December 7, 2024 Meeting from November 19, 2024

 Today was the UFO day for December as well as the make-up meeting from November 19 which we had to postpone because of blizzard conditions. We began our meeting at 2:00 PM with a good attendance. The beginner quilter class attendees had an excellent opportunity to take part in a meeting since they were working on their projects that day.

We finalized the plans for our Guild Christmas party to be held December 17th as well as heard reports on what we have accomplished the past year.

The guild members completed 78 quilts in 2024. One was donated to the Aqua Centre fund raising committee, while another three were raffled by the guild to raise funds to continue our community work. Thirteen were donated to emergency measures groups (ambulance, fire departments, RCMP) in Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and Cranberry Portage. Four quilts were donated to house fire victims and the remaining fifty-seven were donated to community services agencies.

We are already working on the quilts that will be donated in 2025. Audrey reported that the blocks for 3 EMS quilts are ready to be assembled. Our aim is to have quilts to be put in every police cruiser, fire truck and ambulance to be used for trauma victims. Then of course, replacement quilts have to be on hand when the current ones are used. There will always be a need.

Comfort quilts:

This panel was in the materials donated to us by the Harrower family. Heather put on the batting and backing and practiced her quilting skills, which are getting very good!

This is another quilt made from the strawberry blocks demonstrated by Sandra and Rae several guild days ago. This was also quilted by Heather.

Show and Tell:

Patty stitched this quilt for her young grandson who spent much of his young life watching the construction going on outside their apartment window. Patty did her own quilting on this one. 

                                         The superhero backing is very appropriate for a youngster. 

       Patty’s second quilt is for her granddaughter, a very striking arrangement of log cabin blocks.

                                           A lovely backing for the granddaughter’s quilt.

Heather sewed this quilt for her sister. It is made from many HSTs of varying sizes. She did the quilting on the longarm machine she shares with her mother.

This is actually the backing Heather constructed for a friend who brought a quilt to her for longarming. This could very easily be a reversible quilt!

The meeting ended with the membership draw won by Zoey!

See you on December 17th!

Happy quilting!

Gladys

Guild Day. Tuesday, November 19, 2024

 Well! Wasn’t that a blizzard for you! We were all expecting a snowfall but didn’t really want half a winter’s worth in one big storm.

The day began fairly normally. It wasn’t too bad when 16 members came out to work on our various projects. This was the day when the 57 quilts we completed were sorted and assigned to one of the seven agencies to which we donate. We had an opportunity to view the quilts as they were on display while Judy and Audrey were deciding on what went where. 

      

                                                    Evelyn is helping Judy sort quilts.

          Bev is folding quilts to assure there is enough room. Each pew holds quilts for one agency.

                                    Seven pews of quilts ready for packaging and delivery.

Stacks of comfort blocks that have been sewn by members, ready to be assembled into quilts for the 2025 donations. 

                 Sandra is working her free motion magic on a quilt destined for our 2025 donations.

                              Lorna is stitching together the blocks for the Twinkling Stars quilt top.

      

   Susan is pin basting a quilt sandwich in preparation for quilting. A total of four quilt sandwiches were pin basted today.

                               Moira and Iris are working on hand stitching binding on a baby quilt.

Patty, our Librarian, is organizing and cataloguing some quilting stencils we received in the donation from Marg H. We have quite an extensive library of books, magazines, patterns, rulers, stencils and quilt related items that our members can sign out and use. This is much simpler than trying to build your own library, though I must add that many of us have quilt libraries in our homes which are perhaps quite large. With all the material that is available one can never have all of it!

On November 2nd, at the Women’s Resource Centre Christmas Craft Sale we raffled this quilt called Santa in the Trees, to help raise funds to continue our work. The winner of the quilt was Tommy Barr. Congratulations, Tommy!

By the time 4:00 pm rolled around the storm was getting very serious, so the decision was made to cancel the evening meeting thus allowing people to reach home safely and sparing a trip for anyone considering coming out for the evening. A full membership meeting will be held Saturday, December 7th, at 2:00 pm. This day is also UFO day and beginner class lesson day. At this time final plans for our Christmas party will be made. There will be a catered meal at the party. If you wish to take part in the Christmas meal, please contact Lynn. The cost will be $27 which can be brought to the UFO day.

If anyone can help with raffle ticket sales at the Cranberry Portage Christmas sale this Saturday, November 23rd, please contact Audrey.

Happy quilting everyone!

Gladys

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