Piecetime News---March 2010

Our weather has been offering great inspiration for the Winter Wonderland theme for this year's president's challenge quilt. Get your quilt started before all the snow melts. Details about the challenge can be found in the February newsletter. You can view any past newsletter at this link: newsletter archives or the link which is located in the side bar of this newsletter.

Thanks to so many of you who paid your 2010 dues so promptly. About 80% of the total number of members from last year have paid. Our membership booklet will be thick this year! Pick up your copy at the March meeting.

Don't miss the great retreat Lisa and Beth have planned. It is a great way to get some uninterrupted sewing done, renew friendships, and make new friends.

Keep on quilting,

Liz Porter---President

March Program

At our next guild meeting on Tuesday, March 23, we welcome Darlene Zimmerman from Fairfax, Minnesota. DMAQG member Linda Montet wrote an article about Darlene for the February 2007 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

Darlene is known as the "Feed Sack Lady". Therefore the title of her afternoon talk is "Love Those 30's Quilts" and the evening topic is "Treasures in the Trunk".

Guild meetings are held at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the West Des Moines United Methodist Church at 8th & Grand, in West Des Moines

March Workshops

Please sign up for the March classes now. You may mail your workshop registration to Peggy Kirk. Her address is on the registration form. If you have any questions, please contact Peggy via email at

peggyquilt@prgrsoft.com

The supply list for March workshops will be available at the March meeting. The supply list is also available on the DMAQG website by clicking on the link located on the side bar located in this newsletter.

Wednesday, March 24 (9am - 4pm) - FINISHING SCHOOL -- Learn how to make, mark and bind all sorts of edge finishes. You will make bound samples of scalloped, notched and shaped edges, ice cream cone borders, etc. Also learn prairie point edgings, mitered and rounded corners. Plus tips on perfect bindings and no-lump joint. CLASS IS FULL

Thursday, March 25 (9am - 4pm) - FINISHING SCHOOL -- see description above for the Wednesday class. There are a few openings still available.

DIRECTIONS To Legacy Pointe located at 1650 SE Holiday Crest Drive in Waukee:
Take Hickman Road (Hwy 6) west of I-35/80 for 3 miles to the intersection of 156th and Hickman Road which has a Dahls and a Walgreens. Continue west a 1/3 of a mile and turn left (south) at the SE Legacy Pointe Blvd street sign (just past Tuffy and before Earl May). Follow it around to a 3-story building. Go around to the back. When you come in the door, turn to your left and the community room is right there. The phone number for Legacy Pointe is 515-987-3625.

Newcomers' Meetings

The Newcomer's Program for March will be held on Tuesday, March 16th at JoAnn Belling's. We will be car pooling from the Urbandale Library and will be leaving at 6:15 pm. I have the list of those who attended the February meeting that wish to go. For others, please contact me so I can give JoAnn an accurate count. My e-mail is mthiese@aol.com or call me at 515-480-5666. I would like to give JoAnn a good count by Sunday, March 14th. Get ready for some fun. JoAnn's subject is String Quilts. Don't forget to bring Show and Tell!!!!

Upcoming meetings

April 20 -- binding with Liz Porter

May 18 -- thread play with Janet Pittman

June 15 -- friendship quilting with Jill Reber

July 20 -- hand appliqué with Mary Shotwell

August 17 -- machine quilting with Lynn Witzenberg

September 21 -- long arm quilting with Jeannie Stille

Diane Thiese, Vice President

2011 Raffle Quilt

The design for the 2011 raffle quilt has been finalized and construction of the quilt will begin soon. A variety of fabrics will give the quilt more interest and dimension, so we are asking Guild members to donate small pieces of fabric to the project.

Needed are 12" squares of yellow, gold, and green prints and fat quarters of brown prints.

Please bring to the March meetings. Thanks for your help.

Martha Henrichs and Kathy Russi

Japanese Meter Quilt Roundup

If you are a 'seasoned' guild member as I am, you may remember a joint project we did with our Japanese quilting friends back in 1999. Because our quilt show theme is "A World of Quilts", we would like to have a special display of those quilts at the show in October. If you have one or more quilts from this project, please contact me and let me know who you are and how many 'meter' quilts you have. We will collect them at the August and September meetings.

Thank you,

Lynn Witzenburg

515-274-1255

lynnwitz@msn.com

Community Service & Charity Sewing

Thank you to everyone who donated items in February. We continue to be amazed at the generosity of our guild members and applaud your efforts. All items donated in January and February have been delivered to the following sites: Meals on Wheels, Broadlawns Pediatrics, St. Joseph's Family Shelter, Calvin Community AL Services, Legacy Pointe, and Lutheran Children's Behavioral Unit. The Children's Behavioral Unit has a need for children and youth size socks and underwear. If you are interested in helping, please bring items to our meetings and we will make sure they receive them.

Sign up will begin at the March meeting for our first charity sewing day of the year. Please join us on May 4th from 9am to 4pm at the Pleasant Hill library for a fun day.

Bring your sewing machines, electrical cords, cutting mats, rulers, rotary cutters, a walking foot, and other basic supplies. If you cannot sew without your own comfy chair bring that along too. Please indicate on the sign up sheet if you would be willing to bring an iron, pressing mat, or ironing board. Lunch will be provided.

Carolyn Eliason and Joan Rotert

Co-chairs Community Service

Thank Yous

From Leigh Lussie:

It was a great honor and privilege to serve as the guild's co-chair for the 2009 quilt show. A big "thank you" to everyone who gave me fat quarters and hatchet blocks for my term last year.

From American Heart Association:

Thank you so much for the time and talent you have shared with the American Heart Association and Go Red for Women by making the special Red Dress Quilt. It is lovely! We are very excited to have time to share the quilt with the community until it is auctioned at the GRFW luncheon on Friday, September 24, 2010.

Again, many thanks,

Elaine Kay

2010 "Little Quilts" for Silent Auction

Last year the guild members really did an outstanding job in making "little quilts" for the silent auction. It was a record setting year for income from the silent auction. The silent auction is a very important part of the guild's income by providing speakers and programs for all its members. So I am reminding everyone to get an early start on this year's "little quilts" for the 2010 quilt show. Once again, we will display all the "little quilts" at the September guild meeting. It is always exciting to see the wonderful results of the immense talent and creativity of our guild members. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Leigh Lussie, leighlussie@hotmail.com

2010 Guild Challenge

Are you up to the Challenge? In keeping with the DMAQG 2010 quilt show theme, "A World of Quilts", the Guild's challenge to its membership is "My Personal World of Quilting". The possibilities are endless since you can interpret that to mean "what makes my quilting world go round".

Last year's display of challenge quilts at the quilt show was wonderful, but we hope to surpass even that spectacular showing with many more entries. Jill Reber had the foresight to solicit fabric donations from Moda. The fabrics are all batiks. As in the past, baggies of the three fabrics will be sold at the April meeting for $3. (Proceeds will go toward buying prizes.) There will be only 80 bags, so please buy yours before they are gone. AND complete them!

Here are the rules:

*Use at least two of the three provided fabrics.

*The item must be quilted in some form or fashion.

*Entries may be any size or shape as long as no one side is longer than 45 inches.

*Use something from your stash. (Of course, as soon as you buy it, it'll be part of your stash.)

Also remember that quilts will NOT be judged and should not be entered in the judged category. Please attach a sleeve and a label according to the quilt show's guidelines. Entries must be registered by the deadline in July and will be part of show-and-tell at the September meeting.

Challenge quilts (ONLY) may be left at the September meeting for transportation to the show, or you may drop yours off at the Quilt Block according to the dates that will be published later.

Quilt Show at Reiman Gardens

Reiman Gardens is organizing a three day Garden Quilt Show to be held in Ames on August 13-15, 2010. The goal is to encourage the art of quilting, display a fabulous selection of "garden themed" quilts created by talented Iowans, and provide instruction, demonstrations and inspiration for both novice and experienced quilters.

A juried show with prizes awarded by central Iowa sponsors, a vendor's marketplace offering quilt-related merchandise and fabrics, speakers and demonstrations along with dozens of quilts will be featured. Half day classes, and book signings with some of your favorite Iowa quilters will also be a part of this wonderful, three-day event.

Quilts must be entered via photographs or photo CDs, by Tuesday, June 15, 2010. Up to three quilts may be entered for a $20 fee. Quilters will be notified by Tuesday, July 6, 2010, if they have been accepted into the show. Please watch the Reiman Gardens website for more instructions on how to enter your quilts.

Categories for the Garden Quilt Show include:

Themes: Sizes:

Landscape Bed-sized

Botanical Still-life Large Wall - 40 inch

Garden Medium/small - 36 " vertical or Flowers under

Butterflies

Prizes will include ribbons, certificates and gift cards or merchandise from Iowa quilt shop sponsors as well as cash prizes of $75 for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place in each category. A "People's Choice" prize will be offered as well.

For questions or comments, please contact Lynne Melssen, Events Coordinator, by calling 515-294-8981, email lmelssen@iastate.edu or mail inquires to: Lynne Melssen, c/o Reiman Gardens, 1407 University Blvd. Ames, IA 50011.

In Memoriam

Marilyn Rutz passed away Monday, March 15, 2010. Marilyn was an active member of our guild from Waukee and will be missed.

Survey Results

Our guild recently participated in a survey with six of the larger guilds in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Iowa. I want to share what we learned.

All participating guilds had similar meeting length (speaker allotted one hour, total meeting time of 1 1/2 to 2 hours), offer websites and newsletters, perform community outreach projects, and encourage small groups.

Several guilds do not meet in the summer months so their number of educational workshops/lecturers is proportionally reduced. Our guild provides the most workshops (18 in 2010). The next closest number of workshops offered was 12. The guild member costs for all day workshops was fairly consistent at $45 per day.

Two of the participating guilds hold annual quilt shows--Omaha and us. Other guilds hold shows once every two years. All but one of the shows now offer optional judging for entered quilts.

As I reviewed these survey answers, I realized how proud I am to be part of our guild--a guild of VERY prolific quilters! The money we earn by putting on an annual quilt show allows us to provide many quality national lecturers for our meetings which in turn means that we learn new quilt making skills. Thanks to all of you for sharing your lovely quilts with us and for your continued support of our educational workshops.

Pat Hjelmeland

Corresponding Secretary