Quilter's Day Out was a HUGE SUCCESS!

When people come together for quilting, it's a wonderful thing, and this weekend for the national Quilter's Day Out celebration, it was no exception. Well over 500 people attended this event.


We began the day at 10:00 with registration at the door, for $2.00 and a canned good for the local food pantry, you received a Big gift bag filled with all kinds of quilter things and then some.

Next you were able to choose between viewing a quilt challenge called "Think Green Quilt Challenge" or going into the gymnasium and viewing the participating guilds and vendors




Midway through the day, there was a guest speaker, Valerie White, who was a great motivating speaker. Valerie, who is an accomplished quilt artist, is standing to the right of our event organizing leprechaun, Linda Slye, who is holding the tote bag full of fabric our group gave away.


Dot, one of our fabulous members, seated, is manning the voting area for the Think Green Quilt Challenge. We had 23 quilts entered in the competition. I'm sure there were over 500 attending the event, because I made 300 ballots for Viewer's Choice voting and we ran out of those pretty early and had to improvise ballots, using notebook paper. Anyway, we had first, second and third place winners, which received ribbons and cash prizes. All voters were eligible for winning a tote bag filled with fabric.

You could also choose to see 8 award winning quilts from Happy Heart Quilt Guild. These quilts were interpretations of Mother Goose.


All in all, it was a wonderful day of quilting and fun and our quilt guild, the most wonderful guild in the world, had a lot of fun and are looking forward to next year's national quilt holiday, Quilter's Day Out. Come join us or start your own...smile...

Quilter's Day Out Preparations...

Our group has been busy planning our activities for Quilter's Day Out.

The guest speaker, Valerie White, will be teaching us about inspirations for contemporary quilting.



Besides the guest speaker, each of the 11 guilds participating will be participating in the event in one way or another. Our guild will be hosting a Viewer's Choice Judging, Think Green Quilt Challenge. A quilt challenge is a sort of show, where you set the rules for the show. Since this is our first try at a quilt challenge, for QDO, we wanted to make it pretty easy for all to enter, so our rules are as follows: green has to be somewhere on the quilt, and the quilt size does not exceed 200 inches perimeter. Beyond that the standard quilt show rules apply-3 layers; 4 inch sleeve for hanging; etc. We will have ribbons and cash prizes for the quilt show winners. There will also be a drawing from among the names of the viewer's choice judges for a tote bag full of fabric.

This should be a fun day for all that attend. Here's the general information:

Quilter's Day Out 2007

District 6 of the Kentucky Quilt Society invites you to join quilters from 7 counties in celebration of National Quilt Day (mandated by Congress).

Date and Time: Saturday March 17, 2007
10:00 to 3:00pm

Where: Ballardsville Baptist Church Life Center
Junction of highways 22 and 53 in Oldham County
Exit 22 off I-71 and then 3.5 miles to Ballardsville


Admission: $2.00 and a non-perishable food item for church food pantry

Activities: Showcase of district quilt guilds
Lecture by local art quilter and fiber artist Valerie White
All other activities (vendor sales, guild demos, etc.) will be suspended so attention can be focused on our guest.
Quilt Exhibit: Nasville show winners from Happy Heart Quilters
Sit 'n' Sew
Vendors
Free coffee and cookies
Cafe
Quilt Challenge contest with cash prizes for Viewer's Choice Winners
Door Prizes t include 4 sewing machines and a sewing machine table

Door prize drawings at 10:45; 11:45; 12:45 and 1:45

SEE YOU THERE!

Quilter's Day Out Planning Committee

I'm all a twitter with excitement about Quilter's Day Out. It is a national holiday, of sorts, for quilters. Whoopee!! Quilter Jargon spoken here: fat quarters; bias binding; and 1/4 inch seams....smile...you understand, don't you? If you are in the secret sister quilt club, you do...smile

The idea behind QDO (Quilter's Day Out), is there is one day that all the quilters in our area come together for one giant Sit-N-Sew. The event has evolved, this year to include a speaker, Valerie White, who is an accomplished contemporary quilter. All quilting is art, whether contemporary or traditional. Both evoke feelings, which is, in the end, what true art is all about. Valerie will be showing some of her quilts and giving an in depth discussion for 45 minutes, about her art form.

QDO (Quilter's Day Out) is held on the 3rd Saturday in March, this year being St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17th. The event will last from 10:00 to 3:00, with a cafe, hosted by the youth group of the church.

We are having this gathering of the guilds at Ballardsville Baptist Church. In this picture you can see the oversize gymnasium that will be filled with hundreds of quilters, both active in guilds and those that want to check this thing called quilt guild out. Then again, it might be they are there for a chance to win 1 of 4 sewing machines we will be having for a door prizes.

These events take lots of planning by the quilters and let's face it, some really, really helpful husbands, who we are fortunate to have.



For our part, Northeast Quilting Friends will be organizing a quilt challenge, "Think Green" is the theme. This is the first attempt to issue a quilt challenge at any of the QDO events. We wanted to make it easy for everyone to contribute a quilt, so, the only requirement is the quilt must have green somewhere on it and, do to space limitations, we are asking the perimeter be no larger than 200 inches, or smaller than 72 inches. A form must be filled out and submitted, for planning purposes, no later than March 1st. Viewer's Choice will award the cash prizes and ribbons. Please e-mail me if you want an entry form: Julieb380@insightbb.com.

Good Luck to all that enter!
See you at Quilter's Day Out!

Next week we will have Sit N Sew

Next week, February 12th, we were supposed to be going to the Carnegie museum in New Albany to see the Form Not Function quilt show. Instead, we will be staying in and having our usual Sit N Sew, 10:00 to 1:00. You can work on your tote bags, or whatever makes you happy!

Tote Bag Class

Mary helps us all get our project complete.





Sewing machine cases at attention...behind Joan, busy on one of those wonderful featherweight machines. Was there ever a better machine?


We had a wonderful class, even though our blizzard got us a little out of sorts. I think we mostly got enough completed with the help of Mary, one of our generous teachers we have in our group. If you are new to quilting, or an experienced quilter, you can always find a helpful person here to assist you if you ask for it.


A view from our window during our class....yikes!

Start Studying your patterns...

Okay gals, let's get a little understanding of the Kwik Krazy Tote Bag pattern before we come to quilting next Tuesday. Looking ahead, read the previous post about the big items to bring next week. One small thing you will want to bring is some sort of stickers for the cutting process. Read your pattern for more information. Frankly, I'm a little confused about the stickers and am looking forward to seeing this done. I know Mary will instruct us very well.

Also, instead of canvas for the lining, I'm going to use Craft Weight Fusible interfacing to give the tote more body. I'll fuse this after we make the finished blocks and use regular stash fabric for the lining.

Tote Bag to make on February 6th

Mary will be showing us how to make a crazy quilt style tote bag. Hopefully, everyone got some of the yummy fabric generously donated to us from the decorating/design stores in town. Anyway, have your 12-12 inch squares cut and ready to be diced. If you have freezer paper bring that, otherwise, I think between all of us we probably have enough for everyone.

Remember to bring your lunch. We can work from 10:00 to 2:00 or longer, if needed.



Also, bring your machines, if you want to work on the tote bag in the class. Of course, with all the usual stuff to make a quilt/project. Boy do I need one of these totes! And

remember, use 50% from your stash-which can include the lining, or donate a fat quarter.