Christmas Luncheon and Sharing Quilts

We finished out 2012 with a great pot-luck luncheon and gave away 75 quilts we had made. Representatives of the agencies receiving the quilts told us what a joy these quilts bring to their patients/clients. We gave to: Annie Jackson and Joanna Chandler from South Mississippi Children's Center; Leigh Anne Leonard from Forrest General Hospital;

Joan Harper from Wesley Medical Center;

Riley Herrin from the Shafer Center for CrisisIntervention;

Chief Webster from the Hattiesburg Fire Department;

and Becky Sims from the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter

Missy Lee, Joe Bingham, Leigh Anne Leonard, FGH

Joanna Chandler, Annie Jackson, SMCC

Becky Sims, DAFS

In addition to the quilts we placed today, 61 small pillows were brought in as well as several walker totes and catheter bag covers to give to the hospitals. A rough count of the total number of quilts given during 2012 was 173; we gave 575 pillows to FGH, bringing the total number of pillows to FGH to 1,724 beginning in 2009 (don't have a count on the other locations).

Chief Webster, HFD

We bought 10 copies of Martha Skelton: Master Quilter of Mississippi to place in South Mississippi libraries.  After searching catalogs in area libraries to identify which libraries did not have copies, we gave books to libraries in Hancock County, Poplarville, Richton, Hattiesburg, Purvis, Waynesboro, Laurel, Columbia, Smith County, Van Cleve, and the USM Cook Library. Many quilt guilds have placed copies in their area libraries, and it is our hope that this book is enjoyed all over the state. Mississippi QuiltAssociation made these available for guilds at a very reasonable price.

Quilts for Mississippi Veterans Home

Jackie Page, from the Mississippi Veterans Home in Collins sent this report after distributing the 15 quilts we donated during our September meeting. 

"I put all the residents’ names in containers dividing them by wings so we could assure that 5 residents from each wing would receive a quilt. Our pastor’s wife, Mrs. Shirley Sanford, randomly drew names to select the lucky residents. I started distributing the quilts to the winners yesterday and just finished up late this afternoon. The residents were so surprised and honored to receive these beautiful quilts.

"If the members of the Pine Belt Quilters Guild could have seen their proud faces, it would have warmed their hearts and shown them the appreciation of our residents. Everyone in the home including staff, residents and visitors have admired the handwork and vibrant colors of each quilt.  

 

"We thank you and your guild for all your hard work and generosity. These quilts will bring warmth and, most importantly, a feeling of true caring to our veterans. We are very honored and blessed that you chose our home to receive these gifts of love.

Thank you so much."

Jackie Page

MSVH-Collins

Linda Dyken Trunk Show for November

Linda Dyken

We were privileged to hear Linda Dyken from Mobile tell about her quilts as she showed her work. She referred to "the great cover-up" because she never let a mistake or problem defeat her. For instance, if an accidental snip leaves a hole, she appliques something over it. She has been quilting about 25 years and describes herself as a traditional quilter, using published patterns, hand piecing and hand-quilting all her quilts on a large frame in her living room. Her quilts have been best of show winners in the Azalea City Quilt Show in Mobile several times, and she has had many entries in the AQS shows in Paducah and Des Moines.
  

She keeps a quilt diary with details on every quilt, including the date made, pattern source, type of batting, colors and fabrics, and even sometimes what was going on in the news or in her personal life during the making of the quilt. She prefers YLI quilting thread and Jean Lyle Q-11 needles, and uses a hera for marking dark fabrics (small plastic tool with a sharp edge that will crease but not cut).

     Our quilters turned in 87 pillows to Betty Bingham for distribution to local hospitals, and Geraldine Simmons and Betty Herring showed 13 walker totes and 8 catheter bag covers ready to donate. They told us how grateful the nurses and patients were to receive these and encouraged all of us to continue to make these items.
     Our December meeting will be a potluck luncheon and a time for giving more quilts to agencies. We will also bring stockings plus toys and women's gifts for Domestic Abuse Family Shelter. Shirley Wiltshire had some stocking kits since we did not have a Boutique workday for stockings. So we have many opportunities to share our blessings and make Christmas a happy time for our community.    

November Meeting Date Change

Happy Thanksgiving!

November has five Thursdays this year, and our regular third Wednesday meeting would fall on the day before Thanksgiving--ooops! Quilters are great cooks and love their families, so we have moved our meeting to the fourth Wednesday, November 28, at 9:30 a.m., still at University Baptist Church. Be sure to change your calendars, and enjoy the beautiful fall season.
Linda Dyken, from Mobile, will present a trunk show. She has been quilting for 28 years and primarily enjoys traditional work and does her quilting by hand. She has had quilts exhibited at the AQS Show in Paducah.

Winners Parade

Anne Hindmarch

Our October meeting featured a parade of winners from the show. All ribbon winners were encouraged to bring their quilts in to show. Our Best of Show Large winner was Anne Hindmarch for her quilt A Tribute to Jane. Anne had been on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean during the show and did not know her good news for two weeks. Only the day before the meeting did she learn that her prize was a Bernina sewing machine from Ann Hudson's Bernina Sewing, Etc. in Ridgeland!

Quilts by Susie Jackson, Vivian Plummer, Betty Allen, Faye Barlow, Ella Lucas

Vivian Plummer

Jean Robertson

Morgan Radavich

Members admiring the parade

Our members brought in 67 pillows for our ongoing project of making pillows for children in hospitals. These pillows will be distributed to Forrest General Hospital, Wesley Medical Center, and Marion General Hospital in Columbia. Several walker totes were also turned in. We have had a request for catheter bags and have learned that the walker totes can be used for this purpose also.

2012 Category Awards

The 2012 winners list has been moved to the website:  www.pinebeltquilters.com, Fiber Art & Quilt Show Page.

2012 Show Special Awards

The 2012 Special Awards page has been moved to the website: www.pinebeltquilters.com, Fiber Art & Quilt Show page.

After the Show

We closed our 14th Biennial show with the thought that all that work was well worth the result. Our attendees were effusive with their compliments; lots of people walked out with bags of new fabric, patterns, silent auction and boutique pieces. Many quilters won awards they were not expecting, and many people were amazed at the talent exhibited. Voters picked Ella Lucas' Mini Block Explosion for the Viewers' Choice award. Ella hand-pieced and appliquéd 180 four-inch, scrappy blocks using patterns from Better Homes and Gardens 501 Quilt Blocks. Each block is framed with a ¼" green border and set on point. They are then set off with sashing and borders of cream fabric.

Viewers' Choice:  Mini Block Explosion by Ella Lucas

Mary Ann Scruggs of Hattiesburg was the lucky winner of the donation quilt, Life on Our Planet

The take-down procedure

A complete list of winners will be posted soon.

Scenes from the Show

View from the 2nd floor of Lake Terrace

Best of Show - Large,  by Anne Hindmarch

 

 

 

Best of Show - Small,  by Leslie Kiger

MQA information table with Polly Duggan selling Martha Skelton books

The Show Opens

Time to open the doors

Vendors are ready for shoppers

Patient husbands

Quilters don't waste time. . . Lois Dedeaux is stitching on a binding

More Day Four

 The Boutique is set up with hundreds of handmade items--great for gifts. The 19 vendors moved in and began transforming this room into a shopping paradise. More vendors are in the main hall and adjoining rooms.

The judge, Lorraine Covington, gave a presentation this afternoon for our members who could break away from their jobs. She stressed that quilters need to adopt the motto "Progress, not Perfection," which should help us enjoy our improvement without feeling guilty about not reaching perfection.

Day Four Progress Report

Sharon Harris, Pat Faulkender, Lesie Kiger--checking winners list

Preview of coming attractions!

Joe Bingham, Joyce Canady, Donna Crager--hanging the Hoffman Traveling Exhibit

Doris Aultman with the Silent Auction--34 items up for bid

Hanging the Show

Day Three: The Lake Terrace Convention Center staff had the pipe and drape equipment erected when we arrived. While judging continued in the Garden Room and Executive Conference Room, teams began moving judged quilts to the exhibit hall on rolling carts.ID tags remained on the quilts to assure they were kept in order.

The cords that hold the pipes (which thread through the sleeves) had to be unwound from storage, and we used members and LTCC staff. Seeing the large exhibit hall with all these empty rows waiting for the quilts gave us a shudder--it seemed a daunting task to accomplish in the two days we had remaining before opening. But Linda Flanders and Pat Valadez had prepared a map showing a place for each of the 390+ pieces, and we began hanging. Extra-long quilts had to be pinned up until muslin could be placed on the floor to protect them. By the end of the day the judge had completed judging all 22 categories and only had the final special awards to be decided.
The boutique team began filling their room with handmade items we had worked on over the two years since the last show. Vendors will be arriving and setting up on Day Four, and Day Five becomes opening day!

Judging the Show

L to R: Gloria Green, Sharon Harris, Judge, Leslie Kiger, Vivian Plummer, Linda Flanders

 We have received all the quilts and have sorted them by category and entry number and laid them out on double or triple tables. Show Judge Lorraine Covington examines them while PBQ members help with moving them about from table to table as they are judged and placed with their category for hanging on the pipe and drape system at Lake Terrace. Actual hanging will begin Wednesday, working toward opening the show on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m.

Judge giving comments to scribes Rhoda Libiez and Donna Burges

Show Preparations

Our September 19 meeting was involved with assigning show duties, answering questions, receiving bags and labels to pin to quilt entries, making sure everyone knew their schedule. We pre-registered quilts from members, which will help reduce the load on check-in day. The registrars for the three off-site locations picked up all the paperwork for these quilts. Our space for receiving and judging will be less than we've had before, so care is being taken to keep the quilts in proper order for the hanging process.

We were reminded to distribute flyers and cards to advertise the show, sell the remainder of our raffle tickets and get the stubs and money turned in. 

It is exciting to know that we will have 19 vendors with fabric, thread, machines, patterns, etc. to tempt us. The catalog has gone to the printer showing 401 entries.  We're ready for a great show!

Remember to check the Schedule of Events back a couple of posts to see what lectures/demos or featured speakers you don't want to miss. Let's hope this fall weather continues!

Quilts for the Veterans Home in Collins

Jackie Page, assistant administrator at the Veterans Home in Collins, was present at PBQ's September 19 meeting to accept our gift of 15 colorful string quilts. Our member Dorothy Aultman makes and brings in these squares every month, and the (first Tuesday) Children's Quilt Group assembles, quilts, and binds them. Jackie said the residents were always cold and would enjoy these quilts, both for the warmth they provide and for the appreciation they represent for the residents' service to our country.

Schedule of Events at the Show

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS AT THE SHOW 

All events free except where noted

*Requires $5.00 ticket

Friday, October 5

11:00	Choosing a Border Ollie Jean Lane	Garden Rm
12:00	Quilting with Your Embroidery Machine Sally Henderson	ExConf Rm
1:00	The Beauty of All Quilts Ann Fox	Garden Rm
2:00	Dyeing Fabric Mary Nell Magee	ExConf Rm
3:00	Care & Repair of Your Quilt Martha Ginn	Garden Rm
4:00	From Sweatshirt to Jacket Joan Harper	ExConf Rm
5:00	Paper Piecing Anne Esteve	Garden Rm
6:00-8:00	*Square in a Square Jodi Barrows	ExConf Rm

Saturday, October 6

11:00	Trunk Show Donna Burges	ExConf Rm
12:00	Braid Quilts Gayle Giannini	Garden Rm
1:00	Ghost Quilting Martha Ginn	ExConf Rm
2:00	T-Shirt Quilts June Burge	Garden Rm
3:00-5:00	*Custom Art Quilts Gail Bachorik	ExConf Rm
6:00-8:00	*String Quilt Revival Virginia Baker & Barbara Sanders	Garden Rm

Sunday, October 7

1:00	Strings Shirley Wiltshire	ExConf Rm
2:00	Rulers Elvia Edwards	Garden Rm
3:00	Trunk Show & Longarm Quilting Dea Crandal	ExConf Rm