Q U I L T E R S

Come hear Linda's amazing story of what can happen when a bag of t-shirts and many willing hands work together to meet needs near and far. Discover the power of sewing when we lead with our hearts.

HollyAnne Knight is a 20-something wife, mama, maker, and teacher from the Atlanta area. Her quilting began with a tshirt quilt for her Mama. After a whirlwind of experiments and self-education on patchwork and free motion quilting, today she is passionate about providing workshops, tutorials, and patterns to help other quilters work with confidence rather than being afraid they will "mess up" their quilt. 

Regarding scrappy quilts, HollyAnne says, “Whether I'm a little short on yardage, trying to use up bits from my stash, or just wanting a little more excitement in my quilty life, my solution, almost every time, is to make a scrappy quilt!" HollyAnne has several guiding principles when choosing fabrics to include in a scrappy quilt. She'll break down her three secrets of scrappy quilt success!

It is fitting since the November meeting falls on Veteran’s Day this year that we welcome Jacquelyn McKinstry, the Alabama State Coordinator for Quilts of Valor Foundation. The mission of this national program is to “cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” For many years members of Birmingham Quilters Guild have supported this effort by making patriotic quilts to be donated to Alabama QOV. In June at QuiltFest 2019 we had a special exhibit of over 40 QOV quilts made by our members. 

Since 2012 Jacquelyn has served as Alabama QOV State Coordinator. She describes herself as a fiercely patriotic Army wife with a passion to show honor to our nation’s veterans. In the Quilts of Valor program, she has found a perfect way to combine service with passion! Jacquelyn will share her story and details about the QOVF in our state and beyond. Currently, QOV is in all fifty states and has awarded over 230,000 quilts. Check out the website at qovf.org.

At the meeting, we plan to give the BQG members’ Quilts of Valor to Jacquelyn for distribution throughout our state. Come celebrate our country, the people who have served it, and the art form that we all love.

Meeting will begin at 10:00.

Come sample yummy goodies prepared by our board members. Also, participate in the optional ornament swap-details to come.

To add to the fun we will welcome storyteller Deborah Strevy who will share a short program of holiday stories. Debi has been a storyteller since the second grade when her teacher asked her to tell stories to the class every day after lunch.  She has been a professional storyteller for 40 years, performing in schools, conferences, camps, meetings, banquets and other venues.  Her audiences include children of all ages and adults.  Her programs feature a variety of tales with most “tellings” filtered through her southern roots. Debi is a wife and the mother of two adult sons. She is also the proud grandmother of 11-year-old twin grandsons and an eight-year-old granddaughter who give her some of her best stories.

Ellen teaches us how to downsize a pattern in order to create miniatures or small blocks from any pattern.

These talented quilters will share extraordinary quilts made to memorialize historical events and persons.

This meeting will focus on all things appliqué. Show & Tell will include only appliqué quilts. Three or four methods of appliqué will be demonstrated by guild members Jeannette Glasscock, Martha Gothard, Serene Johnson, and Kit Hodge 

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Lisa, a retired Visual Arts teacher, will share her experiences as she has grown as a quilter. She has a particular interest in art quilts.

Entries in our 2019-20 Panel Challenge will be displayed. Additional sewing games/activities are included in the program.

And installation of next year's officers, too