2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
BY GUILD HISTORIAN ROBERT TUCKER
The year started out on a high note with the entertaining and energetic Dru Ferrell, owner of Sew Treasured Quilt Shop in Murrieta California as our guest speaker.
Not only was she a great speaker she had an impressive mini store set up in the lobby.
January is when we unveiled Lily Field our Opportunity Quilt for the year. The pattern was by Kathy Doughty, pieced by Jackie Mason & Stephanie Beasley and quilted by Treese Pflum.
We had a zoom sit and sew that month. Judi Moran reported Olive Crest, Family Hospice and Bristol Hospice all appreciated the many place mats guild members made and donated.
Hilda Koning-Bastiaan and Patti Reyes had work in the SCCQH Exhibit at the Road to California Quilt Show.
In February President Tony DeZego brought quilt legend Eleanor Burns in as the guest speaker. Eleanor did her complete " This is your life Eleanor Burns" stage show and signed books afterwards and posed for photographs.
After a three-year hiatus the Riverside County & National Date Festival returned. Laurie LaSalle, Leslie Herbst, Treese Pflum, Pamela Kimball, Linda Blake and Patti Reyes had entries in the festival. Our opportunity quilt was on view also.
We had our first Sew What Table of the season this month again at The Joslyn Center. Sixteen new members signed up at this event. We had eighty-four shoppers plus the crew.
The Rancho Mirage Library is where we held our March meeting, a first for us and the guest speaker was Maria Shell. During the meeting the Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild had their opportunity quilt on display next to ours. Guild Member Tricia Schroeter had an open house this month for the new location of her quilt shop in Palm Desert called Trish Tac Sew.
Back in our home turf of the University of California, Riverside Palm Desert Campus our April speaker was guild member Cheryl Taylor. The new slate of officers was voted in.
May was our last in person meeting before the Summer and Jenni Smith was our guest speaker. The new directory was available and back in hard copy form. It was announced our newsletter as we have known it is a thing of the past and eblasts are the future. At this time Debbie Carran is in charge of the eblasts keeping us informed. Facebook administrator Robert Tucker has been doing the same with weekly posts on social media.
The new slate of officers was announced, and Tony DeZego continued as President, Judi Moran & Janna Calkins VP Facilities, Cheryl Quesnell, Nancy Wilhelm & Annie Houston VP Programs, Alena Callimanis VP Opportunity Quilt, Kathy Dunham as Secretary and Pat Siegel as Treasurer.
Our second Sew What Table of the year took place this month. We also had access to the Quilt Connection speakers which is informative for many.
June was a zoom meeting only with guest speaker Rose Rhoads educating us about the Quilts of Valor. Summer zoom sew alongs were announced to help us stay connected during the summer months of June, July, August and September.
The July zoom meeting featured a studio tour of guild member Treese Pflum's newly renovated work/sewing space.
Janna Calkins and Patti Reyes had works in the Quilt Festival Long Beach.
The Fairmont Water Works Museum in Philadelphia accepted the commissioned quilt made by Robert Tucker into their permanent collection.
Guild member Cal Trimpey entertained us during the August zoom meeting with a studio workspace tour.
Patricia Bitter Young was awarded several ribbons for her quilts entered into the Kenosha County Fair in Wisconsin this month.
Hybrid meetings resumed in September. Queen of the tumbling block, Claire Victor was our guest speaker. Claire was a very active member in our guild until she moved out of state a few years ago.
Once again guild members had access to another Global Quilt Connection All Star Virtual Sampler Platter.
Our October speaker was guild member Mary Gorfine. The Beach Cities Quilters Guild had their opportunity quilt on display during our meeting.
During our November meeting Annie Houston orchestrated guest speaker Rose Rhoads and her musical husband Bill to give a beautiful Quilts of Valor presentation.
Debbie Cannon, Kathleen Herring, Janna Calkins, Cheryl Quesnell, Annie Houston, Leslie Herbst, Kathy Dunham, Kate Baron, Linda Blake, Patricia Bitter Young, Linda Jones, Hilda Koning-Bastiaan, Tony DeZego, Nancy Wilhelm, Jan Bruell and Jackie Mason each made and donated a quilt of valor.
November was truly a month of giving and members worked on panels for a new large AIDS Quilt panel. The Mizell Center in Palm Springs had two of the original panels on display, also panels made by guild members which will be sewn together to make one large panel that will go into the official national AIDS Quilt collection. Alan Calgaro, Deb McCarran, Cal Trimpey, Tony DeZego, Robert Tucker, Mary McKay, Jackie Mason, Vivien McGuire, Cathleen Jolley, Kathleen Herring, Treese Pflum, Mary Gorfine, Marcia Ulrich, Annie Houston, Janna Calkins and Ronda Guillaume all gave their talents and passion to this project.
The Sew What Table had its third event of the year in November. Leslie Herbst and volunteers worked hard at making this yet again another success with offering rock bottom prices and a fun time.
On the topic of volunteering, Treese Pflum reported we had 400 charity quilts made and donated by guild members this year which at this writing stands at 233 reported by Stephanie Beasley of Membership. Quilts were not the only items donated with 485 placemats, burp cloths, pillows and fidget quilts all going to good causes. Many of these items were the efforts by members of Friendship Groups.
December was our month to celebrate, and our yearly holiday party was a brunch held in the ballroom of Desert Willow Country Club. Over 100 people attended with President Tony DeZego running the event with the help of many others. Kathleen Herring spear headed the gift basket raffle and Janna Calkins the silent auction. Robert Tucker made the centerpieces which were one-of-a-kind wreaths also raffled off.
Guild member Connie Fleischner won the Opportunity Quilt.
