Happy New Year to all! This weather sure is conducive to cuddling up under a nice warm quilt or staying inside to sew. Quilt registration for a World of Quilts XXXIX opens in just a few weeks and I hope you have been busy working on your entries. Don’t forget, your quilt does not have to be finished to register it – it only needs to be done by quilt drop off on April 28. Also you don’t have to register all of your quilts at one time. So, please if you have a quilt that is ready to be register, do it sooner than later. It would be a big help to the Registrar to get the entries in early. She only has about a week after registration closes to get the final list together so she can mail out quilt numbers. By registering early she can check your entry immediately and avoid having to process so many quilts at the end.
We will be starting the nominating process for the 2018-2019 Board. Click here to find the list of positions with brief descriptions. Being on the Board is quite rewarding. It is a good way to give back to the Guild, meet members, and see what the Guild does. I encourage you to consider serving.
If you are interested in serving on the Board or would like more information about any position, let me know.
Susan Fasnacht, President
president@northernstarquilters.com
Comfort Quilters December 2017 Meeting – photo thanks to Rona Spar and Barbara Powers
Comfort Quilts – 184 quilts have been donated by NSQG since September, 2017. Forty-five of those quilts have been devotedly overseen by Barbara Powers for the children at the Behavioral Center. During a low point in their lives, these children will be able to curl up with a quilt and a tissue holder especially made by Patricia Loquet as they gather for movie and quilt night on Christmas Eve.
Raffle Charity Nomination – Do you have a 501c3 charity you would like the guild to sponsor at our 2019 Quilt Show? Applications can be submitted to Althea Nolan. The forms and needed information can be found here or via the website or you can contact Althea, charitable@northernstarquilters.com
althea s. nolan, Charitable Activities Chair
Keep an eye out for the latest Quilt Show Updates!
It seems as if the cold weather is finally here. The good news about that is, we now have a good reason to stay inside and quilt. Don’t forget, the challenge quilts are due at our January meeting and quilt registration for the World of Quilts XXXIX show starts in January as well.
Thank you to everyone who brought food items in November to donate to the local food pantries. If you missed the opportunity to bring an item, you can always contact your local food pantry directly to make a donation. I recently attended a presentation by a representative of the Food Bank for Westchester and she stated that one in every five Westchester residents are in need of food assistance, so your donations are greatly appreciated.
For the past two years the Guild has donated a Comfort Quilt to Kennedy Catholic to include in their November live auction fund raiser. The donation is made in the name of Sister Barbara as a replacement for the doll wardrobes she made for the event. I am pleased to report that this year’s donation was auctioned off for $240.
I want to bring up something about the “free” table at the meetings. Please be aware that any items that are not taken by members get tossed out. I have noticed that the amount of fabric, patterns, magazines, etc. has been growing and sometimes I almost fill a garbage can with the rejects. Please look at what you are bringing. Try to limit it to materials used for quilting that are truly usable. We can’t expect to have Kennedy Catholic to take care of disposing of our trash.
I wish everyone a wonderful and happy holiday season.
Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com
Our December lecture is by Natalya Aikens, ‘Sustainable Practices in Art Quilts’.
What materials can you use in an art quilt? Anything you can stitch through! There is a certain thrill you get when buying new fabric or thread, but what if you instead got a thrill from figuring out new uses for old materials? Natalya goes through all the things you can stitch by hand and by machine to add an unexpected and wonderful texture to your artwork.
Learning all the tricks at Debbie Bein’s November workshop!
Quilt Show Raffle – Return your raffle stub ticket money at any of our guild meetings or mail them in. Those who have not picked up their raffle ticket packets or who need extra tickets can pick them up at the meeting. Be sure to check out prizes here (including a Bernina machine from Pins and Needles)
Comfort Quilt Holiday Boutique – $383.00 was made to help support Guild activities and members got some great deals! See you next year!
Comfort Quilt Meetings – Time to make your New Year Resolution and plan to attend Comfort Quilts. All members are invited to our Wednesday meetings at the Ambulance Corp in North Salem to make quilts for folks in need.
The 2018 CQ schedule is as follow: Jan 3,17, Feb 7,21, Mar 7,21, Apr 4,18, May 9,23 (***May is 2nd and 4th Wednesday NOT the usual 1st and 3rd). Always check with Carol Auer or Karen Carlson for possible cancellations if you are not on the Comfort Quilt mailing list.
This year’s poster is ready!
Check our homepage to pull it up in more detail (click on World of Quilts header) or print (via Print the poster).
An early Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Remember because of Thanksgiving, our meeting will be held a week earlier than normal on November 14. We will have our own Debbie Bein speaking to us that evening and holding the workshop the following day. For those of you at the October lecture, I expect that the audio will be working better – it turns out the mic had fallen off the stage earlier in the evening which caused it to malfunction. It should be fixed for November.
We will be holding a modified Holiday Boutique prior to the meeting. We had only a couple of members sign up to sell items plus the Comfort Quilt tables. Rather than cancel the entire boutique, we will hold a scaled down version in the hallway next to the auditorium doors (not in the lobby). “Doors” will open at 6:00.
I had mentioned in the October meeting reminders that the doors to the lobby will be open for those of you who would like to avoid having to walk up the long ramp to the cafeteria. Although I was told a few days before the meeting that would be the case, when I arrived they were locked. I asked bm liaison about it and he said that they cannot leave the doors unlocked, but people can use them if someone lets them in. I will look into this more, but for now, if you do want to use that entrance plan on having to call someone who is already at the school to let you in.
I am still looking for a new Special Events Chairperson. Susan Deshensky has found that with getting her teaching business going along with her other activities, she needed to step down from the Board. We wish her good luck with her new endeavor. The Special Events position is not overly time consuming. You are responsible for overseeing the Boutiques (Nov. and May), the Guild Challenge, Lancaster Trip, and Super Saturday. Each of these activities has a person running them and doing the detailed coordination. The Special Events Chairperson needs to act as their liaison to the Board and oversee what they are doing to make sure things are getting done. If you are looking for a way to become a little more active in the Guild, it is a good opportunity to do so. You’ll find you learn more about what we do and it is a great way to meet other members.
The Quilt Show Committee received some great news this past month. The Dutch collection of the new Cherrywood Fabrics Van Gough exhibit will be displayed at our show in May! The Cherrywood exhibits are present in most of the national and regional shows, so it is fantastic that we will have the works at our quilt show. Congratulations to Chris and Noreen for procuring this exhibit.
Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com