Register now for the Quilt of Valor National Sew Day!

Stars & Stripes by Ricky Tims 

On Saturday, February 4th, we will be joining with quilters across the nation for a National Sew Day to support the Quilt of Valor Foundation (QOFV). Susan C. and her team have been busily working on making lots of kits for us to complete on that day!

QOFV requests that all quilters planning to participate in the event register in advance. Registration is free!

We will be working at the Rancho Caballero's Club House on Saturday February 4th from 9am-10pm, so feel free to join us for a part or the whole day. We'll have a salad potluck for lunch and then order pizza for dinner.



If you are not able to register yourself or you know someone who will be joining us who can't register for themselves, please let me know and I will assist you or them in registering on the website. Thank you!

- Cassandra G.

Fun Jelly Roll Quilt from Carmen Geddes Quilts

Carol H. shared this post on Facebook and I think it's pretty darn nifty!

- Cassandra G.

Coming up Roses

Happy New Year!

The slate is clean - let's do this...

- Cassandra G.

Good things

Many of you may have felt like I have that certain aspects of this year 2016 have been mightily depressing with the loss of so many wonderful talents and devastating wars and attacks on the innocent...

So I thought you might need a little pick-me-up and some happy thoughts so here are 99 major good things that have happened to our little planet this year.

One of my personal favs is number 80: In February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the global manatee population is no longer endangered.

Artist Unknown

If the lowly sea cow can make it, so can we! Read the list of the to be amazed by good things that have happened this year.

P.S. #89: Giant pandas are no longer endangered either. :) #pandamonium

- Cassandra G.

December 2016 Meeting Review

'Twas a night before Christmas, when all through the guild
A few quilters were missing; a new night was billed.
Many were sad the Center had changed our usual day,
But hopes were still high and we met anyway.

The quilters were nestled all snug at their tables,
Having grabbed some deviled eggs, if they were able.
And Jeri in her 'apron, and I with my recap,
Had just settled down for a long meeting's yap.

When up on the stage there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Out with my iPhone, and off with the flash,
Tore open my eyeballs, and readied to dash.

The lights on the stage like a new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the quilts below,
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But quilts with Santas and mangers and stars and reindeer.

With a feisty spry prez, so quick and merry,
We knew in a moment it must be our Jeri.
More rapid than sergers her quilters they came,
And she cheered, and praised, and called them by name;

"Now, SUSAN! now, CAROL! now, VICKIE and ANGIE!
On, SAMANTHA! on JAN, on DONNA and VANGIE!
To the top of the steps! step away from the wall!
Now share with us! share with us! share with us all!"

As fat quilters that before an Elly challenge fly,
When they meet with a UOF, stitching a shoofly,
So up to the Goeske the quilters they flew,
With their bags full of quilts and Prez Jeri too.

And then, in a twinkling, we saw without guilt
The ohing and awing for each little quilt.
As we draw in our breath, and were turning around,
Into our vision Prez Jeri came with a bound.

She spoke a few words and then straight to the show,
And filled all our hearts by going with the flow,
And laying our hands on those pieces of art,
We knew that our meeting was a joy to the heart.

We sprang from our seats, to our cars like a missile,
And away we all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard her exclaim, as I drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

-- adapted by Cassandra G. from A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore

What a fantastic night we had! After having to reschedule due to the Goeske Center being closed for two weeks, we still had a great turn out and according to Jeri, the best potluck ever! We are so sorry that there are those who couldn't be there and we held you all in our hearts.

Besides the potluck, we also had a special Show and Share where members were invited to also bring Christmas quilts and projects from Christmases Past - be sure to check out the photos or video! And because it's Christmas, the Guild held a Christmas gift lottery and had purchased several awesome gifts, including a cordless handless iron, quilt pattern and kits, and other goodies. Each member received 5 tickets and could put as many tickets as they liked in for each item, with the drawing at the end of the meeting.

After a fabulous repast, we started right in with door prizes!

Door Prizes
Project tote & pattern - Sharon G.
Teapot cushion & buttons - Valerie T.
Quilt labels & pattern - Ginnie C.
Batik strips & Roxanne's glue - Jamie J.
Enchanted pines layer cake & buttons - Cassandra G.

Charlotte shows off her baby blanket

Onto some news...

• Mary M. graciously donated 2 bolts of baby fabric for the neonatal quilt - thank you! 
• Shelly N.'s daughter got accepted to Azusa Pacific Physical Therapist Doctorate program - congratulations!
• Judy M. is moving to North Carolina and this was her last meeting. Sorry to see you go, but bon voyage!
• Charlotte visited with us and spent the meeting busily crocheting a baby letters blanket - beautiful!

Elly announced that the 'Another Star' block due at the December meeting was our last 2016 Star BOM and invited us all to bring our completed 2016 BOM quilts to the February meeting. Elly said she's working on two BOM theme choices for 2017 - half square triangles or negative/positive. Elly took a quick vote by show of hands and she may introduce both! The 2017 BOM will start in February.

Upcoming Charity Events:
Saturday January 21st 2017 Road to California Charity Event. Click here for more information.

Saturday February 4th National Quilt of Valor Sew Day at Rancho Caballero's Club House from 9am-10pm! We'll have a salad potluck for lunch and then order pizza for dinner.

Saturday March 25th Threads of Love Sew Day at Rancho Caballero's Club House.

Barbara M. announced we have the dates for the next guild retreat to Vinya de Lestonnac (aka the Nunnery) in Temecula for May 19th-21st. We have not received costs yet from the Nunnery, but expect more information soon.

The meeting was also the time for Board and chairperson nominations. The vote via paper ballot for the Board positions will occur at the January meeting with the installation of the new Board at the February meeting.

To accommodate those who may not have been able to attend, Board and chairperson nominations have been extended to Friday, January 6th. Please call Jeri to nominate yourself. To that, Samantha N. would like to announce that she would like to step down from doing Show and Share, so if anyone is interested and can help out, your nomination would be appreciated! If you have never volunteered to help  or you haven't in a long time, now is your chance and thank you!

In addition to voting on the Board, we will also be holding a Yard Sale at the January meeting. You are invited to bring your new or in-good-condition used items to sell. 10% of your total sales will be due to the Guild. There will be no Pay and Take table at the next meeting.

Susan M.'s 9 patch group brought in their fabulous thirties 9 patches and Susan announced the next 9 patch theme - we're going Back to Batiks, this with a light and dark fabric of the same color, like light teal and dark teal, etc. Can't wait to see those, which are due at the February meeting!

Next up was the Mystery Box, which was won, OMGOSH, by YOURS TRULY! WOOHOO! Keep buying tickets, ladies! You can win! :D


And finally, the Christmas Gift Lottery - winners had to be present to win:

• Fancy cordless, handleless iron - Nancy R. (who was besides herself! I'm sorry I didn't get a video of it)
• 90" x 90" Star quilt pattern and kit - Jamie J.
• Pure Color Runner kit - Florence
• Tote bag kit - Benita
• Spools table runner kit - Barbara O.
• Blue Kaffee Fasset kit - Dolores B.
• Batiks kit - Laura G.
• Red Kaffe Fasset kit -Dina B.
• Fat quarters & $50 gift certificate to Easy Quilting Corner - Fern

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night!

- Cassandra G.

Christmas Countdown with Cocoa

I'm still working on the December guild meeting review and when you see it, you'll know why it took me a bit longer. :) But! The pictures are up and available in the usual spots (photos and video).

In the meantime, I thought I'd share one of my favorite winter recipes, this day being the winter solstice and first day of winter. I always like this day because from here onto summer, the days only get longer, which makes me happy!

So, the recipe is for making your own hot cocoa mix from the Alton Brown! Definitely add that good pinch or two of cayenne pepper as it really adds a nice warming touch. And I don't necessarily "Fill your mug half full with the mixture" but two heaping teaspoons full (plus a half a teaspoon extra for good luck) in a small mug or more if you're using a big mug. Then I fill it halfway with hot water to mix in the dry and make sure to get rid of any powdered milk lumps before adding the rest of the water. And I usually top with a little half and half because I'm decadent like that.

And then I leave the mix on my counter all winter! Great for company around the holidays. :)

- Cassandra G.

Reminder: Guild meeting Thursday!

Some say it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off Nakatomi Plaza*, which may be true...for me, I've got to listen to the Muppets sing a classic English carol (indulge me):

I can't get it play skipped to the right spot, so skip to 1 minute 10 seconds...


As a reminder, we are meeting this Thursday, December 15th instead of today. Again, on behalf of the board, we're sorry if the reschedule overlaps with other events you may have - December is always a crazy month and unfortunately the reschedule was out of our control. :(

Here's your reminder list of things to bring:

• Your homemade name badge with your Raincross Quilt Guild pin
• Star block of month (our last 2016 Star BOM!)
• If you're participating in Susan M.'s 9 Patch group, your 30's 9 patches
• A past holiday project to share during our Christmases Past Show N Share
• Bottled water or other non-alcoholic drink for yourself
• Everyone is invited to bring a snack to share for our holiday potluck (but it's not required!)
• You are invited to bring $25 cash or check as we will be starting to collect membership dues for 2017 (final due date is the February meeting)

See you all Thursday!

*P.S. First person who can give me that reference WITHOUT googling it wins a holiday theme fat quarter! Post your answer in the comments below.

- Cassandra G.

Guild Meeting set for Thursday December 15th

Advent Calendar by Ahhh...Quilting

Hear ye, hear ye!! The Janet Goeske Center is NOT available for us on our normal night this month, so we have confirmed with the Center to reschedule the meeting for

Thursday December 15th

Same location (The Janet Goeske Center), same time (6:30-9:00pm). Please be sure to mark your calendars!!

As as additional reminder, this month's meeting is our Semi-Annual Potluck where everyone is invited, but not required, to bring a snack to share. It is also when we will be receiving the annual Raincross Quilt Guild Board Member nominations. If you would like to nominate yourself or to nominate someone else (with their permission!) to a board member position or to volunteer for a Chairperson position, please be prepared to do so during the meeting. We will vote on the board during the January meeting and the board will take affect at the February meeting.

We will also start receiving 2017 membership dues of $25 at the December meeting; we request all membership be in by the February meeting. Please note that all of us are busy people (especially so this month!), so checks written to the guild may not be cashed immediately. If this poses a problem, please consider paying in cash or with a cashier's check and thank you!

See you on the 15th!

- Cassandra G.

November 2016 Meeting Review

"Merry Christmas" to Alice after she stole Jeri's quilt!

Now that the tryptophan has worn off (and I'm over my cold - ugh), here's your November 2016 meeting review!

It was an action packed evening with our annual Grab Game exchange and our intrepid leader, President Jeri R. started us off with words I think we all feel - "I love being here!" We do too, Jeri, we do too. :)

Sharon C. spoke about Threads of Love. Garments made for Threads of Love from Raincross go to those in need at Parkview Hospital. Sharon said that we unfortunately need more garments and she will have more kits ready to go in January. If you have a kit, please do your best to get it finished and bring to the next guild meeting. We are also planning a Sew Day for Threads of Love coming in the spring. We talked about getting the patterns for the crocheted caps and booties here on the blog and I haven't gotten those yet from Sharon - will post those when I do.

Road to California is coming up fast and now is the time to sign up as a volunteer! Most volunteer positions are for white-gloving, which means donning a pair of white gloves and turning over quilts so visitors can see the back side. I volunteered last year for the first time and I loved it! You get to see the quilts SO much better and share your passion with visitors. You also need to police your area and make sure "handy" visitors don't touch the quilts - it's sad, but there are some who don't understand and I had to admonish a few folks last year who should have known better.

Anyway! If you volunteer for one 2 hour shift, you get a Road ticket/wristband FOR FREE! Do two shifts and you also get a "ROADIE" badge to add your cascading Road pin, and with three shifts, you get early sign up access to next year's classes.

Also of note, Road is teaming up with the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center and Anita Grossman Soloman to make as many quilts as we can on Saturday night, January 21st. Here click to learn more. If you can't make it that Saturday night, you can make blocks ahead of time and either turn them into the Road office in Ontario or Renee will be collecting them at both the December and January guild meetings.

Elly H. introduced us to our last BOM pattern called Another Star - no, really, it's called "Another Star". So creative! Now's your chance to get caught up on your stars as we'll be bringing in our completed 2016 Star BOM quilts at the February meeting.

Next we had our Show N Share and you can check out all the beautiful quilts in the photo gallery. One quilt of note: Elizabeth E. shared her beautiful Circles Quilt that she's finished and the flabbergasting news that it was rejected by Road - WHAT?! The judges must have been blind...we loved it, Elizabeth! Check out more photos and some free patterns for the circles on Elizabeth's blog.

And the main event - the annual Grab Game featuring the winter theme inspired Itty Bitty Picture Perfect Quilts! We saw many amazing mini quilts - and if you couldn't quite see them, definitely make sure you check out the photo gallery! Thanks to everyone who "made something so awesome they want to keep it for themselves" - it really elevated the quality of all of the quilts!

IMPORTANT! The next guild meeting WILL NOT BE ON THE NORMAL DAY! We hope to finalize the date in the next day or so and I will post it as soon as we know.

UPDATE: The meeting is now scheduled for December 15th!

Having said that, the next guild meeting is of course our semi-anual pot luck and everyone is invited, but not required, to bring a treat to share! Jeri also requested that we bring quilts and hand made items from Christmases Past for the Show N Share - this will be a time for you to show something that perhaps you made years ago.

Also a reminder to those in Susan M.'s 9 Patch group - your next batch of 30's themed 9 patch blocks is due at the next guild meeting!

Door Prizes:
Christmas Yard Sign - Jeri R.
Wizard of Oz Santa - Linda A.
Snowman Boot - Julie M.
Moose - Sue C.
Giant mug - Dawn M.

Mystery Box:
Vangie

- Cassandra G.

It's tough, but it's a short week that ends in pie and shopping

Sorry I'm still a little late on the November guild meeting review, but I do have the pictures up and Elly H. already has our last 2016 BOM pattern up so you can get busy on that this weekend.

Many of you may be traveling and/or super busy getting ready for relatives and the ginormous feast, but think about a post I saw on Facebook this week..."it may be a busy week, but it is short and it ends in pie and shopping." I'm definitely down for that!

So, as a pre-cursor to the review and in light of shopping, here a few upcoming shopping events you may not want to miss!


From M&L: "M&L Fabrics and Jenny's Fabrics are offering to you, our friends and customers, 20% everything in our store!

There is no coupon to clip, just visit the store between November 25th - December 11th and stock up! 20% will automatically be deducted from your total at checkout."

OMGosh OMGosh OMGosh!!!1!!1! That brings the flat fold fabric down to just $2.38 a yard!


Piecemaker's is also having a few sales coming up that you might be interested in. First, the entire store is 25% off for Black Friday! Woohoo!

And on Saturday December 3rd, from 9am to 4pm, they will hold the Piecemakers Christmas Fair: "A whimsical holiday event in a quaint village setting. Over 70 artists with the finest in hand crafted treasures, and antiques/collectibles. Kids activities, stage entertainment by Swing Shift, Piecemakers’ Band, and Cripple Creek Cloggers. Great food booths. Admission and parking are free." Click here to learn more.








If you know of other awesome sales, please let me know! Or if you score something awesome on Black Friday, tell us! OMGosh SHOOOOPPPIINNNG!!!1! (and pie!)

And the warmest of Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am thankful for all of you, for our community of fabric hoarders and quilt craftspeople, for titanium plated topstitch needles, and for fancy seam rippers that make me almost happy when I have to rip out yet ANOTHER seam. What are you thankful for? :)

- Cassandra G.