Jeannette Millar - Underground Railroad

 At our January meeting Jeannette Millar spoke to us about the Underground Railroad.  This "rail road" was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.  She told us how quilt blocks were used as codes.  The quilt patterns, used in a certain order, relayed messages to slaves preparing to escape.  Some of the common blocks used were Monkey Wrench, Crossroads, and Wagon Wheel.

It was a very informative presentation enjoyed by all.  Thank you Jeannette.

As a bonus Pat Chester and Carolyn Porteous brought in newly made Underground Railroad sampler quilts.  They were beautiful

Christmas Luncheon

December 10th was the date of our Christmas Luncheon.  As usual the food was great, the craft creative, and the Show and Share inspiring.  The Secret Sisters exchange gifts and Donna made all of us an adorable tree ornament (I have already eaten the chocolate!!). Best wishes to all for a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Girls just wanna have fun!!

The block of the month group met today.  It was Claudette Lindsey's birthday and Chrissy Altelaar, Donna Starr and group decorated some birthday glasses for her.  The lunch was catered from the Panty Shelf (yum!!) and Chrissy made cupcakes with a special candled one for Claudette.  Happy birthday Claudette.
Just goes to show you the fun you can have at our workshops!!
Thanks for the scoop and the pictures Chrissy.

November Meeting - Carol Goddu

Carol Goddu an extraordinary fabric artist was our speaker for November.  Carol has been lecturing and teaching since 1985.  She has taught her classes in Canada, the US and Europe.  She presented an incredible slide and truck show to the Guild.  I was on vacation and am very sorry I missed it.  Here are some examples of her work.

Show and Share October Meeting

Some very striking art quilts were part of Show and Share this month. These quilts were a perfect tie in for Donna Fournier's annoucement that there will be an Art Quilt catagory at our Quilt Show.  Hope to see the items on dispay in May!!!   We also got to see some great traditional work from our members...

HRH Donna Mac and the bag ladies....

Martha Schellingerhoud

Our October meeting featured an amazingly talented quilter...Martha Schellingerhoud.  We were wowed by her quilts.  So much colour, detail and beauty.  Martha is a machine quilter and she sews every thing from piecing to quilting  on a regular household machine.  She showed us a couple of methods she uses to quilt and attached sections of the quilt....talk about the ultimate jigsaw puzzle. She is such an inspiration.

Show and Share September Meeting

Ten summer quilters brought in their creations.....while we were enjoying the heat of the summer they were heating up their machines and producing wonderful items....

Here are a few examples

Sept Speakers

Mary and Trisha from Harebrained Happenings  put on a wonderful trunk show of their whimsical and humourous quilted creations.  This was a great opening act for our new Guild year!!   The ladies also had many of their quilt patterns for sale.  I am looking forward to seeing these patterns made up and presented at a Show and Share.

Welcome Donna

Donna MacDonald, our new president, opened our season by announcing her charity for the year,  her Secret Sister program, and  The President's Challenge.

Charity

Donna has selected as her charity Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes - Transportation Services.  This service offers seniors and anyone with a disability or other special needs with transportation options.  This can include transportation to medical appointments, grocery shopping, errands and social events.  This helps the users of this service to maintain their independence. It also takes some of the burden off the city's ambulance services.

Secret Sister

Details  and sign up sheets for this  program were handed out at the meeting.  It sounds like fun.  Need info on this?  Contact Donna.  

President's Challenge

To make an item from leftover or newly made triangles. We all have tons of these!!

Categories

• Traditional blocks using triangles or half square triangle
• What were you thinking?  This can be anything - using triangles 
• Mixed media.  This can involve using many different techniques with different embellishments to create your piece.

Donna has a detailed hand out on this project. 

Thank you Lorna


A big thank you to Lorna Bawden-Smith for her two years as president.  Our new president Donna MacDonald presented Lorna with a gift as a token of our appreciation for all her hard work and dedication to the Guild.

Lorna selling raffle tickets

Lorna raising funds..

l