Guild Day, Tuesday, August 18, 2026

 Lo and behold, we are in August! Where has the summer gone? We had a great turnout of  members today with eighteen ladies coming and going as the day went on. Our hand stitchers were ready to apply bindings and the pin basters were preparing quilt sandwiches. Another group was cutting and stitching borders on one of the Christmas raffle quilts. Rae was making a list of all the quilt tops that were waiting for backings, some of which had been waiting for quite some time! We realized we would not have to demonstrate comfort blocks for a month or two!

Marg brought her scissors sharpening equipment so those of us with dulled scissors could get our tools tuned up.

                                             Things are all set up to sharpen those scissors!

                                                            The pin basters are hard at it.

                                               The binding is ready for the hand stitchers.

       

                                         Another quilt sandwich being prepared for pinning.

                                      Measuring the borders for this Christmas raffle quilt.

                                 Making binding for the quilt being donated to the Arts Council.

                                                                         Applying borders.

 Not actually a quilt thing, but our member, Sandra, was the lucky winner of the Early Bird prize at the Blueberry Jam music festival. Congratulations, Sandra! This win has made her son happy as he has plans to play!

Comfort Quilts:

                      I believe this was pieced by Marg and the quilting and binding was done by me.

                                              Susan pieced and quilted this baby quilt.

                                      I don’t know who pieced this one, but Lynn quilted it.

                                                   Marg quilted this attractive throw quilt.

                                                   Heather pieced and quilted this quilt.

                                Rae did the quilting and binding on this quilt that Susan pieced.

This Dresden plate quilt top was stitched by Marg H. We will have it longarmed and finished to be used as a Hug Me quilt to be presented to a member in our guild who is experiencing hardships as a reminder that they are loved.

 Our guild will once again be taking part in the Wild Things Market on September 19 and 20 during Culture days.

Our Fall Retreat is on October 2nd and 3rd. The Empty Bobbin quilt shop from Swan River will be the vendor. The draw will be made on the 3rd to determine the winner of our fall raffle quilt.

Show and Tell:

                                Karen now has the quilt for her Grandson Keaton completed.

                                       She ordered this special lable for the back of his quilt.

                                  The quilt for Keaton’s older brother has also been completed.

                        

Borden’s quilt also has a special lable. Karen ordered the labels from Quilter’s Legacy. She said the order arrived quickly and was reasonably priced. They certainly add a special touch!

Marg stitched this lovely quilt while she was in Arizona this past winter. The colour palette is lovely.

Bev created this wall hanging for her son-in-law. He requested an elephant in his favourite colour, orange. Initially Bev was hesitant about this project, but the shop she purchased it from talked her into it. The elephant is appliqué in several shades of gray. It is beautiful and the touch of orange in the flange binding is perfect!

Rae pieced this quilt from a reproduction line of fabric. The colours are very soft and feminine. The panto used is called Wallpaper Fan.

            Here Rae is attempting to reduce some of her stash. The maroon binding is the perfect touch.

We first saw this black and white creation several months ago when Rae was working on it. It finished beautifully, Rae!

This is Rae’s version of the Sweater Weather quilt. She and Sandra D. took part in the sweater weather project last winter and have already ordered the kits for this winter.

This is the colourway that Sandra choose for her Sweater Weather quilt. It’s always interesting to to see how colour changes can make a quilt look different even if the pattern is the same!

Heather chose the Whirlwind pattern to make this Hug Me  quilt for her friend. The fabric line is Ruby Star Society, Caladium. She used the Infinite Loop panto.

We were pleased to see Eileen join us today. She brought with her a number of projects she has completed since the last time we saw her.

           This table runner was Eileen’s project using prairie points. It turned out beautifully, Eileen!

Eileen’s second table runner was a challenge by Lori. She was given three fat quarters and challenged to make a table runner. I would say the challenge was successfully met!

                                       This quilt was using values of blue. Very attractive!

                Eileen stitched this pinwheel quilt using seven inch precuts. Lori Suss did the quilting.

            This second pinwheel quilt top is shades of green and is ready to be taken to Lori for quilting..

                  This is a top that Eileen has had for a long time. It incorporates many different blocks.

In 2020, before Eileen moved, our guild did a block exchange. These are the blocks she received plus a few she added along with the border. What an amazing job you did with this Eileen! 

Eileen’s sister sent her a picture of a quilt she had seen in Newfoundland. It was made from 1240 two and one-half inch squares. By the time her sister returned home, Eileen had the top partially finished!

There is another piece, a wall hanging she calls her mystery hanging, which I also call the mystery hanging because it’s a mystery as to what happened to the picture! I will share it with you when I receive the photo from Eileen. My apologies, Eileen!

Sandra was doing an epic clean up and reorganization at her house after her daughter moved out and in the process uncovered and resurrected many hidden treasures. This little hanging came out of a box on her way to the bottom of a pile.

                     In the bottom of the box was this lovely framed cross stitch from her Aunt Mary.

      

       Another treasure is this framed piece of a quilt top which she believes was made by her grandmother.

Wrapped around the framed pieces was a quilt Sandra had made in 2011 from a charm pack with some additions. Cleaning and rearranging can be like Christmas, you never know what’s in the box!

Donna made this lovely lunch bag from intersecting circles for her daughter who lives in Winnipeg.

Our meeting concluded with the membership draw which was won by Karen! Congratulations!

Till next month, happy quilting!

Gladys

Guild Day, Tuesday, July 21, 2026

 We had seventeen members in and out of our doors today. There were various work crews busy today. Eight quilt sandwiches were pinbasted and waiting for members to take them home for quilting, Audrey was busy fashioning frankenbatting from all the falloffs, two quilts had binding attached for handstitching, Lynn was busy assembling kits for three yard quilts and the fabric kept rolling in! Three different people  donated fabrics for the guild to use. Gail Baker brought several bags of fabrics as well as books and magazines in an effort to reduce her stash, Pat Hall brought her mother’s (Adele Kristof) quilting fabrics which she had kept for fifteen years and had not taken up quilting herself, and Maureen Persadsingh also brought in some of her fabrics. Thank you ladies for your donations, we will certainly use them and the recipients of our quilts will also be happy for your generosity.

                                     Basted quilts ready to take for quilting, three yard quilt kits

                                                                 Handstitching required

                                                        Freebies for members to peruse 

Comfort Quilts:

                                        Piecing by Phyl, quilting and binding by Sandra D.

   

Assembled by Susan who is always going through the fabric bins and coming up with special creations. I am not sure if the quilting was done by her or someone else.

Wildfire Quilts:

These two quilts came from Ontario. So many guilds and individuals have donated quilts for our wildfire victims that we are at the point of having enough quilts for Denare Beach and are now expanding to other victims in our greater area who lost their homes. Many thanks to all who donated to this cause.

The tops for our Christmas raffle quilts are almost complete, just a few more blocks to be returned for the second one. 

Our fall retreat will be held on October 2nd and 3rd. There will be a vendor, Julie from The Empty Bobbin in Swan River will be bringing her wares for us to purchase. She always has a lovely selection of fabrics, patterns, notions and kits available for anyone who needs any sewing supplies. So if you quilt or craft and need something to finish your project, drop by Northminster Memorial Church and see what Julie has to offer.

A note from Marg F. she will be sharpening scissors at next month’s guild day at a charge of $2.00 a pair. She can also sharpen pinking shears so if you have dull scissors or shears bring them to the church during the day.

Phyl also had a donation for us, two bags of assorted coloured threads which will be very useful for those jobs that require a colour other than white or cream. Thank you, Phyl!

Show and Tell:

Karen is a lady of many talents! She crafted this lovely frame for her Grandson, Keaton. The frame contains all the relevant information on Keaton’s birth. Beautiful work, Karen.

To go with the frame, she created this card. A very special frame and card, handmade by a loving Grandma, a treasure for a special little boy.

                             

                              Because Grandma is a quilter, Keaton will also have this lovely quilt.

Of course older brother cannot be left out, so he will get this beautiful dinosaur quilt. Heather will be tasked with doing the longarming of these two quilts.

Earlier this year the North Star Quilters Guild lost another of its charter members. Evelyn was a regular attendant of our guild days and meetings and we all miss her dearly. Shortly before her passing she donated this lovely quilt top to the guild to be used for whatever the guild deemed appropriate. Heather did the quilting on her longarm and the quilt will be donated to the Flin Flon Arts Council who will use it as a raffle fundraiser.

Bev purchased the kit for this quilt at a craft sale in Cranberry Portage a number of years ago. Her granddaughter will be the lucky recipient. What a beautiful gift from Grandma!

Phyl created this table runner and placemat set for husband’s niece using the Highway 10 Designs pattern, “Detour”.

This quilt by Phyl is called “Cobblestones”. She did the edge to edge quilting using her embroidery machine so there was a lot of hooping involved. Note also that she has a unique binding using all the colours in the quilt.

Audrey went to Quilt Canada in Winnipeg and gave us a report of the fabulous quilts, hangings, etc. that she saw. She took part in two little workshops that were offered and this little case was one of them I believe this was a felting project. It looks like it is her rotary cutter case.

Another workshop was the sewing of a mug rug and then you could enter your name to win a big fancy machine. She was sorry to report that she and her daughter did not win😢.

Zoey shared the quilt top she stitched for her brother’s mother-in-law. This is a Highway 10 pattern called City Slicker. The black is very striking! 

She also showed us a photo of a quilt she made for her niece. Both the quilt and her niece were beautiful!

This is a bag made from a man’s shirt. The pockets become an integral part of the bag. Marg had a number of bags to share with us, using many different fabric types, whatever she had at hand, no two alike except for shape!

                                                         Shades of gray and black

                                                           Silk fabric from Thailand

                                            A leftover flower panel from a previous project

                                        She makes leftover fabric squares look amazing.

                    Marg made this quilt from fabric packages she purchased from stores in Arizona.

Marg sewed this quilt from the crumbs of her temperature quilt. That quilt had been made completely of half square triangles and each of those HST’s had two triangle fall offs. So what do you do with all those fall offs? You make another quilt! This one is not a temperature quilt, just a “use all the scraps” quilt. It is really remarkable how a quilter can take bits and pieces, add a larger background piece and create something totally different. Marg is a master at this!

The last one Marg shared with us was, in her words, the most difficult pattern she had ever done. When Marg says that you can be sure that it is an advanced pattern even though it looks deceptively simple. The problem was to get the colours to flow around the friendship stars. Beautiful work,Marg!

I stitched this quilt using a fat quarter bundle from the fabric line called Meander. The Whirlwind pattern is fat quarter friendly and sews up quickly. I used fourteen fat quarters to get the forty-two squares. This will be a gift for my grandson and his wife.

Patty made this sewing machine pad using a bath mat for backing. The rubber back will prevent slipping and the extra stitching above the pockets makes it easy to fold down over the edge of a table.

                                                                           Voila!

That concluded our meeting except for our membership draw which was won by Lorna G. which was very fitting as this was her final meeting with us before her move to Prince Edward Island.

We will miss you Lorna!❤️

Happy quilting!

Gladys