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Guild Highlights

2008 Raffle Quilt

The Algonquin Quilters' Guild raffled the custom quilt "26 Recipes for Shoo-Fly Pie" shown above at the January 24, 2008 meeting. Blocks were pieced by 26 guild members and expertly machine quilted by Raffle Quilt Chairperson Jan Bryant.

2007 and 2008 Block of the Month

The 2007 Block of the Month project featured "stars" from the Fons & Porter book, Stars and Stripes Sampler.

The 2008 Block of the Month project was a holiday sampler quilt from the Fons & Porter book, Christmas Joy. The quilt consisted of six rows of stars, "joy," churches, trees, baskets, and poinsettias, separated by checkerboard borders. Quilters worked on their own quilts and show their progress at the monthly meetings.

Both Block of the Month projects were coordinated by Robin Krick.

Block Exchange with Quilters in Germany

2007 saw the guild’s first-ever “block swap” in which participants had an opportunity to build friendships across the globe while making a quilt at the same time.  Thirty Algonquin Quilters agreed to make nine “star” blocks each to exchange with their quilting counterparts in Germany.

Requirements for the Star blocks were:

• Make 9 “star” blocks
• Use the method of your choice: hand piecing, machine piecing, paper piecing, or appliqué
• Select the Star patterns (12-inch finished OR 12 ½-inch unfinished size) of your choice; all blocks should be different
• Use “quilt-shop quality” fabric only in navy, dark red and cream colors
• Prepare a muslin label with your name and address and pin it to the finished set of blocks
• Complete blocks to turn in at the September 2007 guild meeting

In return for her efforts, each participant received nine flower blocks from a quilter in Germany at the December 2007 meeting   The flowers were multi-colored on off-white backgrounds, also in the 12-inch finished (12 ½-inch unfinished) size.  The blocks were identified with the name and address of the quilter pinned to them. 

Many thanks to Heather McDougall for her work in coordinating this ambitious project for the guild!

Christmas Challenge Quilt Show

The guild' s first "challenge" consisted of an exchange of 6" squares of Christmas holiday fabrics at the June 2006 meeting and culminated in a challenge quilt show at the January 25, 2007 meeting. Pat Potenzo, a former AQG president, displays her winning quilt. Other winners were Robin Krick, Vicki Genz- Gurney and Pat Mesker.

Thanks to Barb Freeman and Val Veilleux for coordinating this fun event.

15th Anniversary Raffle Quilt

Guild member Waneda Craig was the lucky winner of The Algonquin Quilters' Guild 15th Anniversary Quilt. The drawing was held at the guild's annual Christmas Party and Gift Exchange on December 8, 2005. The basket quilt uses Moda's "Sweet Romance" fabric collection and measures 103" x 103".

Sue Stanek coordinated the raffle quilt project with help from friends in the daytime bee group: Carlene Moeller, Dori LeStarge, Marg Snyder, Fay George, Waneda Craig, and Emma Everett. Over 30 guild members made basket blocks for the quilt, and Dori LeStarge provided the beautiful long-arm machine quilting.

2005 Charity Quilts

With a unanimous vote, the Algonquin Quilters' Guild decided to make and donate "Quilts of Valor" as the guild's 2005 Charity Quilt project. The Quilts for Soldiers program donates quilts to soldiers in all branches of the military wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.

14 "Quilts of Valor" quilts were turned in at the October 27, 2005 meeting, and two more were turned in shortly after.

Thanks to all those guild members (some of whom are pictured above) who worked individually or as a group to make a soldier quilt for this worthy cause. Some members even made more than one quilt and/or participated on more than one group project! And last, but certainly not least, thank you to Amanda Petit for heading up this successful charity quilt project!

The website, quiltsforsoldiers.com, has pictures and a FAQ page with additional information about the "Quilts of Valor" effort.

15th Anniversary Celebration

The guild celebrated its 15th Anniversary with a dinner for current and former members at Randall Oaks Golf Club in West Dundee on Thursday, September 22, 2005. Thirty current members and six former members attended.

Former member Barbara Clem of Rockford, Illinois was the guest speaker. Barbara is an award winning quilter who shared the stories behind many of her phenomenal quilts pictured below.

Underground Railroad Quilt Show

The Underground Railroad Quilt Show held at the February 2005 guild meeting featured some of the quilts, tops, and blocks made during our 2004 Block-of-the-Month program, which was inspired by the book Underground Railroad Sampler by Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard.

The entries were showcased at both branches of the Algonquin Area Public Library during the month of March.

Algonquin Quilters Create Custom Quilt

Several members of the Algonquin Quilters' Guild were on hand at the September 22, 2004 meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Algonquin Area Public Library to present the board with a custom quilt created for the library. The library board commissioned the Guild to make the quilt to hang in the stairwell of the Harnish Road facility.

Entitled "The World's at Their Fingertips," the quilt depicts four children holding the world in their hands. A border brightly colored stars surrounds the children. The image evokes the idea that the library opens up a world of possibilities to young people.

The unique quilt was designed by guild member and Algonquin resident, Dori LeStarge. Twenty-two members of the Algonquin Quilters' Guild participated in the project by appliqueing and piecing the 80 x 100-inch quilt. Finally, it was custom quilted on a long-arm quilting machine by Paula Rostkowski of Grayslake.

The guild members truly enjoyed the process of creating the quilt, and they are appreciative of the opportunity of make a quilt to be permanently showcased in the Algonquin Area Public Library.