The penultimate meetings of this quilting year were well attended and as lively as ever. The evening meeting featured demonstrations of Quilt-as-you-go and various binding techniques by members. Details of the binding techniques are on the website under Program. The day meeting was a fascinating presentation by Anna Timm-Bottos from the Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR). This opened in 2017 and aims to take unwanted items from all the university departments and provide a home for them so that they can be reused in new and innovative ways by other departments. The centre also has a crafting space and volunteers help to prepare the materials for other uses. The centre has taken several tons of what would have been waste and helped to reuse it. There were numerous questions after the presentation as the ideas really hit a nerve with many members. How wonderful that so many new ways are being found to reuse what would otherwise be discarded as rubbish. The centre is also open to the public and items are free.

The business portions of the meetings covered the results of the last Tool Time Raffle and prizes were distributed by Christine. The next raffle is due in September. What a great way to find new homes for the books, tools and pattens no longer required by members. Thank you, Christine, for all your hard work. The guild will also be busy over the summer with a stall at the St. Jean celebration in Centennial Park, Beaconsfield and delivering items for local organistions via the Outreach team.

Membership is now open for next season and next months day meeting will be the AGM. Before that however we are having a Guild Shop Hop to 4 stores in Ontario organised by Laynie. Don’t forget to sign up if you want to participate. The Shop Hop last year was great and produced some excellent ideas as people milled about in the shops and talked over lunch.

Show and Tell was busy and some members showed the quilts they made from the blocks in their Quilting Bee hives. Melanie then presented feedback on the Quilting bee and as it was such a success it’s returning for another year. Sign up starts in early July so that new members can join in and the bee itself will run from Sept 15th to May 15th so that it fits in better with the schedule . The rules are mostly the same but all the details are on the website under Program. For those taking part in this years quilting bee, prepare yourselves for the instructions for the final month. June Queen Bees will be sending out their instructions early so that we can get the blocks done before the June meetings, if possible.

Starting the meeting with the guild business, Janet highlighted that the Tulip and Spring Flowers Challenge quilts are now on display at Beaconsfield library where they have been joined by some selected work from two of our recently deceased members.

Another interesting matter discussed at the meeting was the formation of an ad-hoc online meeting for members who want to sew together outside of the usual Tuesday sew-ins. It was decided to have a sign up option on the private Facebook page Beaconsfield Quilter’s Guild (private) for those members who wish to join in. If you are not yet signed up for the Facebook page, please go and request admission and Franca or I will be happy to let you in.

Also mentioned was the Illusions of Colour project we have been working on at the retreats this year. Fay asked that anyone who has completed their final 6th block should send a photo of it as well as a photo of all of their blocks to retreats@beaconsfieldquilters.ca so that they can prepare a presentation.

The April meetings both ran the same program. After dealing with the business of the month and the show and tell, Pat Bradley gave us a useful run down of the history and scope of Oeko-Tex, a fabric certification seen on labels. Their aim is to manufacture fabric in a sustainable way, so very much in keeping with this year’s theme. Pat’s presentation was detailed and thorough and provided a great snapshot the aims and achievments of this organisation. Their website https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/ is a good place to find more information.

Finally the meeting closed with a fabric exchange.

The Tulips and Spring Flowers quilts are now on show at Beaconsfield library until the end of May. Be sure to stop by for a look at them and the selected works by some of our recently departed guild members.

I couldn’t make it to either of the March meetings, so if anyone has anything they would like to share, feel free to add a comment below or send me a note and I”ll add something here.

The program looked great and I’m sure everyone enjoyed the bed turning on Tuesday evening featuring “My firstest quilt ” by some of our members and the Wednesday morning trunk show by Annette H.

I certainly hope to be present for the April Meetings so see you all then.

Continuing with our theme of helping the planet, our evening meeting this month, again a virtual one for everyone, welcomed a speaker from San Francisco, Radha Weaver, whose website Sewing through Fog, and other social media, covers her journey into quilting with upcycled jeans.

Radha studied costume design but took a corporate job at Levis to support herself. She worked for many years in the fast fashion industry and travelled widely creating a product line for Walmart and Target. In 2020, however, she finally had time to sit still and think about her future and she decided to give it up to follow her creative path. She turned her home office into a sewing room and started her Instagram account Sewing through Fog.

Having worked for Levis she understood denim and she had a supply of old jeans so she started to quilt with the jeans. She entered a quilt at Quiltcom 2024 in the scrappy challenge and at the last minute she decided to attend in person, making it her mission to seek out other quilts made with upcycled material. She was successful and also met our own Nicole.

She has made, amongst other things, a denim “weighted” blanket and a denim and leather quilt. 90 per cent of her materials are upcycled with only the thread often being new. Her website contains a blog and copies of her patterns for creating the denim quilts, She also offers classes and tutorials and help on upcycling and finding sources for used fabric.

Finally she said the we should forgive ourselves for buying those things we dont use, the fabric we no longer like so much, the ruler or template we only used once, and find ways to let them go to a new home (Tool time raffle anyone?). She finished by stating that sustainable quilting is not about saving everything, its not about shutting down all the quilt shops, its about looking at alternatives and having fun.

After a quick break the business part of the meeting dealt with tool time winners and the date for the next one (probably in March) and the imminent arrival of the next retreat the weekend of February 15th which will be virtual with details on the website and via Newsletter Blast. The Program team then reported on the recent workshop which went well at the Beacon Hill Chalet and mentioned two upcoming events, a free motion quilting workshop and another Shop Hop in the spring. The meeting finished with show and tell.

The in person Wednesday meeting was a trunk show by Gillian Lee but I was unfortunately unable to attend. If anyone has any information about it, please feel free to add it below.