Blooming everywhere! Spring flowers that is! They are blooming everywhere, between the cracks in the sidewalk, in the garden, in the lawn. Crocuses, daffodils, and soon tulips. The colours of spring are very inspirational, they can even inspire quilts. So how does your garden grow?

Speaking of growing, our membership renewals have been growing as well. To date we have 138 members in our guild. Do you know someone who is interested in quilting, and would like to join us? Bring them along to a meeting, the first visit is free. After that there is a $5 drop in fee payable at the membership desk…. but a membership is $50 for a year, and has its benefits.

To be a door prize winner, be sure to be wearing your name tag at the meeting. All of your names are in the draw bag; they are entered automatically when you renew your membership.

Kate Burzuk
Membership Coordinator

Hello, Fellow Guilders!

I am pleased to takeover as your new librarian for the next two years and look forward to meeting more Guild members. Many thanks to Cathy Jamieson for the great work she and her colleague Pamela Pellegrini did in maintaining and expanding our collection. It is in great shape and well organized.

I want to especially thank Cathy for her encouragement and ongoing support, however, she tells me that running the Library is a job for more than one person! So here is my plea for your help! I would be most grateful if someone would be willing to step forward and assist me on an ongoing basis – if you love quilting books, here is your opportunity to select what goes into our collection!

As well, I will need some additional help with setting up, loaning out books, etc. at each Guild meeting, so if you would like to help out on an occasional it would be most appreciated.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Margo Novak

We are saddened to announce that long-time member, Pat Ingram, passed away the evening of March 15. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

First of all, I must thank Dorothy Porter for her opening joke at our January Guild meeting. I was taken off guard completely. She told me she was shy!

We had 114 members in attendance to enjoy the very full business meeting and a great program called Men in Quilting, starring Matt Wheeler, owner of the Quilted Bear Store in Ladner, and Paul Krampitz. You can look back at January’s newsletter for a great write up on these two gentlemen which includes a web site for Paul.

The next two months are going to be very busy ones before and after the meetings and at the breaks. Show quilts are being photographed but you only have February and March to take advantage of that service. All quilts must be registered by March 31st. And that is a very serious deadline indeed!! Also, in connection with the Quilt Show, volunteer forms need to be filled out and submitted. And, then, don’t forget that you must renew your membership by the February 28th meeting. Many important things to be done this month and next. So, after filling out a bunch of forms you can get back to quilting and finishing your Show quilts.

Brenda Sangster has been busy organizing a bus trip to Sisters, Oregon taking place from July 12-15. So, you need to register very soon for that trip if you are interested. By the time this newsletter comes to you our Quilt Retreat will be over and I know it will have been a resounding success. Marg told me that 14 of the 22 registrants wanted to get that extra day of sewing in and Edenvale agreed to feed them dinner. Good for you Marg for organizing that sustenance for the group so that they could sew into the night.

Our guild archivist, Anne Read, has finished an album containing photos from 2002 until June 2011. Cathy has processed it so that you can borrow it from the library. We all look so much younger in 2002. I recommend you have a look at it. Anne is also busy working with the Community Quilts Committee and she would like to hand over the archivist job to someone else in June. So, please consider doing that job, especially if you enjoy taking photos.

Good news on the Executive front. We have filled all positions coming available in February with volunteers. Thank you so much ladies. But, if you really would like to serve on the Executive we will be taking nominations from the floor at our next meeting and we might have to have an election. As a member of the phoning committee I would like to say what a pleasure it was to talk to some of our members. I had a member who said she would “think” about serving on the Executive and another who said that she was a “serious maybe.” Those comments kept me phoning and then someone said “yes”, just like that.

At the AGM we will be acknowledging the work done by our outgoing executive members and members who have been active behind the scenes. So, please make an effort to come to the meeting. Our program this month is a trunk show by Vivian Kapusta (her website is awesome) and Kate tells me she has a “special” door prize so remember to wear those name tags. Don’t forget your mug for tea, your cheque book and lets have lots of show and tell.

I wish you all a healthy, happy and successful quilting New Year.

Happy Quilting,
Betty