Mount Vernon Chapter Officers 2008 – 2009
Co-Presidents—Lynn Miller and Carol Kunkel
Co-Vice Presidents—Angela Miller and Lynne Fishburn
Secretary—Dotty Eisenhour
Treasurer—Kathy Edwards
Nominating Chair—Jim Melton
President’s Message
I would like to begin by saying thank you to those who made the December Luncheon and mini auction so much fun. Thanks to Ro Coller and Kay Brill for making the setting so festive, Barbara Tucker for being our live auctioneer, and Kathy Edwards for tallying our take—we raised over $500! And a special thank you to those who contributed quilts for our charitable outreach, “The Carpenter’s Shelter.” We collected 12 beautiful quilts w
hich Dotty Eisenhour delivered to the shelter just before the holidays on our behalf. They were thrilled and awed by these wonderful quilts and generosity!
Shifting our focus to the future, it’s the start of a new year with exciting quilting opportunities around every corner. We kick off the New Year with our first daytime bee on Tuesday, January 6th, followed by our Business Meeting on January 13th. Next, our much anticipated workshop and lecture with Bonnie Hunter will be on January 19th and 20th with our own Barbara Zygiel presenting her lecture and trunk show, “Frilly Frocks,” at our last meeting of the month, Tuesday, January 27th at 12:30 pm, Hollin Hall Senior Center. We will resume our evening bees on Wednesday, January 14th with another on the 28th. Both of the evening bees will be held at the Mt. Vernon Governmental Center, 6:00 to 8:30 pm.
As a reminder, Bonnie Hunter’s workshop, “My Blue Heaven,” will be held at the Mt. Vernon Governmental Center on January 19th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm with her lecture, “Scrap Quilting,” the following day, January 20th from 9:30 am to noon at Grace Presbyterian Church, 7431 Bath Street, Springfield, VA. We are thrilled to be sharing this lecture with our sister chapter, Springfield QU and will try to coordinate carpools for those interested in attending at our business meeting. If you haven’t had the chance, I encourage you to visit Bonnie’s website at
http://www.quiltville.com/. She has beautiful examples of many of her quilts displayed, including the focus of our workshop, “My Blue Heaven.”
Speaking of websites, my friend Kimberly Einmo has a website at
http://www.kimberlyeinmo.com/. She will be offering a free mystery quilt beginning in January. You must register at the site, but there is no associated cost and she does not sell her listings. Kimberly was taught to quilt by our own Barbara Zygiel in 1991. She has written
Quilt a Travel Souvenir and many of her patterns have been featured in national quilt magazines.
If that is not enough excitement for one month, I will be presenting the first appliqué block for a new BOM during our January business meeting. Also, in the works, are plans for more in-house activities this spring and the MVQU Third Annual Quilt Retreat at Bird-in-Hand, PA to look forward on March 16-19th (details to come).
I look forward to sharing fun and quilting with you all this New Year!
Lynn Miller MVQU Co-President
January 19th & 20th, 2009--Bonnie K. Hunter Workshop & LectureBonnie K. Hunter is passionate about quilting and focuses mainly on scrap quilts with the simple feeling of “making do.” She started her love affair with quilting in a home economics class her senior year of high school in 1980 and has never looked back.
Before quilting became her full time career, Bonnie was the owner and designer of Needle in a Haystack, creating over 70 patterns for dolls and stuffed animals with a country primitive feel. Many of her designs were licensed through the Butterick Pattern Company, translated into 7 languages, and sold around the globe through fabric stores. Bonnie is also a licensed massage therapist, nationally certified in therapeutic massage and body work.
Quilting, though, has always been Bonnie’s first love. She has been machine quilting for 19 years and professionally longarm machine quilting for the public for 13 years. She has been featured in magazines both for her quilt patterns and articles she has written on scrap management and using that stash to its full potential.
Bonnie is dedicated to continuing the traditions of quilting. She enjoys meeting with quilters, teaching workshops and lecturing to quilt guilds all over the USA, challenging quilters to break the rules, think outside the box, and find what brings them joy.
Catch up with Bonnie’s doings through her extensive website at
http://www.quiltville.com/. You will find Quiltville’s calendar for lectures and workshops, tips and tricks, technique tutorials, and a long list of free quilt patterns to help you dig into your scraps. From there, head over to
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ for Bonnie’s (almost) daily blog, Quiltville’s Quips & Snips. Her e-mail list,
Quiltvillechat@yahoogroups.com has become a hot spot for mystery quilters with focus on using scraps and stash.
When not traveling and teaching, she spends her time piecing scrap quilts, enjoying the peaceful reward of hand quilting as much as machine quilting, and loving life in her wooded surroundings in beautiful rural Wallburg, North Carolina. She and her husband, Dave, are the proud parents of two grown sons, Jason and Jeffrey. They round-out their household with two dogs, Buddy and Sadie. Three studio cats, Oscar, Emmy, and Chloe, keep Bonnie company while she designs, quilts and plays happily with her fabric.
Bonnie Hunter’s workshop, “My Blue Heaven,” is on Monday, January 19th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Mt. Vernon Governmental Center (at this writing, there is still space available). Her lecture and trunk show will be the following day, Tuesday, January 20th from 9:30 am to noon. We are sharing the lecture with the Springfield Chapter of QU, and the lecture will be held at the Grace Presbyterian Church, 7431 Bath Street, Springfield, VA.
Lynne Fishburn, MVQU Co-Vice PresidentBig QU Show News 
The 36th Annual Quilter's Unlimited Show will be June 5th, 6th, and 7th, 2009 at the Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, VA. Hours are Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Sunday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Ticket prices are $10 for one-day admission, $15 for volunteer admission for 3 days, and $20 admission for 3 days.
March 1, 2009 is the deadline for entry forms for the show. The QU show displays only quilts made by QU members, and there’s no entry fee. This year's entry form and instructions are posted at http://www.quiltersunlimited.org/show.htm. The entry form is a commitment to provide your quilt for display; quilts will not be collected for display in the show until May and will be returned in June. This year’s quilt collector is Cathy Hanratty. Cathy will have more information soon on dates and times for photographing and measuring your quilts necessary to complete your entry form. 
The theme for this year’s QU Show challenge is “All the World is a Stage.” Put on your imagination caps and think of all the possibilities: your favorite play, theater masks, the globe… the only limitation is size. Quilts cannot be larger than 48” x 48” and they must be completed by March 1, 2009.
Class registration begins in February. Classes will begin on Thursday afternoon during the set-up. Look for information on the QU website.
Mark Lipinski will be the speaker at the annual meeting (this year it will be on the same weekend as the show) as well as teaching classes during the show. His lecture begins at 7:00 pm, Saturday night, June 6th, at the Chantilly High School auditorium. There will be a short business meeting at 6:30 with a necessary membership vote on a by-law change. After the vote, the doors will be open to non-QU members and guests to attend the program. Admission is free for current QU members. Non-QU members and guests will be charged a $10 fee. Mark always draws a crowd and loves quilters, so it will be a fun evening. All QU members who want to attend the annual meeting and hear his lecture will need to register for it on the class registration form. To go along with this festive weekend, the Holiday Inn Express near the conference center is offering a rate of $84 per night for up to 4 people per room… a real bargain.
This year you will have the opportunity to let the public know if you are interested in selling your quilt. The transaction will be between you and the buyer (QU will not be involved).
The Silent Auction is going to be a special treat this year. Instead of a straight auction, as in years past, the space will be set up as a Boutique and most items will be priced to sell (MVQU sets the price for our items), not auctioned.
MVQU’s obligation for the quilt show this year is Demonstrations. Bert Garino, our Quilt Show representative, will give us more information on that later.
So, ladies and gentlemen, get your quilts “show-ready” and let’s have another great showing of the talent at MVQU!
Bert Garino, QU Show Representative
MVQU Charity Quilts Update
The "Quilts of Love" from the Ladies of Mt. Vernon were hugely appreciated by seven Akha teens from Thailand. Once they received them, many wrapped themselves in the quilts throughout the evening, this being the first time they had been given a quilt. These quilts provided more than a little extra warmth and love this Christmas—they provided recognition and incentive to children with limited resources.
Those that received quilts were: 1) Lawyee Ahsah – Bow Tie, 2) Tidchanan Pakonisisaleul – Blk/Wt Multicolor, 3) Amporn Saepa – Butterfly, 4) Dara Mayer – Blue/Rose Floral, 5) Ahmee Mayer – Green Floral, 6) Jabot – Fish/Cheeta, and 7) Araya – Pink/Wt Nine Patch. One of the donated quilts, a MVQU Mystery Quilt from 2007 (pieced and quilted by Bert Garino), was reserved for the founders of the Akha Youth Development Center, Luka and Ghan Chermui, who have dedicated 10 years of service to so many Akha village families.
Before the quilts were distributed, some of the recipients participated in a quilting class, where they learned to use 4" squares to make nine patches. What was planned as a one night lesson, turned into three nights with a dozen or more students each evening. Most understood English very well and a few spoke it some. One child, Daniel, served as an interpreter as he is currently studying Tourism in trade school. Tidchanan stood out as a quick learner and soon she became a leader, assisting students with next steps in the quilting process.
Thanks to generous donations supplied by so many MVQU members, the students were able to hand sew several nine patches. Each had their own kit with threads, needles, pins, scissors, seam rippers, thimbles, and DMC floss. None had used a rotary cutter before. Many made up their own quilting designs. Most were experienced at hand sewing. All learned the importance of matching seams, and the fine art of mitered corners to bind and finish their projects. It was a wonderful experience.
Thanks go to each and every MVQU member who made this project possible.
Angie Miller, MVQU Co-Vice President
(Editor's note: scroll down to "Love Quilts for the Akha in Thailand" to view Angie's photos from her trip)
January Calendar
- January 6, 2009— Bee, 12:30 pm, Room 216, Hollin Hall Senior Center
- January 13, 2009—Business Meeting/Show & Tell, 12:30 pm, Room 112, Hollin Hall Senior Center
- January 14, 2009—Evening Bee 6:00-8:00 pm, Mt. Vernon Governmental Center
- January 19, 2009—Bonnie Hunter Workshop: “My Blue Heaven," Mt. Vernon Governmental Center 9:00 am-4:00 pm
- January 20, 2009—Bonnie Hunter Lecture with Springfield QU, “Scrap Quilting,” 9:30 am, Grace Presbyterian Church, 7434 Bath Street, Springfield, VA
- January 27, 2009—Meet the Quilter, Barbara Zygiel: “Frilly Frocks” Lecture & Trunk Show, 12:30 pm, Room 112, Hollin Hall Senior Center
- January 28, 2009—Evening Bee, 6:00-8:00 pm, Mt. Vernon Governmental Center
Looking Ahead
- February 24, 2009—Sharon Schamber lecture, Hollin Hall Senior Center
Upcoming Area Shows and Exhibits
8 Quilt Making Tips for Success in 2009
1. To wash small pieces of fabric without fraying the edges, place them in a salad spinner, rather than a washing machine. Spin with hot water and soap. Rinse in cool water, drain and spin. Press the pieces dry.
2. To keep appliqué stems from shifting out of position while hand stitching, pin over, rather than through them.
3. To make a sewing machine needle easier to thread, shine a beam of light behind the needle’s eye.
4. To make a long row of even blanket stitches, machine baste a visible line ¼” from the edge of the fabric and use this basting line as a guide for stitch length.
5. To make it easier to remove papers from foundation-pieced projects, run the handle of a pair of scissors along each stitching line to weaken the paper.
6. To more easily make triangle-squares from marked squares, press the sewn triangles open before cutting them apart. This method stabilizes the bias edges and prevents stretching.
7. To match ends perfectly, lay two binding strips right sides up and overlap ends by 2”. Cut through both layers at a 45 degree angle. Place strips right sides together and stitch a ¼” seam.
8. To machine-appliqué circular or oval pieces, first make marks that imitate the hours of a clock face on each appliqué shape. Pivot the fabric at each hour mark when you stitch.
**Taken from American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar
January Birthdays
January 1 Janet Betz
January 19 Ann Marlin
January 25 Nancy Burns
January 28 Joyce Nicholas
January 28 Dianne Tippins
January 31 Patti Turner
Be sure to join us at the Tuesday Bee, the first and third of every month, and the Wednesday Evening Bee, the second and forth of the month. They're as much fun as the one day retreats, and are a great place to catch up on the "Buzzzzzz."
Another of Lynn's completed quilts (Lynn, when do you sleep?)
Kathy Edwards made this quilt using Hawaiian fabrics.
This is the back of that quilt.
In case of bad weather, keep in mind that the Hollin Hall Senior Center closes when the Fairfax County Public Schools close and this will cancel our bees or meetings. The center will open at 10 am if the schools are on a delayed opening.
Barbara Zygiel with her "X's and O's" made entirely with 30's prints.
Barbara says the unusual feature about this quilt is that it was made entirely by machine!
Dianne Tippins recently found Spoonflower, a fabric company in North Carolina that allows a sewer/quilter to design and print their own fabric. It's $18.00 a yard and there is no minimum yardage. Check it out at 
Rhonda Adams' favorite must have for 2009... the Bendable Bright Light (because the eyes aren't what they used to be :-) This little beauty snaps into a non-magnetic mount to your sewing machine and provides energy efficient LED light on a bendable arm for up to 100,000 hours--that's about 12 hours a day for 20 years. No batteries or bulbs to replace!!
Angie Miller received many beautiful quilts made by MVQU members to take to the Akha students in Thailand on her visit in November, 2008. 
Mary Mazzuchi made this colorful fish quilt. 
Learning to rotary cut with Angie.
Stitching using sewing kits made up by MVQU members.
Ayara proudly shows off her completed nine patch block.
Almost Done!
Third night of quilt class and many projects completed or nearly completed.
Helpers learn, too!
The girls dorm area is their home on the hostel while attending public school in Chaing Rai.
Girls' sleeping area
Girls' storage area 
