Guild Ideas from the Gathering of the Guilds Conference - Part 1

Barb Perry brought back some great ideas from the Gathering of the Guilds. I thought I'd share a few of her notes in 2 blog posts.

Barb noted that one of the most popular activities that most of the guilds organized, was a Block of the month. Just look at the many ways that this activity can be organized.

• At one guild, a member or a group would be responsible for deciding the Block of the Month and providing the information monthly to those members who wanted to participate. Each member participating would complete the blocks and have a quilt/topper to show at the end of the year social/potluck.
• One Guild utilized the relationship with a local Quilt shop to coordinate the block of the month activity.
• One Guild has a block of the month demo.
• Another Guild provide a different block pattern each month and ask their members to bring back at least one block and the blocks were raffled off in groups of twelve. Examples of blocks were framed nine patch, another was an Ohio Star where the participants were challenged to find as many variations as possible (the winner had 27 blocks).
• There was a theme exchange to make blocks of a specified size, theme and colour in one of the guilds.
• Another Guild had two coordinators who provided the pattern and instructions for the block and the members brought the completed block back to the following meeting when their name would go into a draw to win the blocks for that month. The coordinators are responsible for the pattern and the theme for the year.
• The majority of the guilds participated in block of the month or block exchanges. They noted that members were expected to bring something back by a specific date to show other Guild members.
• Three month mystery quilt was done by one of the guilds.

Did you ever imagine that there are so many ways to do a Block of the Month. Check back tomorrow and I'll give you Barbs great notes on more fun activities for your guild.

NB Gathering of the Guilds 2010

Barb Perry and Alice Kirkpatrick attended the Gathering of the Guilds last weekend in Sussex, NB. Lois Mehan and Valerie Moreland were in attendance also and were quickly put to work during the show and tell part of the presentation. Each guild brought a sheet to hang samples of their workshops and their banner. Thanks to the Quilting Queen at Love to Quilt for this picture of the FQG sheet presentation.

Each of the NB Guilds presented activities within their guild over the past two years. Everyone is amazed at the wealth of ideas that were shared. Each guild was given a binder with the presentations from each guild so that ideas can be taken back to the guilds.

Watch for a series of blog posts in the next few days and we'll post a few ideas that came out of the gathering. Also check out the Love to Quilt's blog for photos taken at the GOG. She was the official photographer on the organizing committee.

A Peek at the Manitoba Prairie Quilters Quilt Show

Want to see a nice little quilt show. Joanne at Threadhead has shared some photos she took at a recent quilt show put on by the Manitoba Prairie Quilters. These quilts are most inspiring.

Can you ever have too many table runners. Check out Joanne's table runner tutorial here.

Be sure to drop her a comment if you enjoyed visiting her site.

Bits and Bytes - notes

As promissed at the meeting on April 2oth, here are some links to references made in the program.


EQ Software - http://www.electricquilt.com/ - is a software used to design quilts. There are many quilting software packages in this website.

Sew Precise by EQ - click here - a software that will print paper piecing patterns

Print graph paper - click here for a free site that will print various graph papers including hexagons.

Online Learning - http://www.lquilt.com/ - 50% off classes for a limited time.

Free DIY Bag tutorials - http://www.diybaglover.blogspot.com/

Memberships - http://www.thequiltshow.com/

Free quilt videos - http://www.quilterstv.com/

Quilters News network - http://www.qnntv.com/

Search 225 quiltshops online - http://www.quiltshops.com/

Remember to email for specific shipping charges before ordering.

Guild Meeting Reminder - April 20

A reminder to our guild members about our April meeting.

The program has Gail Mitchell and Kathy Feltmate talking about ways they use computers in quilting. What is a blog anyway? Searching for inspiration? Taking a quilting class online!

If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask, give us some heads up and we'll answer.

April Workshop

Our upcoming workshop on April 17th has a few spaces still available. The project is a fabric totebag or purse made with a "star" construction method, and it will be taught by Dawn Sharpe and Robyn Allaby. It's a cute bag with a zipper closure concealed by velcro and has pockets inside and out. The straps are 30" to allow it to be "worn" over the shoulder, but these could be lengthened or shortened to suit your body/needs. Robyn suggests that you would get the bag finished or very close to completion in the workshop.

If you are interested, give Worshop Registrar Barb Frame a call at 459-4732.

Trend-Tex Challenge 2010

Many of the quilts submitted for this year's Trend-Tex Challenge have just been posted on the CQA website. You can view them by clicking here. If you click on the first quilt, you can view a larger image; then if you hover your cursor over the top right hand corner of the photo, you 'll be able to click on "Next" and view the entire collection.
If you are not familiar with this Challenge, this is how it works: Each summer/fall, the Vice President of CQA/ACC visits Trend-Tex Fabrics and chooses five fabrics for the Challenge and chooses the Theme. These fabrics are then cut into fat quarters and made up into kits. The kit can be purchased for $20.00. Each entrant is encouraged to use the 5 fabrics to make a piece on the chosen theme and return it to CQA. All five fabrics must be visible on the front of the quilt. (Up to 3 additional fabrics may be added). The pieces are displayed in a Show at the annual Conference and they are auctioned off (most by Silent Auction) as a fundraiser. The pieces that are returned by the deadline are judged, and prizes are announced and awarded at the Conference. Besides 1st, 2nd and 3rd, there is also the Trend Tex Award for best use of fabric (to be eligible for this award, only the 5 provided fabrics may be used on the front of the quilt.) The Trend Tex Award winner is not auctioned, but given to Trend Tex Fabrics as a thank you for their generous donation of the fabric. Honourable Mentions and Judge's Choice awards may also be given and a Viewer's Choice Award is announced at the Closing Banquet.
This year's theme was "The Sky's the Limit". I hope you enjoy viewing this amazing collection of wallquilts.