President’s Message

NSQG receives ArtsWestchester $2500 Grant

Feb.23-12-5pm-Kennedy HS,Somers,NY

As we all know February is “Super “month. We refer, of course, to Super Saturday, not to mention all the other “super” events the Guild has in store in the next few weeks.

Super Saturday will be held this year at the Ossining High School.  As always, there is a variety of classes to choose from and it is always a great day both to learn new skills and to socialize with other members. If you haven’t signed up yet, please check in with Annette Nash-Goven.

At the Guild meeting on February 18, we will once again be holding the popular Ugly Fabric Auction.  As well as providing a really entertaining evening, it is also a fundraiser for the Guild so be sure to bring along your wallet and get into the bidding wars!

On Sunday, February 23, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., along with Kennedy Catholic, we will be hosting a Sewing Day for the Amanda Browder art installation which is being sponsored by ArtsWestchester.  Amanda Browder will be at the sewing day to supervise the process and it should be very interesting and a lot of fun. It would be good to have a healthy turnout. A number of you have already let us know that you will be taking part. If you would like to come, please drop us a line at president@northernstarquilters so that we will have an idea of the number of people who will be attending.

As you may know, this year we received an Arts Alive grant from ArtsWestchester for $2,500 to support our monthly speakers. This is twice the award we received last year – quite an honor — so please thank Susan Fasnacht for all the hard work and time that she devoted to the application which was such a success.

We hope that you are all following us on Instagram and sending in your photos to Sarah Stern at social@northernstarquilters.com.  Among the recent posts is a photograph of the 2021 Raffle Quilt laid out by Daisy Dodge.  Take a look – it is a stunner!  Thank you to all those members who completed a block and, of course, a big thank you to Daisy who took on the project, designed the quilt, and will be putting it together.

Please remember to bring back your tickets for the 2020 Quilt Show Raffle or send them to Anne MacDonald.  In addition to the beautiful 2020 Raffle Quilt, Pins and Needles has once again generously donated a Bernina sewing machine as a prize.   Pins and Needles has recently moved to brand new, airy quarters in Radio Circle in Mount Kisco.  You might want to drop by and browse the beautiful new selection of materials and have a look at the spacious sewing room.

The next Guild meeting is also the deadline for handing in your Challenge Quilt to April Russell for display and voting on at the March meeting.  Don’t forget to label your quilt with your name and put on a sleeve to hang it.  We are all excited to see your “2020 Vision”.

At its last meeting, the Board voted in favor of combining the posts of Vice President: Education and Chair of Special Events.  The new Activities Liason post will co-ordinate the activities of those volunteers who have agreed to run the various events and activities such as Super Saturday, the Challenge Quilt, the SIGs, etc. This proposal will go before the membership in May.  We believe it will offer an opportunity for volunteers who cannot attend Board meetings to contribute to the Guild.  As well as the popular activities that the Guild currently holds, a number of members have suggested ideas – such as more opportunities for members to learn about the kind of projects others are working on – and these would be an excellent way to expand our quilting fellowship.  We hope you will think about taking a role in maintaining the vitality of the Guild which ultimately relies on the contributions of its members.  If you would like to volunteer in any way, please chat with us at the next meeting or email us at president@northernstarquilters.com.

See you on the 18^th!

Anne and Karen, president@northernstarquilters.com
February 2020

Happy New Year to you all!  We hope that you enjoyed a festive and joyful holiday season.

We are looking forward to a bright 2020, filled with events– both golden oldies and new ventures.

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill was able to reschedule her cancelled December lecture and will show her beautiful modern quilts at our January meeting. Following requests for a weekend workshop, Sheri’s workshop on curved piecing will be held on a Saturday, on January 25.

At the next meeting, please remember to bring in your completed blocks to Daisy for the 2021 Raffle Quilt.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so don’t forget to bring along all that fabric that may look ugly to you but may be inspiration to other members!  Back by popular demand the Ugly Fabric Auction will take place at the February meeting. Just quilting fabric, please, ironed, folded, and tagged with amount.

Super Saturday this year will be held at the Ossining High School on February 15.  There is a wonderful variety of classes to choose from and you can have a look at them on our website.  Sign up at the next meeting or online – see the details in the newsletter’s Super Saturday section.

We hope you are all working hard on the quilt challenge, appropriately entitled, “2020 – What’s Your Vision.” Challenge Quilts will be collected at the February meeting.

The Guild is looking forward to taking part in a new event this year.  ArtsWestchester is sponsoring a community art installation, designed by Amanda Browder, an artist known for her large-scale fabric projects.  She has designed a quilt-like sculpture which will be hung from the top of ArtsWestchester’s historic building in downtown White Plains in May.  ArtsWestchester has invited arts organizations to hold sewing days to help with this project and we are very much hoping to take part.  Susan and Althea, who recently attended an orientation, will tell us more about this project at our next meeting.

Hard to believe, but it is that time of the year when we reach out to members to ask them to volunteer their time to keeping the Guild alive and vibrant.  There will be Board openings, but for those of you who cannot travel to Board meetings, there are a number opportunities to organize activities and events – the very aspects of our Guild which provide us all with fun ways to socialize, gain inspiration and improve our quilting skills.

Volunteers not only keep the Guild humming along, but also bring new ideas – or resurrect popular ones from the past.  The survey of the membership highlighted the need to reach out to new members and the proposals that Carol and her committee put in place are paying dividends.  The response to Patricia’s Row by Row was overwhelming. These volunteer initiatives make the Guild a livelier and richer organization for us all.

We hope you will seriously think of contributing your talent and skill and respond to the call!

Looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting on January 21.  In the meantime, please keep your photos coming to Sarah for our Instagram account by emailing her at social@northernstarquilters.com.

Anne and Karen, president@northernstarquilters.com
January 2020

Pillowcases donated to Elizabeth Seton Childrens Center

NSQG member Lisa Mason has delivered 165 pillowcases, 86 provided by NSQG members. Her daughter, Caroline, is going to set up a shop at the hospital and give each of the kids a ticket. They can then come with their therapist to “buy” their own pillowcase. Lisa’s thanks to everyone for helping out, it means so much.

NSQG Presidents’ Message December 2019

We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and are now looking forward to the holiday season.

At the Guild, the season of giving has already begun!

The response to Lisa Mason’s request for pillowcases for children at the Elizabeth Seton hospital was wonderful. She received 86 pillowcases from the Guild which will add fun and color to the children’s beds.

Kathy Keane was able to deliver a carload of reusable shopping bags, donated by members, to an area Food Pantry so that, come spring, when the new state plastic bag law comes into effect the Pantry can use its resources to buying food for those families who need it.

Since June, Comfort Quilts has already donated 139 quilts to local care organizations. This might be an all-time record!

The Blocks of the Peace Quilt created by children at the New Rochelle Middle School were beautifully put together by Guild members and the completed quilt can now be hung and displayed at the school.

Thank you to all those members who donate their time and talent to help the Guild make a difference in our area.

Thanks also to all of you who supported the November boutiques.  The vendors all reported enthusiastic buyers and brisk sales and were very happy with the sales results.

If you haven’t already, we hope that you will pick up your tickets for the 2020 Quilt Show raffle at the December Guild meeting.  This will help Anne MacDonald – and save the Guild postage! The beneficiary of the proceeds of the raffle will be New Dawn Family Resource Center which provides resources to victims of domestic abuse. Dick Lyman, a Board member, spoke at our last meeting about the resources that this very worthwhile organization provides to victims of domestic violence.

Lisa at Pins and Needles has kindly agreed once again to donate a Bernina sewing machine for the 2019 raffle. Pins and Needles has recently moved to beautiful new and larger space at Radio Circle in Mount Kisco, so if you are looking to buy some fabric or notions, you will want to stop by — and also pass along all our appreciation.

Daisy Dodge has assembled the block kits for the 2021 raffle quilt and they too are available for pick up at the next Guild meeting. This quilt promises to be as beautiful as the 2020 quilt and we thank Daisy for all the creativity and hard work she is putting into it.

Hope to see you on December 17.  Until then, stay dry and warm!

Karen and Anne, president@northernstarquilters.com
December 2019

B.T.W.  Don’t forget to send your photos to Sarah for our Instagram account: social@northernstarquilters.com!

CQ Summer Project Raffle Display

We received an outpouring of email to let us know how happy you were that Kennedy Catholic has invited us to continue to have our meetings at the school.  There was definitely a collective sigh of relief!

A couple of weeks ago Althea dropped off three lovely quilts , made by Guild members, as our contribution to Kennedy Catholic’s Auction.  It is a big fundraiser for the school and is being held on Saturday, November 16, 2019, from 6:00p.m. to 10p.m. You can learn more about their ‘Winter Wonderland’ Auction here.

Being able to stay in our “home” at Kennedy also means that we are no longer distracted searching for new space and we can now focus on what we love to do!

One of the wonderful benefits of Guild membership is to be able to learn from other members and be inspired by their ideas:  Super Saturday, demos, Show and Tell and our SIGs are all opportunities to hone our skills and get the creative juices flowing.  We are now hoping to expand our Facebook and Instagram accounts to share what we are doing and working on or experimenting with.  If you have anything of interest to offer — be it a particular quilting technique that would make a good demo or simply photographs of quilt shows you have attended or quilts, finished or in progress, we hope that you will enrich the Guild by stepping forward to share your knowledge and experiences and photos.

Thank you to all of you who made our Comfort Quilt summer challenge raffle such a success!  Comfort Quilts raised $300 which will help purchase materials for the program.

Our meeting this month is Tuesday, November 19.  This month we hold the Boutique which will start at 5:30 p.m., so please come early and support our member vendors as well as pick up some great bargains from Comfort Quilts.  Our program will be given by Charlie Hietala who will be presenting on thread painting which should be a great introduction for many of us on a way to add to our quilting toolbox. There are still 4 spots available for the workshop if you would like to attend.

We also hope to be rolling out a brand new audio system in the cafeteria so we are looking forward to hearing how that’s working!!!

See you then.

Anne and Karen
president@northernstarquilters.com
November 2019

1984 NY Times

Happy Fall!

That buzz you hear isn’t just those busy fall bees and pesky wasps – it is the sound coming from the hive of activity at the Guild!

The September meeting was not only an opportunity for us all to get together with Guild friends and share what we have been doing over the summer months but to get back into our SIGs, to learn about all the programs that the Guild is offering and enjoy a very instructive lecture by Ann Holmes on her method of piecing and quilting a quilt in one process.

In addition to our regular SIG’s there are three new ones this year – one on basic skills that is being taught by Diane Linker, another on making a sweatshirt jacket, led by Linda Ostrander and the third on applique led by Judy Mayer.  The basic skills and applique will be of particular interest to beginners.  Our other SIG’s include Art Quilters (Joanne Lubchenko), ImProv (Meg Mooar and Jane Eyes), Landscape/Pictorial (Don Gough), Long Arm Quilters (Diane Linker) and Paper Piecing (Susan Deshensky).  Please check the website for a description of all of the SIG’s and the meeting times.

The response to the new Row by Row quilting group has been resounding: Fifty members have signed up. Patricia was hoping for five teams, she now has ten!

The raffle quilt for the 2020 Quilt Show was on display and it is stunning.  A big thank you to Pat Julian for designing, coordinating and assembling the quilt, and to Angela Vertucci for quilting it so beautifully.

Comfort Quilts reports that 72 quilts have been donated this past quarter. The Guild has every reason to be proud of its charitable work in donating quilts to hospitals and social services organizations for women and children, including Blythedale Children’s Hospital, NICU’s at Northern Westchester Hospital and Maria Ferari, Pleasantville Cottage School, Kids in Crisis and Putnam/Northern Westchester Women’s Resource Center. At our October meeting we will all have a chance to see the results of the Comfort Quilters summer project!

Sarah Schattschneider, Linda Stern’s daughter, has very kindly offered to help Daisy and Debby in their efforts to keep members in touch with what is happening in the Guild and to reach out to potential new members by handling the Guild’s Instagram account. Please send along any photos to Daisy, Debby and Sarah for them to upload to the account so that the Guild will have a lively and interesting online forum.  For those of you on Instagram, please follow our Instagram account @northernstarquilters!!

The new option to pay our membership fees by credit card online was a great success – 50 members chose to pay online.  We are now looking into the possibility of offering the same online payment option for our programs and events.

After researching a number of other potential locations for our Guild meetings, it was clear that, wherever we go, we will have to pay more for our space going forward. That prompted us to return to Kennedy to explore the possibility of continuing to hold our meetings there.  Kennedy is considering a proposal that we have made which will involve an increase in the fee we pay. We will keep you all posted!

Sheila Cuttner, the Arts Westchester Ambassador, and her friend Melinda Stein, very much enjoyed their visit and were impressed by how friendly everyone was.  Thank you for rolling out the welcome mat.  Another Arts Westchester Ambassador, Sudha Yerneni, will be attending our October meeting.  The Guild has already received a generous grant from Arts Westchester to support our lectures and workshops and Susan Fasnacht has worked hard over the last two weeks to put together and submit our application for another grant for the coming year.  Fingers crossed!

Our next meeting will be October 15 at 6:30 p.m. Please remember to bring reusable bags for Kathy to give to the local Food Pantries and beige fabric so that Daisy can start to put together the kits for in 2021 raffle quilt.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  Keep quilting!

Anne and Karen
president@northernstarquilters.com

We hope you all had an enjoyable summer.

As we start the new Guild year, a warm welcome back to renewing members and greetings to new members.  We are looking forward to another year of interesting and educational programs and opportunities for socializing and learning from each other.

To start, just a couple of reminders:

The first meeting of the new Guild year will be held on September 24 (the fourth NOT the third Tuesday of the month).

All Guild meetings, while we remain at Kennedy Catholic, will start at 6:30pm and we must be out of the building before 9pm.

For those attending SIG’s that take place before the Guild meeting, please check with the SIG leader for any time change.

We have been working hard over the summer to find a new home for our Guild meetings.  We have contacted a number of places and also been to see a few.  Cost is a factor, as is parking.  However, the Harvey School in Katonah is a serious contender.  It is not too far from where we meet now and has a number of other benefits. We will keep you posted over the next few weeks as we continue our search and discuss details with Harvey.

Super Saturday will be in a new place next year.  Annette Nash-Govan and Pooa Bloomberg found us space at the Ossining High School.  It will be held on February 15, 2020. Please contact Annette (supersaturday@northernstarquilters) if you would like to teach one of the classes.

Changes are definitely in the air! In addition to location changes, the Board is aiming to adopt some of the suggestions made in response to the Guild survey – including initiatives to make new members feel more at home, opportunities to socialize through quilting, and more classes which cover basic quilting techniques. Kudos to Carol Sterk and her committee for organizing the survey and proposing a number of recommendations to the Board.

Some members have already swung into action!  Over the summer, Rosemary DePaola and Diane Linker taught a basic class in quilting skills on Wednesday afternoons at Comfort Quilts and Patricia Loquet is organizing a Row by Row team program which will be a great way for people to get together and quilt during the year.

Comfort Quilts is always a wonderful place to meet and socialize with other Guild members and to learn from experienced quilters.   Join the group on Wednesdays in North Salem if you have the chance!

Thank you to all the people who have stepped forward to volunteer – to run SIGs, to work on Quilt Show committees and to support the host of other activities that are needed to keep the Guild a vibrant and educational home for us all.

Volunteers are always welcome and if you have ideas for new programs that you think will interest the membership, or would like to provide support to programs already in place, please don’t be shy! (We are still looking for a member to chair the Special Events committee.  This is a great way to get involved and does not require a substantial time commitment.)

We hope that you enjoy all the Guild has to offer and that this year is a fun and rewarding one for us all.

Anne Chehebar and Karen Carlson, Co-Presidents, president@northernstarquilters.com

Anne Chehebar and Karen Carlson, president@northernstarquilters.com

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Help make NSQG even better-click to take our survey

What a wonderful show to celebrate “A World of Quilts” 40^th Anniversary!  I want to thank everyone who helped make it so successful – those of you who had quilts on display or donated a piece to the silent auction; members who volunteered at quilt drop off, judging or during the show itself; the quilt show committee chairs; and especially Daisy and Debby who did such a terrific job of organizing and running the event.  We could not have done it so well without all of you helping.  As an acknowledgment to how good it was, I had several attendees say that our show was better than the Mancuso show!

Although not all of the numbers are in, it looks like the show was also a financial success – between that and other  positive increases in revenues and savings in expenses throughout the year, it appears that the overall Guild will break even for 2018/2019 – again, a big improvement over our budget for this year.

I also want to thank Carol Sterk and her Member Retention and Expansion Committee for all of the work they have been doing.  We had ten new members sign up at the Quilt Show and the eleventh at our May meeting.  We are now just shy of 200 members!  To make sure we retain new members and meet the needs of our long time members, the Committee created a questionnaire to help us understand what people expect from us.  If you did not fill out a questionnaire either at the May meeting or online, please do so.  The link to the online questionnaire is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GQQB736.  Or if you prefer, you can complete one at the June Salad Supper.  The committee will be evaluating the answers over the next few weeks so that next year’s Board can address any issues that were raised and take action.

Finally, I want to thank this year’s Board for all of their help and work throughout the year.  Without their hard work we would not have had such a great year.  I also want to thank all of the guild members for their support and understanding of the changes we have made to improve the finances of the Guild.  It appears to have worked.  I know the new Board will continue to look for ways to improve how we operate and I wish them lots of success.

I hope to see many of you at the Salad Supper on June 18 – remember the meeting starts at 6:00 that night.

Susan Fasnacht, Acting President, president@northernstarquilters.com

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING – MAY 2019

Board Candidates-Click pic for Bios- Anne,Karen,Daisy,Deb,Linda,Rona,Karen,Rebeka,Rosemary,Linda,Narci,Julie

The Annual Meeting of the Northern Star Quilter’s Guild will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, Somers, New York.  At that Meeting, the membership will vote on the following candidates for the NSQG Board for the 2019-2020 Guild year.  The candidates are:

Co-Presidents: Karen Carlson and Anne Chehebar
Secretary:  Rona Spar
Co-Treasurers: Rebeka Glacy and Karen Martinez
Co-Vice Presidents: Communications – Daisy Dodge and Deborah Warren
Vice President:  Education – Linda Finegan
Vice President:  Membership – Rosemary DePaola
Vice President: Programs – Linda Stern
Co-Vice Presidents: Quilt Show – Narcita Medina and Julie Long

The Board appointed positions to oversee Charitable Activities and Hospitality and Special Events are still open. Please let us know if you can help or would like further information.

President’s Message

This message should be arriving in your in-box just as A World of Quilts XL is wrapping up.  I saw a sampling of the quilts at Saturday’s quilt drop off and it looks like we will have a stunning display.  Everyone involved has done a fantastic job and I want to thank all who have volunteered.  Daisy and Debby have taken on the show with a lot of enthusiasm and energy.  They have done a great job organizing it, and looking for ways to make it even more exciting and successful.

This year’s Challenge Quilts were fantastic.  I was overwhelmed by the workmanship and the variety of interpretations of the theme – Ruby Red Flowers.  What a way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of A World of Quilts.  I offer a big thank-you for April for organizing the challenge.  She enjoyed running the event so much she has volunteered to run next year’s challenge.  Look for the announcement of next year’s theme in the coming months.

Our May meeting will have a lot going on.  It is the guild’s Annual Meeting and we will be voting on the proposed slate of officers for 2019-2020.  We will also be drawing the tickets for the winner of this year’s raffle quilt and the Bernina sewing machine.

Additionally at the meeting, we will be handing out a member survey for you to complete. Carol Sterk has formed a committee to look at what it is the Guild is doing right, where we can improve things, and what do members expect of us.  Membership has been dropping the past few years and we want to see what we can do to bring in new members and retain them.  Please take the time to complete the form; it will be a great tool for us to shape the future of the guild.

Our program is a repeat of the one canceled last May when Kennedy Catholic lost power just before our meeting.  Sue Beever will be giving a “hands-on” lecture in the cafeteria.  In groups of 6-8 people with 36-40 fabric “chips” at each table (provided by Sue) we will discuss real life color harmonies.  A color wheel only shows us color theory; using real fabrics, both prints and solids, Sue will lead us in a discussion to help us create different color scenarios.  I was sorry we missed out on this “lecture” last year and am glad she is able to return to us.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

2019 Ruby Challenge Quilts

Our 40^th Anniversary “A World of Quilts” is only a few weeks away.  It’s shaping up to be a great show.  We will have on display nearly 200 registered quilts; quilts by our speaker, Paula Nadelstern and our invitational quilter, Karen Eckmeier; the Sacred Threads Quilt Exhibit; our SIG’s; FANE; and our beautiful Challenge Quilts – in the neighborhood of 300 total!  It should be spectacular – invite your friends and relatives to see all these great quilts.

I received some good news this past week.  It seems that WCSU made a mistake when looking at their 2020 calendar when they told us we could not hold the show there on our traditional weekend.  After looking again at their calendar I received confirmation that we will be able to have our show at WCSU on May 2 and 3, 2020.  This takes the pressure off of us scrambling to find a new venue in just a few months.  However, the Board also recognizes that there is concern with the financial aspects of holding the show at WCSU and will still be looking at that.  We made changes for this year’s show to increase income and decrease expenses to help with the finances.  Once the accounting for this year’s show is done, we will evaluate its cost and decide if we need to make a change.  Keeping our show at WCSU in 2020 gives us almost a full year to decide what changes, if any are necessary.

Thank you to April Russel for organizing this year’s Quilt Challenge.  She had 39 beautiful quilts submitted.  It was great seeing how people interpreted the theme of ruby red flowers.  I thought that since it was such a good display of techniques and showed a wide variety of quilting methods, it could be a good display for Arts Westchester to exhibit.  This is the organization that gave us the $1,000 grant to support our speaker costs.  I have made initial contact with them and hopefully will have more to report at our meeting.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

Click to register your quilt in the show!

According to a recent survey conducted by the American Quilters’ Society, the month during which most quilters finish projects is February.  That means several of you should have completed a quilt last month, so why not enter it in our show?  We could use more quilts registered – please don’t wait until the end of March to enter your quilt.  It makes the registrar’s job easier if they don’t all come in at the last minute.  Remember you don’t have to have it completely finished until quilt drop off on April 27.

Once again Super Saturday was wonderful.  Thank you to Pooa Bloomberg for organizing the day and to all the people who taught classes.  Also thanks to our Hospitality Chairs, Micky Green and Christine Langan for arranging for the food that day.  I saw lots of beautiful projects being worked on with a real variety of items.  If you participated in a class, and didn’t get a chance to show off your work at the February meeting, bring it in March for our Show and Tell.

The Challenge Quilts will be displayed at the March meeting.  You will be able to vote for Most Creative, Best Use of the ‘Ruby’ Challenge Color, and Viewer’s Choice.  I don’t know the final count, but April had close to 40 quilts turned it.  It will be a great display for our meeting and the quilt show.

I hope to see you in March – spring is not too far away.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com