September 2024
/September Program: Bag Making with Karin Janssen Potter of Karin’s Korner at Sew ‘n Save
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
7:00 pm - In Person
For over 15 years, Karin Janssen Potter has been the Business Manager and Educator at Sew 'n Save of Racine. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Home Economics Education and Business. Karin has been sewing since the age of 12, when her grandfather bought her a sewing machine! She has sewn everything from clothing to quilts!
Do you want your bags to look more professional? Do you have trouble getting the bindings and zippers sewn into bags? Karin has all the tips and tricks to make your bag making fun and professional looking! It really is easier than you think, with the right tools and techniques! Karin will bring along a trunk show of fabulous bags to awe and inspire you!
September Workshop: Barn Quilt Painting with City Sister Country Sister
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
11:30 am – 3:30 pm (Please note the later start time)
Location: Faith Lutheran Church, 680 Deerpath, Lake Forest
With City Sister Country Sister, you’re not just painting a beautiful barn quilt that you can proudly display but having a great time doing it with your friends along the way.
Registration for this class closed as of August 21, but we look forward to a fun day with everyone who signed up!
October Program: Layers & Lines: How to Create a Quilting Design with RaNae Merrill
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
7:00 pm – In Person
Come join us as RaNae Merrill answers the question, “How do I decide what designs to put where on my quilt?”
RaNae will discuss Story, Personality, Contrast & Layers. Looking at photos of a wide variety of quilts, we'll examine how to apply these concepts to create a quilting design. And since thread is the "paint" of quilting, we'll also discuss thread color, fiber and weight.
After Layers & Lines, you will have the tools to create quilting designs that take your quilt tops from special to spectacular!
October Workshop: Free-Motion Mastery in a Month: Quantum Leap! with ReNae Merrill
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
9 am – 3:30 pm
Location: Faith Lutheran Church, 680 Deerpath, Lake Forest
Want to learn to do free-motion quilting but don’t know where to start? Can you do a few simple patterns, but you want to expand your creativity? Have you taken other classes and failed? Are you afraid you’ll ruin that beautiful top you spent weeks piecing? This is the class for you!
RaNae's unique teaching system and specialized tools guide you step-by-step through simple exercises that will get you moving comfortably at the sewing machine and build your quilting skills as you quilt one block at a time. You'll make a quantum leap in your FMQ skills during the class and go home with a practice plan to continue building your skills. You'll leave class saying "I can DO this!"
Check out the Registration page for more information and to sign up for the workshop.
Nancy Zamor and Enid Mattimiro, Co-Program Chairs
Service Project Update
Our August sew-in and workshop day were a great success! Together we made 7 quilt tops!
Thank you to everyone who contributed fabric, cut squares, sewed, ironed, trimmed and served as runners. We could not have done this without each and every one of you.
There is still finishing work of quilting and binding to be done. If you are able to volunteer for either of these jobs your help would be greatly appreciated. We have batting and backing fabrics as well as lots of 2.5” strips for binding. Please contact Gwen Jaeger to offer your services!
We will be donating our quilts to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, an organization that makes beds for children who need them. If you’d like to make a quilt on your own, please remember that they should measure about 60” by 75” and be appropriate for children ages 2 to 17. No holiday or religious fabrics, please.
We plan to deliver the quilts by late September.
Several members have asked about labels for the quilts. We suggest that you reference Village Quilters of Lake Bluff and Lake Forest and that the quilt was made in 2024.
Gwen Jaeger and Ginny Underwood
Members worked together to sew, press, and trim blocks at the August Sew-In, and the blocks were assembled into quilt tops the next day at the workshop. The teamwork of our members produced a total of seven quilt tops!
Raffle Quilt 2025
At the September guild meeting we will present our plans for the 2025 Raffle Quilt! We appreciate your fabric donations and we want to encourage all members who want to participate in the making of this quilt! The blocks will be paper-pieced with some unusual twists. With that in mind, members who want to piece the blocks will need to receive instruction. We plan to offer the first opportunity for instruction on Thursday, September 19 at the State Bank of the Lakes, 50 Commerce Drive in Grayslake.
Committee members will be at the bank from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm to show you how to complete the blocks.
If you bring your machine, you will probably finish the blocks on that day. If you can’t bring your machine, several of the committee members will have their machines available for your use. This is a drop-in activity, so arrive any time after 10:00.
Raffle Quilt Committee: Kearstie Grenier, Christine Tindell, Nancy Zamor, Celia Stratman, Sari Hurtig and Marti Austin
Message from the President
September will be a fun meeting to attend. There has been so much buzz about the quilts that people are making for Sleep in Heavenly Peace. I can’t wait to see all of the quilts that will be donated! Once again we had a fun and productive meeting in August. There is something special about our members getting together to work on a common goal. How rewarding it is to think of all the children who will be sleeping under beautiful quilts created by our members!
We have been talking about digitizing Village Quilter’s history. Kearstie Grenier has been working on the project for some time. We are at a point where Kearstie is finished working with some of our binders that include pictures. Beginning at the September meeting, we will start putting binders out for members to look through and take whatever pictures they want out of the binders. We will put binders out for a few months to give members a chance to look through them. I want to give you a heads up about this, because after the binders have been out for a few months they will be disposed of. Thank you to Kearstie for all of the work that has been done so far and for the remainder of the documenting and digitizing.
More programs are planned for our upcoming meetings that sound great and I hope to see many of you there! I am personally looking forward to the September program about bag making as that is something that I enjoy doing. Also exciting is the barn painting class. Of course, now I’m worrying about what colors to choose for the Carpenter’s Wheel that I picked to paint.
Sharon Pierluissi, President
December Social – Can You Help?
We need people who will plan our December social. Are you part of a group that sews together, or have a BFF who would like to tackle this event with you? Our hostesses last year, Bobbie and Cynthia, did a fabulous job and we all had a great time. You don’t have to do it exactly like they did! In fact, we have had some December socials with catered meals and others that were desserts only.
If no one steps forward to plan, we can just have our regular meeting. If you haven’t gotten involved with the guild, this is a great way to get to know more members. Please contact Christine Tindell for more information.
Fall Retreat
For all of you who are registered for the upcoming retreat, please check your calendar to make sure that you have not double booked! If you have erred, please contact Marti Austin via email so that your place can be offered to a member who is on the wait list.
For you on the wait list, don’t give up hope! Covid is going crazy now and double booking may open up seats. I believe that for the last two retreats, seats have become available the week of the retreat. If you are willing to attend at the last minute you may be in!
If you plan to stay at the hotel and have not received a confirmation email from me stating that I have received your request, please send a new request. I will need all requests by September 10, 2024.
Marti Austin
Treasurer’s Report
Bank Balance as of July 1, 2024: $39,480.06
Income: $445.00
Expenses: $900.38
Ending Bank Balance as of July 31, 2024: $39,024.68
July income was from workshop fees ($250) and membership dues ($195). Significant July expenses were for lecture/workshop fees and three months of monthly rent.
Respectfully submitted, Melanie Houser, Treasurer
Membership Report
Fall is in the air! Let’s keep up with great attendance at our events and be inspired by the colors! I’m “leafing” it up to you!
Please remember to wear your name badges at the meetings (or else you’ll have to fork over a quarter). Also, keep a look out for recently joined members with our membership Village Quilters badges. Say hello and ask them about their quilting journey, along with how they learned about us!
Lorraine Potts and Robyn McGarrigle are your Membership Co-Chairs. If you have a question, please feel free to reach out to us!
Happy September Birthday to the following members:
5th - Nancy Smith
8th - Mary Ann Clemens
12th - Feather Schroeder
15th - Lorraine Potts
17th - Tera McBlaine & Linda Spring
18th - Maggie Schmude
24th - Laurie Waldron
26th - Mary Dietz & Kacey Avellone
28th - Linda Krismer
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