Bloomington Quilters Guild
at a glance: December 2023

Follow the links to get more details about what’s going on and to explore the website.

OUR Next MEETING is ON Tuesday, December 5.

Time: 6:00 PM Social Hour
6:30 pm Meeting start

PROGRAM: A Friendly, Festive Gathering and Cookie Sampling
SHOW and TELL
Location: BETH SHALOM and on zoom



A Friendly, FestivE Gathering

Bring yourself to an evening of fun with your quilting friends.  Enjoy a variety of activities together and be reminded of how quilters can bring light and experience light during the holidays!  We thought it would be fun to sample cookies in December. If you wish, bring a plateful of cookies for sampling. Please also bring either a listing of ingredients or the recipe so those with dietary restrictions can see what is in the cookies. Also please remember to not use any meat, lard or shellfish in your treats, so that we can maintain Beth Shalom’s desire to keep a Kosher environment. Eggs and dairy ingredients are fine.

January 2024 Program

In January come to a “Display of Quilt Designers”.  Anyone who wishes to bring a quilt, pillow, wall hanging, or other project from these designers is encouraged and welcome! There will be separate areas for projects by Bonnie Hunter, Elizabeth Hartman, Kim Diehl, Lisa Bongean, and Edyta Sitar.  A helper will stay at each station to help facilitate showing items while everyone else will rotate through.  Projects for display must be finished, bound, and labeled to be sure they are returned to the correct guild member.  Can you imagine the wonderful variety we might view from our many talented folks throughout the guild?  Please consider bringing your beautiful things to show!

SEW DAY, Saturday, November 18, 9:00-4:00 at St. Mark's United Methodist on the Bypass

Come to our next Sew Day to finish your holiday projects! Saturday, November 18, 9:00-4:00 at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church. Bring your machine and supplies. We’ll supply irons and ironing boards, cutting mats (bring your own rulers and rotary cutter,) and extension cords.

Jane Pitt will give a brief, optional tutorial on her fail-safe method of binding by machine. We’re looking for volunteers for future tutorials on subjects such as Threads and Batting Choice, Quilt as You Go, Paper Piecing, Flange Binding. These are intended as simple, brief tutorials—not a presentation and without advance preparation required for the tutor.

Middle Way HOUSE MileSTONE

The Middle Way House Bee donated the 1,000th quilt to the kids at Middle Way House this month!

This bee, started in 2019, delivered the first 12 quilts in June of that year. Quilts have been donated every month since. 

Every child who arrives at Middle Way House gets to choose a quilt, and it becomes their own. One little girl, about 3 years old, couldn’t decide between two quilts that had cats on them. She walked back and forth, back and forth, trying to decide which one she liked best. She finally chose one, clutched it to her chest, and gave the kitty a kiss!

HELP WANTED

Graphic Design skills needed! We’re developing a promotional brochure to encourage new membership and communicate the ways BQG benefits its members and the community. We’re aiming for high quality without high cost! Please volunteer your design skills and/or printing know-how and possible discounts. Contact Monica Jensen, Outreach Chair, at outreach@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org or Legene White, President, at pres@bloomingtonquiltersguild.com.

Quilts from the Heartland

Every three years, the Bloomington Quilters Guild holds a quilt show called Quilts from the Heartland. The next guild show will be in the Fall of 2024. Due to the Convention Center scheduling issues, we do not yet have a date. We are hoping to get a weekend at the Convention Center by the end of December. If we cannot schedule at the Convention Center we will need to find another venue. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. However organization and planning need to start happening. Please consider volunteering for a role. We will start to meet in January, which is a late start!

Thank you to Ginny Kopper and Becky Green for heading up the Treasure Shop! Monica Jensen is heading publicity and Laurie Eynon is going to find the vendors. Tara Babcock is going to help with the online part of entries.

Recruiting for:

• Entries coordination - working with Tara who is doing the online part of the job. Leads quilt intake and return.

• Design and layout of the show. KC Forthofer did a fantastic job and although she cannot do it this time, she will share all her design with the new volunteer(s). This job also involves the actual set up of the quilt displays so a co-chair would be especially helpful for this large job.

• Volunteer coordinator - Recruits volunteers for setup, entry logistics, tickets, white glove duties, treasure shop staff, and take down. Works with other chairs to determine

• Program design - work with Monica to design the program.

• Ad sales - We would like to add to the show revenue by selling ads in the program. We need volunteers to help sell ads to local businesses. The businesses that advertised in the last time’s program reported that they had several customers say they saw the ads in the program.

Please contact co-chairs Karen Levay and Sandy Bonsib to volunteer by sending email to quiltshow@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org.

This show is to showcase our members’ quilts and is our major fundraiser for the next three years programs. We would love to have each guild member submit at least one quilt. It is not juried or judged! There is an award for best hand quilting and another for viewer’s choice. So either finish up or start your entry today! We will announce the show challenge soon!

Treasure Shop 2024

Hello Quilters!  It is time to start sorting through your stash and weeding out fabrics and notions that you no longer want or need!  The Treasure Shop is an important fundraiser that helps support our BQG programs.  You may drop off donations by bringing them to the monthly meetings, or if you prefer you may drop them off at: 1327 S Valley Forge Rd, Bloomington.  Please contact Ginny Kopper before you drop off items. Please use the email  treasure@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org or a BQG directory for her contact informaton.

We do request that fabrics donated should be appropriate for quilting. You do not need to mark the sizes on your fabric donations. If you have questions about the suitability of any items you may contact either of the Treasure Shop Co-Chairs at treasure@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org.

GUILD Challenge Quilt

Each year, members are invited to participate in a BQG Quilt Challenge. Every year a new theme is presented for the challenge. Karen Levay issued this year’s quilt challenge at the October 2023 meeting: Sampler.

For more information and guidelines and to see challenges from previous years see the Challenge Quilt web page.

Winter Retreat - Amber Brooks-Wolfe and Elaine LucaS, Chairs

The Winter Retreat filled all 36 spaces in less than a week. Contact the chairs via email (winterretreat@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org to add your. name to the waiting list.

RAFFLE QUILT - SANDY BONSIB, Chair

The 2023-2024 Raffle Quilt was unveiled at the September meeting. “Alaska” is a stunning quilt created in all batik blue and cream fabrics by Sew Much More Quilting Bee members Vickie Fry, Marla Kay Holzknecht, Shannon Kane, Elaine Lucas, and Tina Stewart. Alaska measures 71 1/2” x 71 1/2” and is a pattern by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.

Sandy will distribute raffle tickets at each meeting. It should be easy to sell tickets for this beautiful quilt. Please return any cash and unused tickets in a timely fashion.

REMINDERS:

• Don’t forget your name tag at the next in-person meeting!
• Bring used rotary blades to any in-person meeting for recycling.
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MORE INFO

~Contact us for a Membership Directory. A printed 2023-2024 directory will be available at the December meeting.
~See our list of Board Members.
~See a list of upcoming quilt shows and shop hops. Let us know of other future events by sending mail to webmanager@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org.