July 2024
/July Program: Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad
Tuesday, July 16 – 7:00 pm - In Person
“Sometimes a quilt is just a quilt, other times it has hidden messages that helped freedom seekers escape to the North.”
Join Connie Martin, who finds joy in telling the secret codes and hidden messages in the family quilts her ancestors used over 200 years ago by both white and black abolitionists to signify escape routes to the North. It shows how quilts were used to signal plans, warn of dangers, indicate how transport might occur, or who might help as “Friends” on the Underground Railroad.
Connie displays over a dozen beautifully hand-crafted quilt replicas representing patterns and special stitching used over 300 years ago by abolitionists and fugitive slaves to signify escape routes to the North. She shares her knowledge originating from an information-packed family Bible found dating back to the 1850’s. It revealed key abolitionists and safe escape routes passing from Kentucky through Illinois.
Come Dine with Us!
Would you like an opportunity to get to know our guest speaker a little better? If so, join Nancy, Enid and Connie Martin, our July guest speaker, for dinner before the July meeting.
We will meet at 5:00 pm at a restaurant still to be determined. If you are interested in joining us, sign up online. Once we have selected a restaurant, you will receive an email with all the details.
Nancy Zamor and Enid Mattimiro, Co-Program Chairs
August Meeting: Sew-In for Service Project “Sleep in Heavenly Peace”
Tuesday, August 20 – 6:30 pm - In Person
Join us as we work on quilts for our service project! We will donate quilts to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, (see shpbeds.org) an organization that makes beds for children who need them.
There will be kits provided which are made up of your donations (thanks to all who donated fabric and volunteers who cut 10” squares and 2.5” strips)! We have plenty of materials to make several quilt tops together.
You can sign up for a task and indicate if you will be a sewer, ironer, or cutter, or if you will just pitch in where needed! Sewers will need to bring their sewing machines, and cutters will need rotary cutters, mats and rulers.
Workshop: Sew-In for Service Continued!
Wednesday, August 21 - 9:00 am at Faith Lutheran Church, 680 Deerpath, Lake Forest
We will continue working on the quilts that were started on Tuesday evening. Although there is no workshop fee, please sign up for the Workshop so we know how many are attending.
If you are making a quilt of your own to donate, remember that they should measure about 60” by 75” and be appropriate for children ages 2 to 17. Please no holiday or religious fabrics. If you would like to make a label for your quilt, we suggest that you reference Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest, made in 2024.
We will deliver the finished quilts in late September.
Gwen Jaeger, Service Chair
Another Golden Year For The Brown Bag Hustle
The Ways and Means Committee volunteers for the Brown Bag Hustle 2024
Over 50 members and guests came on June 18 for the Ways & Means Brown Bag Hustle Silent Auction, Raffle and Cash & Carry fundraiser. There were finished quilts, quilt kits, bags of scraps, books, thread, yarn, a sewing machine, sewing table, upholstery fabric and a zillion other articles for sale. Some items were from last year's Hustle but were finished and made ready to be purchased.
After the brief member's meeting everyone went "shopping". After shopping, raffle tickets and auction bid sheets were called out to a responsive audience having fun. There is so much more to the Brown Bag Hustle than the fundraiser. It is an opportunity for members to enjoy each other's company. We open our doors to guests as well as representatives from charity organizations. We welcome their sharing the leftovers.
The same committee members have been working on the Brown Bag Hustle for several years. This year was unique as the committee was primed to have our Brown Bag in January but weather caused a cancellation. June 18 turned out to be a great alternative.
Ways & Means raised over $1,800.00! Join me with a pat on the back for a tremendous team of hard-working ladies: Erica Jarrett, Jo Bailey, Yolanda Sherrod, Laurie Waldron, Robyn McGarrigle, Kate Klein. Madge Pierce, Mary Phemister, Alice Hutchinson, Donna Derstadt, Celia Stratman and Christine Tindell. Your enthusiasm, laughter and caring attitude made the day.
Donna Fitzgerald, Ways & Means Chair
Message from the President
I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer and finding time to do some fun quilting. I’m having a hard time finding as much time to sew with all of the summer activities, but I still have high hopes of finishing two quilts before summer ends.
June’s Brown Bag Hustle was another success. We raised money to put toward programming and people had a good time. Many treasures were given new homes and we had quite a few visitors. I spoke with three of the visitors and they are considering joining our guild. That is very exciting.
A special thank you to Donna Fitzgerald and her team for all of their hard work. Donna definitely has a vision for the Brown Bag Hustle and makes sure that the event is a well-run success. I also want to thank two ladies, Monica Gallagher and Maggie Alvarado, who are not members of our guild but certainly are a huge help to us. They do charity quilting for a few organizations and they took all of the leftovers that are our leftovers and make much-appreciated quilts for hospitals and veterans.
I want to remind all board members that our next board meeting is July 9 at 7:00 pm at my house. Board meetings are also open to any member who wishes to attend.
We have some great programming coming up starting in July with Connie Martin sharing her family history in quilts. I hope to see many of you in July.
Sharon Pierluissi, President
Raffle Quilt 2025
Planning for our next raffle quilt has begun! I am excited to introduce the committee which includes Marti Austin, Nancy Warmbold Zamor, Kearstie Grenier, Celia Stratman, and Sari Hurtig. I am serving as the committee chairman. We have a fabulous quilt in the design stage but it is not quite ready to be revealed! Kearstie is working on the final design with EQ 8 software.
We want all of our members to have the opportunity to contribute to this quilt, so we’re asking you to help by donating bright tone-on-tone fabrics! See the attached photos for examples of the types of fabrics we are looking for.
Please bring your fabric donations to our July meeting. Sizes needed are 2 ½” WOF strips, fat 8ths, and 10” squares. The more variety, the better!
We will also need skilled foundation paper piecers. If you don’t know how to paper piece, there are many in our guild who are willing to teach. Please contact me with any questions!
Christine Tindell
Village Quilters Fall Retreat – October 25 – 27
Date: October 25-27, 2024
Location: Hilton Garden Inn, Mettawa
Time: 8:00 am Friday – 4:00 pm Sunday
Cost: $65.00
Sign Up: Begins 8:00 am Thursday, August 1 on the Village Quilters Website
Our retreat is held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mettawa on Riverwoods Road. We have held several retreats at this location and it is a great place. We sew in the ballroom and set-up is done by the hotel staff. There are 33 spots available. Each quilter has a table with room for your machine, a small cutting board, supplies and fabric. There is electricity at each table. The room is filled with an abundance of natural light during the day.
Bring along your machine, your supplies and the projects you plan to work on. There will be cutting tables set up with large cutting mats and the hotel supplies the several irons and ironing boards. Because it is a large room it can be difficult to adjust the temperature to everyone’s needs, you may need to bring a sweater.
If you want to stay at the hotel during the retreat, please send an email with your request. Indicate if you want a queen single or queen double, the days you want to rent the room (Thursday, Friday, and/or Saturday), and the name of the person who will be sharing your room.
The retreat is very popular and fills up quickly! If it is full when you try to register, you can add your name to a wait list. Contact Marti Austin via email ASAP and your name will be listed in the order that Marti receives the requests. The cost is $65.00 and is paid when you sign up. This cost of the retreat is not refundable, but if you find that you cannot attend your seat will be offered to a person on the wait list. That person will pay you for the retreat cost.
Marti Austin
Treasurer’s Report
Bank Balance as of May 1, 2024: $39,517.81
Income: $1,176.00
Expenses: $2,444.92
Ending Bank Balance as of May 31, 2024: $38,248.89
May income was primarily from membership fees ($1,010). Significant May expenses were for speaker fees ($1,576), rent for May workshop ($90) and May and June meetings ($300), April social expenses ($113), and member birthday and Board gifts ($194).
Respectfully submitted,
Melanie Houser, Treasurer
Membership Report
Welcome New Members: Monica Larson and Mary Swanson.
It is important to wear our name tags at every meeting since we are meeting in person every month. If you forget, we ask you to donate 25 cents to the can, which goes into our library fund.
The membership fee is now $50.00 for the year ($25.00 for active military or spouse). To renew your membership online, go to our website. At the top of every page is a Members button with a drop-down menu; select Membership Renewal. Choose your membership type (regular or military) and you will be taken to a page where you can pay your dues and fill out the membership form.
For renewing members, to pay by check, mail your check to:
Village Quilters, ℅ Grace United Methodist Church
244 E. Center Street
Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Lorraine Potts and Robyn McGarrigle, Membership Chairs
Happy July Birthday to the following members!
Kathleen Jurevicius - July 13th
Ruth Pisani - July 5th
Peggy Schemenauer - July 9th
Carol Swartz - July 10th
Third Thursday Sunshine Stitchers
This bee meets at the State Bank of the Lakes on the third Thursday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. All are welcome to come and have fun. If you are thinking about attending and you are fearful that you might be the only one there, call or email Marti Austin or Kathy Heusinkveld to find out if others plan to attend.
The bank is located at 55 Commerce Drive, Grayslake. Parking is available on the south side of the building. Enter the bank through the front door and you’ll see an elevator on the right which you will take to the lower level.
Bring your sewing machine, hand stitching, your quilt to sandwich (there are large tables in the room), cutting equipment and/or your lunch. There is also an adequate ironing board and iron if you need them. We would love to see you there!
Marti Austin