Activities

Member Opportunities

Beekeeper

As a service to the members, the Guild keeps a listing of current bees and their members and contact persons. The beekeeper maintains a record of available openings for new members and helps any member get a bee started and on track. The beekeeper is also responsible for contacting and coordinating the bees as needed for guild activities.

Some guild members meet regularly in a quilting bee in members’ homes for informal quilting and idea sharing. Some bees are very large and some very small, meeting mornings or evenings, every week or once or twice a month. Many of the bees are “as big as they should be,” while others are looking for new members.

Name Tag Drawing

CQG encourages all members to make a quilted name tag and to wear it to the meeting each month.  This helps others know who you are and identifies you as a quilter when you are representing the guild. Before each meeting, members wearing handmade nametags enter their names in a drawing for items donated by local retailers.

Secret Sew-ciety

To give members an opportunity to know other members and to have fun at the same time, we started Secret Sew-ciety in 2016.  The Sew-ciety works as a swap and is done 2-3 times a year.  There is a theme to each swap.  To participate, members fill out a questionnaire and return it to the Secret Sew-ciety Chairperson. In return, each participant receives the name of a guild member to whom their project will go to. Then at the time the swap is due, gifts and projects are given to the secret Guild Member.  Visual progress is required during the swap to ensure that everyone who participates will receive a gift.

Social

The Social Committee oversees the social activities for the Guild. The responsibilities of the Social Chairperson may include providing refreshments at regular Guild meetings and coordinating the Christmas Party at the December meeting.

 

Sunshine and Shadows

Our Sunshine and Shadows Chairperson will coordinate get-well wishes, expressions of sympathy or congratulations to members on behalf of the entire guild. You may contact the chairperson and inform her of any members who could benefit from the Sunshine and Shadows program.

 

Quilt Blocks

Block Party

The block party program is an educational program for CQG members. The monthly blocks cover a variety of techniques, which can include simple to advanced piecing, applique, curved strip piecing, etc. The block party chairperson is responsible for selecting patterns and fabric (if needed), submitting patterns and instructions to the newsletter editor, distributing fabric, overseeing the receipt of blocks and entry slips and drawing winners.

Block Party is open to all members. Each month, members have the opportunity to construct a different quilt block and to enter their names in a drawing to win set of blocks. The number of winners will depend upon the number of participants returning blocks. If fabric is provided by the guild, it will be available at the meetings.

To enter the drawing, sign up at each month’s meeting at the block of the month table.  Instructions will be made available at the table or in the newsletter. Make a block(s), following directions. Bring it to the next meeting and write your name on a piece of paper (no larger than 2”X3”) and put it in the “hat” for the drawing.

Holiday Block Party

Holiday Block Party is one of the educational aspects of the guild. Each year (for a nominal fee) kits containing instructions, a pattern and enough fabric to make one block are distributed to participating members at the October meeting (for a nominal fee). Every member who participates has a chance to win a set of blocks at the December meeting. Blocks must be completed and turned in at the December meeting. Categories of blocks try to cover a variety of techniques and skill level, which can include simple pieced, advanced pieced, miniature, traditional holiday, and intermediate/advanced applique.

 

Comfort Quilts

Quilts for Kids

The Quilts for Kids program is one of the guild’s charitable services to the community. Quilts made by CQG members are donated to Wake and Rex Hospitals Neonatal Intensive Care
Units. Kits are available for members to assist them in making the quilts. Recommended size is approximately 35″ x 40″. Our goal for 2013-2014 is 200 quilts.

Quilts on Wheels

Quilts on Wheels is another guild charitable service. This program provides lap-sized quilts to residents of local nursing homes. Kits consisting of fabric for a quilt top and backing as well as quilt batting are available or if you prefer, you may make a quilt using your own pattern and materials. Finished quilts are 36” square to 45” square and may be machine quilted, hand quilted or tied.  Labels will be provided to sew on the back of your quilt. The labels say Capital Quilters Guild and have a line for your name. Our 2013-20014 goal is 200 quilts.

Feel free to suggest nursing homes that you would like to see benefit from this program.

SAFEchild (Stop Abuse For Every Child)

Quilts are provided through the SAFEchild organization for children who have been identified as abused or neglected in Wake County. SAFEchild’s family-centered programs strengthen families and protect children by addressing the conditions associated with child abuse and neglect. Capital Quilters Guild (CQG) members make and donate varying sizes of quilts (crib-size to twin-size) which are then tagged with a card that reads, “My quilt is special to me because….” The recipient of the quilt (or the parent) writes a brief note about why they chose the quilt or what it means to them. Those notes are returned to the SAFEchild committee chair who distributes them to the quilt’s maker at monthly CQG meetings.

Quilts for the SAFEchild program may be any size, and may be machine quilted, hand quilted, or tied. Completed quilts have a label sewn on the back identifying “Capital Quilters Guild as the quilt’s maker. The quilt or label can also be signed with the quiltmaker’s name.

Donations of fabric, batting, thread, unfinished projects, orphan blocks, or quilt tops are always welcome. Large pieces of fabric, fat quarters, strips, squares, traditional cottons, decorator fabric, flannel, denim, and “cheater” panels can all be used.

The goal for the 2013-2014 guild year is 200 quilts.

See Links for more information on SAFEchild.

Education

The guild promotes quilting education in the community, as well as within the guild.

In the community, we demonstrate quilting at elementary schools and special event celebrations at theNorth Carolina Museum of History and the Historic Oak View County Park.  Our volunteers are also available to demonstrate quilting techniques, display examples and discuss the art of quilting.

If your organization is interested in learning more about quilting please contact us by email at information@capitalquilters.org.

Annual Events

Silent Auction

Once a year, we hold a silent auction. Quilting-related items are donated by members and then auctioned to the highest bidder to raise money for the guild’s charitable projects or library. Bids are written on slips of paper. The person making the highest bid at the end of the bidding period gets the item at the price bid.

Nominating

Officers are nominated in April and elected in May. A Nominating Committee is responsible for selecting a slate of officers to present to the Executive Committee and the membership. The Chairperson of the Nominating Committee oversees this process and reports to the Executive Committee.