May 2021 Newsletter

 President's Message

I want to thank Jen for arranging the April speaker, Maureen Logan. We had approximately 30 members attend.

At the May meeting the membership will be voting on the new board. So please plan to attend. 

Mark your calendars for our June in person meeting. Robin McMillen is hosting at her house, backyard. 😊

Robin and her committee are busy planning the POQ sale in September. We will need all hands on deck. Sign up to work the sale when she asks. 

Looking forward to seeing you at our May meeting.

While in Pittsburgh, Stan and I went to Bicycle Heaven. Below are some very interesting pictures of sewing machine‘s. I have no idea if they were operational at one time.

 

                                                                                                

 Programs - Jen Burke

As a reminder, Lynn has asked us to invite a friend to each of these programs if we can!

May Cyndi McChesney presents Lone Star Quilts.  Lone Star quilts are usually reserved for advanced quilters, but never fear, there are ways to simplify this complicated quilt! In this one-hour trunk show and lecture Cyndi shares a  variety of Lone Star and Lone Star inspired quilts, settings and variations. Get inspired to tackle one of these beauties in a two-day workshop!

I never knew that “may you live in interesting times” was really a curse, but we all felt it this year. May will be our last zoom presentation of this god-awful year of isolation! A big thank you to everyone who gave this newbie some grace and threw some names her way for planning for speakers in completely unprecedented times.  I know it wasn’t the favored model, but seeing pretty things, fabulous speakers, and you all gave me a lot of joy in some pretty bleak times. I’m still looking forward to precedented times, whatever they’ll look like going forward! 

Note From Fox n Socks aka Jean Fox

To all my dear friends in Penn Oaks Quilt Guild:

I would like to thank everyone for the birthday greetings that I received.  I am thanking you this way as I am afraid I would miss someone if I tried to do individual thanks.  Believe me, I would if I did not have this fear.  It was so wonderful to have the birthday greeting from you all.  I could picture each of you as I read your greeting which made it seem like a personal greeting.  It was a very quiet day.  My son and daughter-in-law did treat me with a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant which was very different from the usual Italian. It was a lovely day so we sat outside which is the only way they go  to restaurants these days.  It is hard to believe I have reached 92.  I have a tendency to not think of it.  I miss all of you so much and look forward to the Zoom  meetings.   Thanks again to all who remembered me.   Jean Fox

Note From Rita Marie

Thank You 

Thank you for everything.....your cards, prayers, words of support, flowers, gift cards and the crock pot meals.

We are so appreciative of your kindness and generosity during this difficult and challenging time in our life.

Your thoughtfulness will always be remembered.

Thank you very, very much.     Kent and Rita Marie Smith

This and That From the Quilting World

Encyclopedia of Blocks

Barbara Brackman, the pre-eminent quilt historian, collected block information on index cards and stored them in a shoe box (or so the story goes). When she got to 4,264, she stopped (not clear why) and wondered what to do. What she came up with borders on the brilliant. She partnered with Electric Quilt and published an encyclopedia, "Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns". Given that this is a virtual world, they went one step further and developed a stand alone APP, "Block Base +", which contains the entire encyclopedia. Block Base + is a thing of beauty and is easier to use than PayPal! Basically, it is a single screen with pictures of the blocks. Click on a block and get everything you ever wanted to know about the block: all the different names the block goes by, the block history, the block characteristics, and seven quilt layouts using the block. The print capabilities are even better. You can print the block-any size, foundations patterns, templates and a rotary cutting chart. Block Base + is a stand alone program, you do not need Electric Quilt. As a separate activity, they put the encyclopedia in Electric Quilt 8, making EQ even more awesome.

Looking for Penn Oaks Quilt Fair Donations

While you are spring cleaning your quilting stash/library, please consider donating the following items to the Penn Oaks Quilt Fair:

• Fabric
• Magazines – can be sewing, crochet & knitting in addition to quilting
• Books
• Patterns
• Other quilting goodies – rulers, etc.

Feel free to bring them to our June meeting at Robin’s house. I will be collecting them there and at future meetings.

If you will not be making the June meeting and have items that you wish to donate, please email me at marianne@thecaporales.us and we can make pickup/drop-off arrangements.

This is not the totality of items we want to sell. Please continue to save other items such as yarn, other craft supplies, household goods, etc. for the sale. Await further instructions on collections of those items. 

If anyone is interested in working with me in preparing these items for the September sale, please let me know. Thanks! Marianne

Membership - Kathy and Bob DeCarli and Marianne Caporale

We hope everyone has received the Membership form. Please get it to us either by snail mail or bring to the June meeting at Robin's. If you did not get the form, please email us. We are done with membership. Elizabeth Young and Sara Reindel will take over. 

It looks like we may be able to get together at the June meeting at Robin McMillen's. Wouldn't that be nice! We haven't been out for thirteen months but since we had the shots, we ventured out for Pizza last week. It was wonderful seeing all the staff at the pizza place and the pizza was equally wonderful. See you soon-we hope. BobKat

SOLDIER QUILTS - Delores Holzwarth

Our guild began making soldier quilts in 2005 for wounded military. The quilts are made of patriotic fabrics and are approximately 45"x72". I have made more than 260 and a friend quilts them on her professional machine. We worked with "Quilts of Valor" and mailed them to military bases all over the U.S. When the postage became too high, we began taking them to our local VA in Coatesville. Some have gone to the Wounded Warrior Clinic in Washington D.C. If you have any questions or if you would like to make one, feel free to contact me.

Charitable Gifts - Elaine Mayer

 Various projects I’ve been doing over the last year, to try to give back to the community. These are easy projects that use up extra fabric:

Scrappy quilts that go to the women’s shelter in North Philadelphia. I also make children’s quilts, baby quilts and fun pillowcases for the children ( these pillow cases do not have to be the guidelines of the chemo pillowcases). I also will make little zipper bags , or Velcro, and fill them with some personal items.

I always have a flannel pocket (one side or two ) 18x18 square near my cutting table to fill with little scraps of fabric and batting. When it is full( not stuffed tight), I sew it up and have another bed for the no kill shelters. These beds go with the rescue to their forever homes.  I did donate 20 to the SPCA, when they brought up the 200 rescued from Houston.

I would love any beds that anyone could make as they sew. You and Maureen have been great with helping .

Marti

Ways & Means - Robin McMillen

Hi Quilters

The 2021 Quilt Fair is taking shape.  We have reserved the space at Covenant Presbyterian Church.  They have a lovely out building with ample parking, easy access and room for the different events.  Here is what the committee is working on as part of our Quilt Fair and we will need all your help.  

1. Youth Sewing Contest (Organized by Elizabeth Young)
2. Guild Sign-up Table with examples of our quilted work 
3. Quilting demonstrations (more to come, just want to use one of the three smaller rooms for sewing demonstrations)
4. Sale Space Items for sale, including a children's craft corner and a Christmas corner
5. Consignment items for sale (Helen Hofbauer)
6. Bake Sale 

We have a great committee assembled that are motivated and energized.  Please hold onto your items you want to donate, quilting fabric, books, patterns, magazines, yarn, anything crafty as well as household items and anything else you think others would like to purchase.  

Looking forward to promoting our guild and raising some funds!  The intent of the Penn Oaks Quilt Fair is to share our passion for quilting, promote benefits of belonging to a guild and raise funds to support guild activities.  

Robin

Robin McMillen

Instagram @sewwhimzy

(610)836-1363

Nominating Committee Report

We would like to thank the members who have volunteered to serve on our executive board. The vote to confirm this slate will be taken at the May meeting.

Here is the slate of candidates for the 2021-2022 guild year.

President:                            Robin McMillen

Membership:                        Elizabeth Young and Sarah Reindel

Corresponding Sec:              Marianne Caporale     

Recording Sec:                     Angela Brant

Programs:                           Jen Burke

Asst. to Programs:               Donna Daley

Treasurer:                           Ellen McMillen

Ways and Means:                 Elaine Egan

Jen Burke, Ellen McMillen and Suzanne Stiverson - Nominating Committee