May 2023
/May Program – Speaker MJ Kinman
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 7:00 pm (Since we are now meeting regularly in person, please remember to wear your name tag!)
Are you ready to sparkle? If so, join us for an exciting and informative lecture by MJ Kinman. She will share her stunning quilts and explain her techniques for creating them. Check out her website, mjkinman.com.
May Workshop - "Dames and Diamonds"
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 9:00 am, Faith Lutheran Church, 680 W. Deerpath Rd., Lake Forest
In the workshop, participants will make their own GEM using the freezer paper piecing technique. While creating our works of art, MJ will present a lively discussion of the "Dames" - the women who have owned many of the world's famous gems.
June Program – Nancy Roelfsema
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Have you ever wanted to make a Bargello quilt, but were intimidated by the process and fabric choices? Nancy Roelfsema has the answers to all your questions. She loves teaching and has over 250 videos on onpoint-tv.com. In her lecture she will discuss the "Great Tips" every quilter needs to know!
June Workshop - Bargello
Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 9:00 am, Faith Lutheran Church, 680 W. Deerpath Rd., Lake Forest
Students will make a Bargello wall hanging in Nancy Roelfsema’s Bargello workshop. She will walk students through the process, from choosing fabrics to sewing them and ultimately creating a successful Bargello Quilt.
July Program – Deanne Eisenman of Snuggles Quilts
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Wool Applique will be our July topic. Deanne Eisenman of Snuggles Quilts will speak about her quilting history and love of applique and scrap quilting. She will share tips for successful "scrapping." See her beautiful work on her website, snugglesquilts.com.
July Workshop: Wool Applique
Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 9:00 am, Faith Lutheran Church, 680 W. Deerpath Rd., Lake Forest
Students will learn Deanne's techniques to make a wool applique wall hanging titled "Wooly Seasons".
Detailed information about the workshops and supply lists is posted on the Village Quilters webpage. Join the fun and experience a "Sew Wonderful" summer,
Cheryl Mercy and Kathy Sorkin
Annual Meeting and Potluck
Here are the smiling faces of the Village Quilters Board Members and Committee Chairs that were present at our annual meeting in April! The list is as follows:
Guild Officers 2023-2024
President - Christine Tindell
VP Membership - Sharon Pierluissi, Andrea Krier
VP Programs – Kathy Sorkin, Cheryl Mercy
Advanced Programs – Nancy Zamor, Enid Mattimiro
Secretary – Peg Schemenauer
Treasurer – Madge Piece
Assistant Treasurer – Melanie Houser
Newsletter – Celia Stratman
Member-at-Large – Marti Austin
2023 Quilt Show Chair – Kathy Avellone
Committee Chairs 2023-2024
Historian, Show and Tell Pictures – Kearstie Grenier
Librarian – Rosemary Groenwald
Ways and Means – Donna Fitzgerald
UFO Challenge and Birthday Blocks – Enid Mattimiro
Friendship – Barbara Schober
December Social – Cindy Heineman, Bobbie Etchell
April Social – position open
Service – TBA
Webmaster – Margaret Martin
Christine’s Chatter
It was refreshing and encouraging to see so many of you at our Annual meeting in April! It was a great time for eating, laughing, doing business, and show and tell. NSQG attended with their lovely opportunity quilt that was quilted by our own Barb Jolley. I hope you were able to purchase raffle tickets for their quilt and American Girl doll with complete wardrobe. We had nearly 70 members attend our meeting and it felt good to get back to a usual routine. The salad supper was delicious and desserts were provided by your board. We also welcomed new board members and thanked those who served so well.
A highlight of the evening was seeing your generosity at work and we were able to donate over 50 quilts for Ukraine relief. Cheryl Mercy and her husband took them to the organization that will ship them to Ukraine. Thank you Cheryl for your hard work.
All of our meetings from now on will be in person, unless something happens to prevent it. In May we have a speaker with an in-person workshop. I am anticipating some new beautiful quilted jewels as participants learn new techniques.
I am working on quilts for the show, the boutique and the silent auction. It seems as if our show is a long way off, but the deadline for submission is July 15, so I’m figuring out my timeline. I hope you have committed to a task to benefit our show. Soon our beautiful opportunity quilt will start traveling to advertise what our guild has to offer!
I wish it would get warm again so I can get into my flower beds. The daffodils are finished and the tulips are about to bloom at my house – I love this colorful time of the year.
Happy quilting,
Christine
Quilt Show News!
It’s May! What should you be doing this month to support the guild and the October 20 and 21, 2023 show? Go online!
Whether you love it or not, technology is here to stay. Here are some online sources you will need to visit in order to support the October VQ quilt show.
This is the go-to site for lots of information about our show. There are two parts to this.
First is the public page. When you go to the home page, notice all the links along the top. Under “Show” is a link to take you to information about the show called “Member's’ Show Info”. This is where you will find the information and link to register your quilts for the show.
The second part of this web site is private. Only VQ Members have access. Go the drop-down menu under the “Members” link to visit the “Members Only” page. Here you will find the members roster as well as other information that is not available to the public.
There are two parts of interest on this site.
Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest has a public Facebook page. It is a public site, so, anyone on Facebook can get information about our show. Anything that is posted can be seen by other Facebook users. You can use the Share button to let friends and family know more about the show and how to buy raffle tickets.
However, did you know there is a second, private Facebook page called Village Quilters (Members Only)? To participate you must be a VQ Member and get permission from the administrators. Administrators are VQ members who are very diligent about only letting VQ Members have access. This is a place where you can post pictures of your quilts, share information about quilt related things going on locally, ask for advice, etc. You can’t share anything from these pages with outsiders.
To summarize, when sharing Raffle Quilt information and inviting your friends on Facebook to buy tickets, share the post from the Village Quilters Lake Bluff/Lake Forest public Facebook page!
Go to this web site to buy raffle tickets. There is a button on the home page of the Village Quilters website that will also take you directly to the place to buy tickets. Just above that is a link called “Quilt Show Page” where you can find detailed information about the raffle quilt!
In case you were wondering, yes, it is possible to avoid the internet and buy paper tickets. Contact Susan Surdyk.
If you have questions about the show, please don’t hesitate to ask! My email and phone number are on the member roster. I’d love to hear from you! Keep sewing!
Kathy Avellone, Quilt Show Chair
Time To Start Submitting Your Quilts for the Show!
The deadline is July 15, 2023 for all quilts to be hung and August 15, 2023 for QOV quilts that will not be hung.
New this year is a printable checklist to collect the required info about your quilt before you start filling out the entry form. (Download the checklist as a PDF, Microsoft Word, or Pages document.)
You must enter a photo to complete your submission.
Unlike previous years where you emailed your photo, this year you will submit your photo using the online form.
You may submit your photo when you complete the entry form or at a later date.
To make things easier, we have prepared these instructions to help you upload your photos.
Want some ideas to help you compose your Quilt Story? Check out a few example stories from previous quilt shows.
How Do I Submit My Quilt?
Step 1: Download and review the checklist (see above) to ensure you have all the information required to submit your quilt, including your Quilt Story.
Step 2: Submit a separate entry form for each quilt.
Step 3: Check that you have received an email confirmation from “VQ Show Cataloging” for each submission.
Step 4: If you were not able to attach a photo when you submitted your entry, you will receive an email in 5-7 days with the following:
From: villagequilterslblf@gmail.com
Subject: VQ Show 2023 – Entry # Photo Instructions
This email will include further instructions and a link where you can upload your photograph.
This information, including any updates, is also available on the Members' Show Info page of our web site.
Questions? Contact Enid Mattimiro and Kearstie Grenier of the Cataloging Committee.
Quilt Show Boutique
We are happy that some members have come forward to be Member Vendors and encourage others to join the fun of this show-related effort. As a member vendor you make things to sell in the boutique. You get to keep 85% of the sale price and the guild gets 15%. That is a good deal!
If you don’t want to be a vendor, please make several items from the posted list to donate to the boutique. The full amount of the sale price will be profit for the guild. These items make up the bulk of the boutique sales, and we hope many of you will enjoy making a few or more of these items. The more variety, the better!
Thank you for volunteering your time and effort. Everything we do to help contributes to the success of our Quilt Show!
Please mark your calendar for the August 16 Sew-In to make items for the boutique and other show-related purposes.
Questions? Contact Barb Jolley and Madge Pierce
Please Help - It’s a Mystery!
Please help solve the mystery of the missing quilt stands if you can. Village Quilters owns two quilt stands with travel cases. Unfortunately, one of our stands is missing. Does anyone know where it is?
The whole situation is confounded in that Barb Jolley, who loaned her quilt stand and its case, did not get her quilt stand and case back. The cases may have been mixed-up. The stands may have been mixed-up. It’s a mess!
Each of the Village Quilter stands has some decorative duct tape wrapped around a leg, and the bags are labeled as property of Village Quilters. Please help us find the missing stand bags!
Contact Kathy Avellone with any information.
Fall Quilt Retreat
The next Village Quilters retreat will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mettawa from September 29 – October 1. The cost of the retreat will be $65.00 and the registration will begin on June 1 on our website. Registering and paying online for the retreat is the best way to sign up. Our last retreat sold out by the afternoon of the day the registration opened on the website! You can be put on the wait list if the retreat sells out.
For those who have not attended one of our retreats in the past, here is some information. The retreat starts at 8:00am on September 29 and ends in the afternoon on October 1. The $65.00 fee covers the cost of the room that we rent to sew in. The room is well lit during the day with natural light and each quilter has their own table for their sewing space. The hotel provides all of the needed power outlets. Everyone works on their own projects and brings all of their own sewing supplies. There is more information about the retreat on our website.
For those who want to spend the night at the hotel there is an additional cost of $129.00 plus tax per night. That money is paid directly to the hotel at the time of the retreat.
Please email Marti Austin or Sharon Pierluissi with any questions.
Treasurer’s Report
Balance as of March 1, 2023: $27,024.80
Income: $191.89
Expenses: $2838.86
Ending Balance as of March 31,2023: $24,377.83
Income was from retreat, membership and raffle tickets.
Expenses were for programs, retreat space rental, quilt appraisal and insurance.
Respectfully submitted, Madge Pierce, Treasurer
Membership Report
Welcome New Members: We are excited to welcome six new members! Mary Phemister, Anne Blohm, Rosemary Gray, Virginia Underwood, Jean Rock and Pam Aitchison!
It’s important to wear our nametags at every meeting, since we are meeting in person every month!
Spring is here, and it’s time to renew your Village Quilters Membership. The new membership year begins on April 1, 2023. The membership fee is $50.00 ($25.00 for active military or spouse), but you save $5.00 if you renew by May 31! All renewals require 2 steps:
Completing a registration form
Submitting your payment
To register online and pay your dues with your credit card, click on any green “Join or Renew” button throughout the website. You’ll be taken to a page where you can complete the membership form online or indicate that all the information is the same as last year.
Then click the “Pay Online” button and select your one-year membership to be placed in your shopping cart. You will see that the one-year membership is “on sale” for $45.00!
To pay by check, you can download the membership form as a pdf from the Join Us page, print and complete the form, and mail it with your check to the address shown on the form.
If you have any questions, please contact Andrea Krier or Sharon Pierluissi.
Happy May Birthday to the following members!
Marti Austin 5/13
Kate Brennan 5/18
Donna Derstadt 5/10
Tory DiGregoria 5/3
Lisa Gosen 5/2
Rosemary Gray 5/5
Melanie Houser 5/25
Annette Klingsporn 5/23
Donna Lechowicz 5/22
Claire Machinist 5/19
Isabel Olsen 5/1
Sharon Pokropinski 5/3
Jonnie Staggs- 5/15
Celia Stratman 5/19
Linda Wiemerslage 5/30
Membership Co-Chairs Andrea Krier and Sharon Pierluissi