FQG Christmas Social 2009

The Fredericton Quilters' Guild had their Christmas Social last week. The program committee worked all fall on making this a lovely social event for our members. The gathering room was decorated beautifully, and dimly lit. The tables were decorated with lovely table cloths and candles. Each place was set with a homemade gingerbread man, packaged and tagged for safekeeping.

During the course of our evening, we heard from three of our members who told of their Christmas experiences when they were young. This was very heartwarming, entertaining and informative. Everyone related and thought about the simplicity of Christmases past.

Many members brought in special Christmas decorations from the past and told stories of why they were special.

Joyce told us of her memories of her mother making hundreds of these Christmas Stockings.

LaVerne and Jean brought in the same tree top decoration but their memories were years apart, and very different.

Linda brought one of her many favorite angels that was given to her as a gift from a very close friend.

Of course, we had Show and Tell quilts from our members, which gave us lots of inspiration until we meet again in January.

Again, thanks to the Program Committee and the Social Committee for a very memorable evening.

Watch next week for the fabulous Gingerbread Man recipe from members of our FQG Program Committee and more pictures from Show and Tell.

More Retreat photos

I've heard comments from several people wanting to see more photos from the Retreat. So I'll share a few more with you. Of course there are certain things which just "cannot be revealed"... it's kind of like the ole Vegas rule... "What happens at the Villa, stays at the Villa"...... You just have to be there to really appreciate what goes on.... the fine food, the great conversations, stories and jokes, and the exceptional entertainment. I just could not do justice to the stories of doggie hotpants, someone's new tattoo, or Suzie Snowflake's dance..... We're all sworn to secrecy.

But I can show you some more happy faces and a few more projects. Linda G was with us for the first time. It was great to have her along and we enjoyed watching her quilt grow, row by row.... It's called "Weaver Fever".

It was great having Geraldine join us again; she is an associate member and we sure miss seeing her on a regular basis. She worked on a Snowman wallhanging, among other things...

Sally is one of those quiet types - you would hardly know she was there, quiet as a little mouse in the corner... she was working diligently on a design using Bali Pops jelly rolls called "Hot Flashes" from the book Strip Therapy by Brenda Henning. Sally is on the right, being helped by Jean on the left.


Carole is another quiet one, working away at producing beautiful things. This pinwheel lap quilt is from an Easy Quilts magazine, by Fons and Porter.

Shown here is the lucky winner of our wonderful gift basket. No Jackie, that is not a new winter hat, it's a tea cozy.... The gift basket contained such goodies as patterns, magazines, notions and "quilty" giftware. Congrats Jackie!

This blog can serve another useful purpose - that of helping our members get to know each other. To that end- here are a few more happy faces from Retreat - perhaps there is someone here you don't know and now you'll be able to put a face to the name... Special thanks to Kathy Feltmate for sharing her wonderful photos with me, and allowing me to use them here...

Committee members Jean S, LaVerne D and Cathy W

Jean K

Doris M
Gwenda M and Barb C
Deanna M Monica W Jane S


We are so lucky that the Villa has such a wonderful staff, who make our stay there so enjoyable. (They told us they look forward to our Retreat each year because there is so much laughter! Imagine!) Thanks Dianne, Gail, Kirk, AnneMarie and Debbie.
And thanks again to all Committe members for their hard work, and - thanks to all attendees for all the fun! Without you, it would not happen!

Retreat...what a treat!

Our Guild Retreat is over for another year. Its hard to believe this was our seventh one! And each one seems to be better than the last. Every year the Committee look at one another, when all is said and done, and we always say the same thing: "This was the best one yet!"

We have a very congenial group, and most of us go for the same reason- to relax and enjoy time spent with our like-minded friends. We forget about the outside world and just immerse ourselves in our projects. We sew from morning till night- some start well before breakfast, and others are still there at their machines well after midnight. In fact if you wake in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep, you may as well head down to the sewing room and you'll likely not be there alone! The food is wonderful and we enjoy 3 meals and 3 snacks a day- and best of all- we don't have to prepare it or do dishes!!

Our optimum number is around 30, for a nice cozy "fit" in one large room. This year we had 32 attendees. Everyone has their own table and it is just amazing the amount of work that gets done. It's fun to walk around the room to see what everyone is working on. There is always a great variety of projects- from hand applique and paper-piecing to quilt-as-you-go, I Spy quilts and, well, you name it- it is there. There were batiks, flannels, plaids, and scraps. There was everything from baby quilts and lap quilts to king sized bed quilts. There were Christmas projects, kitted projects, UFO's and projects just begun. There were jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes. But most of all there was laughter. They say "laughter is the best medicine"..well if that is true, we must all have come home very healthy and no doubt we've all added a few years to our lives, because more than anything, we LAUGHED!! We are so fortunate to have several in our midst who have the wonderful talent of making others laugh. With Willa's costumed antics, Helen's stories and Marg's poetry, we were well entertained. We are blessed to have members who are so willing to share their gifts of humour with us.... We even had our own private nurse to give us all our H1N1 "vaxine" shots.... for the cost of one fat quarter!

Some worked on original designs; others worked with colors, fabrics or techniques that were outside their comfort zone. Others worked with their favourite colors or fabrics. But no matter what the project, we all enjoyed being there together, sharing our common love of quilting. Can't wait for next year!!