BVQ 2007 Events

2007 was a busy year for Brandywine Valley Quilters. In addition to our annual events (New Member Tea and Retreat at Black Rock), we celebrated our 20th birthday! Charity projects abounded, as well, from a day-long Charity Quilt Bee to ambitious undertakings from some of our Bee groups. Click any of these links for details...

BVQ's 20th Birthday Celebration Charity Quilt Bee

2007 New Member Tea Sew Enchanted Saturday

3rd Annual Retreat Friendship Quilt Project

BVQ's 20th Birthday Party

(Click the above picture for a larger image)

Did you know that BVQ was 20 years old in March, 2007? Yes, the first meeting of Brandywine Valley Quilters was held “Somewhere in Time” (on March 10, 1987, to be exact!). It's hard to believe we've reached this milestone already. This just proves the Time Flies (when you're having fun) theory to be true!!

We celebrated at our March meeting, which was held at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in north Wilmington, thanks to member Jody Beitzel. 56 members and one guest were in attendance. There was plenty of time to socialize and enjoy a catered buffet dinner, and of course, birthday cake! Guild member Lillian Kreider's daughter Lois Hart baked and decorated the cake - it was truly a work of art!

Organizer Ellen McLaughlin made it an event to remember, with festive table decorations, balloons and party favors. She presented 10 members who joined the Guild in its first year with fresh flower corsages, with a special one for Guild founder Gail Kozicki. Gail told us the story of how the Guild was formed, and members enjoyed viewing several photo albums from the Guild archives. Quilt fabrics and designs have certainly evolved over the past 20 years!

After dinner and the presentations, members participated in a "make a block" activity where they arranged and pinned fabric patches on a muslin background. These blocks will be pieced and assembled into a quilt which will be completed for a fund-raiser raffle.

2007 New Member Tea

Our annual New Member Tea was held on the afternoon of March 24, 2007, at the Special Teas Tea Room, in the Olde Ridge Village Shoppes in Chadds Ford, PA.

13 current BVQ members and 5 of our new members dined on an assortment of teas, sandwiches, scones, pastries and chocolates in the Garden Room. Then after much discussion, we chose “A Brandywine Redwork Garden” as the name of our 2007 Raffle Quilt.

Thanks to Lillian Krieder, we enjoyed some fun games, and each new member received a lovely needle book made by Jane Shea. A good time was had by all!

BVQ Third Annual Retreat at Black Rock

A good time was had by all who attended BVQ’s 3rd annual retreat, held April 20 - 22, at the Black Rock Retreat Center in Quarryville, PA. The group included BVQ members, several members of Ladybug Quilters of Newark, DE, and other quilting friends.

We relaxed and enjoyed sewing, fun, laughs and friendship. In addition to dinner on Friday, three meals on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday, served cafeteria-style by the Black Rock staff, our retreat attendees provided many delicious snacks to fortify us as we worked late into the evenings. Many projects were tackled and by the end of the weekend the walls were adorned with numerous quilt tops and other works-in-progress.

However, it was certainly not "all work and no play", as we took a break on Saturday evening for a fat-quarter chinese auction.

Charity Quilt Bee

Betty Jean Boyd, Marnie Brodoway, Lee Hickman, Lil Koster, Peg Miller and Jane Shea joined organizer Maureen Bonnes on October 20, 2007, at the Brandywine Towne Center Community Room for a day of cutting and stitching. We had a most enjoyable time sewing and gabbing. Refreshments were provided, including a homemade carrot cake from Maureen's kitchen. Thanks to Maureen for arranging this workshop. We talked about having another workshop so stay tuned for details!

“Sew Enchanted Saturday”

On “Sew Enchanted Saturday”, November 10, 2007, an enthusiastic group of BVQ members descended upon the home of Peg Miller in Brookhaven, PA, to learn a paper piecing method that uses a pattern without sewing through the paper. Ellen Nobles-Harris and Peg taught the group how to make the Treasure Star from Marjorie Rhine’s book Painless Paper-Piecing. A good time was had by all and the results were shared at the November Guild meeting - wow!

Friendship Quilt Project for 2007: BVQ’s Banner

Thanks to several dedicated BVQ members, we now have a banner that we can display when we sell Raffle Quilt tickets!

Jane Shea was the chairperson for the project. Ellen Nobles-Harris, Jane Shea, Peg Miller, Jody Beitzel, Lillian Kreider and Anne Marie Kiesling put their heads together and came up with the design ideas, from which Ellen drafted the banner pattern using her EQ5 software program. Ellen and Jane donated the colored fabrics and batting, and the background and backing fabrics were purchased by the Guild.

Carol Gillespie and Lil Koster joined the group and Peg Miller graciously hosted design and assembly workshops. The border and letter blocks were foundation-pieced, with Ellen making the letter blocks, Jody piecing the cornerstones (using patterns from the book Needles & Notions by Jaynette Huff), Jane completing the side borders and Peg finishing the diamond border blocks remaining to be done after the workshop. Lil hand-appliquéd the BVQ Bear, using the pattern that Gail Kozicki designed from Mimi Smith’s original bear logo.

Jane then assembled and quilted the banner, and finished it with binding, a sleeve and label.

The banner previewed at the July Guild meeting, making its public debut at the Hershey Quilt Show on July 26th, hanging on the front of the Raffle Quilt ticket table. Then it made an appearance at the raffle quilt ticket table at The Quilt Sampler during Kennett Square's annual Mushroom Festival in September.

BVQ's 20th Birthday Celebration		Charity Quilt Bee
2007 New Member Tea		Sew Enchanted Saturday
3rd Annual Retreat		Friendship Quilt Project