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The meeting began with introduction of new members and guests.
Gill informed us that Jean Classen passed away a few days ago, so we had a minute’s silence for her.
Was also informed that Kulvinder’s father-in-law passed away this week.
Then we talked about the coming Exhibition at Sarit Centre, handing of quilts, posters were ready so members could take some to put wherever they could. Suzanne kindly offered to be in charge of that.
Jasbir Sokhi was in charge again of giving out the raffle books and receiving the ones already sold.
Brij Datta was in charge of the monthly raffle tickets, which we sold at 100/- for 3 and 50/- for 1. The prizes were: 1st was a rotary blade sharpener, 2nd was a book on quotations, and 3rd was invisible thread.
Charu told the members that even if they could not hand in their quilts today, they should at fill in the forms and hand them over so she could do the write ups.
After that I touched on the Canadian Exhibition, informed those who were going to go should start booking their tickets as the prices were going up.
Then we had show and tell, and had quite a few quilts. Thanks to Surinder Thethy who took photos of the quilts.
We had a break then, and started the meeting after 20 minutes. First we did the draw, and then formed 4 groups, as we had fours speakers, and started with the demos. The meeting finished at around 12.30 p.m.
As we had a class with Dena in the afternoon, the ladies had a quick lunch while the room was being reset, then we started the class on bindings. They were 19 of us. The class went well, and everyone was glad to learn two new binding methods.
During the upcoming Annual General Meeting of the Kenya Quilt Guild, to be held at the Simba Union, 10:00 a.m. on April 18th, 2013, we will consider and hopefully approve revisions to the current KQG Constitution. The proposed revisions can be found as red text in the current document, accompanied by footnote explanations for each proposed revision. If you have paid your 2013 KQG dues and will be voting for the election of officers and proposed amendments to the Constitution, please familiarize yourself with the new document and be prepared to discuss it:
Rowena Buxton
The Kenya Quilt Guild acknowledges with great sorrow the passing of our dear friend and member, Rowena Buxton, due to a tragic accident. Rowena was a cheerful, enthusiastic and committed needleworker who enjoyed greatly both patchwork quilting and embroidery. Her friendly, always smiling face will be much missed, and we send our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to her family and other close friends.
The first time I cast my eyes on some quilts from a quilter living in Kenya then, I knew the quilting bug had bit me! I immediately advised myself that I was to learn this art and craft of patchwork in quilting, even if it cost an arm and a leg!
It was back in 2004 while I lived in Kijabe that Jana Mead, a member of the Kenya Quilt Guild , became my source of inspiration. I began to understand there was a sparkle of life at the end of the horizon, if I set my hands to stitch.
Later I enrolled for a course in Fashion and Design at Buru Buru Institute of Fine Arts in preparation for becoming a quilter in future. The college equipped me with much knowledge in sewing and today I run a fashion and design shop in Eastlands, the economic gateway into Kenya. My shop exhibits the excellence of my workmanship in stitching as seen in the photos.
In 2009, my dream of being a quilter started to gain shape after I was invited to the Kenya Quilt Guild meetings. I acquired much knowledge in the area of quilting as I positioned myself in the Quilt Workshop Schedules and translated much of this knowledge into quilts. I was convinced that a day would come when I would walk strong even after stumbling just like a child. I was now sure that what one settles for in life is what rules them. The main question was why settle for average stitching when one could become phenomenal?
In answer to this, I pressed on to get more education from the Kenya Quilt Guild teachers. It is at this stage that I decided to connect with Raji Syan, one of the talented and knowledgeable Kenya Quilt Guild teachers, who teaches beginners or more advanced quilt students how to do hand piecing.
As I continued to be passionate about my classes with Raji, I knew that the door to the ordinary was completely shutting and a door to the extraordinary was slowly opening. The sky was now going to be the lower limit for me!
I overcame many mental obstacles and challenges including transporting my machine to class through public means. I was, however, convinced that the endurance I practiced was the preparation to position me for greater things. Part of my dream in quilting was to create a platform where I would orchestrate quilting skills to present and future generations. I had a great desire to leave a legacy behind of imparting quilting skills to all.
To date, I have made over ten quilts, ranging from wall hangings to bed quilts. I made my first quilt, the Irish Chain, while expecting one of my daughters. It was be a gift to her. The second quilt, the Kitchen Garden was a wall hanging and many more as seen in the photos. My love for hand quilting and appliqué is passionate.
Since then I have attended many quilting classes and learned new techniques including how to make quilting bags from African bead work using a crochet hook. I source most of my beads from Masai markets, which are open-air markets that move from one venue to another across the city. I have been able to bead and sell some items like glasses, bottles, belts and pens to other parts of the world.
I have also attended several workshops with International Teachers, who have visited and taught patchwork quilting or other needle arts in Kenya. I now confidently enjoy sharing quilting techniques with all the quilters I come across knowing that what Casey Leisure said is true: “An enlightened woman will not seek to be understood, she just enjoys the company of like-minded people.”
It has been a long journey for me and a challenge for me to do better even as I hold the position of the Chairman of the Kenya Quilt Guild Exhibition Subcommittee, and have the honour to sit in the Executive Council. I extend my welcome to many who want to quilt with a warning that once you start quilting, you many never stop!
Bernina Machine EQ2C is my choice of machine which makes my work very enjoyable and produces very gorgeous blocks. The machine is well maintained and serviced by The Woman Shop at Sarit Centre in Westlands, which is the Kenya’s foremost patchwork quilting shop, selling fabrics, notions, quilt books and tools, and selling and servicing Bernina sewing machines.
In no uncertain terms, the overall excellence attained through all these trainings and experience is reflected even in the littlest of my quilt pieces. Surely I can resound that “The sky is the lower limit; those who say the sky is the limit have no imagination!”
My passion for quilting has grown over the years and I will continue to press on to a higher level.
The Kenya Quilt Guild holds its Annual General Meeting on Thursday of this week at our usual meeting place, Shalom House off Ngong Road near The Junction and next door to L’Arena Pizzeria. The meeting will open at 10:00 a.m. We will have election of officers and calls for Subcommittee volunteers to establish a new Executive Council. Then we will debate two Constitutional amendments, one to change the AGM date to the April meeting, and the other to suspend publication of Snippets indefinitely. Anyone who is not a member in good standing may not vote for officers or amendments, so if you have not yet paid your dues for 2012, please come prepared to do so BEFORE the meeting begins.
The business portion of our meeting concluded, we will have a brief show-and-tell, followed by a presentation by Dena Crain on how to care for our quilts. Dena will discuss the enemies of textiles, how to travel with quilts and how to prepare quilts for long-term storage as well as how to hang and display our lovely quilts.
Don’t forget that before our next meeting in May, we will be holding an exhibition at the Village Market. That happens over the weekend of the 11th, 12th, and 13th of May, and the show will be open from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. each of those days. Volunteers are needed to help work the show.
If you plan to exhibit one or more quilts in the show, bring your completed Call for Entry form and the appropriate amount of cash to pay the fees for showing your work to the AGM on Thursday. Any Call for Entry form submitted after Thursday will be charged an additional 300/-. Make certain you have completed the correct Call for Entry form; if it asks you whether you want the KQG to sell your quilt, that’s the right one!
Quilts for the show can be delivered to The Woman Shop, to Neela Shah or to Gill Rebelo any time up until the close of business on Saturday, May 5. Quilts received after that date will not be exhibited.
Anyone who is interested in patchwork quilting is invited to attend both our AGM and our Exhibition. Come to meet us, see what we do and how we do it, and to join in the fun and appreciation of patchwork quilting we share. Visitors are welcome, but there is an entry fee of 200/- payable at the door.
We have quite a few workshops coming up in May. Follow our Quilt Workshop Schedule for more information to be posted soon.
See you Thursday at Shalom House!
The Kenya Quilt Guild’s Library Book Accession List is now available online. Find it on our Library page.
Download your preferred format, either pdf (non-sortable) or Excel (sortable by author, title or book identification number; also for iWorks Numbers on Mac). Then, use the list to help you source books by favorite authors or find out if we have a specific book you would like to read.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
