Posts Tagged ‘quilt guild’

Setting Free My Vintage Needle Book Collection

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I’m a collector, which is entertaining for me, but it drives the rest of the household mad.

If you’re a collector, you know what I mean. If you’re not, why not?!

But seriously, now that I’m a little older, I feel less attached to some of my collections. And one of those is my vintage needle books. I’ve been collecting them for a few decades, but I haven’t gotten any new ones the past few years.

Vintage needle books have interesting graphics.

Some of the first ones I was attracted to were these Happy Home types, with their bright colors and graphics that reminded me of the 60s. But I’m not an expert on any of this, I haven’t done any research and I was not a serious collector. I just bought them for fun.

Wolfe Country Quilt Show and Garden Walk

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

I’ve wanted to attend the Wolfe Country Quilt Show and Garden Walk for several years but something always came up. This time I planned ahead and my friend Mary and I went to Bennington, Nebraska on Saturday, July 16.

The red barn is the centerpiece of the Wolfe’s yard.

What we found was worth the three hour drive. So many quilts. Abundant flowers and a perfectly overcast day with no rain.

Antique iron beds displayed quilts.

We arrived early to beat the heat and were there for about two and a half hours. We bumped into many quilters and others we knew so the chatting stretched our time a little.

Small guild? Big idea!

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Open Classes for Everyone, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

There are hundreds of small quilt guilds all over the world.

And I know firsthand that their programming is limited by their budgets. So I’ve come up with a plan to make it easier for smaller groups to book a program with Stash Bandit (that’s me!).

Here’s how it will work.

The live presentation will be virtual through Zoom.

Available to groups with 50 or fewer members on their paid roster (honor system).*

The fee for a one-hour trunk show of your choice is $10/person on the roster. For example, if you have 35 members, $10 x 35 = $350. (The standard fee is $525.)

You will be guaranteed a seat for every person who registers for the meeting on Zoom.

I will make the remaining seats available to others.

The deadline for your members to register for the meeting is 10 days before. This gives me time to fill the rest of the seats.

For very small groups, I may request a date other than your normal meeting time.

I will limit the number of these programs I do each year.

The Jingle Bells Trunk Show is great from July to December.

Does that sound good? 😊

Please share this info with the program chair at your quilt group.

Cope & Hope is part of “Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts.”

I have six trunk shows from which to choose. Today I’ll highlight three.

Obituaries, quilt labels

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

and the wonders of the internet.

I read obituaries. It doesn’t matter if I knew the people or not—death notices are endlessly fascinating. I read them in the local paper, I read them in my hometown paper, and I read them in other places when I’m traveling. I’ve learned to find obituaries and burial sites online, which has greatly expanded my reading material, let me tell you. So that is one part of today’s story.

A Nice Surprise at Quilt Guild

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

My favorite night of the quilt guild’s year is the garage sale, hands down. There are always things to be shared and treasures to be found. My small guild in Holdrege, Nebraska had a garage sale in January. I tried hard to find interesting things in my studio that I no longer needed to benefit the group in a small way.

I recreated this image and it doesn’t do justice to the hundreds of 1-1/2″ strips I had on hand. The strips were passed to me from a co-worker (I think) at Quiltmaker quite a few years ago. They were of every persuasion and they weren’t terribly appealing. I knew they wouldn’t do well just stuffed in a bag but I had an idea.

Bonnie Hunter Comes to Nebraska

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Quilt Lifestyle, Trunk Shows

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame visited three guilds in Nebraska last week, and it was such fun to reconnect with her. Bonnie has had a long-term working relationship with Quiltmaker, where I worked for 11 years, and that’s how we first met. I hadn’t seen her since we both taught at a Quiltmaker event about 10 years ago. She’s as warm and outgoing and funny as ever.

Bonnie’s quilts always look great in photos, but when you see them in person they’re even better. Such energy! This is the original Wild and Goosey that took the quilting internet by storm, and it’s a gobsmacker. You have to see it to believe it.