Guild day, Tuesday, October 15, 2024

 We are working hard on our various ongoing projects and preparing for our donation day in November. So far we have 52 quilts ready to go to various organizations in our area.

Eighteen members were present during the day. Perhaps the biggest job of all was the organization of the storage closet to make room for all the fabrics and projects. After next month there will be a good number of empty bins waiting to be refilled in preparation for next year.

The pin basting crew had a busy day. They pinned a total of six quilts ready for the machine quilting!

A top waiting to be sandwiched.

Sandra is piecing a backing and readying binding for the churn dash quilt.

The hand stitchers are completing the binding on the quilts we will be raffling at the Christmas craft shows in Creighton and Cranberry Portage.

Checking the block layout for the squiggle quilt.

The Churn Dash quilt is complete. Sandra machine stitched a flange binding that finished it beautifully.

It’s now a completed comfort quilt.  

This quilt will be raffled at the Cranberry Portage Christmas craft sale. The pattern is Upscale Plaid.   

                                                                                               

We had ten people sign up for our Learn to Quilt classes at the open house on October 4th and 5th. The first class will be held on November 2nd which is also our next UFO day.  This is also the date of the Women’s Resource Centre Christmas Craft sale in Creighton. Santa in the Trees quilt will be raffled there.

Show and Tell:                                                                                                                                              

                               Susan’s retreat project was this lovely cushion.                         

 One of Marg’s retreat projects was this Blue Jays bag. She is planning on using it as a gift at Canada Day in their Arizona snowbirds park.                                                                                                                    

Another of Marg’s projects was a set of placemats with matching runner for her granddaughter.

I’m sure her granddaughter will be very happy to receive these!

Another of Marg’s creations. This is such a happy looking quilt!

Heather loves Halloween! This quilt is all made with HST’s. 

This cactus flower quilt is for Heather’s friend, a very happy looking quilt with its bright colours!

            Sandra stitched this quilt using a pack of charm squares she received from Maxine Long.

This was Donna’s retreat project. She has promised that she will teach us how to do the border she used! Lovely fall colours, Donna!

I sense a theme here! Audrey’s retreat project was also a cushion. She had a pack of 2 1/2/“ squares from the strawberry lemonade line of fabrics and made this cushion using English paper piecing. 

Program:

Donna had a very interesting presentation for us on the history of the Underground Railway in the southern states in which quilts and songs were used to help direct escaping slaves find their way to freedom. Thank you for sharing your research with us, Donna!

This brought our day to a close. Next UFO is November 2nd, dig out a project and come join us for a day of sewing and fellowship!

Happy quilting!

Gladys

                           

Fall Retreat, Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5, 2024

 Our fall retreat was a part of Culture Days in Flin Flon. We had an open house in which the public was able to drop in and see what projects we were working on and view all our donation quilts displayed in the Sanctuary as well as some of the members’ quilts. We also were selling tickets for our fall raffle quilt and had a vendor in attendance selling fabric, notions and patterns. We were pleased with the attendance, sales and particularly the opportunity to purchase needed items for our projects. There was also the opportunity for people to sign up for learn to quilt classes.

Twenty members started Friday morning with another three or four joining in on Saturday. These were members who still have day jobs and aren’t lucky enough to take in the Friday session! There are a few perks to being retired!

The following photos are the quilts we’ve sewn for our donations. These will be presented at our November quild day.

Besides all the quilts you see here, we also donated to the Emergency Services and to families affected by fires. As you can see, we have had a busy year!

The next set of photos are members’ personal quilts.

I apologize for not being able to tell you to whom all these quilts belong. As you can see they are all beautiful.

We had the hall filled with work tables, pinning tables, pressing stations and cutting stations (in the kitchen) , and then had to add more for Saturday!

There was a hum of activity all during the day with a wide variety of projects being worked on, guilts, table runners, placemats, cushions, and more. I have found though, that often we get overly ambitious and bring more projects with us than can be completed! 

Throughout the day, whenever we took a break from our sewing, we would wander out to the lobby and shop. That was always fun! Our vendor was Julia and her daughters from the Empty Bobbin quilt shop in Swan River and she had a great variety of things from which to choose.

As you can see, there were many tempting items to peruse. I don’t know about everyone else, but when I see these items I feel like a kid in a candy store! Where do I begin?

On Friday evening we were treated to a catered turkey supper prepared by Tammy, after which we showcased the horse blocks to which we had added borders. The blocks were in a donation to the guild which we received earlier this year and were embroidered horses, which, after we put on the borders, finished at 24 1/2”. They will be used to assemble two quilts to add to the bins in preparation for next year.

                                              These blocks will make up into beautiful quilts!

Saturday was our second day and the outside weather was cool, rainy and windy, a perfect day to be inside sewing. In the afternoon, Outlaw Coffee set up out in the parking lot and we were able to get a specialty cup of coffee to help us through the afternoon.

Lynn made the draw for the fat quarter bundle for which members were able to purchase tickets and the winner was Charlene! Congratulations, Charlene!

At four o’clock the draw was made for our fall raffle quilt.

And the winning ticket has been drawn!

                Karen was able to come to the church and pick up her prize. Congratulations, Karen!

This was the closing of our fall retreat! Everyone was packed and headed for home and already looking forward to the next time we meet. 

Get working on all those Christmas gifts, girls! Time is flying by! 

Happy quilting,

Gladys

Guild day, Tuesday, September 17, 2024

 On June 19, 2024, the North Star Quilt Guild lost one of its founding members with the passing of            Margaret Harrower. She was a dedicated, active member up until the time that she began having vision     and mobility problems. She requested that her quilting and sewing supplies be donated to our guild, so on Tuesday her family members brought her “stash” to the church. We are grateful to Marg and her family as her generous donation will go a long way towards helping us achieve our goals for the comfort quilts we     make and donate to those in need.                                                                                                                    

A number of members spent the day sorting through the bins and preparing fabric for storage for later use.

            

                                                                                 

While one group of members was busy sorting fabrics, Sandra D and her group were working on the strawberry quilt top.                                                                                                                                 

Marg was working on joining the strawberry blocks after the sashing strips were constructed.

Sandra was working on the sashing.

Sandra S was cutting pieces for the sashing while Moira was cutting usable squares from the donated fabric.

One strawberry top in construction. There will be enough blocks to make another top. We will be sure to share the photos of the completed quilts and hopefully I’ll have a more focused photo!

Comfort quilts:

                                           A flannel strip quilt sewn and donated by Eileen.

Another strip quilt from Eileen. Thank you Eileen! These type of quilts are a good and simple way to use up scraps! We all know that scraps have a way of accumulating.

                         This creation is one of three donated by Marg. Some little one will love this!

                              Creation number two from Marg will be the favourite of a little girl!

                                                Number three is a study in blues and greens.

                                          Heather stitched up these frogs, perfect for a boy.

Sandra D brought back some Arizona fabrics she was able to acquire at a bargain price. I figured the Mahjong pattern would suit the large prints, so I volunteered to stitch the quilt. I added extra borders to give it enough size for an adult quilt. The binding is a flange with the flange part (the white) made wider and then stitched down so it would give the appearance of a double binding.

Marg F donated a number of smaller pieces that will work very well for penny parades or door prizes at the craft sales we attend. We have also been told that at the Cranberry markets we have to have items for sale, not just tickets for a raffle. That is something we will have to work on in preparation for next year.

                                                              Number two from Marg.

                                             Number three, from table runners to placemats.

                                                  Number four is a pineapple table runner.

And finally, number five, table centrepiece or wall hanging. Thank you Marg for all the donations.

We now have 50 comfort quilts in our donation buckets. If anyone still has a comfort quilt at home please try to have it ready to turn in for the October guild day as November guild day is when we make the donations.

We have distributed 11 Emergency Agency quilts and now Audrey is working on quilts to be donated to the RCMP to be placed in their cruisers. 

Show and Tell:

Charlene found some lovely fruit and vegetable fabrics and made some pretty placemats with a little utensil pocket. Each photo shows a different food and colourway.

                                         Blueberries, very appropriate for this time of year!

                                                                      Raspberries.

                                                                           Peas.

               Tomatoes. We can tell you are enjoying your new hobby. Beautiful pieces, Charlene!

This round table centrepiece was a special request from her daughter to fit her round coffee table and match the bowl she sets on it at Christmas time. She specifically asked for the red plaid fabric. 

This 94’ x 94’ quilt is made from 2 1/2” squares with 6” squares for the border. A lovely way to use up those squares!

This is Rae’s version of the Row by Row quilt Sandra S shared with us last month. Coincidentally, one of the magazines that Marg H donated to us has this pattern on the cover!

This quilt is made from a Kaffe Fassette collection using the Highway Ten pattern, Home Quarter. Kaffe Fassette fabrics have very colourful vibrant shapes and colours.

This is the quilt Rae will be selling tickets on at the St. Ann ‘s bazaar on October 26. She completed the top while she was in Parksville for the winter and had it quilted by a longarmer there. 

Plains and Pine had this quilt pattern online as a quilt along. Rae participated and made some extra blocks to enlarge it somewhat. To finish it she decided on a flange binding with the flange as the lime green used in her squares. It beautifully finishes the quilt! She says she is not totally happy with the binding, but we all assured her that it was very nice! Rae is a perfectionist!

Sandra S closed our show and tell with this table runner she made from the jelly roll strips she won at our Christmas party last year. Many were vintage type fabrics and she added some from her stash to complete the runner.

Program:

Bev H and Donna presented the program, a demonstration of the Jewel Box square. Packages of backing 

were distributed and members were asked to donate the jewel squares from their stash.

Each square looks very simple but when arranged with the other squares will give an interesting pattern. A quilt made from this should be quite masculine. 

These are the instructions for the block should you be interested in making one for the quild or for your own use.

A reminder that there will be no UFO day in October as October 4th and 5th are our retreat days. This time the retreat will have a $20 fee to cover our building rent.  Sewing runs from 9 - 4 each day with a catered turkey supper on Friday. If you are interested in coming to the supper, contact Lynn. After the meal, the horse blocks we have been working on will be shown. 

The Empty Bobbin from Swan River will be here as a vendor so if you need some fabric for that special project be sure to stop by. Members of the public are welcome!

There will be an open house from 1 - 4 each day when members of the public can attend and view the comfort quilts we have made and some of our own quilts which will be on display in the sanctuary.

Outlaw Coffee is planning on being present on Saturday afternoon.

Our fall raffle quilt will be drawn for at 4:00 pm on Saturday so if you still have ticket books out please be sure to turn them in on Friday, if possible, so they can be readied for the draw.

Our October guild day is also when our membership fees are due. Fees this year are $50 for the year. 

Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything important! See you at the retreat!

Happy quilting!

Gladys