President’s Message

1984 NY Times

Happy Fall!

That buzz you hear isn’t just those busy fall bees and pesky wasps – it is the sound coming from the hive of activity at the Guild!

The September meeting was not only an opportunity for us all to get together with Guild friends and share what we have been doing over the summer months but to get back into our SIGs, to learn about all the programs that the Guild is offering and enjoy a very instructive lecture by Ann Holmes on her method of piecing and quilting a quilt in one process.

In addition to our regular SIG’s there are three new ones this year – one on basic skills that is being taught by Diane Linker, another on making a sweatshirt jacket, led by Linda Ostrander and the third on applique led by Judy Mayer.  The basic skills and applique will be of particular interest to beginners.  Our other SIG’s include Art Quilters (Joanne Lubchenko), ImProv (Meg Mooar and Jane Eyes), Landscape/Pictorial (Don Gough), Long Arm Quilters (Diane Linker) and Paper Piecing (Susan Deshensky).  Please check the website for a description of all of the SIG’s and the meeting times.

The response to the new Row by Row quilting group has been resounding: Fifty members have signed up. Patricia was hoping for five teams, she now has ten!

The raffle quilt for the 2020 Quilt Show was on display and it is stunning.  A big thank you to Pat Julian for designing, coordinating and assembling the quilt, and to Angela Vertucci for quilting it so beautifully.

Comfort Quilts reports that 72 quilts have been donated this past quarter. The Guild has every reason to be proud of its charitable work in donating quilts to hospitals and social services organizations for women and children, including Blythedale Children’s Hospital, NICU’s at Northern Westchester Hospital and Maria Ferari, Pleasantville Cottage School, Kids in Crisis and Putnam/Northern Westchester Women’s Resource Center. At our October meeting we will all have a chance to see the results of the Comfort Quilters summer project!

Sarah Schattschneider, Linda Stern’s daughter, has very kindly offered to help Daisy and Debby in their efforts to keep members in touch with what is happening in the Guild and to reach out to potential new members by handling the Guild’s Instagram account. Please send along any photos to Daisy, Debby and Sarah for them to upload to the account so that the Guild will have a lively and interesting online forum.  For those of you on Instagram, please follow our Instagram account @northernstarquilters!!

The new option to pay our membership fees by credit card online was a great success – 50 members chose to pay online.  We are now looking into the possibility of offering the same online payment option for our programs and events.

After researching a number of other potential locations for our Guild meetings, it was clear that, wherever we go, we will have to pay more for our space going forward. That prompted us to return to Kennedy to explore the possibility of continuing to hold our meetings there.  Kennedy is considering a proposal that we have made which will involve an increase in the fee we pay. We will keep you all posted!

Sheila Cuttner, the Arts Westchester Ambassador, and her friend Melinda Stein, very much enjoyed their visit and were impressed by how friendly everyone was.  Thank you for rolling out the welcome mat.  Another Arts Westchester Ambassador, Sudha Yerneni, will be attending our October meeting.  The Guild has already received a generous grant from Arts Westchester to support our lectures and workshops and Susan Fasnacht has worked hard over the last two weeks to put together and submit our application for another grant for the coming year.  Fingers crossed!

Our next meeting will be October 15 at 6:30 p.m. Please remember to bring reusable bags for Kathy to give to the local Food Pantries and beige fabric so that Daisy can start to put together the kits for in 2021 raffle quilt.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  Keep quilting!

Anne and Karen
president@northernstarquilters.com

We hope you all had an enjoyable summer.

As we start the new Guild year, a warm welcome back to renewing members and greetings to new members.  We are looking forward to another year of interesting and educational programs and opportunities for socializing and learning from each other.

To start, just a couple of reminders:

The first meeting of the new Guild year will be held on September 24 (the fourth NOT the third Tuesday of the month).

All Guild meetings, while we remain at Kennedy Catholic, will start at 6:30pm and we must be out of the building before 9pm.

For those attending SIG’s that take place before the Guild meeting, please check with the SIG leader for any time change.

We have been working hard over the summer to find a new home for our Guild meetings.  We have contacted a number of places and also been to see a few.  Cost is a factor, as is parking.  However, the Harvey School in Katonah is a serious contender.  It is not too far from where we meet now and has a number of other benefits. We will keep you posted over the next few weeks as we continue our search and discuss details with Harvey.

Super Saturday will be in a new place next year.  Annette Nash-Govan and Pooa Bloomberg found us space at the Ossining High School.  It will be held on February 15, 2020. Please contact Annette (supersaturday@northernstarquilters) if you would like to teach one of the classes.

Changes are definitely in the air! In addition to location changes, the Board is aiming to adopt some of the suggestions made in response to the Guild survey – including initiatives to make new members feel more at home, opportunities to socialize through quilting, and more classes which cover basic quilting techniques. Kudos to Carol Sterk and her committee for organizing the survey and proposing a number of recommendations to the Board.

Some members have already swung into action!  Over the summer, Rosemary DePaola and Diane Linker taught a basic class in quilting skills on Wednesday afternoons at Comfort Quilts and Patricia Loquet is organizing a Row by Row team program which will be a great way for people to get together and quilt during the year.

Comfort Quilts is always a wonderful place to meet and socialize with other Guild members and to learn from experienced quilters.   Join the group on Wednesdays in North Salem if you have the chance!

Thank you to all the people who have stepped forward to volunteer – to run SIGs, to work on Quilt Show committees and to support the host of other activities that are needed to keep the Guild a vibrant and educational home for us all.

Volunteers are always welcome and if you have ideas for new programs that you think will interest the membership, or would like to provide support to programs already in place, please don’t be shy! (We are still looking for a member to chair the Special Events committee.  This is a great way to get involved and does not require a substantial time commitment.)

We hope that you enjoy all the Guild has to offer and that this year is a fun and rewarding one for us all.

Anne Chehebar and Karen Carlson, Co-Presidents, president@northernstarquilters.com

Anne Chehebar and Karen Carlson, president@northernstarquilters.com

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Help make NSQG even better-click to take our survey

What a wonderful show to celebrate “A World of Quilts” 40^th Anniversary!  I want to thank everyone who helped make it so successful – those of you who had quilts on display or donated a piece to the silent auction; members who volunteered at quilt drop off, judging or during the show itself; the quilt show committee chairs; and especially Daisy and Debby who did such a terrific job of organizing and running the event.  We could not have done it so well without all of you helping.  As an acknowledgment to how good it was, I had several attendees say that our show was better than the Mancuso show!

Although not all of the numbers are in, it looks like the show was also a financial success – between that and other  positive increases in revenues and savings in expenses throughout the year, it appears that the overall Guild will break even for 2018/2019 – again, a big improvement over our budget for this year.

I also want to thank Carol Sterk and her Member Retention and Expansion Committee for all of the work they have been doing.  We had ten new members sign up at the Quilt Show and the eleventh at our May meeting.  We are now just shy of 200 members!  To make sure we retain new members and meet the needs of our long time members, the Committee created a questionnaire to help us understand what people expect from us.  If you did not fill out a questionnaire either at the May meeting or online, please do so.  The link to the online questionnaire is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GQQB736.  Or if you prefer, you can complete one at the June Salad Supper.  The committee will be evaluating the answers over the next few weeks so that next year’s Board can address any issues that were raised and take action.

Finally, I want to thank this year’s Board for all of their help and work throughout the year.  Without their hard work we would not have had such a great year.  I also want to thank all of the guild members for their support and understanding of the changes we have made to improve the finances of the Guild.  It appears to have worked.  I know the new Board will continue to look for ways to improve how we operate and I wish them lots of success.

I hope to see many of you at the Salad Supper on June 18 – remember the meeting starts at 6:00 that night.

Susan Fasnacht, Acting President, president@northernstarquilters.com

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING – MAY 2019

Board Candidates-Click pic for Bios- Anne,Karen,Daisy,Deb,Linda,Rona,Karen,Rebeka,Rosemary,Linda,Narci,Julie

The Annual Meeting of the Northern Star Quilter’s Guild will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, Somers, New York.  At that Meeting, the membership will vote on the following candidates for the NSQG Board for the 2019-2020 Guild year.  The candidates are:

Co-Presidents: Karen Carlson and Anne Chehebar
Secretary:  Rona Spar
Co-Treasurers: Rebeka Glacy and Karen Martinez
Co-Vice Presidents: Communications – Daisy Dodge and Deborah Warren
Vice President:  Education – Linda Finegan
Vice President:  Membership – Rosemary DePaola
Vice President: Programs – Linda Stern
Co-Vice Presidents: Quilt Show – Narcita Medina and Julie Long

The Board appointed positions to oversee Charitable Activities and Hospitality and Special Events are still open. Please let us know if you can help or would like further information.

President’s Message

This message should be arriving in your in-box just as A World of Quilts XL is wrapping up.  I saw a sampling of the quilts at Saturday’s quilt drop off and it looks like we will have a stunning display.  Everyone involved has done a fantastic job and I want to thank all who have volunteered.  Daisy and Debby have taken on the show with a lot of enthusiasm and energy.  They have done a great job organizing it, and looking for ways to make it even more exciting and successful.

This year’s Challenge Quilts were fantastic.  I was overwhelmed by the workmanship and the variety of interpretations of the theme – Ruby Red Flowers.  What a way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of A World of Quilts.  I offer a big thank-you for April for organizing the challenge.  She enjoyed running the event so much she has volunteered to run next year’s challenge.  Look for the announcement of next year’s theme in the coming months.

Our May meeting will have a lot going on.  It is the guild’s Annual Meeting and we will be voting on the proposed slate of officers for 2019-2020.  We will also be drawing the tickets for the winner of this year’s raffle quilt and the Bernina sewing machine.

Additionally at the meeting, we will be handing out a member survey for you to complete. Carol Sterk has formed a committee to look at what it is the Guild is doing right, where we can improve things, and what do members expect of us.  Membership has been dropping the past few years and we want to see what we can do to bring in new members and retain them.  Please take the time to complete the form; it will be a great tool for us to shape the future of the guild.

Our program is a repeat of the one canceled last May when Kennedy Catholic lost power just before our meeting.  Sue Beever will be giving a “hands-on” lecture in the cafeteria.  In groups of 6-8 people with 36-40 fabric “chips” at each table (provided by Sue) we will discuss real life color harmonies.  A color wheel only shows us color theory; using real fabrics, both prints and solids, Sue will lead us in a discussion to help us create different color scenarios.  I was sorry we missed out on this “lecture” last year and am glad she is able to return to us.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

2019 Ruby Challenge Quilts

Our 40^th Anniversary “A World of Quilts” is only a few weeks away.  It’s shaping up to be a great show.  We will have on display nearly 200 registered quilts; quilts by our speaker, Paula Nadelstern and our invitational quilter, Karen Eckmeier; the Sacred Threads Quilt Exhibit; our SIG’s; FANE; and our beautiful Challenge Quilts – in the neighborhood of 300 total!  It should be spectacular – invite your friends and relatives to see all these great quilts.

I received some good news this past week.  It seems that WCSU made a mistake when looking at their 2020 calendar when they told us we could not hold the show there on our traditional weekend.  After looking again at their calendar I received confirmation that we will be able to have our show at WCSU on May 2 and 3, 2020.  This takes the pressure off of us scrambling to find a new venue in just a few months.  However, the Board also recognizes that there is concern with the financial aspects of holding the show at WCSU and will still be looking at that.  We made changes for this year’s show to increase income and decrease expenses to help with the finances.  Once the accounting for this year’s show is done, we will evaluate its cost and decide if we need to make a change.  Keeping our show at WCSU in 2020 gives us almost a full year to decide what changes, if any are necessary.

Thank you to April Russel for organizing this year’s Quilt Challenge.  She had 39 beautiful quilts submitted.  It was great seeing how people interpreted the theme of ruby red flowers.  I thought that since it was such a good display of techniques and showed a wide variety of quilting methods, it could be a good display for Arts Westchester to exhibit.  This is the organization that gave us the $1,000 grant to support our speaker costs.  I have made initial contact with them and hopefully will have more to report at our meeting.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

Click to register your quilt in the show!

According to a recent survey conducted by the American Quilters’ Society, the month during which most quilters finish projects is February.  That means several of you should have completed a quilt last month, so why not enter it in our show?  We could use more quilts registered – please don’t wait until the end of March to enter your quilt.  It makes the registrar’s job easier if they don’t all come in at the last minute.  Remember you don’t have to have it completely finished until quilt drop off on April 27.

Once again Super Saturday was wonderful.  Thank you to Pooa Bloomberg for organizing the day and to all the people who taught classes.  Also thanks to our Hospitality Chairs, Micky Green and Christine Langan for arranging for the food that day.  I saw lots of beautiful projects being worked on with a real variety of items.  If you participated in a class, and didn’t get a chance to show off your work at the February meeting, bring it in March for our Show and Tell.

The Challenge Quilts will be displayed at the March meeting.  You will be able to vote for Most Creative, Best Use of the ‘Ruby’ Challenge Color, and Viewer’s Choice.  I don’t know the final count, but April had close to 40 quilts turned it.  It will be a great display for our meeting and the quilt show.

I hope to see you in March – spring is not too far away.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

Organizers Rosemary and Linda

Auctioneer Sandy

January’s Ugly Fabric Auction was a great success, netting $676 to help support guild activities. Thanks to all who bid and donated!
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I am pleased to announce that the guild has been awarded a $1,000 grant through ArtsWestchester’s Arts Alive program to help fund our speakers.  We are honored to receive the money and are thrilled that ArtsWestchester recognized quilts as an art form.  We hope to use this relationship with them to publicize the guild, and help build interest in quilting and increase our membership.  Thank you to all who helped in writing the grant application.

Now for some not so good news.  We were informed several weeks ago by Western Connecticut State University that in 2020 the first weekend in May will no longer be available to us for the quilt show (don’t worry we are okay for this May).  They are going to start using the arena on the Friday of that weekend for their sport’s award dinner, which will impact with our set up.  The Board looked at possibly moving the show to another weekend, but found that it would not be possible without conflicting with another quilt show or a holiday.  We are starting to examine our options and will be reporting back to you as we develop them.

Remember the Challenge Quilts are due this month.  I hope we have lots of submissions – it will be great having a large display at the show.  Our program will be demos by various guild members and it looks like we will have a good variety of presentations at the meeting.

If you have not signed up for Super Saturday, you can still do so.  Contact Pooa Bloomberg at Supersaturday@northernstarquilters.com to register.

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel this year’s Lancaster trip.  We only had 10 people who had signed up and paid by the January meeting.  After struggling last year to get enough people to sign up to cover our costs, we decided not to risk losing our deposits and cancelled the trip.  We plan on offering it again in 2020, and maybe a year’s hiatus will create more interest.  Thank you to Jen Cannizzarro for keeping on top of things so we will not lose any money.

Stay warm and see you on February 19.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

Comfort Quilts ready for Christmas delivery to Westchester Medical Center’s Behaviorial Unit

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

As the weather starts to turn bad, remember our snow policy.  If the Somers or Kennedy Catholic schools are closed or have early dismissal due to the weather, our meeting will be cancelled.  We will send out an email to members notifying them of a cancellation as early as possible and post an alert on the website. Be sure to check if you are in doubt.

Quilt registration for A World of Quilts XL opens in just a few weeks.  We hope to have a spectacular display of quilts for our 40^th show anniversary celebration.   Don’t forget, your quilt does not have to be finished to register it – it only needs to be done by quilt drop off on April 27.  Daisy and Debby have been busy coming up with new ideas for the show – be sure to read their announcements of the changes for this year.

The Ugly Fabric Auction will take place at the January 15 meeting with an early preview around 6:30.  Be sure to bring lots of cash and be ready to bid.  I have heard they will have a great selection of fabric for the event.  February will be mini-demos and your completed Challenge Quilt is due (voting will be at the March meeting).

We will be starting the nominating process for the 2019-2020 Board.  If you are interested in serving on the Board, please let me know.  We will need to fill the elected positions of President (no I am not serving again), Secretary, Treasurer, Communications, and Programs.  A brief description of the jobs is on the website page Membership-Board dropdowns, Being on the Board is quite rewarding.  It is a good way to give back to the Guild, meet members, and see what the Guild does.  Please consider serving – you can also team up with a friend and be co-Chairs.

Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

Happy Holidays to all!  I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and are looking forward to all the festivities of December.  There is a lot happening at the beginning of next year and lots of reasons to quilt.  I hope you get time to work on your projects in December. After all there are many reasons to quilt – Challenge quilts, Silent Auction pieces, and quilt show entries.

January will be our Ugly Fabric Auction – last chance to donate is this month’s December meeting.  Also in January quilt registration for the show begins on the 15^th.  At our February meeting we will have short demos by members and the Challenge Quilts are due and voted on.  And Super Saturday is February 16.

We are trying a few new things at this year’s show.  One reason is to try and increase attendance, particularly non-quilters.  A second is to produce a little more revenue at the show.  Daisy and Debby will be sending out more details on these changes in the next couple of weeks – we are still working out some of the specifics, but I wanted to give you an idea of what they are planning.

We are going to change a few things at the Silent Auction, since sales have been slowly declining over the past few years. We will be accepting larger items – up to crib size quilts.  We will also have a few gift baskets that people can bid on.  Finally, there will also be a “purchase now” option for all items.

You will also have the opportunity to sell any quilt you enter in the show.  When you register your quilt there will be a new question asking whether you want to list it as being for sale and at what price.  We are still finalizing the process for how the sale will take place – more details will follow.  The guild will take a small commission on any quilt that is sold.

Our hope is that these, plus other changes will help increase attendance at the show.  We want to attract more of the general public to the show, hopefully resulting in more interest in quilting.  I know that some people come to the show looking to purchase a quilt – these changes will help.

Finally, thank you to everyone who brought food items in November to donate to the local food pantries.  If you missed the opportunity to bring an item, you can always contact your local food pantry directly to make a donation.  There is a great need in our area for food pantries and any donations they receive are appreciated.

I wish everyone a wonderful and happy holiday season.
Susan Fasnacht, president@northernstarquilters.com

October Mini Mosaic Workshop with Carol Lynch

It’s hard to believe the holidays are upon us already.  The days seem to just fly by.  Reminder – our November meeting is a week earlier than normal because of Thanksgiving.  The meeting is the second Tuesday – November 13.  Our speaker will be Rayna Gillman.  You may remember that Rayna was one of the Invitational Quilters at our 2017 show.  We are pleased to have her return to the guild and talk about her work.

At our November meeting we will also be holding the Holiday Boutique.  It will take place starting at 6:00 in the lobby area just outside the auditorium (no stairs to climb).  Make sure you bring extra cash so you can buy something from one of our vendors.

I dropped off two Comfort Quilts today at Kennedy Catholic.  Every year the school holds an auction to raise money.  Sister Barbara use to donate wardrobes containing several “American Girl” doll outfits she sewed as an auction item.  With her passing the Guild started donating a Comfort Quilt in her memory to replace them.  The auction takes place on Saturday, November 10 starting at 6pm and the admission price includes dinner and drinks.  It looks like they have lots of auction items.  If you are interested, more information can be found at kennedycatholic.org/auction.

Finally, I want to write once again about volunteering to help at the Guild.  Last month’s meeting was a good example of our problem when we were unable to find a volunteer to staff the Library table for the evening.  As a result there was no library in October.  It is hard to run an organization such as ours that relies on volunteers to do the work when we lack volunteers.  Other than at the quilt show, only a small percentage of our membership gets involved with working on one of our committees or activities.  As the New Year approaches we will start looking to fill the slate for next year’s Board and I hope our search will go better than last year.  Please consider getting involved, we cannot depend upon the same people to do the work each year.  There are plenty of opportunities – some big and some small – where we can use your help.  Let me know if you are willing to become more involved, and we can find something that will fit your interests and time constraints.

I look forward to seeing you on November 13^th.
Susan Fasnacht, President@northernstarquilters.com

It was a shame the weather was so bad for our September meeting. We enjoyed a delightful lecture by Anita Grossman Solomon – it was a great start to the year. We have a great line up of speakers and workshops for 2018/19. You can find them all listed on our website here.

We have started to increase the use of social media to promote our guild and the quilt show. Helen Boland will be keeping our posts up to date on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Please be sure to “like us” and follow us on your social media accounts. Links to our accounts can be found at the bottom of our website page.

If you weren’t at September’s meeting you did not hear some changes in when things are happening this year. The Ugly Fabric Auction will be held at our January meeting and the demos in February. We realized if we held it in February and had to cancel the meeting due to weather, someone would be stuck with all this fabric to hold on to for a year. By holding it in January, we have a backup of the following month for the auction, if we need to cancel. We will start collecting donations to January’s auction at the October meeting.

Another change in the schedule will be when the Challenge quilts are due. They will be collected at the February meeting with voting taking place in March. April handed out the ruby red fabric in September – it’s lovely. If you want to participate and haven’t picked up the fabric, contact April at Challenge@NorthernStarQuilters.com and she will get it to you.

I hope the weather behaves in October and I see you then.
Susan Fasnacht