Would you like to participate in the Festival?!

Dear Guild Leader,

I am writing to encourage you and your guild to participate in West Virginia Quilters, Inc. Quilt Festival 2010, which will be held in Summersville, West Virginia from June 24 to 26. The enclosed festival packet describes the events that will be part of the festival and includes a Quilt Entry Form, a Class Registration Form, a Special Events Order Form, and a Membership Application. Feel free to make as many copies as you need. The forms are also
available online at www.wvquilters.org.

This year’s festival offers more opportunities than ever for local guilds to participate. There will be activities each evening Wednesday through Friday and a Little Quilt Auction on Saturday afternoon. So it will be well worth spending several days there. We hope to see you and your quilts there! Charter a bus or set up a car pool and bring the whole gang! Here are some ways your guild can join in the fun:

1. Enter your quilts in the show. Entry is open to all members of West Virginia Quilters. To enter, complete the enclosed entry form (or download one from www.wvquilters.org) and mail it to Gail Vaillancourt, 281 Trace Road, Newton, WV 25266 by May 15, 2010. All entrants are eligible to attend the free Sneak Peek Reception the night before the show officially opens. Contact: Gail Vaillancourt at 304-565-3500 or gail.vaillancourt@gmail.com.

Not a member? Fill out the enclosed membership application and mail it with your dues to Norma Jeffers, 3331 W. 5th Avenue, Belle, WV 25015. Contact her at 304-926-6866 or norma.jeffers@verizon.net.

Suggestion: Some guilds have recruited a volunteer to hand deliver guild entries to the show on Tuesday, June 22, and another to pick them up after the show is over on Saturday, June 26. This encourages entries by folks who are reluctant to ship quilts to the show.

2. Enter your guild banner in the special exhibit. To enter, complete the enclosed Quilt Entry Form, check the line at the bottom of page 1, and mail it to Gail Vaillancourt, 281 Trace Road, Newton, WV 25266 by May 15, 2010. There is no fee. This is an opportunity to publicize your guild and its activities. Contact: Gail Vaillancourt, 304-565-3500 or gail.vaillancourt@gmail.com.

Suggestion: If you like, you may also display an 8½” by 11" placard providing information about your group such as name, number of members, date, time, and place of meetings, group activities and history, membership information, and a contact person.

3. Make quilts for the Little Quilt Auction. Here’s your chance to make something small (less than 36" per side) and fun for a good cause – also your chance to own something small and wonderful made by one of your quilting friends or heros. To donate, complete the enclosed entry form and mail it with your quilt to Lynda Sago, at RR6, Box 335, Fairmont, WV 26554. Proceeds from the Little Quilt Auction support the quilt festival and other West Virginia Quilters educational and charitable projects. All donors are eligible to attend the free Sneak Peek Reception the night before the show officially opens. Contact: Lynda Sago, 304-366-5494, 304-657-7364 or ljsago@aol.com.

Suggestion: Millennium Quilters, this year’s featured guild, has challenged its members to make beautiful little quilts for the auction from ugly fat quarters. Crazy Quilters is also doing a challenge. How about issuing a challenge to your members to see how many wonderful little quilts you can provide for the auction?

4. Donate items for the Bodacious Boutique. This year we will be selling items at a boutique. For the non-sewing public we are seeking sewn items such as Christmas ornaments, placemats, table runners, pillowcases, potholders, aprons, doll quilts. For quiltmakers, we are seeking pincushions, patterns, books, UFOs etc. Contact: Cathy Sowa, at 304-364-8139 or cathy.sowa@gmail.com.

5. Take a turn hand quilting on the round robin raffle quilt. Over the past year, guilds around West Virginia have made a round robin quilt that will be raffled for the benefit of West Virginia Quilters. A photo of the quilt in progress is at www.wvquilters.org. The final round is being added now by Log Cabin Quilters of Elkins, and it will be hand quilted in a frame at Quilt Festival 2010. Your guild can volunteer to help with the hand quilting by signing up for a few hours during the festival. Contact: Terry Chilko, at 304-296-4846 or WVQinc@gmail.com.

6. Take a class. This year’s judge, Lois Smith, will be teaching a one-day class, “Points of Interest,” based on the New York beauty block, on Friday. On Saturday morning, seven West Virginia teachers will demonstrate techniques in 15-minute sessions in a two-hour medley. This is an opportunity to check out teachers close enough to teach at your guild. To sign up, complete the enclosed class registration form and return it to Fran Kordek, at RR1, Box 174, Elkins, WV 26241. Contact: Fran Kordek, 304-636-7973 or fkordek@cebridge.net.

7. Volunteer to help at the show. It takes a lot of volunteers to staff the show. Help is needed for the following tasks: accepting quilts, setting up frames, hanging the quilts, helping vendors set up, white gloving, hand quilting, working at the registration desk, working at the admission desk, booth sitting for vendor breaks, working at the boutique, taking down the quilts, and working at quilt pick-up. The tasks are not onerous, and they provide a chance to get to know quilters from around the state. A volunteer schedule is online at www.wvquilters.org. Contact: Terry Chilko, at 304-296-4846 or WVQinc@gmail.com.

8. Provide guild sponsorship. In the past, several guilds have helped sponsor the quilt festival by providing monetary support. You may make a general contribution or sponsor a particular event or award. All contributions receive special recognition in the program. Contact: Barb Green, at 304-636-4531 or sandbgreen@verizon.net.

9. Buy an ad in the festival program. Advertising in the festival program provides an opportunity to provide basic information about your guild to people interested in quilting. Pages in the program are approximately 4" by 8½.” Prices are as follows: $30 for a quarter page; $50 for a half page; $100 for a full page. Information must be sent copy-ready by May 22, 2010 to Barb Green at 35 Eastridge Dr., Elkins, WV 26241 or sandbgreen@verizon.net. Contact: Barb Green at 304-636-4531.

10. Come to the festival! This year there will be new special exhibits, a featured guild exhibit by Millennium Quilters of Bridgeport, an educational exhibit by the Marion County Reading Council, special activities for children, an ongoing demonstration of hand quilting, tons of vendors, and lots of beautiful quilts. The Summersville Arena and Conference Center is a new facility with plenty of free parking for both cars and buses. Consider coming for several days and spending time with other quiltmakers from around the state.

See you in Summersville!

Charli Fulton, Publicity Chair
West Virginia Quilters, Inc.