Still here and going strong…

It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a post to this site about out guild happenings. And a lot has been happening! Most of our communication has been via the group email. However, there are still some things that we want o shout from the rooftop. So we’ll be going back to posting here as well.

This has been a great year of virtual meetings using Zoom.  Who knew you could learn so much and connect so well through your computer screen? This format has provided the opportunity to bring in some excellent speakers and workshops. Some local and some from far way. We’ve even kept our Guild day afternoon sewing time via Zoom.

Upcoming events

Speed Date with Improv –  April 17 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Krista Hennebury will take us through speed dating with improvisational piecing techniques.  These include curves and free-cutting.  Several techniques are introduced and demonstrated one after the other with little time to second guess.  Explore line shape and happenstance in abstract design using solid color fabrics in black, white and one pop of color. 

 If you’re interested, get in touch with Janet M.

Kaffe Chat

Patricia Belyea of Okan Arts will be chatting with creative Kaffe Fassett on Monday, April 19 at 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Hawaii Time (12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Calgary Time)

The free Zoom event is open to all. (Capacity is limited to 5,000)

To learn more and register to attend, go to: https://okanarts.com/blogs/blog/chat-w-kaffe-fassett

A FREE Zoom Event  

Recognition

Patti-Jo H was interviewed by CTV News Calgary  and featured for her work with Quilts 4 Heroes. Look at her website and listen o the news story. https://www.quilts4everydayheroes.com/

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Well done, Patti-Jo.

Program refresher – take a trip down memory lane to see what our program has been and look to the remaining meeting s for this term and what‘s still left to come.

fnqg-2020-2021-programDownload

May 8, 2021 – the Art of Applique with Kathy Wylie

Our challenges this year, instead of being competitions, have been the Mystery Quilt and the WHY NOT blocks that will end up in a charity quilt. Thanks Kelly B. for keeping that organized and going. If you can finish your quilt by the June meeting be sure to send the photo in to Barb for the virtual Show and Tell. For those who need a bit more time, you have until September, where we’ll feature the mystery quilt show as well.

FNQG – 2020-2021 – Our Year on Zoom

This year our guild will be having virtual meetings via Zoom at our usual meeting dates – the second Saturday of each month. Meetings start at 9:30 a.m. 

Staying informed

Information will be sent out to guild members by email when needed.  Guild information will also be posted on our blog (Flyingeedlesquiltguildwordpress.com).  Also check out our FACEBOOK page.

Show and Tell: 

Each monthly meeting will have a “virtual” show and tell. Members who wish to participate in show and tell are asked to email a photo of their quilt or project to Barb dB at least 1 week before the meeting. 

When your photo is shown you will be asked to speak about your project just like we used to when presenting from the front of the room (what inspired you, what fabrics di you use, who it’s for, and anything else you want to share).

This is the year to get things done. At year-end, a draw will b held for a special prize. Whenever you show a finished quilt or quilted project at show and tell, your name will go into the “hat”. At the June meeting the draw will take place.  Three prizes will be donated by Erie Quilt Art. 

Program

A full and exciting program has been planned with a lineup of world-€renowned professional quilters attending our meetings virtually with information lectures and trunk shows.  In addition, three of these quilters will be teaching workshops for our guild.  Links to the meetings will be sent by email.

fnqg-2020-2021-program-1Download

Workshops

November 21 – 9:00-12:00

Workshop: Ana Buzzalino – Rocks, Pebbles and Stones

Cost: $40 for Guild Members – Mail check payable to FNQG, send to Mary. 

Ana is an internationally known fiber artist, author, and educator.  Join Ana as she shares her love for rocks in this fun and relaxing class to make rock, pebbles, and stones. You’ll learn 2 different methods to incorporate them into your art pieces.  The 3-hour workshop is all done by hand (no sewing machines needed). An optional kit is available – contact Ana at anabuzzalino.com

February 20, 2021

 Susan Madu-Modern Blended Quilts Workshop-6 hours

Three options to be decided at the November Meeting – details to follow

April 17, 2021

Krista Hennebury – Speed Date with Improv-6 hoursThis class is speed dating with improvisational piecing techniques that include curves and free cutting.  Several techniques are introduced and demonstrated one after the other with little time to second guess.  Explore line shape and happenstance in abstract design using solid color fabrics in black, white and one pop of color. 

Guild Challenge/Projects for 2020 – 2021

Mystery Quilt

Guild members can participate in a mystery quilt organized by Kelly B.  Steps will be sent to guild members each month by email.  The goal is to have the quilt finished to show at the June meeting.   

“Why Not” Charity Quilt Project

“Why not try a block”, says Kelly B. She’s found a website with block patterns and the idea is for guild members to try a block for charity. Use white as the background and rainbow colors for the rest of the block.  Kelly will collect the blocks and they’ll be used for a quilt for charity. 

Comfort and Charity Quilt details

Organization	Quilt Dimensions requested
Foothills Hospital Adolescent Mental Health Units	52″ x 72″  and a few 60″ x 80″
Inn From the Cold	52″ x 72″ and Baby
Quilts from the Heart (Sheldon Kennedy)	52″ x 72″
A.L.S. Society	42″ x 54″
Neonatal	24″ x 36″ (all cotton – fabric, batting, and thread)
Victoria Quilts	60″ x 80″ (must be exact size)
Quilts of Valour	60″ x 80″
Be Brave Ranch, Sherwood Park (for abused young people)	60″ x 80″
Comfort Quilts from Guild for ad hoc needs that come up	no specific measurements but lap quilt size works well

Where Women Gather Quilt Retreat (Online!)

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Hello, dear quilting friends, Due to circumstances beyond our control we are not meeting this fall for retreat as we are accustomed… However, we have something new to offer in the same time slot as the retreat booking.    

You are invited to join us at:  WHERE WOMEN GATHER; a 3-day quilt retreat.  The date is     November 12, 13, 14/2020. The retreat has 2 parts- (1) 3 days of quilting and (2) 3 evenings of ZOOM fireside from 7-8:30 pm when Beth will tell her stories and where we get to share pictures of our projects.      

In the evening by the fireside room, Beth will tell the stories of 3 women from very different backgrounds who ended up being in the Line of Jesus: Rahab (from a very sketchy past), Bathsheba (who started well and got into big trouble), and Mary (just all round a great person). God can take any of us and do great things in our lives, not because of what we bring to the table, but because He loves and cares for us and has great plans for us.

The Gathering place and time for our quilting is from 10 am to 5 pm each day at the location: The Millarville Community Church (which is Beth and Jan’s church) just off Highway 549 East (306 Avenue) 1 KM east of highway 22. Coffee, tea and disposable cups will be provided. You need to bring your own lunch and snacks, your own sewing project and all the equipment for you to do your task: your sewing machine, extension cords act.

REGISTRATION is limited to 20 quilters at the church for proper distancing between individual work stations.  The cost of the in-person retreat is $20 to cover costs. Payment can be made as you arrive on the retreat day. However, there is no cost to join the Zoom meetings each night. All are welcome to join the Fireside Chats in the evening, but you do need to register to receive the zoom link.  Both the day retreat and the zoom gathering require that you pre-register before November 6/20 – there are 20 in-person spots available. All who register will be sent a zoom link and a password that you need to have in order to be part of the evening gathering.  To register:  please contact Beth Schmidt bethschmidt5@gmail.com  Please send your SHOW and TELL pictures to Jan Burney jan.marie2@icloud.com each afternoon before 4 and we can share our progress with the others.    We hope this invitation finds you and yours well and we invite you to consider joining in on this gathering with us.

With love to you, Barb, Beth, and Jan

Mid-September updates

Online workshops

Looking for a quilting class? Ana is doing some online classes you might be interested in. You can go to her website to check out details of what is being offered. You can also check out her online store. Check it out! https://www.anabuzzalino.com/

Online Guild meetings

All guild members will be getting an email in the next 2 days (before Saturday) with the link and instructions on how to join our online guild meetings. To help get ready for this meeting please be sure that you have Zoom on your computer, tablet, or phone if you’re planning to join by video. Options to phone in to the meeting will also be included in the meeting invite. If you’ve never attended a Zoom meeting before – don’t’ worry. It is amazingly easy and it’s free. To create a Zoom account, go to https://zoom.us/.

For more directions on Zoom and some tutorial videos please click here. 

Quilted by Patti-Jo Haley

CQA Updates

Hello,

It was a shame that we could not hold our annual conference, Quilt Canada, in Edmonton this year.  We were unable to hold workshops, introduce some fabulous key-note speakers, tempt you with goodies from a large market mall, display the challenges put out to guilds, individuals and youth, and most disappointing is that we could not put on a National Juried Show and several concurrent shows.

With the introduction of a new website we have been able to assemble a virtual gallery of the concurrent shows and challenges and they will be displayed starting on October 1, 2020.

The first challenge to be displayed will be the TrendTex Challenge. Here you will be able to see the three top winners and Judges’ Choices plus vote for your favourite.  The Viewer’s Choice award winner will be announced in our November e-newsletter.  So check out the virtual gallery starting October 1 running for two weeks at www.canadianquilter.com.

It is customary for us to auction the TrendTex entries with proceeds going to the Canadian Quilters Association. This year, more than ever, without having a Conference, we are relying on these funds for the operation of this organization. You will have an opportunity to help us as well as own one or several of the 76 entries through this online auction.

Bidding will start October 19 at 7:00am EDT and all bids will close October 25 at 5:00pm EDT.  Feel free to preview the fabulous entries now.

To check out CQA’s online auction, go to the www.biddingowl.com website, click on Featured Auctions and in the Search box type CQA or click on this: https://www.biddingowl.com/Auction/home.cfm?auctionID=21866&CFID=16042550&CFTOKEN=69a61d776224c4c6-53357FF5-CC9C-26C5-F21F4C0B87DA9533 to take you directly to our online auction site.

If you wish to make a reserve bid, please contact me at directoratlarge@canadianquilter.com.

September update

Hello fellow guild members

Just a couple of things to clarify and let you know about.

1. Paper bag challenge from last year: We’ve received some feedback that the table where the participant and recipient of the paper bag challenge from last year didn’t match what you actually got. Please do pass the project you made to the person whose name was in the paper bag even if it’s different than the one on the list. Feel free to contact Shirley C. or Cheryl M. by email if you have any questions or if this causes problems.
2. Start up meeting for 2020 membership year: Unfortunately we haven’t been able to get get the mailout organized in time to start our year tomorrow (2nd Saturday of the month). We’ll therefore be looking at having a short Zoom meeting next Saturday, September 19, at 9:30 a.m. An email will be sent to each member with log on details for the meeting. We’ll talk about:
   • plans for this year
   • membership dues
   • virtual demo ideas
   • group project challenges and ideas
   • how we can all participate and stay connected (and safe)

Being your coffee and let’s catch up! It’s been too long since we’ve talked.

Have a great week.

Quilt by Pat S – June 2020

September Salutations!

September Start-Up

This has been an unforgettable year for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is that I’ve spent less time quilting this summer than I have in years! Go figure! Stay at home but NOT quilt.  Is that even possible and still call myself a quilter. As a certain someone south of the border is famous for saying (not that I particularly quote this person a lot) – It is what it is.

This coming Saturday is when we’d normally be getting up, putting our faces on, and heading our vehicles out to go to guilt guild. Due to health restrictions still in place we won’t be meeting in person for the next few months.

What is going to happen is this – Flying Needles Quilt Guild is going to ZOOM!   

In order to stay connected and keep the guild moving forward I’ve decided to take on hosting a Zoom guild meeting each month. We’ll try to stick with our usual dates and times – 2^nd Saturday of the month at 9:30 a.m.  Meetings will only be 30 to 40 minutes long.

During the meeting there’ll be time to say hi and chit-chat for a few minutes. The program will be an interview format. How well do you know the quitter that sat 3 rows behind and 6 chairs over every meeting last year? I’ll be interviewing regular guild members to find out about who they are, how they came to quilting, what their favourite quilting technique or tool is, and anything else they want to share.

Each person selected for an interview will be notified ahead of time and the questions will be provided to them. It’s not a formal presentation at all, just an informal chat over coffee. BYOC (bring your own coffee).

If after discussion at the first meeting you want some challenges, or group projects, we’ll talk about how we can get those going as well. Does anyone have a cool pattern that would lend itself to a mystery quilt that would be an awesome way to do something together eve if we can’t physically sew together.

Meeting and Zoom log-in information will be sent out to regular guild members. If you’re not sure you’re on the membership list or if you’ve changed your email address please email Shirley C for meeting details.

Blog posting schedule – I’ll try to post one each month but it will come when it comes. I can only spend so much time at my computer at a time before going buggie. With working from home that impacts how much I spend on it outside of work time. Changes to meetings and other guild related information will still come via the blog.

If you have anything you’d like to get out to the guild this is still a really way to do it. Continue sending the information to Shirley C. If you can prepare any remarks for content that goes with your information that will help a lot.

Noah’s ark and the stormy seas

Virtual show-n-tell will continue on an ad hoc basis. I still have a number of photos to post under this heading – coming very soon. Also coming soon will be the remainder o the photos sent in for the Paper bag challenge last year.  Below is a list of who got whose paper bag. So if you  haven’t already made arrangements to get yours feel free to contact each other. (I still need to get mine to my recipient too.) Bring your show-n-tell to the meeting as well. This will be a great time to showcase what you’re working on.

Paper Bag Challenge 2019-2020

Here’s a list of all the participants and who they were to make their project for:

Participant	Recipient
Tara M	Carla L
Sherril H	Maxine O
Sharon C	Patti-Jo H
Felicity L	Tara M
Patsy F	Sherrill H
Pat S	Felicity L
Pauline S	Sharon C
Elly dN	Barb dB
Shirley C	Patsy F
Barb dB	Pauline S
Carla L	Pat S
Patti-Jo H	Shirley C
Kathleen K	Jean D
Jean D	Kathleen K

If you have any comments or questions could you please email them instead of posting to the feedback section on the website? It’s just easier to connect and get to them more quickly.

Looking forward to a super year staying connected electronically until we can meet again in person.

Stay safe, stay well

Take care of YOU!

Urgent request for masks for Ambrose University

Ambrose University is expecting many student back on campus this Fall. They want to be able to have masks on hand to provide to students who don’t come with masks. This is so they can abide by the COVID-19 guidelines put out by Alberta’s Medical Officer of Health.

FACE MASKS FOR FALL

Ambrose University invites you to help us provide each student with five face masks this fall. The target is 3000 masks by August 15, 2020.

It is important that anyone involved with the creation of homemade masks be free of COVID-19 symptoms and should not have been recently exposed to anyone experiencing symptoms.

Masks can be made from any template. There are many examples on the internet. We are in need of standard adult face masks – with two layers. Please keep in mind when selecting the materials that masks should not be too heavy or hot for the wearer.

Typically, a mask requires the following materials:

Materials

• 100% cotton or muslin fabric for outer layer –  Clean cotton bedsheets can be used as long as they are clean, unstained and breathable
  • Don’t use flannel
• elastic or twill tape or cotton material for ties
• Sewing machine
• Light-colored thread
• A mask pattern
  • https://buttoncounter.com/2018/01/14/facemask-a-picture-tutorial/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwFaRFHKhY
  • https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/prevention-risks/sew-no-sew-instructions-non-medical-masks-face-coverings.html
• Cutting device (scissors or rotary cutter with mat)

Mask can be delivered to Ambrose University’s reception area, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Masks can also be mailed to:

Ambrose University
150 Ambrose Circle SW
Calgary, AB T3H 0L5

When received, the masks will be washed before being delivered to students. Every mask matters. Thank you for your helping your community!

test – just checking if new links work.

new blog to come in a few days

July 2020 Summer sewing

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Just a quick peak at a few quilts that have been shown in our guild over the last few years. More to come in future blogs.

Paper bag challenge 2020

This month we’ll focus primarily on the paper bag challenge photos. Once you see your fabrics and your surprise quilter, you can contact them to arrange for the safe pick up of your project.

paper-bag-challenge-2020Download

CQA Newsletter July 2020

cqa-july-2020Download

Enjoy the rest of your summer. More later….

June 2020 Clips and Snippets

How did it become June already? We’re getting close to 3 months in the “Safer At Home” world. The bright side is that now as businesses slowly begin to open up we can begin to see the return of what we used to call normal life. There will certainly be changes of course, but when do changes not happen in life.  Some we choose and others we don’t.

I think for me, more exciting than the opening of hair salons and restaurants, is the reopening of quilt stores. Not that I’ve returned to any of these yet but just knowing I can is a relief. As I swing, trapeze-like, from project to project knowing the safety net of being able to pick up supplies at my favourite quilt shop calms my spirit and pushes me on to keep going on that next project. Ok, I never said that I finish all these projects, but I do so enjoy starting them.

As we move forward, I’d encourage you to support your local quilt shop. Restock your stash. You never know when you’ll need it again. Or just do it because it brings you joy. I’ve been trying some of those Marie Condo ideas. Keep only what sparks joy. For me that makes it a certainty that my stash is safe. It brings me great joy to go through it and dream of what quilts will come from these lovely bits of fabric. SC

_{PS: Images shown may have the quilter cropped out. I think we’d all like to see who did the quilt as well as the quilt itself. If you do not want to have you photo displayed with your quilt (from Guild archives) please let me know by text or email. If I don’t hear from you then we’ll take it to mean that you don’t mind having your face appear with your quilt. We’ll only ever use first names and last initial in the blogs.}

Paper bag challenge

Bags will be swapped at the Nov. 2, 2019 meeting and the completed project will be returned at the May 2, 2020 meeting. This is a SECRET swap.

To prepare: You need 4 fat quarters. On a card include your full name with three words that best describe you or your style. Bring these items to the November meeting. Cheryl Mills will have a paper bag for your swap so that they are all the same. During the meeting the swap will take place. Cheryl will record swap partners secretly so that no bag goes missing.

Next steps: Create a quilted piece using the four fat quarters PLUS a fat quarter of your choice that you think will complement the project. At the May meeting bring the completed piece and the leftover material to return to the owner.

Beth S. 2019

New Plan to finish the Guild Challenges:

• Be sure to complete the item you made with the 4 fat quarters you received plus the 1 you provided.
• Send a phot of the project, the message or words you got with the fabric at the original exchange.
• Provide e the name of the person who you got the “paper bad” of fabric form (intended recipient of competed item).
• Send photos by the end of June (try for last week of June if not sooner).
• All projects will be posted in a virtual show and tell (end of June early July).
• The recipient and he quilter can then connect via email or telephone to work out how the actual exchange of the project will take place.

Other guild challenges

• Negative Space Mini Quilt
• 2020 Time Capsule Quilt

Keep working on finishing your entries. Details for how we’ll finish these challenges coming soon.

June 2019 Year End Challenge Competition

June 220 FNQG Virtual Show and Tell

june-2020-virtual-show-and-tell-2Download

CQA June 2020 Newsletter

cqa-june-2020-newsletterDownload

Find out what’s new at CQA this summer:

• Volunteer positions available
• Upcoming AGM
• Bookkeeping RFP
• Celebrating Canadian Quilters – A Virtual Canada Day Quilt Show

Tara M Oct 2019