Guild Day, Tuesday, May 19, 2026

 Good day members, it would appear that spring has arrived in the north! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and our muscles are aching from spring cleaning, yard cleanup and gardening. To my mind, that is a good reason to spend the day with good friends and do some quilting!

We had eighteen members out working on various tasks, the main one being the final assembly of our fall raffle quilt so it can be passed on to Heather for the longarming!

The blocks had been joined with the vertical sashing and then each row had the horizontal sashing stitched to it at last month’s work bee. Today we marked the rows to be sure the points all matched, pinned them, then Sandra stitched them together. After the joining of all the rows, the borders were added, the backing and binding were readied and it was off to the quilter!

While the raffle quilt was being assembled, our hand stitching ladies were working on binding. They are such dedicated people! If Moira and Iris aren’t able to finish while at guild day, they take the work home with them and complete it there! Thank you so much ladies! Your work is much appreciated.

                                   Lynn was busily working on the quilting of a baby quilt.

                           Bev and Susan were pin basting a quilt sandwich preparing it for quilting.

   

Cindy was cutting fabric to make up block packages which will be distributed to members for stitching. 

Meanwhile, Audrey had the design wall set up so she could lay out the blocks for the next EMS quilt.

Here we converted a photo to black and white so it would be easier to see the colour tones and it could be determined if any squares needed to be moved. It looked like it was pretty well balanced so this will be sewn together at next month’s session to make another baby quilt. A handy little technique to use!

Rae shared with us a new pattern she tried. This is Diamond Pop from Quilty Love. We have previously made two other patterns from Quilty Love, Plus Pop and Star Pop. When the squares are made you cannot see the pattern till you lay them out, then it pops!

Comfort Quilts:

        This was the mystery quilt for the evening as no one knew who did the piecing or the quilting!

This is another of the strip quilts with feature fabric from Nadine. Sandra S did the quilting and Judy did the binding.

                                       Lynn did the piecing and quilting of this baby quilt.

   

                                             This colourful little quilt is courtesy of Iris.

We now have thirty comfort quilts in the bins, we will be adding many more in the months ahead.

Quilts of Valour:

This is the Quilt of Valour that we will be presenting to this year’s recipient. Rather than shipping our quilts to Ottawa and having them present them, we are now keeping the ones we make and presenting them to local veterans. We will share the recipient’s name after it has been presented.

Wildfire Quilts:

There have now been 227 quilts taken to the Village office in Denare Beach for distribution. Audrey has an additional 5 and Christine has 4 completed and 5 in various stages of completion. We are now beginning on presentations to other families outside of Denare Beach but still within our area, who lost their homes to the 2025 wildfires.

Show and Tell:

Myrna shared the pouch she made at our retreat. It has vinyl pockets on both sides and a roomy interior.

 Myrna stitched this lovely little hot mat so she could practice a new binding technique which used only one round of stitching rather than two.

Myna’s third share was this beautiful quilt. It was a brown bag mystery quilt she chose to make because purple was her mom’s favourite colour. She did the quilting on her machine using a hoop that helps keep everything tight while stitching. The hoop gets moved to a new section each time one is complete. She then used her one step binding technique to finish it off.

This is Sandra’s evacuation quilt. She purchased the kit from a quilt shop in Kinistano and Heather did the longarming for her.

Rae also made a quilt rom the same pattern but has an entirety different colourway in hers. The pattern is Stepping Stars from Quilty Love. Michelle from Mami’s did the quilting.

    Isn’t it amazing how a colour choice change creates a totally different looking quilt?

Sandra has had this Block of the Month project in progress for several years and now has completed it . It was a mystery quilt from the Fat Quarter Shoppe and was quilted by Heather.                                              

This is Audrey’s  Bitsy Box, pattern by Bodabo Bags.          

Another of Audrey’s  creations is this little Hello Kitty bag. 

Sandra stitched this quilt from the 2 1/2” strips she won in the Left, Right, Centre game we played at our  Christmas party. Because it was meant for her brother and sister-in-law, who are the tallest members of her family, the Jellyroll Race she started with had to be made wider and longer so she went to her stash and      added strips then got creative with the way she put it all together. She always thinks outside the box!          

Patty made this I Spy quilt for her grandson and granddaughter with blocks that were given to her by Evelyn.                                                                                                                                                       

Program:

Cindy used her own quilt to illustrate the one we will be stitching for one of our Christmas raffles. This pattern uses two alternating blocks, a star block and a snowball block, which when joined give a Jacob’s ladder effect.

The blocks are not difficult to put together. Cindy had block kits prepared for us in Christmas colours which will look very attractive. Thank you, Cindy!

Quilter’s Corner: 

Audrey gave us a tutorial on the Go Cutter. Here is one of the dies which can be used for appliqué. With each of the shapes being outlined, it is much easier to place your fabrics so as to reduce waste.

The guild has a large binder of dies that can be used to produce many different quilts. If you have trouble using a rotary cutter because of arthritic hands, for example, this machine might be the answer for you.

Patty was the winner of the membership draw this month. 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the retreat due to a medical appointment in Saskatoon, but everyone agreed it was a well attended, excellent retreat.

The SUN group is having their retreat May 29 and 30 with Mama Bears Quilt Shoppe as the vendor. This event will be taking place in the Creighton Community Hall so do drop by and see what is happening or make a purchase.

Happy quilting,

Gladys