Mary La Tourelle
Our annual holiday party was held at Palo Verde on Dec. 4 with 54 members in attendance. Organized by Faith Bragg and Georgia Hartman, the theme was “Holiday Party at the Zoo” and featured an animal quiz, guessing number games, and wrist pin cushion prizes with animal decorations. The food was excellent! A raffle drawing for the appliqued quilt made by former member Bonnie Lewis was held, and member Barbara Grimes won. Over the years, Bonnie made many award-winning quilts, and she donated this one to the guild before she moved. This quilt demonstrates incredible hand-stitched, needle-turned appliques and uses a wide variety of batiks for the superb color shading.
Bonnie didn’t take up quilting until she retired. In a quilt show publication that featured some of her quilts, Bonnie stated, “In my career, I developed methods, procedures, and training materials for marketing and accounting departments. The same skills are needed for quilt making—mainly, patience and attention to detail. The do-it-yourself, hands-on approach to learning new skills is my preference, and there appears to be no limit to the number of new techniques, patterns, and beautiful fabrics available to tweak your creative juices. Part of the fun of quilting is the opportunity to share your experiences and knowledge with other quilters. The Agave Quilters Guild has provided many opportunities to make great friends and learn from other people’s quilting expertise.”
Last spring, Judith Crumpler, Community Service chair, challenged members to make more charity quilts, with the goal of reaching 4,500 over the last 10 years. We are pleased to report that the goal was exceeded by 16! Quilts are donated to Valleywise Hospital, and this year’s Quilts of Valor were donated to the Arizona Patriot Guard Riders.
This year, the combined Agave and Sew-N-Sews Embroidery Group made more than 50 ornaments for the Children’s Cancer Network in Chandler. Sandi Sterker of the Chandler Lions Club in Chandler delivered the ornaments.
Kim Kubsch will be our speaker on Jan. 7 and will share her expertise on various ways to declutter our sewing rooms.
Visitors are welcome to attend any of our meetings, which are held on the first Wednesday of the month, September through May, at 1 p.m. in the Navajo Room at Sun Lakes Country Club (25601 S. Sun Lakes Blvd.). For more information, please visit our website at agavequiltersguild.com.