Guild Day, October 17, 2023

 October guild day came hard on the heels of our retreat. It almost felt like we hadn’t left the building! We had a dozen hard working members come out and put in a very productive day.

Eight baby quilts were pin basted and bindings cut, two were quilted and completed before day’s end, two more were quilted so just needed the binding applied. These and four basted ones were ready to be taken home and completed.

Two youth quilts were assembled from the Twist and Turn blocks made by members. The tops were stitched, backings pieced and all were pin basted. One more batik square quilt top was completed, backing and binding were chosen but we ran out of time to get the basting done!

The Twist and Turn quilt is being pin basted. This simple block was arranged into a unique pattern.

Sandra is completing the quilting on the heart quilt. The Juki machine is seeing a lot of quilting time!

Sandra D. was kept busy quilting baby quilts. She was using a walking foot and straight line quilting. When making diagonal lines in both directions it gives an attractive on point square pattern. I believe she was able to complete three quilts!

Marg was also using a walking foot but was applying the binding, again on baby quilts. When you apply the binding to the back of the quilt you then fold it to the front and topstitch it down by machine. This process is much quicker than hand sewing, especially on quilts that are washed often and can often be what we refer to as “draggers”.

                   Marg donated a number of baby size quilts and tops. This was one of her creations.

                                                                      More of Marg’s work.

                                                                    More from Marg.

                   And two more! Thank you , Marg for your generous donation of materials and work.

                                                   Evelyn was occupied with hand stitching.

                                          Judy was trimming squares for another flannel quilt.

This quilt that Lorna stitched was completed today and will be included in our donation quilts at the November meeting.

This evening’s meeting was attended by15 members and our honorary member. We now have 6 new members that will take part in beginner’s classes starting November 4th. Two of our older sewing machines have been serviced by Marg and can be used in beginner’s class by anyone who doesn’t have a machine of their own.

November 4th is the Women’s Resource Centre’s Christmas sale at which we will be selling tickets for a Christmas quilt. The sale will be held at St. Ann’s this year, not the Creighton Hall.

The quild Christmas party will be on December guild day, December 19th. If any members have items for the Silent Auction, we ask they be brought in as soon as possible. Also each member is asked to bring 3, two and one half inch strips for the Left, Right, Centre game. If you are planning to bring a guest please bring 3 strips for your guest as well. 

This evenings Show and Tell had lovely pieces as usual.

Bev B. shared her Paper Bag quilt top. She called it her 12 year project as that was how long ago she started it. She finished the top at our retreat. She will have to amend the name as there is still backing, quilting and binding to do!

June started with some panels and made this colourful animal quilt for the twins, Violet and Vivian.

Lorna shared her mesh bag. This was the project the ladies from Cranberry Portage were working on at their retreat which was held at the Creighton Hall. This beautiful bag will be great for carrying quilting materials or almost anything!

Patty’s project at our retreat was this nifty little bag for carrying a water bottle and her cell phone.

Rae shared this quilt top with us. It was her 14 year project! As with Bev, she will have to add some time for backing, quilting and binding. I’m sure the embroidery had a lot to do with the length of time to completion!

This quilt using the Meadowlands block was stitched with fabric Rae bought at a 30% off sale at 440 in Saskatoon. She used 16 fat quarters and the binding was made from the 2 1/2 inch strips left over from the fat quarters. This one will go to her sister Brenda.

This is a quilt Sandra stitched from all the fabric pieces she had left from her Witches quilt. This quilt will be gifted to her grand- daughter, Sarah.

Sheri and honorary member, Darby, had this low volume Halloween quilt to share with us. (Darby is well hidden behind the quilt.)

                     Cindy had this lovely table runner to share with us. The colours are very vibrant!

June demonstrated her method of making string quilts. This pattern is not really a pattern, just a way of using up various large and small strips left over from other projects. The foundation for the blocks was another example of repurposing. She used pages from old telephone books, then trimmed the blocks to size and pulled the paper off the back. Very creative, June!

That put a close to our day and evening. Happy quilting everyone!

Gladys

Fall Quilt Retreat October 13th and 14th, 2023

 We had a fabulous retreat this fall! Twenty-two members came out to sew and twenty-four members took in the catered turkey dinner on Friday evening. Everyone was busily working on an assortment of projects from bag making to completing quilt tops in progress.

Jennifer from Needle Crafts and Studio in Beausejour was in attendance with a variety of fabrics, kits and patterns. She brought a selection of Tilda fabrics to tempt us as well. Whenever we took a break from our projects we were able to browse and shop. 

Vendor sales were open to anyone wishing to come in and shop. Jennifer had a varied array of quilting goods on display.

                           Judy, Myrna, Evelyn, Lynn and Bessie were set up at this group of tables.

                                      

                                     Another group of ladies were busy working at this station. 

                                            One of the three pressing stations in the room.

                                     Accurate cutting is a very important first step in quilting.

On Saturday we held an open house. The public were invited to drop in and observe what we were doing and ask questions about our projects. Also set up in the sanctuary was a display of member’s personal quilts as well as quilts made by the guild for donation. Visitors were able to enter their names for a door prize and the last of the tickets for our fall raffle quilt were available for sale.

Anyone interested in taking beginner quilting lessons were able to sign up for classes beginning on November 4th. 

A big thank you to the Credit Union for the grant that allowed us to purchase a new sewing machine.

                                                              Members personal quilts.

                                                                    More personal quilts.

                                                              And a final personal quilt.

                                                                   Quilts for donation.

More donation quilts, among them were quilts stitched by members of the current beginners class. There were more donation quilts to put out but we ran out of room!

At the end of the two days, Sandra was able to display a completed quilt top. She had been working on the pineapple blocks for well over a year. Beautiful job, Sandra!

As we were winding down on Saturday afternoon, the time had arrived to make our various draws.

June won the fabric bundle, Cindy, Susan, Bessy and Bev B. won the other member draws and Evelyn O. won the door prize draw for community members. Congratulations everyone.

Then it was time for the main event, the quilt raffle draw!

                                         Jennifer, our vendor, drew the winning ticket.

And the winner is Terri Brown! Congratulations Terri!  No one was more surprised than Lynn when Jennifer handed her the ticket. Terri is Lynn’s daughter.

That was the end of our retreat. We were all tired from the work and excitement but a few days rest and we’ll all be back for more stitching, visiting and comaraderie.

Gladys