Meeting was called to order by President Tamara Watts-McPhail. There were 61 members present and 6 guests. Tamara reminds us that next month is the President’s challenge, Window to the West. There is a change in the date for the quilt show this summer. It is July 6th and 7th – At Faith Baptist Bible College. This is the week BEFORE Summerfest. There are several shop hops coming up in February. Tamara reminds us if we want to sign up for the upcoming workshop in February, we need to do it tonight. It is only $25 and is taught by Shelly Berge, String Piecing on February 11th. The trivia drawing was done. This is promoting members to use the web site, so be sure to check next month for the new trivia question.
Vice President Jenna Ingle said she has 6 donation quilts so far. Last year there were 100 quilts donated. She wants to encourage members to make donation quilts. The places chosen for the donation quilts this year are: Children and Families of Iowa and Youth Homes of Mid America. Right now there are 18 youth at the Youth Homes of Mid America, with one of the young women pregnant. Jenna would like to be able to give a quilt to each of them along with one for the baby. If you were not aware, the scraps that people bring to the guild meetings go to My Brother’s Keeper through Linda Schlenker.
Quilt Show Chair Janeen Pearson announced the Friday Night Sew for January 13th – this Friday. It will be sponsored by Platte Branch. Janeen has 2 classes set up for the quilt show and 1 lecture. The classes will each be about 2-3 hours and will not require that you bring your sewing machine. Heidi Kaisand will teach English paper piecing and Kathy Sanders will teach wool appliqué. On Saturday Virginia Berger will give a lecture on “My Grandmother’s Quilts”.
Retreat Chair Connie Lovelady showed some samples of classes for the retreat to be held April 19th-22nd. You will need to sign up soon to reserve your spots. If the places are not all reserved by our guild members, she will open the registration up to other guilds, so remember to sign up soon.
Program Chair Janet Neuschwanger shares that the February speaker will be Stephanie Brandenburg, “The Future of Quilting”; March’s meeting will be The Woolen Needle Trunk Show from the Amanas. Tonight we welcome Jan Patek with “Quilts as Refrigerator Art”. Jan is from Cameron, Missouri. Janet tells us that Jan is very organized because she only made final ‘contact’ with Jan last Friday to remind her of our upcoming meeting. Jan knew we had our meeting in January, but wasn’t sure of the date. Once Jan got here, despite the problem with her car’s battery, she did not disappoint! She has been designing for Moda for 18 years. She and her husband both worked jobs in Kansas City, an hour away, in her early years. When their children grew enough to join activities, she knew that she needed to do something closer to home. Quilting became her answer! They live on a farm outside Cameron and many of her quilts reflect that background. They tell the story of her life. She delighted us with stories of each of the quilts she brought to share with us. We were able to purchase some of Jan’s wares after her presentation. Jan also generously gave patterns to 3 lucky winners as door prizes.
Director at Large Sharon McCarthy welcomed our guests. Elaine Kimberly won the January fat quarter white flower lottery. Lois Harmon won the quilt calendar door prize. There was only 1 January birthday to celebrate. The evening finished out with Show and Tell, treats and fellowship among quilters.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Evers
