Meetings and Programs:

• In-person meetings canceled through November 2020.  
  • In alignment with current direction from the State of Michigan, BRQG has canceled in-person meetings, workshops and retreats through November 2020.   Details of electronic programming follow.  
  • We look forward to resuming our in-person meeting schedule at our new meeting home at Tiara Yachts at the beginning of 2021!
• August 17 meeting–your Guild will host Nancy Roelfsma via Zoom on Monday, August 17.  Her program, “Why We Quilt”, including a trunk show, will be available via Zoom. 
  •  We will send out an invitation to the membership three days before the event (Friday, August 14) by our email list. 
  • The daytime workshop, “Paper Piecing Basics” has been canceled.
• August 28 Tile Backgrounds Workshop, to be rescheduled–Barb Bredemeier has contacted participants to advise that this workshop will be rescheduled when we are able to meet safely.
• September 21 meeting–this scheduled in-person meeting will be replaced by a presentation delivered via Facebook Live, hosted by Betsy Muir and Kris Kennedy.  (If you’re not already, now is a great time to become amember of the group, Big Red Quilters Guild, on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigredquiltersguild/ .)  
  • Theme–“Simply Scrappy September” in honor of the by-product of all this quilting we are doing!  We will focus on techniques to organize scraps for optimum usefulness and will demonstrate a project that we can all enjoy using during our increased “stay at home” time!  It also makes a great gift!  
  • Nora Slikkers will be our special guest and will share her special tips on this pressing problem/opportunity!
  • The interview and demonstration will be LIVE in the Big Red Quilters’ Guild Facebook page at 7 pm, 9/21/2020 and will be available there afterward; a link to the recorded material will be provided by email after the event so that everyone can have access regardless of Facebook user status.
• September 22-24 retreat–the planned retreat will be rescheduled to March (dates TBD).  More information on this to come.  
• Future meeting dates–we are planning to host a Facebook LIVE event at least monthly during this time (on our regularly scheduled meeting dates), to include interviews, projects, tips and tricks, and other topics of interest!  If you have ideas or things you would like to share in this way, reply back to this email and we’ll get working on it!

Registration for 2021:

• It’s time to renew your membership to Big Red Quilters’ Guild!  
  • Dues for the 2020-2021 membership year, commencing October 1, 2020, have been reduced to $10 to acknowledge the challenges of these times, to each of you personally and as a Guild in delivering the membership year we all planned on!  
  • We plan to resume normal meeting cadence and programming content in January.
  • We will continue to do our best to provide content and engagement via electronic means wherever and whenever possible during this uncertain time!  We are all in this together!
• Membership form is available on the website (click here).  Return the form with your check to Karen Keip.
• Gift Basket–Members returning their membership forms and dues, postmarked by October 1, 2020, will be entered in a drawing for an amazing gift basket that is being assembled by your Board!  You’ll want a chance to win this!!!!

President’s Note:
Friends, I pray this message finds all of you safe, healthy, and at peace. Isn’t it wonderful we have quilting to keep us grounded during these times?  By the look of our  Quarantine Quilt Gallery, you all have been VERY busy!  Please keep the pictures coming!
I look forward to the day when we can all gather safely. Until then, Sew On!!
Betsy Muir
President
Big Red Quilters Guild

All–Greetings!
Checking in with reminders for July activities–see below.  
Important Note:  We’re all in this together!  In accordance with State of Michigan requirements, facemasks/coverings will be required to attend the in-person meeting and workshop.  Our new meeting space at Tiara Yachts is comfortable and large; seating/workspaces will reflect social distancing.  If you have any reservations about attending in-person, we understand and invite you to take advantage of the Zoom option!  We hope you will be with us in any case!
Until then, 
Bridget
July 20–first in-person meeting since February (!)

• Who:  Denniele Bohannon
  • author, Where Poppies Grow:  Quilts and Projects Honoring Those Who Served in World War I.
• What:  general meeting and program, “Forty Years in the Making” with Denielle Bohannon.
• When:  Monday, July 20, 6:30 p.m., program at 7
• Where:  
  • in-person–Tiara Yachts, 725 E 40th St., Holland
  • via Zoom–contact Betsy Muir for Zoom invite, kidshope.betsy@gmail.com
• Why:  A chance to reconnect with your Guild, in-person or via Zoom!

July 21–workshop

• Who:  Denniele Bohannon
• What:  “Celebrate”.  
  • A machine-pieced workshop using templates (provided by Denniele) and a rotary cutter.  Denniele reminds us that the appearance is more difficult than reality!  One must be willing to follow instructions to do something new with very interesting results!
  • use form attached to send registration and fee to Nora Slikker for both in-person and Zoom attendance.
• When:  Tuesday, July 21, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Where:
  • in-person–Tiara Yachts, 725 E 40th St., Holland
  • via Zoom–contact Betsy Muir for Zoom invite, kidshope.betsy@gmail.com
• Why:  because learning new things is fun!

Quarantine Quilt Gallery is LIVE! https://bigredquiltersguild.org/?s=quarantine

• Have a project you’d like to share?  Send photos to Janet Haines janethaines24@gmail.com ; include “BRQG Quarantine Gallery” in the subject line.  
• Note that you can click on any picture to open up a slideshow without the text on the photo. 

Charity Quilts–Kathy Ryzenga will be collecting Quilts for our charity partners, Project Linus and Mannasseh project.  

Village Quilt–Kris Kennedy has received 95 house blocks (see attached photo).  We need ~40 more to make the original 132-block quilt.  The instructions were included in the last several emails; contact me if you need them re-sent.

Greetings fellow Big Red Quarantine Quilters!  
We hope that this finds you well and enjoying (as you can) this time of staying home a bit more!  We hope that it has renewed your love of fabrics and quilting and  that you’re all ready for new content from your Big Red Quilters Guild!  Following is an update on meetings and programming.  At the end are two questions to help us gauge interest and comfort in gathering in July.  If you would be so kind as to respond to these questions, it will help guide us as we prepare to meet.
Meetings.  The Board met today, and based on most recent direction from the State of Michigan, we are canceling our June 15, in-person meeting.  That said, we are looking forward to the following meeting activity:

• Monday, June 8, 3 pm–Facebook Live demonstrations by Betsy Muir and Kris Kennedy.  
  • Rug demonstration.  Betsy will demonstrate a jelly roll rug technique that results in a rectangular rug, and 
  • Village Challenge.  Kris will demonstrate the House block for our Guild’s Village challenge, 
    • directions here:  https://bigredquiltersguild.org/members-page/
    • We are attaching a photo to show you the blocks received to date – see below!
• BOTEOM Lost and Found.  Finally, Betsy and Kris will host a “Block of the Every Other Month” Lost and Found Gallery!  We have blocks left behind at our last meeting (could that possibly be February???) that need to be returned to their rightful creators.  You won’t want to miss this!
• If you’re not already, now is a great time to become a member of the group, Big Red Quilters Guild, on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigredquiltersguild/
• July 20, 6:30 pm–“Forty Years In the Making” program with Denielle Bohannon 
  • author, Where Poppies Grow : Quilts and Projects Honoring Those Who Served in World War I.
• July 21–“Celebrate” workshop with Denielle Bohannon 
  • More information on the program and workshop will arrive by email in the next few days!
  • Both the Monday meeting/lecture and Tuesday workshop will be held at our new location at Tiara Yachts, 725 E 40th Street, Holland.  
  • We will follow all guidance provided by the State of Michigan regarding the safety and comfort of our members.
• Your Program Committee is hard at work finalizing programming for remainder 2020 to include as much content as originally planned as possible!  More to come on that!

Pulsecheck.  In an effort to gauge how we can best put our programming forward, please send an email to bigredquiltersguild@gmail.com by Monday, June 1, and let us know your interest in joining us for the July meeting and/or workshop.  We will plan to adhere to all guidance provided for meetings by the State of Michigan.  Additionally, we are working to provide the Monday meeting/lecture via Facebook Live.  

• Meeting and lecture Monday, July 20 (“Forty Years In the Making” program with Denielle Bohannon)–we plan to share our meeting via Facebook Live in addition to meeting in person (Choose one)

a) yes, I would plan to attend the meeting and lecture
b) no, I would not plan to attend the meeting and lecture, but would join online
c) no, I would not plan to attend the meeting and lecture this time

• Workshop Tuesday July 21 “Celebrate” workshop with Denielle Bohannon (Choose one)

a) yes, I would plan to attend the all-day workshop
b) no, I would not plan to attend the all-day workshop

Quarantine Quilting Pandemic Project Portfolio!  We know you’ve been busy, so Janet Haines, our webmaster, is going to help us create a gallery on our Guild website.  Send a picture of projects you’d like to share along with a description (for example:  name of the piece, basics of the project, inspiration, recipient–the sorts of thing that tell the story of your quilt!)  We will post photos as we receive them!
Thank you for reading–I look forward to hearing back from you on the Pulsecheck questions and Quarantine Quilting Pandemic Project Portfolio soon!!
Bridget Morel
Membership ChairBig Red Quilters’ Guild