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NEXT MEETING: MARCH 6, 2017
WHAT TO BRING TO THE MEETING
- Name tag
- Block party block
- Show-and-Tell
- Door prizes for N, O, P
BIRTHDAYS
- No March birthdays.
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
It’s the beginning of quilt show season and shop hop season. Do you go to quilt shows or shop hops? We went to the Heart of Texas Shop Hop in February. Lots of quilt shops from all over Texas and some from outside of Texas. The Dallas Quilt Show is coming up in March. There is the Ellis County Quilt Show in July. Plano has one in August. Six groups including Arlington have banded together and will be part of the North Texas Quilt Festival – part of the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo – that will be at the Arlington Convention Center in August. The big show of the year is still the International Quilt Festival in Houston in November.
My mom and I go to quilt shows every year – Paco has also gone with me to quilt shows, but he prefers when my mom goes with me. We look at the vendors and see what catches our eye and we look at all the beautiful quilts. There is always lots of inspiration at quilt shows. This year we plan to go to the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival in June. It’s in Overland Park, Kansas and they plan to have over 130 vendors – including some that you see at quilt shows in North Texas. Our plan is to go to the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile in Oklahoma on the way there and to go to Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton while we’re in Missouri and to come through Branson on the way back. Something to look forward to!
Go to a quilt show. Support a local quilt shop when you can. Take the opportunity to work on any projects you have. Remember to bring your items to Show and Tell when you get them finished!
Michelle Rodriguez
REMEMBRANCE
Janice Overton’s sister-in-law, Susan Overton, passed away in February of cancer.
There was no funeral or memorial service, but if anyone would like to send her family a card, they can contact Janice for information.
PRESIDENT’S QUILT BLOCKS
If you would like to make a President’s quilt block for our 2016 president, Tory Swartzwelder, please make a Prairie Queen block** using Tory’s favorite color, sunshine yellow and bring it to the March meeting. You may write your name on it in fabric pen or on a piece of paper and pin it to the block. Janis Hill will make sure that Tory gets the blocks.
**Click on the link to find the Prairie Queen block pattern (page 3 of the October 2005 Newsletter).
WORKSHOP
Our next workshop will be March 4 from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.. This is the Saturday right before the meeting. If you haven’t signed up please send me an e-mail by March 2 so that we can make sure that we have enough space for everyone! We will be working on a quilt that uses only one fabric (not including the borders)! We will make a small one (40″ X40″) and if you like the quilt you can make it bigger or you can make another one. You will need to get 1 1/4 yard of STRIPED fabric. The fabric should be horizontal or vertical stripes with a repeating pattern. You will also need 3/4 yard of coordinating fabric for the border, 1 1/2 yards of backing fabric, and 1/2 yard for binding. For those of you who would be interested in making a bigger quilt, as a reference, I have made a queen size version of this quilt and I used 6 yards of striped fabric with a little left over. No need to cut before you come; we will be cutting and sewing at the workshop. I hope to see you all there for a fun time! For lunch we will have a barnyard themed potluck. Bring a food or drink item that reminds you of a farm! Happy Sewing!
Lauren Metang
TAQG RALLY DAY
You will see this elsewhere in the newsletter, but don’t forget to get your fat quarters together to bring to the March meeting. These should be full fat quarters (18×22) and nice, quality fabric. We need 500 for the Rally Day Goody Bags. One of our members has volunteered to make up the difference between what we bring and the total 500. Look through your stash of unwanted fat quarters or your stash of unwanted (what was I thinking when I bought that) yardage. They should be folded but not tied so that the cards can be attached.
Please also bring a new item to contribute to the door prizes for Rally Day.
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Welcome to all of our members. If you joined the Guild before the February meeting, your information can be found in the Guild directory which was made available to you at the February meeting. If you joined at the February meeting or after, your information will be in the update which will be available at our August meeting.
Your membership directory also contained our official Quilter’s Guild of Grand Prairie block pattern, the Prairie Queen. This was provided to you in case you lost it or misplaced it. It is always a good pattern to have on hand.
MARCH PROGRAM
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Valentine Bag Challenge. We had some unique entries!!! For our March meeting, We are going to discuss some different bindings, backings and batting for quilts. Also, Christine has asked for about 10-15 minutes of the program time to go over some details on Block of the Month.
I am also going to be announcing a new challenge I have come up with for everyone….so stay tuned!!!
Carrie Stanford
MINUTES
- Meeting called to order at 7 p.m.
- President welcomed group to meeting
- Guild minutes approved as in the newsletter
- Treasurer’s report approved as in the newsletter
• No questions or comments
• Filed for audit
• Current Treasurer’s report
• Three deposits: $55 + $375 + $30
• Ending balance: $1,683.58 - Birthdays: Jeri 2/10, Debi 2/3, Carol 2/7, Janis Hill 2/20
- Remembrances: Susie Berta’s husband passed away
- Announcements: Dallas quilt show in 4 weeks Evelyn and Carrie have discounted tickets available
• Stitchin’ Heaven sent advertising money $30 for one month
• Barbara Burnaugh and Sue Heard won prizes from Fabrics-4-U - Publicity: No update
- TAQG
• Texas Association of Quilt Guild’s meets annually speaker this year Cynthia Regone, the Cajun Quilter
• Rally day July 8th, workshops on Thursday and Friday in Mesquite and Monday and ½ of Tuesday in Arlington
• First day to sign up is 2/1 – sign up forms available at meetings
• Need items for gift bags for door prizes
• Need to come up with ideas for goody bag donations – need 500 items
• Hair clips for binding, lighted needle threaders, pencils $113 for 500, finger lights (cheaper than pencils), kids paint brush to clean dust from machine, fat quarters (someone has offered to donate 75 yards of fabric)
• Motion by Kathy Poole for everyone to bring in fat quarters from what they have in their stash and we will evaluate how much may be needed
• Seconded by Sue Heard
• Motion passed
• Lauren mentioned that she has $10 gift cards for Rockin Bobbin, new quilt shop in Dallas, available for anyone. 7% of anything purchased over $10 will be available in a store credit to be used by the guild
• There are about 425 business cards – Michelle and Paco will make up the 75 needed to make 500 for the goody bags rather than making new business cards
• Jeri Bush recommends that rather than purchasing business cards for 2018 we buy a rubber stamp
• Katrina will have raffle tickets and pins for sale next month
• TAQG wants 2 items for raffle – purses, dolls, mini-quilt, anything homemade – anyone wanting to donate should contact Katrina - Newsletter
• Items for the newsletter should be submitted to Paco By the 10th of the month
• Newsletter coming from contact@paco.org (Francisco=Paco)
• Newsletter items can be sent to Paco or Michelle - Block of the Month
• Reminder that each person that chooses to participate will keep their blocks each month - Next month there are three blocks
• 1 Another Star
• 2 Jack in the box
• There are directions for alternative color choices having contrasting colors or coordinated colors
• Members shared their blocks: Shirley L., Michelle, Lauren, Lillian, Jeri, Shirley A., Barbara B., Lillie
• Call Christine if you have any questions on directions - Membership
• 32 members
• 26 present
• 1 visitor – Marcy Morgan
• Failure to wear a name tag will result in a $.50 fine
• Membership directory distributed – the official block of the guild is Prairie Queen – the pattern is in the directory - Workshops
• First workshop March 4th from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., sign up sheet passed around. Potluck will be Barnyard themed – bring anything that reminds you of a barnyard
• Project will be “Striped Quilt” - Program for next month: Surprise
- Publicity
• Quilt Guild meetings are in the calendar of events for Grand Prairie for the rest of 2017 - Stitch group
• Grace reported that the stitch group will meet the 4th Thursday of the month, 02/23, at The Woods United Methodist Church and all are welcome. 10 people attended last month and it was a lot of fun (more fellowship)
• 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
• The church serves a meal for purchase
• Please notify Grace ahead of time if you plan to buy the meal so she can give proper notice to the church - Show & Tell
• The following members shared their projects with the group: Janis Hill, Elisabeth, Sue (who confessed to joining the over-achiever club), Janice Overton , Grace, Evelyn - Door Prizes
• Winners of the door prize drawing: Michelle, Jane, Janis Hill, Cathy M.
• Elisabeth will be taking over door prizes next month
• Winner of the loser drawing: Joanne Grant - Old business
• Audit committee report: All numbers tied out
• Grant money
• Myra from Quilt Stitch and Sew, in Weatherford, can do class in June 5th class on stripes / boarder prints $350 for a 45 minute presentation + mileage.
• Group would like more options to review before deciding. Evelyn and Carrie will do more research and report back. - New business
• Lauren recommended making a President’s block for Tori, last year’s guild President
• This falls under programs – everyone bring in block next month using the guild block Prairie Queen – blocks should be made in yellow. Block is 12.5″. - Program for this month
• Winners of Valentine bags: Janis Hill, Barbara Garner
• Operation Shoebox – 2017 charity project
• VA Hospital Is beneficiary of the project
• Only rules red/white/blue 12.5×12.5 or 12×12
• Standard Measurements of Pre-Cuts
• Good place to find fabric = estatesales.net; My Jennarocity – Thrift Store/Estate Sales in Grand Prairie on Marshall St. is a new business in Grand Prairie. - Meeting adjourned.
Becky Petross
TAQG REPORT
Save the date for Rally Day 2017. This is a FREE all-day event for members of TAQG guilds (and yes we are a TAQG guild). Non-quilt guild members pay a $5 entry fee. The guest speaker is Cynthia Ragone. If you want to check out her quilts, her website is cajunclassicsquilts.com. Here are the dates:
- Thursday, July 6th Zydeco workshop in Mesquite
- Friday, July 7th Gypsy Moth workshop in Mesquite
- Saturday, July 8th RALLY DAY at Mimosa Lane Baptist Church in Mesquite
- Mon. & Tues., July 10th Joyeux Noel workshop in Arlington.
All of the member guilds need to help out to make Rally Day a success. Here’s how our guild is helping.
We need to provide 500 items for the Goodie Bags. Please bring any quilt store quality fat quarters that you have in your stash and no longer want to our next meeting (March 6th). One of our members is going to donate a significant number of fat quarters from her stash, but she doesn’t have quite 500. We need yours early, so we can get a good count. If you have yardage that you do not want, please cut it into fat-quarters (18 x 22 inches) before turning them in.
We would like to provide one or two Door Prizes. Please bring a new sewing related item to contribute. We will combine all of the items into a bag or basket to come up with the door prize(s) from our guild. If you have an unopened book, pattern, or notion that you don’t want, please bring it. We have until our May meeting to accumulate these items, but you can bring them and give them to Katrina Lindley at any time.
Each guild is asked to provide 2 items for a silent auction. This can be any quality-handmade item worth at least $10. Suggestions include: mini-quilt (no side more than 24 inches), table runners, purses/bags. The silent auction is the main fund-raising event for TAQG during the year. These are also due at our May meeting, but if you would like to donate an item, you can turn it into Katrina at any meeting.
Katrina will begin selling lunch tickets, Rally Day pins, and the tickets for the pre-Rally Day raffle next month. These can be purchased up until our July meeting.
More information about the content of the workshops will be available online or from Katrina Lindley soon. There are fees connected with each workshop. Registration began on February 1st for guild members. The workshops will be open to non-guild members beginning May 1st. So if you are interested in attending a workshop, please contact Katrina Lindley.
Katrina Lindley
WORKSHOP
For our final workshop of 2016, we worked on a quilt pattern called “Gimme Diamonds.” Nine people came and we had fun drooling over everyone’s fabric picks! (See the Facebook Workshop photo album) I think it is so incredible to see how personalities shine through the fabric people have chosen and how each quilt looks a little different when you use different fabric. If you came to the workshop please remember to bring your quilt to the next meeting so that you can show everyone, even if it is not finished! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and happy sewing!
Lauren Metang
REMINDERS
- Be sure to wear a name tag at our meetings. If you don’t wear a name tag, you will be charged 50 cents each time.
- Articles for the newsletter are due by the 10th of the month. Any articles not received by the 10th of the month may or may not get published in that month’s newsletter.
- The newsletter is published monthly usually within 10 days of the meeting date (first Monday of each month). You will receive an e-mail with a link to the website (qgogp.wordpress.com).
All previous newsletters are archived on our website. You may also go to our Facebook page. Our newsletter link is posted there monthly. If, at any time, you cannot find your newsletter or have deleted the e-mail with the link, you could do an internet search for “quilter’s guild of grand prairie” to find our website. - If you have a question about a program, a workshop, or the block of the month, be sure to contact the person(s) in charge of whatever you have a question about. The names, phone numbers and e-mails are all listed in the newsletter.
- Please silence your cell phone during our meetings.
Michelle Rodriguez
BLOCK OF THE MONTH
Hello Everyone,
Here are the blocks for March. You will need to make 1 of the Another Star and 2 of the Jack in the Box.
I have tried to go thru the blogger’s directions and make sure they “work.” If at any time, you struggle with the directions, feel free to go the website listed below for her directions.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Christine 214-284-4906
March – JACK IN THE BOX block tutorial:
http://theelvengarden.blogspot.com/2012/08/qal-block-5-jack-in-box.html
March – ANOTHER STAR block tutorial:
http://theelvengarden.blogspot.com/2012/09/qal-block-7-another-star.html
Christine Blanton
TREASURER’S REPORT
Beginning balance … $1683.58
Advertising … 30
Membership Dues … 70.00
Ending balance … $1783.58
Janis Hill
Quilter's Guild of Grand Prairie 