Spring has arrived! But if you are anything like me you are completely unable to predict what the weather is going to do. Torrential rain today – beautiful clear skies tomorrow – followed by blustery winds the next day. Really, it is just best to plan to quilt – very weather friendly.

This month our guest speaker is Susan J. Jensen, the British Columbia designer of Quilted Escapes. Susan’s patterns combine a variety of techniques from beading, stitchery, wool appliqué and foundation paper piecing that gives a romantic feel to her quilt designs. Susan loves surface design and teaches classes in her techniques.

Susan designs for Northcott Fabric, RJR, and Trend-tex and has been featured in “The Canadian Quilter” and “A Needle Pulling Thread” and Electric Quilt and now on the editorial team of the first national Canadian quilt magazine “Quilter’s Connection”. Through her exposure at International Quilt Lions Gate Quilters Guild Page 2 of 10 market her patterns can be found in quilt shops from the coast to coast in Canada, United States and England. You can find her at “A Great Notion” Quilt Shop a few days a week, if she is not in her studio, as well as traveling teaching at quilt shops quilt guilds, retreats and consumer shows. With a wonderful sense of humour, the love of quilting, chocolate and meeting new friends, Sue hopes to inspire us to be the creative people we truly are! I am quite looking forward to meeting Susan and absorbing her magic.

I was amazed at our Show and Tell last month. The TGIF’s are coming in fast and furiously. Good thing to because you only have our April and May meetings to show your finished projects.

See you at our April meeting.
Andrea & Your Program Committee

 

Happy Spring Quilters!

Does it feel like Spring to you? I hope the great weather we have come to expect (note the sarcasm) is just around the corner. Of course the best part of a rainy weekend is the guilt free time spent inside at our sewing machines instead of outside in the garden.

I’d like to thank Marika Dauberman again for such a wonderful presentation last month. I hope that after that she isn’t too shy to show her quilts…and dolls…at future meetings.

This month Lynne Fanthorpe will be coming to speak to us. Lynne began sewing at age 7 and turned to quilting in 1994. The owner of numerous sewing machines and like many of us just too much fabric Lynne continues to visit every fabric store she passes just in case. Primarily a bed quilt maker and machine quilter there are some surprises in her trunk show. I met Lynne at the machine quilting class she taught for the Grouse Mountain Guild and found her a joy to listen to and her machine quilting amazing.

You have three more months to show your TGIF projects at our meetings. If you can’t remember which projects you submitted feel free to email me.

For those of you not sunning in Hawaii for spring break – see you on the 26th!!

Andrea & Your Program Committee

Hello Lions Gate Quilters – Have you been reenergized? Has the start of a new year inspired the start of new quilting projects or maybe you pulled out all your UFOs and are working on them.

We have a special speaker this month. Marika Dauberman is a Guild member and a good friend. You’ve seen Marika’s quilts in the Album of Quilts, often with a ribbon on them, but you have never ever seen a quilt at Show and Tell. Marika has an amazing history in craft which started in South Africa and continued in Canada when her family immigrated in March 2001. I met Marika at Quilt ‘Til you Wilt at The Cloth Shop in Edgemont Village. I love Marika’s use of colour and design. She is fearless and her embellishing is magical.

I really encourage you to come to the meeting in February, participate in our elections and stay and hear Marika’s journey.

TGIF Club has revved up our show and tell. It’s awfully fun seeing your projects coming out of the closet. We have four more months to show our finished projects. Let make it worth it!

Teaser…Our March speaker is a fantastic quilter who is a member of the Fraser Valley Quilt Guild. I met Lynne Fanthorpe when she was teaching a free motion quilting class this past Saturday. I really enjoyed Lynne and am looking forward to see her trunk show. More on Lynne in our March Newsletter.

See you on February 26!
Andrea & Your Program Committee

Happy New Years! I do hope you all had a brilliant time over the holidays.

In November I dropped the hint that Anna Smith was coming to speak at this month’s meeting. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond her control, Anna can’t come to this month’s meeting. Luckily Lorna Shapiro, our March speaker, saved my bacon and was happy to switch with Anna. Phew!

You might recognize Lorna as the owner of Quilters Dream Fabrics, a vendor of beautiful Asian and batik fabric at our last
two shows. Lorna will share her quilting journey, as well as tips and techniques she has learnt over the years.

This talk is just an appetizer for Lorna’s workshop, “Techniques and Artistry of Set-In Circles,” which she is teaching in
April. Sign up for this course opens at our January meeting.

The TGIF Club is fully in gear now. Registration is closed and again in November the number of registrations far exceeded our expectations. Now it’s time to get some project finished. Just a reminder to make sure that you let the Programs Committee know when you are showing a finished project so that we can enter your name for the draw prizes.

I would tell you who is coming to speak after the elections in February but I’m not going to jinx myself. You’ll have to wait until the February newsletter.

All the best in 2013…now get quilting!
Andrea & Your Program Committee

Oh my – somebody told me the other day that there are only 44 days until Christmas and by the time you read this it will be even less – can you believe it??? I hope you’re all ready for a great start to the holiday season.

This month is our Christmas social. Please feel free to bring some of your holiday baked goods to share at this month’s meeting. While there will be some store bought goodies we know that the homemade treats are a thousand times better.

We also thought that since Christmas is such a special time of year it would be nice if you would bring one of your most treasured quilts to show. It doesn’t have to be new, it doesn’t have to be made by you, it only has to be a treasure. So bring your beauty and share its story.

The November meeting is your last chance to join the TGIF Club. Please take this last opportunity to register your unfinished works of art. Here’s a reminder to please make sure that you let the Programs Committee know when you are showing a finished project so that we can enter your name for the draw prizes. Finished projects must be shown at a regularly scheduled monthly Guild meeting (not a COPS Day or a workshop) before the end of May’s meeting. Prizes will be handed out at our June social.

Your Programs Committee has worked hard to get some interesting speakers in 2013. In January we have Anna Smith coming to speak with us. More about her later.

Andrea & Your Program Committee

Happy October! Wow! Thank you to everybody who participated in the Hallowe’en Potholder Exchange! What a creative bunch of women we have in this Guild. I was so happy to see the potholders that came in. So much fun.

Please don’t forget to join the TGIF Club. You have two more months to register your unfinished works of art. So far we have between 60 and 70 projects registered. Show and Tell is going to be so much fun in the coming months. Please please please make sure that you let the Programs Committee know when you are showing a finished project so that we can enter your name for the draw prizes. We are accepting the registration of projects in the October and November meetings. Finished projects must be shown at a regularly scheduled monthly Guild meeting (not a COPS Day or a workshop) before the end of May’s meeting. Prizes will be handed out at our June social.

This week we have Sonja Callaghan coming to speak with us. Sonja is a west coast gal from Vancouver BC, and designing quilt patterns is her obsession.

Sonja took up quilting while pregnant with her daughter 11 years ago, and has been busy designing paper pieced patterns for the past 6 years. For the past 2 years she’s been in collaboration with Quiltmaker Magazine, designing kids themed, paper pieced quilt patterns for both their regular issues and their special issues as well. She has several more in the works for Quiltmaker so keep your eye out!

Some of Sonja’s patterns have also been published in collaborative books including Modern Blocks by Susanne Woods and Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays by John Q. Adams, with  more to come.

You can keep up with newly published patterns, read some fun tidbits about the modern quilt scene on the north west  coast, and find all kinds of video and photo tutorials, and free patterns on her blog: Artisania.

I won’t be seeing you this month so I will wish you all a Happily Haunted Hallowe’en now.

Andrea & Your Program Committee

Hello Lions Gate Quilters! Welcome back.

Have you made your Hallowe’en Potholders? I hope so. Don’t forget to bring your finished potholders to the meeting in September. Please drop them off at the Programs table before the meeting starts. We will put them on display and then at the end of the evening we will have you draw for the potholders you will take home. We will also have a draw for the leftover money we collected after paying for the supplies.

Are you going to join the TGIF Club? It’s time to start cleaning out our sewing rooms, crossing things off our lists, and getting ready for the next show. Why TGIF? Thank God It’s Finished! It has been 3 years since our last UFO challenge and I’m sure we’ve all been collecting UFO’s. Do you think they multiply like rabbits in the cupboard or are it just my projects doing this?

Rules:
Register your projects ($2.00 per project) in our September, October and November meetings. Bring your finished projects and show them at monthly meetings up to and including our May From your program committee Lions Gate Quilters Guild Page 2 of 12 meeting. The draw will be made at the June meeting. Sign up your UFO’s, your PHD’s (Projects Half Done), your WISP’s (Works in Slow Progress), your TBQ’s (To Be Quilted), maybe even your PIW (Projects in Waitingthose kits you bought ages ago and have not started). This is a finish it up program not a reason to buy a new project! To be entered to win a prize your completed project must be shown during show and tell.

“Who is coming to our September meeting?” you ask.

Shelley and Bernie are coming. They’re going to talk tension, thread, needles and all sorts of things. I’m sure they’ll have some great tips up their sleeves. Please come with questions ready. I’ve taken some great courses taught by Shelley and we know they are both bursting with Bernina knowledge so take this opportunity to learn a few things and maybe have some questions answered.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all on the 25th. Enjoy the last few days of summer.

Andrea & Your Program Committee

Before you do anything else – pat yourself on the back. This year’s Album of Quilts was simply spectacular. Well done fellow quilters!!

We are going to celebrate our Show’s success at the June Social. Please please please bring your winning quilts for a special show and tell during the second half of our meeting. This is above and beyond our regular show and tell. We will also have snacks and refreshments. Please plan to spend a night relaxing and socializing. Bring handwork if you wish.

For those of you who signed up for the Hallowe’en Potholder Exchange please remember to pickup your instructions and supplies at the Programs table either before the meeting or during the break. If you haven’t signed up for the Potholder Exchange and would like to participate send let me know before JUNE 22 and I will sign you up. Please remember to bring your $2 participation fee to the meeting. We will be exchanging our finished potholders at the September meeting.

Did you ever think that quilting should be considered an art? Vivian Kapusta will be doing a slide show presentation for the “Together” show that was in La Conner. Fibre artists worked with artists in another art medium, they chose their theme and worked to interpret that theme. Side-by-side they displayed their work. The results were amazing.

I was upset to miss the Together Show and am thrilled that Vivian is willing to share her presentation with us.

Also at our May meeting: Please sign up for our Hallowe’en potholder swap. We had so much fun doing swaps last year that we thought we’d try one more.

We’re asking people to sign up for the swap in May for the small participation fee of $2. In June, we’ll hand out to all those who signed up a set of guildelines for the swap as well as the insulated batting required for the potholders. The potholders are to be ready for swapping at the September meeting where we will also have a draw from the names of people who finished their potholders for the money left over from the participation fee collected, if any, after purchasing the batting. I already have my Hallowe’en fabric picked out for my swap partner…whoever he or she may be. See you on the 22nd!

Andrea & Your Program Committee

Spring has arrived! It’s that time of year when many of us will struggle to find the time do all our spring gardening when trying hard to finish their quilts for our upcoming show. But it’s a time of regrowth – the days are longer and warmer and hopefully drier – and I know you all can find the time to make aspects of your lives beautiful.

After meeting Dougal last month and watching her presentation, I feel energized to get to work on my needlework BUT not until I finish my show quilts, my new cushions and…well, the list is long. And speaking of cushions I made a quick trip to Creative Edge to buy binding fabric for my Dresden plate pillow. Does anybody have theirs finished? If you bring yours to show and tell in April I’ll bring mine.

This month we have Karen Berry coming to us from the Fraser Valley.

Karen has been quilting for nearly 20 years and is a self proclaimed quiltaholic having inherited the gene from her paternal grandmother. There is nothing about quilting that Karen doesn’t love and she is continuously amazed with the unending creative, unique techniques and methods of quilting that evolve from all over the world. Karen says that the realm of quilting has been a wonderful gift for her, opening many learning opportunities wrapped up in all the colours of the rainbow. Karen is a member of the Fraser Valley Quilt Guild and the friendships she has made in the Guild are particularly important to her.

Now that Karen has retired from Public Health Nursing, she can quilt for many hours most days, resulting in a collection of numerous finished projects and dozens of ufos. Karen’s quilts are always very colourful as she tends to work in the gemstone colours. Other than paying attention to colour values, Karen doesn’t follow many rules and tends to be happy with the imperfection that expresses her own creativity. Karen states that “None of my quilts are tasteful!” And that probably 90% of her quilts have some sort of three-dimensional aspect to the design. Karen enjoys whimsical art patterns as they address the “little girl within” who likes to come out and play.

So come on out on the 24th and meet Karen and see her collection of whimsical, colourful quilts.

Andrea & Your Program Committee