September 13, 2013 Program HEXIE HULLABALOO!
Transcription
September 13, 2013 Program HEXIE HULLABALOO!
September, 2013 Vol. 38, No. 3 Inside this issue: September 13, 2013 Program President’s Message 2 Treasurer 2 Calendar 3 Historian’s Desk 4 Annual Retreat 4 Membership 5 2014 Charity Update 6 Tips of the Month 6 August Meeting Minutes 7 “Oh Wow!” Gallery 8-9 Swap Shop 10 Musings 13 Refreshments, page 5 Secret Word, page 10 March 21-22, 2015 Quilt Expo We need leaders! Attention new members! You are encouraged to attend our monthly dinner, which takes place just before each meeting! O’Charley’s Kirkwood Commons (across from Hobby Lobby) 1242 South Kirkwood Rd. 5:15 pm, Friday, Sept. 13 RSVP: Susan Sanders 314-822-4673 bpandq@aol.com 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:30) Concordia Lutheran Church 505 South Kirkwood Road www.concordiakirkwood.org HEXIE HULLABALOO! The queen of all things hexie-related will be with us at the September 13, 2013 meeting. For the superstitious, hexies are short for hexagons, not hexes. Mickey Depre, author of “Pieced Hexies” will be on hand for a wonderful, fun evening. Her lecture, “Me, Myself, and I”, is an hourlong PowerPoint presentation followed by a short trunk show covering her progression from a traditional quilter to the present. Topics to be covered will be inspiration and believing in one’s self and sense of style. During the trunk show Mickey will happily answer audience questions regarding technique, product use, etc. The program is informative and entertaining with a grand dose of humor. On Saturday, September 14, 2013 join us in her workshop as we take English paper piecing hexies to a whole new level. Mickey will teach us her pieced hexies - Jazzy, Wheelie, and Sparkle - from her book “Pieced Hexies.” Don’t worry if you’ve never basted a paper before. Mickey will cover traditional English paper piecing, including tricks to obtaining flat corners and techniques to ensure that no stitches will be seen on the front. Then prepare to be wowed as she takes hexies someplace they’ve never been before. Cost of the workshop is $30 plus book purchase. Books will be available for a discount at the workshop. If you already own a copy of the book, you may bring it instead, but each participant must have a book on the day of the workshop. Find the supply list here: http://www.thimbleandthreadstl.org/images/uploads/Mickey.pdf. To get a preview of what’s in store at the workshop, take a look at this page from Bonnie Hunter’s blog: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/08/ collaboration-celebration-wrapping-it-up.html. Mickey and Bonnie recently held a Collaboration Celebration in North Carolina. 40 participants sewed their hearts out learning how to make Mickey’s hexies and following Bonnie’s lead in incorporating them into a quilt. Mary Ellen Adams Guild meetings are open to non-members, free for the first visit and $3 per visit thereafter. A $5 fee will apply when national speakers are lecturing. President’s message Hi all! Well in the big “end of summer” and the start of second grade for my girl, this was an unproductive month for me. I’ve done almost no sewing, which usually makes me feel off-kilter. My workin-progress list hasn’t budged. It’s almost writer’s block at this point for me. I had signed up for the hexie workshop, and I ordered the book online. It came in yesterday, and while I flipped through it, BOOM, there’s my sew-mojo back again. I guess sometimes you need to see something new – or something familiar in a new way – to find your motivation. So with that in mind, have you signed up for workshops lately? If you missed out on Mickey Depre in September, there’s another workshop scheduled in November. Mickey Depre’s take on hexagons is an update to a traditional pattern. I hope you’re all planning to come to guild the night she speaks. I’ve done literally thousands of hexagons, but the way she does them is really special. I can’t wait to try some out. Expect to see something at show and tell from me – eventually. I love the hexies, they’re so charming, easy to take along anywhere, one hexie takes just a few minutes. So I still have labels from the quilt show we had in March; make sure to catch me if you need one. And you know I can’t take space in the newsletter without mentioning the unfilled Quilt Show Chair. Any takers? It’s an important job, but you’ll get plenty of help. Come talk to me… Jerri Stroud says she’d be happy to add your pictures to our guild’s Facebook page. Personally, I love seeing works in progress and finished quilts. If you’ve got something to show off, make sure to send it along to Jerri. Treasurer’s Report August, 2013 Income Membership Retreat Ads Guest Fees Newsletter raffle $ Total Income $1438.00 Expenses Membership Retreat P. O. Box Treasurer’s supplies Room rental Total Expenses 615.00 725.00 60.00 9.00 29.00 $ 25.00 26.34 39.00 85.01 270.00 $ 445.35 Account Balances as of August 1, 2013: And my last piece of business is a little lost and found. At the last meeting, someone gave me a Cokesbury bag of fabric and thread – please come grab it if it’s yours. Checking Savings 6-mo. Cd 2-yr. cd Money market $13,260.07 31.47 6,016.77 6,025.12 9,853.02 Well that’s it for me, see y’all in September! Total accounts $35,186.45 Chris Marylyn Simpson Baker’s Dozen Reminder! The next meeting of the Baker’s Dozen group will be held on October 13 from 1:30 to 4:00 at Hattie Thompson’s house. Make 13 traditional log cabin blocks with red centers and logs made from fabrics in the colors of autumn. Questions or help, contact Judy Lorino. 2 CALENDAR Workshops September 14: Mickey Depre Hexies! The workshop is full! November 9: Becky Wright “Winds of War,” a Civil War pattern Contact Susan Sanders if you are interested in signing up for a workshop. Guild Meeting Programs Sept. 21-22 Harvest of Quilts X Show Bee Dazzled by Quilts sponsored by Raintree Quilters Guild, Inc. Vanderburgh 4-H Center Auditorium 201 E. Booneville-New Harmony Road Evansville, IN 47725 (4 miles N of airport off Hwy 41) quilts, including art quilts, raffle, silent auction, vendors, home accessories, clothing admission: $6; under 12, free Saturday, September 21, 9 am to 5 pm Sunday, September 22, 11 am to 4 pm Info: raintreequilters.org Sep. 13th Mickey Depre Oct. 11th Edna Patterson-Petty Nov. 8th Becky Wright Dec. 13th Christmas Party Autumn Gems Quilt Show Gems of the Prairie Quilters Avanti’s Dome, 3401 Griffin Avenue, Pekin, IL. Info: www.gemsoftheprairie.com. Jan. 10th Charity Sew-In Sept. 28-29 Shows, Exhibits, etc. Aug. 23—Oct. 6 Speaking of Fibers show Missouri Fiber Artists St. Louis University Museum of Art 3663 Lindell Boulevard Reception, Sept. 27, 5-6 p.m. Sept. 3 Pat Knoechel Trunk Show KC Hall, 204 S. Commercial, St. Clair, MO 5 pm — see August newsletter for more info Sept. 28-29 Flower Valley Quilt Show 15 Flower Valley Quilt Guild Atonement Lutheran Church 1285 New Florissant Rd, Florissant, MO Info: Carol Peck, 314-385-8210 Oct. 4-6 Thimble & Thread Fall Retreat Pallottine Renewal Center, Florissant Info: Cindy Clifton (see roster) Oct. 5-6 Round Bobbin Expo—Quilting and Sewing Expo St. Charles Convention Center vendors, classes, quilt displays Info: stcharlesconventioncenter.com or roundbobbin.com see ad page 10 Ozark Festival of Quilts Piece & Plenty Quilt Guild of Rolla Saturday, Oct. 5, 9 am to 5 pm Sunday, Oct. 6, noon to 5 pm Rolla Middle School 1111 Soest Road, Rolla, MO 200+ quilts, 2013 Hoffman Challenge Exhibit slent auctions, boutique, bed turnings, demos, appraisals, vendors Info: pieceandplenty.com Sept. 20-Oct. 27 October 18-19 Quilt National St. Louis University Museum of Art 3663 Lindell Boulevard 7th Annual Calhoun County Quilt & Church Tour See page 7 for details Sept. 20-21 Sept. 21 Quilt Auction, Festival of Sharing St. Paul’s United Church of Christ 5508 Telegraph Road St. Louis (Oakville), MO 63129 9 am to 2 pm., free admission, proceeds go to the Church World Service Blanket Fund Info: 314-892-3332 October 18-20 Missouri State Quilters Guild Fall Retreat Capitol Plaza Hotel Jefferson City, MO Activies include costume tea party, pillowcase charity project, friendship blocks, classes, vendors, games and open sew Info: moquiltguild.org 3 The Historian’s Desk Until August of 2005 all written history of the Guild was stored in boxes that were kept by the current President. Thus the boxes were moved from place to place as new Presidents took office. Kathy Gaynor and Ann Wilder were historians and discussed moving the boxes of records to a permanent location, both to stop the moving around and also to insure a climate-controlled storage atmosphere. Kathy Gaynor contacted a colleague at the Missouri Historical Society to find out how to access their archives. In the Guild's June 2006 newsletter there was a proposal to change the by-laws to reflect the change in location. Now all records are permanently stored at the Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center on Skinker and are available to see and read during their regular hours. Nancy Reeves, Historian Nancy would like your suggestions for topics you’d like to see in this column, so put on your thinking caps! Don’t be shy! Do you have any favorite memories of Guild activities or events? Funny stories, great achievements, anything? Those could go here, too! Some of our September speaker Mickey Depre’s “hexies.” For more on Mickey’s technique, check the following link: http://quiltville/ blogspot.com/ 2013/08/ collaborationcelebrationgroup-b-day. html Annual Retreat! It’s almost here, that weekend when some of us devote Friday morning until early Sunday afternoon to nothing but sewing, sewing, sewing, with some walking, swimming, napping, and generous doses of laughing sprinkled throughout. Of course this refers to the annual Guild Retreat at the Pallottine Renewal Center in Florissant, taking place on October 4-6. Doors open at 9:00 a.m. on Friday; come any earlier and you will suffer the wrath of Peaches… uhm, make that Cindy Clifton. We must be packed up and out by 2 p.m. on Sunday. For you newbies, and those oldies of you who may still be thinking of signing up (we still have room!), attendance costs $180, whether you share a room with one other or have a room to yourself. All meals are provided, cooked by the staff at the Center, from Friday lunch to and including Sunday lunch. Everyone is encouraged to bring snacks to share with the group, and there is a refrigerator available to us if you care to use it. Contact Cindy Clifton if you’d like to reserve one of the last spots. She will also accept reservations at the September meeting. The arrangements will include cutting areas with mats and ironing stations. We need table risers for the cutting tables and long extension cords with surge protectors. Please let Cindy know if you can bring any of those. The optional activity this year will be making a quick and easy quilt using layer cakes. If you plan to participate, please bring a layer cake containing at least 40 10” squares of fabric. So pack your cutest pjs and slippers (we’re very informal!), your swimsuit if you’d like to swim in the indoor pool, your sewing projects and all necessary supplies. Another handy item to have is a small trash can or thread catcher. Cindy suggests you bring a beach towel if you plan to use the pool. Get ready to be relaxed AND productive! DM ...the “wrath of Peaches”? Doesn’t sound very threatening! The “wrath of Cindy” is a whole ’nother matter! Good luck typing that one in! 4 Refreshments Thanks to all of the officers for the wonderful refreshments brought to our July and August meetings. Even though our waistlines increased, the snacks were thoroughly enjoyed. It is very helpful when those bringing refreshments supply their own serving dishes and utensils. The guild has a few odds and ends in that department. but no one should count on the committee having just the right serving dish or spoon for their dish. Please remember to bring enough for 20 people and have the items ready to serve when they arrive. Very important . . . please do not bring drinks as your contribution. The committee provides those. Lastly, the committee will need your help in the kitchen the night you bring refreshments. If you are not sure what to do, just ask. And please sign next to your name in the notebook provided so that you get credit for your contribution. If you are unable to bring a refreshment on the night you are asked to do so, please contact Jan Oehrle at 314-786-5471 as soon as you know so that other arrangements can be made. JO The September Meeting Duty Roster: Jean Ameduri Joan Billing Gerry Carson Pamela Coaxum Kacey Cowdery Ginny Cox Ellen Eliceiri Missy Endres Kay Erb Sr. Frances Eveler Pat Ferrell Shirley Figura And thanks to Jan for her attractive table decorations! DM Membership Report The Paducah Pledge There was no summer slowdown for Guild members at the August meeting. Ninety-seven members and 8 guests attended. We welcomed two new members that night, Sally Taylor and Rhonda Pennington. Three other members joined by mail since the last meeting: Jane Sears Falconer, Wanda Hilliard and Annie Ruffino, granddaughter of Terri Weiersmueller. At the July meeting, those in attendance took the following pledge: If you didn’t make it to the August meeting, your membership cards are ready to pick up as well as your copy of the 2013-2014 Membership Directory, hot off the press. If you weren’t there that night, I took the pledge for you by proxy. No special privileges for people who miss meetings. So go ahead, everyone, send in enough stuff to overwhelm my computer this year. (Not that hard to do, actually.) Cut this out and stick it on your ‘fridge. Read it everyday. Let it haunt you. I would like to thank the advertisers in our Membership Directory who help offset the printing expense: Sandi Wagner, Sew Fine Machine Quilting, Marylyn Simpson, R & M Designs, Terri Kanyuck, Feather Touch Quilting and Hallye Bone. I, faithful Guild member, do solemnly promise that I will send in items for the newsletter on a regular basis, so help me Paducah. DM See you in September! Kathy, Patty and Mary 5 Don’t Miss This Opportunity! 2014 Charity Sew-In Update There is still plenty of space in Becky Wright’s November workshop. Becky is the owner of Orphans of War quilt patterns and will base the workshop on her Reap the Whirlwind pattern. See page 4 in the August newsletter for more information, and contact Susan Sanders to sign up. Several members donated fabric yardage and batting at the August meeting. Cut out fabric circles and batting squares for a QAYG Circle Quilt have also been donated, which gets someone wanting to make one of these quilts a big head start. Some of the donated batting have already been claimed for finishing other charity quilt tops, so let me know if you want me to set some aside for you. Do you realize what a bargain our workshops are?! You get individual attention from a nationally recognized quilter at a price that is much reduced from the customary charge levied at quilt shows. If any workshop catches your eye, don’t hesitate to sign up! You’ll be doing yourself a favor! Come join the fun! Again, a few guild members sewed and donated surplus QAYG Circle blocks. So, if you too have any or want to make a few, I’ll gladly accept yours also. Together, they’ll make a great scrappy quilt. Once I get enough of these blocks to complete a quilt, I’ll give them to the first one who requests them. This is one way for someone to make a QAYG Circle quilt without having to make all of the blocks. Reminder: Quilt labels for our charity quilts will be available at every guild meeting from now until April 2014—that’s when all of our charity quilts should be completed, labeled, and turned in to me. The presentation of the quilts to Annie Malone is planned for the April 2014 meeting. I plan to present our charity quilts in reusable cloth pillowcases and/or laundry bags, instead of plastic garbage bags, so feel free to make and donate one. These bags don’t need to be fancy or even made of quilter’s fabric. So, if you want some fabric for this purpose too, just ask! You can drop by my house to drop off or pick up donated fabrics and batting, or I’ll bring some to the next guild meeting for you. DM Thanks a bunch for whatever you do or however you contribute in support of this project!!! Nancy Hamilton, Chairperson Suzanne Chisum suggests that you check out youtube.com as a “cool place on the web for quilters.” She says there are videos by experts such as Ami Sims and Ricky Tims. Have a look at Ricky’s method for making one-seam flying geese. Search the site by person’s name, quilting techniques, or just plain “quilting.” Speaking of Ricky Tims, go to rickytims.com and see the muggles winners of the 2013 Five Fabric Challenge. Are you a fan of the Downton Abbey series on PBS? Andover Fabrics is coming out with a Downton Abbey line of fabrics! Go to andoverfabrics.com to have a look! I’ve been told that Jackman’s will have the entire collection, but I don’t know when the fabrics will arrive. By the way, Season 4 begins on Sunday, January 5! Pull out those scone recipes and start practicing! Optional Blocks Congratulations to Mary Ann Wachtel for winning over twenty Chinese Coins optional blocks at the August guild meeting. Don't forget to bring your Necktie optional blocks to the September meeting. Jeanette Oesterly DM 6 Thimble and Thread Quilt Guild Minutes from Friday, August 9, 2013 The meeting began at 7:30 Guest speaker Deb Cottin was introduced by Jerri Stroud. Deb is the Director of Marketing and Development for Safe Connections, which brings Quilt National to Saint Louis every two years since 1988. Safe Connections provides unlimited counseling for those who have been involved in sexual and/or domestic violence. They have a 24-hour crisis hotline for those who need help themselves or for those finding help for others. This year Quilt National changed the way submissions were judged. The first round each judge saw quilts that were submitted into a drop box and the judges were able to look at the quilts at home. The drop box allowed the judges to take time at home to look at the details of the quilts, zoom into specific areas of each quilt. The second round, the judges traveled to Ohio for the final round. Break for refreshments at 9:02. Back from break at 9:12 Correction of minutes from July 2013 meeting: Susan Sanders approved and announced the Oh Wow ballots from the March quilt show. Winners will be announced in the newsletter. Minutes approved with the above change. No new business. Membership reports 105 members present at the meeting with 7 guests. We currently have over 149 members for the 2013-2014 year which began on August 1, 2013 and ends July 31, 2014. Meeting adjourned at 9:52 pm Notes respectfully submitted, Leigh Anne Huckaby 7th Annual Calhoun County Quilt & Church Tour This year Quilt National will move from St. Charles to Saint Louis City. It will be held at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art located at 3663 Lindell (near Hwy 44 and Grand). The Museum is located between the Scottish Rite Building and the Masonic Temple on Lindell Blvd. The dates for the exhibit are Friday, September 20 through October 27. The Museum is open Wednesday- Sunday from 11am-4pm; they are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Admission is free. The coffee table book for Quilt National can be purchased at Left Bank Books. Books cannot be sold at the museum. There is metered parking (2-hour limit) on Lindell Avenue or Spring Avenue. In additional to Quilt National the Missouri Fiber Arts will host an exhibit at the Museum at the same time. Quilts will be viewed in the Illinois villages of Batchtown, Brussels, Hardin and Kampsville. Mary Ellen Adams next introduced our Virtual Studio Tours. We saw the studios of guild members Liza Mitchell, Susan Sanders, Rosemary Krupski, Sandy Wagner, Terri Yardley-Nohr and Adele Niblack. At the end was a special guest appearance via video by former guild member Ricki Tims. For information, and to buy tickets, call 618-883-2578 or 618-232-1268. Committee Announcements: Mary Ellen Adams has strip patterns available for those who won strip bingo and would like ideas about how to use the fabric. October 18 & 19 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Advanced ticket price $8.00, at door $12.00 tickets good for both days Event will feature: quilts - new, vintage, antique quilt appraisals and raffles quilt supplies and sales unique crafts quilting demonstrations antique cars & tractors quilts available for purchase Related websites: visitcalhoun.com and visitwestcentralillinois.com (Check out the barn quilts!) Cindy Clifton is still taking reservation for the fall retreat on October 4, 5, 6, 2013. She announced the special project for the retreat is a layer cake quilt. Layer cakes are 10” square. You can order them online at Keepsake quilting, but they only come in packets of 25 square. For the project you will need 40 10” squares. Jean Ameduri announced that there are opening for her group scrap bag quilt group. Please contact her for details. 7 “Oh Wow!” Gallery Some of the Quilts Receiving the Most Viewers’ Votes at Our Quilt Expo in March, 2013 top left: Grapes Amongst My Garden, by Joan Tebeau, in honor of Joan and Mike’s 21st wedding anniversary, quilted by Sandi Wagner bottom left: Songs of Africa, by Mary Ellen Adams this column: Quilting Snow Ladies, pieced by Dolores Keaton, quilted by Sandi Wagner 8 “Oh Wow!” Gallery, continued top: Friend Lily Blossoming, by The Amazing Eight (see page 10) center left: Folk Art, pieced by Yvonne Craig, quilted by Sandi Wagner center right: Counter Point, pieced by Charlotte Baumann, quilted by Sandi Wagner lower left: Circa 50, pieced by Nancy Hohmann, quilted by Sandi Wagner 9 The Amazing Eight! One of the winners of the “Oh, Wow!” votes at our 2013 Quilt Expo at Queeny Park was a group of quilters identified as “The Amazing Eight.” Here are their names: For Sale! Kenquilt Quilting Machine with instruction book 12’ long posted on Craig’s List moving out of house at end of month, so machine needs to sell ASAP Contact Debbie Miles, who will put you in touch with someone who will put you in touch with someone…. ******* Also for Sale! walnut wall quilt rack handmade by Charles Engel, a vendor from Houston who has had a booth at our T&T quilt show in the past 45 1/8” wide, 5” deep hanging bar is 40 1/2” wide and slips out of the rack easily to hang and display the quilt new condition, used very little Cindy Bell Neville Dana Lynch Bridget Dunning Lilja Wanda Myers Mary Holman Mary Kay Wagner Runyan Karen Fitzpatrick Hanne-Grete Brink St Louis, MO Olive Branch, MS Burr Ridge, IL Shiner, TX Vicksburg, MS Germantown, TN Lyndhurst, OH Norway Cindy Neville writes, “The Amazing Eight met online at thequiltshow.com. We met in person in Houston and at dinner, Mary Kay suggested we all make a quilt together and enter it in Houston and win a ribbon. Before we finished our margaritas, she had the whole schedule outlined on her phone! We set up a secret group on Facebook and we use the Chat to make decisions and post progress pics. We added a 9th member and are now The Amazing Nine and we are hard at work on our third quilt. Our second quilt, Koshare Dancer has shown at Paducah and Houston and recently won a blue ribbon and Judge's Choice at the Iowa State Fair. When a quilt is in progress, besides the chats, members will call and/or Skype for information, direction, help with technique and general support. We are all over the map: Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Illinois and Norway. It has been a journey and we are all still growing and learning!” See their stunning quilt on page 9. asking price: $30 call Adele Niblack, 636-256-8409 (beautiful quilt not included!) Don’t forget to find where I’ve hidden the secret word in this month’s newsletter and email or call me to let me know. Your name will be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate to be given away at the September meeting. So if you identify the secret word from the July, August and September newsletters, you get three chances to win! Several people contacted me with July’s and August’s secret words. Keep up the good work! The secret word this month is… muggles! DM Correction Time to start your fall cleaning so that you can send me items for the Swap Shop! DM In the August newsletter calendar, the Speaking of Fibers show hosted by the Missouri Fiber Artists was listed as taking place in the St. Louis Art Museum. The correct location is the St. Louis University Museum of Art. Note that Quilt National is taking place in the same location, so you can visit two shows at once if you schedule carefully! 10 Koala Sewing Chairs—Now 20% Off Select from 8 elegant finishes and 4 fabric colors to create the perfect chair to complement your sewing room. This Koala Sew Comfort chair offers comfort, durability, and adjustability. The generously padded seat, adjustable lower lumbar, and extra high back cushions will provide support for hours of sewing and the commercial grade upholstered cushions and back will stand up to great lengths of wear and tear. * Sale price is good through Nov. 30, 2013 Don’t forget—we’re open every Sunday from 12 – 4 pm Visit us at: 10403 Clayton Road in La Chateau Village or call us at (314) 993-1181 Monday & Wednesday 10-5; Tuesday & Thursday 10-6:30; Friday & Saturday 10-4:30; Sunday 12-4:00 Second Annual Craft/Bake/Garage Sale to benefit the Missouri Women’s Chorus Scott Schoonover, Artistic Director founder and artistic director of the widely acclaimed Union Avenue Opera Saturday, October 12, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Brentwood Community Center 2505 S. Brentwood Blvd. quilting AND singing diva (she’s so special!) Debbie Miles will be selling her QUILTED TABLE RUNNERS! contact her at keyari17@sbcglobal for more info! And mark your calendars for the Chorus’s CHRISTMAS CONCERT Sunday, December 8 (time to be announced) The Priory, 500 S. Mason Road, Creve Coeur, MO Beautiful music to set the tone for the season! Tickets available from Debbie @ $12. T&T members only: 2 fat quarters for each ticket purchased! 11 12 Musings from the editor… Some of the discussions in the Guild the past few months have started me thinking. Better late than never. I’ve been wondering about how an organization — or a person, or a society, for that matter — best navigates the path between tradition and change. It beats thinking about the Kardashians. The Guild is 36 years old, give or take a month or two, so it is edging ever so gently into middle age. Gone are the raging hormones of its youth, the crushes on the handsomest or most beautiful new fads. Gone, for the most part, are the anxieties of wondering who or what it will be when it grows up. It has settled on an identity for itself and a path for its future, although like all healthy and growing middle agers, it will have doubts about both for the rest of its existence. Think about what happens in middle age. The boundless imagination and sense of play that were a natural part of childhood are diminishing and in jeopardy of being lost. (There’s a reason that Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims devoted an entire issue of The Quilt Life to “play,” as I mentioned in last month’s column.) We start settling into our grownup routines and begin to forget that the rules so carefully established by now are guidelines, not universal truths. We are becoming so comfortable in our ways that when those ways are questioned, we can sometimes be a little too confident that we know best. And because our joints are showing the first signs of wear and tear, we can be a little grouchy, too. Do you know a senior citizen so stuck in her ways that she hasn’t entertained a new idea since Noah’s Flood? Do you know also know a person who’s been around for awhile but has never lost her openness, her curiosity, her sense of fun, her willingness to try new things? Imagine the first person: her rigidity is probably physical as well as mental. If she smiled spontaneously, it would crack her face. She wears boring shoes. Think of the second person: she moves around a lot and fills the room with energy. She laughs at her own mistakes and makes you smile. Her colors don’t always match but she’s comfortable in her clothes. Which model for aging is the better one for our middle-aged Guild to emulate? I’m just thinking. ***************** Ok, in the last newsletter I asked you to finish this story: “Two Flying Geese land inside a Rail Fence and walk into a Log Cabin. One turns to the other and says……” I had so many responses, my computer crashed. Not. But thanks to a couple of you, the story is complete! Marianne Whaley sent the following: “One turns to the other and says, ’Watch out for the Puss in the Corner!’” Mary Ann Wachtel ends it as follows: "What a neat place to roost, build our nest and raise a family!" Then there’s the offer by Anonymous: “One turns to the other and says, ‘This sure ain’t no Alabama Beauty! Look at all this mess: I see a Mariner’s Compass, a Bear’s Paw, a Broken Dish, a School Girl’s Puzzle and a Snail’s Trail leading right down to a Toad in the Puddle. Never mind all the Spider’s Webs. But we may as well quit this Wild Goose Chase and settle in, because it’s getting cold, and I’d rather be goose in the cabin than a Goose in the Pond.’” Now, where are the story endings from the rest of you?! By the time the next newsletter comes out — the October edition, no less! — the leaves will be turning, the air will begin to chill (we can only hope), and the time will have arrived for some autumn drives around the countryside. So here’s an assignment for all of you who took the Paducah Pledge (see page 5): send me the names of quilt shops in Missouri and Illinois, but outside the St. Louis metropolitan Shop Hop area, that you particularly like. Give us some ideas about one– or two-day trips we could plan this autumn to see the fall colors AND add some new favorites to our lists of places to shop. I’ll list your recommendations in my next “Musings.” On a personal note: Recently I closed on a loan to refinance my house. What does this have to do with quilting, you say? Plenty, but indirectly: I can now afford to invest more in my hobby than I could before. (I can find a way to connect just about anything to quilting.) Anyway, I can’t say enough good things about the mortgage lender I worked with. So, if you or someone you know is looking for a mortgage loan for a new purchase or refinance, I will be delighted to give you a name. He performed a downright MIRACLE for me!! Maybe you could include financing for that Lamborghini LongArm you’ve been dreaming of owning! DM More Suggestions on Creativity Gay Lang says, “When I need a little inspiration for my next quilt project I look at http://www.thequiltshow.com/ and click on the tab labeled Quilt Gallery. The Quilt Gallery is pictures of quilts that have been uploaded by members of The Quilt Show. You don't need to be a member of The Quilt Show to access this web page. I checked the web page today and there are over 19,000 quilts that you browse through. That is a lot of inspiration.” 13 Thimble & Thread Quilt Guild of Greater St. Louis, Inc. P.O. Box 191111 Saint Louis, MO 63119 http://www.thimbleandthreadstl.org Officers: Committees: President Chris Willbanks 314-729-7590 Baker’s Dozen Vice Presidents Mary Ellen Adams Jerri Stroud 314-845-7759 314-962-2007 Community Service Nancy Hamilton Treasurer Marylyn Simpson see roster Secretary Debby Logan see roster Parliamentarian Art Kruse see roster Newsletter submissions are due within 10 days after each meeting and should be sent to: Debbie Miles keyari17@sbcglobal.net Thimble & Thread newsletter ads: Judy Lorino see roster see roster Fabric Raffle Laverne Farrar Carolyn Smith see roster “ Historian Nancy Reeves see roster Membership Kathy Sherrick Mary Lewis Patty Thompson see roster “ “ Newsletter Debbie Miles 314-629-5374 Newsletter Raffle Cindy Clifton see roster Optional Blocks Sally Koczan see roster Jeannette Oesterly 314-968-8477 Outreach Please furnish camera-ready copy or artwork. Display ad rates per month are: Refreshments Jan Oehrle Serena Crisp 314-786-5471 see roster Full page: $30 Half page: $20 Quarter page: $10 Business card size: $8 Retreat, 2013 Cindy Clifton see roster Retreat, 2014 Becky Waldrop Lynda Hendren see roster “ Ways and Means Liza Mitchell see roster Website Mary Ellen Adams 314-845-7759 Workshops Susan Sanders Guild members pay half the regular rates. Terri Weiersmueller “ 314-822-4673 14