Monday, January 31, 2011

President's Message February 2011

Hello dear quilting friends,

Well, what a surprise, I survived my first meeting as guild President. Thank you all for bearing with me as my legs wobbled a bit. There was so much information to cover and I hope it was enlightening. We are excited to announce that River City signed up 8 new members at our first meeting of 2011. You probably noticed from some of the presentations that we have a lot of goings on this year!

It was very encouraging that so many of you non board members showed up for the board meeting. We love your input and value everything you offer to the guild. The date and location of the next board meeting is Mar. 15 at 5:30 pm at Café Americain on Jefferson Hwy. and I encourage you to consider coming, contributing to the discussions, and joining in the fun!

I hope you enjoyed Jean Griffin’s presentation of the felted wool (geode) pin cushion. She inspired me by making it look so easy. So much that, Mary Woltmann, Margie Bumm, and I ordered kits on-line from Etsy ! We will bring those later in the year so you can see our handy work. Not sure if our pin cushions will look like Jean’s did, but we’ll give it our best shot!

Many, many thanks go out to Charlene Bertrand, Noreen Mazzaroppi, Candy Bergeron, Connie Day, and Marie Montelbano for setting up and tearing down the meeting room for the January meeting. In addition, they were also responsible for hanging and tagging the Mystery Quilts. You ladies did a great job and you have my sincere thanks for stepping forward and pitching in. We couldn’t have done it without you! AND we still need folks to sign up to help with room set up for the remainder of the year, just sign up for a month, maybe two.

WOW, the Mystery Quilts were beautiful! I was totally surprised that I took the Blue Ribbon. I hope that everyone was inspired by this display to sign up and do the 2011 Mystery Quilt. Thanks to Glenda Parks for taking care of that for the guild. I look forward to see what the next ones look like!

Please don’t forget to bring your wall hangings which are appropriate for “After the Storm” Ultimate Guild Challenge. Remember, we need at least 8 to enter AQS’s Knoxville Show in July. None of us want to get on Nina’s naughty list for not having enough to enter the competition. Remember the Para Challenge in 2009. It made it into the Knoxville show. We can do it again!

In order to give our members enough time to participate in some other challenges, we are unveiling new opportunities in February. (see the program list and meeting info, later in the newsletter.)

I’m looking for a leader! We need someone to chair the Auction committee. This person would need to have a fairly large, unused space in which to house the donated items.

Due to scheduling conflicts, I will be out of town for the February and March Saturday Sew Ins. I’m looking for someone who will be the Keeper of the Keys for those two Saturdays. If you are a regular Saturday sew person, please give me a call.

Please feel free to call me at (225) 767 1004 or (c) 955 5480. You stand a better chance to reach me on the cell. If you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can do it better, please let me know.

Keep sewing, Jo Paula
List of items to bring to the meeting:
  • 2011 Membership Application: if you have not renewed. Annual dues = $20. (see Joyce Perry) Please renew before March. The membership list is revised then. An application is at the end of the newsletter
  • February Birthday Table - (see Jo Doherty and Mary Wolf)
  • Bring Animal related fabrics/scraps for "cage comforters" - the YELP project (see Lilly Willis)
  • Show & Tell: Bring samples from your classes (Flavin Glover and Bonnie Hunter)
  • Fat Quarter Lotto: "Cremes and Off Whites" Max. of 2 entries. See Suzi
  • The Giving Quilt Project: Fabric donations for charity quilts (more info from Candy Bergeron)
  • Fiber Name Tag: You could win a $10 gift certificate.
  • "Pressing Matters" (Bags o' Scraps) help Sherry Herrinshaw (see explanation in the newsletter under Giving Quilt)