PFAFF’S Block Lotto and funding for our 2013 festival

If you haven’t been to the meeting (or read your newsletter – bad, very bad!!) and remember or have seen this post on our blog HERE and is still wondering what it is all about, let’s quickly recap.

I have to start by reminding all readers that this is STRICTLY FOR OUR GUILD MEMBERS AND LOCAL PFAFF MACHINE OWNERS ONLY.

The basic idea is:  you make a block according to the rules, pay a small fee (towards the festival) and stand a chance to win all the blocks made – just like the national lottery, we just play it with blocks!!

Every term (in our newsletter and on our blog) PFAFF will give us the instructions to a new block. 

If you need a full size pattern, go down to PFAFF and buy a pattern for R5,00 – in some cases              however you will only need instructions and then you’ll pay for every completed block you enter.

If you only bought one pattern but made several blocks you’ll have to pay entry fee for every block you hand in.

You do need to use at least ONE PFAFF fabric in your block, so while there buy yourself a fat quarter if you cannot remember which of your stash was bought from PFAFF.

Complete your block/s and hand it back to PFAFF.  The deadline for the term’s block is the DAY BEFORE our next quarterly meeting.  NO BLOCKS will be accepted at the meeting. Your name is then added to those who stand a chance to be the lucky winner.

The draw will be done during our next quarterly meeting.

This term we are making a single Sunbonnet Sue block (or more) which should be on a WHITE background, HAND appliquéd and finish 8 inch square (your block when handed in should therefore be 8½” x 8½”).   

                                                                                                                                                                          

So how’s that for a nice threesome?  Quilting, anticipating to win and giving towards our festival.

So let’s support this and get to PFAFF as soon as possible!!

Rules for Quilting

1. Always buy fabric no matter how much you 
already have

2. Sew All Day and All Night absolutely no 
cooking allowed

3. Use a lot of spit for tiny droplets of blood, this 
always makes the quilt personal

4. Always start a new quilt before the last one is 
finished, this requires you to go back to step # 1

Criss-cross-coasters

Pat over at Patspattering has a very neat tutorial for coasters.  Even though she uses charm packs one can easily cut 5” squares to whip these up.  You can find the tutorial with step-by-step photos HERE.

And the wheels have started turning….

Most of us are looking forward to our National Festival in Stellenbosch from 1 to 7 July this year and so it should be.  These people have worked extremely hard to make such a memorable event possible for us.

However……. In 2013 our guild has to return the favor and invite all the quilters over to the Free State and make them feel just as welcome in Bloemfontein and this morning with my little camera in tow I got to witness the first full blown meeting of our own festival committee.  With such a competent coordinator as Iessie Steenberg and the other portfolio holders seeming to have their responsibilities under control, I foresee no problems whatsoever.  

Furthermore we received many offers of help from people having previously being involved in organizing festivals that we’ll have to REALLY screw it up, to get it wrong.

So as fellow guild members all we, not on the festival committee, has to do is the support our leaders in their requests for help /funds and respect another’s enthusiasm even if her idea is not really what you had in mind.

We know we have quilters out there, not currently belonging to our guild, but with organizational skills one can write books about.  We need you to jump aboard too.  Please offer your help where you know you can contribute. 

A complete list of the portfolio holders is available on the tab at the top (2013 Festival news…… ) or by clicking HERE

. 

Murphy's Laws for Quilters by Judy Grow

On any given day the number of employees in a
quilt shop is inversely proportional to the
number of customers needing quick attention.

Every quilt will take twice as long as you
expect and be ½ as beautiful (we are never satisfied).

There are only 2 kinds of masking tape:
that which won't stay on and that which won't come off.

In cutting an intricate multi-piece block,
your ruler will slip on the last side of the last patch.

When there is no time to do something right,
there will always be time to do it over.

The value of any piece of fabric is directly
proportional to the speed and ease with which you will ruin it.

In any mail-order shipment the item you
need the most will be back-ordered.

The pattern in a special fabric will
never repeat when or where you want it to.

Accidental destruction of a fabric will only occur to
an expensive imported cotton, never to muslin bought at 50% off.

Fabric dyes will never run until the quilt has been completed.

A block with flawlessly straight sides, precision
corners and perfect color placement will always be the wrong size.

A quilt that has to be completed for a birthday
in two months will take two years to finish.

And its corollary: A quilt that has no due date will take

only two months to complete.

When you finally have your sewing space in the empty bedroom exactly the way
you want it your son will move back home.

You will find the perfect fabric for your quilt
only after it has been discontinued by the manufacturer.

A quilt judge will give you a bad critique
only when the area is full of other people..

That same quilt judge will give praise only
when no one else is around.

The busier you are on any given day the
greater the number of quilting inspirations
you will want to try.

Your quilting thread will break at the needle
only when the last stitch has been taken in the line .

Counting the days until our National Quilting Day on 12 March

Only 10 days until we have our National Quilting Day!!  Herewith the invitations and I hope to see all our members, their friends and other quilters there.

Remember you can go to the museum on any of these days to view the quilts on display.  Entrance to the museum is free but a donation will be appreciated.

Then for the tea garden on Saturday you can purchase a ticket from your group leader for R40,00.  This will not only go towards our 2013 Festival Funds but will also ensure you of a cup of coffee/tea, one sweet and one salty snack and a free quilt pattern by local teacher, Iessie Steenberg.

Please support this cause even if you can view the quilts for free.  We need every cent to make a huge success of our festival and by giving in small amounts none of us will even remember the expense once we have our festival.  So LET’S BUY THOSE TICKETS!!!!

Only a quilter......

I was so fortunate to spend the weekend on the MSC Sinfonia with a bunch of girlfriends and thanks to Karin de Villiers our blog didn't miss a beat as she had the unfortunate task to publish the posts that I prepared beforehand while I was gone.  Thanks so much Karin but I'm not sure what we're going to do when we both attend the National Quilt Festival in July.  Guess we'll have to take the little laptop along.

Only a Quilter …
by Tom and Madge Powis
June 2003

We've all heard the classic line that only a quilter would take
yards and yards of material, cut it into little pieces and then sew
them back together again. While this statement is true and a little
funny to think about, it doesn't even scratch the surface of the
things that only a quilter would do.

Only a Quilter would spend more hours sewing several hundreds of
buttons on a quilt to embellish it, but wouldn't take five minutes
to replace a button on a pair of pants.

Only a Quilter would give the gift of a wedding quilt two months
after the birth of the couple's second child.

Only a Quilter would put hundreds of dollars worth of fabric into
her fabric stash because she might find a use for it sometime, but
wouldn't replace a 50-cent needle on her sewing machine.

Only a Quilter would let three later-arriving patients go ahead of
her at the doctor's office because she is on the verge of completing
a block.

Only a Quilter would rush to finish a gift quilt. Not so it's done
in time for the recipient's birthday, but so it's done in time for
Show and Tell.

Only a Quilter would make a special quilt to give to her son, who
would then have to attend quilt shows just to see it.

Only a Quilter would use freezer paper in the production of
something to keep someone warm.

Only a Quilter has a welcome mat at the door to her home and
an "Enter at Your Own Risk" sign on the door of her sewing room.

Only a Quilter invites everyone to see her sewing room, then
says, "Don't look at the mess."

Only a Quilter says, "I really don't need another project," then
offers to make a quilt for a friend.

Only a Quilter will buy more than she'll ever need of one fabric for
her stash, but slightly less than is needed of another fabric to
complete a project.

Only a Quilter would give a quilt book to the guild auction then bid
on it to get it back.

Only a Quilter would drive 40 miles in a hurricane to attend a quilt
show, but call out to have her dinner delivered because it is
drizzling.

Only a Quilter's family would put up with, understand and love a
quilter.