Latest News – 11/24

Sandra Lee Workshop

We had a fun day, cutting up quilts! Anxiety-producing at first (who cuts up a favorite quilt!!?) but the results were stunning.

Sandra helped us to visualize where the simple jacket pattern pieces could go, for maximum effect, considering the best use of color, design and sense of movement. Each participant brought a quilt that characterized a focus on the relationship between pattern and color that was pleasing to them, and that relationship was truly transformed as the jacket took shape. It was a new way to look at our quilts!

We went through the steps to fit the pattern pieces to our bodies, how to place them on the quilt, how and when to sew seams and how to finish it all off with binding the edges. While we didn’t finish the jackets in the workshop, we were equipped with the knowledge of how to do it at home.

It was an inspiring day, and hopefully we can organize a fashion show at a future NSQG meeting to show our stunning results!

Betty Moulton

It’s that time of year:  The Quilt Show raffle tickets are here!

Every year Guild members generously support a worthy charity by selling tickets to their family, friends and neighbors for a chance to win our beautiful Guild quilt. This year the quilt is the stunning “Supernova” and the charity is Mt. Tremper Outdoor Ministries.  Mt. Tremper runs the Herrlich Camp in Patterson, New York, providing an outdoor educational experience for underprivileged children from the five boroughs of New York City.

When you sign in at the November Guild meeting, your raffle booklets will be waiting for you!  Please remember to pick up your envelope.  Selling the tickets is an opportunity to support a wonderful cause and to spread the word about our Guild and our Quilt Show.
We’ll also have a limited number of this year’s show pins available for $5.

Thank you!
Anne Chehebar, charitable@northernstarquilters.com

Show and Tell – Wear your coat from the Sandra Lee workshop!

Tie Challenge – Keep working on your TIE CHALLENGE, which is due at the March Guild meeting. Rules and parameters are listed on the  NSQG website.
Questions? Contact Debra at doaks@mac.com.

Ugly Fabric Auction – “Ugly Fabrics” will be collected at Guild meetings and at Comfort Quilts.
Questions? Contact Liz at BT97mail@gmail.com.

Salad Supper & Demos – In addition to our Salad Supper, the June 2025 meeting will include exciting learning experiences, to be taught by our own talented members.
— We will need 3-4 members to teach a skill for 15-20 minutes.
— Would you be willing to organize the demos?
Questions? Contact Rona at ronaquilter@gmail.com.

Super Saturday – will take place on February 1, 2025 (Snow date will be February 15^th)
Check out proposed classes HERE and get ready to sign up!!
Questions?  Contact Kathy at kathytuttle9@gmail.com.

Spring Quilting Retreat at Mariandale – Friday-Sunday, March 21-23, 2025.
Questions? Contact Jody at jodysull@optonline.net. 

Rona Spar, activities@northernstarquilters.com

Hi everyone,

As I write this report, the days are getting shorter, and the guild is in full swing. Joanne and I ask you to join us in welcoming our three newest members, Lynne Foley of New City, Cory Ethridge of Garrison and Rose Schleupen from Yorktown Heights and returning member, Mayann Weinberg of Stamford, CT.  Our membership currently stands at 219. With the influx of many new members, Joanne and I have decided to reinstitute the NEW MEMBER TABLE hosted by a seasoned member of the guild where newer members can meet each other, ask questions and, most importantly, feel comfortable. If you and a friend would be interested in participating on our Welcome Team, please let us know!

The 2024-2025 Membership Directory will be available for pick up at the Membership Table when you sign in. The online version of the directory will be emailed to you following our November guild meeting. Please watch for it in your inbox. Hint: try not to forget to download it to a file for future reference.

It’s never too late to send in your photo for the online version of the directory. Joanne updates the online directory in February/March and, again, right after the quilt show. It’s always nice to be able to connect a name with a face!

Wishing you a Happy Halloween (and just enough leftover candy!
Carol Sterk and Joanne Visovsky, membership@northernstarquilters.com

Northern Star Quilters Guild welcomes David M. Taylor on November 20 and 21.  He is an internationally recognized, award-winning art quilter currently residing in Fort Collins, Colorado. His art quilts hang in many private collections worldwide and are highly sought-after.  For the rest of 2024 he is presenting at the Quilt Festival in Houston, and the League of Northern Colorado quilters. Upcoming in 2025 (so far) he is conducting workshops in Colorado, California, Wisconsin, Maine, and New Hampshire. He has taught his fascinating workshops around the world.  From sewing his own Halloween costume at the age of 10 on his mother’s Sears Kenmore machine, to a part-time job at a fabric store, and through his career as a computer graphic artist, his stunning and intricate art quilts today are a result of David’s journey as he creates quilts that are often mistaken as paintings. His works are adapted from photographs, and his technique evolved from his love of jigsaw puzzles.

Questions? Contact Jo Thomas, programs@northernstarquilters.com.

You can always check out our upcoming lectures and workshops – see our Calendar.

In light of the recent hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina, Kate Longo and Shelley Lounsbury would like to collect quilts for survivors of natural disasters.  Depending on how many quilts we receive and how much money is donated for shipping expenses, we will choose one or both of these options:

1. Sending the quilts to Wrap the World with Quilts through Christie’s Quilting Boutique in Norwak, CT;
2. Sending the quilts directly to the Western North Carolina Quilt Guild in Henderson, North Carolina, located near Asheville.

Both organizations need new quilts and blankets of all sizes.  They can be traditionally quilted, tied, made with cotton, fleece or flannel.

Christie’s Quilting Boutique in Norwalk, CT is currently collecting quilts for Wrap the World with Quilts (http://hellocottons.com), a humanitarian organization in Utah that Christie has worked with in the past to deliver quilts to people in the aftermath of natural disasters in the U.S.A. and around the world.  For $20.00, a box weighing up to 50 pounds can be sent via United Parcel Service (UPS) to Wrap the World with Quilts using their pre-paid label.  If we send our quilts through Christie’s Quilting Boutique to Wrap the World with Quilts, the quilts will not be individually registered with QR codes (as described on the organization’s website), and we will not know exactly where our quilts will be distributed, but we know from Christie’s experience that this is a reliable organization to distribute our quilts to people in need, and that the shipping expense will be very reasonable.

Regarding our other option, the president of the Western North Carolina Quilt Guild says she is  delivering quilts to people in Asheville and the surrounding area.  We could ship quilts directly to her, but the shipping expense via UPS may be too high to send all of them there.

Shelley will be collecting quilts and monetary donations for this project at the Comfort Quilts meetings on November 6th and 20th, and at the guild meeting on November 20th.  She will keep a record of all monetary donations and make sure they are used for shipping our quilts.  The quilts will be packed and hopefully shipped before Thanksgiving.

If you have any questions, or have a quilt that Shelley can pick up, please contact her.
Many thanks for any contributions you choose to make!
Shelley Lounsbury, shlounz@gmail.com