Ankeny Area Quilters' Guild

Our next Friday Night Sew event will be taking place 11/11/11 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny.  Since 11/11/11 is such a unique date we wanted to have some fun with it and will be opening the space in the church from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm for a mini retreat.   Please feel free to come and go as you please.  You do not have to stay the full twelve hours.  It is a unique opportunity to have some additional time together and to work on a few projects.   Maybe someone will be able to get 11 projects done.

Quilting Connection in Ames will be our quilt store sponsor for this event.  Will advise at a later time when they will be available.

If you will be attending please be sure to bring everything you need regarding sewing supplies.  That includes power cords, strips, irons, etc.

Meeting was called to order by President Tamara Watts-McPhail.  There were 47 members present.  We also had 3 new members and 1 guest.  New members introduced themselves.  All of the members learned one new thing about their neighbor as the meeting starter.  There will be a sign up sheet for anyone interested in joining or starting a small sewing group.  This is a great way to learn new things from other quilters.  Tamara would like to continue the Mary Conkel award.  She is interested in ordering more pins, but would like to find out where the previous pins were done.  If you have any information about this, please contact Tamara.
Vice President Jenna Ingle will be in charge of collecting donation quilts this year.  She will continue donating to Children and Families of Iowa, but is also interested in finding out where you would like to see our donation quilts go.  Please let Jenna know if you have a place in mind.  Jenna has been going through her stash and discovered she has some kits that she will not find time to make.  She is asking guild members to “check out” a kit and return it in time for donation to the Quilt show. If any members have some fabric in their stash they are willing to donate, we can put it to good use either for donation quilts or for My Brother’s Keeper program.  Linda Schlenker is kind enough to pick up the fabric for that each month.  We now have two program Chair Elect volunteers- Marilyn Cory and Anita Allwood.   Some programs have been done by Janet Neuschwanger so their task will be easy.
Quilt Show Chair Janeen Pearson announced the theme for the quilt show is “Window to the East”.  The 2012 quilt show will be the weekend BEFORE Summerfest this time.  The dates are July 6th and July 7th, 2012.  Be sure to mark them on your calendar.  There will be five Friday night Sew Dates this year:  October 14, 2011, November 11, 2011, January 13, 2012, February 17, 2012 and March 16, 2012.  They will be held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.  Remember that you need to bring all your own supplies, including extension cords and power strips.  It would also be great to bring a snack to share; quilters get hungry when working so hard on their quilts.  The raffle quilt for the 21st Quilt Show was unveiled tonight.  It is beautiful.  The quilt was made by Janeen and Tamara and quilted by Linda McGhee.  Janeen is looking for your photos to put on our web site and facebook pages.  We are all interested in what you are working on.
Program Chair Janet Neuschwanger introduced our speaker for tonight, Linda Hungerford with Stichin’ Mission.  Linda is a teacher and author of books and patterns.  She won 2 Blue Ribbons at the State Fair this year.   She read a book called, Purpose Driven Life that inspired her to reach out to help others.  Seven years ago she decided to lead a group at her church to make donation quilts.  The idea is to recruit “newbies” to learn to make beginner quilts.  Linda acknowledges that she can’t do this mission alone and she calls her helpers her Rebekas.  They are the experienced quilters that help with the process of making the quilts.  There are 5 weeks of lessons:  1) Shop for fabric (all fabric is donated).  2) Choosing a pattern and Rotary cutting.  3) Layering, Basting, sewing and tying the quilt.  4) Binding 5) Labels, show and tell and celebration party.  It is inspirational work.  Perhaps we could consider a Stitchin’ Mission in our guild.  .  .  She shared with us the way she folds her quilts on the bias to keep the fold lines from her quilts.  If you missed this, ask a member who saw her to share it with you.  Linda is a member of Modern Quilters in Des Moines.  They meet at 6:30 p.m. on the 3rd Thursday of the month, usually at the Des Moines Library.  The next meeting is October 20th at 6:30 p.m.  Check it out at DSMMQG.web.com   Linda has a blog at Floursishingpalms.blogspot.com.  You may also want to take a look at www.stitchinmission.org and spoonflower.com.
Program Chair Sharon McCarthy presented door prizes.  The prizes were books donated by Linda Hungerford called First time Quilt Making.   The four winners were:  Linda Northwick, Barb Paghetti, Debra Dickerson and Martha Coil.  Birthdays were celebrated.  The fat quarter lottery was won by Louise Whitlow.
Show and tell and refreshments finished out the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Evers

10-4-2011 Board Meeting

Present at the meeting were:  Tamara Watts-McPhail, Connie Lovelady, Janet Neuschwanger, Debra Dickerson, Sharon McCarthy, Jan Hart, Janeen Pearson, Denette Stoll, Deb Pierschbacher, Janeen Pearson, Jenna Ingle and Kathy Evers.

Secretary minutes were read by Kathy Evers and approved.
Jan Hart presented the Treasurer’s report.  Checks written for the month of September were:
$111.95 to Fairfield Inn
$125.00 Holy Trinity Church
$245.00 to Heidi Kaisand

A deposit of $1440 was made from membership dues.  The checking account balance is $6191.34.  The money market balance is $8645.87.  We will need a table at this month’s guild meeting for members to pay their dues.  De Tapper and Sharon McCarthy will help at the table.  A motion was made to approve the treasurer’s report by Sharon McCarthy and seconded by Debra Dickerson.  Motion carried.

Communication Chair Denette Stoll will be sending out an email with instructions on how to enter items on to the web site.  Any further questions or assistance needed can be directed to Denette.

Vice President Jenna Ingle introduced herself and shared that she will do the best she can to attend as many meetings as possible this year.  She plans to accept donation quilts for Children & Families of Iowa.  She will be asking members about what special projects they are interested in.  A survey will be done to find out what members would like.  Jenna has some items/kits that she would like to donate to the Sewtique.  Her kits are not completed yet, but would like to have guild members sign up or check out a kit and return it completed for donation.

Quilt Show Chair Janeen Pearson introduced the quilt theme for next year’s quilt show.  It will be Window to the East.  She is challenging our members, “What is your window to the East?”  She hopes to see Japanese inspired fabrics.  Janeen will hand out fortune cookies at the next guild meeting to inspire interest in the new theme.   Eastern Market will be the name of the country store this year.  She is planning smaller, shorter classes for this year’s quilt show.  We will be having the same food vendors.  The cost for the quilt show vendors will go up $25, making a single booth $175 and a double booth $300.  The dates for next year’s show are July 6th and July 7th, 2012.  This is the week BEFORE Ankeny’s Summerfest.  The vendors contacted are pleased with this date as not many people are able to get to the show when the parade cuts off the traffic flow.

The Friday Night Sew dates for this year are:
10-14-11
11-11-11
1-13-12
2-17-12
3-16-12
Each person attending will need to bring an extension cord, power strip, and a snack to share and your project to work on.  Janeen stresses that the tables can NOT be moved during the Friday Night Sew.

Program Chair Janet Neuschwanger lets us know the speaker for the October meeting is Linda Hungerford, “Stichin’ Mission”  Hunder4d@earthlink.net .   Linda will have patterns available for purchase after her presentation.  It is possible we will host a “Stichin’Mission” here.  Please join Janet and the speaker for supper before the guild meeting on Tuesday at Hu Hot in Ankeny at 5:00 pm.  Just contact Janet to let her know you will be coming.  The November speaker will be Darlene Zimmerman, “From Ho-hum to WOW”,  www.feedsacklady.com .  December will be the annual pot luck and Dutch auction.  The Guild challenge will be in June 2012 this time.

Director at Large Sharon McCarthy has put both the guild treat sign up and the fat quarter theme on the web site.  We are still in need of more members to share their baking skills for treats.  Please consider signing up to help with this.  The fat quarter theme for October is Gold Flowers.  November’s theme will be Orange flowers.  Sharon plans to ask our speakers to offer a donation for the door prizes.

Retreat Chair Connie Lovelady is working hard on making our retreat a success this year.  More details to come as soon as they are available.

President Tamara Watts-McPhail received a letter from Gloria House.  She returned her winnings from the quilt show and asked us to put the money towards programs to continue to make our guild great.  Tamara has also returned her quilt show winnings to the guild.  Be sure to thank these members for their thoughtfulness to the guild.  That is what makes us a great organization.
There was discussion about the budget report that was sent to the guild members.  Tamara will address questions she received regarding workshop fees, miscellaneous fees and whether we should continue to have a quilt show each year.
A discussion was held regarding a board retreat at the new Conrad shop opening.  Each board member would pay for their own fees.  A possible date of January 27th was chosen.
Jean Taft is currently conducting an audit of the books of the guild.
Tamara would like to continue the Mary Conkel Award.  She is willing to purchase the pins herself and would like to find out where the previous pins had been purchased.
Next board meeting we will discuss the By-Laws.

Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Evers

Our first Friday night sew event of the season is taking place Friday, October 14, 2011.  From 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 517 SW Des Moines Street, Ankeny, IA.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Presents:

Window to the East

2012 Quilt Show

SHOW DATES:  July 6^th and 7^th – At Faith Baptist Bible College.

 Important note this is the weekend before SummerFest.  The College had a conflict that they were not able to accommodate us the weekend of SummerFest.  While this may cause some concerns it may work out better in the long run as Saturday is always a slow day for our show and it might result in more guests attending.  We do plan to increase advertising on this to get the word out.  

 This year’s quilt show will be our 21st Anniversary and in celebration of that milestone we wanted a theme that would encompass all the things that allow us to continue to grow as quilters.  The guidelines for this year’s theme are simple to come up with something that represents your Window to the East.  We would like to see Japanese inspired fabrics but other than that let your creativity flow.  The overall design does not have to be Japanese. 

 We would like to offer to you five events to help you through your decision process.  We have set-up five Friday night sew dates to be held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 517 SW Des Moines Street, Ankeny, Iowa from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm.  The dates are  October 14^th, November 11^th, January 13th, February 17th and March 16th.  We are also working with our local quilt shops to see if they would like to sponsor one of our sew dates.   Quilting Connection in Ames will be sponsoring our first sew date in November.  They will be featuring a new project and have some items available for purchase.  There will be no charge to these events all we ask is that you bring anything and everything that you need to work on your projects.  That would include extension cords, irons, general sewing tools and other materials.   Also if you want to bring something to eat to share that is also being encouraged since most quilters do better with nourishment.   Depending on turn out we would encourage you to invite a friend.  Maybe you have a friend that has been thinking about joining the guild but haven’t yet, invite them along.   As quilters we enjoy getting input from other quilters so don’t be afraid to bounce ideas off of all of us or even if you want to try something new don’t be afraid to ask how to get started.  The main purpose of these Friday Night sew dates is just to relax, have some fun and let the creative energy flow.   So we can have some idea of who will be attending we would like for you take a moment and complete the signup sheet.  Be certain to bring everything that you need to sew as nothing will be provided.  We strongly encourage you bring surge protectors and extension cords as the outlets can be far from the tables and we have been asked by the church not to move the tables.  Thanks for your corporation on this.

 Categories

We would also like to encourage those of you who for whatever reason have never entered anything in the quilt show before to seriously consider this year’s quilt show as the year that you enter your first project.  Listed below our categories and prizes for this year’s show:

Eastern Market aka (Country Store)

In the past the Eastern Market has been something that our guests look forward too.  We will continue with the Eastern Market (Country Store) and will be accepting any donations.   The Eastern Market will close at 3:00 pm on Saturday of the quilt show.

 SPONSOR / VENDOR DONATIONS

In years past our vendors and sponsors have been extremely generous in donating some wonderful items and at this point we have not received nor made any requests for donations from sponsors or vendors.  We are planning to work in conjunction with the Directors at Large and the Retreat Show Chair to limit our multiple requests for donations. 

 Drop Off

We are looking at various options for drop off points for quilts.  As in the past we ask that you have your quilts labeled and placed in a pillowcase and/or garage bag for their protection.  We can’t guarantee that you will receive your pillowcase back so PLEASE do use heirloom pillow cases.  We do not want to be responsible for this item.  Thank you.

 ADMISSION AND RAFFLE QUILT PRICES

This year the cost of admission will remain at $5.  Raffle quilt prices will also remain at $1 for a single ticket and $5 for six tickets.  The drawing for the raffle quilt will be Saturday at 3:00 pm

 RAFFLE QUILT

In response to a member’s concern that the raffle quilt be made using only AAQG members; Window to the East was pieced by Janeen Pearson and Tamara Watts-McPhail (members) and was quilted by Linda McGhee (member).  The quilt will be displayed at the area quilt shops similar to last year’s schedule.

I’m looking for information from past board members on the Mary Conkel Award. We have presented the last medal and I would like to continue this award. I’m willing to finance the purchase of the medals myself but I need to know where the original medals were ordered. If anyone has any information, I would appreciate it.

Thanks!
Tamara Watts-McPhail

Happy October Everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying this wonderful fall weather. My gardens are just loving the cool nights and warm days. If only we could get a bit of rain, that would help everything, wouldn’t it?
Do you all have an opportunity to enjoy the Des Moines AQS show last weekend? What talent we have in the Des Moines/Ankeny Area, especially a couple members of our own guild…Gloria House being one. Way to go Gloria! I know I spent a lot of time looking at the quilting and quilts and hoped that some of their talent would rub off on me!

I hope you will join us at our guild meeting next Tuesday, the 11th of October at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny. We have Linda Hungerford as our speaker and Janeen is ready to unveil all of her plans for our 2012 quilt show. I think you will be surprised and pleased with everything she has done.

As always if you have any questions or concerns don’t be afraid to contact anyone on the board and let us know what you are thinking.

P.S. We are still looking for a Program Chair Elect. Won’t you please think about joining us on the board??

See you Tuesday!
Tamara Watts-McPhail

Wesley Life will be giving Influenza vaccines Tuesday night at the church from 6-7 in the Narthex. Cost is 20.00 or bring a Medicare card.