9/18/18 Service Quilts Distributed

Barb Staub delivered Service Project quilts to several charitable organizations today.   The charities included Holly's House, St. Lucas church where the Service Projects committee holds most of its work days and a few other RQG events have been held there as well, SWIRCA, where RQG holds its membership meetings, Ohio Township Library in Newburgh, where several traveling teacher classes and other events have been held, Albion Fellows Bacon Center, and Gilda's Club.
Raintree members might recognize a  block or quilt top they made in the photos below.  We use St. Lucas Social room often for Service Project quilt assembly plus they have a special fundraising event coming up for to help finance cancer treatment for a young lady.  Float the pointer over photos to see the captions.

2019 Quilt Show Announced

A new, larger exhibit hall (in the same building) has been reserved for Raintree's 2019 Quilt Show.  It will be more spacious, at street level and way closer to parking. 
SO... MARK YOUR CALENDAR: September 20 - 21, 2019
Raintree Harvest of Quilts Show

8/1-2/18 Beth Schnellenberger Extreme Embroidery!

Beth Schnellenberger of Jasper, IN, presented a trunk show of her quilt works at Raintree's meeting on 8/1.   Her audience was enthralled and thoroughly enjoyed the program.  Then Thursday morning, 8/2 she taught her Extreme Embroidery Class to 10 Raintree members.  I visited the class and found they were out for late lunch.  So I photographed some works in progress:
Here are some examples of Beth's own completed works of extreme embroidery.
Then I stayed around to wait till I could get some good action photos.  Well, there are no hi-speed chases or home run hits or dramatic tackles in embroidery class.  But there was a bunch of avid stitchers:
Here's Beth's quilt entitled "Scorched Earth".  She showed it Wednesday night, 8/1, among her trunk show quilts.  Thanks to Kathy Maxwell for the photo.
Picture

6/15/18 Raintree Quilts will be shown at Grand Rapids AQS Quilt Show

Raintree submitted 8 quilts from our 2017 Ultimate Challenge to AQS AND THEY WERE SELECTED TO BE EXHIBITED AT THE AQS GRAND RAPIDS QUILT WEEK.  The Show is August 22-25

6/7/18 - Crayon Challenge Reveal

The 2018 challenge was THE CRAYON CHALLENGE.  Participants drew three crayons from a bag.  The rules stated they had to use those colores and could add an additional color to make their quilt.  We had a big variety of wonderful projects to see at the June meeting when we revealed the resulting projects.

6/3/18 - Improvisational Curved Piecing Workshop

Saturday Karen Hampton headed a workshop at Newburgh Library off Bell Road.  The projects we created were improvisational and used curved pieces. 20 members present created a wide range of exciting tops.  The last three photos were taken at the June 7 Raintree meeting after the participants had a few more days to complete their quilt tops.

4/7/18 - Tote Basket Workshop

4/4/18 - The Hancocks Discuss Life as Married Quilters

At Raintree's 4/4/18 Membership meeting Jennifer and Avery Hancock exposed the TRUTH about sharing a sewing room and a hobby:  It has it's challenges but it's fun, too.  They have different styles.  Jennifer is organized but likes to create and plan as she goes, while Avery's fabric stash is a mess but he likes to lay out the whole quilt and have it planned out before cutting into the fabric.  Sounds like a normal marriage to me.

4/4/18 - Raintree Library Books Being Sold

Raintree began selling off its library at the meeting.  We sold 32 books at $10.  At the May meeting we'll sell any remaining books at $5.  Books still not sold will be available for $2 at the June meeting.  Come join the fun.  The sale starts 1/2 hour before the meeting, 6:00 pm on 5/2, 5:30 pm on 6/6.  The sale continues during break and after the meeting briefly.

2/21/18 - Boys and Girls Club Sewing Class

Raintree members went to the Boys and Girls Club this week and worked with the kids to make up their own pillowcases.  The results were fantastic and the smiles were rewarding!

12/6/17 - Holiday Dinner meeting

The annual holiday exchange gifts are sampled above.  Our December meeting also included the raffle quilt drawing and and the Saran Wrap game.  Below is our raffle quilt winner and some Saran Wrap game players in deep concentration.  Thanks to Susan Young and Kim Merkel for taking the photos. 

9/23/2017 - Day 2 of Harvest of Quilts XII Quilt and Crafts Show

Gatherings of friends, vendor shopping, Silent Auction and Raffle Baskets, Komen Live Auction and much more.  Maybe the big news of the day was that the Viewer's Choice award went to Mom's Therapy Quilt by Bernadette Pohl.  Here's some of the photos from today.
Quilt Show Info

9/22/2017 -  Day 1 of Harvest of Quilts XII Quilt and Crafts Show

The quilt show is underway and looking GREAT!  News 44 was out this morning taking video and interviewing Irene Scheffler, Quilt Show Chairman.  Here's some early shots from the show:

09/21/2017 Winning Quilts

At the Awards Ceremony, 9/21/2017, the winning quilts were announced for the Harvest of Quilts XII Quilt and Crafts Show.  To see more on the winning quilts use the button below.
Winning Quilts

Spring 2017 - Blocks for the Cure assembled

The Blocks made for the Blocks for the Cure contest last fall were assembled this year to be auctioned at the Harvest of Quilts XII Quilt and Craft Show.   18 items were assembled including lap quilts, framed quilted items and tote bags.  These will be sold at the Quilt Show, the larger items by live auction on Saturday, at 2pm.

Susan G. Komen Survivor Quilt Raffled -- August 21, 2017

The Susan G Komen Survivor Quilt Project raised $1,567 and the money was donated to the Susan G Komen Evansville Tri-State affiliate.  See a photo of the quilt to the right.

Teresa Wells, a 14 year breast cancer survivor won the quilt.
Karen Hampton

2017 Ultimate Challenge Quilts Revealed - June 7, 2017

The American Quilt Society has issued the Ultimate Guild Challenge.  They will accept quilts from guilds and select guilds who will participate in a special exhibit at the 2018 Grand Rapids Quilt Show.  Raintree Quilters Guild passed along the challenge to its members.  They need to submit 8 project quilts to the AQS challenge. 

Nineteen Raintree members answered the challenge by creating a 30"x30" quilt with the theme of "'Tis a Gift".   The quilts they created were revealed to guild members at the June 7 Raintree meeting.  All these quilts will be exhibited at Raintree's Harvest of Quilts XII show in September, 2017.  

Raintree members selected the 8 quilts we'll send to AQS by vote along with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.  In the mean time the quilts will be shown at Harvest of Quilts XII Quilt and Craft Show.

2017 President's Quilt Presented to Irene Scheffler - June 7, 2017

Each year Raintree Vice Presidents are in charge of a project to make and present a quilt top to the Raintree President at the end of her term.  The President's Quilt was presented at the June Raintree meeting.

Service Project Quilts Given to Holly's House, Gilda's Club, SWIRCA and more
March, 2017

Starting February 4, 2017, several quilts from Raintree Quilters' Guild's Service Project committee were delivered to several charitable organizations.  They included:  Gilda's Club - 2 quilts; Holly's House - 4 quilts; SWIRCA(SW Indiana Regional Council on Aging) - 1 large quilt; Albion Fellows Bacon Center.

Recent Anne Zick Traveling Teacher Classes:  English Paper Piecing

In English Paper piecing you use a simple template made of paper or flexy plastic and temporarily fasten your fabric to it.  Then you assemble the pieces with the templates still behind.  Eventually you remove the templates from the back. Typically you use a bunch of the same shape and size pieces to make a quilt.  Ann Zick is an expert teacher on English Paper Piecing.  Class participants learned about the planning and techniques involved in creating an English Paper Pieced quilt.  This technique is easy to take along anywhere for handwork and is said to be relaxing.  The class was clearly having a great time and getting very nice resuilts when I went to take these photos. 

Quilt For The Cure Block Challenge  -- 10/5/16

Raintree Quilters Guild has conducted a quilt block challenge to benefit Susan G. Komen Tri-State Evansville Affiliate.  Guild members and quilters in the tri-state community submitted 140 complete quilt blocks.  Those present at the Raintree meeting, 10/5/16, voted on their three favorite blocks for the Viewer's Choice Awards.  Shiela Siler, Director of the Susan G. Komen Tri-State Evansville Affiliate selected her favorite for a Director's Choice Award.  The Viewer's Choice and Director's Choice winners received ribbons and gift certificates from area quilt shops.  In addition, the person who submitted the most blocks (Karen Hampton, 22 blocks) received chocolates, and other participants were selected by random drawing to receive chocolates. . . .

Old Fashioned Bed Turning -- 9/18/16

Sharon Metzger Conducts Old Fashioned Bed Turning -- 9/18/16

Raintree's Sunday,  9/18/16 Old Fashioned Bed Turning was a delight and an eye-opener.  Tea and sweets warmed us up to the event while volunteers were arranging and readying the quilts brought by audience members for the bed turning.  
We were asked to bring quilts made before 1960.   Some brought quilts that they inherited from family members, others brought quilts they had bought and believed to be antiques.

American Quilt Society (AQS) Certified Quilt Appraiser Sharon Metzger led the event and looked over each quilt to help identify the its age and give us an evaluation of the condition and rarity of the quilt. . . .
PRESS RELEASE  7/11/16

Raintree Quilters Guild sponsors Old-Fashioned Bed-Turning

WHAT’s IN GRANDMA’S ATTIC, an old-fashioned bed turning…
Hear stories of antique quilts, talk to the quiltmakers, see the intricate stitched handwork, and learn their value from a certified quilt appraiser.

WHEN: 2:00 pm, September 18, 2016 social with tea & cookies, followed by bed turning lecture.

WHERE: Eykamp Scout Center, 3501 E Lloyd Expy., Evansville, IN
 
WHAT:
- Old-fashioned quilt bed turning lecture by certified quilt appraiser Sharon Metzger
- Enter for a chance to get a free written certified quilt appraisal (Must bring quilts for eligibility)
- Document your own piece of history by getting a certified written quilt appraisal for $50 (If interested contact raintreequiltersguild@gmail.com prior to Sept 18.)
 
COST: Free to the public.

Evansville Public Library Centennial Quilt Project​

To celebrate Indiana’s Bicentennial the Evansville Public Library System is sponsoring two Community Quilts.  One will be made by adults, the other for children.
Adult Quilt
The design submitted by Olivia Tenbarge was selected for the adult quilt.  Her plan is to use Judit Hajdu’s Log Cabin Carpenter’s Star design with some appliqué added around the edge.  The appliqué’ may be nixed as difficult for the participants to do.  See below for photos from the first session.
Five workshops are scheduled at Vanderburgh libraries to assemble the quilt.  Area quilters, sewists, and novices are all invited to participate to complete this quilt at these workshops.  See the Events/Calendar page for dates and times.
Children’s Quilt
Stacy Jensen designed the kids quilt.  It will be a checkerboard design with one type of check consisting of a 4-patch of charm squares and the other will be kids drawings using fabric markers on a 9” square.   The blocks will be colored and hand-stitched together by kids.  See the Events/Calendar page for dates and times.