Betsy Muir, President, and the Board of the Big Red Quilters Guild wanted to let you know that our April and May meetings and activities are cancelled due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.  This includes the Tiled Backgrounds workshop scheduled for Tuesday, April 28.  The Board will make a decision regarding future meetings in early May based on public health guidance.

• If you’d like to look forward, we are hopeful that June 15 will bring us together for a meeting with speaker Denniele Bohannon (Where The Poppies Grow) presenting a program, “Forty Years in the Making.”
• We will advise on spring program and workshop rescheduling at a later date.

In the meantime, continue to reach out and connect with your fellow quilters from a distance!  While we don’t have opportunities to gather in-person, every contact you make means so much!  At the same time that we reach out to each other, know that any sewing that you might be doing for the Coronavirus crisis, (masks and scrub caps, gowns … more masks) is making a difference!

• If you are sewing for the crisis, it might be interesting to keep track of numbers of items you make.  We’ll put out a call for numbers when things calm down and make a total for the Guild.
• If you are interested in sewing for the cause, there is a Facebook Group, West Michigan OSMS – COVID-19 Open Source Medical Supplies, which is helping connect the talents of makers with requests from hospitals and nursing homes, including Spectrum and Holland hospitals.  They are presently seeking individuals to sew masks, surgical scrub caps and gowns.  On their Facebook page, volunteers are asked to complete a form including how can you help.  If sewing, you are asked:  what you are interested in sewing, whether you need materials, whether you would be interested in pick up or delivery of materials or products.  After completing the form, patterns and instructions are available as well as drop-off locations and delivery information.
  • The Facebook group is pretty active, so it creates the atmosphere of working together!  While not the same as a retreat or Sew-In, it definitely helps to create a feeling of community.

Know that we’re missing you all…the camaraderie, the learning, the fun…but that we will all benefit from Staying Home and Staying Safe!

Take care!

Bridget Morel