Lorain County Piecemakers Quilt Guild
Volume 23 Issue 5 – January 12, 2023

President: Chris Yoo
Treasurer: Sue Schillig
Secretary: Bridget Coyle
Vice President: Margaret Miller
Community Service: Maria Lucki
Hospitality: Maryann Doucette & Jean Tobia
Membership: Marilyn Novak & Karen Neuschaffer
Quilts of Valor: Kaye Koler
Sunshine Committee: Val Watring
Challenge Committee: Kelly Grace, Susan Thornton, Helen Smelser
Communication Committee: Kelly Grace
Bits & Pieces Editor:Kelly Grace
Articles due by Saturday before meeting, Newsletter sent out Sunday before meeting.

Meetings:  2nd Thursday of month
Time:        7:00 PM
Location:  New Russia Township Lodge,
46300 Butternut Ridge Rd, Oberlin, 44074
Additional Info: Please remember that there is always a sew day the day of our meeting – starting around 10!

Website: https://loraincountypiecemakers.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/LorainCtyPiecemakers
Guild email: loraincountypiecemakers@gmail.com

Meeting Minutes:
Bridget Coyle

Welcome:  At 6:30 p.m. Chris welcomed everyone to the annual year-end holiday potluck. There was a feast fit for royalty!

President’s Report: President Yoo had two items of business to share.

First: Chris turned in $575.00 to Sue that included money from the traveling raffle quilt sales. We got a chance to draw the lucky winner at tonight’s dinner! The winner was Jeff Morris.

Second: We talked about the 2023 President’s Challenge Our guild logo is the Ohio Star Block which is rich in history and has been around since the early 1800’s. Like a lot of blocks, it’s known by a few other names – Variable Star, Eastern Star, Western Star, etc. The Ohio Star is a staple in any sampler quilt, and you frequently see it used in medallion quilts as a border or cornerstones, but nothing beats a quilt full of Ohio Stars. The block has a rich history in our culture, and you will be amazed if you do some research! For the 2023 President’s Quilt Challenge Chris would like you to make something using the Ohio Star Block. It can be a potholder, a table runner, a wall quilt, a throw, a large bed quilt, a bag, or an apron. No matter what just make sure the focus is on the Ohio Star block, which is prominently featured as our guild logo. There will be a special exhibit at the Show for the 2023 President’s Challenge.

Approval of Minutes: (Bridget Coyle) The minutes from the December meeting were distributed by Kelly Grace. Are there any comments or corrections necessary? Hearing no changes necessary, the minutes are approved as distributed.

Treasurer’s Report: (Sue Schillig) The treasurer’s report is always available for review by contacting Sue Shillig and ready for audit.

COMMITTEE REPORTS (Committee Chair)
Membership (Karen Neuschaefer)
Community Service (Maria Lucki)
Quilts of Valor (Kaye Koler)
Challenges (Kelly Grace)
Sunshine (Val Watring)
Programs (Margaret Miller)

Unfinished Business: Nothing to report

New Business: Nothing to report

Announcements: In February there will be a tea held in Alliance hosted by the Carnation Quilt Guild featuring Anita Shackleford discussing Celebrate Hand Quilting.

Show-n-Tell: There were many pieces of finished UFOs and other lovely projects completed and shared with the guild by our very talented members.

Sunshine Committee
Val Watring

Committee Report: Meeting minutes:  A-ok, nothing new.

Newsletter Update: Sue Schillig shared an update on your lifetime member Sally Gezzer.  We sent Sally a Christmas card from the guild.

Devastating news: our member, Melanie Kaliszewski, passed away.  She leaves a 2 year old daughter. Melanie’s mom is Cheryl Majewski, a long time Lorain County Piecemaker. We have a card to sign for Cheryl at the meeting on January 12th and we will have a blue bag at the meeting to collect fat quarters of fabric.  Cheryl has listed red (or anything) as a favorite fabric color; while Melanie’s favorite color is blue.

Fondly, Val Watring

By-Laws Section 8:  The Sunshine Committee shall notify members in case of illness or bereavement.  Cards will be sent; unless it is determined a blue basket is needed.

Blue Baskets:  When members lose a spouse or child, we support them by giving them fat quarters of fabric in their favorite colors.  The Sunshine Committee will supply the bag and card to be signed by the membership.

Treasury Report
Sue Schillig

Treasurers Report and Financial Statements of the guild are on file for audit and will be made available for review upon request.

No report – Funds are stable.

Sue Schillig, treasurer

Chris met a lady whose name is Tracy Homenik, and she runs the sober living facility, E3 recovery, in Lorain.  She needs quilts for 45 twin beds and 2 full to king size for 2 terminally ill men.  She was kind of hoping to get donations for Christmas. She was informed our community service person was out of town until after the first of the year, and we have no way of knowing what she has available. So right now, if anyone has quilts they would like to donate to this project, we will be collecting them on December 8th, for a Christmas donation.

Tracy has been advised we could possibly have a workshop next year, but these things take time to organize.  This could be an ongoing program for us if she had a continuous need. She said these guys have nothing and sometimes they take the bedding when they leave.

If you have any questions, please contact Chris or Karen

STRAY THREADS…
Sue Schillig

Cleaning can be very motivational.  I have to admit it isn’t my favorite   activity, but once in a while it feels good and leads to some fun.  After a year of making   gift quilts for the family (turned out to be 13 in all) the sewing room got trashed.  Add the doll clothes last minute Christmas gifts and intervention was needed.  I began by looking at the UFO situation which after years of challenges should have been manageable but maybe was not.  Then I tackled the piles of scraps cluttering my workspace. Turns out, I might not have to use the whole house if I cleaned up the space designated for quilting.  Out of the scraps just in my way, I’ve got two tops made for community service (on the 2023 list of course).  There is still some more organization to do, but I’ve  done a few things which I thought I’d pass on.

  1. Cut up the scraps into usable strips or squares.
  2. Sew like colored strips together. Then you can just cut the length needed and piece the quilt.
  3. Use a hanger to organize said strips. You can cut strips in any size you want, but especially useful ones are 8 1/2, 6 1/2, 4 1/2, 3 ½ and 2 1/2.  I have some 1 ½ strips which will go into a bag for possible log cabin quilts, and some one inch strips in a bag for a mini log cabin (on the list).
  4. Put same size squares into baggies. Color coding into groups can also prove useful. For example, pastels, brights, darks, lights, however you wish to categorize them.

Hope you are staying warm and having some sewing fun as well!

Piecefully,
Sue Schillig

Membership

Hello Everyone.  We currently have 83 members.  Please welcome new member Sue Kane. Her information is in the new member directory.  If you have any questions please see Karen or Marilyn.

Karen and Marilyn

Quilts of Valor
Kaye Koler

No Report

January Birthdays

Barb King – January 3
Marcy Delavan – January 5
Peggy Paterchak – January 22
Jan Tobia – January 22
Pat Logar – January 26
Lori Quinones – January 30
Peggy Hughes – January 30

Programs/Workshops

Good Afternoon and Happy New Year!

Deb DeChant from Artfully Quilted Design will be at our January meeting to present a trunk show.   She will have items to sell and will accept cash and credit cards.

In February, Jeanine Dreckman from The Stitch Goes On in North Ridgeville will be presenting a Trunk Show and talk about being a sewing educator.

March is confirmed for Lynn Fowl from Farmhouse Quilting Company in Elyria, Ohio.   She will be doing a trunk show and will have items to sell.

Warm Regards,
Margaret

Challenges
Kelly Grace

UFO Challenge

It’s a new year and time for a new UFO Challenge! Sign-ups are going until midnight January 31st, either see me at the meeting or email me your list. $5 is required with your list to participate, it goes toward the prizes at the December meeting. If you cannot come to a meeting to show off your finish, please send me an email (or text) or post it in our Facebook group and let me know it’s a UFO so I can mark it down as complete. Good luck this year!

Fat Quarter Exchange
Signups for the 2023 Fat Quarter Exchange will start in February, you choose what color/theme you’d like to receive and you either choose fabric from your stash or go shopping for everyone on the list. Fat quarters are turned in at the August meeting, lists are send out to everyone by the May meeting.

Monthly Challenge
New Challenge coming at the January meeting! I have a few new ones for 2023 as well!

If you have a suggestion for a monthly challenge, let me know!

Secret Santa Exchange
Secret Santa turned out great, from what I heard everyone loved what they received! I will keep this on the list for 2023.

Block Exchange 2022
Lots of finished tops and completed quilts were shown at the December meeting and while everyone had the same blocks, they all looked so different! If anyone is interested this year, I’m thinking the fabric below would be a great option! It’s one of this year’s Hoffman Challenge Fabric.

President’s Challenge
Make something using the Ohio Star block which is featured as our guild logo. There will be a special exhibit at the Quilt Show for the President’s Challenge.

Build a Bear Quilt Challenge
I was looking at some leftover scraps while trying to decide what quilt to make next, and it occurred to me that the ones I was looking at could be made into a little quilt for a teddy bear, so I just bought this cute little bear who will be the prize.

I propose that we make little quilts for this cute little critter and at the Christmas meeting we vote for our favorite homemade scrap quilt and award the little bear to its maker. If you want, we could include them in our quilt show with a sign explaining the challenge. I could take the little bear in to include in eh show, heck, how tough would it be to finish a quilt for a 7-inch bear in time for our fall show?

Your Pal, Susan the Bear Chump

Do you have an idea for a challenge? Please drop a note in the suggestion box or send an email to the guild email (address above).

Community Service

Maria Lucki

No Report

LORAIN COUNTY SAFE HARBOR/GENESIS HOUSE: Provides temporary safe shelter, food, and support services to victims of domestic violence and their children.  Serves roughly 25,000 annually.

BLESSING HOUSE:  Founded in 2005 to house children, birth to age 12, when their parents are addressing their own crises.

Notes from the President
Chris Yoo

Happy New Year!!  2023 is going to be a VERY busy year for me, personally, and for our guild as this is the YEAR OF THE SHOW!!  Yes, that is an important statement and deserving of the “all caps.”   Because this will prove to be a busy year, I have decided this is the year of “No New Starts.”  That means if I want to quilt or cross stitch, I must work on an existing project or what some cross stitchers refer to as “stitching from stash.”  I have about 6 quilts in progress and about 15 cross stitch projects underway. My goal is to finish at least two quilts and at least 3 cross stitch projects.  Seems like a manageable goal…right?  Well, let’s hope, but there is a lot on the Yoo docket for 2023.

My number one priority for 2023 is to help the guild pull off another successful quilt show.  Some of the early preparation has already started, as Val Watring is getting out all the early advertisements, and I’m getting our postcards and flyers ready for the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo.  Julie Bragg and I are piecing the new Raffle Quilt so we can get it to Maryann Doucette for quilting so it is ready for the OSQ Expo which is in April. We have also started calling to secure some of the hardware we need to display the quilts.   The gears are starting to turn.

The next thing on that docket is to find bodies to lead each of the major areas of the show.  Although I have a few secured, it is now time to get it down on paper and confirmed so I’m confident we are all on the same road to success. As I have said many times, for the show to be a success, the guild is going to need each of you to step up in some way to help out.  I’ll give you more information every month at the meeting and in this newsletter.  Stay tuned.

Finally, I did just learn that the Grand Rapids quilt show is the same weekend as our show, but I truly don’t believe that is a big detractor from our show due to the distance.  One thing that works in our favor this year is that the big Amish Country Quilt Festival is the week BEFORE ours.  Back in 2021 it was on the same weekend and many people had informed me at the OSQ Expo that they would miss our show because they were staying in Amish country for other show.  No excuses this year (smile).   I’m actually hoping to be able to advertise our show at the Amish show this year to encourage folks to take a road trip to Oberlin!  Woo Hoo!

Your Pres, Chris Yoo