It is with great sadness that the Beaconsfield Quilter’s Guild announces the passing of our former President, Antoinette Scarano. A member for the past 6 years, she served in the Guild as Vice-President for 2 years before becoming President in June 2019. She was a talented quilter, knitter, card-maker and cook. But most of all she will be remembered for her huge contributions to the West Island community. 

She lived her life as a quilt…

          Life is like a quilt 
          Years bound together with family and friends
          Backed with tradition
          Stitched with love
          With cornerstones placed carefully together to create memories 
               of our journey through time
          
          Live life as a quilt
          It's soft when important
          It’s warm when it’s cold
          It’s proud to show your true colors
          And always scrap together when times are tough
          (Anonymous)

With great enthusiasm and love she talked about her joys in life: husband Ronnie, daughter Roseann (Alister), son Andrew,  and most of all her precious grandchildren. With never a complaint, she faced her illness with dignity being so positive despite all. Her family was by her side, taking care of her with dedication and love. She felt all the love that she had been given as she went in peace. Our deepest sympathies to her family in this difficult time. She will be missed.

(défiler vers le bas pour la version française)

Welcome back to returning members and welcome to our brand-new members as well. Our Executive team is busy preparing our new guild season, after our summer break.

In some cases, the summer break (and springtime) included mask-making. Our guild prepared and distributed over 20,000 masks to over 20 organizations, both near and far: some of our masks were distributed locally to organizations such as CHSLD Manoir Beaconsfield and CLSC Lac St-Louis, while others went as far as Iqaluit! This initiative has now wrapped up; thank you for all those who participated and supported.

Looking ahead to the 2020/21 season, meetings will be held virtually, using Zoom, until further notice. The first Executive meeting will be held on August 19th at 9.30am and the first member meetings will be held as follows (please note that the meetings are, unusually, not being held in the first week of the month):

• Tuesday, Sept. 8th at 7pm
• Wednesday, Sept. 9th at 10am

Wishing you all a terrific year of learning and friendship with the guild: what an adventure we will have, learning new ways to meet, quilt, have fun and learn from one another… virtually!

Bienvenue à la saison 2020/21!

Bienvenue à nos membres actifs ainsi qu’à nos nouveaux membres. Notre conseil exécutif s’occupe à organiser la nouvelle saison de la guilde, après la pause d’été.

Durant la période estivale, quelques membres ont fabriqué des masques. Au total, notre guilde a préparé et distribué plus de 20 000 masques qui furent distribués localement à plus de 20 organismes, comme le CHSLD Manoir Beaconsfield et le CLSC Lac Saint-Louis, alors que d’autres furent envoyés aussi loin qu’à Iqaluit. Cette initiative est maintenant terminée. Merci à tous ceux et celles qui y ont contribué.

Jusqu’à nouvel ordre, les réunions de la saison 2020/21 se tiendront de façon virtuelle, en utilisant Zoom. La première réunion de l’exécutif aura lieu le 19 août à 9h30 et les premières réunions des membres se tiendront comme suit (veuillez noter que les réunions de septembre, exceptionnellement, se tiendront la deuxière semaine du mois) :

• mardi le 8 septembre à 19h
• mercredi le 8 septembre à 10h

L’exécutif vous souhaite à toutes une formidable année d’apprentissage et d’amitié avec la guilde : quelle aventure allons-nous avoir à découvrir de nouvelles manières de se rencontrer, de faire des courtepointes, de s’amuser et d’apprendre les unes des autres … virtuellement.

(pour la version française, cliquez ici)

June 30th

We currently stand at over 20,000 masks sewn and delivered… incredible! What a great community effort! Read on for ways everyone can help out.

Beaconsfield Quilter’s Guild members are putting their sewing skills to work to help meet the need for face masks for staff and patients in our health care system. Friends, family, neighbours and local organizations are pitching in as well to iron, cut fabric, sew or donate elastic and fabric, making this into a true community initiative.

The masks are made of tightly-woven cotton using 2 different designs, as requested and approved by the medical personnel; they are washable and reusable. See the counter on the right side of this page for our latest totals.

Where are the masks going? Masks are being distributed to over 15 sites throughout Montreal, including hospitals, CLSCs, CHSLDs among others. Click here for details on the receiving organizations and how the masks are being used.

Caring for masks: Wash in warm soapy water each time mask is worn. Do not iron elastic. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends using non-scented detergent and no bleach to increase wearer comfort. Masks should never be put in a microwave oven.

Who are the people creating the masks? Some of our ‘mask-making magicians’ pose for a physically-distanced photo shoot above 🙂 To see more photos of our members, friends and family busily sewing masks: Mask Photos

Wondering about the efficacy of wearing ‘home-sewn’ masks? Our government has recently begun recommending use of face masks following specific guidelines. Face masks are an addition to other guidelines such as hand-washing and social distancing. While face masks provide an additional form of prevention, they DO NOT replace either of these critical strategies. Click on this link for more information on the efficacy of masks: Mask Guidelines

Want to sew your own masks for friends and family? There are many, many patterns on the internet these days. These are the 2 styles chosen by doctors at Lakeshore General and MUHC, should you want to benefit from their testing and expertise in your pattern selection:

Olson Mask:

• Step by step instructions for the Olson mask without filter- recommended!!
• Olson Mask Face Pattern pieces only

Surgical Mask:

• Pattern and instructions for the surgical mask
• Instructions for nose pieces
• Quick way to sew the pleated face masks

The December meetings were action-packed! These are some highlights:

• Absolutely fascinating presentations were given by Shelly Miller at both meetings. Shelly is a Montreal-based artists who, among other focuses, creates art inspired by quilts, often for public spaces. Hearing about her process and inspiration as well as seeing examples of her creations was a treat.

• The Sunbonnet Sue challenge unveiling took place. So many unique interpretations! Thanks to Lauma for organizing this original challenge. Some fun stats: 30 “Sues” were created by 21 members and inspired by 26 different artists. Viewer’s Choice ended up being a 3-way tie, all representing Canadian artists!  We then did a draw for the final prize:  2 passes to the Musée des Beaux Arts Montreal. The winners were: Valerie Baylis (inspired by Lawren S. Harris), Cathy Bonneville (inspired by Norval Morrisseau) and Linda Glasspoole (inspired by Tom Thomson). More news to follow on where our Sunbonnet Sues will travel and be seen next.

• Outreach: Tuesday, December 3, was Giving Day so it was very fitting that on that day Christine and Dawn delivered nine quilts to the West Island Palliative Care on behalf of our guild. Thank you to all our guild members who helped make these beautiful quilts.
  

• last but not least, there was food, lots and lots of food, accompanied by socializing and exchanges among our members…. what a vibrant community we are lucky to be part of!

Our guild can look forward to more learning, fun, sharing and community- and friendship-building in 2020, starting with a workshop and retreat in January as well as our usual monthly meetings.

On October 19th, the guild hosted a “Fantasy Butterfly” workshop taught by our very own Louise Charlton. Did you know that a group of butterflies is officially called a kaleidoscope? I love that name: it really captures the many varied colours and symmetry at play in real-life butterflies and in the lovely creations made during the workshop.

This post is dedicated to the all the butterflies that will be fluttering through our Guild Show & Tells over the coming months… Here’s the first batch to emerge from their cocoons:

Stay tuned for more butterflies as they emerge from their cocoons 😉