December 2025
December Program: Holiday Party
Tuesday, December 16, 2025: 6:30 p.m. – In person
Our holiday party will feature Dessert and a Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Bar. The festivities will include an fun get-to-know-you activity and expanded Show and Tell time. In addition to your regular Show and Tell items, please bring your favorite Holiday or Winter quilt to show!
To participate in our celebration, please bring:
Your favorite dessert to share
Non-perishable food items and/or feminine hygiene products for donation to the COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan. Please check the expiration dates on all donated food items; last year, we had to discard several expired cans.
Get ready to celebrate with your fellow quilters! See you then!
Carrol Stovold and Andrea Krier
January Program: Nina Clotfelter – “Threads – What’s the Big Deal?”
Tuesday, January 20, 2026: 7:00 p.m. – Zoom Meeting
This is a FUN lecture on all the things you didn’t know you needed to know about thread! As an educator for WonderFil Specialty Threads, Nina has learned a lot, and she wants to share! Thread is like candy! Sometimes you just can’t get enough...LOL! When we purchase threads, we usually are buying it for the color we need for the project, or its the only thread the shop carries. In this lecture, you’ll learn about the different weights of thread and why they make a difference.
What is “ply” and why is it important? How do we work with specialty threads, such as metallic, monofilament, and tinsel? Why do metallics give us issues? This lecture is FULL of information you’ll be thrilled to know!
January Workshop: Chop It Like It’s Hot! with Nina Clotfelter
January 21, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm - Online Workshop
We asked Nina what her favorite workshop is, and she said “Chop it Like it’s Hot!” She has sent us three examples, and we passed them around at the November meeting. The technique looks fun, and Nina says it’s her favorite because you can’t make a mistake!
Learn about and experiment with embellishments like Angelina fibers, couching yarn, nettings, cords, etc.
Nina created a short video about the workshop.
Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Note: We currently have only a few members signed up – we need more participants to make it feasible to hold this workshop. If you are interested, please sign up by December 10!
February Program: Gail Abbey – Save Your Body and Do What You Love
February 17, 2026: 7:00 p.m. – In Person
Gail Abbey, a practicing occupational therapist, will present her lecture to help us stay safe and productive! Topics will include setting up a safe, functional workspace for quilting tasks, injury-prevention techniques, and the benefits of stretching.
Attendees will learn about the effects of aging on the body, the importance of posture and body mechanics, common upper-extremity repetitive-stress injuries, and specific pre- and post-quilting exercises to help prevent discomfort. This will be an interactive presentation, and questions are always encouraged!
February Workshop: Fun With Rope!
Wednesday, February 18, 2026: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Our very own Celia Stratman will be teaching us how to make rope bowls. The goal of this three-hour workshop is to give you the tools and techniques to complete a rope bowl and take home a finished product! Rope bowls can be used to store so many things: spare change, jewelry, car keys, candy, pens, and binding clips - the list is endless!
Celia will supply the rope. Once you learn the techniques that she will teach, you’ll be ready to explore more possibilities on your own if you wish.
Note: this workshop is currently filled. If you’d like to be put on a waiting list, please email Andrea Krier.
Brown Bag Hustle – Going Green!
The Brown Bag Hustle is going is green in 2026! Our March St. Patrick's Day meeting will be our usual Brown Bag event called Brown Bag Goes Green…BBGG...The BeeGees! We are planning some extra fun this time (can you hear the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack?) including a new program where members can "Bring 1-Get 1": bring a guest and we will have prizes available!
Laurie Waldren will show off some of the remarkable treasures culled from donations we've already received in the past. In addition, Yolande Sherrod will help coordinate a brief Show and Tell from members highlighting treasures scored at prior Brown Bag Hustle events. If you have a wonderful piece to show, please reach out to Yolande so she can arrange the show and tell for December and February. If you are unfamiliar with our BBGG event, we will explain everything at the December meeting.
Erica Jarrett
President’s News
I want to thank Michael Nardi for a great program at our November meeting. He was not only our speaker, but he is also a new member of Village Quilters! Michael provided us with a wonderful lecture and shared so many of his beautiful quilts. It was interesting to hear his story and the details of his connection with Missouri Star! Michael will be leading a quilt retreat at Missouri Star where he will be teaching his Hope Floats quilt. How cool is that? You can go to Missouri Star’s website to find out more about the retreat. Welcome to Village Quilters Michael - we’re so glad you joined!
I'm also very excited about all of the new members that have joined Village Quilters in the last few months. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you better and for you to get involved in our guild. Welcome! We will be having a new member gathering in January and will be reaching out to each of you.
Show and Tell Opportunity: One of the things we did for our last Quilt Show was reach out to senior living facilities to invite them to our show. The Sheridan at Green Oaks was unable to have a group attend the show, but they have asked if we would be interested in bringing some quilts to them. Judy Hillebrand and I have been talking about the request and would like to do a show and tell at The Sheridan. This is scheduled for February 28 at 2:00 pm. We are looking for members who would be willing to be part of this presentation and bring a few of their quilts to show. Please contact me or Judy if you are interested.
Sharon Pierluissi, President
Friendly Service Project
December is a "catch-up" month for service blocks! There isn’t a new pattern for this month, but please consider tackling a Basket block from August, as we could use a few more. The pattern is available on the Service Page (download the “instructions for every block” PDF near the top of the page). The collection of I-Spy blocks, Roman Coins, Stars, and Fish is now with members working on creating tops. I’m looking forward to seeing what they design!
Erica Jarrett, Service Chair
2026 Quilted Postcard Pen Pal Exchange
Are you ready to sign up for this exchange? You will have until December 26th to decide if you want to participate in this January and February exchange.
We will provide you with your pen pal details by the start of the year for January and you will get a new pen pal for February. You will then mail the postcard at a designated date, given in early January.
There are five guilds participating: Village Quilters, Northern Lake County, Prairie Patch, Southport and Flying Needles. Additional info will be sent to you regarding the exchange after you sign up.
If you are interested in participating, please sign up by December 26, 2025. Sign-up sheets will be at guild meetings, or you can reach us at: postcards@nlcqg.org
Robyn McGarrigle and Rose Gray, Postcard Co-Chairs, NLCQG
Winter Retreat – January 16-18, 2026
Sign up to attend the January Retreat opened this morning on our website! If you missed the sign-up and would like to attend the retreat, email Marti Austin to be added to the wait list.
If you have a seat at the retreat and would like to reserve a hotel room, please contact Marti Austin via email by December 17 to make the request. Be sure to indicate the days of the reservation, any special requests, and your roommate if you are sharing the room. Watch for a confirmation of your request from Marti, and if you don’t get one, send your request again.
Future Village Quilters Retreats at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mettawa:
April 17-29, 2026: Sign-up day is Sunday, March 1, 2026, at 8:00 a.m.
October 16-18, 2026: Sign-up day is Monday, September 1, 2026, at 8:00 a.m.
Submitted by Marti Austin
Village Quilters retreats are always so much fun! Here are some highlights from our retreat held in November!
Sew-In on December 18
A group of friendly and chatty members meets on the third Thursday of the month at State Bank of the Lakes, 50 Commerce Drive in Grayslake. We meet in the Community Room, which is in the basement of the bank and is reserved for us from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. This is a drop-in activity. There are large tables in the room to lay out or pin a project. There is an iron that we can use. There are outlets near the tables so you can bring your machine. Please drop by to join us!
Submitted by Marti Austin
Treasurer’s Report
Bank Balance as of September 30, 2025: $31,701.93
Income: $19,943.43
Expenses: $6,372.66
Redeposit of Raffle Quilt Start Up Cash (not income or expense) $50.00
Bank Balance as of October 31, 2025: $45,322.70*
*Includes $100 held at Stripe
There are six checks outstanding totaling $6,294.79; therefore, the available total balances are $39,027.91.
October income included $489 from regular Guild activities and $19,454.43 from Show related activities.
Expenses from regular Guild activities were $2,389.40, mainly for retreat facility rental and monthly rent.
Show expenses which cleared the bank in October were $3,983.26. The most significant expenses were $1,860 for movers and $1,247.75 for hospitality. Significant expenses were paid in November and will be reflected in November’s Treasurer Report.
Melanie Houser, Treasurer
Quilt Show Financial Recap
Congratulations to all the Village Quilters who contributed in so many ways to pulling off the highest grossing VQ quilt show! The 2025 show’s total income of $26,674 just scraped by 2023’s results. Record attendance of 740 visitors, brought in $7,155 (net) in admissions fees, a 21 percent increase over 2023’s results. Proceeds from Vendor Booths also knocked it out of the park at nearly $3,800, coming close to 2015’s $4,000 take. Contributions from Boutique were $2,680 after related expenses, such as member vendor commissions and sales tax. Raffle ticket proceeds collected were $4,417 before related expenses, and Silent Auction brought in nearly $4,050.
Expenses, however, were nearly $1,300 over budget and $5,100 more than at the 2023 show, even though the budget included significant expected cost increases. The cost of the venue increased by more than $2,000. Commissions to Boutique member vendors were $670 higher than planned. Unplanned expenses for note cards and note pads contributed $1,000 to the increased expense, and spending on publicity was over $900 higher than in 2023, though only $164 over budget due to planned spending increase. As a result of the higher than planned expenses, Show net income was $6,557, which was $834 less than planned in the budget.
The next show may require stricter adherence to the budgeted expenses, but the positive trend with gross income (income before expenses) is a win!
Membership Report
Welcome all new members who have joined since the quilt show! We are so pleased with our membership - We now have 121 members as of this writing!
At our November meeting, we had 62 members in attendance, including our speaker and new member, Michael Nardi. Welcome new and returning members Julie Hatch, Judy Ayers, and Kate Brennan.
We are looking for seasoned members to become a mentor or buddy to our new members as they come in. If you are interested, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for details.
We also want to know the year that you joined the guild for archival purposes. If you can’t pinpoint a year but recall a decade, we will accept that. Additionally, could you please identify your cell phone number vs landline on the sign-in sheet when you come to the December meeting? This is for future interest with possible communication.
Please don’t forget to wear your name badges to meetings (bring your quarters if you forget!)
Lorraine Potts and Robyn McGarrigle are your membership co-chairs. If you have a question, please feel free to reach out to us!
Happy December Birthday to the following:
Pam Eulberg, 12/6
Christine Tindell, 12/11
Jan Barnes, 12/13
Kathy Sorkin, 12/14
Karen Griffin, 12/15
Jill Gordon, 12/15
Kearstie Grenier, 12/16
Jo Bailey, 12/17
Virginia Underwood, 12/18
Sharon Pierluissi, 12/23
Rae Marie Bradley, 12/26
Donna Fitzgerald, 12/17
Jocelyn Galloway, 12/27
Janelle Ettner, 12/31
