Wednesday, March 2, 2011

President's Message March 2011

Dear River City Quilters:

Well, February is behind us and we look onward to Springtime. How did you like the taste of what's coming up in the guild for the rest of the year? I hope it wasn't too overwhelming to hear about so many projects at once, but we wanted to get it out there and generate some excitement!!

Barbara Lankford and the committee have really put together our annual challenge for us and I just love Elena Acosta's idea for the birdhouses for lotto blocks. I can't wait to get a piece of that swatch to start on that birdhouse. Caroline Derbes' love of art really shows in her abstract art quilt designs with solid fabrics.

We are still looking for a coordinator of the Christmas Lotto block committee. (Please, please) I love the pineapple design from Bonnie Hunter and I thank Beth Jessup for throwing together a block on very short notice. As I said at the meeting, there are already folks who volunteered to serve on this committee, we need a point person.

I was elated to get Janet Cundiff back in the guild and even more excited for her to participate in show and tell. Wasn't that a lovely quilt she made in the past year while recuperating. You need to know that she was my inspiration for the mentor program.

Wow, what a lovely array of quilts in the Ultimate Guild Challenge for AQS Knoxville! My apologies for the confusion in the awarding of ribbons. I learned a lot from this challenge and promise that we will have tape measures available at check-in and will have guidelines and rules in writing beforehand and available to all those submitting quilts. Let's keep our fingers crossed that AQS loves those as much as we do and we get into the show! I don't know about y'all, but I'm thinking something floral for the next UGC for AQS!

Beth Jessup and I are teaching an all-day Patch-No-Work class for the Remember Me Quilt Guild on Saturday, March 5th at St. Paul's. There are still a few openings available. If you are interested in attending, please contact Becky Stringer rebeccastringer@cox.net . Places are filling up fast!

We are gearing up for a great presentation in March. Our local quilt pattern creators and celebrities, Paula Toups and Connie Ewbank, will do the program. If you have quilts that were made with any patterns published by Paula or Connie, please bring them for show & tell.

Judy Laquidara's "Connect the Dots" class http://www.patchworktimes.com/ still has space available. Please contact Beth ASAP to sign up (e) bethjessup@cox.net

LA Senator Robert Adley arranged for the Lost Heroes Art Quilt to be on display on the 1st floor of the State Capitol building, March 20-27. I hope you can make it out to view it. http://www.heart2hand4art.com/lostheroesartquilt/firstpage.htm

Beth Jessup and I participated in the GSQA POE (pursuit of excellence) in Kiln, MS, on February 12th. More details about that later.

Until next time, keep on quilting!

Jo Paula




Bring List for Meeting:
  • Block for Giving Quilt Challenge
  • Items for the birthday table (see Jo and Mary) 
  • Solids Fabric Exchange (see Caroline)
  • Lotto Blocks (see Elena)
  • Quilt or fabric donations for YELP (see Lilly)
  • Fat Quarter Lotto - Sky Blue and/or Sunny Yellow
  • Fiber Nametag
  • Show and Tell - bring quilts from Connie and Paula's patterns