Membership and Auction

Membership: Renewals and New

I, your friendly neighborhood treasurer, am now able to accept membership forms and dues! In fact, I already have one completed form and check.

Remember to fill out your membership form from the Big QU web site and bring it in or mail it to me.

If you mail it, please provide a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) so that I can mail your membership card.

Checks should be made out to Arlington QU.

Annual Auction Night
The Annual Auction night is coming up, second Monday in May!

Here are some auction payment guidelines (note this is from a previous email sent in April):

I strongly encourage (request!) that you bring a check and make it out to Arlington QU. Checks make it easier for us to track the money, especially differentiating between membership dues and the auction. It also helps us track down any errors that occur, especially if you note on the check its for membership and auction. Last year we had a few people pay their membership dues twice!

I will not be bringing change, so if you pay with cash it'll need to be exact. If we have change we'll make it. The mini auction went like this and it worked out. (Yes, this is my insidious plot to encourage you to write a check!)

Trust me when I say that checks make things easier for us tracking revenue, i.e. the auction winings, membership, etc. Especially near the end when people are lining up to pay out and we are still keeping track of the on-going auction.

The other thing that'll be helpful is to have your membership form already filled out. I'll bring some membership forms to the remaining meetings.

All this helps to make the auction go smoothly and we appreciate your assistance. Let's have fun!

Remember checks are to be made out to: Arlington QU

Also, remember that the proceeds of the auction go back into the general fund and help to pay for speakers and other activities.

See you at bee or the next meeting!

2009 New Windsor Spring Retreat Photos

These are a few of the many wonderful projects worked on during the New Windsor Retreat, February 20-22, 2009.

Margaret is shown with her I Spy quilt ready to be given to a lucky kid.

Beth shows the front of her Quilt of Valor. The back was also pieced in red, white, and blue.

Judy displays her spectacular nine patch quilt top.

Lynne at her workspace putting together a miniature Monkey Wrench quilt.

Laura shows her wool rectangle background on which will be appliquéd bright circles of Kaffee Fassett fabric.

Kath with one of her quilts, square in a square.

Ginny happily shows us one of the tops she completed during the retreat.

Nancy, who after wowing the group with her demos of the new Curve Master presser foot, stayed up past midnight, completing the colorful top.

Trish is happy with her magnificent appliqué, which will brighten her office wall.

Susan with her cherries wall hanging. The design came from a photo her husband took of a tree in their yard.

2009 QU Show Class Registration Open

The class registration for the Quilters Unlimited Show has begun! Check out the Lectures and Classes schedule and register!

Some instructors include: Mark Lipinski, Pam Clarke, Bonnie Hunter, Emily Martin. These are just a few of the instructors that Big QU has lined up.

So if you are interested in jelly roll quilts, machine quilting, applique, improving basic quilt making skills, EQ6, Baltimore style quilts, a mystery quilt - then this show is for you.

Photographing Quilts For Quilt Show

It is time to bring in those beauties to be photographed for the show. The QU quilt show will be June 5-7, 2009 at the Dulles Expo Center.

Bev will be at our bees and monthly meeting with camera in hand. At the Monday bees, Feb. 2 and 16, she will arrive around 7:30 p.m. At our monthly meeting, Feb. 9, Bev will be there around 7:00.

If you have any questions about photographing your quilt, call Bev. If you have other questions about getting your quilt in the show, call Beth.

Other Important Links:
QU quilt show entry form
2009 Quilt Show Entry Instructions
Hanging Sleeves

Chapter Project: Ronald McDonald House Quilts

Gladys, our VP, is heading up a new project to make two quilts for Ronald McDonald House at Inova Fairfax Hospital from batik fabrics. Marie is assisting by collecting blocks at Monday night bee and showing off what we've done.

The goal is to make two quilts as each room as two beds. A light aqua blue fabric will be furnished to us for the backing. Members of the Thursday Bee have already made several blocks and Marie will bring these to Monday night bee to display.

Each block you make will have 2 contrasting or co-coordinating fabrics and will finish to a rectangle 10 1/2 " long and 9 1/2 " wide.

To make one block: Cut 2 pieces of fabric #1 10 1/2" x 4 1/4". Cut 1 piece of fabric #2 10 1/2" x 2 ". Join the three pieces with the 2 " strip running down the middle.

(Yes that is a 1/4" measurement for fabric #1!)

To make many blocks: (and we encourage you to make many as we will need 180 blocks) Cut several different batiks a10 1/2 " x 10 1/2". Then cut a 2" strip off each piece and set aside. Cut the remaining 10 1/2" x 8 1/2" blocks in half lengthwise creating 2 rectangles 10 1/2 " x 4 1/4". Join these two matching rectangles with a contrasting 2" strip from your pile.

The most important dimension is the 10 1/2" length. Don't worry too much if your blocks iron out a little less that 9 1/2" in width -- this will not pose a problem when we join the blocks.

The blocks are easy to make and we hope everyone will participate. Bring them to Monday Bee, bring them to the February meeting, we will keep collecting blocks until we have enough to join the tops.

Here's a picture of some of the blocks. Sorry for the poor resolution, but it was with a camera phone.

Sit N Sew This Saturday

Just a reminder that the Sit-N-Sew is this Saturday, January 31 from 10:30 AM - 3:30 PM at Goodwin House. We are meeting in the Auditorium.

This is a good opportunity to work on a project. Because we are in the Board Room there will not be any tables available for basting quilts. We should be moving back to the Auditorium in the Fall once Goodwin House completes the project they are working on.

Its also a good time to work on our new chapter project for Ronald McDonald's House (see the next entry).

Bring your own lunch, or walk to Giant and visit their salad bar or deli counter.

Arlington QU Member Directory Out

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I've just published the Arlington QU Directory and it has been emailed out to everyone. If you haven't received it, we probably don't have you on the email list or we have the wrong email address.

Send us an email to arlingtonqu@gmail.com and we'll correct it.

Once you get the directory, if you find that you or someone you know is not listed then its probably because you or they elected not to be in the Big QU directory when the membership form was turned in. So if you want to be listed, send an email.

Thanks,

Joe
Arlington QU Treasurer
arlingtonqu@gmail.com

Mysterious Round Robin: Third Fabric

Yes its been a busy weekend for me and posting!
Here's a photo of the last fabric. Thanks again to Suzanne for supplying the photo!

Outliers' Round Robin

Late post showing the Outliers' Round Robin quilt as of November!

Yea I'm a little behind in posting. My apologies to the Outliers for being so late.

Thanks to Suzanne and her iPhone for the picture!

Enjoy!

December Pot Luck

We had a grand time at the December pot luck! Lots of good food and fellow quilters.

We had great entertainment from the Too Quirky Quilters, Kim Fess and Rebecca Heinz. They provided us some songs about quilting, showed some beautiful quilts, and provided lots of comedy. Lots of laughs were had by all and I saw a number of heads nodding to the comic routines involving smuggling fabric and tools under our spouses' noses. Of course one can never have too much fabric!

We also had a silent auction of some fabrics and other quilting goodies. We made $353.00.

A request was made of Kath's Hominy casserole. Here it is:

• 2 16-oz cans of hominy (rinsed off and broken apart by hand)


• 1 16-oz. cans of corn (I used a 32 oz bag of frozen, thawed in the microwave)


• 1 c sour cream (and I added a cup of heavy cream [could use yogurt], whipped with 3 tbs of horseradish)


• 2 4-oz cans of green chiles


• 1 lb Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Heat oven to 400 deg
Butter a large casserole dish (mine was 9x 13)
Layer the ingredients in the order given, to make 2 complete layers.
bake at 400 for 1 hour to brown cheese. (I baked for only 45 minutes)

Kath reports that the origin of this recipe is the Baltimore Sun, but she has made some modifications to the original recipe. She also reports that it is a very tasty leftover!

Also, the third fabric for the Round Robin was released. I'll try and get a photo of it up soon.

Please let me know if I left out any interesting bits from the evening!

Happy Holidays!