Maple Leaf Quilters Newsletter

Hello Everyone: We have a new year with new projects to accomplish. The January 7th workday at Prairie Street Mennonite Church, was a fun time of working on the Seven Sisters blocks, visiting and eating! I’m sure those attending the Retreat at Quaker Haven had a wonderful time as well. Please check the list of items you will need to bring along for the February program . Sylva

UPCOMING MLQ EVENTS REGULAR MEETING SCHEDULE (unless announced otherwise)

Regular Meeting: Waterford Mennonite Church on the 4th Monday at 6:30 PM.
Address: 65975 St Rd 15, Goshen, Indiana

MLQ Officers:
Chair: Jan Goppert, 831-4236
Secretary: Peg Hochstetler, 533-3706
Treasurer: Janis Nelson, 260-768-7202
Librarian: Becky Yoder, 825-9344
Newsletter Editor: Sylva Keenan, 642-4570
Web Editor: Carol Honderich, 534-1915

*Sew What Nights: at Edith's on the 2nd Monday of the month, 7:00 PM.
Call Edith, 875-1808 for information and directions.
Next Meeting: February 13, 2006

Guild Meeting Program for February: Claire Baker, Backbasting Applique Technique
Next Meeting: February 27, 2006
A note from Claire:
ITEMS TO BRING FOR THE FEBRUARY PROGRAM
Here's the items the ladies need to bring to guild to learn how to backbaste. This is NOT a beginner's appliqué class! You need to have some sort of understanding about appliqué. That would be most helpful.

12 1/2" square light background fabric
Marking tool. I like using the water erasable blue marker. Most anything will work except don't use a pencil or pen! The purple markers that disappear may work for a little while, but they disappear so you'll just be frustrated with it when you have to keep marking your pattern!
Thick needle, not a darning needle or one that yarn goes through.
Pins
Quilting thread, the kind that is waxed/coated, any color.
Thimble if you like one.
Sharp scissors, small are best.
Your favorite appliqué needle. I will bring my favorite.
3 other fabrics. We'll be making a flower so one color for petals, one for the center and one for the leaves, thread to match.

Hostesses: Betty & Peggy

MINUTES – Maple Leaf Quilters, January 23, 2006 , Waterford Mennonite Church
Members Present: Elaine Frey, Peggy Hochstetler, Carol Honderich, Sylva Keenan, Laura Kercher, Roberta Poscharscky, Beulah Sample, Sue Stringfellow, Marie Troyer, Phyllis Windsor, Becky Yoder, Florence Makousky, Claire Baker, Marcia Vierck, Gretchen Weaver, Fern Bontrager, Betty Geyer, Nancy Smith, Carol Diaz, Edith Shanholt, Janis Nelson, Debbie Kelly, Barb Dizney, Debbie Cramer, Jan Goppert

Guests: Laura’s daughter – Miriam Kercher, Cindy Williams, Anita Barlow.

READING : “Quilt Show And Tell” by Rose Kelley from Jan/Feb ’06 Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, read by Jan Goppert

PROGRAM : Anita Barlow, from Lolly’s Fabric Store in Shipshewana gave a presentation on Quilting Notions. She presented many of the usual notions such as scissors, rotary cutters, cutting mats, rulers, stilettos, threads, needles, pin cushions, marking pens/pencils, sewing machine oils, vintage soap, batting and lint rollers.

She discussed how you could substitute some of these notions with items bought from the grocery store, office supply stores or from quilting magazines. She also talked about how certain items can be used for other things such as a stiletto can be bought at the grocery store “aka the wooden skewer”! The sewing machine oil is great for noisy hinges! Anita passed around the notions so that we could get a closer look at the more unusual items!

Anita shared her two favorite books, “ Around the Block” by Judy Hopkins, a book of 200 rotary cut blocks presented in 6 sizes and “ The Quilter’s Pocket Reference “ by Peggy Scholley. Thank you Anita for sharing!

Snacks: Thank you for bringing the fresh fruit and crackers Carol and Marcia!

SHOW-N-TELL:
Claire – continues to work on her 5 th “Bird of Paradise” in appliqué.
Laura – has finished her very own green quilt, which had machine piecing and appliqué!
Cindy Williams – A guest, is working on the Women of the Bible quilt with Carol as her mentor and she keeps adding more
and more blocks!
Carol – showed us a scrappy quilt her mom made and hand quilted and gave to her and showed us her Round Robin Dear Hannah Quilt. She also showed us a baby quilt that she made using some star blocks that she received from a friend. She designed the quilt using her EQ5 program, pieced it and sandwiched it all in several days. This quilt was donated to the guild to be used to give to the first baby born on National Quilt Day on March 18 th at Goshen Hospital.
Edith – showed us her finished doll quilt that she hand quilted and may donate to the Mennonite Relief Sale.
Elaine – was working on a crocheting project.
Deb – working on a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt.
Barb – showed us her Cheese and Crackers king size quilt that she pieced and machine quilted. She also showed us her finished quilt for her friend in Southern IN whose home was destroyed in the tornado of 2005
Jan – showed us the scarf she made out of Minkee fabric.
Sue - brought a book of Poems to share called “ A Year in Poems and Quilts” by Anna Grossnickle Hines.

Seven Sisters Blocks : Claire, Fern, Edith, and Elaine. Agreat many of the members were working diligently on hand piecing their Seven Sisters blocks!! Keep working girls!!!

BOM : Sylva x3 blocks, Laura x2 blocks, Becky x2 blocks, Gretchen x3 blocks, Edith x2 blocks, Marie, Marcia Phyllis x2 blocks

The sheet for signing up for 2006 programs, hostesses and BOM’s was circulated again.

Block of the Month Project: We will be continuing this project in 2006 and several members have already signed up for a month.
Jan Goppert prepared the following information: Traditional Design - Pattern for 12 inch finished block. The members at the June meeting decided to have a Block-of-the-Month project this year. It was decided to have the patterns be traditional designs for a 12" finished block. The blocks can be traditional designs with a "twist" if it is your own design creation.

NOTE: If you are looking for block ideas for this project on the internet, you might try this site: Quilt Blocks Galore, http://www.quilterscache.com. You will find hundreds of quilt blocks patterns. You will take the pattern home with you and make the block for yourself with your choice of fabrics. Bring the finished block (or blocks) for "Show and Tell" the next month. If you are ambitious, maybe you could make 2 blocks. Make one block for yourself and one block to donate to the guild. At the end of a year we would have quite a collection of blocks to make opportunity quilts (for raffle) or charity quilts. The following people have signed up to bring a block design pattern for one month of the guild's Block-of-the-Month project:

Month	Quilter	Block of the Month
September 04	Marie	New York Beauty
October	Fern	Castle Wall
November	Becky	Whirligig_Block
December	Laura	Honey Bee
January 05	Peggy	Eight Pointed Star
February	Phyllis	Mexican Star
March	Carol	Grape Basket Block
April	Janis	Goose in the Pond
May	Elaine	Applique Flower (no link)
June	Sue	Goshen Star
July	Edith	Bellefleurs
August	Naomi	Checker Heart
September	Beulah	Moving Star
October	No new block	----
November	Claire Baker	Snowflake Block
December	Barb Dizney	Scrappy Star
January 06	Florence	Dutchman's Puzzle
February	Phyllis
March	Carol
April	Peggy
May	Elaine
June	Beulah
July	Naomi
August	Sylva
September
October	Pat
November
December

Maple Leaf Quilters Name Tag - Want to make a paper-pieced name tag to wear to our meetings? Here's a link to the Name Tag Pattern. Need instructions for paper piecing? Try this link: http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingthree.html

Maple Leaf Quilters Meetings for 2006. Please sign up soon if you haven't yet.

2006	Program	Hostesses
January 23	Edith and Marie	Marcia and Carol
February 27	Claire	Betty and Peggy
March 27	Heartland Quilters Tea
April 24	Jan	Roberta and Fern
May 22	Betty	Jan and Barb
June 26	Pat	Edith, Elaine, Becky
July 24		Roberta and Sue
August 21	Barb	Pat and Phyllis
September 25	Fern and Laura	Florence and Marie
October 23	Carol and Elaine	Fern
November 27	Thanksgiving Carry-In	Sylva & Beulah
December	No Meeting	No Meeting

Upcoming Quilt Events:

April 27-30, 2006. Grand Rivers Eighth Annual Spring Festival & Quilt Show in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. For more information contact Donna Brugger (270) 988-2225, or Chamber of Commerce, info@grandrivers.com or www.grandrivers.com under festivals and events. There will be a raffle, quilts for sale, demonstrations and vendors inside & outside. $3.00 donation.

April 27-30, 2006. J&S Travel Paducah Quilt Show Bus Trip. For more information, here is a PDF file with itinerary, pricing and sign-up form. Contact Jim Higgins at jstravelservice@comcast.net or at 574 596-6035.

Quilter's Hall of Fame Celebration 2006, July 13-16, in Marion, Indiana. "How Does Your Garden Grow" juried quilt show guidelines and entry form. First prize $500 donated by Quilters Newsletter Magazine.

Recommended Quilting Web Sites:

Maple Leaf Quilters Yahoo Group Site - come here to share photos, send emails, read archived newsletters, find links, files and more. If you have not signed up, or if you are having trouble reaching this site, please email Carol H. at Carol@honderich.com
For Maple Leaf Quilter Members only: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MLQltrs