July 2014 Newsletter

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NEXT MEETING: JULY 7, 2014

WHAT TO BRING TO THE MEETING

• Name tag
• Block party block
• Show-and-Tell
• Program items

PLEASE RSVP

Don’t forget to call or e-mail Shirley Lewis and let her know if you are coming to the meeting July 7th.  She needs to know by July 1st how much food to order from Eddlemon’s.

BIRTHDAYS

Barbara Burnaugh … July 31

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Summer has arrived and is bringing its usual heat along for the ride.  Many of us will now go indoors and try to keep cool.  I know that quilts were usually made in the cooler months of the year by our ancestors, but we can just crank the air conditioner to keep us cooler and continue to sew.  If you are off on a  road trip, be sure to look for inspiration because it is all around.  Also, please be careful and have a relaxing time.  We will be celebrating our birthday at our July meeting with a nice dinner and then our fun auction with all of the proceeds going to the Grand Prairie Food and Clothing Co-op , so make your plans now for a fun evening.  See you at the meeting!

Sue Heard

MINUTES

• Sue called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. with the new gavel her husband had made for her which she has kindly donated to the guild.
• We have 5 birthdays for June….Grace, Kathleen, Tory, Nancy Mills-Dickens & Jennifer.
• Remembrances….. Carol has broken her arm and Kathleen had eye surgery.
• The minutes from last month’s meeting were approved as written in the newsletter.
• Barbara reported we had no change in May of our treasury balance of $1,551.66.
• Shirley stated we had 21 members and 2 guests present tonight. One more member came in a few moments later making 22 members. The 2 guest were Lori Darley & Karen Holder from the Ft. Worth Quilt Guild. They brought the quilt from their guild that will be given away at their quilt show for us to see and so that we could buy tickets for the raffle. Also Karen’s daughter and grand-daughter joined us later making 4 guests tonight.
• Michelle had 6 door prizes and 4 sets of quilt show tickets tonight. Ruth, Michelle, Elisabeth, Margaret, Lillie and Jane won the door prizes. The tickets were won by…Irving-Sue Taylor, Mesquite–Janis and Tory, Ft. Worth–Sue Heard and Ellis County–Barbara. Michelle also reported that 11 ladies had gone to the May retreat. The next retreat will be in October and she needs your $40.00 deposit as soon as possible.
• Janice reported that 12 ladies were at the May workshop. Sue H., Jane, Shirley, Ruth, Jeri, Grace, Janis, Barbara and Tory showed the quilts they had made. All the quilts will be donated to the Veterans Hospital. Janice said she will be setting-up another workshop probably in October….details later.
• Tory had the instructions for next month’s Block-of-the-Month ….. Cat’s Cradle. Katrina won the 11 blocks for this month. Tory asked the group for ideas for next year on the block-of-the-month. Several ladies had some suggestions on things that had been done in previous years. Tory will send Michelle the choices and Paco will put a ballot on the website for the membership to vote on what they would like to do.
• Sue Taylor reminded everyone that tonight is the last night she can sell raffle tickets, pins and box lunches for Rally Day. She said to see all the mini quilts that have been donated for the auction, go to TAQG.org. She also said that she will no longer be our TAQG representative after September and at that time Katrina will take over. Sue said that if our guild stays in the association we will need to participate and take more responsibility possibly for the 2016 Rally Day. Hopefully our small guild can go in with one or two larger guilds at that time and work together. Sue reported that Cathy Dunnigan will be the guest speaker (Baltimore album– appliqué) at the 2015 Rally Day meeting. Katrina stated she would like to find out more about the group’s non-profit status…..rules and documentation.
• Grace reported she is re-starting the Stitch-a-Bit stitch group on the 4th Thursday of each month from 9:30 till 3:00 at the Woods United Methodist Church. The first meeting will be June 26th and for everyone to bring your lunch. Just bring anything you want to work on and join the group. If there is enough interest, a night group may also be started.
• The meeting in July will also be the Guild’s birthday celebration dinner. There was a short discussion on either doing pot-luck or catering the meal. Grace made the motion, seconded by Michelle, to have Eddlemon’s cater a BBQ dinner and the cost to be paid for by the guild. The motion passed. Shirley said she would order the meal as she has in the past. She just needs to know how many are planning to come.
• Several ladies had quilts for Show & Tell…..Michelle, Elisabeth, Janis, Tory, Sue Heard and Evelyn.
• Grace stated that for the July program Janis will be the auctioneer for our birthday auction. Everyone needs to bring any fabric, orphan blocks, books, paterns, notions, etc., that we no longer want and they will be auctioned off and the money will go to the Grand Prairie Food Co-op. We also need to bring canned goods and non-perishable foods to donate. Grace also stated the program for August will be “School House.”
• The program for tonight was our service project…. we worked on tying the quilts that are being donated to Brighter Tomorrows. Jeri reported that the group had “overwhelmed” them with the total number of quilts being donated and thanked everyone. Several ladies worked on tying more quilts and some were taken home to be completed.
• Meeting adjourned.

Margaret Alsup

PROGRAM

The July meeting will be a celebration of 21 years in existence of our Guild.  Each year we celebrate our birthday with a meal.  This year we will return to a catered meal from by Eddlemons.  Officers and committee chairs should bring drinks.  Jane Lamb volunteered to bring ice.

We will also be collecting items for the Grand Prairie Food and Clothing Co-Op to help restock their shelves.  Canned goods and non-perishables are acceptable.  These should all be non-expired items.  Expired items will not be accepted by the Co-Op.  Following the meal we will have an auction of items we no longer want or need.  Hopefully your offerings will become another member’s treasure.  Clean out your sewing room.  All items will go to the highest bidder, and the money collected will also profit the Grand Prairie Co-Op.  Janis Hill has offered to be our auctioneer and she promises lots of fun and some surprises.

Suggestions of items to bring; MONEY to spend, orphan blocks, partially prepared projects, books, patterns, fat quarters, charm squares, magazines, or any sewing or quilting related items that you no longer want.  Looking forward to a fun and restful evening.

You will need to call or e-mail Shirley Lewis to let her know if you will be coming to the meeting so that she can order the right amount of food.  You should do this even if you indicated at the June meeting that you would be at the July meeting.  She needs a head count by July 1st, so let her know you will be coming as soon as possible.  She can be reached at 972-262-5640 or potholderlady@gmail.com

Grace & Jeri

TAQG NEWS

Rally Day is July 12th, at Mimosa Lane Baptist Church, doors open at 9:00 am. Please make plans to attend to learn from Pat Speth, bid on the 100 mini quilts we have for auction, buy tickets on a multitude of guild raffle quilts and have a chance at winning any of the nearly $8000.00 dollars of items and services that have been donated. The Pre-Rally Day Raffle Basket and the Rally Day Raffle Basket are worth over $1600.00 each. Our very first door prize to be given on Saturday morning will be a Baby Lock “Molly” sewing machine. The first 500 people entering will receive a goodie bag full of neat items donated by the member guilds. Our friends, guilds and businesses have been extremely generous this year. We are very grateful for their help.

A map and all other Rally Day information is posted at http://www.taqg.org. You can view the Raffle Basket, Pre Rally Day Raffle Basket and Door Prize Donations as well as most of the auction mini quilts.

Be sure to bring lots of address labels and $1.00 bills to buy the different raffle quilt tickets you might want. TAQG will be selling 4 types of YLI thread this year…..Silk, Invisible, Machine Quilting and Sew Fine.

Hope to see you at Rally Day, just remember to bring your guild membership card for easy entry!

Sue Taylor

ASTRONOMICAL QUILTS! BLOCK CHALLENGE

If you are interested in doing the Houston Quilt Festival’s Astronomical Challenge, the entries are due August 1st.  If you would like to bring the blocks to have them all mailed together to save a little bit of postage, please bring the blocks to the meeting on July 7th.  Find out more about the challenge here:   http://bit.ly/1qQ1ysC

BEWARE OF THE ATTACK SQUIRREL

The church is having problems with squirrels in all sections of the building.  We have been asked to take out all trash after each meeting and workshop.  To make it easier on those that are cleaning up, please try to use only one trash can in the front of the fellowship hall.

STITCH-A-BIT STITCH GROUP

On June 26,2014 we will restart our Stitch-A-Bit group.   The group will meet at  The Woods United Methodist Church at 1350 W. Bardin Road, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The June 26th meeting will be an organizational meeting.  Bring a sack lunch and a project to work on that day.  The plan is to get together the fourth Thursday of each month.  It is a come and go or stay all day gathering.  Everyone is welcome to come and join in the fun, fellowship, sharing of ideas and working on projects of your choice. Any questions call Grace  972-264-3307.  Reservations NOT necessary, just come.  If anyone wants to start an evening group, Grace will be happy to help you get that started.

BRIGHTER TOMORROWS CHARITY UPDATE

It is with great pride that we report that the members of the Guild turned in a total of 10 completed quilts to be taken to the shelter very soon.

What a wonderful accomplishment.  We worked on 5 quilt tops at the meeting, and all of those were taken home by members to bind.  In the near future we will try to setup a Saturday event to tie more of the tops that were donated.  We have approximately 25 more tops ready to be tied and bound.

Also members and friends of the Guild gave 5 fleece blankets, and 8 crocheted baby blankets along with many yards of material for backs.  Thank you to all of you for making this a success.

Jeri and Grace

JULY BLOCK PARTY

The block for the July Block Party is Cat’s Cradle.  Don’t forget the theme this year is Amish.  Be sure to keep the theme in mind when making your block for the drawing.  One color should be black and the other color should be solid.   You may make the block you keep for yourself anything you’d like.

 

Please visit http://www.quilterscache.com/C/CatsCradleBlock.html online to view and print the instructions to the Block of the Month. The Quilter’s Cache’s terms and conditions for this pattern ask that it not be reproduced on a Quilt Guild’s web site.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Beginning balance … $1,551.66
Charity Quilt Batting … ($98.69)
Ending Balance … $1,452.97