Quilt Show Wrap-up (revised)
From the Chair
Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest is a guild of makers and doers. With around 100 members, you managed to stage a remarkable quilt show featuring over 250 quilts.
I would like to thank the general membership for all your hard work and support. Many people have congratulated me on the success of the quilt show and my part in it. However, I know it was the participation of all the guild members that made the show such a success!
You showed up! When the Raffle Quilt Committee offered tutorials on making stars for the quilt, you showed up. You showed up at farmers’ markets, quilt shops, and other guilds to sell raffle tickets. You sewed for the Art Quilt Challenge and Quilts of Valor. When Boutique and Silent Auction asked for donations, you showed up with goods in hand. When we asked you to distribute postcards, you handed those out and asked for more. When it was time to build the show, you not only showed up, you brought friends and family members to help! Thank you!
Below is a reminder of the members of the Quilt Show Committee. These women showed up for months, working behind the scenes to organize all the moving parts that ultimately came together so beautifully.
Kathy Avellone, Quilt Show Chair
Committee Chair
Kathy Avellone
Recorder
Peg Schemenauer
Appraisal
Judy Hillebrand
Art Quilt Challenge
Linda Spring and Sarah Solotoroff
Boutique
Rose Gray, Sari Hurtig, and Robyn McGarrigle
Cataloging
Kearstie Grenier and Enid Mattimiro
Equipment
Madge Pierce and Barb Jolley
Floor Plan
Kate Klein
Hospitality
Alice Hutchinson and Edie Hirasawa
Mark Floors
Madge Pierce
Publicity/Web activity
Carrol Stovold
Quilt Check-in/Check-out
Feather Schroeder
Quilts of Valor
Carrol Stovold
Raffle Quilt
Marti Austin, Kearstie Grenier, Sari Hurtig, Celia Stratman, Christine Tindell, Nancy Zamor
Raffle Quilt Travel
Nancy Giebel
Raffle Tickets
Susan Surdyk
School Contacts
Sue Ann Kuby
Set-up/ Take-down
Sue Minster
Silent Auction
Donna Derstadt and Erica Jarrett
Staffing/Admissions
Andrea Krier
Vendors
Christine Tindell
VQ President
Sharon Pierluissi
VQ Webmaster
Margaret Martin
VQ Treasurer
Melanie Houser
Special Tasks
Couplets
Nancy Zamor
Discount Pricing Invitations
Judy Hillebrand, Melanie Houser, and Andrea Krier
Indoor Signs
Margaret Martin
Outdoor Signs
Madge Pierce and Margaret Martin
Thread Talks
Kathy Avellone, Kearstie Grenier, Erica Jarrett, Kate Klein, Barbara Schober, Feather Schroeder, and Christine Tindell
And the Viewers’ Choice Winners Are…
Art Quilt Challenge: Rosemarie Grey, Grandma’s Flower Garden
Small Quilt: Christine Tindell, Critter and Clover
Medium Quilt: Peggy Schemenauer, Key to Playing the Bargello
Large Quilt: Christine Tindell, Little Cabin in the Wood
Boutique
Thank you to everyone who donated so many marvelous goods to the boutique! We had a very successful show. The boutique generated a total of $6,568. Once the member vendors have received their earnings, the boutique will show a profit of $3,203 for the guild.
Well done!
Art Quilt Challenge
The Art Quilt Challenge was a great success. We had 19 entries, and no two were even similar. My co-chair, Sarah Solotoroff, and I were very pleased to see the many different interpretations of the requirement that the quilt must have a 3-D element. We are both very grateful to Celia Statman, who helped with displaying these gems.
Linda Spring
Cataloging
The numbers for the 2025 Quilts from the Village XIX are in.
Total quilts: 243
Art quilts: 19
Quilt of Valor quilts: 13
Membership
We were delighted to draw so much interest in the guild at our awesome show. We gained fourteen additional members! Their names were published in the November 2025 issue of the newsletter.
Robyn and Lorraine
Quilt Appraisals
With everyone’s help, the Guild presented a wonderful quilt show at CLC! It was a pleasure to see all of your quilts hanging in the show. Every visitor I talked to was very complimentary.
Fourteen guild members and visitors signed up for one or more appraisals with Suzanne Swenson over the two days of the show for a total of 24 appraisals. Thank you so much to all of you for signing up. I hope you were pleased with your appraisal(s).
When the show was over, Suzanne graciously donated $5.00 from each appraisal back to the Guild for a total of $120.
Judy Hillebrand, Quilt Appraisal Chair
Quilts of Valor
If you were at the Show on Saturday, I hope you were able to attend the Quilts of Valor Ceremony. It was standing room only! This was our 6th QOV Ceremony, and we presented quilts to eight veterans – two women and six men - representing the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Naval Reserve, and the Army National Guard. Each recipient provided me with information about their service, including their assignments, deployments, commendations, and rank. They also shared a few anecdotes, which helped to lighten up the presentation. It’s impossible to imagine what they all lived through during their time of service, particularly those who were deployed to Vietnam and the Middle East. Quite a few tears were shed, including mine, as I shared their stories.
Our reward is the smiles on their faces as they proudly posed for pictures, wrapped in their beautiful quilts. There were hugs of gratitude all around, and so many comments about how meaningful the Ceremony was to not only the Veterans, but their families as well.
In addition to the quilts presented, we donated an additional six to the Quilts of Valor organization. The QOV representative, Shelly, was so grateful for these donations and our continued participation. It was my great honor and privilege to chair the QOV donations and host the ceremony.
Looking forward to 2027!
Thanks to all who made Quilts of Valor this year:
Mary Dietz
Sally Evanshank
Barb Jolley
Andrea Krier
Linda Krismer
Sue Minster
Madge Pierce
Lorraine Potts
Nancy Smith
Gayle Springer
Carrol Stovold
Celia Stratman
Christine Tindell
Raffle Quilt
There were 519 entrants who purchased a total of 5,203 raffle tickets. The guild made $4,494. Angie Dugan, a vendor from Quilting Connection, won the quilt. She really wanted the quilt; she bought 48 tickets. When she won, everyone in the show area could hear her scream. It was wonderful to know how excited Angie Dugan was!
Susan Surdyk
Raffle Quilt Winner - Angie Dugan, our vendor from The Quilting Connection
Set-up and Take-down
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came and helped with set-up and take-down. We had so many sign up that I needed to recruit another team captain to lead a team. Special thank you to Linda Spring, Nancy Smith, Sharon Pierluissi, Christine Tindell, Nancy Zamor, and Joel Minster for so expertly and efficiently leading your teams to hang all the quilts and carefully take them down in record time.
I also want to thank those who brought younger, able-bodied workers to help with setup and takedown. We all appreciated the extra help.
Sue Minster
Silent Auction
A big thank you to all who contributed to our Silent Auction effort this year! Thanks to you, the Silent Auction met its goal, bringing in $4,138. This is a very important fundraiser for the guild, and your efforts made it all possible!
We appreciate all your hard work in making this happen. Whether you donated items, helped with set-up, helped during the show, and generously bid on your favorites, or encouraged your friends to do so, we are very grateful for your support!
Thank you also for the ideas you shared to make the Silent Auction even better for the next show.
Erica & Donna
Staffing and Admissions
Thank you to all the members for stepping up and staffing the show. We sold 740 tickets for the show and brought in $7,164.72! We had a few emergencies where members couldn't make it, but other members were there to step in and fill the shifts. It was awesome.
A big shout out to your husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, and kids who selflessly gave up their time to set up our show and take down our show. We thank you from the bottom of our aching bodies for the help.
The feedback was great as visitors left our show: "Awesome", "We wouldn't miss it", "Why don't you have one every year?", "I can't wait until the next one". Admissions tracked the zip codes of everyone who bought a ticket; that information will follow. We had a couple of CLC students and lots of military personnel—they all appreciated the discounted entry fee.
Thank you, thank you for making my job so easy.
Andrea Krier, Staffing/Admissions
Thread Talks
Thread Talks was a new element for the 2025 quilt show. Six Village Quilters members volunteered to give a forty-five-minute talk on a quilting topic of interest to them. The talks were given on Friday, October 24, in the presentation area. Anyone attending the show was invited to sit in on the presentations at no charge.
These very talented quilters each gave a fascinating presentation on a variety of interesting quilt-related topics!
Barbara Schober shared her wealth of knowledge about Broderie Perse. She had many examples to share with the audience.
Feather Schroeder told us about the history of Bog Jackets and how to make one from a scarf or single large square of fabric. She modeled a bog jacket as she spoke.
Erica Jarret showed some of her Antique Quilts and shared some tips about where she finds antique textiles at amazing low prices.
Kate Klein talked about her method and materials for sewing Invisible Appliqué. Using a machine borrowed from Sew N’ Save, Kate demonstrated her technique as the audience gathered around.
Christine Tindell was enthusiastic in her descriptions of her early sewing life and how she came to love Wool Applique. She shared information about the various wools and threads she uses.
Kearstie Grenier took us through a brief history of quilting tools, leading us to information about current Tech Tools for Quilt Design. She shared information about electronic quilt design programs and gave recommendations of useful websites for quilters to visit when designing or adapting quilt patterns.
Vendors
I started recruiting vendors for our show in November of 2024 using lists from other shows in the area and the vendors we had at our 2023 show. I also called many shops or individuals and made over 50 contacts, and by attrition, the list was narrowed down.
Thank you, Village Quilters, for your support of our vendors. We were fortunate to have 16 vendor spaces with 15 vendors.
Dearly Quilted
Dyed by Heater
Sew Modern
Bryn Mawr Quilts
Busy Bee Quilts
Sew Harmony
Quilting Connection
Sew’n Save of Racine
Attic Window
Sunshine Stitches
Quilts of Valor
Warman Cozy
Sew on Central
FOG wood turning (Found On Ground)
Heirloom Industry
My Mom’s Stash
During the show, they were very effusive in their compliments to our show and the kindness of our members. Thank you to those who relieved them for lunch and bathroom breaks. They all expressed their gratitude for providing lunches for both days. For the most part, I think we may see these same vendors at our 2027 show.
Thank you to Kate Klein for a flawless layout and to Sue Minster for assistance in planning vendor placement. Shout out to Marti Austin and Leitha Schaal, who assisted me on Thursday to greet the vendors at the back garage door. Additionally, for labeling the booths for proper balance, and to let the setup crew know where tables and chairs were to be placed.
I asked each vendor early on in this process if they would be willing to donate an item for raffle baskets. Everyone of them donated, and the items were so beautiful that I had to make 2 raffle baskets, one for each day of the show. Most of these items were priced between $30 and $ 40. There were at least 8 items per basket. Village Quilters' revenue for the raffle baskets was $249.
Vendor revenue was $3,365.50 for payment for booth space, table, and chair rental.
Your enthusiasm as a guild encouraged me to take on this task for the first time. Working with all of you is a pleasure.
Christine Tindell, Quilts from the Village 18th Quilt show, Vendor Chair.