Tuesday, May 17, 2023 Guild Day

 This is a very busy time of year! Gardening needs to be done, spring clean up time is here and somewhere we find time for our quilting! Guild day was well attended. During the day we had as many as 13 people coming and going. Everyone was multi-tasking, quilting, running errands, shopping and whatever else needed doing. We pin basted 4 quilts ready for members to take home and hone their quilting skills. Another group was busy putting together the batik comfort blocks which needed sashing and corner stones. Sandra S. quilted another baby quilt and applied binding so it is now ready for the hand stitching.

                Sandra is getting very proficient at the quilting, both free motion and walking foot method.

Rae is laying out the batik squares and pinning the sashing and corner stones so Sandra D. can stitch them. 

The finished top is very attractive. Now it needs to have a backing cut, batting cut and then be sandwiched and pin basted in preparation for quilting. Assembling the top is just the first big step ( after the members have stitched the individual blocks) in the process of making a quilt.

                          Today was also the draw date for the teal bear paw quilt we were raffling. 

The draw was made at the Flinty statue at 4:00 PM by Lynn and Phyl.  Mix them well! We sold all the tickets that were printed. Thank you to all the purchasers!

                                 And the winner is Christine Williams. Congratulations Christine!

Christine came to our meeting where we presented her with the quilt. She was very happy with her win! 

Our meeting was held in the Sanctuary this evening as the church ladies needed the hall to prepare for a funeral, so you will notice a somewhat different setting than usual.  We had a good number of Show and Tell items this evening.

                              Patty B. completed this animal quilt for the guild. Thank you Patty.

Melanie shared this beautiful quilt and its story with us. She started the quilt in 2013 as a mystery quilt and as the name of the quilt, Alternate Routes, suggests, there were many for Melanie. As often happens, life can get in the way of our quilting and so it was with her. She persevered and made those many, many triangles and was able to finish it in time to share with us before she will be moving. We wish you happiness in your new home in Winnipeg and are sorry to see you go. Thank you for sharing your journey!

                 The pattern Melanie used is Alternate Routes from Highway 10 Designs.

Patty E. is making bags. She is using her late father’s jeans and fabric her mother brought from Germany. What a beautiful way to remember her father. She will share the bags with her family members.

                      This quilt, quite aptly named Raindrops, was Sandra D.’s project at the retreat.

                            This bag from the Posies line is another of Sandra’s completed projects.

Eileen says that is quite okay to give fat quarters or fabric as a gift to someone so they can stitch a gift for you. This is what her sister did so Eileen could make a new tree skirt for her. Well played, sister!

This is a receiving blanket I stitched for my great grandson who will be born the end of August. This is a warm up project for the nursery quilt I am planning. The nursery theme will be Winnie the Pooh.

This is not the nursery quilt, lol! Grandson number 2 is getting married on September long weekend so I made up Petal Junction from Highway 10 Designs in the Smoke and Rust fabric line from Moda. Thank you to Pauline from Mama Bears for putting the kit together for me.

Audrey constructed this handy little tote with pockets that are open on the bottom so that taller items like water bottles will fit in, slip right to the bottom of the bag and not tip over or make the bag fold over with the weight.

Phyl put this quilt together at our retreat. She did some ruler work on the quilting. This will be gifted to her sister who is in care.

Another one of Phyl’s projects is this beautiful quilt in the Home Quarter pattern from Highway 10 Designs. Their patterns have been very popular this month! The fabric is Smoke and Rust from Moda and looks lovely in this pattern.

Patty B. has completed her Lone Star quilt which was our latest guilt-along. Beautiful work, Patty!

On May 27th the United Church Ladies held their Strawberry Shortcake Tea. We took advantage of their invitation to display our comfort quilts in the Sanctuary so that attendees at the tea had an opportunity to view our work. We are always happy to share our endeavours with community members and raise awareness of what we do as a guild.

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This is what we have completed so far. We have kits out with members and a number of sets of completed blocks so should have just as many more by donation time in November.

Happy quilting everyone! See you at UFO day on June 3rd. Enjoy our lovely weather.

Gladys

Retreat and Anniversary

 Friday and Saturday, May 6th and 7th, were our spring retreat days. The snowbird members were back home, and the winter birds were anxious for spring! Nineteen members turned out to stitch, visit and create. Lynn and Phyl made up some kits for a simple project so those who wished worked on those.

Retreat days give us a chance to work on projects that often get laid aside when working at home.

It’s always fun to work on pieces when you have company. When you need a wee break the opportunity is there to see what others are working on and have a chat.

There are people who can offer advice or help as needed, there are new things to see and no matter how long you have been a quilter, there is a helpful tip or idea to be had.

A catered supper was held on Friday evening for those who wished to partake. After a day of stitching it’s nice to relax and have a meal cooked by someone else! After the supper there was a Show and Tell of members’ first or oldest quilt still in their possession. There were very interesting stories to go with the quilts shown.

Saturday was a special day for the guild as we chose that day to mark the 25th anniversary of the North Star Quilt Guild. Cake and coffee or tea were served to 31 members and guests.

                           Thank you to the North of 53 Co-op for the beautiful and delicious cakes!

Lorna, Marg H., Marg F., Rae, Sandra and Evelyn are proud to say they have been members from day 1!

Sandra had the honour of cutting the first slice. The decorator created a beautiful quilt cake for us to enjoy!

Eric Westhaver was invited to take photos for The Reminder and a story of our quild’s history was submitted to him.

For those of you who do not have access to The Reminder, a copy of the story follows.

It was an exciting day on March 17, 1998. On that day, 25 years ago, the North Star Quilt Guild held its first meeting in what was then the Art Room of the Community Hall. A group of ladies who shared a love of fabric, creating and collaborating wanted to gather to share, learn, and create together. Among the group were Rae Baumgartner, Sandra Dixon, Evelyn Black, Lorna Heuchert, Marg Faktor and Linda Lautimus who remain as members to the present day. Initially meetings were held the first and third Tuesday evening of each month. A short business meeting was followed by a program and fellowship. The program included a Block of the Month, a draw for blocks, a demonstration of a new technique or project, and the highlight, Show and Tell. During Show and Tell members would bring quilted pieces or ones in progress, where advice and direction were needed. Challenges posed by members, mystery quilt alongs, and other sew alongs introduced members to new techniques and enhanced their artist talents.

Over the past 25 years the North Star Quilt Guild has evolved. The meetings have remained very similar but now instead of meeting at the Green Room, the Community Hall, or McIsaac School home ec. room, the guild works on projects and holds meetings at Northminster United Church. The first Saturday of each month is UFO day (unfinished objects) when members work on personal projects from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The third Tuesday of each month is Guild day from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, followed by a meeting from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. During the day members work on comfort quilts which will be donated to local organizations in Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and Cranberry Portage for distribution to families and children in need. As well the quild donates to more far reaching groups such as refugees, victims of wild fires and floods, Quilts of Valour for wounded veterans, and Quilts of Remembrance for families of military lost in active duty. After the bus crash of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team, the guild contributed a number of quilts to those distributed to victims, their families and first responders who attended the crash. Also receiving quilts are individuals and families who have serious illnesses or who are victims of house fires. In addition, the guild has sewn wheelchair quilts for the Northern Lights Manor and Flin Flon Personal Care Home, lap quilts for the Lions Handivan riders, placemats for Meals on Wheels, as well as quilts for the chemo centre and dialysis centre at Flin Flon General Hospital. Quilts have been donated to local organizations to aid in their fund raising efforts. The most recent project is to provide emergency agencies such as the RCMP and local fire departments with quilts to provide victims warmth and caring during devastating situations.

The first quilt show was held in September of 1998 with biennial shows thereafter. The focus of the quilt shows was to showcase the members’ personal artistic talents. Quilt shop vendors were invited to sell their wares to satisfy the quilting needs of members and the public at large. The last show was held in September of 2018. The implications of the pandemic, declining membership, more people travelling to warmer climes for the winter, plus the increasing ages of our members, necessitated an alternate format to showcase our personal artistic talents and our commitment to support our community. Most recently we displayed our 24 x 24 challenge pieces at NORVA and have coordinated displays at Culture days and other community events.

The guild has been fortunate to have new members join the guild over the years and more are always welcome. Learn to Quilt classes resumed this fall after Covid stopped in person gatherings and necessitated meeting via Zoom.

The pandemic also forced another adjustment as the desire to create and provide warmth and comfort to those in need remained. Kits with fabrics and instructions were compiled and distributed to members so quilt tops were being sewn and quilted even though we couldn’t demonstrate a monthly comfort block or gather to sew as a group. This allowed us to complete enough quilts for our annual donations.

During the past 25 years of the North Star Quilt Guild’s existence, in excess of 1250 quilts have been donated. Because of the enthusiasm of North Star Quilt Guild members and their love of sewing, the guild hopes to continue these services for many more years. The North Star Quilt Guild provides fellowship, new friends, the learning of new techniques, fires our creativeness, hones our skills, and gives good reason to continue with our sewing passion! Here’s to another 25 years! Cheers!

April 18, 2023. Guild Day and meeting.

 We were happy to welcome back a lot of our snowbird members today. So happy to see their smiling tanned faces! Of course we put them right to work! Labels were sewn onto 5 quilts, one large and one smaller quilt were pin basted, and two baby quilts had binding stitched onto them.

Sandra S. free motion quilted a baby quilt so it is ready for binding and another quilt top had borders added so it will be ready for pin basting at the next quild day.

More quilt kits were put together for members to take home and stitch. Donna and Patty continued with the inventory. Today they were going through the fabric bins. A lot of pieces were counted! We will be able to make many scrappy quilt tops!

Lynn and Phyl were busy making up kits for a small project that members will be able to take part in at our retreat on May 5th and 6th. We will be celebrating the quilts 25th anniversary with a celebratory cake on Saturday at 2:00 PM!

Evelyn is binding a quilt while Dallas is sorting fabric for the inventory. Patty, in the background, is also sorting and inventorying fabric.

Rae and Sandra are preparing a quilt for pin basting. It looks like the batting will need to be pieced in order to be large enough. Piecing the batting is an excellent way to use up fall offs from larger quilts.

We have a stack of quilts ready to be machine quilted as well as a number of kits to be taken home and pieced.

Dallas quilted this ice cream cone baby quilt. She echoed the ice cream cones in each of the coloured squares. Beautiful job, Dallas!

This quilt was sewn and donated by Dallas. It will be very much appreciated by some lucky recipient. Thank you, Dallas!

This quilt was hand tied and then the border was machine quilted to stabilize it. The fabrics were left overs from a pyjama project a number of years ago. No fabric ever goes to waste! Another to add to the donation bin.

Heather machine quilted this baby quilt and attached the binding so next month the binding fairies will have some work to do!

                                         Another child’s quilt for the binders to work on.

And one more to bind! My apologies that I don’t have the names of those who completed these last two quilts. We thank you for your work.

We now have 26 completed quilts in the donation bins with 4 more to be finished. We are on track for our usual number of donations.

And now for Show and Tell! Donna completed her Lone Star cushion. She has another to do as well. Sewing the cushions convinced her that she did not want to attempt a full size Lone Star quilt. Very attractive, Donna!

Myrna had an unexpected Show and Tell! She completed this bag and took it to the Uptown Emporium to sell. Much to her surprise it was purchased by one of the members so she was able to show it here this evening!

                                               This was Bev’s Arizona Christmas project.

   This quilt was a kit Bev purchased at 440 in Saskatoon. She completed it and had Sheri quilt it for her. 

Patty B. sewed this special quilt for a friend’s baby. She was fortunate enough to have fabrics left over from a previous project.

Patty E. stitched this beautiful flannel quilt to use as a snuggle quilt at the cabin. Her words, “Flannel is not my friend!” The flannel gave her issues she was not happy with.

To ensure that she did not have to make another flannel quilt, she used all that was left to make the backing! Difficulties aside, it turned out beautifully!

When Phyl left for her winter break she took several quilt tops along so she could challenge herself with machine quilting. This particular top was made with the Five and Dime ruler which we have in our quilters library. She demonstrated how the ruler worked and it’s pretty nifty! You use a Layer Cake pack (which is 10” square) and a Charm pack ( which is 5” square) and you can make a quilt top. The process is simple and sews up fairly quickly. Thank you Phyl, I’m sure we’ll see several Five and Dime quilts before long.

Lynn purchased some fabrics while she was away. We decided she would get the long distance prize as her winter vacation was a trip to Japan! She shared some awesome photos taken at the Tokyo quilt show. The workmanship was unbelievable and beautiful.

Once again we had a very successful quild day. There is never a shortage of work to be done. Thank you to all the members who come out and lend their help and expertise. I find it amazing how many times I’ve picked up hints and tips from fellow members while we are working on the comfort quilts. Come out and join us!

Gladys

March 21, 2023 Guild Day

 As usual our guild day was a busy one! We had ten ladies present during the day working on comfort quilts. Donna and her helpers were busy doing an inventory of guild equipment ie. irons, ironing boards, cutting mats, rulers, scissors, tapes, power bars, electrical cords, to name only a few items. Needless to say, there was more to inventory than we had anticipated. This needed to be done for insurance purposes.

Four baby quilts were pin basted so members could take them home to quilt. As well, borders were cut for a large quilt so they could be completed and attached next month. Sandra S. machine quilted the purple 3 yard quilt that had waited patiently for several months for someone to complete it.

We were fortunate to have a donation of fabrics that included some panels suitable for baby quilts so they were being pin basted.

Sandra is showing the concentration that is needed for free motion quilting. If you glance away or even think of something not related to the task at hand, your stitching goes wonky!

          That cupboard has more items in it than one could imagine and they have to be inventoried.

                  This little treasure hasn’t seen any use for some time! We didn’t realize it was in there,

Nineteen bags for kids were completed and handed in. These will be donated to Child and Family Services to be used when children are taken in and have nothing in which to carry their personal possessions.

Sheri gave a presentation on Quilts of Valour along with a pattern and red and yellow squares for making log cabin blocks. Once we have enough blocks handed in, we’ll be able to stitch up the quilt tops and prepare them for presentation to wounded veterans.

This is one of the comfort quilts that was completed. My apologies for the poor quality of this photo, I didn’t check it carefully enough!

This one was completed  and donated by a member. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note of who completed it. I had better take more care or I’ll lose my job as a blogger!

This was a donated panel that was quilted by a member after it was pin basted. Someone will certainly enjoy receiving this one.

Peg completed a 3 yard quilt top which we will now be able to pin baste, quilt and bind in our next guild days.

Jill also completed a 3 yard quilt top. Thanks to these ladies we will be adding to our comfort quilt donations.

We had a fair number of show and tell items.

Sandra made an extraordinary find with this piece. A person she knew who was moving, opted to leave this behind. Sandra has a love for all things Christmas so claimed it for herself. Upon closer inspection she discovered the work was signed. It was a piece created by Jan Hall from Thompson.

This little mat in colours of Ukraine was the result of the leaders and enders she used while working on her pineapple blocks.

Sandra is honing her free motion skills as witnessed by this piece. The dahlia is a large panel she ordered and made up as a wall hanging. Each petal of the flower has a different free motion pattern. The result is stunning. She put hanger pockets on every corner so she can hang it four different ways.

                                                      A closer look at some of the quilting.

Sheri used a star pattern that we had used to make a comfort quilt. Rather than using a full 16 patch, she replaced the centre 4 patch with a square of the background colour, a very attractive variation.

This study in pinks shows how a log cabin block can look very different just by putting the blocks together in a different configuration.

                This charming animal quilt is one she made up from a panel. Who doesn’t love animals!

                         What a lovely heart quilt. Sheri has been very busy, and she’s not done yet!

                                        This is Sheri’s version of the Meadowlands block.

                     

                       Her final creation was another panel that became a beautiful quilt for a little girl.

She very generously donated all these quilts to the quild for our comfort quilt donations. Thank you very much, Sheri, lovely work from a busy lady!

My daughter-in-law requested a “snuggle blanket” she could use at the cabin, so I put together this one that has a flannel top and flannel backing. The pattern is Oh My Stars, a free pattern by Pat Sloan, available online.

Melanie stitched up some placemats using a stack and whack pattern using four fat quarters. These go together quite quickly and are very attractive.

Jill finally has that thread collector box she wanted. These little containers are very handy to have beside your machine to collect all those bits and pieces that happen when you’re sewing.

Dallas put together this lovely quilt, but as often happens, after several rows she decided she didn’t like the colour she was using for the sashing, so she took it all apart, changed the sashing, and this was the end result. You made a wise choice, Dallas!

Audrey stitched up “The Jolly Snowflake”, a Fat Quarter Shop pattern. This is a lovely winter themed quilt for her to enjoy.

And this is Audrey’s Presidents quilt! The members stitched 16 patches in bright colours, she threw in some 4 patches she had as well as the whites and voila! A beautiful quilt was born! She is taking this to her daughter where it will grace the bed Audrey uses when visiting there.

Whew! This took a long time to put together, but that’s what happens when you have a busy day. If someone will pass me the information on the member’s names that I missed I will edit the blog to give credit where credit is due! Thank you, see you next month.

Gladys