April 2020

Upcoming Programs

No meeting in April!

The lecture and workshop for May 19th and 20th has been cancelled. Lori Dickman has been rescheduled for February 2021. We are excited to have Lori come to our guild and glad that she is available in February.

There is consideration being given on still getting together on May 20th. The day was originally set aside for a workshop. We could use that time as a mini one-day retreat and you can work on your own project in the company of others. After all of this isolation that might be fun. A decision on this will be announced in the May newsletter.

We have amazing speakers coming to our guild this upcoming year. At our next guild meeting Kate and Sharon will share information on our upcoming programs. We hope that many of you will join us for these lectures and workshops.

Kate and Sharon are excited about our June speaker, Emily Lang. Does the idea of improvisational piecing make you shudder? Emily’s workshop will go through a series of steps to allow ourselves to find comfort and creativity in improvisational piecing. We encourage you to attend the workshop and challenge yourself to explore new techniques.

Kate Brennan and Sharon Pierluissi
Programs

News from the President

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we…”

Charles Dickens said it best. I say, everything is messed up!

I hope that these first days of April find you healthy, safe and making the best of sheltering in place. Grounded. Sequestered. Quarantined. Cloistered. Segregated. Isolated. There are so many ways to say that we can’t be with our friends.

I only had one member email me that she needed fabric from my stash and she was kidding. Hurray! Can you imagine how many miles we are putting on our sewing machines?

Our April meeting is cancelled. We need to keep safe. Imagine the fun we will have when we see each other in May? Imagine the Show and Tell. It will probably rival our quilt show. At our May meeting, we will hold our annual business meeting, vote on our new officers and hear about the many talented speakers and workshops planned for our next quilting year.

We are strong, we are WOMEN. We will look back at these past many weeks, and say, “never again!”.

Stay safe, call a friend, take a walk and we will see each other soon.

Marti Austin
President

Village Quilters Board 2020-2021

Following are the candidates for the Board for the 2020-2021 year. Our by-laws require the membership to vote on the slate at our annual meeting in April. However, these are extraordinary times. We will hold our annual meeting in May, and elect our officers at that time. The position of Advance Program remains open. If you are interested, and would like more information, please contact Barbara Schober.

President: Christine Tindell
Vice President Membership: Kathy Avellone, Sue Ann Kuby
Vice President Programs: Kate Brennan, Sharon Pierluissi
Advance Programs (2): OPEN
Treasurer: Alice Hutchinson
Asst Treasurer: Jocelyn Galloway
Member at Large: Marti Austin
Newsletter: Laura Partridge
Secretary: Julie Milne
2021 Quilt Show Co-Chairs: Madge Pierce, Barb Jolley

I am happy to announce Jo Bailey and Liz Greenhill have agreed to be our new Librarians. Thank you to all of the members who have volunteered to take a more active role in the guild.

Barbara Schober

Birthday Blocks are back!

Our 2020 birthday block is a very simple 8” (finished size) log cabin style tulip which can be set as is or on point. For those not familiar with the birthday block activity here is how it works:

At our next guild meeting (whenever that may be!) there will be two sheets for interested participants to sign up. One sheet will be for your name and birth month, the other will be for you to indicate the colors you would like for your block. The following month you will receive the list of participants with their birth months, cutting and sewing directions for the block, and the colors each participant wants her blocks to be. Usually this does not exceed about 6 blocks to make each month. First blocks will be due the following month. Instructions for the block are also on the web site under “Members.”

Please bring your completed blocks for each month’s recipients to the guild meeting. The blocks will be presented to the birthday ladies during the meeting. If you will not be at the guild meeting in your birth month please ask a friend to pick them up for you. If you can’t come to the guild meeting, you are responsible for getting the blocks you have made to that month’s recipient; the U.S. mail works well. Don’t give the blocks to Nancy or Edie.

A word about promptness: please, please, PLEASE have your blocks done on time. In the past there have been instances where blocks have been received months after the birthday lady’s special day—sometimes the birthday quilt has already been completed! Set aside a time each month to do the blocks so you will keep up to date. A few admirable over achievers have been known to sit down and do the whole year’s blocks at once. We bow to their wow!

We hope that many of our quilters will want to participate in this fun project. It is a great way to use your stash, meet new quilters, and most of all, have fun!

Nancy Smith and Edythe Hirasawa

Membership Renewals

Spring is here – and we are looking forward to the time when we can meet again in person. In the meantime, it is time to renew your Village Quilters Membership!

Due to the COVID-19 crisis we are currently experiencing, the membership fee savings of $5.00 has been extended to May 31!

The new membership year begins on May 1, 2020. The membership fee is $50.00 ($25.00 for active military or spouse), but you save $5.00 if you renew by May 31! All renewals require 2 steps:

1. Completing a registration form

2. Submitting your payment.

To register online and pay your dues with your credit card, click on the Join or Renew” button and you’ll be taken to a page where you can complete the membership form online or indicate that all of the information is the same as last year.

You can then click the “Pay Online” button and select your one-year membership to be placed in your shopping cart. You will see that the one-year membership is “on sale” for $45.00!

To pay by check, you can download the membership form as a pdf from the Join Us page, print and complete the form, and bring it with your check to the May guild meeting, or mail it to the address shown on the form. You also have the option to fill out the membership form at the guild meeting; we will have extra copies for you!

If you have any questions, please contact Celia Stratman or Kimberly Jurco!

Treasurer’s Report

Balance as of 2/25/2020: $24,864.73
Income: $458.50
Expenses: $1,085.45
Ending Balance as of 3/24/2020: $24,237.78

Income this month was from the April Retreat and Workshop fees. Expenses: deposit for Brown Bag Auction was entered twice on the spreadsheet.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ellin Innes, Treasurer

Membership

Happy April Birthday to the following members!

Edythe Hirasawa – 4/28
Mary Ellin Innes – 4/30
Erica Jarrett – 4/06
Margaret Martin – 4/21
Enid Mattimiro – 4/30
Linda McCabe – 4/20
Julie Milne – 4/26

Celia Stratman and Kimberly Jurco
Membership co-chairs