Veterans quilt check in

How's everyone doing? This is Vicki here checking in! These are some really strange times that we are living through and who knows when we will be allowed to meet again. It may be even longer for some of us to even be ready to be in groups again. But from what I hear most of us are beavering away in our sewing rooms making masks, quilts and lots of other things!

I thought I'd do a check in to see what anyone has ready in regards to veterans quilts. I've been working on a few myself and quilting some as well. The two above were made by Peg and they are already done and ready for delivery. I got a couple of family gift quilts done so I'm ready to take on more veterans quilts. We also know that the VA is still taking and using the quilts.

If you have tops ready or quilts done you are welcome to drop them by my house. I'm going to arrange to deliver finished quilts in the next two weeks.

If any quilters have quilts ready to return back to quilters (or if you want more quilts to quilt) I'll be happy to coordinate those as well.

Just email me (vickisews at gmail dot com) and we can arrange dropoff/pickup.

A WHEAT fundraiser

Hi quilters!

This is Vicki and I hope you are all dealing with the quarantine OK and getting lots of sewing done. We are doing pretty good at limiting out outing to once a week and since I hate going to the grocery store anyway, that's all fine with me! Fortunately we did not have a toilet paper or paper towel crisis at our house. Those are staples that I stockpile year round and for once I was proven prescient!

I've been thinking a lot about WHEAT and the service that they provide for our community and I believe that the next few months will put a great strain on their resources. I've been thinking about what I could do independently to raise some funds for them and I decided to rely on my fabric dyeing skills.

I have a great source for dyeable tea towels so I ordered a lot of them and will be dyeing and selling them. ALL of the proceeds will go to WHEAT. In fact, I prefer that people pay by a check made out directly to WHEAT. I'll be working on some ideas of places where I can sell them locally but I wanted to offer to my quilting buddies first.This is my first batch and there will be more!

These are really high quality towels. They are 20" x 27" and have a hanging loop in one corner. They make great gifts.

If you are interested in any of them, you can email me at vickisews at gmail dot com and we can arrange for you to porch pickup at my house and leave a check to WHEAT. Indicate which you want by referring to the # in the lower right corner of the photo.

There are 2 types, screen printed and shibori. The screen printed ones are 2 for $25 and the shibori ones are $15 each. You are welcome to share this post with anyone who might be interested but I will not be shipping so keep it local. They are for porch pickup only so please share locally. If there are specific designs or colors that you might like let me know. There are lots more possibilities!

Here's what's left: 2, 6, 7, 8 10. Email me any special requests. There are more coming!

Screen Printed Designs - 2 for $25

Shibori Designs - $15 each

Exciting news! And quilts needed...

Today I got a call from June Snead at Hanover County Parks and Recreation.  CSQ is being nominated for a Spirit of Volunteerism team award for all the work we've done both for the VA and for WHEAT.  Several folks from Parks and Rec will be attending our March meeting and they want to take a picture of our group.  We'd like to have three large quilts to hang as background, so if you have an appropriate quilt, please contact me directly (malshealy_at_gmail.com) to coordinate.  I will need to know if your quilt has a sleeve or not.  Thanks!

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

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.

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) - 

Exhibit opportunity at Lewis Ginter

I received this message from Richmond Quilt Guild. Please contact Sherry if you are interested.

Hi Vicki, this is not an order (although I am a great fan of your hand dyed fabrics). As current president of Richmond Quilters Guild I received a request from the lady who runs exhibitions at Lewis Ginger Botanical Gardens. They had an unexpected last minute exhibit cancellation and asked if RQG would be interested in providing quilts with a botanical, floral or garden theme to hang from the beginning of February through the end of April.

Even though Country School Quilters is no longer connected with RQG, I know that several of you create beautiful art quilts. Some of these could easily fit into the requested theme.

I remember a quilt that Margaret showed at Colonial Piecemakers Guild in Williamsburg several years ago that was almost all greens. That type of quilt would be great with the theme. Estelle immediately comes to mind as well, but I'm sure that you have other members whose quilts would be a great addition.

Do you think that your group would be interested? It will definitely be a rush to collect and deliver quilts but I think that the venue makes it well worth the effort and I'll be glad to coordinate picking up quilts for your interested members.

You can reach me at sherry.whitford@gmail.com or 757-880-6784 (c) or 757-566-1928 (h). Or you might wish to forward this to your group's president. I sent an email to the chapter presidents of RQG with the idea that they would better know who in their chapter might have quilts that would be appropriate.

Thanks,
Sherry