Christmas Party

We had a terrific day of making comfort quilts and getting ready for "The Party"

So I will just give you some quick highlights.

One of our show and tell ladies for the evening was Jackie who has come back for Christmas with her family. She is visiting us from South Africa. In this photo she is showing us her quilt called "The Treasures in Uncles Garden"
Here are Kathy and Lorie presenting a little treat to Marg andwishing her well.

Lorna is presenting 52 place matts to Brenda from meals on Wheels. Great work ladies.

President Lorna is presenting the quilts for the new Safe Haven Home.

At last we have completed quilting the round robin quilts. Here is the final result. They really turned out nice.

Merry Christmas Ladies and Happy Quilting in the New Year.

Christmas Story

I don't have any photos from the Christmas party yet, but I wanted to get this story up before Christmas.
This is the fat quarter exchange story we used this year. It is a tribute to Marg for her years in the store, and all the patience she had with her customers. She was always there for us whenever we were in with our quilting questions. Thank you Marg and a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New retirement to you.




Twas the night before Christmas
by Kathy S

When all through the house
Piles of fabric from Faktor’s, where scattered about.
Bags of notions where hung in sewing rooms with great care
From Marg’s closing sale, you know you were there

Now Marg was all settled in her new sewing room
Just finishing up quilts that she had started …last June
She’s had a month on her own with no store to run
Enjoying her time and finally seeing the sun.

When out on Marg’s lawn there arose such a clatter
She sprang from her machine to see what was the matter
Away to the window Marg flew like a flash
Trying not to trip over her own fabric stash.

The snow how it sparkled on the trees by the lake
The house filled with the aroma of warm Christmas cake.
When, what to Marg’s wondering eyes should appear
But the North Star Guild quilters, about 50 I fear.

First there was Lorna, so lively and quick
But why were they here, it just didn’t click
In a cloud of white snow the quilters all came,
And Marg whistled and shouted and called them by name

Now Karen, now Janice, now Linda and Jean
“You’ll wake my neighbours, you’re causing a scene”
Oh, Joyce, oh Alta, oh Michelle and Annette
“It’s the middle of the night, off, off you get!”

“But Marg” said Adele, “ We can’t handle the stress”
“It’s been a month without Faktor’s, we’re all a mess.
Our quilt tops lack backings, we’re all out of thread
Our needles are breaking and humm…do I smell bread?”

“It’s fresh Christmas cake, why don’t you all come in
But please watch your step I think I dropped a pin”
Passing boxes of fabric that reached up to the rafter’s
This is definitely the home of John and Marg Faktor


Now John was dressed all in flannel, from his head to his feet
And was covered with threads, and not looking too neat.
He had been organizing the fabric for many long weeks
Asking Marg “Where would you like this my little sweet cheeks?”

John’s eyes how they twinkled, for all the years they’ve been married
His cheeks were like roses, from all the bins that he’d carried.
John’s droll little mouth seemed to say “Am I done?”
As he stared at the stash which weighed more than a ton.

The quilters stared in amazement, it was a sight to behold
The tower of fabrics that had never been sold
It brought back fond memories of time spent at the store
And the amazing employees…who were never a bore.

Darlene remembered the hours there picking out fabric
The quilters would have to come up with a new shopping tactic
Online shopping is only part of the fraction
“So a road trip”, shouts Laura “would be the next plan of action”

Barb and Marg have taken a few trips to Melfort
While Eileen says stateside is the place to cavort
Marlyn and Jeri found out Morden’s shop is online
And Bev says Moose Jaw stores are oh so divine.

Kick Ass in Plumas is one real hip store
Lori and Kathy will definitely go back for more
Regina’s a place Yvonne recommends
There you’ll find Peachtree where the bolts never end.

Now Marg spoke not a word but went straight to work
She served her guests then turned with a jerk
“I have a plane to catch in less than an hour,
We’re going to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower.”

It was nice to spend time with her friends in her home
But thinking maybe next time arrange a visit by phone
But knowing the quilters liked to stop by
Will make retirement easier she thought with a sigh

The quilters left that night, with a feeling of glee
Marg had not gone but was just a bit more free
And she heard them exclaim as they drove out of sight
“Thanks for all the great service, and have a safe flight”


Merry Christmas Quilters

November Meeting

We had a nice snowy winter day to work in the church on our comfort squares.

Rae demonstrated the quilt pattern Country Lines in the afternoon. We were able to complete that quilt top as well.

Thirty ladies braved the icy roads for the regular evening meeting.

Next month is our Christmas Party.- December 16th. We will have a fat quarter exchange ( a holiday theme in a brown paper bag), a craft and a silent auction. Finished Tin Can Round Robins should be completed and will be shown at the party. Don't forget your place mats for Meals on Wheels. I will send out an e-mail closer to the party date, with a complete list of things to remember.

The next unfinished square has been chosen by the members.
June 2009 is bird houses - no fusible web please.
Winter wear is the block theme for the quilt show in 2010

We had a selection of show and tell in the break

Lorna and Sandra had comfort quilt they made from the left over fabric from their Star Fling quilts.

Sandra had a Sun Bonnet Sue red work table centre

Robin showed us her Christmas door knob hangers. She also won the block of the month Disappearing Nine Patch.

The program for the evening was Basic applique. Adele and Marg were kind enough to demonstrate the applique technique to the members. Relax the fancy applique on the board behind the ladies is their lovely work for our enjoyment only. The little basic flower and leaves in the middle is our block of the month for December and January. Fabric for the background and the pattern is available at the December meeting.

Two of our members, Kathy and Lori entered the 2008 Quest for the Cure Block Challenge sponsored by Northcott Fabrics and the Quilter Magazine. Their Lone Star/Trip around the world block placed 3rd in the Pieced block category. A picture of their block will appear in the May 2009 issue of The Quilter Magazine, and on the www.northcott.net website. Their prize is $100.00 US cash, on year subscription of the Quilter Magazine and 1/2 years ($1000 value) of Northcott's Fat quarters. Congratulations to both of you.

Until the Christmas Party.

Happy Quilting!

The October Retreat

The Quilt guild held a quilting retreat at the Victoria Inn on November First and Second. We all had a great time and about 18 ladies turned out a various times during the weekend. Barb took many photos of the weekend. I had to choose just five pictures for the blog, so I tried to choose ones of some what completed projects.

This is Ray W 's fat quarter quilt

Rae B's Halloween Magic Tiles

Yvonne's - Emily collection quilt

Lynn's Photo wall hanging

Robin's Stack and Whack

Looks like lots of work was done.

Happy Quilting!

News from October 2008 Meeting

We spent the morning working on comfort quilts, and planning more comfort quilts.

After lunch we had more guild members show up and Rae demonstrated the construction of a "Yellow Brick Road" quilt. We quickly did up a top for the guild from some fat quarters we had in our cupboard.

Next month we are doing the same thing. At 1:30 PM we will put together the pattern Country Lines. Everyone is welcome to come out and share in the experience.

We had 48 members and 2 quests show up for the 7PM Meeting.

The Library has a new book "Jelly Roll Quilts"

We have a comfort day planned for Tuesday November 25 from 9Am to 4PM. Please consider turning out. Also don't forget our quilt retreat at the Victoria Inn Room 101 this weekend. All day Saturday and Sunday until 4PM. Please bring you own mug, and ugly fat quarter to swap and a new sewing/quilting notion of a $4-$5 value for the notion basket draw.

Our Christmas Party will be held at our December meeting.

The fat quarter game will be played again this year, using a fat quarter with a holiday theme, not necessarily Christmas.

We will be making placemats again this year for our Christmas project. They will be going to meals and wheels, and can be in any theme or colour.

Participants of the Tin Can Round Robin are reminded to complete their project for the December meeting.

Marg F is in charge of the silent auction this year, and all donations can be dropped off at Lorna's office.

As you can see we had some excellent show and tell at the meeting.

Joan displayed her extremely large and beautiful Redwork quilt.

Kathy is getting ready for the holiday season with her lovely Rudolf wall hanging

Lorna showed us what to do with all those tiny pieces of fabric left over from making a couple of quilts.

Adelle proudly displays her gorgeous had appliqued and hand quilted quilt. Beautiful!

Look at our comfort squares. Aren't they something else. And we still have another month left to make some more. Anyone with fabric and squares not done, remember we want them turned in for the November meeting. What gorgeous quilts we are going to make!

We need some ideas for our 12 1/2 inch unfinished blocks. Put your thinking caps on and bring your ideas to the next meeting.

The next installment for the mystery quilt was demonstrated, and now we have a large number of flying geese to make before next month.

Audry shared information about a new resource to use for mastering machine quilting, they are practice skill builder panel and a companion book from RGA Designs.

Here is the link: www.rgadesignquilts.com

Also available for purchase at The Quilter's Jewel in Morden www.thequiltersjewel.com

Faktor's has lots of bobbins available at 25% off. Don't wait too long.

We are selling raffle tickets at the Creighton Hall on November 8th. We are looking for some more volunteer ticket sellers. Contact Lorna at her office.

And finally the program for the evening was Favorite Quilting Books and Magazines. A sharing session of several interesting books/magazines was led by Eileen. Thank you to all who participated. We hope to compile and distribute a list to Guild members in December.

Happy Quilting!

October Meeting Notice

Just a reminder to all our members the guild meeting is on Tuesday October 21. United Church from 9AM to 9 PM.

Business meeting starting at 7PM.

We will be making the yellow brick road at 1:30 PM.

If you are interested in this process, please feel free to come out and learn how to put it together.

This is a photo of a yellow brick road quilt.

Also don't forget your comfort squares, show and tell, and your favorite quilting book.

We are bringing our favorite quilting book to show, so we can make a list of good books to buy.

Happy Quilting

The Quilting Incident

At about lunch time on quilting day Marg L moved her leg and then she had trouble. As you all know she had her knee fixed up some time ago. I guess that something happened to her new joint replacement. Rae phoned the ambulance and her they are taking her away to the hospital. She looked remarkable cheerful.

Now I didn't want to post anything until we knew how she was doing.

Rae sent me this message with the update.

Just spoke to Bill and Marg might be home tomorrow.
Wednesday September 17 she flew to the Grace Hospital in Wpg.
5pm surgery to pop things back in place
Thursday the xray showed that the knee was not lined up properly
Transfered to the Concordia Hospital where they are to specialize in knees and hips
The top Dr. did surgery that evening and replaced part of her new knee
She is to wear a knee brace for 3 months.

Yesterday Marg was out shopping and to Boston Pizza for supper.
They are waiting for all the cultures to come back -checking for infection- before she is released.

Highlights From the September 16th Meeting

We had a nice turn out for the day, with the group completing a couple of quilt tops, basting some baby quilts and organizing our fabric.
We had a good productive day, with only one incident, which I will explain in a later blog, when there is more complete information available.

The general meeting saw 43 members arrive and no one brought a guest.

A new book "Quilt Block Leftovers" was added to our library. It is a book with ideas for all your orphan blocks.

We are going to set up a table at the Creighton Community hall on November 8th. The Guild will be renting two tables. Volunteers will be needed to sell tickets on the raffle quilt. This is also an opportunity for members to sell their own quilted items at the sale table.

Our Dreaming of Bears and Geese quilt took first place in quilting, at the Creighton Copper Fair on September 12/13. The quilt received a certificate, cheque, and a copper dripping. We now have prize money from the Northern Juried Art Show and the Creighton Copper Fair. The membership voted to spend this prize money on something for the club. We all approved the purchase of a 20 1/2 inch square ruler, a good coffee pot ( which will be used by us, but donated to the United Church), and the balance of our prize money will be used for expenses for the upcoming Retreat.

The retreat will be held on November 1st and 2nd in Room 101 at the Victoria Inn. Lunch and supper will be eaten in the dining room. Members will work on their own projects Saturday from 9 am until we have had enough, and on Sunday from 9 am until 4 pm. Space is limited so if you are interested sign up as soon as possible.

We are also looking into holding a Comfort Quilt day in October or November. Date to be announced later. This is a day when the club only works on comfort quilts for the guild.

Above is the completed quilt the club made and Kathy quilted for the adult literacy program. They will be holding a raffle, so look for the tickets or talk to Lorie, I think she will have a few available for sale.
Kathy and Lorie have lost it once again. They have mini pieced these beautiful squares from the new breast cancer fabric. They will be sending these blocks away in hopes of winning something in the contest. The blocks will go into quilts that are later used for fund raising for breast cancer research. Beautiful job ladies.
The group gathered around as Kathy demonstrated how to make a scalloped border for a quilt.

The Mystery quilt was demonstrated by Kathy and Lori. The first month is cutting instructions. Keeping organized in some manner is a great help, such as using labelled baggies for each set of pieces you cut. If you have Bali fabric or lots of dark blues or reds, you should consider washing your fabric first, and even using some retain in the wash water.

On the next quilting day which is October 21st at 1:30 PM, a quilt called Yellow Brick Road will be cut out and put together. Members are welcome to come out and see how it's done. Anyone who has a quilt made in this pattern is asked to bring it that day.

Here is the quilt Rae made for the Catholic Church bazar. It was made from a fat quarter collection.
We did have one guest, perhaps a future guild member. Behind our wee guest you can see the latest block of the month bow ties. They are going to make a really nice comfort quilt. Our new comfort block of the month for October/November is the "Disappearing Nine Patch". A star print and a blue material were given out. We are to add a third bright colour and make a 15 1/2 inch nine patch which will then be cut in 4 blocks, 3 for the guild and 1 for a lucky member. Fabric and patterns are available at Faktor's or the October meeting.

For October's program please bring your favorite quilting book or magazine to share with the rest of the members. A list will be compiled and given out to the members.

The fat quarter theme for the Christmas party will be any type of holiday fabric. It does not have to be Christmas fabric.

Our Christmas project will once again be place mats to be given to Meals on Wheels. It does not have to be a Christmas place mat or Christmas fabric.

As you can see, we were very busy in September and it looks like we have lots planned right up till December.

Happy Quilting!

Sandra

Meeting Notice September 16

This is a meeting notice for Tuesday September 16.

This is the last month to bring in the blue Bow tie blocks. Also we are going to start our first month of the mystry quilt. If you haven't bought you fabric and are interested in participating, now is the time to go to Faktors and take advantage of the great fabric sale.

Our Guild member Ira moved away in August. We didn't get to say good-bye to her. Her are some photos of her at work during our guild afternoons. We all wish her the very best in her new home.

Happy Quilting!

Meeting Minutes For August 2008

We had 32 members turn out for our meeting on a very warm August day.
We finished the top and basted the quilt to give to the Adult Learning Centre. Kathy has taken it away to do her magic quilting and we will have that all ready to go. We also put togwther another baby quilt and worked on a couple more tops. There weren’t many of us out for the day, but we were a productive group.


Our bow tie blocks for the next couple of months are really turning out nicely. If you have picked up some of the light yellow fabric to make a bow tie blocks please don’t forget to turn them in by the September meeting. It would be a great little project for a rainy day early this September.
In the bottom of the picture you will notice the lovely fabric. This is some of the material that has been purchased to participate in the Mystery quilt starting in September. If you have not purchased your fabric, and wish to participate in this fun club project, the material list is available at Faktor’s, along with some really great bargains on fabric. Don’t miss out on the ‘fun, remember what a great time we had with the Round Robin.
Recent purchases using the 25% discount from Faktor’s were displayed. These included 94 metres of fabric to complete current projects and for some future ones and other items such as thread, blades, etc.

Marg Faktor is making a bulk order of batting in September. Please return order forms to her by September 10.

As usual we had some show and tell :
Lynn’s colourful balloon quilt
Joyce’s Sunshine quilt.
Eileen’s Irish chain. This was only the top, Kathy is going to take it home and perform some more magic on it, before Eileen has to say good-bye. This is a lovely gift.

Lorie is holding a paper pieced humming bird block, which she made for the Saskatchewan Transplant Memorial Quilt.

Enjoy the last of our terrific summer weather and Happy Quilting!

Bears And Geese At The Bay

Eileen was in Winnipeg this weekend. She was good enough to hobble up to the Bay and take some photos. Looks pretty good! Thank you Eileen for going to that extra trouble, we all appreciate it.

North Star Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt 2008 - 2009

This eight part mystery can make a quilt of the following sizes:
Small (single) – 60” x 76”
Medium (double) - 76” x 92”
Large (Queen) – 92” x 108”

Fabrics -
Light - background; tone on tone recommended
Medium – focus fabric (choose this one first – pick one you love)
Dark #1 – this should be your darkest fabric
Dark #2 – Best if it is in the same color family as Dark #1 (make sure this fabric does not overpower your medium focus fabric)
Fabrics requirements include all blocks and borders!
Fabric
-------------Small --------------Medium -----------------------Large
Light -------2.2 m--------------- 3.2 m -------------------------4.4 m

Medium ----1.3 m ----------------1.7 m ------------------------2.4 m

Dark #1----- 0.7 m ---------------1.2 m------------------------ 1.5 m

Dark #2----- 1.5 m--------------- 1.9 m ------------------------2.5 m

(Consider purchasing enough fabric for binding from Dark #2.)
The first set of instructions will be demonstrated and handed out at the September 16th guild meeting. If you have the fabric purchased before then you will be all ready to go.

July 2008 Meeting Highlights

We had a small group of ladies show up for the all day quilting. We happily sewed on comfort quilts and club quilts while out side we had a summer storm. Nice day for sewing, but there a lot of nice sewing days this July. We should see some good show and tell this fall, if we keep getting all this rain.
We finished two quilt tops and took a good bite out of another before the day was done. A good days work.
Below you can see the final results for the friendships star blocks for June and July comfort quilt blocks. Sandra S was the lucky recipient of 57 friendship blocks. Looking forward to seeing that quilt Sandra.

We are still looking for three blocks. These blocks were from the baby chenniling project that the club handed out. We would like to have those blocks back, either finished or unfinished. Then we would be able to complete the two baby quilts that are missing the last blocks. If anyone knows where they are, could you please hand them into one of the other members, or bring them to Faktors, or to the meeting.
The raffle for the Canadian quilt was a very large success. Thank You to all the organizers and members who showed up and sold tickets.
The DVD's of the quilt show are still available at Faktors.

We will be having another retreat this fall at the Victoria Inn. The dates are Saturday and Sunday, November 1 and 2. Put that on your calender, we will be having sign up sheets at the September or October meeting.

The program for the evening was a presentation by The Twisted sisters, Rae, Sandra and Lorna gave a presentation and entertaining report on their activities at eh CQA Quilt Canada in St. John's, Newfoundland in June. It included a show and tell of several items that they had brought home with them, many of which they had won. Below is a sample of a hand sewn quilt at the presentation and now owned by Lorna.

Here are some of the ladies with their show and tell items.

Lynn with her lovely Inukshuk wall hanging.

Eileen with her completed sixteen patch square quilt. She even quilted it all by herself. Good Job.
Evelyn made a red hat wall hanging.
The club is going to run a mystery quilt starting in September. I have listed the details and requirements in its own title.

Happy Quilting!

June Meeting Highlights

We are back from Quilt Canada 2008, "Quilting on the Edge". Details to follow at the July Meeting.

The round robins were completed at the June meeting. You can see they turned out very nice, and I am sure more people will want to participate the next time the club decides to do it once again. Participants were asked to have their project completed for showing at the Christmas party.

We now have a link to the photos of the quilt show. Barb did a very nice job. Thank you Barb for taking the time to load all those photos onto the net.
http://www.flickr.com/gp/26587815@N04/80h6o8

I hear the "Marg Show" was very entertaining. Some ladies even said they could give the "Lorie and Kathy Show" some competition. Good to hear, we all enjoy the demo and the entertainment. The two Margs demonstrated "stake and whack".

An invitation was received from the Manitoba Arts Network to show our quilt, “Dreaming of Bears and Geese”, at the 6th Rural and Northern Art Show to be held in Winnipeg at The Bay downtown during the month of July. This quilt placed 1st in Fibre Arts-Quilting at the Northern Juried Art Show held in The Pas in May.

The Alphabet letter blocks need to be handed in so that the quilts can be put together.
3 star blocks are needed to complete the star quilt. If any of our members have those blocks at home please turn them in to the next meeting.

A DVD of Quilt Show picture is available from Lynn at a cost of $5.

Canadiana Quilt raffle: tickets to be sold last two weekends of June at Eddie’s and Extra Foods. There are still some openings available and also for during Main Street Days (June 27/28) that people can sign up for. Contact Marg for any further information.

Here are some photos of the show and tell at the meeting.


Happy Quilting!

Juried Art Show

Rae has returned for the Northern Juried Art Show in The Pas. This is her comment on our quilt entry:

FIRST PLACE IN FIBRE ARTS AND A CHEQUE FOR $100.00. WOW
Way to go, great news.

Happy Quilting!