The first official meeting for the Prairie Hearts Quilt Guild is on Sept. 5, and the guild’s president Lizanne Knox-Beam is encouraging quilters both new and experienced to consider joining in on some of the guild’s busy schedule.
The guild meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month, from September to May, and will be starting signup for their monthly fun programs.
Members are invited to take part in any of the monthly programs the guild has put together, which are meant to keep each quilter on their toes — or rather, their sewing machine’s pedal.
The UFO project, which stands for Unfinished Objects and likely doesn’t involve spacecraft, challenges each quilter to make a list of their unfinished projects, and to complete at least one every month.
The Round Robin Panel begins with a store-bought panel that is passed around each month to a new member, who adds a border when it’s in their hands. Lottery Block features a block pattern and color of the month, and each block completed enters that quilter into the draw for all the blocks at the end of the year.
Not all of the programs task individual quilters with a new project every month. Secret Friends pairs each quilter up with another quilter to anonymously exchange monthly gifts, usually of the quilting variety.
The guild also has a few regular projects they take part in together, such as their Comfort Quilts program — where they put together handmade quilts for children in need of comfort after a tragedy — and their donated quilt for the Festival of Trees auction.
They also host classes every once in a while, bringing in instructors to teach new techniques, and each meeting dedicates time for the Show & Share portion, which often has a theme.
New quilters are always welcome to stop by the guild’s monthly meetings to find out more about what’s going on, and Knox-Beam hopes to see some new faces among the ranks this year, because membership with the guild has many benefits.
“Quilters have their own community and we're there for each other, if you need help with something, you can ask anybody. If you're missing a piece of fabric, you can ask and quite often someone will have what you need,” said Knox-Beam. “It's just a good community to belong to.”
Meetings are always held at the Masonic Temple at 7 p.m., with coffee, and memberships are available for $50 per year. Any questions about Prairie Hearts Quilt Guild can be sent directly to their email, [email protected]. More information about their activities is on their website or Facebook page.
