AQG Program

We have another fantastic season of guest speakers and special events for our guild. Our meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of the month from 7 pm – 9 pm EST at the Almonte Civitan Club (500 Almonte St, Almonte, ON).

Our meetings in Sept, Oct, and Nov for 2024 plus Apr, May, and June for 2025 will be in-person.

Jan, Feb, and Mar for 2025 will be Zoom meetings (virtual only). Zoom links are sent via email to all members and paid guests in advance.

2024-2025 season

Monday, September 16, 2024 – In-Person meeting

Our first meeting of the 2024-2025 season will be from Alison Harle, the owner of Mad About Patchwork. She will discuss her business plan and will be shop on showcase!

Mad About Patchwork website: https://www.madaboutpatchwork.com/

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Monday, October 21, 2024 – In-Person meeting

Our guest speaker for our October meeting will be Heidi Taylor. Sewing is Life – What does that mean? Listen about her journey from attending 4-H as a young girl to being an avid quilter, quilt instructor, colour curator and lover of all things fabric. She will explain why she came to the realization that “Sewing is Life” and how lives will change.

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Monday, November 18, 2024 – In-Person meeting

Angie Ziai, who is a former president of the Almonte Quilters Guild, will be presenting for our November meeting. She is now a Canadian Gammil Educator. Students say she is doing a great job teaching everyone all about using Creative Studio.

Listen to her Gammill interview here

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Monday, January 21, 2024 – Zoom

Vanessa Génir is the CEO & Founder of Quilts for Survivors. With an initial goal of creating 215 quilts to honour the 215 unmarked graves recovered in Kamloops, British Columbia, Vanessa’s initiative grew exponentially. Since 2021, Vanessa and her global team of volunteers have presented over 4,500 quilts to survivors across Canada.

Quilts for Survivors website.

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Monday, February 17, 2024 – Zoom

Audrey (Cotton and Bourbon)has always identified as a maker, who began quilting in 2005. In 2018, I set a personal goal to exhibit my work in a juried quilt show, which motivated me to design and create a series of original quilts. Since then, my quilts have been exhibited and recognized at Quilt National, International Quilt Festival, and QuiltCon.

Cotton and Bourbon website.

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Monday, March 17, 2024 – Zoom

Krista Hennebury (from Poppyprint) will walk us through her process of testing design ideas and workshop concepts through starting small as well as sharing unexpected success from design and swap challenges. See how you can expand your quilting practice without breaking the bank or suffering a quilt math crisis by first testing ideas, colours and techniques in small studies.

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2023-2024 season

Monday, September 18, 2023 – In-Person and Virtual (Hybrid) meeting

To launch our 2023-2024 season, we will be joined by the Executive Director and Curator of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Michael Rikley-Lancaster. Michael will be sharing information on the antique quilts in the museum’s collection, and a little of the history of quilting in this area.

Mississippi Valley Textile Museum’s website: https://mvtm.ca/mvt2/

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Monday, October 16, 2023 – In-Person and Virtual (Hybrid) meeting

Our guest speaker for October 2023 will be Bridget O’Flaherty. Bridget has been to our guild in the past, but not under her newer title of “The Sustainable Quilter”. Bridget will join us in-person to share her suggestions on how we can all make quilting more sustainable. Not only will Bridget be our Guest Speaker, but she will be a new Shop on Showcase for us too!

Bridget O’Flaherty’s website: https://bridgetoflaherty.com/

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Monday, November 20, 2023 – In-Person and Virtual (Hybrid) meeting

We were fortunate to be able to secure Monika Henry of Penny Spool Quilts to be our guest speaker for November. She will be joining us in person in Almonte! Penny Spool Quilts will also be our Shop on Showcase.

In this trunk show, I’ll take you along on a quilting journey from my first quilt to finding the modern quilt movement and the evolution of my own quilt designs over the years. Along the way, we take a look behind the scenes of my quilt patterns and see where I get my ideas and how a design goes from inspiration to published pattern.

Penny Spool Quilts website: https://www.pennyspoolquilts.com/

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Monday, January 15, 2024 – Virtual Only Meeting

Sue Sherman of Sue Sherman Quilts is a national and international award-winning Canadian fibre artist specializing in realistic wildlife with a message.  Her work often depicts animals in unlikely or impossible situations in order to reveal concerns about climate change and habitat loss and their impact on the earth’s biodiversity.  Her original artwork is inspired by her own wildlife photographs taken around the world. 

Sue’s artworks have been juried into national and international shows where they have won multiple awards including Best of Show in the 2023 National Juried Show in Halifax. They have also been featured in industry publications and media.  She has been a Juried Artist Member (JAM) with Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) since 2019.  Sue teaches her technique of painting with thickened dyes, and delivers presentations about her work, to audiences in Canada and the United States. 

Sue Sherman will also be our Shop on Showcase.

Sue Sherman Quilts website: https://sueshermanquilts.com/

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Monday, February 19, 2024 – Virtual Only Meeting

Susan Madu from Modern Blended Quilts in Calgary.  “Blended Modern” is a trunk show which illustrates the modern traditionalism of Susan’s work.

Susan is a retired chartered accountant and a passionate designer, creator and quilter.  Her central theme blends elements of traditional and modern quilting focusing on different textiles and styles.

No Shop on Showcase for this meeting.

Modern Blended Quilts website – https://amodernblend.blogspot.com/

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Monday, March 18, 2024 – Virtual Only Meeting

Tamara Kate from KayajoyDesigns – “For the Love of Colour” showcases Tamara’s long-standing love affair with colour where she will discuss her many influences and inspirations.

Having shared her love of designing fresh, modern quilts and other needle arts, Tamara is a licensed fabric designer who is best known for her playful use of colour and her fresh inventive eye.

Tamara Kate will also be the Shop on Showcase.

Kayajoy Designs website – https://shop.kayajoydesigns.com/

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Monday, April 15, 2024 – In-Person and Virtual (Hybrid) meeting

“Quilting Can Get In Your Blood” – Holly and Heather McDermid

These two young sisters residing in Stittsville each won their first prize at Quilt Canada 2023 in the Youth Challenge. They will share with us, their quilting journey to date and how they were influenced by two previous generations.

Rosalie Gerber from Sew Crafty in Rideau Ferry will be our Shop on Showcase.

What to bring to the meeting

• Mug
• Nametag, if you have one
• Show & Tell items
• “Free to Good Home” offerings
• President’s Challenge Projects
• All Blocks of the Month that you have made
• Quilties for the Hospital
• Money to Support Sew Crafty, our Shop this month

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Monday, May 20, 2024 – In-Person and Virtual (Hybrid) meeting

AGM & Tips and Tricks night.

Do any members have tips and tricks to share after the AGM portion of our April meeting?  It would just be a quick 10 minutes to explain your bit of magic.  Please contact our Program Director, Sue Fowler at alwaysbeautifullycreative@gmail.com.  She’ll be grateful to hear from you.

Volunteer Positions that are Open for the 2024/2025

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Monday, June 17th, 2024 – In-Person Only

Social will start at 6:00pm

Almonte Civitan Community Hall

500 Almonte St, Almonte, ON K0A 1A0

More details coming at the May Meeting

2022 – 2023 season

Monday, September 19, 2022 – Virtual Meeting

Monday, October 17, 2022 – Virtual Meeting

Ralph Jarvis, of the Quilted Stash, is another wonderful Canadian talent that will be joining us in October, from the east coast of Canada! Some of the key principles Ralph wanted to embody were local relevance, original design and the development of patterns that were economical to make. A lot of their patterns can be made using the material you likely have at hand. The team at the Quilted Stash like that improv and scrap piecing fits well with their commitment to environmental sustainability.

The Quilted Stash website: https://the-quilted-stash.myshopify.com/

Monday, November 21, 2022 – Virtual Meeting

For our final meeting before the calendar turns to 2023, we have none other than the folks at Silly Moon Quilting Company coming in to give us a trunk show of their amazing techniques and products. They will give a presentation on their rulers and the basics of quilting with rulers on a longarm or domestic machine! They cover the benefits of ruler quilting, the difference in ruler thicknesses, how to choose rulers, how to set up your machine and work area for ruler quilting, what items will make your ruler quilting easier, ruler markings and what they mean as well as many other tips and tricks. They will also include a small trunk show as well as an “over the shoulder” view of the basics of ruler quilting.

Silly Moon Quilting Website: https://sillymoonquiltingco.ca/

Monday, January 16, 2023 – Virtual Meeting

Veruschka Zarate of Pride & Joy Quilting is an Award Winning Quilt Maker and Pattern Designer, specializing in the technique of Foundation Paper Piecing.  Her quilt “Pride and Joy” won two awards at QuiltCon 2022: 1st Place in Piecing & The People’s Choice.

Pride and Joy Quilting Website: https://prideandjoyquilting.com/

Monday, February 20, 2023 – Virtual Meeting

February will see Corey Ralph of Sew Manly Quilting joining us from Edmonton.  Corey built on his heritage of quilting to make quilts for friends and for shows. He is also working through his mother’s stash to make quilts for family members as his mother asked.

Monday, March 20, 2023 – Virtual Meeting

Minimal Design, Maximum Impact by David Owens Hastings

The modern quilting movement is evolving and changing, but one thing remains consistent: simple, spare design combined with thoughtful quilting make an outstanding combination.

An overview of David’s process for coming up with simple graphic quilt designs, starting with stitched paper models (called maquettes). He will show examples of how to translate an architectural photo into a quilt design and have many samples of mini quilts he created using this process. The techniques David will present are also great for making unique modern quilt block designs. Also, he will also talk about walking foot quilting and how to break free from stitch-in-the-ditch.

Monday, April 17, 2023 – In-Person & Virtual

Moved to May: Library / Member Garage Sale

Our April meeting will be a new attempt at a Hybrid meeting with both in-person and virtual aspects to the event.  We have learned many lessons from our first try and we have some improvements we hope you will all benefit from.

For those joining in person, we’re going to offer tables to have a Garage Sale with many of our Library items up for sale (mainly books at $2) to raise funds to reinvest in the guild, as well as offering people who have done some Spring cleaning for sale or Orphan UFO’s for giveaway.  

We are looking for volunteers for a number of positions as well as launching our 2024 AQG Show Committee.  We hope you will all consider helping to keep our Guild rolling along.  We are seeking volunteers for the following roles:

Vice-President

Treasurer

Program Director

Workshop Coordinator

Raffle and 50/50 Coordinator

(other volunteer opportunities too)

If you wish to see the official role descriptions, they are available on our website as part of our By-Laws:  AQG By-Laws  Please consider joining your guild executive to help make 2023-2024 an even better year for our guild.

Coffee/Tea and snacks will be available.

Monday, May 15, 2023 – In-person & Virtual

Library / Member Garage Sale

Our May meeting will be a new attempt at a Hybrid meeting with both in-person and virtual aspects to the event.  We have learned many lessons from our first try and we have some improvements we hope you will all benefit from.

For those joining in person, we’re going to offer tables to have a Garage Sale with many of our Library items up for sale (mainly books at $2) to raise funds to reinvest in the guild, as well as offering people who have done some Spring cleaning for sale or Orphan UFO’s for giveaway.

Jennifer Swallow of Happy Wife Quilting will present a Trunk Show & in-person Shop on Showcase.

Coffee/Tea and snacks will be available.

What to bring: A mug, name tag, cash for shopping and your enthusiasm!