A Quilt for the Guild President 06-14-11

In Southern California quilt guilds there is a tradition of presenting the outgoing guild president with a quilt made by the members.  As far as I know, this started with Orange County Quilters Guild in 1982 with the founding president Kaye Rheingans.  All of the quilts are composed of blocks made by members using a design of their choosing.  The past president is usually the organizer and consults with the president about the topic and the size of the quilt (so it will fit on a wall in the past president's house).  Blocks can be 4, 5 or 6 inches - this quilt uses 5" blocks.  The designs, in keeping with the theme, can be something traditional, something about the president,  something about the member who makes the block, or just a motif in support of the theme (obviously the beach, in this case).  Since I always wear a hat, my block for any president's quilt is usually a hat. (top row third from right), this time pieced using Ruth McDowell's techniques.  All members don't make blocks, but may participate by helping with assembly or hand quilting at the various scheduled quilting bees. 

Sharon Whelan's 2010-11 President's Quilt   60"W x 70"L  Made by members of Surfside Quilters Guild under the direction of Nancy Ota.  Appliqued logo (a rearrangement of the newsletter logo) by Nancy Ota and Jan Hirth.

 

Nancy Ota used Seta-color to create an image of Las Brisas on the backing and beach umbrellas and flip flops were appliqued over that.  Everyone who worked on the quilt has signed on one of the umbrellas or flip flops. 

SQG Changing of the Guard 04-12-11

Here are only 25 of the Surfside Quilters Guild officers and board members who are either leaving office or changing offices effective May 1st.  These are not all of the ladies who have contributed to this great guild in the last year - some of us hadn't made it to the stage yet.  But it is a representation of the woman power needed to keep a guild at peak performance.  Nancy Ota, founding president sits on the stage at right - behind her in blue is Joann Bishop, the incoming president.  Although everyone has a job to do it takes a strong and willing person to guide the guild for a year.  I congratulate both Nancy and Joann on their continuing involvement.

And congratulations also to this year's outgoing president, Sharon Whelan, seemingly bemused standing here beneath Joan Colvin's "Copper Tree" facing Diane Firth's "Red Wave".  Sharon is very involved not only in Surfside Quilters Guild, but in other guilds and quilting activities around the Southland.

I did the "anniversary" program today due to the illness of our scheduled speaker.  I had a couple weeks warning that I would be "on" in April instead of May, but was gone for ten days to visit Mary and attend Empty Spools and I felt the pressure of getting the TCQC quilts organized and "package" for transport to the meeting.  I tried to not show too many of the same quilts that were part of the inaugural program in May 2009, but a few are such favorites I had to include them.  I hope the someone who took pictures at the meeting will be willing to share so I can post some images in the future.  

Aqua therapy in the morning - I can hardly wait to get in that 91degree pool and work on some of my aches and pains.