January 2017 Meeting Review

Late meeting reviews are like a fine wine, they get better with age, at least I keep telling myself that...

Shopping the Raincross annual yard sale

We kicked off 2017 with another great guild meeting and started with our favorite bit, the FOOD! Tasty vittles were to be had by all and we especially liked the coleslaw by Barbara M. (who hasn't had a chance to send me the recipe yet), the zucchini bake by Samantha, and the quinoa with cooked beans by Mary M. (who said it was just a boxed quinoa thing with added green beans).

We were blessed to have a few visitors, including Carlotta, James G. (the father of yours truly) and Beverly Dunivent, who was visiting with friends at Raincross and in town for Road. Welcome one and all!

Our January meeting was also our annual yard sale, where members were invited to bring their new or gently used items for sale, with 10% proceeds going to the guild.

James G. receives his QOV made by Cassandra G.

Susan C. reminded us that the National Sew Day for the Quilts of Valor Foundation is coming up Saturday February 4th at Rancho Caballero MV Club House. The Quilts of Valor Foundation requests that all participants register before Saturday. Lunch will be salad potluck and we'll order pizza for dinner. Please bring your own water/drinks. Learn more about our Sew Day here.

As a special treat, Susan then presented two Quilts of Valor, one to Patty C. for her uncle, and then as an extra special surprise, to U.S. Army veteran and guest, James G.!! Go big daddy!

Samantha N. gave us an update on Doggy & Kitty beds and encouraged everyone to keep giving her "clean" chopped salad -- no batting, no synthetics, no strings/threads, and pieces no wider nor longer than your finger. You're doing a puurffect job Samantha....now who's a good girl!?

Andie B. informed us she's setting up a date in the near future to deliver two sets of SIXTY (!!!) VA Quilts to two wards - wowzers!

Our Happy Bag Maven, Dawn M., said we already have about 40 bags this year and she's working on making up kits of 5 bags each. We're looking to make 400 bags this year and we'll plan another Happy Bag Sew Day in the fall.

The January meeting is also our annual vote for the Board and following strict "Roberta's Rules" (har har har), we voted "yay!" on our volunteer Board members, and thanked the Chairpersons who volunteered (or were volunteered O.o) for serving the guild in 2017! Check out the entire list on our About page.

Elly H. announced the 2017 Block of the Month theme will be Vice Versa Blocks, which will be tone on tone with very light or white fabric - if you want a sneak peek, she invited you to check out her Pinterest page. Elly also reminded us that we are invited to participate in the big reveal of our 2016 Stars BOM quilts! She's a kind mistress and while encourages us to bring them completed, we are more than welcome to bring in our quilts even if they're not "completed completed".

HOWEVER! Just to keep us on our toes, Elly announced our next challenge - you guessed it, the 50% Challenges! Dig out those UOFs (quilts, bags, whatever you like) and get them all the way "completed completed", binding, label and all, and bring them to the April meeting! As an added incentive, you may also want to participate in Rosie's Calico Cupboard 2017 UFO Challenge. Information about it should be on their Facebook page.

Also in February, Elly will lead a class on the awesome Convergence (or Harmonic Convergence) quilts she's made. The class will be at the Janet Goeske Center on Saturday February 25th from 9am-4pm with a salad potluck. The quilt is comprised of 4 fat quarters and Elly says if you  have a large square ruler to bring it as that's handy. Elly also recommends looking at pictures of Convergence quilts online to get an idea of the mix of light and dark and color tones mixes that look good for this quilt. The class will be free! Can't wait!

For those participating in the 9-Patch Group, our next set of blocks is due at the February meeting - this time it's Back to Batiks with light and dark of the same color. Can't wait to add more of your pretty 9 patches to my stash!

And lastly, the yearly guild membership of $25 is due at the February meeting. If you want  your name in the annual membership book, get your money in!

Other upcoming events:

• We will have a Threads of Love Sew Day on March 25th at Rancho Caballero, so save the date now!
• Barbara M. starting collecting $50 deposits for the next guild retreat at Vinya de Lestonnac (aka The Nunnery) in Temecula, which will be May 19th - 21st. Contact Barbara and get your deposit in now to save your spot!
• There are other quilt shows also coming up and are all on the guild calendar, so check it out.

Beyond this, we will be doing another Itty Bitty Picture Perfect Quilt Exchange at the Summer Potluck meeting in June - the theme will be Summer, so you over-achievers out there can get busy on that!

We want to recognize Florence for her many years of service for leading Friendship Quilters, which proceeds quilts for children in headstart programs, and continued service helping the guild organize events at the Goeske Center. Florence has now retired from leading Friendship Quilters, so thank you Florence once again for your service! It is befitting that Florence won this month's Mystery Box! Woohoo!

Door prizes:
Table runner kit - Lois L.
Rotary cutter - Barbara M.
Valentine's Day fats - Cindy S.
Applique quilt kit - Jan M.
Scissors and fats - Sandy S.

P.S. Yes, I changed the colors of the blog, hope you like them!

- Cassandra G.