The Committee of Queanbeyan Quilters Inc for the year ahead 2019-2020 is as follows:
President - Cassandra Philpot
Vice President - Narell Smit
Treasurer - Bryony De La Motte
Secretary - Paula Moloney
Committee - Liz Hendrickson
Dacia Wells
Lyn Alder
Narell, Cassandra, Bryony, Liz and Dacia
President’s Report
Queanbeyan Quilters Inc Annual
General Meeting
26th July 2019
Queanbeyan Quilters Inc
has had a busy year with good attendance at all sessions whether in the
light-filled room at Karabar on Thursdays or on Fridays in the spacious and
well-lit Letchworth centre which has plenty of available amenities.
A strong committee has
kept things running smoothly over the year, only needing to formally convene
three times. A revised constitution was adopted by the club and gives specific
procedures for particular eventualities, should they ever arise.
I would particularly like
to thank Cheryl Taylor for her regular and essential attendance, opening and
setting up the tables and chairs for all our sessions and I wish her well
during her travels over the coming year.
Narell organised another
retreat to Lake Crackenback Spa & Resort, with great food and camaraderie
as well as lots of sewing in marvellous picturesque surroundings.
The club continued to
support the Queanbeyan Show by providing prizes for junior quilt makers and
supplying a steward to receive and hang quilts.
The club also showed support
for Braidwood Airing of the Quilts with gift quilts provided to hang in the
street and members’ quilts entered in the Indoor Show. Several of our members continue
to enjoy their quilting Wednesdays with our Braidwood friends.
We celebrated Christmas
at the club at the end of November, at the meeting which was held a week later
than usual so as not to clash with Braidwood Airing of The Quilts activities.
We also went out for Christmas dinner at the Hotel Queanbeyan where we had our
own decorated room and personal service plus bonbons and small gifts from
fellow members.
Using our numbers we
pre-purchased tickets to visit the Canberra Craft & Quilt Fair last August
and enjoyed seeing what Canberra Quilters had achieved. Narell organised a bus
to take us to the Sydney show in June but only a few members and guests took
the bus. The Show itself was enjoyed by all who went to it, by bus or otherwise.
The Gift quilts program
has run away with success. So many have been made, Kay ran out of batting.
Donations from businesses have been used up and more batting was ordered.
Spotlight had a wonderful sale and members used their discount vouchers on
cotton batting. Some members have continued to make either blocks, quilts or
laundry bags for Aussie Hero Quilt distribution. Quilts were given to the Pink
Party organisers and the August Quiz Night of Rise Above. The club sent quilts
to the Bunyip region after their bad fires earlier in the year. A quilt was
given to the Hospital Auxiliary for a Christmas time raffle. We are continuing
to supply Home in Queanbeyan with quilts, four of them recently. Glenis has
made many trips to the Louisa Domestic Violence Service with quilts for them to
distribute. Liz Hendrickson has led the sewing, demonstrating how to make
zipped bags and encouraged the group to fill up toiletry bags for Louisa.
Sandra Still made a beautiful quilt for Walk 4 Babies, a fundraiser for the
Queanbeyan Hospital Maternity Ward. A large box of quilts was sent to the
Bunyip area of Victoria which suffered in recent fires, just as we did for
Tathra the year before. The club has been working on quilts for teenagers in
need of support. These will be progressively given out to organisations working
with youngsters starting out from adverse circumstances.
Particular thanks are due
to my Vice President Chris Charlton who has organised our many speakers at
meetings throughout the year. Beth and Trevor Reid brought many quilts and
described their quilting journey and how they work together. Anne Pratt from
Home in Queanbeyan showed a video about their residents. Kate Vavasour aka
ColourAngelbyKV talked about her designs and use of Spoonflower. Leonie Fraser
demonstrated Westalee rulers. Club members Sandra Still, Cassandra Philpot and Maryanne
Haslam showed some of their quilts from then and now. Marg from Addicted to
Fabric talked about what they were doing in the shop and upcoming classes.
Special thanks to Glenis
for her many years of looking after the library, adding new books which have
been donated or purchased, covering them and keeping records of book loans and
stocktake of the books. There have been
many additions to the library over the year; some are donated books, some have
been requested by members. We have cut back on magazine subscriptions and note
that many have gone out of business.
The club has tried to run
technique nights throughout the year based on what people would like to learn
or do. Sandra Still prepared a kaleidoscope workshop which was well subscribed
and much enjoyed. Bryony prepared and led several nights which led to many gift
quilts being made. Julie ran the Crosscut quilt night encore and did a demo of
photocopy transfer to fabric. Julie also arranged to make new labels, via
Spoonflower, for the club. They are bright and fresh and look good stitched
onto the quilts. Members had an Accuquilt cutting demo mutual night. On another
night we cut out Hearts for Christchurch to applique onto blocks and we also did
a curved block cutting night.
At Spotlight, one of our
major sponsors, we had members demonstrate patchwork at the VIP night and Quilt
Expo weekend and help customers with their questions.
The Monthly Inspirations
has been run this year with several people participating each month. Thanks to
Liz Hendrickson for making this happen.
We are now well into
preparation for the next Exhibition, to be held 17th to 20th
April next year. Two raffle quilts are already made and valued. Challenges have
been set. The first one was called “Home” and Liz has the packs with
information. A small fee applies as there is something to be used in each piece
made. The Community Challenge is called “Living Without 2020 Vision”. Yet to be
announced is the Circular Display Challenge.
We continue to work
closely with Council and enjoy our facilities. The lighting at Letchworth was
patchy but has been replaced and is now bright and even and good for the
detailed work we do. We have been successful in obtaining a grant to cover some
of our rent for the coming year, very helpful given how costs have increased while
membership has slipped somewhat. The club hired some storage space but has now
transferred everything to an outside-accessed store room at Letchworth. After
keeping our quilt stands under the Bicentennial Hall stage for longer than I’ve
been a member, we were finally asked at the end of last year to remove them as
they are doing some upgrades to the Hall. With the help of a few members and
their husbands, we took all the rods, stands and metal components out and
transferred them over to the store room at Letchworth. The amazing thing is,
they all fitted inside! Setting up and dismantling the next show is going to be
quite a business with the extra work of
transferring them to and from the Exhibition hall.
All in all, it has been
an enjoyable and productive year and I thank all the members who make up our
friendly club for their continuing support and the hard-working committee and
people with special jobs who lighten the load for all of us. I hope you
continue to belong and to enjoy our community.
Cassandra Philpot
President
2018-2019
