2 meetings). They are quilted 2 at a time. We load one backing piece that's big enough for 2 quilts. 

- If you want to quilt your own quilt I (Vicki) can provide you with backing and batting. All you have to do is ask. I'll even do my best to dye a matching backing for you.

- Please do not use any fragrance when you wash the fabrics or quilts. I'm very allergic. The quilts and the tops might stay in my house for a couple of months and I just can't have fragrance in my house for that long. I can't quilt tops that have fragrance in them at all. When I have received quilts that have been washed in fragrance detergent I have to hang them outside (on a covered porch) for as long as 2 weeks before I can have them in my house. I don't like doing that to your quilts but I have no other option.

Announcements!

We are once again being nominated for the Hanover County Spirit of Volunteerism award. We need a new group picture, which we plan to take at our meeting on the 15th. Could whoever has our hanging frames please bring them to the meeting (and please email me at malshealy <at> gmail so I know you saw this). We will have the quilts from our Hanover Museum show (see below) and should be able to find 2 or 3 that will make an appropriate backdrop, but if you have a quilt you’d particularly like us to use, bring it along. We’ll try to take the picture at the start of our meeting.

 

Quilts from the Hanover Museum show

 

Jaime Fawcett plans to be at our meeting on the 15th to return as many of the quilts as possible. She will arrive around 6, so feel free to come early to the meeting to get your quilt(s) Please remember to bring your claim form! As far as I know, any remaining quilts will be delivered on the 18th as originally planned.

We were featured!

 I think everyone still remembers the generous donation of Benartex fabric that we received last year for our veterans quilts. We were featured this week on the Benartex Instagram page!

You can check it out here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZo4F2DO3f9/