VILLAGE QUILTERS Monthly Meeting

Meetings are on the second Friday of each month 9:30am at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church on 260 Wade Road, Loudon. Meetings begin at 9:30 AM (9:00 - 9:30 is social time) and end at 12:00 PM. General business is followed by an educational program or other special event.  Non-members may purchase tickets ($10) at the meeting. 

Questions can be submitted to [email protected]

Jan 10th - “Now You See It, Now You Don’t. The Magic of Disappearing Blocks” with Brita Nelson

Feb 14th - “Tips for the Traveling Quilter” with Rona Herman, Auburn IN

At 6 months old, Rona caught the travel bug with her first trip from Louisiana to Washington State and that bug is still going strong.  Today, Rona travels all over the world in search of endless quilting knowledge and fun. She also continues to design her own Quilt patterns and books inspired by those travels and finds time to organize quilt tours, quilt retreats, teacher and lecturer, quilt pattern designer, and developing YouTube videos.  

Based on her book Tips for the Traveling Quilter, Rona has developed a fun and interactive 1 Hour lecture and trunk show where she gives away all of her best secrets and tips for the road.  From Budgeting to Safety, Destinations to Air travel, and a few funny shenanigans along the way. She will include something for everyone in this interactive lecture!

March 14th - “The History and Mystery of Baltimore Album Quilts” with Jaimie L. Davis, West Linn, OR (Loopy Tulip Designs)

https://www.loopytulips.com

The history of Baltimore Album quilts is a fascinating journey into an America headed for the Civil War. Discover how the industrial revolution, the struggle over slavery and the social and moral climate of the time contributed to this beautiful art form. Through stories, Jaimie will explore how the demise of Baltimore Album quilts leads us into the hearts and minds of the women who made them, and find out how a pregnancy, a Christmas gift and a quilt class gone horribly wrong helps to explain the mystery behind why these quilts disappeared almost overnight. It’s a funny, provocative and insightful look into some of America’s most beautiful treasures

April 11th - “Color Play. Beyond Color Theory” with MJ Kinman, Louisville, KY

https://www.mjkinman.com

Color plays a pivotal role in MJ’s gem quilts. Over the past 25+ years, MJ has learned ways to approach color with confidence and she is delighted to share these methods and ideas. Her Color Play lecture is targeted to helping you gain confidence when working with color choices. MJ will demonstrate how to make your quilts sparkle and glow by selecting fabrics of different values and saturation levels, how to create effective transparencies, and how to change the appearance of a color in a variety of ways just by placing it next to another color. She will help to demystify the use of color, help you gain confidence in your color selection, and create beautiful quilts regardless of your inspiration!

May 9th -“The Versatility of English Paper Piecing” with Tina Craig, Seaside Stitches, Wakefield, RI

https://seaside-stitches.com/

Tina started quilting in 1990 as an unemployed newlywed looking for something to do. She took a beginner sampler quilt class at Colchester Mill Fabric Store and hasn’t stopped stitching. Tina tries to challenge herself to learn something new with every quilt she makes.  In this lecture she will demonstrate how to look beyond Grandmother's Flower Garden to see all the possibilities of English Paper Piecing (EPP). From different shapes and sizes to improv and 3-dimensional projects, this trunk show may inspire a myriad of design options for your next quilt.

June 13th - There will be a luncheon following the business meeting.

July 11th - There will be a White Elephant sale following the business meeting.

August 8th - “Honoring Today’s Quilter at the National Quilt Museum” with Becky Glasby, Director of Learning and Engagement, The National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY

https://quiltmuseum.org/

 Becky Glasby has more than fifteen years of experience in museum education. As a lifelong quilter, she works to create future quilters and to inspire in others a love for all types of quilting. She has been at NQM since 2010 and earned her degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington.

September 12th - “Creating a Pictorial Quilt” with Cynthia England, Canyon Lake, TN

www.englanddesign.com

Cynthia  England is a native Texan and graduate of the Art Institute of Houston and has been creating quilts for more than fifty years. Experimentation with quilting techniques led her to develop her own unique style and technique called, “Picture Piecing”. Cynthia’s quilts have been honored with many awards, including three Best of Shows at the prestigious International Quilt Association, as well as Viewer’s Choice at the American Quilter’s Society. Her quilt, Piece and Quiet, was distinguished as one of the Hundred Best Quilts of the 20th Century. Cynthia will provide a lecture showing the process of making pictorial quilts using her picture piecing technique.  

October 10th -“Trunk Show” with Michelle Wilkie, Cary, NC

www.mlwilkie.com

https://factotum-of-arts.com/

Michelle Wilkie is a artist and designer of modern quilts. She grew up in South Auckland, NZ.  Quilting is a passion, driving her creativity. She works to have her quilts seen not just as quilts but as art. She experiments with a variety of modern techniques and aesthetics, though embraces Improvisation and Minimalist styles. 

Michelle is currently exhibiting and participating in a community exhibition at the NC Museum of Art (NCMA). She has completed an artist in residence at Durham Art Guild with a solo exhibition “Creating Connections, and a residency at Penland School of Craft. She exhibited at Page-Walker Center in a solo exhibition “Eyes Wide Open”, and exhibited at CAM Raleigh, Truist Gallery, 311 Gallery and ArtSpace NC and curated into international shows in France and Italy. She regularly has work juried into Art and International Quilt Exhibitions and has been featured in several magazines and has work published in the book Modern Quilts: Design of the New Century. 

November 14th - “Really, I didn’t know that” with Arliss Barber

In 2026, our guild will be celebrating our 25th anniversary!  Accordingly, Arliss will be conducting a retrospective lecture with visuals about the historical journey of the Guild. Included, she will note the “how and why” we went from a handful of charter members to the vibrant Guild we are today.  

December 12th - There will be a holiday luncheon following the business meeting.