Helping Hands in Haiti

We recently received an email from a school in Haiti appealing for help with supplies for their vocational program. The purpose of the program is to give the students a skill that could raise them out of poverty, and contribute goods and services to their community.

The concept of the school has been in the works for some time, but the actual classes have just begun. In June a class started with 10 girls from the village that will teach them how to sew on treadle machines. They will be learning to control the machines, make pincushions, drawstring bags, and eventually PJ shorts. This is being viewed as a summer program.

The other big part of the school started the first week of July. It is a sewing center intending to train seamstresses in the area. They will be trained on the 3 electric machines currently owned by the school. They will be making 5 different high-end bag patterns. A volunteer who has run factories in Puerto Rico and Orlando, and is very talented at both sewing and running a production line is guiding them. The hope is to create jobs in the village, and expand the school. Eventually these bags will be imported and sold in the US. They are making these bags in beautiful Earth tones and they feel very certain these bags will do very well and have the potential to grow into a serious operation that could affect many families in this community. When I asked them what is the one thing the Guild could send that would help them immediately they said they could use polyester thread in BLUE, WHITE, KHAKI and BLACK. I will update the Guild as soon as they have a better idea of fabric specifics and other supplies they might need, but in the meantime all of your thread donations will be well received.

There is no way to send a package of supplies to Haiti directly so we have to be careful to send only what is requested. Those supplies will be hand delivered by the volunteers from Florida as they go down to oversee the school’s progress.

This is a small school and we can collectively make a big difference. I have had so many people approach me with an open heart just waiting to hear how they can contribute. I will keep you posted with this fast moving and evolving program. If you would like to make a donation independently or in addition to the collective effort, the web address is http://schoolofblessings.org. There you will find the ability to sponsor a student or provide a sewing machine or a desk. You can also send them a check or make a donation through Paypal, and those options are discussed on the web page. Thank you so much for the enthusiasm you have shown for this project.

Toni Anderson

Linda Gilbert tested out a crochet pattern for bird nests for the Bird Rescue Sanctuary. She went by the sanctuary and they told her what quality of nest is needed. A sample will be by the Block of the Month display at guild meetings.

For the pattern, see Crocheted Artificia lBird Nest.

Thanks, Linda, for figuring this out for us.

In May of 1996, the California Sesquicentennial Commission asked the California Heritage Quilt Project to create a special quilt to reflect California’s 58 counties through picture images.

Over the span of 15 months, a pictorial masterpiece was created by 67 quilt artists. Over the course of 8 months, more than 150 select quilters from Northern California spent  2,000 hours to create the 9’8″ by 10’2″ quilt.

Among the talented artists who worked on the quilt were many members of the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild: Katie Alix, Mitzi Dowling, Jeanette Hensley, Dorothy Ingham, Elizabeth Marrs, Judy Mathieson, Nancy Parmelee, Janet Shore, Lois Stephens, Marilyn Swanson, Lee Trevelyan and Dotty Zagar.

When the quilt was completed, it toured the state for two years and was seen by 4 million people.

To celebrate its permanent exhibit, The California Museum is dedicating its Signature Exhibit display.

On Sunday, May 18th, from 12 – 5 pm, the Museum is celebrating the quilt’s acquisition with a special program.

See the following attachments for a picture of the quilt and announcement of the California Museum program.

The California Sesquicentennial Quilt

Invitation to Recognition and Celebration Program

Meg Easter Dawson from the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home talks to Santa Rosa Quilt Guild. Meg’s presentation is followed by a parade of the quilts which are donated to the home.

If you are interested in the history and documentation of the quilting arts, I highly recommend you check out The Quilt Index based at Michigan State University.

The Quilt Index is a project of the Michigan State University Museum, Matrix, and Quilt Alliance to preserve images and stories about quilt artists, quilts, and quilting activities and then to make this information searchable and freely accessible for research and education. The Index houses tens of thousands of images and stories of artists and quilts from private and public collections around the world.

The website is http://www.quiltindex.org/index.php.

Click on the Collections tab, then Main, and you will find links to research sites like the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, state quilt research sites, the DAR, Hawaii and international groups. Check out the Galleries, Essays and Journals … I found it to be one of those sites that you can get lost in (and inspired by) for hours.

Enjoy!

Jim Jensen

Business Meeting Minutes, March 2014

Business Meeting Minutes, February 2014

Business Meeting Minutes, January 2014

With Phyllis Gallaway
Taught on June 21st 2012

Phyllis will demonstrate many ways to produce half-square triangle units, some more accurate than others.  Methods will include sewing triangles, sewing squares, bias strips, grids, folding, and paper piecing.

Clink on the link below for instructions
TSW-HST-2012

With Kathy Rathbun
Taught on July 5th 2012

Kathy Rathbun demonstrates how to assemble a tossed nine patch with many possibilities of putting the blocks together.

Click on the link below for instructions
TSW-TossedNinePatch