Quilting Guild of The Villages (QGOTV)

This week's meeting was inside/outside. We met at Laurel Manor and reviewed topics noted below, shared Show and Tell and Secret Sisters and current personal projects, then went to visit to Barb Happeny. The photos, left to right: Eileen's wonderful surprise "cat in a basket" painting, which she bestowed on an appreciative Jackie Perez - the next is of our group in the doorway of Barb Happeny's friendly home in Freedom Pointe, and finally the whole group in the Freedom Pointe reception lounge. Wow, what a wonderful experience. We were treated royally.

Little note: The spontaneous field trip to Trenton was great fun for eight of us. Thetown is suffering, but the quilt shop and its restaurant did not disappoint. Good shopping and excellent eating. As usual, the drive up is a story in itself! Between laughing, Joy said we should strart writing down the escapades we get into every time we venture onto the roads! Priceless!

QUILT GUILD UPDATE: Jeannie will be attending a meeting regarding the projected fund raiser quilt for the 2013 show, and bringing us details at the 5/24 meeting. We sent 5 fat quarters in tropical colors, of the 12 requested. Jeannie felt that there was still some adjusting to the plans for this project and recommended we wait till after this meeting to complete our donation.

CHATHAM RECIPROCAL: Our membership expressed their preference to hosting the Chatham chapter on our home turf. Being in late summer, we expect that our smaller quarters will be adequate for the amount of members that will be here to attend. Jeannie will contact Chatham and let them know of our plans for August 29th. All members attending, will be asked to donate a baked item appropriate for "breakfast/brunch," and more details about the impressive events will be posted as soon as we can come up with some!

RETREAT: Due to an error at the retreat center we have had to change our original dates for the retreat to November 16, 7 & 18.

Please note: The full fee will be $134 per person for use of the rooms, lodging and food. We need each member planning to attend to please submit $30 to Cathy Stone next week, so that she can give them the required deposit. For those of you out of state, please give Cathy a call or email at cathymvaland@yahoo.com, that you plan to attend, and maybe you could mail her a check. Her address and phone are: 1651 Marigold Ln., The Villages, Fla. 32162 - (864) 275-9001.

Plans will continue to evolve over the next few months, but the important thing was to secure the date. This is a guaranteed good time. Life doesn't usually give us things that are guaranteed like that, but I have no doubt that if you choose to attend and share the time with this extraordinary group of women, you will be soooooooo glad that you did. And truly, with this group, the more the merrier! And, yes, we can open it to others.

SHIRLEY'S INTERNAL FUND RAISING PROGRAM: All in attendance this morning approved holding the in-house auction next November (before the retreat), to fatten up our treasury for the charity projects we expect to take on. We will repeat the details in the future, but simply be prepared with a donated item, and let the fun begin. They may be made, or bought, but should relate to our love of quilting and sewing, then we'll mimic the antics of our annual Holiday Party and all will win. We will still hold our annual party, at which you will need to have yet another item for the gift exchange. Two opportunities for fun.

A DAY AT FREEDOM POINTE: Upon arrival, 17 of us were escorted into a beautiful, circular, glass windowed dining area which extends off the main dining room at Freedom Pointe. Barb greeted us with their activities director, and marketing director, Kris and Sharon, who later escorted us through all the interesting amenities of their facility and gave us all the information we could ask for. The luncheon was a delicious buffet that was finished with a chocolate ganache cake with vanilla ice cream that very few refused. We know our priorities. We visited a typical 2 br. apartment (gorgeous), and then Barb was gracious enough to allow us into hers, which was very similar. She has wonderful views from the 5th floor, and has had laminate flooring put into the room for her sewing, expecting workers this week to come out and help her layout the storage and work space for her special new sewing room. She has had a run of bad luck with her health lately, and is behind schedule since moving. A few of us noted that she could use some help in getting better settled, and she is open to us lending her a hand. Anyone wishing to join the fun of doing that, please give me a call, or send an email, dclight10@aol.com, and we'll look at what where and when. 847-894-3322.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

JULY 1st: Cruise payment due

JULY 5th: Ice Cream Social Guild meeting. We are the host Chapter.

AUG. 9th: Field trip to Dade City while the new Laurel Manor Carpet is being layed.

awesome pictorial quilt feature wall, all with an authentic jukebox serenading us - hard to beat! But, then, the frosting on the cake - Eileen Navikas' beautiful home with not only a wonderful sewing space, but a jaw dropping massive art studio/sun room/family room surrounded by marvelous gardens and a lovely little lanai, and all filled with her breathtaking artwork. Everywhere you looked was something special. Some refreshing fruit, an excellent tour from her very cordial husband, and the event of the season was complete. Of course, 10 of us continued on to lunch - it's hard to break this group up!

Thank you - both groups - for the generous sharing of your personal space. This experience is really extraordinary and we appreciate you all.

ADDRESS REMINDER: Please be sure and send those alternate addresses to Jeannie, at myrjeannie@yahoo.com. Some have expressed concern that they want to send out 'Secret Sister' items this summer and don't have addresses.

RETREAT: Cathy Stone reported that we have secured the dates of November 8, 9 & 10 for our retreat. The suggestion of Judy Hansen doing a free style machine quilting class is very popular. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

FUNDRAISER FOR NEXT YEAR'S CHRISTMAS AND OTHER CHARITIES:

Shirley Peterson came up with an excellent suggestion at lunch, and, being the highly formal, politically correct group that we are, we asked for a vote, yelled "whoopee", and other similar agreements, and passed it.... Start your imaginations working now, because we're going to have our very own In-Chapter Silent Auction! Everyone who wishes to participate needs to donate an item. We will then bid (and hopefully fight over) said items, and all monies collected will go into our charity fund for our Christmas family, etc. This is a multi-level winner idea! We get to make fun stuff, we get to fight over fun stuff, we get to get fun stuff, and we get lots of money to have fun spending on others. Seems like all we do is have fun!!

SPONTANEOUS MONDAY FIELD TRIP:

Anyone wishing to join a caravan up to the Trenton Quilt Shop, a group is forming to meet at the 466 Walmart Parking Lot - about 9:00 a.m. Look on the garden/drug pick up side of the building, nearer the road, for a hyper bunch of women with wallets at the ready. We'll drive up, shop a bit, have lunch, and come back home by mid afternoon. Heaven.

NEXT MEETING:

We're still on schedule to join Barb Happeny for a tour of her new home in Freedom Pointe, followed by a luncheon there. Meet at Laurel Manor at the regular time, we will have a meeting; bring show and tell, and anything you might be working on. Also, for those interested, Carell will bring pattern instructions for the Potato Chip Scarf in knit or crochet, and she and Barb Lamke can demo it. We will go over to Freedom Point around 11:00 a.m.

No calendar at this time - the Program Committee is cooking things up.

We got in a little celebration of our president's birthday this morning, complete with cake, candles and a little gift. The chapter wishes you many many more - and I believe I heard someone say, "as a token of our appreciation, we have officially extended your presidency to 5 years..." Jeannie was, uh, speechless....

THANK YOU AGAIN, BARB HAPPENY for the very special visit last week, it really was gracious and thoughtful of you. We know you're not as energetic as you'd like right now, and taking care of those medical challenges is top priority, but we intend to keep you in the picture.

PRESIDENTIAL REQUEST: Jeannie needs those summer addresses. It's obvious we don't have everyone's! Please be good little absentee members and email the information to Jeannie (myrjeannie@yahoo.net) or send them to me (dclight10@aol.com), then I'll forward them to her.

REVIST THE BIRTHDAY PROJECT:

So, it seems like a good idea to get everyone's birthday because we really want to start a monthly birthday party! Like, the first Tuesday of each month we'll celebrate the birthdays for everyone born in that month (Hey, Jeannie, mine's March 19th.) We all know this is just an excuse to have cake - but what's wrong with that? From the look of crumbs left in the baking dish I brought Jeannie's cake in this morning, there is a definite unsatisfied need!

FUTURE PROJECTS: MOBILIZE THOSE MACHINES:

Cathy Stone proposed some sew-in's during June, using striping and jelly roll patterns to put together some quick assembly quilts. Joy already has miles of strips sewn, I'm not kidding, ready to be cut into sections to accommodate the chosen size. So expect to mobilize your machines, as these simple group efforts are great fun and produce some excellent charity products. We have an affirmed charity waiting.

RETREAT (Nov. 17th, 18th and 19th): Please get your deposits to Cathy Stone ASAP ($30)

The full fee will be $134 per person for use of the rooms, lodging and food. For those of you out-of-state, please give Cathy a call or email (cathymvaland@yahoo.com), that you plan to attend, and maybe you could mail her a check. Her address and phone are: 1651 Marigold Ln., The Villages, Fla. 32162; (864) 275-9001.

We'll keep reminding everyone of the event, and encouraging you to make your committment, so that all the fun plans can begin to take shape. Any suggestions are welcome. As the summer season takes so many away, its hard for us all to keep current with things that seem so far into the future. We highly recommend you just get the reservation done, and have it over with so you don't even have to think about it while you're out and about doing your summer things...

CHATHAM RECIPROCAL: Our reciprocal is set for August 29th and we need STUFF!

Start ear-marking those items that you'll be sharing on that day. Any sewing items are acceptable, as all chapters enjoy creative inspiration. We've seen wome wonderful items through this year, reflecting different seasons, so start digging them back out. Also, check those "church brunch" recipes, you know, the ones full of butter and sugar and cream and eggs, and cheese - and pick out the one you’ll be offering for us to share. I can't be there, but I've got a good, easy recipe if anyone needs one! I know it qualifies because it has milk and swiss cheese and eggs and those canned onion rings - yum!

JEWELERS IN THE HOUSE: Pat and Joy are happy to share their fun beading tricks to anyone who'd like to learn to do the sweet bracelets they often wear. If you want to take advantage of the free lessons, give Joy a call at 753-5436 for a supply list and information about where and when.

NEXT WEEK, PIN CUSION VARIATION: We're filling a request to do those sweet petal pincushions, without the clay cup. They do really well without it. So here are the fabric requirements, and yes, they can be done completely by hand.

BRING: A 6" length which can be cut into seven 5-1/2" circles; another fabric that is an 8" square to cut into an additional larger circle, and yet another for a 5-1/2" circle that will become a yo-yo for the top.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

JULY 1st: Cruise November 12th. Payment due

JULY 5th: Ice Cream Social Guild meeting. Find an apron, we are the host Chapter.

AUG. 9th: Field trip to Dade City while the new Laurel Manor Carpet is being layed.

AUG. 29th: Reciprocal with Chatham members, in our house.