President’s Message

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

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

It was great being back last month.  I was happy to see that we have a number of new members – welcome and enjoy all the guild has to offer.  You will find that our members are a great resource for helping you with any quilting questions you may have.  And, if you need any information on the guild, please feel free to contact me.

To those who stayed for September’s lecture, I hope you found it as interesting as I did.  I also realize that there were a few glitches in the auditorium set up – I have spoken to the school as to what to do and expect to have them rectified for next month.   We are still working our way through coordinating with Kennedy Catholic on how we run our meetings without the help of Sister Barbara – we do miss her.  Also, if anyone left a white sweater behind, I have it and will bring it to the October meeting.

Thank you to everyone who made pillow cases to send to hurricane victims.  If you still would like to make one, we will be posting an address to send them to. The ones we collected have been mailed out and we will not be doing another mailing.  Word is the areas affected by the three hurricanes are not looking for quilts, there are other basic essential items they need first, so we will not be collecting quilts in the foreseeable future.

I hope to see you in October.  Susan Fasnacht,  President@northernstarquilters.com

It’s hard to believe the summer is over, but I’m looking forward to the start of a new year at NSQG.  September seems to be a problem month for us.  First, as I hope you have heard, our meeting will take place a week later than normal on September 26.  Kennedy Catholic seems to have settled on the third Tuesday of September for their Back to School Night – the same evening as our usual meeting date. Because of this, in the future we will plan on holding the September meeting either the second or fourth Tuesday of the month (fourth Tuesday in 2018).

Our second last minute change was the need to find a new speaker.  Unfortunately, our scheduled speaker has some health issues and had to cancel just a little over a week ago.  Helen May, our Program Chair, was able to quickly find a substitute for both the lecture and the workshop.  Our speaker will be Joan Radell, talking about handbags with a workshop the next day where you can make your own bag.  Read more about it in the Programs section of this news update.  I hope you will consider taking the workshop.

Overall, the year looks very exciting.  We have a great line up of speakers and workshops.  There are lots of activities – you can participate in our Guild Challenge, go on the trip to Lancaster, take a class on Super Saturday, join a SIG, or make a Comfort Quilt. Due to popular demand, we plan on bringing back the Ugly Fabric Auction in February.  Finally we will be holding “A World of Quilts XXXIX”, on May 5 and 6 with featured speaker Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

I hope to see you on the 26^th and don’t forget to bring you summer projects for Show and Tell!

Susan Fasnacht, President

I hope everyone is enjoying your summer and has been able to get lots of sewing done.  Once again we need to change our September meeting date; Kennedy Catholic has scheduled the Freshman Parents’ Orientation for the third Tuesday of the month (even though we were already on their calendar).  Our September membership meeting will be on September 26 – the fourth Tuesday.  I think that from now on we will have to plan on holding the September meeting either the second or fourth Tuesday of the month.

The rest of the calendar is set with the school and officially confirmed.  Except for the November meeting, they will be held on the third Tuesday of the month.  November’s meeting will be on November 14 so as to avoid Thanksgiving week.  The dates are on the website, but here is a list so you can mark your calendars: 9/26, 10/17, 11/14, 12/19, 1/16, 2/20, 3/20, 4/17, 5/15 and 6/19.

We are looking forward to a great year.  We have included information in this mid-summer update that you should be aware of before our meetings begin next month.  A more extensive news update will be sent soon after the first of September.

I look forward to seeing everyone and hearing about what you have been working on over the summer.

Susan Fasnacht, President