Forty-four members of the Mahone Bay Quilters’ Guild gathered for our monthly meeting on November 6th. Highlights of the business meeting included reports by the chairs for Programs, Workshops and Membership.

Daphne Strowbridge shared details of our holiday meeting on Monday December 4. We’ll meet an hour early, at 6 pm (doors opening at 5:30 pm), and members are asked to bring finger foods, cutlery, dishes and glasses. If you’d like to play a game, please bring any fat quarter, and as usual we’ll be having our ornament exchange (bring an ornament, take home an ornament) as well as a nonperishable food item or cash for the food bank.

Pina Wall reported that we’ll be hosting our first EQ (Exceptional Quilter) since before COVID! From April 10-13 Melissa Marginet will be presenting 3 days of workshops and a trunk show/tea, all hosted at the Mahone Bay Legion. Some members will definitely remember the walking foot quilting Zoom workshop Melissa led for the guild a couple of years ago. More details of this program coming soon, and if you want to learn more about Melissa, please visit her website, or borrow one of her books from our Guild Library.

Eldora Baillie announced that we have a grand total of 104 members, and showed off some quilt tops she had finished for cuddle quilts using Melissa Marginet’s walking foot designs (see photos below).

We’re so happy to announce that Donna Egan has agreed to take on the big job of Quilt Show Chair, and she and Kirsten prepared the kits for the Challenge quilts (see the lovely colour choice below — fabrics sourced from Heidi Wulfraat’s Woolworks). The Challenge Theme for the 2024 Quilt Show is Circles! You can pick up your kit at a Guild meeting for $20. Johanna Alford volunteered to coordinate the silent auction of these Challenge Quilt at the show, with proceeds going, as usual, to the charity Christmas Daddies.

2024 Quilt Show Challenge Quilt Kits available now for $20

And we were all treated to our first view of the 2024 Raffle Quilt — this masterpiece of hand appliqué and custom quilting by Krista Garber and Pam Wells, respectively. Tickets for this extraordinary piece of art will be available in December. Please do your bit to sell as many tickets as possible — money raised this way helps support the Quilt Show itself!

2024 Raffle Quilt by Krista Garber, quilted by Pam Wells.

We then had a lively Sew and Tell, featuring works by Cheryl Borden, Kellie Skelhorn, Sandy Emenau and Peggy Abbot. Check out our Flickr album for photos of all of these delightful pieces, but here are a few to start with!

After a break, we had a trunk show and career retrospective by distinguished art quilter and long-time MBQG member Cathy Drummond. Unlike many of us, Cathy started quilting with art quilts, a natural extension of her painting and other art. In fact, Cathy started quilting because she had a large empty wall in her new home, and decided to take a course with Laurie Swim to make a big piece of art to fill the space!

: First Art Quilt by Cathy Drummond

: Small Woodland, made after another workshop with Laurie Swim

: Spring Trees — the view out of the window of the Trinity United Church hall

: The result of a workshop with Sylvia Nadler who taught embellishment techniques. Also features hand-dyed grey background fabric by Debbie Vermullen