Meeting Dates and Programs

David’s quilts are pictorial appliqué featuring plants and animals. Crafted by hand and meticulously quilted on his Bernina 160 home machine, his pieces achieve a realistic effect through his fabric choices. Thread “painting” is the only embellishment added to his work. David will be presenting a workshop on this date from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Find details on the Scraps 'n Snippets page.

Sue Spargo was born in Zambia and then in the nearby country of South Africa, received her education and trained to be a nurse. She soon moved to England. This shift between two very different environments and cultures has inspired many of her designs. The stark contrasts between the arid beige and browns of Africa and the lush greens of the rolling hills of Southern England have continued to be a rich source of ideas. All these early experiences combined to stir her love of “primitive” arts and crafts and grew into her focus on folk-art in three distinct areas: design of quilted items using textural fabrics and embellishments, workshops and retreats, and creating books and patterns.
www.suespargo.com

Cheryl's interest in Mexican folk art began on a trip to Cabo San Lucas in 2008. “There was eye candy everywhere and I found it was well suited as a basis for quilt designs, especially the Talavera tiles.” Join Cheryl as she talks about her trip to Puebla, a city that is covered in tile, in search of inspiration and the quilts that were created.
www.CherylLynchQuilts.com

We will also be displaying and voting on our 2010 Challenge quilts.

Maggie Weiss is an artist and quiltmaker born in Chicago, Illinois. Although artistically inclined her entire life, it wasn't until she discovered quilting that she felt she had found her true métier. At first drawn to the tactile, visual and utilitarian nature of quilting, she found the creation of artcloth to be even more compelling. Balancing these two passions with the rest of her life is one of her greatest challenges. In addition to making art and parenting, Maggie teaches surface design and volunteers in her community. She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband and two young children.

Says Maggie: “Creating original cloth and quilts feeds my soul. Conveying value, contrast, and depth with texture, color, and line enables me to portray an unlimited variety of ideas and emotions on cloth. Images suggestive of the divine feminine as well as both serious and playful interpretations of the dramatic and mundane moments of human experience form the core of my work. It is successful when viewers find themselves pulled in by the complexity, symbolism or story in any given piece. Exploring this work allows me to maintain balance in my life and to transform my experience into tangible, tactile and compelling fabric.”

Visit Maggie on the Web at www.maggieweiss.com.
For more thermofax related information, visit her blog at www.thermofaxconfidential.blogspot.com

After working in a medical laboratory and chemical research lab for many years, Lenore decided to pursue her dream of creating art as a full-time endeavor. Lenore will talk about her own interpretation of fusing, and fabric painting techniques she uses to create art quilts with depth and color...her inspiration comes from photographs she taken in her travels. Her fabric art wall hangings combine her love of France and the architecture, flower gardens, and her passion for color and realism. She has won several prizes for her art and continues to develop and grow her medium and style in new and beautiful way. Visit her website at www.lenorecrawford.com

While pursuing a degree in molecular biology and masters in biomedical illustration, Sue Benner created her vision of the microscopic universe in painted and quilted textile constructions. Her early work propelled her to become a studio artist in 1980, working primarily in the medium which later became known as the Art Quilt. Sue is an innovator in her field, creating original dyed and painted fabrics which she combines with recycled textiles to form fields of structured pattern, vivid beauty, and riotous variation. Sue’s artwork is in many private, corporate, and institutional collections. She also lectures and teaches workshops nationally and internationally in the fields of surface design, textile collage, fused quilt construction, and artistic inspiration. Her work has been juried into Quilt National seven times, and she served as a juror in 2009.
www.suebenner.com

Lecture: “The Working Path”, April 14, 7:00 p.m. and Workshop: “Fusing the Grid: Variations on a Square Theme”, April 15-16, at the Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Ever wonder where to get ideas for a quilt? Sometimes those ideas are right in your backyard. A PowerPoint presentation showing inspiration for many of B.J.’s quilts, including highly detailed images. Several of these quilts will be displayed and construction techniques and tips are discussed.
www.bjtitus.com

*** Meeting was cancelled due to bad weather. ***
Every choice you make when designing a quilt, makes it unique. A computer can be a powerful tool in helping to personalize your designs. This lecture will cover the specifics about how to print on fabric and how to transform your words, photos and drawings into patterns for appliqué. Many ways will be demonstrated to include photos in your quilts and how to make each of your quilts unique and individual. Leave this lecture with the tools to go home and start working on your own personalized quilt.
www.CherylLynchQuilts.com

Barbara is experimental and creative by nature, having had careers in research science, personal computer consulting, marketing, and bridal gown design and manufacturing. She loves both abstract and realistic art and works with both, often combining styles in one piece. Her love of surface design, photography, and computer graphics, and her travels, have influenced her work to make it unique in the art quilt world. Her work includes fantastic animals, birds, illustrated sayings and song, floral and realistic still lifes as well as abstract quilts. Visit her website, www.mckieart.com, to for photos of her works and to read a complete bio, including the numerous awards she has received and the shows and publications in which her work has been featured.

RaNae Merrill is a quilt designer, author and teacher. Her quilts have appeared in national shows and magazines, and her new book, Simply Amazing Spiral Quilts, is a best-seller.
www.ranaemerrillquilts.com

(For our September meeting, we will return to our regular meeting place in in the cafeteria at the Garnet Valley Middle School, located on Smithbridge Road in Concordville, Pennsylvania.)

Melinda invites us to take a humorous look through the eyes of a quilt artist as she finds her way through the world of art, quilting and wearable arts. This lecture includes a wearable fashion show along with her award winning Fabulous Fusible Flower quilts. Melinda shows the evolution of her art with humor and lots of inspiration.

Learn the steps of developing a flower art quilt at a workshop with Melinda during the day of September 8. See our Scraps 'n Snippets page for details.

Visit Melinda's website, www.melindabula.com, to read her bio, see a gallery of her quilts, read her blog, and more!

We began the meeting with voting on the Challenge quilts, browsing the sale tables and enjoying our sundaes. At 8:00 we had the business meeting and then awarded the ribbons for the Challenge quilts.
See pictures of the Challenge here!

BYO sewing machine, supplies and dinner. We sewed up a storm on a variety of projects including Stockings for Soldiers, tote bags demonstrated by Betty Jean, and our own projects. A representative from Stockings for Soldiers visited us to tell us about that project. We held the business portion of the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Nancy's anyone-can-do-it approach to thread painting is fun, easy and a new way for quilters to broaden their quilting experience. She has recently introduced thread sketching into her workshop offering.

Nancy is the author of Simple Thread Painting (AQS), has taped several episodes for Simply Quilts and Creative Living on PBS, and has appeared in national magazines. Her pieces have won numerous quilting awards, including first place in Large Pictorial at the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Outstanding Innovative Quilt at Road to California, an Honorable Mention at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, plus Best of Show at the NQA Quilt Show.

In addition to her husband, Tom, Nancy has three grown sons and eight adorable grandchildren – and oh, yes and three talented daughter-in-laws. She spends most of her time juggling her family, quilting and teaching her passion. This passion has enriched her life and keeps her centered and focused.

Visit Nancy's website, www.nancyprince.com, to learn more about her technique, view videos, shop her online store, sign up for her newsletter, and much more!

Marcia is a textile artist whose award-winning work has been shown in a number of juried exhibitions at galleries, museums, and quilt shows. She took up quilting in 1992, after a lifelong interest in other needle arts, and has been pursuing her interest in textile art full-time since 1996.

Marcia's recent designs combine her interest in photography with her quilt art, and she is currently at work on a series of representational pieces based on her photographs from Santa Fe, Italy, England, and the South of France.
www.marciastein.com

An entertaining digital PowerPoint presentation showing the process of making pictorial quilts using Cynthia's “Picture-piecing” technique. Cynthia's stunning quilts have been winning 1st place ribbons at local and national quilting events since 1991 and have graced the pages of many quilting publications. After using appliqué to get the realistic effect in her early quilts, Cynthia gradually devised a machine piecing technique she calls Picture Piecing. This technique breaks the design down into pieces that can all be sewn using straight seams and allows her to include intricate details and shading without a single set-in seam. Her first quilt made entirely from this technique, “Piece and Quiet”, was so successful that she was inspired to continue designing with the Picture Piecing method.
www.englanddesign.com

Cindy Kerr from ConKerr Cancer came to speak to our group about her organization. BVQ members brought almost 200 pillowcases to the meeting for Cindy to take with her! Cindy was chosen as one of the ten 2008 Women Of Worth by L'Oreal Paris. Each of the ten women received $5,000 for her charity, but that's not all! Cindy received the most online votes and was named the 2008 Women of Worth National Honoree, with L'Oreal Paris donating $25,000 to ConKerr Cancer in Cindy's name! If you missed the meeting, you can read Cindy's thoughts about receiving this award at the ConKerr Cancer website and blog.

Also visiting us was Linda Arye from Quilt for Kids, who spoke about her organization and asked for volunteers to make quilts for children with life-threatening or chronic illnesses and serious injuries.

After hearing from our special guests, we worked on cutting fabric and assembling kits for charity quilts. Thanks to everyone who participated!

We enjoyed the camaraderie of friends and sampled the many delectable treats brought by our members. The tables were festive with holiday-themed centerpieces, placemats and napkins.

After dinner and the business meeting, we enjoyed a stash swap - each member brought a small wrapped gift - something from our sewing stash (tool or fat quarter or pattern) or candy or baked item. The swap was based on a story, “Santa's Lady's Left/Right Game”, which Jody narrated. Every time Jody said the words “left” or “right”, we moved the packages around the tables in the proper direction. Needless to say, we had lots of laughs as we hurried to make the right moves! A good time was had by all.

Gwen will talk about her interest in folk art quilts. Quilts in this style are very much a part of the history of traditional quilt making. While most of her ideas come directly from old quilts, she has also been inspired by other forms of folk art. Universally folk arts have similar characteristics. This lecture is illustrated with her own quilts, both pieced and appliquéd.

Gwen is a professional quilt maker, teacher and author. Since 1981 she has had 19 solo exhibits and participated in many group shows. She maintains a busy teaching and lecture schedule both nationally and internationally. For the past 24 years she has conducted quilt retreats on Beaver Island, Michigan, her year round home. She was a regular columnist for Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts for 12 consecutive years and has written 21 books.

Gwen will be presenting a workshop during the day on November 11, sponsored by Calico Cutters Quilt Guild. Click here for details.

www.gwenmarston.com

October 14, 2008 -- Anna Faustino of North Arlington, New Jersey

Anna was born and raised in St. Petersburg Russia. While there she earned two Bachelor Degrees specializing in teaching, art history and culture, painting, engineering drawing, and textile art. Anna worked as a teacher for ten years and for two years at the Kirov Opera and Ballet as a stage and costume decorator. Subsequently, Anna freelanced in art and knitting sweaters featuring her own decorative designs. Anna moved to the US in 1995 and has became increasingly involved in quilting since 2004.

Her lecture will feature 40 art quilts and her “shredded” quilts technique. In addition, Anna will be presenting a workshop during the day on October 14, sponsored by Calico Cutters Quilt Guild. Click here for details.

See more about Anna at www.newtechquilts.com.

September 9, 2008 -- Bonnie McCaffery of Hawley, Pennsylvania, presents “Portrait Quilts”

Everyone loves a face. There is a wide variety of ways to capture people in quilts. This lecture will explore many different peoples portrait quilts. You will also see how easily Bonnie can create portrait quilts using a guideline drawing under the fabric (so she can see exactly where to paint the features). This is a fast-paced slide lecture with actual quilts.

Visit Bonnie's website at www.bonniemccaffery.com.

August 12, 2008 -- Picnic and Quilt Challenge

Tonight, we will be enjoying a pot-luck dinner and social evening. The 2008 BVQ Challenge entries will be displayed and members will vote for their favorite, with prizes to be awarded for the top three vote-getters. This year's Challenge theme is “My Own Small World”, in keeping with our 2008 quilt show theme of “Around the World with Many Quilts”.

July 15, 2008 -- Philippa Naylor of E. Yorkshire, U.K.

On the 15th of July (note that this meeting will be held one week later than the usual 2nd Tuesday), we will have a special speaker who comes to us from England. We have changed the date so we can have Philippa Naylor join us for the evening.

Philippa began sewing in childhood making dolls clothes, followed by needlework and garment construction. Four years of college training in clothing design and technology led to a job as head designer for a large lingerie company in the UK. She moved to Saudi Arabia in 1989 where she set up a bespoke wedding and evening dress company. In 1996 she discovered quilting and has not looked back. Precise curve piecing, use of graduated handdyed fabrics and extensive free-motion machine quilting with trapunto are favorite techniques.

Philippa has published a wide range of articles in quilting magazines and has won many awards including the AQS Bernina Workmanship Award in 2002 and the AQS Best of Show in 2003.

Philippa comes to us before heading to New York State, where she is on the faculty of this year’s Quilting by the Lake event. View some of her wonderful quilts online at www.quiltingbythelake.com.

June 10, 2008 -- Barbara Persing of Frederick, Pennsylvania, presents “StrataVarious Quilts”

Barb started her own Longarm Machine Quilting business in 2000. In 2007 she and her sister, Mary Hoover, started a pattern company called 4th & 6th Designs (www.4and6designs.com). Mary lives in NY and owns a quilt shop but they collaborate daily on designs and ideas. Barb's quilts have placed at AQS, Quilters Heritage and Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival, among others.

Barbara will speak on the Strata Technique she developed with her sister.

Visit Barb's website at www.BarbaraPersing.com. View her Calendar page for information on book signings and lectures by Barbara and her sister in May and June, 2008.

May 13, 2008 -- Sharon Schamber of Payson, Arizona

BVQ welcomes award-winning quilter, author and teacher Sharon Schamber. Sharon says, "When I first began quilting, I had no idea that quilts were being machine quilted. I remember only that quilts were all hand pieced and hand quilted. I remember my Grandma Larsen counting the stitches per inch and ranting about being inconsistent, so that is where I went. I set out to find how many stitches per inch I needed to make my quilts "right." I asked the wrong person, and she told me that it was just rude to ask. This was the first indication that I needed to be a teacher!"

Sharon is known for her curved piecing technique called Piec-liqué, as well as numerous beautiful continuous-line quilting patterns. She also specializes in hand-painting faces on fabric. And her stunning quilt, “Scarlet Serenade ”, was selected as the winner of the 2007 $100,000 Quilting Challenge! Congratulations to this talented, multi-faceted quilter!

Sharon will present her “New York Beauty Piec-liqué” workshop on Thursday, May, 8.

Visit Sharon's website, www.sharonschamber.com to view Sharon's fabulous quilts and her free tutorials, and to purchase her books, DVDs, and other products.

April 8, 2008 -- Fiber Artist Didi Salvatierra, of Abingdon, Maryland, presents “Dare to Embellish!”

March 11, 2008 -- Merry May of Tuckahoe, NJ, “Nothing Up My Hanging Sleeve”

Unusual and entertaining tips from “The Fudgemaster's” thirty years of quiltmaking experience. Includes topics such as “Alternative Shopping,” “Other Uses for 505 Spray,” and “Things My Grandmother Taught Me.” Includes a few samples to pass around and examine.

February 12, 2008 -- Madge Ziegler of Newark, Delaware, “Apron Strings”

(This meeting was cancelled because the school closed early due to bad weather. We have rescheduled this program for our February, 2009, meeting.)

Aprons are hot! A fun and informative program. Using her extensive collection of vintage aprons, Madge will have Guild members modeling a variety of aprons and showing quilts from the same time period. More aprons and apron patterns will be displayed.

Teacher, lecturer and award-winning quiltmaker, Madge Ziegler teaches for local shops and lectures and conducts workshops throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. She resides in Newark, Delaware. Madge has been teaching quiltmaking since 1979. Her work has been part of national juried and invitational quilt exhibitions. She enjoys using examples from her extensive collection of vintage quilts in her lectures and classes.

Madge was interviewed in 2001 by Heather Gibson of the The Alliance for American Quilts Q.S.O.S. (Quilters' S.O.S.- Save Our Stories) project. Visit www.centerforthequilt.org to see the interview and accompanying photographs.

January 8, 2008 -- Charity Quilt Workshop

At our January meeting, we spent our time cutting fabric and assembling more Charity Quilt kits. Jane Shea announced the name of the person who donated the most time to the Guild's charity efforts. Again this year it was Lee Hickman. Lee was awarded a gift certificate from BVQ for one year's free membership! Also, Peg Miller was our top raffle quilt ticket seller. She outpaced everyone else, selling 20 books of tickets!

December 11, 2007 -- Holiday Celebration

Potluck dinner and games were enjoyed by all in attendance. Dale Kendall was the lucky winner of our raffle quilt!

November 13, 2007 -- Batik Tambal

Batik Tambal specializes in the textile traditions of Indonesia. Our program will consist of a hands-on workshop with paintsticks.

October 9, 2007 -- Charlotte Froman presents “Conservation and preservation of Textiles”.

In addition to her quilting, Charlotte is an Embroidery Guild of America Master Craftsman.

September 11, 2007 -- Susan Cleveland of West Concord, Minnesota.

Susan’s quilts have been shown in international-level competition since 1997 and have received many awards. She bases her designs on traditional patterns, then adds specialty threads, prairie points, and great binding techniques.

Susan will present a workshop on the afternoon of September 11.

August 14, 2007 -- Picnic and BVQ 2007 Challenge display/voting.

July 10, 2007 -- Augusta Cole of Richmond, VA, “A Stroll Through My Quilt Garden”

Augusta Cole began her quilting career in North Carolina 27 years ago. She was a member of the Pamlico River Quilters Guild and has served on the board of directors for the North Carolina Quilt Symposium. In 1984, she moved to Richmond and became active in the local quilting groups, eventually serving as President of the Virginia Consortium of Quilters.

Currently, Augusta teaches basic beginner classes and advanced workshops, many of them being snappy, scrappy classes. She gives lectures that include her collection of quilts and her love for the art of quiltmaking.

Augusta is married with two grown children and four precious grandsons. In addition to quilting, she is a Middle School Health and Physical Education teacher for the Henrico County School system and also coaches middle school boys’ soccer each fall!

June 12, 2007 -- Mickey Lawler of West Hartford, CT, “Skywriting”

Imagine the possibilities with the most inspiring hand-painted cottons for today's quiltmaker! A quiltmaker for over 25 years, Mickey Lawler paints each piece of fabric individually to suggest textures, skies, landscapes, moods, with subtle and rich color nuances. For this reason the name SKYDYES has become a symbol of outstanding art fabric for the creative quiltmaker and has been used by America's top quilt artists since 1984.

May 8, 2007 -- Eleanor Levie of Bucks County, PA, “Not Just for Mother's Day”

This collection of top-tier quilts celebrates women, capturing the joys, tribulations, and memories of family life, or commenting on social pressures. Some are deeply sentimental, others wild and quirky as all get out!
After the lecture, members shared quilts that were inspired by their mothers, or quilts they had made for their moms, or for their own children or grandchildren.

April 10, 2007 -- Mini Workshops

Four mini workshops were presented by our members. Ann Tumolo demonstrated stitching with decorative threads, Mary Alice Peeling presented a reversible Log Cabin technique, Lee Hickman showed how to cut a fat quarter to yield the most squares and triangles, and Ellen Nobles-Harris designed a quilt on her laptop computer using her Electric Quilt (EQ6) software. Everyone enjoyed learning something new! Many thanks to these four willing members for sharing their expertise.

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March 13, 2007 -- BVQ's 20th Anniversary Celebration!

At our March meeting, we celebrated BVQ’s 20th birthday with a catered dinner and social evening, at the Lutheran Church Of The Good Shepherd in north Wilmington.

February 13, 2007 -- Batik Tambal

Batik Tambal specializes in the textile traditions of Indonesia. Our program was to consist of a hands-on demo, featuring paintsticks to reproduce traditional Indonesian batik. Unfortunately, the meeting had to be canceled because the school was closed due to bad weather. Bummer! We were looking forward to learning this technique. Program was rescheduled to November 13, 2007.

January 9, 2007 -- Charity Quilt Workshop

This was a “working” meeting, where we cut squares and assembled kits for our Quilt Hugs charity quilts.

December 12, 2006 -- Holiday Social

A fun and relaxing evening of social time. We enjoyed a covered dish meal with everyone bringing their favorite dish, followed by Quilto games with prizes for the winners. A good time was had by all!

November 14, 2006 -- Show and Share

Guild members Jane Shea, Ann Tumolo, Eric and Moria Fischer, Ann Tolman and Lil Koster shared their quilts and their quilting stories.

October 10, 2006 -- Mickey Depre

Mickey Depre, who mixes traditional quilting techniques with bold, innovative machine appliqué and threadwork.

September 12, 2006 -- Gyleen Fitzgerald

Gyleen Fitzgerald is a chemical engineer by day and inventor and quilter all the time! Gyleen is best known for her sense of color and her technical design ability.

August 8, 2006 -- Jennifer Barone

Jennifer Barone, daughter of member Cindy Barone, will share her collection of hand-dyed, painted, and silk screened clothing. She will discuss the design process.

July 11, 2006 -- Guild Picnic at Brookhaven Municipal Building.

Our July meeting will take place at the Brookhaven Municipal Building, where were will enjoy a potluck dinner together. Don't forget to bring your Challenge Fabric quilts. This is the meeting where they will be judged. How is your challenge quilt coming along?

June 13, 2006 -- Shirley Kelley, “Preparing Edges for Pictoral Appliqué”

Shirley Kelly, of Colden, NY., will present a program on preparing edges for pictorial appliqué. Shirley was the Best of Show winner at the 2002 International Quilt Festival for her quilt “Flowers of the Crown”.

May 9, 2006 -- Carol Taylor, “Sew Many Quilts, So Little Time”

This retrospective of Carol's quilting career shows how she produced over 450 quilts (many award winning) since she began in 1993. She will present slides from her first traditional quilt through her gradual transition to art quilts. She will also present a trunk show of her newest quilts! The presentation is interspersed with some humorous slides from her 33 year-old son who shows Mom that he is never without his blankie!

April 11, 2006 -- BJ Titus, “Journey from Traditional to Contemporary Quilting”

BVQ member BJ Titus will tell us about her journey from traditional to contemporary quilting. B.J. began quilting in 1996 after attending her first quilt show. Her early quilts were traditional in design, although her use of bright colors would not be considered as such. She eventually migrated to art quilts and has not looked back. Her quilts have won numerous awards in national shows, and she has been repeatedly recognized for her machine workmanship. BJ encourages quilters to reach beyond the norm, let go of traditional expectations, and have fun with the design process.

March 14, 2006 -- Libby Kube Hage, Queen of Tops

A trunk show of twenty three (plus or minus) tops with humorous comments about why and when they were made, and why they are not quilted. Libby has been sewing the age of nine, and has been quilting off and on since 1976. She began teaching in 1994. She is a National Quilting Association Certified teacher and belongs to four guilds and the Quilt Professional Networking Guild. She teaches at Quilted Treasures quilt shop in Atco, Gloucester County College, Cherry Hill Arts Center, Washington Township Recreation Center.

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