Tuesday, November 7, 2017

November Meeting Recap and Election Results

On Saturday November 4th we met at the Mary E Bartlett Library in Brentwood, NH.

As this is our annual business meeting we voted for the members of the 2018 Executive Board.
Judy Durant will be the President
Colleen Haggerty will be Vice President
Barb Brian will continue on as Treasurer and
Laura Collins will be Secretary

The Festival of Trees is happening November 17th, 18th, and 19th at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth. We will have quilts on display in the main room, and a tree that we have decorated with ornaments as well. Please speak with Nancy or Paula if you have any ornaments or quilts to display that you have not yet given to them. More info on this event can be found at the Portsmouth Garden Club website.









Registration is now open for our spring workshop with Amy Friend of During Quiet Time! The workshop will be on improv paper piecing, and will be help from 10am-5pm on March 17th. The workshop is open to 20 participants, and will cost $42 and includes lunch. Should there be inclement weather that forces us to postpone the workshop, the rain date will be March 24th. Please find more info here.
This is an example block that Barbara made after taking this class with Amy as a member of her other guild. Thanks to Nancy for bringing this in to show us!


In October we talked about using the money collected this year from the Block Lottery to donate to the Red Cross in an effort to help out after so many tragedies and disasters that occurred late this summer into the fall. We voted at the meeting to instead donate the money to Rosie's Place, which helps poor and homeless women in Boston and our dollars will have a much greater effect, as they are able to put $.85 from every dollar directly to work helping those in need.

At the October meeting we also talked about the fate of our charity quilts, and the possibility of donating these to people in need in our area. In the past month Paula has arranged for us to donate two quilts, one to the daughter of a woman killed in the Las Vegas shooting, and another to a family in Newmarket who lost their home in a fire. At the end of the meeting we reviewed the charity quilts in our stash and decided which quilts to use for this purpose. We noted that many of the quilts we have are smaller in size, and would be more suited to young children or small lap quilt size for elderly in wheelchairs.

For 2018 we voted to make roughly 150 pillowcases for the Tewksbury State Hospital Mental Health Ward. This ward sees mostly young adults in their twenties who do not see their families often. We decided that pillowcases would be much quicker to make than quilts, and as we could collect more we could have a greater impact on the residents of this ward.

Members participating in the Block of the Month showed their most recent blocks. There is only one more block to complete, and then they must begin to assemble their quilt tops!

For the Block Lottery in November we collected tree blocks made with a tutorial from Diary of a Quilter. Suzanne is the lucky winner of these blocks - I can't wait to see how she puts them together!

Diane passed the highfive on to Paula.

Our retreat will be held on May 3, 4, 5, and 6 at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport. Retreat payment dates have been updated from the listing provided by JoAnne last month. Please check your email for the most up to date version of the payment schedule. Retreat payments will be due on Feb 1, and April 1 if you are paying in two installments, and Feb 1, March 1, and April 1 if you would like to pay in three installments. You may also pay the full balance on Feb 1 if you wish.

Show & Tell
Diane was inspired by the Block Lottery and made this quilt. The pink fabric she designed on Spoonflower and it can be found here.

Mary shared a few projects that she has been working on lately.


Nancy and her helpers shared her completed blocks from the Jen Carlton Bailly workshop.

Robin shared her Kite Tails quilt. The paper piecing foundation for these blocks was printed at 200% by Staples. This was quilted by Carrie Zizza.

Hildy shared this quilt top/back combo that she made for the Cambridge MQG Triangle Challenge. She made the flying geese with the Wing Clipper Ruler that Sue demonstrated for us earlier this year.
 

And then we sewed! We finished the necessary pillowcases for the Chase House in Portsmouth, and the surplus pillowcases will be donated to DCF. Thanks to all who were able to participate!



The December meeting will be held at the Kingston Library from 10am-12pm. This will be our year end meeting, and we invite anyone who is able to bring a "brunch-y" food item. Typically these items range from sweet to savory, and we usually eat well and still have lots of leftovers!

We will be playing one round of Left, Right, Center. If you would like to participate, please bring three fat quarters, one a light solid, one a dark solid, and one a unique or unusual fabric. The winner of the round will go home with all of the fat quarters played!

We will also have our swap. This year we are making the boxy bag from the Kelby Sews tutorial (which can be found here), and filling this with $10 worth of goodies for our partners.  If you have not yet signed up but would like to participate please let Kali know by Monday, 11/13.
If you signed up for a partner but realize that you are unable to attend the meeting, please send along your swap bag with a friend if possible. If you will be unable to make the swap bag please let Kali know at zirklek@gmail.com as soon as possible!

Dues for 2018 will be collected at the December meeting as well.

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