September meeting reminder

Our September meeting will be held on Saturday, September 8, from 10 am to 12 pm at the Kingston Public Library in Kingston, NH.

Paula and Diane have requested that you bring any quilts that you have for the Strawbery Banke show. You should already have communicated with them regarding which quilts and sizes. You will not see the quilts again until the show, so make sure that the large quilts have hanging sleeves attached. Please see Jaquie Gering's tutorial re: hanging sleeves for instructions.

Paula and Diane's Skinny Mini challenge quilts are also due at this meeting. Only retreat participants are eligible and will already have received fabric and instructions.

Please contact Paula and Diane directly with any questions regarding the Strawbery Banke show or the Skinny Mini challenge.

Bring to the meeting:
--Show and Tell
--Skinny Mini, if applicable
--Strawbery Banke show quilts, if applicable
--Your favorite quilting tools or gadgets for Gadget Show and Tell! Our programming this month is run by YOU--please bring any tool or gadget that makes your quilting life easier or more fun. Bought it at a hardware store instead of a quilting store? No problem--we love to see those ideas too!

Wishing everyone a safe and fun Labor Day weekend and hoping to see lots of folks in September!

August meeting recap

Our August meeting was held Saturday, August 4 from 10 am to 3 pm at the West Newbury Town Hall Annex. 20 members plus one guest were in attendance. 

Judy opened the meeting by announcing that JoAnne has agreed to take on the role of retreat coordinator for one final year. If you would like to work with JoAnne on the 2019 retreat, please contact her.

Barb gave the Treasurer's Report and noted our guild's excellent financial health.

Paula and Diane passed around a sign up sheet for those who would like to exhibit a quilt at Strawbery Banke. If you were not at the meeting today and would like to show a quilt, please contact them directly with the size of the quilt in inches. Diane will be collecting show quilts at the September meeting and at one other date in September. The skinny mini challenge that Paula and Diane have organized is also due at the September meeting. It is open only to retreat attendees, who have already received information about it. For any questions regarding the Strawbery Banke show please contact Paula and Diane directly.

Looking ahead:

Sept meeting (9/8): show quilts due, Skinny Mini challenge quilts due

Oct 6: Strawbery Banke show

Oct meeting (10/13): Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Whole Circle Studio trunk show (follow her on Instagram at @wholecirclestudio and let her know we're excited to meet her!), board/officer nominations, meeting will be at the WN Annex and will begin at 9:30 for nominations

Nov meeting (11/3): voting on board nominations, WIP challenge will be due

Nov 10: Michelle Wilkie, MQG regional rep, talk and meet & greet

Dec 1: end of year party and swap at WN Annex

Mary Lee asked about the pillowcases that Paula had decided to have our group sew this year. If you have chosen to sew pillowcases, please sew them on your own time and plan on bringing them to a future meeting. Kelly will take them up.

Jane is working on our 2019 workshop. She is contacting potential teachers and there are some promising leads.

Bethany won the Sparrow Lottery blocks--congratulations Bethany! She may receive a couple more at the September meeting :)

Show and Tell:

Robin finished this single Irish Chain quilt. She had Carrie Zizza quilt it with an orange peel design.

Kali needed a quick fun sew in between bigger projects, so finished up this magic number black and white quilt. It will have teal binding to match the thread.

Bethany plans to practice her free motion quilting on this Charming Chevrons quilt (pattern by Krista Watson).

Bethany finished this 2016 Splendid Sampler quilt and mixed in several other different blocks.

Lou made this quilt for a cat lover!

Diane's quilt is her piece for the SAQA show for which she was specially selected to produce new work. She designed all the fabrics for this quilt and will let us know when we can see it hanging at the Lowell Quilt Museum.

Paula and Diane did some dyeing together and are thinking of making the results into pillows.

Paula and Colleen are admiring the Strawbery Banke committee's quilt. They made houses based on some historic houses on the Strawbery Banke property.

QuiltCon Charity Quilt Sew-In:

Thanks to the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Committee, Suzanne, Kelly, and Judy, for designing our quilt and setting up our sew-in. Kelly cut all the fabric and prepped all the kits, and taught us how to do tiny piecing. We found that very careful ironing was best for keeping all those seams open and flat. All of Kelly's prep made for a very successful sewing session!

Each group of 3-5 quilters had slightly different colors chosen from a set palette of 6 solids for their tiny pieced panels. We were surprised by how different the panels looked in the end, depending on which colors were included or excluded!

Hope to see everyone on September 8, meeting location TBA. Stay cool!