President’s Message
Greetings Sisters of the Thread!
Blessings of the Season to all of you! Are you full of resolutions for the New Year? Hopefully they include tackling that pile of accumulating UFO’s. I found it difficult to prioritize which two I wanted to focus on for our January Program challenge, P.I.G. (project in a grocery bag) that Kathleen Bond has in store for us at January 8th meeting.
Our holiday party, “A Chocolate Affair”, as promised, was indeed a fun time. The soups were catered by Bonn-Fire in Chino Valley, and I didn’t hear one bad review. Some even went back and had a small taste of each. I opted for the creamy butternut squash soup, and was not disappointed. Congratulations to Kathleen Bond, who chaired the committee, and all the members who made it such a success. Thank you, to each and every one of you. Congratulations to all the door prize winners, especially to new member, Anne Marston, for winning the Mongolian Quilt Center table runner that we all had contributed to during Maggie Ball’s trunk show in October.
Keep in mind, those members listed as Hostesses for the July meeting make up the committee for the annual TBQ Birthday celebration held that month.
I think December marked the largest “Show and Tell” exhibition yet this guild year. We certainly have a talented group of quilters amongst us. Remember, as you show your quilts, then get your pictures taken, you are encouraged to spread your quilts out on the tables near the Company Store so others may take a closer look. The extra tables are provided for that purpose and will be available this month.
As I had mentioned in prior newsletters, you can bring in your completed President’s Challenge Ugly Fabric quilts any time for Show and Tell, as we’d love to see your progress. Thank you Sharon McAllister for bringing in your quilt. Did I mention to you that your really ugly fabric came from my stash? It certainly wasn’t one of my favorites. She did miraculous things to make it look so good. Sharon indicated she was donating her completed quilt to Handmade Hugs, which is wonderful. Just a reminder, gals, before you donate your quilts, please hang onto them for the mini quilt show and members’ choice voting to take place at the May meeting.
And speaking of Handmade Hugs, workshops will resume on the 4th Monday in January. We’ll be back at St. Luke’s on January 22nd in the area where the Company Store resides. Bring your machines to sew, or plan on sorting fabrics for kits, or cutting batting and backings for completed tops. There is plenty to do for everyone who attends. I want to thank Diane Belveal for the tremendous job she did in the first half of the year. She made the workshops fun, and offered (out of her own pocket, I might add) great little incentive rewards to those of us who participated. We are in need of a Community Service chair to finish off the remainder of the guild calendar year (through June), so see me if you are interested in helping out.
Suzie Fields was the lucky recipient of the Block-of-the-Month paper-pieced Christmas wreaths. She shared with me that the 16 completed blocks will make a darling wall hanging when they are pieced together. Perhaps the paper-pieced challenge reduced the number of participants last month. I’m working on my “black-eyed peas” block as I write this, however, I would much rather eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, having strong German and Polish roots!
I received a phone message from the church sexton, Tom Ghan, the day after the Holiday Party. I wrote it down so I would remember to share it with you all, and this is how it went:
“Hi Rosemary, this is Tom Ghan from St. Luke’s church. We want to thank you and the members of Thumb Butte Quilters for your contributions to the area food banks this year. Your donations this month totaled 220 items. That is over 1100 items for the 2017 fiscal year, for a total of 1160 donated items. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and Merry Christmas, Rosemary”
Keep it up, gals! This is so very much appreciated! By the way, our Christmas gift to Tom was $170!! Thank you to all who contributed. I’m sure he was surprised.
The Singer Featherweight will be showcased at the January meeting. I’ll be giving another little tidbit of history about the machine, followed by a maintenance workshop after the meeting. I’m sew looking forward to it all!!
Happy New Year, Everyone!!
And Sew it Goes…Pedal on, Girls!
Find Joy in the Journey!
Rosemary Carr, President
Thumb Butte Quilters’ Guild
Holiday Party Memories
“a chocolate affair”
Programs
Here come the P.I.G.’s!
January is always a time for resolutions and a time to get organized and make a list of the projects you would like to get done for the year. If you are in the category of Quilters who are making plans for your next project, have we got a Challenge for you!!
Plan to be a participant in TBQ’s P.I.G. Challenge. P.I.G. = Projects In a Grocery bag. Participants bring 2 UFO’s, show them and explain what is needed to complete each project. The members vote on the one they think you should finish – usually the most difficult one. These will be documented, and you will have one year to finish.
Start rummaging through your UFO’s. Think about projects you want to get finished.
Here are the rules:
1. Bring TWO unfinished quilt projects to January’s TBQ Guild Meeting -each one should be in its own grocery bag.
2. During the meeting, all participants will be asked to tell the Membership about each of their two P.I.G.’s. (Explain what it is, when you started, why you started, why the project is still worth finishing, etc.)
3. The Membership will vote on which of your two P.I.G.’s they want you to finish.
4. After that decision is made, our Recorders will document your P.I.G.
5. At the December Guild Meeting, you will be asked to display your completed
P.I.G.
There will be prizes for participants and finishers and each of you will receive a commemorative label.
Start rummaging through your UFO’s. Think about projects you want to get finished. A project box full of quilt parts is the typical P.I.G. A quilt top can be considered a P.I.G.!
Plan to join in on the fun!
February 12th – “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Crazy Quilting”. Our own member, Pam Jones, will give a lecture and trunk show featuring her collection of Crazy Quilts.
March 12th – “Inking Your Fabric” with Lura Schwarz Smith. Lura will present a lecture/trunk show with her award-winning art quilts. Lura has been producing art quilts since 1975 receiving awards both in the US and abroad. She is sure to inspire even the “non artist”.
April 9th – Kaari Meng is returning! Kaari began designing jewelry for Bergdorf Goodman in 1992 using vintage glass beads, buttons and notions. In 1997, the business evolved into French General, selling a French inspired life style that includes textiles, notions and ephemera.
Kathleen Bond
Program Chair
Workshops
January 8 ~ Featherweight Maintenance Workshop
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
This workshop is FULL! If you are in this workshop, Facilitator Rosemary Carr, has been in touch with you. Bring your lunch and your machine, its case, the owner’s manual, everything that came with the machine, plus all the other things listed on the Featherweight Maintenance Workshop Supply List. Pointers will also be given on how to give your original case a facelift. You and your Featherweight will go home happier after this workshop!
February 12 ~ Crazy Quilting Workshop @ $5.00
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Pam Jones will be giving the program on Crazy Quilts. Kathleen Bond and Carolyn Edwards will be offering a workshop on Crazy Quilting. We aren’t experts, but we will share what we know! Sign-ups for this workshop began at the December meeting, and are currently at 7. Supply lists will be available at the January 8th meeting.
March 12 and 13 ~ Lura Schwarz Smith @ $55 – “Inking Your Fabric”
1 1/2-day class
Yavapai Hills Clubhouse
3/12 – 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
3/13 – 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Currently there are 13 signed up for this class. We are still taking sign-ups.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Learn successful tracing, shading and inking onto fabric, working from your own photographic paper prints. Fun, effective drawing exercises enhance your skills. Using textile inks, markers, pencils, and other surface design materials, discover how to achieve realistic imagery in your art quilts.
No prior art experience necessary, but those with an art background will learn specific applications for achieving beautiful imagery on fabric.
STUDENT SUPPLY LIST
• 8 ½ “x 11” or 8″x 10″paper prints of your photos, or drawings of a similar size (your own, to avoid copyright issues) in any subject matter, for drawing and shading with inks on fabric. Bring a variety of images – choices are good! Our exercises in shading work best with a face at least 4” or larger, if working on a person.
• Use the clearest, best prints you can to get the best information. If working from smaller, vintage photos, scan these and bring prints of the larger size, for ease in tracing — bring originals for reference.
• Do not bring framed photos as the glass makes it difficult to trace detail accurately.
• At least 4 sheets of 8 ½” x 11” non-bleed muslin pressed to freezer paper (note Dot Test instruction page for testing fabrics for bleed ability). Bring another fat quarter or half-yard of muslin for spare, in case needed.
• OPTIONAL: other fabrics such as commercial prints that you wish to ink or mark on, in colors that suit your project. (Check fabrics with Dot Test!)
• Pencil and paper (computer paper is fine)
• Sharpie Ultrafine Black Marker
• Lightbox (students may share)
• OPTIONAL: We will be working a great deal with the Tsukineko All Purpose Inks, with the Fantastix applicators, as well as the Fabrico Textile Markers made by the same company. If you already have them and wish to bring them, you can bring them or any Prismacolor colored pencils, textile markers, etc. that you may have. This is OPTIONAL as I bring enough to share in class, but sometimes it’s nice to have your own. The basic kit fee will still apply as I supply many materials as well as the class inks, markers, etc. to share.
• Supply Fee: $8 Kit: includes sample Fantastix applicators, Prismacolor pencil, sample non-bleed muslin, write-on transparency, instructional handouts, and use of class inks, etc.
Carolyn Edwards
Workshop Chair
Mentor’s Table
I will be demonstrating how to do fusible raw edge appliqué without the fusible web. Interesting and fun.
Shirlee Smith
Mentor’s Table
Block of the Month
Congratulations to Suzie Fields, winner of the BOM December Wreath. Time to decorate inside!
Now we are going to start the year off by way of the old tradition of having “Black Eyed Peas”. You can serve them for luck for your New Year kickoff, but it’s our January 2018 BOM block.
We will be using only Black for the corners units, and a White with a Black Print for the “X” units. The pattern will be emailed out shortly, watch for it!
As mentioned, please! do your best work; cutting correctly, 1/4″ seams, pressed, just think of it as being a judged block. We do not put our names on the blocks, but the winner sure appreciates them being the correct size and constructed well. You may be the next winner.
I hope it’s fun to participate in this program, and it doesn’t take much time. If you have suggestions for a future BOM, please contact me.
Happy New Year one and all!
Carol Sweeden
Block of the Month Coordinator
Prescott Adult Center Exhibit
Do they know it’s Christmas every day? Yes, it’s still Christmas at the Adult Center…at least until around the middle of January! So, if you need just another little dose of Christmas, you still have time to go see the Christmas quilts at 1280 Rosser Street! OR, if you put it off long enough, you can go see the new exhibit–a One Woman Quilt Show by Norma Kurr. Norma, an Arizona native, says she was born wanting to sew, and has been quilting since 1956. WOW! That’s 62 years! Her first quilt was a whole cloth nylon baby quilt made for her daughter. That quilt was loved to death. Then she really became addicted to quilting when she took a class from Rhoda Jensen at Rhoda’s Quilt Shop in Flagstaff…and there’s been no stopping her since!
The display after that (around mid-March to mid-May) will consist of all things Springtime Flowers and pastels. So, if you have a quilt that fits this category, let me know!
And, oh–it’s the start of our 11th year of hanging quilts at the Adult Center. Woohoo! Yea, Team!
Quilt Sizes Needed:
LARGE: from 60″ to 90″ wide, any length. (Need SIX.)
SMALL: from 45″ to 60″ wide, any length. (Need FOUR.)
Quilts for Sale
Continuing with the effort initiated last TBQ Guild year by Pat Armstrong, if you have a quilt or quilts you’d like to sell, we are working on making that happen. When the TBQ website is up and running again, a “QUILT FOR SALE” form will be on-line. Until that time, Carolyn Edwards will have forms available. Just get in touch with her. A 4” x 6” photograph will be needed in addition to the completed form. The completed form along with the photograph will be kept in a binder at the Reception Desk at the Adult Center. Your Quilt for Sale does not have to be hanging in the Atrium in order to be for sale. You will name your asking price, and all proceeds will go to you.
Carolyn Edwards
Adult Center Quilt Coordinator