These popular bags are made with cotton clothesline wrapped in beautiful batik fabric. It makes a sturdy tote or bowl, with an oval bottom, and an optional lining. The Aunties Two patterns #AT102 (Bag) and #AT101 (Bowl) provide good directions for wrapping the fabric, and are recommended as reference for the class.

DATE: Saturday, November 22, 2014
TIME: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
PLACE: St. Catherine’s Church, 1058 Ridgewood Dr, North Vancouver
COST: $30

It’s hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of June!! What are your plans for the summer? Are you thinking about sewing a bright summer quilt or finishing those quilting projects you set aside in order to get those other quilts ready for the Quilt Show. Wasn’t the Quilt Show amazing!!

We currently have 123 members in our guild and had 87 in attendance at the last meeting. Do you know someone who might be interested in quilting and would like to join us? Bring them to a meeting – the first visit is free. After that there is a $5.00 drop-in fee payable at the membership table or a membership is $55.00 a year. Please remember that the prorated rate of $27.50 is for New Members only and comes into effect September through December.

Remember to bring your name tag in order to win a door prize. Congratulations to our May winners: Sandi Hill and Joan Herrin. Be sure to be wearing your name tag in order to claim your door prize, should your name be drawn. Nametags are available for $1.00 each if you forget to bring your own.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Happy Stitching,
Joan Herrin

Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer our library survey, it will help me decide which books to order in the coming months.

Secondly, please check if you have any borrowed books and return them, even if they are not yet overdue – we are coming up on our yearly inventory check and I would like to have everything returned by our next meeting. If books aren’t returned, I’ll have to call you to remind you!

Finally, we’re going to have a huge book sale at our next meeting! Don’t forget to bring cash or chqeques to pick up any books that interest you, as we have over 100 books for sale. Pictured below are a few of the books we’re selling:

Marg Marlow, a longtime member of the Lions Gate Quilters’ Guild, passed away on April 19th. I didn’t know Marg very well but over the years I took several quilting classes from her at The Thread Bear, Creative Edge Quilting and Sewing and through the Guild and always enjoyed them. Over the past years we exchanged emails often when she organized Quilt Retreats for our guild. Genevieve Tobin and myself shared a ride to Squamish for Marg’s funeral service and we reminisced about classes with Marg. Both of us clearly remember Marg telling us to, “Just do it , take that pretty quilt top, layer it, and start to quilt it!!” I can still hear her saying that when I hesitate to machine quilt. Her machine quilting class was one of the best I have ever taken. Leslie Rutledge did a lovely job in helping display many of Marg’s quilts and hang thread and fabric works on the walls. The Totem Hall felt warm and inviting and I could feel Marg’s presence. Leslie also created a living memories slide show for all of us. It was a lovely testament to her friend. I know there were many quilters at the Hall that afternoon and I realized what a lifelong bond this wonderful craft of ours forms between us. During the service several people commented that the most important things in Marg’s life were: Family, Friends and Fabric and that was so evident on that Saturday. We will miss you Marg.

Sonia Milanez and Joan Gold, our librarians, would really like your input into the selection of library materials. You can email them or follow the link in our Newsletter under Library Survey Form. If you have recently purchased a book or two or if you are looking through your own personal library collection and come across a favourite title please share those titles with Sonia and Joan. We will all benefit.

I received an email from the coordinator of the gallery space at the West Vancouver Memorial Library asking if our guild would be interested in exploring the possibility of a quilt exhibit at the library. She is looking ahead to January 2015 or possibility the fall of 2014. This seems like an ideal opportunity to share our work with the North Shore Community and reconnect with quilt lovers several months after our Quilt Show. We do need a few people who would undertake to organize and work with this person on behalf of the guild. The library exhibits usually are displayed for 6 to 8 weeks and the library takes 15% sales commission on any sales involved. The space holds about 25 mid-size paintings although there is room for some larger quilts. If you are interested in getting involved in this project please let me know. I have more detailed information as to the specific sizes of areas in the library which can be used for display purposes. I would like to respond to this request before the summer.

During our April meeting Show and Tell we measured a total of 2,476 inches which brings our grand total to 36,894 inches or approx. 934.03 metres. Please continue to measure your quilts’ circumferences as we participate in the Walk to Brock Challenge.

Our May meeting is dedicated to our Community Quilts program. Please come and congratulate our Community Quilts Committee and be awestruck by our guild’s wonderful efforts and beautiful quilts.

Don’t forget your name tags, mugs, cash for 50/50 tickets and Ridge Meadows Guild Raffle Quilt tickets and our own Show Raffle tickets. Return your library books and pay your fines please. Remember to bring your cheque book for Workshop registration and your library fines if they have gotten out of control. And bring your Show and Tell and any Community Quilts you have been feverishly working on. I look forward to seeing you on May 27th.

Happy Quilting,
Betty

Krista showed us the technique, now she will show us how to make her whole design in this warm/cool colour study class. Her Temperature Check quilt has been selected for the juried quilt show at CQA in June, in the new Modern Quilt category, and we can be the first to learn how to make this stunning wall hanging.

DATE: Saturday, October 25, 2014
PLACE: St. Catherine’s Church, 1058 Ridgewood Dr, North Vancouver
TIME: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
COST: $45

Learn about Canadian history and world contributions like you have never heard before. Each student is encouraged to add blocks and designs that are relevant to their own family background, culture and history, and every quilt is as individual as its maker. You never expected to learn this much about our country while having so much fun.

This is a look at Canadian history in 8 classes over 8 months. Each session is about 3 hours, including a presentation on an aspect of Canadian history or contribution that has had a positive effect in the world, a little break, and then finished off with some patterns that pertain to the lesson. Sewing is done at home.

DATES: Guild meeting days Oct 28/14, Nov 25/14, Jan27/15, Feb 24/15, Mar 24/15, APR 28/15, May26/15, Jun23/15.
TIME: 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
PLACE: St. Andrews & St. Stephens Church, 2641 Chesterfield Ave, North Vancouver
COST: $120 (which includes a $30 kit fee for photocopying all her notes)

The Quilt Show is almost upon us!! Have you been working hard to get that last stitch in the binding, putting your labels on and, oh, don’t forget the need for a 4” sleeve. Not sure how to do something? Ask your fellow quilters as we all are a great resource for one another.

To date we have 123 members in our guild. Do you know someone who might be interested in quilting and would like to join us? Bring them to a meeting – the first visit is free. After that there is a $5.00 drop in fee payable at the membership table or a membership is $55.00 a year. Please remember that the prorated rate of $27.50 is for New Members only and comes into effect September through December. However, membership is currently $75.00 until after the Quilt Show and includes your membership and four tickets to the quilt show. To be a door prize winner, be sure to be wearing your nametag at the meeting. Congratulations to our April winners: Sonia Milanez and Kory Lowe. Nametags are available for $1.00 each if you forget to bring your own.

See you in May and at the Quilt Show!!
Joan Herrin

During last month’s presentation by Karen Johnson she mentioned several times that various pieces of her quilts belonged to her ‘coat’, her ‘blouse’, and other articles of clothing. I started to imagine a rather tattered looking closet with blouses missing a square of fabric and her coat with a rectangle cut out of it. I asked Karen about this strange image I was having and she laughed and said that she sewed most of her clothing and that she was using left over bits of fabric. I was certainly relieved to hear that. Fons and Porter have an ad that shows a man sleeping with a square cut out of his shirt and two women sewing in the background and I think they are laughing. I enjoyed Karen’s presentation showing her quilting story starting with traditional quilts leading up to more artistic, contemporary fiber projects.

During our March meeting Show and Tell we measured a total of 5,410 inches which brings our grand total to 34,418 inches or 871.34 metres. I think we are moving across Canada with great speed on our Walk to Brock Challenge.

Colleen Bell, our guild webmaster, came to the Executive meeting on March 31st and gave a short presentation as to how she saw our website evolving. There are no immediate major changes happening at our website although the future is going to bring easier and fuller access to our website and to the general internet world of quilting. Take a look at our website today and see what is new and interesting. The entire library is listed on our website with photos.

For our keen Quilt Retreat participants here are the dates which have been confirmed at Edenvale. 2015: Feb. 26 – March 1st and 2016: Feb. 25 – 28th.

I want to remind everyone that at our May meeting we will be celebrating our Community Quilts Program. I realize that some of you may still be working on your Quilt Show entries but think about taking just a couple of hours or so and work on a small Community quilt. We are very fortunate in how the calendar shapes up between our April and May guild meetings. We have a whole 5 weeks between meetings along with a couple of Spring holidays. So, we all may have a little extra time to play at our favourite hobby and include a small Community Quilt.

Our next guild meeting is the 4th Tuesday of the month which is on April 22nd. I remind you of this because this month we have 5 Tuesdays and I am sure that I am not the only one who has come to a meeting on the last Tuesday of the month to discover no one else there. Remember to wear your name tags, bring your mug, money for raffle tickets, 50/50 tickets and overdue library fines, your library books, your cheque book to register for workshops, your Show and Tell along with circumference measurements. I look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting on the 22nd of April.

Happy Quilting,
Betty

April showers bring May flowers and Easter weekend is not far off! Both should also give us, as quilters, a good reason to stay inside and finish our quilts for the quilt show in June. So not only does rain bring flowers, it brings Quilts!!!

Now that you have renewed your membership, did you remember to pick up your new membership card and quilt show tickets? This year’s colour is red! Your membership number should remain the same as in past years. Be sure to keep your card handy when going shopping as some quilt/fabric stores may offer a discount if you are a guild member in good standing. Membership also allows you to sign up for workshops and borrow library books.

We currently have 120 members registered and we had 86 members in attendance along with 2 guests at the March guild meeting. If you know of someone who has been a member in the past, remind them to renew their membership.

A membership list has been emailed out to all registered guild members. If you notice any errors please let me know and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me.

Be sure to remember to be wearing your nametag in order to claim your door prize, should your name be drawn. Nametags are available, if you forgot to bring yours, and are $1.00 each.

Happy Easter and Happy Quilting!
Joan Herrin

I would like to thank all of our members who came to the AGM on Tuesday February 25th. The rain came in the nick of time and got rid of that snow. It is a meeting we must have and I was pleased by the participation we had. One member was brave enough to hold her hand up in disagreement with a motion and so then we had a bit of discussion and then an amendment to the motion. It really did help to clarify the motion so thank you Barbara.

I am pleased to welcome the following people to the Executive: Debbie Barrett as Vice President; Suzanne Patchell as Treasurer; Laurel Hickey as Newsletter Editor; Joan Herrin as Membership(one year); Sonia Milanez and Joan Gold as Librarians and Norine McCaffrey as one of our Members-at-Large. They have all agreed to serve for two years with Joan taking over from Kate Burzuk for one year. The rest of the Executive who are in their second year of a two year term are: myself (Betty Clarke) as your President; Paulette Morton as Secretary; Anne Pelton as Workshops Coordinator and Joan Elliott as one of our Members-at-Large. Programs Coordinator has not been filled as yet.

The Walk to Brock Challenge has been extended to mid June 2014. So, we shall continue to measure those quilts that are shown at guild meetings and Dorothy Porter is going to make sure we submit the circumference measurements of all of our Show Quilts. Boy, we are going to have many, many inches of quilting to be proud of. Dorothy submitted a total of 3,032 inches to CQA for the month of February. That brings our grand total to 29,008 inches or roughly 734.38 metres of quilt circumferences. This is kind of fun. Perhaps someone in the guild would volunteer to make some kind of graph showing our progress. I shall leave that with you.

The past weekend was our Community Quilts weekend. I had a wonderful sewing experience. The coffee and tea were always ready along with super goodies and I ordered a fabulous sandwich for lunch. It felt like being on a Retreat. On Friday night we were even allowed to leave our sewing machines set up ready to start again the next day. The Community Quilts committee must be congratulated on doing such a fine job. It is a great deal of work to set the hall up, organize furniture and people to work on a variety of tasks, and keep us all happy with caffeine and sugar. Community Quilts will have kits available at our next guild meeting for anyone interested in helping out and contributing to this worthwhile guild endeavour. In May, part of our Program will be to celebrate the fruits of our labour and enjoy the wonderful feelings of accomplishment. Our guild efforts give comfort and enjoyment to so many people. We should be very proud of ourselves. Even if you make just one quilt it may make a difference in someone’s life.

Our next guild meeting is on Tuesday, March 25th. Don’t forget the usual items: your name tag; mug; money or cheques for library book fines, raffle quilt tickets, 50/50 tickets, workshop registration; library books; your Show and Tell; Quilt Show registrations forms; and your smiley faces. I shall see you all soon. (We need 2 extra bodies in the kitchen at 7:00, please help).

Happy Quilting,
Betty