April Meeting

It's a new year for the Newtonia Battlefield Quilters! Our birthday party in March ends the old year, and our April meeting is always a new beginning.

Our officers for the coming year are Lucy, president, Suzanne, vice-president, Paula, secretary and Bobbie, treasurer.

Dues are now payable, too, so bring your dollars to the May meeting so we can plan for the upcoming year and hand out membership cards. Don't forget: many quilt shops will give you a discount when you present your membership card at the check-out stand.

We have decided to simplify our annual planning. From now on, our Spring Retreat will be the first complete weekend in April and our Fall Retreat will be the first complete weekend in October. That way the retreats will be exactly 6 months apart, and we can reserve the building ahead of time without fear of double-booking. Mark your calendars right now, so you won't accidentally plan something else for the retreat weekends.

Two challenges are due in July! Bring your completed center block, any size and any design, and get instructions for the first border; I think this challenge will end in March, but I'm not sure about that, so watch this site for more information. Whenever it ends, the completed quilt will be your very own design and will be yours to keep or give away, as you wish. This is a new kind of challenge, and there was a lot of excited buzz about it. Also, bring your completed "Ugly Fabric" challenge project, and show off your creativity.

Next meeting is May 19th, so get ready for more fun!

Spring Retreat

There were great things going on at our Spring Retreat on April 8th and 9th. We had a choice of classes in several types of fabric dyeing, including Snow Dyeing, Ice Dyeing and Freezer Dyeing, plus classes in Wrapped Rope basket making, and Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagons (two methods!). The food was wonderful, and we all went home with new treasures and a few extra pounds. Oh, and we added two new members, thanks to Pauline and Paula. It was a wonderful time to 'retreat' from daily chores and responsibilities and have fun learning new techniques. Now we're all looking forward to the Fall Retreat!

Stuff I forgot .............

The Spring Retreat is scheduled for April 8 & 9, 2011, from 9:00 am until 9:00 pm at the Fairview Community Building.

Brent McDonald will be at the Fairview Community Building on Friday morning of the retreat and again that evening to work on machines, so bring your machines and have Brent clean and service them while you do something fun - no more making special trips to Joplin or Springfield just to drop off your machine and then having to make another trip to pick it up. This is a really good deal, so take advantage of it.

Each person who attends the retreat is to bring a door prize for each day of attendance.

Mary, Coralee and Bobbie will be in charge of procuring additional and special door prizes; be prepared for surprises!

Sign-up sheets were sent around at the meeting on Thursday evening, and reminder notes were given to everyone, so be sure to do whatever you signed up to do. No excuses! Just be there, do some creative sewing, perform your volunteer obligations, and have fun!

Lucy has agreed to show me how to post pictures on this site, so soon you'll be bombarded with visual treats ............. or whatever you want to call them ..........

Birthday Party

Our birthday party was fun, fun! Paula had games organized around the TV show "Minute to Win It". We were divided into two teams, and everybody competed in a game. We had "Spool Measure UP", where two people had to hold a ruler out in front of them and stack as many spools on it as possible, "Press On", in which two people had to pull fat quarters out of a bin, one at a time, iron and fold them. Also played were "Stitch Me In", where two people competed to see how many neat and even stitches they could put in a small piece of fabric, "Thread in the Eye", which had two people compete to see how many needles could be strung on a thread, "Quilt Puzzle Block", which was a quilt block (paper) cut into puzzle pieces that had to be put together, and "Strip Cut", which pitted two contestants against each other trying to see who could cut the most 1 1/2" strips of fabric in a minute . All the games were great fun.

Ann and Rebecca cooked up some great food for us: a noodle casserole, raw vegetables and dips, crackers and cheese, and yummy chocolate frosted cupcakes.

Meeting Canceled

Well, darn it! The weather has pre-empted our meeting for January, and we have had to cancel it. So, we'll see you all next month with lots of good stuff goin' on!

December 2010 Meeting & Christmas Party

Our December meeting was our annual Christmas Party. Lucy called the meeting to order and most of the business was dismissed quickly so we could eat and celebrate. Gifts were exchanged and the food was great - as it always is. Our one disappointment for the evening was the exchange of aprons with the Japanese guild; their aprons were held up in the mail, so we didn't receive our gifts from them, but we should have them in time for distribution at the January 20th meeting.

Lucy won the BOM, "Strip Trees". Wonder what she'll do with those blocks? Hmmmm ....

6" squares of bright polka dot fabric were exchanged; January's 6" square exchange will be turquoise blue fabrics.

Mary and Bobbie will bring refreshments to the January meeting - December's Christmas feast will be a hard act to follow!

Be sure to bring your crazy patch challenge projects to the meeting on January 20th. It will be fun to find out how members express themselves in a crazy patch project. Pictures of the crazy patch challenge project will be posted next month, along with pictures of the aprons from Japan, if they arrive in time.

Hello!

Hello, Ladies! I am going to try to keep up this blog, beginning Monday, January 10, 2011. Please be patient with me!

Bobbie