Latest News – 12/20

Comfort Quilts

Comfort Quilts had a “Mini CQ” quilt distribution on November 4^th  at NSVAC.  Seventy plus quilts were picked up to be delivered in time for the Holidays.  Throughout the year Comfort Quilters deliver these beautiful quilts to various organizations as well as to individuals.

Listed are some of our recurring donations, along with the Comfort Quilter overseeing collecting and delivering them.  With thanks to Pat Julian for keeping track of our donations as well as to Jody Sullivan for taking over for Barbara Powers, our dedicated collector of quilts for the WMC Behavioral Center.

Carol Auer – Putnam&No.Westchester Women’s Resource Center, Ann’s Place, and Rosary Hill
Karen Carlson – Ossining Children’s Center
Donna Chambers – Andrus on Hudson
Jean Degl – Marie Ferari NICU
Jennifer Kramer – Pleasantville Cottage School
Althea Nolan – Pins and Needles, Northern Westchester Hospital ICU
Barbara Powers, Jody Sullivan – WMC Behavioral Center
Nina Primer – Blythedale Hospital
Jody Sullivan – Bennett Cancer Center

Special thanks to all our wonderful group of Comfort Quilters who make these donations possible!

2021 Raffle Quilt

Please remember to return your ticket stubs:

Mail check and stubs to Dee Plouffe  280A Heritage Hills,  Somers, NY 10589
OR
Pay via credit card HERE  and I will gladly fill out a set of stubs for you .

Dee Plouffe, charitable@northernstarquilters.com

Art$Westchester Matching Fund Challenge!

The generosity of our members is fantastic.  To date we have received close to $1,800 in donations to the Art$Westchester Matching Fund Challenge – a big thanks to all.  Although ArtsWestchester won’t be announcing the final matching funds until the end of the year, we expect that we will receive the entire $1,500 that they are offering to organizations such as ours.  That will result in nearly $3,300 that we will have for additional programs or events to our members.

We have already started using some of the funds by providing a free workshop to our members.  The December 4th workshop by Adele Scott, Simple String Piecing, is paid for from our Challenge funds.  The Board hopes that the workshop and the follow up Holiday Social Hour provide members with an opportunity to learn a new quilting method and to connect with others – something we all need this year.

The Board wants to make sure activities funded by the Challenge money are of interest to members.  So, if you have any ideas or suggestions, please email them to me at sfasnacht@verizon.net and I’ll be sure to share them with the Board.

Even though we have maxed out on the grant portion of the Art$Westchester Matching Fund Challenge, you can still donate to it.   We are earmarking all of the funds raised by this challenge for additional programs or events for members – things that are not part of our budget or regularly scheduled programs.  Here’s the link for the form: NSQG.formstack.com/forms/nsqg_creditcard_payment_artswestchester

A big THANK YOU to all who have contributed to the Challenge.  We will be sure to put the money to good use.

Susan Fasnacht, Ex-Officio

Greetings to all!

Membership now stands at 176.

The hard copy of the NSQG Membership Directory is ready. The membership committee has organized, by area, those members who signed up to receive a copy. Each of you will be contacted by one of the committee members (Carol, Rosemary, Joanne) or Karen Carlson to make arrangements for pickup/delivery.  There are a few extra copies for those of you who want one. Please contact us at membership@northernstarquilters.com for further information.

It’s not too late to participate in the directory photo project. We will continue to add photos to our files.  If there are enough additions, an updated version of the directory will be sent out within the next few months. Just email your picture to:  membership@nothernstarquilters.com

Wishing you happy holidays!
Carol Sterk, Rosemary DePaola, Joanne Visovsky

For December, after the Zoom business meeting, we again hope to move members into some zoom mini-groups to provide an opportunity to chat further with fellow members and will be providing further details with the zoom links and at the meeting.

If you would like some help to be able to join future meetings, please feel free to contact Anne MacDonald via email (annemacd8250@gmail.com) or via the cell phone number listed in the directory.  In order to participate in a Zoom meeting with video, all you need is a computer (desktop or laptop), a tablet or smartphone.  If you would like to just hear the meeting, with no video, it is possible to just call in.  We look forward to staying connected despite the limits on gathering.  Please join us for our next meeting and don’t be shy about asking for a little help if it keeps you connected!

Keep up with our lecture and workshop lineup for the season.

Special emails and reminders about workshops are sent regularly, be sure to watch for them.
Zoom links will be sent out a couple days beforehand, links for those lectures that can be recorded will be sent out a couple days after.

Linda Stern, programs@northernstarquiltersguild.com

This Saturday workshop, January 16, “Creative Texture from A to Zen” is by Bethanne Nemesh, our December speaker.

The cost of a workshop is $50.00, non-members are welcome (based on availability) for a fee of $70.

Be sure your membership is up-to-date (you can renew here) before registering as a member for a workshop.

Class confirmation and supply list will be emailed when payment is received.

Questions can be sent to programs@northernstarquilters.com.

Traditional free motion background fillers are a wonderful starting point, but what happens when you let yourself be influenced by natural patterns, macro photography, and the textures of everyday objects? Be inspired by Bethanne’s fresh take on backgrounds, using physical objects to inspire new textures, perfect for filling those big open spaces of more modern quilts!  Explore the alphabet from A to Z with new eyes.  This exciting 4 hour zoom class will feature drawing, demonstration of quilting designs on both a longarm and domestic sewing machine and time for students to actively quilt and try designs!

Supply list: sketchbook and pens, a 1” x 6” ruler or any quilt ruler for straight line marks, water or air erase marking pen, and pale sample fabric prepared as a quilt sandwich for each student’s preferred machine.  Finally, a thin thread that allows the student to see their stitching, but not so high contrast that flaws are upsetting, 60 weight thread is suggested.  A medium grey on white works for many students.

 Students will have time in class to try several designs, however if they hope to eventually finish a small sample of one of each of the 26 designs then they should prepare  their work space as a grid of 4” squares, 5 rows x 6 rows.