On March 9, 2024 the Blue Ridge Quilters will present a National Quilting Day celebration to be held at Colonial Baptist Church, 221 Hillcrest Drive, Blue Ridge, VA. Entry fee is $25.00 per person, $15 age 16 and under. This includes one chance on the Opportunity Quilt, door prize and lunch. (NOTE: tickets purchased at the door do NOT include lunch.) The featured speaker is Maria DeGroot, designer, quilter, crafter co-author, product tester; she appeared with Nancy and What’s New from Creative Grids. Her topics will be Creative Grids, Charm Pack Scramble Quilt and Trunk Show.
In the social hall there will be a lot of members’ quilts hung on the walls, and many smaller quilted items displayed, door prizes galore and lots of friendly quilters. Mark your calendar – it is not too early to prepare. The deadline to register is February 21, 2024; pre-registration forms can be found as a pdf file at the Blue Ridge Quilters FaceBook page, posted on November 24, 2023. – just click on the “BLUE RIDGE QUILTERS GUILD 2024.pdf” to download and print, OR, click below to download and print the pdf file.

We hope to see you there!

This just in from Carolyn Zaleski, head of the Roanoke Quilts of Valor Stitchers:

Here are a few pictures from yesterday’s award ceremony and final award of the year unless we have an emergency come up. Gary S served in the Marines and is a Vietnam Veteran. A beautiful family and many friends came to celebrate and thank Gary for his service. This was our 93rd award and I wanted to be sure, even if you don’t have Facebook, that you can see what our group is all about.

Be sure to check out our Facebook page, Roanoke QOV Stitchers, as well as the page for Blue Ridge Quilters to keep abreast of the awards made by Roanoke QOV Stitchers. Thank you.

There was, of course, a business meeting, going over Treasurer’s report, committee reports, etc etc etc (to quote a very old Yul Brynner movie, The King & I). It was announced that Kelly Y would continue to do the BRQ monthly newsletter – good job, Kelly! All business and NQD meeting business and Opportunity Quilt get-together business taken care of, it was time for the program, “Are You Ready for Christmas?” with Kathy Wi showing quite a few quick and easy gift ideas involving sewing or quilting which included playing card holders made with two CD discs having covers sewn half way down in order to hold playing cards, mug rugs, hot pads, a quick and easy carry-all made with a hot pad to carry all the “small stuff” you deem important and necessary. And these were only a few of the tricks Kathy pulled out her bag – quite literally!!

As always, Show and Tell was beautiful, intriguing and exciting. See the pics below. Some of the not-so-excited facial expressions were just caught at the wrong time, I am sure. Ahem.

So, that is it for the November 14, 2023 meeting of the Blue Ridge Quilters. Next month is our annual Christmas party – including an Ugly Sweater Contest we are told – that should make for some pictures for sure! Be sure to tune in next month, my last month at doing the website and effective January 2024, Kelly Y will be taking over this fun spot. Give him the excellent support you have shown me.

Till next time . . . gotta go now and make pumpkin pies . . . fingers crossed. Have a truly thankful Thanksgiving Thursday and every day.

Fall in SW Virginia is always beautiful, and what better time to be introduced to a few new ideas about how to use some of you quilted projects around the house. But first, a business meeting which began a few minutes late. There must have been a dust up on the interstate somewhere nearby because “inland” traffic was backed up and some members were late arriving. One of the items on the agenda was to announce that there will be a meeting for a planning committee for National Quilting Day Celebration which the Blue Ridge Quilters have been hosting for the past several years. The NQD Celebration is held on alternate years of the Star Quilters Quilt Show, which is held in odd number years (2021, 2023, etc). Interested volunteers are asked to let Cathy H know.

So, after the business meeting, it was time to enjoy the program presented by Marietta Price and her daughter,Tiara, both of Bargain Barn Fabrics located in Montvale, VA; check out their webpage, http://www.bargainbarnfabrics.com. I was surprised at the subject of their talk – using quilted projects on window valances, and those held up with velcro rather than a curtain rod! Of course, you can choose to use the curtain rod if your shoulders are free of anything achy like arthritis or advancing years. You will see from the pictures that their ideas are really practical, beautiful, pretty easy to do and adaptable to every room in the house! The ideas were clever and ranged from formal to casual.

Then it was time for Show & Tell. There were only three participants, but the show was beautiful and spectacular as always.

Looking forward to the November 14 meeting when the intended program will be with the Roanoke Modern Quilt Guild, but check the November newsletter for further information. Until then, happy quilting.

It was a perfect evening for a quilt gathering. After a short business meeting the program began.

Have you ever tried your hand at paper piecing? Most of us just say noooooo, no thank you but I will stick with regular piecing. The program was an introduction to paper piecing by trying a simple 5-piece pattern which forever has been the symbol of our Blue Ridge Quilters. There were other samples but the demonstration by Cynthia L was outstanding, showing each step in detail. The eight (8) brave souls who brought their sewing machines could hardly wait to get started.

Then there was Show & Tell with one paper pieced quilt shown along with the other beauties. Here they are:

The meeting was then adjourned and those attending were invited to take a kit from the kit table to make and bring back a NICU quilt, fidget quilt, adult bib, etc. There is also a Ways & Means table where fabric and magazines are available for very reasonable prices.

Until October, happy quilting. Oh, and give paper piecing a try !

It was a grand evening for a meeting, and the meeting was grand, too ! There was a short business meeting, a really good speaker, lots of Show & Tell, and fellowship with fellow quilters. Let’s get started.

The speaker was Julia from Quiltoff, a shop at 2149 Electric Road, Suite 6, in Roanoke, 24018. This young woman told us the story of her quilting adventure beginning with her home in Russia, followed by a tale in her next place of residence, Ecuador, and finally with her adventures in her current home, Roanoke, Virginia. The story she told included slides and stories, beginning her quilting status with each phase of her adventure, the first of which were not complimentary at all. Her first attempt at making a quilt did not fare well in the laundry – it ended up “like a parachute” as she put it !! But things became better with practice, practice, practice (gee, where have I heard that expression before? Hmmmm). She had a sad but still funny tale about her very first longarm machine when she lived in Ecuador, for which she paid $9,999 plus an equal amount in shipping and import fees. Yikes !! Until it had arrived in Ecudaor she had been unaware of any import fees, but she had ordered the machine, so GULP! After a time something in the machine just quit working and when she reported it to the shop from which she had ordered it, they suddenly did not understand English where they previously had been very fluent. Hmmmm So, she contacted the manufacturer about the warranty – after stating the serial number, the manufacturer informed her that the machine was 6 years old !! What ?? The wonderful man who had taken her order for a brand new machine had instead given her the shop sample and kept her $9,999 + import fees of $9,999 machine. She was at wits end, until her very creative husband “fixed” the machine with a light switch, the motor from her bread making machine and a lot of ingenuity. It worked !!! Yea Husband !! But, don’t try this at home, please . . . So, her quilting adventure continued to improve. She showed us pictures of those quilts as she went through the phases from Idiot to Professional. When her oldest son was about 14, they lived in America and he decided that he wanted to attend Virginia Tech and that played a large part in her family coming to reside in Roanoke. Today, in their shop on Electric Road in Roanoke, they sell and service Innova machines as well as offering a quilting service of both edge to edge and fantastic custom quilting. Their shop also offers fabrics and precuts and is worth a visit at 2149 Electric Road, Suite 6, Roanoke, VA 24018.

PS – she says she owns no quilt of her own, but the many pictures were all of quilts she had quilted for others, trying to make enough money to pay off her first longarm quilting machine.

Here is a picture of Julia as she waits to speak. And pictures of the room both before and during her talk. If you have the opportunity to engage this young woman as a speaker, my recommendation would be to do it !!

And then, of course, came Show & Tell, always exciting to see what is being worked on.

Thank you, once again, for joining me in recounting our quilting adventures. It is always a fun pleasure. Until next time, happy quilting.