Merry Christmas!

On December 12, 2018, we will be having our Annual Christmas Party as part of our monthly meeting.  This year, we voted to have a pizza party, and I love pizza, so I, for one, am looking forward to this!  Various members are also bringing salad and deserts, so there will be plenty to eat!  Yum!  I had been planning on doing one of my yummy deserts, too, but yesterday, I discovered my oven is on the blink--it won't turn on at all! So, unless I bring something from the store...

We also do a Yankee Swap, which is a blast.  We put a $20 limit on the item, which has to be quilt related and wrapped up prettily.  The way we run it is everyone who brings a gift gets a number.  We go in order.  They then get to either keep what they picked from the gift table or trade it for something someone already picked.  After everyone has picked, the first person who chose gets to trade, if she so desires.  Sometimes, there are some hot trades going on, let me tell you!

Our meeting in November was fun as we had a special presenter, Louise Pankiewicz.  She is a certified Quilt-in-a-Day instructor and she brought a number of her quilts and presented us with a trunk show of them.  She also brought patterns, tools, etc and we had a fun time in the mini-store.  She also informed us she would be hosting a Retreat at the Hampton Inn in Coventry soon.  3 days of sewing, chatting, sharing and learning.  Sounds like a fun time!

We also had a Sewing Bee on November 17.  This is not a Bee in the old sense where everyone sits around a framed quilt and quilts the layers together.  Everyone brings their own supplies and works on their own projects.  The fun comes from sharing what we are working on and getting help.  For example, after I sewed a couple of strips together, we determined they needed to be in a different order and a couple of the other ladies actually took a couple of the strips away to 'frog' them for me.  This is what a community does.  They help each other.

So...

Wednesday, December 12, is our next meeting.  Come hungry.  Bring your own drink.  Bring a desert, if you like.  Don't forget your Yankee Swap gift.  The Fat Quarter theme of the month is "Silver Bells."

A New Year-A New Resolve!

Oh, my.

I just looked to see when the last time anyone had posted anything to our blog actually was.  I knew it had been a while, but...

5 years?!

Well, things have to change.

We are planning on taking our Social Media presence a bit more seriously here at IRQG.

We are turning over a new leaf with the start of a new year.

We have a new slate of officers and Executive Committee who have planned the coming year with many exciting and interesting activities and we are anxious to see everyone after the summer hiatus.

We are also anxious to meet new friends and invite any who may be interested in sharing the traditional and non-traditional skills of quilt making and other crafts.

Meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (except for this September, when we will meet on Tuesday, September 11, due to the Primary elections) at the Smithfield Congregational Church, 514 Smithfield Avenue, Smithfield, RI.  Yearly membership is $25.  Current members should pay this as soon as possible.  Visitors are allowed to come once or twice before having to pay membership.

The doors will open around 6:30 for Meet-and-Greet and the meeting will get underway around 7:00.  Members are encouraged to bring examples of their work for Show and Tell.  Various members bring refreshments, as they have the opportunity to do so, however, be aware that we have been doing BYOD (Bring Your Own Drink) for the past couple of years.  Everyone seems to like it better as everyone gets what they like!  We are usually done by around 9:00.

Everyone who comes in the door and signs in gets various raffle tickets for drawings at the end of the meeting.  Drawings are for Attendance, having your Nametag, bringing a Fat Quarter, bringing items for the Food Pantry, bringing tea Tags and Can Tabs, bringing covers for Hasbro, Show and Tell and, finally, the Basket.  Most of the drawings win Fat Quarters from the Guild FQ Basket.  If you win the FQ drawing, you win all the FQs brought that evening.

I started putting notes in the paragraph above "See below for details," but realized I was doing it for every item! So!  Let me give you a few more details on each of them:

• ATTENDANCE  We ask each person, member or visitor, to sign in when they arrive.  This helps us keep track of who is there each month.  If you are visiting for the first time, you will be asked for contact information, also.  This is simply so we can follow up with you.  WE DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY CONTACT INFORMATION TO ANYONE.
• NAMETAG  Each member is asked to make their own version of the official Guild nametag.  There is a pattern for it in the membership folder.  It is based on the Waterwheel block and can be made in any size.  However, it should be large enough to be seen and to have the Guild name and your name along the sides.
• FAT QUARTER Each month, members are encouraged to bring one or more Fat Quarters.  The member who wins this drawing wins all of the FQs brought to the meeting that evening.  The choice of the FQ is based on a color or theme announced ahead of time.  The actual choice of the FQ is up to the member's interpretation of that color/theme.  The FQ Team have been busy beavers this year and composed a musical theme:
• September     "See You in September"
• October         "Monster Mash"
• November      "Thanks for the Memories"
• December      "Silver Bells"
• January          "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
  
• February        "My Funny Valentine"
• March            "The Wayward Wind"
• April              "Singin' in the Rain"
• May               "Strolling in the Park"
• June               "The Rose" (yes, by Bette Midler)
• PANTRY Members are encouraged to bring shelf-steady, non-perishable food items that can be donated to a local food pantry.
• TEA TAGS/CAN TABS  Collect all those tea tags and can tabs.  They are brought in and given to a charity which converts them to cash to help people with medical needs.
• HASBRO We ask members to help Hasbro's young patients by making covers for their IV bags.  These are two simple rectangles with one open end and a small opening in the other.  The nursing staff cover the blood bags with these to help the youngest patients be less frightened.  They need a LOT of these bags as they can only be used once and have to be discarded after use, so the cheerier the better for the little ones. 
• SHOW AND TELL Show us your skills!  Show us what you've found somewhere!  Show us whatever!  Each item you show gets you a ticket for the drawing!
• BASKET The Basket is one that has been organized by one of the members (who has signed up ahead of time to do so).  These baskets usually contain sewing supplies, fat quarters, storage, patterns or whatever the organizer can figure out.  Those tickets are sold separately at $2 or 3 for $5.  Proceeds are used by the Guild to support activities like speakers, group projects, materials and supplies, etc.  These have been very popular over the past several years and the winners are quite envied.

In addition to these regular activities, there will be a packet for the BLOCK OF THE MONTH.  Members will receive these packets at the September meeting.  Details will be given at that time.

The September meeting will be a busy one.  Not only will it be our first of the year, with all the greetings and catching up to do, we will also have a workshop on the Joan Shay technique of flower-making.  President Brenda Devine will show us how to make the flowers and make them into corsages.  A materials list will be passed out for anyone interested in making the pumpkin project in October.  I call it a project, because when we talked about it at the Board meeting, we said members could make it into a pillow, a wall-hanging, a quilt block, or anything they could think of!  We didn't want to limit your imaginations!  We look forward to seeing the completed projects.

We are also planning on having a couple of Sewing Bees where you can bring whatever project you would like to work on and get advice and/or help on it.  We may even work on a Guild project.  We actually have a couple of dates in mind, but just discovered a possible conflict, so we are going to nail it down before definitely announcing them.  There's plenty of time.  Keep watching here for that announcement.

Wow!  Well!  I think that's enough to make up for lost time right now!  Don't forget to check out our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/irqg.pawtucket)

May 8, 2013

Welcome to Mentoring May!

Tonight we have demonstrations of many different skills and whatever dealing with quilting.  I have to say whatever, because I don't know what you call blogging!

We'll take some photos and add them to this post as soon as we can.

Maybe we'll even get some of our members to add comments!!!!!!

Keep Viewing!

We are so happy to see so many people enjoying our blog.  We are trying to get more of our members writing and adding posts about all things about quilting. 

We have been thrilled to have visitors from many different countries all over the world, let alone from other areas of the United States!  If you are visiting from outside the New England area, please leave a comment down below.  Tell us how you found us and what you think of our quilts.

Speaking of our quilts, we hope you enjoy the slideshow at the side of the blog.  In the rotation of images, you will see various projects our members have worked on.  Some are very simple and some are very complex, but they are all quite beautiful.  Tell us what you think, please!

If you have a favorite quilting website, please let me know so I can add it to our growing list.  We have sites that range from online stores to small quilt shops to major names in quilting.  We are especially interested in shops we can visit in the New England area.

In the meantime, get out and enjoy the improving weather.  I have to go work on a quilt for my grand-niece's wedding this summer.  Wish me luck that I have all the supplies and enough time!  I've had a grand time designing it using EQ7.  Now I just have to make it!

October 2012 meeting

Hi, All!  Thank you for your patience while I've been dealing with all my family problems.  I'll write more about all that later.

This is a reminder that our October meeting will be on the 10th at Slater Mill at 6:30 pm.

The Block of the Month is Churn Dash (http://quilterscache.com/C/ChurnDashBlock.html).  Color choice is up to the maker.  The blocks will no longer be raffled off.  Each person will keep her own blocks and they will be used to complete the President's Challenge in September 2013.

The Fat Quarter for October is to be an Autumn or Thanksgiving theme.

We will have a Night at the Museum night at the meeting.  Everyone is encouraged to bring in antique or vintage items from their sewing room collections.  Suggestions include, but are not limited to:

• Sewing or lace-making machines (featherweights count!)
• Sewing machines, ironing boards, irons, etc. manufactured for children
• Thimbles, advertising or other
• Novelty tape measures
• Novelty pin cushions
• Needle books, handmade or commercially manufactured
• Cardboard needle folders (the packaging for needles when originally purchased)
• Old scissors
• Sewing baskets, kits or boxes
• Early sewing or quilting tools
• Early sewing/quilting books or magazines (especially 1st editions!)
• Sewing or pattern company advertisements, framed or unframed
• Unique or interesting embroidery, quilting or sewing patterns
• Framed samplers
• Fabric, ribbon or trim collections
• Photos, prints, paintings of people sewing or quilting
• Framed ribbon and lace dolls, or other framed sewn artwork
• Early handmade lace or crochet trim
• Miniature or doll quilts
• Miniature (dollhouse) sewing items that look like antiques
• Framed vignettes of miniature sewing rooms/quilting studios
• Cookbooks sponsored by sewing machine or pattern companies
• Button collections
• Home-sewn apparel
• Interesting and unique patterns

Still here!

Wow!  I just checked on our blog here and discovered that I really haven't even logged in in over a year!

Mea Culpa!!!!!!

Anyway, some of the guild members said they had trouble getting in.  I don't know why.  I'm going to send this link to our President and have her try again.  She can also send the link to the membership.

SO!  If you are now reading this, please make a comment below.

Thanks!

Also, as a reminder, the FQ of the Month is themed "Honolulu, HI" and Daphne passed out the BoM instructions at the last meeting.  I'll edit this post when I get my notes for the block name.  Minutes will be coming out shortly (We're still finishing Christmas in my family!), hopefully this weekend.

Follow-up:  OK.  I checked.  The BoM for February is called Lovers' Knot.  Click on the name and it will take you to a page with the instructions.  You should use the colors as indicated in the sample (off-white, pinkish and green).

October Meeting was Terrific Fun!

Wow!  What a night!

After our business meeting, we went over to the Wilkinson Mill where the curator took us up to the museum storage room and showed us some of the Mill's collection of antique sewing machines and attendent pieces like needle displays, thread displays, postcards from the middle 1800's, dress patterns from Butterick and Domestic from Victorian times, etc.  Some of the machines had been made as early as 1855--and they still work!  It was interesting to see how the manufacturers not only made a useful device, they also paid a lot of attention to the aesthetics of the machine and how it would look in the home.  Some of the machines and their treadles were absolutely beautiful!  Thank you, Andy, for a wonderful experience!

After we got back, we snacked our way through the wonderful treats brought by our refreshment hosts and had a chance to see projects being worked on by various members, had a short lesson in how to become writers on this blog and had the drawings for the doorprizes.  We had an astounding 23 Block-of-the-Month donations.  Brenda thinks this is the most we've ever had.

We finally called an end to everything after 9:00--and people didn't even want to leave then!

Everyone had a terrific time.  If I can ever figure out how to put the pictures on Picasa or Flickr, I will and will link them.

October Meeting Sure to Interest

Come to the October 13 meeting of the Industrial Revolution Quilt Guild!

After the business meeting, we'll be heading over to the Wilkinson Mill to see the antique sewing machines in their collection.

Hope to see you there!

6:30 at Slater Mill in Pawtucket, across from the Visitor Center.

Welcome to a New Year!

Welcome to the 2010-11 year of the Industrial Revolution Quilt Guild!

At the first meeting of the year, we will be sharing some of our favorite quilts and discovering the wonderful plans our new president, Brenda Devine, has in store for us this year.

The Block of the Month is Cain and Able.  The directions for this block can be found on the website http://www.quilterscache.com/ along with the rest of the blocks for the upcoming year.

The Fat Quarter for September is RED.

So, come on!  We'll see you at Slater Mill at 6:30!

All the News Worth Reading About...

Congratulations to our esteemed President, Brenda Devine!

She was interviewed by The Valley Breeze about the incredible Baltimore Album Quilts she's been working on for the past several months. The work she has put into these intricate blocks is well deserving of the attention, respect and admiration this article brings.

The Guild was also mentioned, along with the fact that we're always open to new members.  Hopefully, we'll get some interest, too.

Click on the link (The Valley Breeze) and read all about it.

May Meeting Means Elections Are Here

The May meeting of the Industrial Revolution Quilt Guild was held at Slater Mill on May 12, 2010 at 6:30 pm. 

The ladies all gathered and had a wonderful time trading information about quilt projects as well as showing samples and other projects being worked.

Andy Paquette, Curator at Slater Mill, showed us several of the antique quilts housed at the Mill.  Some are over 100 years old.  Everybody oohed and aahed over the quilt made out of bunting celebrating the centennial of Samual Slater establishing the mill, the yo-yo quilt and the baby quilt done by Esther Slater done in 1851.  But when the crazy quilt was pulled out, the exclamations were continuous.  The fabric used was so rich and the embroidery was complex and varied.  Everywhere we looked we found another treasure hidden in the stitches.  We actually ran out of time to see all the quilts he had brought out and had to defer the rest of the show to next year.  We're also looking forward to seeing the antique sewing machines in the Mill's collection.

After a refreshment break, we got down to Guild business.

The annual elections were held with the Nominating Committee putting forth the following slate:

• President--Brenda Devine
• Vice-President--Pauline Cabana
• Secretary--Nancy McEnanly
• Treasurer--Linda Cusack

The slate was elected unanimously.

After the business was taken care of, we had the Show-n-Tell.  Several beautiful projects were shown.  A suggestion was made that we choose the Dresses for Africa as our Charity for next year.  We'll discuss it.  There was also some discussion about whether we would continue the Raffle as we have been doing it this year or return to the Round Robin as we did previously.  We decided to discuss it next month and make any changes for the first meeting in September.

The June meeting will be on the 9th.  The Fat Quarter is whatever you want to bring. 

The meeting was dismissed at 9:10 pm. 

See you in June!

IRQG Blogging

Hi, Ladies! (I would say 'Folks' if we had any gentlemen members, however...)

If you are interested in adding posts to our new blog, you need to do a couple of things:

1. You need to register a free account with Google.
2. You need to respond to the email I sent to you. 
3. At that point, you are granted permission, and you can blog by clicking on the "New Post" button and type your message or comments.

Remember, you can comment on any posts at any time.  Your screen name will be attached to any posts or comments you submit.

If you have questions, please contact me via email.  I'll do my best to help you.

Come and join the fun!  We're all looking forward to hearing from you.

2010 Starts Off With a Bang!

The January meeting was held on the 13th while the snow fell gently outside and the Blackstone roared outside the windows of Slater Mill.  The ladies of the Industrial Revolution Quilt Guild met in the back room of the 2nd floor of the Mill where we were toasty-warm.

The general Business meeting went quickly with information about the Quilt Show for 2011.  All the committee chairs have been filled and everyone has been asked to volunteer for a committee that will utilize their skills to the utmost.  Discussion was held regarding the Guild Raffle Quilt.  All members will be asked to make one block.  Kits will be coming soon.  More information will follow as soon as the various chairpeople can post it.  The Vice-President's Challenge was introduced, but Connie didn't have the papers to pass out.  She promised to have them for the February meeting.  The President's Challenge is very simple this year: finish your UFOs and get ready to show items in our Quilt Show.  Tempus Fugit and the Show will be upon us very quickly!

After refreshments, we broke up into demonstrations with stations around the room where members explained how to do various techniques.  Daphne demonstrated paper piecing the April Chicken Block of the Month.  Michelle showed us how to make our bindings end perfectly the first time. Barbara showed us how to make the tube version of the pillowcases for our Guild Charity drive.  The blog was introduced and all the members had invitations emailed to their accounts so that they can be added as authors. All members are invited to post their thoughts about quilting and sewing and the Guild.  There were several stations located around the room and everyone flowed from table to table to see the ones they were most interested in.  Thank you to all who brought demos to show!

The meeting ended quietly around 8:15 and everyone headed out into the cold, snowy night for home with plans and ideas for more quilts and sewing projects.

December Meeting

Merry Christmas!  Happy Hannukah! Happy Kwanzaa! (Did I miss any?  My apologies.)  Anyway--Happy Holidays!

The Guild held its December meeting last night at Slater Mill.  We had a little trouble getting in when the Mill people didn't hear us pounding on the door, but we got inside in time to beat the rains that poured the entire time we were meeting.  Luckily, the rains stopped just before we left for the evening.

We had a great time at our Holiday Potluck supper.  There was plenty of food to share, stories to tell and lots of camaraderie.  Barbara's meat pie was a real hit with everyone, as was the stromboli.  There was shrimp, veggies and dip, baked beans, chicken stir fry, cakes and cream puffs and much, much more.  After supper, people got to pick gifts from a Secret Santa stash on the front table.  Gifts ranged from books to supplies to fat quarters and gift certificates.  Everyone walked away happy.

Business was handled quickly and easily.  The Quilt Show for 2011 now has a full roster of committee chairs.  Be prepared for calls to action!  This blog was also introduced to the membership.  Daphne will send out the address to everyone so people can check in and contribute, if they wish.  We then had a Show-and-Tell. Several people shared their crafting gifts.

I'll post some of the photos I took last night, but I have to set some criteria first. 

If you have anything you would like to contribute to the discussion here, please let me know.  I have to 'allow' you to publish first.