The newsletter serving SLO Quilters, Inc. — San Luis Obispo’s Quilt Guild

April 12, 2010 The Congregational Church, 11245 Los Osos Valley Rd., SLO SLO Quilters, P.O. Box 14306, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

Program Margaret Wheeler and Suzanne Heitzman Shelley Swanland returned to speak to a near-packed house at our March meeting. She was a member of our guild for over ten years in the 90s, and has moved away to pursue her dream of full-time quilting and teaching. She demonstrated the technique that she invented "machine-stitched cathedral win-dows". She has written two books on the topic, lectures about it, has written magazine articles and makes patterns. In between, she has made dozens of breath-taking quilts that she shared with the guild. She is an inspiration, and has demonstrated that having a great idea is not all it takes to be successful, it's effort and discipline. The Tuesday following the meeting we had a workshop of 21 attendees, and had a great time. Those of you who attended and would like to bring what you made to the April meeting. We'll have a brief show and tell. We'd love to post pictures of the class results on our web site. In April we're in for a treat with Dr. Denise Campbell, also was a mem-ber of our guild some years ago. She currently is Vice President of Student Affairs at Cal Poly. Dr. Campbell has made a quilt that took her to Presi-dent Obama's inauguration! We'll be hearing about that quilt and how it came to be she went to the inaugu-ration. Many of Dr. Campbell's quilts feature history, the opportunities women have had to become artists through quilting, and the depiction of the African-American culture through quilting.

of programs is posted on our web site at www.sloquilters.org. April is busy for us. We have a great program and will be turning in our quilts for the Seven Sisters Show. We hope to see you all at the meeting.

Because we have been filling up our room the last few months, and may have additional guests for Dr. Campbell's presentation, for the month of April we will have our meeting in the sanctuary of the church. Same church, just across the walkway in the sanctuary. In May, another old friend joins us. Pam Munns, who is a former SLO Quilters President, will be coming to speak to us. She has an acquired a collection of antique quilts and will be sharing those with us. A reminder from the Programs Committee that the year's schedule

From Our President Jill Sabol Happy Spring! At our home, we have sweet peas, renunculas, daffodils and a multitude of fruit tree flowers, all in bloom! Spring is here!! By now, you probably have your quilts ready to turn in at our April 12th meeting for the Seven Sisters Quilt Show. I hope you are all planning to attend this show and, if possible, serve as one our volunteers. It is a fun way to meet other quilters and to enjoy the show! Special Alert: No day-time “Soaps” for us yet. Instead, it is time to start a new quilt or a boutique item for our upcoming tea and quilt auction at the Jack House on Saturday, September 25. I am looking forward to seeing you at our April 12 meeting in the church sanctuary. Happy Quilting,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! April 1 - Mary Russell

9 - Donna Feagin 10- Vicki Bookless Judy Burke and Barbara Martin 15 - Jeannie Carmichael 16 - Carol Russell 17 - Carol Orona 21 - Katrina Ostby 27 - Signe James 30 - Chris Lancellotti

Block a Month Chris Lancellotti, Laurel Golling, Melissa James, Vivian Herriman, Sarah Blackstone Block returned in March: Granny’s Flower Garden Number of Blocks Won: 17 Won by: kathi Battles

Block due in April: Pantry Jars Blocks due in May: Cheery Cherry Applique

A SLO Thank You goes out to our guild members who donated the following quilting books and videos. Vivian Herriman Classic English Medallion Style Quilts Colorful, Casual & Comfy Quilts Dresden Fan Favorite Applique & Embroidery Quilts Prairie Quilts Quilt Maniac's Playbook Quiltagami Quilts from The Quiltmakers Gift Special Occasion Table Runners Star Studded Quilts Stash-Buster Quilts When Quilters Gather Mary Vandenberg Hoochy Mama Katrina Ostby Joyce Becker Teaches You Landscape Quilting The nice guild member who do-nated a quilt-related non-fiction book With the new books we have pur-chased, this brings us to 19 new books and 5 new DVDs this year. So, please stop by the library and check out our wonderful additions. We still have funds left to pur-chase a several more books this year. Is there a book you think the library should have? Please let your librarians know. The library welcomes your lightly loved donations. When donating books, please let us know if you would like the book returned to you if we later remove it from the library, or if it is okay to sell it and use the proceeds to purchase new books for the li-brary.

Mini Quilt Show Jill Sabol We had 62 quilts at the Beacon Art Quilt Show at the SLO United Meth-odist Church on March 26 and 27. Visitors said it was "just won-derful." One dear friend remarked: "A large quilt show can be over-whelming to a non-quilter. But this show was perfect." She enjoyed seeing all the beautiful quilts. A big THANK YOU to all those who helped set-up and take down the show: Vicki Bookless Leslie and Ron Brown Emily Cletsoway, Ginnie Murach, Patti Reis, Charlotte Roberts, Joe Sabol, and Kathi Settle Church people who helped: Ernie Lawrence, Dave Rau, Judi Carlyle, and Harriet Terry. And a special thank you to Emily Cletsoway for filling in for me during my eye emergency! Thanks also, to all of you who loaned us your wonderful quilts for the show!!

The Library Corner Katrina Ostby Bertha Evans

Keep on Truckin’ . . . And Sewin’ . . . And Knittin’ Marylu Weaver Meagher I recently read an article online published by the Wall Street Journal on March 29, 2010, and written by Jennifer Levitz: Idle Pastime: In Off Hours, Truckers Pick Up Stitching. The link is: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704896104575139990857438962.html, and you will want to view the video included with the article. Sisters, we have new converts to the world of quilting and handwork: idle truckers. With the downturn in the economy, truckers are left wait-ing longer periods of time for their next load, sometimes two days in comparison with two hours. There are no hard numbers but it seems many of these idle hands have picked up fabric, sewing machines and knitting needles. They have dis-covered the joy of making good use of empty hours, of completing a pro-ject, of creating something, and the wonder of making art. I am often frustrated by lack of space so I can’t imagine how chal-lenging it must be to set up a sew-ing machine and supplies in the cab

Time to Turn in Your Quilts for the Show! Melissa James The deadline to turn in your quilt(s) for the 7 Sisters Show is Saturday, April 17. I will have a table set up to accept quilts during Social Time at our April 12th Guild Meeting, but if you need a few more days, you may bring it to me at Betty's Fabrics in San Luis Obispo (1229 Carmel Street) on "deadline day" Saturday, April 17th, between 12 noon - 4pm. Thank you!

Seven Sisters Quilt Challenge Signe James By now your “Title and Artist Statement” should be in my hands. All you have to do now is finish your 18”x22” quilt and then turn it in to me by April 17th. As with your regular quilt entries, the easiest way to do that is at the April 12th meeting. So, I hope to see you there with your Challenge Quilt in a cloth bag or pillow case securely labeled with your name and guild. If you have a label on the back of your quilt with your name – please cover it, as all entries are displayed anony-mously. Thanks so much for partici-pating in the Quilt Challenge.

of a truck. But we certainly can re-late to time away from our projects to dream about the next step or finding the perfect fabric or yarn. Dave White, 53, got started after struggling to find a hobby for his down time. At first he tried a re-mote-controlled helicopter but it kept falling on him from the shelf in the cab. His wife, a quilter herself, suggested quilting and together they set him up with an inexpensive ma-chine, some fabrics and a pattern, and he was hooked. The thought of finding the perfect variegated thread fuels his imagination and he finds time to scout out fabric stores. Last year one of his hauls put him in the neighborhood of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. About 95% of truckers are men and most of the truck stops offer show-ings of football games and other sports or action movies. For some, the act of creating something beats bragging about one’s gear or just sitting around. Kevin Abraham-Banks, 37, thinks it’s pretty cool to take strands of yarn and make something beautiful. He’s made a scarf and socks and is working on a sweater for his wife. The Iowa-based Don Hummer Trucking Corp. has started a sewing club amongst its drivers, and dis-plays their works at the company headquarters. Dena Boelter, Hum-mer’s human-resources manager and sewer herself, knows that hand work is a great hobby and stress re-liever, and the company encourages hobbies that relieve the tedium of waiting. Please check out the article. You’ll enjoy the quotes and the video.

Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report Sue Fiscalini

Beg. Bal. Income

$9344.48 March

Advertising

AQGCC

Coffee Cans 17.00

Comm. Quilts

Gift

Interest 8.97

Library

Mem. Dues 90.00

Opp. Quilt 08

PIQF trip

Polling Place

Programs 240.00

7 Sisters ‘10

SCCQG

Sm. Auction

Total Income 355.97

Expenses

Auction 2010

AQGCC

Bank Fees

Block

Comm. Quilts

Donations

Historian

Hospitality

Insurance

Library 264.28

Membership

Newsletter 73.82

Oper. Exp. 356.53

Opp. Quilt ‘10

PIQF

Polling Place

Programs 1019.06

7 Sisters ‘09

7 Sisters ‘10

SCCQG

Total 1660.01

Ending $8040.44

—2010 SLO Quilters Guild Board — www.sloquilters.org

www.aqgcc.org (Associated Quilt Guilds of the Central Coast)

President - Jill Sabol 544-1056 Vice Pres. - Smitty Price Secretary - Sue Barker Treasurer - Sue Fiscalini Block-a-Month - Melissa James Sara Blackstone, Vivian Herriman Community Quilts - SART: Signe James

Chemos: Gay Ann Harvey Friendship Groups - Dawn Jones Historian - Kathi Settle Hospitality - Melissa James Sarah Blackstone Library - Katrina Ostby Bertha Evans Membership - Julie Towery Jean Keller, Vicki Bookless Newsletter - Marylu Weaver Meagher

Emily Cletsoway Programs/Special Events - Margaret Wheeler Suzanne Heitzman

AQGCC Rep. - Jody Nelson SCCQG Rep. - Kathy Clarke Web Site - Janis Benedict

March 8, 2010 President Jill Sabol called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. She reminded new board members to check the yellow file and all members to check the back ta-bles for notices of shows, ads, newslet-ters, etc. New Business: 7 Sisters Show 4/30-5/1, 2011 - The quilt show memorandum of understanding must be signed by May 1st. This means a $500 startup fee, par-ticipation non-retractable, guilds are responsible for show expenses, and profits are distributed equally among quilts. There are 17 committees and 50-60 volunteers are required per guild. Following discussion, a paper vote was taken. The results were 25 in favor of participating in the 2011 show; 29 in favor of participating every other year, skipping the 2011 show and participat-ing in the 2012 show; 40 did not want to participate in the 2011 show. Membership - Julie Towery: new mem-bers Leslie Brown, Robin Wilson, Lisa Gray, Esther Kueffer and returning mem-bers Carol Fairbanks, Pat Mc Cleary, Dian Robinson. Hospitality: guests, Jane Con-ner and Judy Conner, Sue Tonik’s daugh-ter, Shannon Tonik, Laurel Gollings’ mom Gail Dunning. Door Prizes from Sew Fun, Betty’s Wine Country Quilts, Cute As A Button, The Quiltery, and Quilter’s Cupboard. Election Volunteers - Vicki Bookless: 2 volunteers needed to supervise the SLO Quilters’ June 8th election polling location if we want to participate. Correspondence: American Red Cross thanks us for our donations of quilts to Walter Reed Veterans Hospital. These 50 x 65 Quilts of Valor are pieced by members, quilted by Judy Frye. Seven Sister’s Quilt Show - Vicki Book-less: quilt deadline is April 17 - please bring quilts as outlined in application to next guild meeting. Committee volun-teer names should be forwarded to Quilt Show Volunteer Chair. There is a new banner for the show, and members are directed to widget on the AQGCC website re: show information. There was a suggestion that a panel discus-sion regarding the show be held with vendors. Show Challenge - Signe James: Title and artist statements are due 4/1 and submissions due 4/17. Block-a-

Month: 17 Granny Blocks won by Kathi Battles. Vivian Herriman explained Pan-try Jars. Library - Katrina Ostby: Vivian Herriman donated 12 books. 5 news books, 3 new DVDs. Community Quilts - Signe James: 24 quilts turned in. Pro-grams - Suzanne Heitzman: April meet-ing featuring Cal Poly’s Dr. Denise Camp-bell will be held in the sanctuary due to expected larger audience. Tonight’s speaker is Shelley Swanland (member 1990-2006). Her topic is “Cathedral Win-dows and So Much More,” and the Ma-chine Stitched Cathedral Windows workshop will be tomorrow in our meeting room. Announcements: the 11th annual Old Town Quilters of Ni-pomo’s Luncheon will be 5/27. There will be a mini-quilt show at United Methodist Church in SLO 3/27 organized by Jill Sabol to advertise the multi-guild show. Kathy Clarke’s Adult Education wedding ring quilt class will begin 4/13. Shannon Tonik has Laguna Middle School cookbooks available for $10. The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 pm.

SLO Quilters P.O. Box 14306 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 www.sloquilters.org

Events & Information Santa Barbara Quilting Retreat April 12 - 16 with Rosemary Eichorn Seven Sisters Quilt Show April 24 - 25 Associated Quilt Guilds of the Central Coast Madonna Expo Center, San Luis Obispo, California. Central Coast Quilt Shop Tour June 4 - 6 centralcoastquiltshops.com Templeton Outdoor Quilt Show Saturday, June 19, 9am-4pm templetonquiltshow.com

Monday, April 12, 2010 ~ 6:30pm Social Time ~ 7pm Meeting The Congregational Church 11245 Los Osos Valley Rd. San Luis Obispo

International Quilt Festival July 23-25, 2010 Long Beach quilts.com Santa Barbara Quilting Retreat August 9 - 13 with Yvonne Porcella Harvest of Colors Coastal Quilters of Santa Barbara September 25, 26, 2010 Earl Warren Showgrounds coastalquilters.org