Win this Quilt; Support Wounded MS ANG Soldiers

Stars of Mississippi

 

WIN THIS PATRIOTIC QUILT AND SUPPORT WOUNDED MISSISSIPPI ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS!

Pine Belt Quilters, with love and appreciation, made and donated the quilt pictured above in support of wounded Mississippi Army National Guard soldiers.

Purchase raffle tickets for $5 each for a chance to win “Stars of Mississippi”. “Stars of Mississippi” has an eagle panel, with 24 offset stars surrounding the eagle panel in red, white and blue fabrics. ALL proceeds go directly to wounded Mississippi Army National Guard troops, via Wounded Minutemen of Mississippi (not affiliated with other wounded warrior programs).

Drawing will be held on March 18, so get your tickets soon!

To purchase tickets, please contact Dianne Herrington. Checks or cash can be mailed to Dianne at the following address (or handed to me when you see me). Checks should be made out to Wounded Minutemen of Mississippi.

Dianne Herrington

123 Richburg Road

Purvis, MS 39475

601-549-2409 (if you get voicemail, please leave a message and phone #). Or text to this number.

dherrington4578@comcast.net (Email is great!)

Facebook: Dianne Deal Herrington

Thank you for supporting Mississippi’s heroes who have sacrificed much for us, and for our country.

Tornado Damage Causes Cancellation of PBQ Meeting

The February 10 tornado caused horrific damage to Hattiesburg, specifically the area between Arlington Loop and Hardy along S 37th Avenue, S 34th Avenue, Donwood, and Southampton Rd.  University Baptist Church (on Arlington Loop) was not damaged and is being used as a staging area for relief efforts. There are pick-up trucks, 18-wheelers, trailers, and other heavy equipment in the parking lot, and the church is feeding work crews in Fellowship Hall, sometimes three meals a day.

Since this is PBQ's meeting place, it has been decided that our February 20th meeting as well as the workshop the following week will be cancelled. Some nearby streets are still blocked, and we don't want to hinder any of this clean-up work that is going on. We have been told that approximately 2000 homes in the area are affected, from some damage to total destruction. We still marvel that there was no loss of life.


Photo by Ryan Moore, Hattiesburg American

Joan Alliston's Settings for Sampler Quilts

Joan Alliston of Brandon presented our program to kick off 2013 with the topic "Settings for Sampler Quilts." Joan and her sister and mother for many years made friendship blocks, challenges, new patterns, enjoying and encouraging each other through illnesses and losses. They made trips together, attended retreats and workshops, shared and swapped fabric and patterns, even completing works for one another, which adds special memories and meaning to the quilts.

Joan showed the many ways that friendship blocks or sampler blocks can be set, with various-sized blocks presenting more creative solutions. She showed examples of sashing and filler blocks and borders to get the quilts to a desired finished size.

Joan and Georgia Polk are co-chairs of the Mississippi Quilt Association committee to keep an ongoing exhibit of quilts at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Museum in Jackson; they took down the red/green exhibit this week and hung Log Cabin quilts. Several PBQ quilts are in the current display, which will remain until June.

Locally, Mary Nell Magee arranges for quilts to hang at the Hattiesburg Visitors Center; the current theme is "winter blues," to be followed by "flowers" in April.

 Our members have found time to be charitable during their busy lives. At today's meeting we received donations of 67 pillows, 29 walker totes, 25 newborn burp shoulder cloths. Many others worked on quilts for children or the veterans home. A recap for 2012 is listed on last month's blog report. Forrest General's NICU has requested more isolette covers and furnished the gray fabric for the linings. Gloria Green will head up this activity in small groups.

Our membership director distributed copies of our plans for 2013; these meeting programs, boutique projects, and workshops will be listed on our website in Guild Activities. It should be a busy and productive year! The Sampler Quilt Challenge Reveal will be the June meeting, with monetary prizes awarded by viewers' choice balloting.

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.