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 15th. 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