Welcome

Welcome to the home of the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild. Find us on Facebook

 Monthly Meetings

Join us for our Zoom meetings in 2022/2023.  We will meet on the third Monday of each month, September through June – our meetings begin at 7:00 pm  with Zoom opening at 6:00 pm. **NEW – This year we will be featuring short demos online at 6:30 pm. Log on early and watch. If you would like to demo something just let us know.

Our next meeting will be held on Monday, February 20, 2023.  

Click here for information about our past meetings and a schedule for our 2022/2023 meetings as well as details of our meetings from years past. 

Click here for the Guild’s Constitution and Procedural Manual.

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Superior Quilt Show – May  26, 27, 28, 2023

Our amazing quilt show is coming up.  Keep checking this site for more details.

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Library Night – Tuesday, February 21

Our next Library Night will be Tuesday, February 21 at Calvary Lutheran Church from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. As we do each year, the library committee has purged the older books to make way for new ones. These will be on display and available for purchase for $2.50 each. Please let us know if you would like a book purchased and added to the library.

Maria and Wendy

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Guild Workshops

We are happy to offer a wide variety of workshops for our members through the winter months. Hopefully you will find something that interests you. I encourage you to take advantage of these learning opportunities. All are planned for Vickers Heights Community Centre. Fees are $40 for 6 hour classes and $30 for 3 hour classes.

  • Two Fabric Bargello – Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 10am – 4pm
  • Inserting a Zipper into a Tote Bag – Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 1 – 4pm
  • The Joy of Finishing – A toolkit of bindings and binding alternatives – Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 1 – 4pm
  • Free Motion Quilting Introduction – Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 10am – 4pm

Click here for more details about the classes.

To register or for more information please contact Adrienne at  vp.tbqg@gmail.com Registration is open for all of these classes.

Adrienne

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Sew Days 

In-Person

The Sew Day Committee has secured the Vickers Heights Community Centre for five in-person Sew Days this Guild year. The next Sew Day is

  • Saturday February 4, 2022 at 10 am to 4 pm
  • $11.00 per person

There will be one person per table. No lunch will be provided and there will not be a treat table. There will be a table with risers for cutting but each person needs to bring their own cutting mat and rulers. Two ironing stations will be provided. There will be hand sanitizer available at the door and all surfaces will be wiped down before the Sew Day starts. The mask mandate has been lifted so it is up to each individual to decide if they want to wear one. To register for the October Sew Day email Ellen  ellen_lang@tbaytel.net. The first 14 emails will be accepted and any more will be put on a waiting list and will be the first contacts for the next sew day. Ellen Lang

Ellen

Virtual

We will once again be gathering for virtual sew days. For member who is interested in joining one of these days, there is no program, just log on – the rest is up to whatever you want to do. Next dates are:

  • Sunday, February 19 – 10 am to 4 pm
  • Tuesday, February 28 – 1 to 4 pm

If you would like to join, and haven’t already done so, send an email to president.tbqg@gmail.com to register. A zoom link will be sent out a few days before the date.

Cathy and Doris

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*New – click here for the Dinosaur-Pattern

Teddy Bear Quilts  

At the last meeting I mentioned that 173 was the final count, so now I am going to adjust that to 196 since we received 23 more after the meeting. Thanks to all who contributed to this worthy cause.

Peggy

A dedicated page has been created where all of our Teddy Bear Quilt patterns will be to make it easier for everyone to find. Click here.

Click here for more information on this wonderful project and or try some NEW patterns:

For more details about this and other Community Service Projects click here.

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Placemats – *New Patterns* added – check them out

Thanks to all who contributed beautiful placemats this past month! We collected 148 on “Teddy Bear Day”. Our thanks go to Pat Inch for overseeing the placemat collection and the distribution of our kits at that event. Another 56 were received throughout the month. We plan to donate these, along with nearly 300 previously collected placemats, to various organizations before the end of the year. Currently, we are in contact with Meals on Wheels, Jasper Place and Wesway to determine their needs. Please contact us if you have other recipients to suggest. Happy holidays!

A new page dedicated to placemats has been created.  Click here to find all of the patterns in one place.  Try one or all of them.

  Baseball Season

  Overlap

Here are a few other new patterns to try as well:

We are continuing to make and contribute placemats to Meals on Wheels and other facilities in the area, sharing our work to bring a spot of cheer into the lives of others.

For those who are not familiar with this initiative, let me direct you to the placemat page of the guild website – click here. which can also be accessed from the menu on the right-hand side of our home page. There you will find over 60 free patterns for placemats. You may use these or any pattern to make placemats to donate.

If you do so using your own materials, we recommend 12” x 18” as the size. We also supply labels made specifically to be attached to our donated placemats. To attach, fold the label in half, wrong sides together, and place the raw edges underneath the binding before completion.

Contact Doris (dorisd@tbaytel.net) if you would like some labels. We also offer complete placemat kits for you to sew at home. This year Katrina has kindly offered to help with our kit distribution through her shop, Sew Flippin’ Creations on May Street. Thanks, Katrina!

If you know of any facility or organization that would benefit by receiving our placemats or would like to reach out to places in town on our behalf, please contact us.

Happy quilting!

Doris and Judy 

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Comfort and Figit Quilts

Despite lockdowns, working from home and depletion of our fabric stashes, the Guild collected and distributed 149 comfort quilts, 126 fidgets and 7 neonatal blankets since September. You deserve all the credit for this awesome achievement and please know how thankful the local facilities are to have benefitted from your talents.

The Committee is always reviewing and updating the list of locations that receives Comfort Quilts. If you know of any location that may benefit from receiving a quilt or quilts, please provide contact and background information. The aim has been to support facilities where quilts will be used multiple times and benefit the users. We don’t provide quilts to sell or give specifically to any individuals, however, Guild members often contribute their time for these other projects.

Jackie Black is piecing together larger quilts using the quilted 12 1/2 inch blocks. Please keep bringing them in. Blocks can be any pattern but we are requesting that colours be kept neutral so they can be used by male and female residents. Remember to sandwich larger (about 14 inch backing and batting) and leave them untrimmed. It is a wonderful way to try out a pattern you find in a magazine or on-line. Come find Jackie or me if you have questions.

Thanks goes out to the many quilters who contributed quilts, squares, time and so much support so far this year.

Just a reminder – Labels should be sewn on the back of the quilts flat so that they do not get caught on anything including fingers and toes.  The label that is sewn on flat is the correct way to sew them on. Click here for more information about our Comfort Quilts and other community projects.Have you thought about making a Figit Quilt? Florence and I could provide you some tactile fabrics and notions to give it a try. Here is a great example of a fidget quilt. This is from ‘Man Quilting’ with Rob Apell. He has some great ideas on this fidget quilt. If you Google ‘fidget pillows’ you’ll see more examples made as pillows instead.

Florence and Pat

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Virtual Quilt Bee – 2022 – that’s a wrap! See you next year.

I’d like to encourage everyone to consider working on at least one charity quilt over the coming months.

  • I have several kits for quilt top assembly.
  • I have backing and batting and tops if you’d like to practice your quilting.
  • I have at least one small quilt sandwich that has been spray basted and ready for quilting.
  • I have quilts that need binding.
  • And…. I have bundles of fabrics that would be great to assemble into a Linda’s Quilt. I’ve finished mine and another member has finished one. They are beautiful! I will try to show it at the meeting.

Contact Adrienne at alopes@tbaytel.net to arrange a pick up or drop off of a kit or item for finishing.

A special pattern has been drafted that you may want to consider making.  At the next Bee, our long time and creative member, Linda Guitard, handed in a beautiful quilt top that has been made into a new pattern especially for the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild.  It is going to be ready for the 2021 Bee as both hospice size and lap size.  A photo of Linda’s quilt is included here so you can consider if you’d like to make this quilt as your charity quilt this year.  If interested, please let Adrienne know.  Don’t worry if you’re not ready for this quilt.  It will be around as a Guild pattern for years to come.

Thank you to everyone who is completing quilts for donation! We are doing a great job of keeping our recipients warm this winter. If you have finished a charity quilt and hand it in at a meeting please remember to let Adrienne, Leona or Wendy know so your name can be marked off the list. Remember to attach the guild label before handing it in. Thanks.

Click here for more details.

Any questions? Email Adrienne at alopes@tbaytel.net.

Adrienne

For more information on the Quilt Bees and our Community Projects – click here.

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NEW *Figit Quilts

We’ve added a new page that will feature pictures, patterns and instructions to make Figit Quilts.  Check them out and try some. Click here

Try this new link for LOTS of figit quilt ideas

Pat and Florence

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Library

The AccuQuilt Ready Set.GO! 8″ Ultimate Fabric Cutting System has arrived which includes a 2 1/2-inch strip cutter, 6 x 6 cutting mats with designs (8 of them) Qube book by Eleanor Burns, die pick, and over 70 free patterns. We bought 2 extra 6 ” x 6″ cutting mats. It is very easy to use. Lots of patterns to use your scraps or for making larger quilts. Please give me a call for more information.

Maria and Wendy

In the meantime, click here to view the updated TBQG Library List Aug2020

When we are back up and running the Library will open from 6 – 7 pm and during the break.  Members are allowed to sign out 3 books at a time. Did you know that Quilting magazines are available for free and discontinued library books are on sale for $2.50.

Try out one of the new rulers:

  • Non-slip Pineapple Trim Tool Mini (4″, 5″,6″) or the Regular (6″, 8″, 10″) size
    Quick Curve Ruler (Regular Size and Mini) with Runner Pattern
    Tucker Trimmer
    Wing Clipper
    Add-A-Quarter Inch Plus Ruler (12″ long and a 6″ mini)

Click here for more information on what’s new to borrow at the Library.

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Traditional and Curvy Workshop with Daisy Ascheboug

thanks Daisy for an amazing workshop!

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 FAQs and Tips

Aunt Marti’s 52 Quilts – Susie’s Magic Binding Tutorial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8N6nv90H2c

Binding a quilt without binding strips – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_OBqG_nAI

Do you have any tips to share?  Click here for more…

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Take a look at what we’ve done in our past shows –

Superior Quilt Show 2019

Viewers’ Choice Best in Show & Members’ Choice – Paradise in Bloom by Shirley Assaunt2nd in Viewers’ Choice – Full Bloom by Suzanne Mills

3rd in Viewers’ Choice – Friendship by Jeanette Dann

Winner of the Challenge – Joyce Gilmore

Best Booth – Road 17N

For more information about the Superior Quilt Show – click here

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