Berrien Towne and Country Quilt Guild

Anyone with an itch to stitch will find useful information here.

Come visit our guild. We are located in Berrien County, the extreme southwest corner of Michigan, approximately 16 miles from the Indiana border and 1.5 hours from Chicago. We meet on the second Thursday of each month (EXCEPT AUGUST 2010 - see Events calendar)from February through November at 6:30pm for social time with the regular meeting beginning at 7pm. Non-members coming to see the special guest speakers in May 2009 and September 2009 will be asked to pay a $5 entry fee. See the Maps link for directions.

Better yet, JOIN our guild! A love of quilting is our one “requirement.” Download our membership form here! Membership 2010.pdf

Articles for both the website and the newsletter are due by the 20th of each month.

For newsletter placement, contact Andrea at: btcqnewsletter@yahoo.com

For website placement, contact Ginger at stepgingerly@comcast.net

Welcome

“Show and Tell” Quilts from 2009

Current Guild News and Reminders

Reminders and announcements

September PROGRAM - Julie Koch This month our speaker is our very own JULIE KOCH. Julie has been a member of our guild since 1987 and she has a wealth of quilting knowledge to offer and share with us. Julie’s presentation will be from Ricky Tims’ book “Convergence Quilts.” She has a few demonstration models for us to see and she states that these projects can be done well and can be done fast by everyone. Please join us for this unique and exciting program. Social/Shopping time is 6:30 PM Meeting starts at 7:00 PM This months vendors are: Marie Maxwell from So South Haven Betty Oatsvall from Quilters Joy QUILT CHALLENGE This month the colors are reversed for everyone. Those with the last initials of A-M, please bring in 3 - 2 ½” x 45” strips of the same fabric in the color YELLOW. If your last initial starts with N-Z, please bring in 3 - 2 ½” x 45” strips of the same fabric in the color BLUE. We hope that if you have been lucky enough to be a past winner of the “jelly rolls” that you are having fun deciding what pattern/design you’re going to use. There are so many patterns and books that are specifically written just for 2 ½” strips. With a little luck you could be this months winner - just bring in your strips to qualify and good luck to all of you!! REMINDER We are down to the last 2 months (Sept. and Oct.) for our booklets to be stamped. I have quite a list of past stamps due to many of you. As you know, in order to qualify for our grand prize (given at the Nov. meeting) your stamps need to be in your booklets!! PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING IN YOUR BOOKLETS and don’t forget that they will be collected at the October meeting. It only takes 15 stamps to qualify to be entered into the grand prize drawing. Good luck to everyone. Don’t forget your plastic baggie with your match game items, they could help you achieve your 15 stamps needed in your booklets. Only 2 months left to play the game, can you guess what will be the mystery items? Side Note: If you were able to attend our last meeting (Aug.), then you know that Edyta was not only informative but entertaining. Her quilts are spectacular and her patterns are wonderful. I wish I had time to do everyone of them, but that’s just not reality. Also, if you were fortunate enough to attend one or both of Edyta’s workshops then you know first hand what a wonderful teacher she really is. We hope everyone enjoyed this speaker and her workshops. Your program chairpersons, Kathy & Barb

COMMUNITY QUILTS
The guild has selected Suitcases for Kids as our community project for the year. This program was started in 1995 by a 10 year old, Aubyn Burnside after learning that the average child in foster care moves three to four times and traditionally carries his/her personal belongings from home to home in black garbage bags. We will provide comforters or quilts for children ages 0-13. So any quilts from baby quilts to lap quilts (54” x 72”) for boys and girls will be useful. We have boxes of fabric donated for this purpose; please let Denise know if you need anything or if you want to peruse the collection. Too much time required? Think again! Here are two “Quilt As You Go” patterns for lap quilts that take 5 hours from start to completely finished quilt. One day’s quilting CAN make a difference!

“Scrappy Strip Quilt” QAYG strips.pdf
“Single Log Cabin” QAYG logcabin.pdf

Other Quilty News of Note

September 11 - 12, 2010

A Quilter’s Harvest 2010 presented by the Cal-Co Quilter’s Guild. Saturday 9am - 5pm and Sunday 10am - 4pm at the Marshall Activities Center (The “MAC”) 15325 West Michigan Ave, Marshall, MI. Admission is $6. This is the Marshall Historic Home Tour Weekend as well. 200+ quilts on display, vendors, raffle quilt, etc. For more info, email: handquilter53@yahoo.com

September 24-26, 2010

“Art of the Quilt” Contest

Novi, Michigan - American Sewing Expo presents the “Art of the Quilt” contest. Entry fee is $20 per quilt - two quilt limit. Theme: “Classic American Automobiles” Quilts will be on exhibit exclusively at the American Sewing Expo from September 24-26, 2010. Entry form, contest rules and deadlines are available:

http://www.americansewingexpo.com/content/contests#Art

October 1-3

Quilts On The Grand 2010

West Michigan Quilter's Guild

DeltaPlex

2500 Turner Ave NW

Grand Rapids, MI

Friday, Oct. 1st from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 2nd from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 3rd from 12 noon until 5 p.m

For more information, visit our web site at http://www.wmqg.org

March 18-19, 2011

21st Annual Gathering of Quilters

Patrician Banquet Center, 410 E. US Hwy 30, Schererville, IN 46375

Juried and Judged quilt show: entries are open to everyone, entry date closes 11/18/2010. CASH PRIZES. “Just Imagine” Quilt Challenge open to everyone, entry date closes 3/16/2011, CASH PRIZES. Is your work ready for a judged quilt show? Check out the website to find out!

For more information/downloadable forms / registration/ entry forms, go to www.heritagequilters.com or www.southshorecva.com/quilt Do give your computer a minute or two in order to load all of the information from the websites. Or contact krscott50@comcast.net, or 219-226-0236. Hosted by Heritage Quilters of Crown Point, IN.