crystal Coast QUilters' guild

Dear Guild Members,

A BIG “Thank You” to Lisa Rechkemmer for organizing our Birthday Luncheon in July. A good time was had by all, and we had fun playing a trading game similar to Right, Left, Center. I came home with less items that I arrived with, so I consider that a WIN!

Thank you, also, to those who responded to our survey about where we should hold our meetings and Drop-In. The overwhelming majority of those who responded showed a preference to return to the church. Beginning in August, we will be back at the church for our monthly meeting on Thursday, August 18th at 6:00 and we will start off with only meeting twice for Drop-In during August on the 9th and the 23rd. We will return to weekly Drop-In gatherings in September. We expect to continue to offer Zoom during our monthly meetings, but I am unsure of whether we can do that during Drop-In. That will depend on if members at Drop-In are comfortable with managing/hosting the Zoom meeting. The times for Drop-In will be from 9:00-12:00.

At the Eastern NC Guild Presidents’ meeting this month, several guilds in the area are interested in having ladies from outside their guild coming to teach or speak to their guild about just about anything! If you would be interested in teaching something or speaking to a group about something you have experience or knowledge about, please let me know, and I can share that with the other guilds. They are willing to pay, so this is not a request for volunteers. It is a request for teachers and speakers. Thank you.

The Carolina Pine Needle Quilters’ Guild (Jacksonville) is having their Day of Sharing on September 17. We already have several members who have signed up to attend. If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible, so I can send your name in. Their last day to register is August 26th. There is limited space, and it’s first come, first served. It sounds like they are preparing quite an event! I’m sure everyone will have a grand time!

The Quilted Baby event is this coming Saturday. Good luck to Cathy and Chris!! I hope there’s a great turnout and you sell everything you’ve received! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We’re going to blink, and it will be September!

Keep stitching,

Laurie

Guild Members,

We’re into the busy summer months, and I hope everyone is staying cool back home. I’m up in New England, visiting family, and relishing the cool weather we are having here. I know it will be a shocker, when we return! I’ve managed to make progress on my #10 for the UFO Challenge though!

I’m sorry I missed the last meeting but am looking forward to seeing you at the Luncheon on the 21st. It’s always a joy to gather in a more casual setting, where we have more time to visit. Be sure to mark your calendar!

I hope everyone is trying to get something made to contribute to the Quilted Baby Sale that Cathy and Chris are spearheading. The event is July 30th, and I’m sure they would love to have an overflowing table of items to sell. Every little bit helps! Thank you to everyone who has already donated items!

The guild needs to make a decision about where our meetings and social gatherings are going to take place. A survey will be posted on the website for you to express your preferences. I hope you will take the time to complete the survey. This will enable us to better determine a place(s) to meet that will suit our needs. If you do not have internet, you can call me to complete the survey: 252-622-8658. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Keep Stitching!

Laurie

Dear Guild Members,

What a delightful evening we had, listening to Audrey Esarey, of Cotton and Bourbon, sharing her journey in quilting and working on different series in her work. Thank you, Lisa Rechkemmer, for making the evening possible!

Chris Pochwat also announced the beginning of our next UFO Challenge! What a fun way to either make progress on our projects or get them finished! Let the games begin!

At the May meeting, we also started our abbreviated version for the meetings. Committee reports and reading of the minutes will not be included during the meeting, unless there is information that needs to be shared before the newsletter is scheduled to be released. Our hope is that this will keep meetings from becoming repetitive and to shorten the length of our meetings.

We recently learned that Shepherd of the Sea is now available for us to hold meetings and Drop-In. We need to decide whether we will return to the church for all of our gatherings, stay at the Rec Center on Fisher Street, or split our meetings between the two locations.

I called the church to see whether the annual $900 we were paying in the past might be adjusted, if we met there less often and also whether we could keep our library there, if we didn’t meet there at all and what that cost would be. She had to talk to the Pastor, and she and I have played phone tag since then. So, I haven’t gotten answers to those questions.

Please think about what you think would work best for you and our members, and please share any comments or concerns you might have about this with me or other Board members.

Don’t forget about getting something finished to contribute to our Quilted Baby booth at the end of July! Contact Cathy or Chris for details.

Unfortunately, I will miss the June meeting. I am going to be out of town and won’t even be able to attend via Zoom. I do plan on being at the luncheon in July and look forward to seeing everyone then!

Until then, keep stitching!

Laurie 

Dear Guild Members,

We’ve had some cool, dry weather the past few days. Summer is not far away though.

We had a fun night at the last guild meeting. Congratulations to Lisa Rechkemmer for being the Valedictorian of the PHD Challenge! Susan Hawley and I tied for Salutatorian.

The ladies who visited all of the library quilt exhibits were also recognized. Congrats to Nan Miller, Patti Marraro, Chris Pochwat, Ginger Hoell, Linda Inabnit, Mary Frankle, Paula Johnson, and Lisa Rechkemmer. Members who were able to visit some of the exhibits and posted on Facebook were also recognized. Thank you again, Nan Miller, for helping to make the exhibits happen. Job well done!

There is a workshop next Thursday, May 5 at the Fisher Street Recreation Center to support the Hero Quilts. Hope you can make it. Unfortunately, I will be out of town.

Also, we have a big treat planned for our May meeting. Audrey Esarey of Cotton & Bourbon will be our guest speaker for the program. Should be an interesting evening!

Until then, keep stitching!

Laurie

Dear Guild Members,

It certainly has been a busy month for our guild! We recognized two babies born on National Quilting Day by presenting them with lovely quilts made by Maureen Flaherty and Theresa Thacker. Thank you, ladies! See the photos in the body of the newsletter! They are adorable. It sounds like members had a great workshop with Annie Smith learning about color and value. Our Day of Sharing was earlier today, and we were all treated to a festive day with lots of good food to eat and beautiful quilts to admire. Everyone there seemed very glad to be able to gather again for a fun quilting activity with fellow quilters. A BIG THANK YOU to Cindy Moeller and everyone on the Day of Sharing Committee!! Your hard work paid off and was appreciated by everyone there.

Unfortunately, bad weather and dangerous winds caused the Emerald Isle St. Patrick’s Day Festival to be cancelled. We’ll try again next year. Beaufort’s Publick Day is scheduled for April 23rd. Let’s all hope for good weather and a good turnout on that day. If you can, please come out and help Nancy Smith sell some tickets!

The Cape Carteret to Cape Lookout Quilt Ramble is still going on until the last day of March. Please try to visit your local library and see our quilts on display. Several members have already been able to visit ALL of the exhibits in the county. See if you can join that elite group!! Don’t forget, there was a mention of prizes to those who visited all exhibits. We have heard from the various libraries that visitors have really enjoyed seeing the exhibits. Thank you again, Nan Miller, for making this happen!

Please try to make it to our April guild meeting. Chris Pochwat is having her PHD Graduation, announcing how members have done with the PHD Challenge this past year. Who will be the Valedictorian?? And I believe that she will be announcing what the next Challenge will be for us. It should be an exciting evening. We will be meeting in the Conference Room at the Fisher Street Recreation Center this time. This will enable us to try out their system for hosting Zoom on the big screen TV they have in that room. We will be in that room for our May meeting also.

Until then, keep stitching!

Laurie

Hello Guild Members,

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy the past few days of warmer weather.  Spring is on its way!  We have a lot going on in the next couple of months.  Many thanks to Nan Miller who helped organize the countywide quilt exhibits in conjunction with our library system.  All of the libraries will have quilts on display for the public to enjoy.  We have decided to challenge our guild members with trying to visit each exhibit during the month of March.  To verify that you visited an exhibit, please post a selfie of yourself at the exhibit on our Facebook page or send it to Nan Miller, Lisa Rechkemmer or me if you are not on Facebook.  If your phone does not take photos, you can describe one of the quilts in the exhibit to verify that you visited that library.  You have until the end of March to visit all of the exhibits, which are listed at the end of the newsletter.  We hope this will be fun and encourage you to see the various exhibits.  Prizes might even be given at our April meeting to those who complete the Challenge!

We will also be donating quilts to the hospital for the first girl and boy born on National Quilting Day.  Thank you, Theresa Thacker and Maureen Flaherty, for providing quilts for these new babies this year.  What a wonderful surprise for those families!

After waiting two years, the Emerald Isle St. Patrick’s Day Festival is scheduled to take place this coming March 12th, from 9:00-6:00 at the Emerald Plantation.  This is a fun, family event where we have always done well with ticket sales.  If you are able to help that day, please contact me for a time slot.  Looking ahead, we have another opportunity to sell tickets for our quilt at Publick Day in Beaufort on April 23rd.  Please contact Nancy Smith about helping with that event.

Of course, our Day of Sharing is right around the corner, on March 23rd at On the Rocks in Atlantic Beach.  Please contact Cindy Moeller about helping out with this fun event.  And don’t forget to bring something to show!!

At the last guild meeting, the members who were present decided we should go ahead and reserve the Recreation Center for our gatherings over the next few months.  I’m wondering if everyone would like to return to having Drop-In on a weekly basis instead of only twice a month.  Please let me know, and I can make those arrangements. If we make that change, I will send out an email to let everyone know.

It looks like a couple of very busy months ahead for us with full calendars. These events provide our guild with many opportunities to share what we have created, our love for quilting and our desire to share both with our community.

Keep Stitching,

Laurie

Dear Guild Members,

We were able to have our first in-person guild meeting and Drop-In this month at the Morehead City Rec Center at Fisher Street. It’s nice to be able to gather with each other again. Please let me know how you like meeting at the Rec Center. It will help me to know whether to reserve additional dates or look elsewhere.

There has been a bit of a changing of the guard, so to speak. You may have noticed that Jan Willis has agreed to take over the newsletter for me. Thank you, Jan!! It is a big relief to have that in such good hands. And, after several years of overseeing our library, Patti Marraro has resigned from that position and will be undertaking the role of administrator of the guild website. Contact Patti, if you have questions about logging onto the website or navigating you way around it. She has graciously offered to be available early at guild meetings and Drop-In, if you need any help with the website and to answer questions. Also, if you have any interest in taking over the position of our librarian, please let me know.

Looking ahead, we have the Day of Sharing and the Emerald Isle St. Patrick’s Day Festival both coming up in March. Volunteers are needed at both of these events. Please help support your guild by helping out with them. They are both fun events where we can share our love for quilting.

Stay warm in this cold weather!

Keep stitching,

Laurie

Dear Guild Members,

It’s the start of a New Year with many changes taking place. First, I’d like to thank Cathy Crandell for being such a wonderful President for the past three years during some very difficult times. Her ability to always keep an open mind and striving for what was in the best interest of the guild and its members, proved to be a real benefit to our guild during the pandemic. I’d also like to thank Chris Pochwat for her service as Treasurer and for her decision to guide our members with the UFO and PHD Challenges, which have been fun ways for us to stay connected by sharing our progress on Facebook. We all owe both of you a big Thank You! I’d also like to extend a big thank you to Lisa Rechkemmer, and all who helped with the December Luncheon. It was so nice to have an in-person gathering and visit with one another again! It really helped put everyone in the holiday spirit.

Looking ahead, the guild will be changing our website host soon. Our current host does not offer some features that will enable us to create a website that is more user-friendly. You will be informed, when this change has taken place. Members at the December Luncheon voted to raise our dues to $35 a year. Please take care of paying your dues now. They can be paid on the website, mailed to Vicky Garner, or to the guild’s post office box.

I’m looking forward to the new year and hope that we will be able to enjoy more in-person gatherings. We are exploring different options and will keep you informed of what we find.

Stitch away,

Laurie

Dear Guild Members,

Reflecting on the last three years as your president, I am reminded of the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . .” From my perspective the Guild has had some wonderful times over the past couple of years: staging a successful quilt show with stunning quilts and touching memorials to some of our former members; coming together for listening sessions and creating new goals for the future of the Guild; partnering with local libraries to bring our art to the community and with the hospital, to help patients in need of care.

And then the worst of times: COVID-19 with illness, death, anxiety, and isolation. Yet, in the midst of the pandemic, angels emerged from our ranks, making masks for first responders. With time at home, our members made scores of quilts for kids and veterans. We found ways to connect through Zoom meetings, writing notes in the newsletter, and telephone calling. Our Workshop Committee pivoted to an online format, bringing us workshops and lectures from nationally recognized teachers, and we were motivated by the UFO and PHD challenges.

Although the future remains uncertain with regard to COVID-19, its variants and what we need to do to remain safe and healthy, I am convinced that the Crystal Coast Quilters’ Guild will thrive. We have not only weathered this crisis as a group, we have continued to care for each other, and those in need, through our love of quilting. I look forward to our future together, continuing to build our relationships and enjoying each other while making a contribution to our community.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president.

Warmly,

Cathy