2010 the Start of a Busy Year

Pine Belt Quilters began the new year with about 90 members and visitors at the January meeting. New officers who will serve for 2010 and 2011 were introduced.

Pictured are (left to right) Linda Lowe, secretary/newsletter editor; Debbie Davis, assistant membership director; Doris Dunn, vice president; Sharon Barnes, treasurer; and Shirley Wiltshire, president. Anne Esteve (not pictured), membership director is on medical leave of absence.

Gloria Green showed an table runner example of the quilt-as-you-go technique which she will teach in the January workshop for the guild. This method can be used for small projects all the way to full-size bed quilts.

The Children's Quilt group is busy making fleece or flannel blankets to send with Linda Lowe on a medical-dental mission trip to Honduras in April. All members were invited to participate by purchasing 1-1/4 yds of fleece and serging the edges. Two pieces of flannel can be stitched or serged together also. The area is mountainous and cold at night and the children need and will enjoy the blankets.

Leslie Kiger, 2010 quilt show chair, reported on the progress of all show committees. More information will be posted on the website soon. The donation quilt committee made a miniature version of the donation quilt, and each person who had contributed a block was eligible to win the quilt by drawing. Here is the lucky recipient--Mary Nell Magee.

Christmas Luncheon 2009

To say thank you to our outgoing president, Barbara Peters was presented with a Dresden Plate quilt with members' signatures on the back. The blocks were a gift of some friendship blocks from Leola Kreigbaum, our oldest member, who has moved to Florida but still sends back children's quilts to us; Donna Burges and Rhoda Libiez and Gloria Green collaborated to assemble the blocks, and Susie Jackson added her exquisite quilting to make this a very special quilt.

Pine Belt Quilters finished up a busy year with a pot-luck luncheon of delicious food. We celebrated the giving of 225 quilts for children during the year. Our guests were from agencies we have served with quilts during the year. We also made isolet covers for Forrest General Hospital's new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Pictured with Tangela Boutwell from FGH are some of the PBQ members who worked on the isolet covers: Gloria Green, Frances Good, Mary Nell Cranford, Barb Peters, Josette Bonfanti, Grace Daukas, Nancy Knight, and Linda Lowe. The covers are gray on the underneath side facing the infant, and a bright flannel print on the outside to give the parents a more cheerful and less clinical atmosphere while their baby is gaining strength to go home.

Natisha Polk selected quilts for children at South Mississippi Children's Shelter and told the guild how much the quilts would mean to the children who will receive them.

Shan Barnes is shown with a Cinderella quilt for the Shafer Center for Crisis Intervention. She explained that the quilts she uses with clients during therapy sessions or to take to a court hearing can be very comforting. The Center has clients from small children to the elderly.

Each year we make Christmas stockings and bring toys for children and mothers at the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter. Pictured are staff members from DAFS with the table of gifts for this agency.

Sew This Quilt Shop from Abita Springs, LA, brought their wares to our December meeting so we could do some Christmas shopping. Pictured are Mona Jones, Deb Covington, and Kelley Covington, with their generous donation of bolts of fabric, quilt kits, and pre-cut squares for our ongoing Children's Quilts projects.