The October Meeting that was sabotaged by Storm Amy

October Patchwork Guild Meeting

Dear Members 

It was with regret and reluctance that the October NIPG meeting was cancelled due to the inclement weather. We did our best to contact all of our members and I think we were successful in that the decision was made late on Friday afternoon. Our messages both verbal and via social media, while reaching the majority, regrettably didn’t reach at least one person.    

This experience has highlighted the need to refine our procedures for dealing with such a situation in the future and also the necessity for members to inform the Guild of any changes in your contact details. 

Since we didn’t have a meeting I thought I’d provide you a brief summary of what would have been discussed.

• Thank you to the Select Vestry of St Dorothea’s Church for opening their facilities to us and being understanding when we cancelled at short notice.
• This year’s chosen charity is Guide Dogs for The Blind Association. The tickets have been designed by Lynda and are on sale at £5.00 each for the chance to win a fabulous quilt created and donated by Yvonne .
• The Charity Table will be held at our next meeting on Ist November so extra time to scour your sewing room and bring along any items you can part with. Please put a price on your donated items and do take your unsold items away with you. Don’t forget cash for ballots and the Charity Table. 
• The theme for the Hands across the Border Exhibition 2027 is “Through the Looking Glass” and the perimeter of the exhibit should not exceed 250cm, that is just under 100 ins (approx 25ins square if you want to do a square)
• The Textile Takeover Day takes place this Saturday 11th October from 11:00 until 16:00 in The Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra. We are in The Parochial Hall along with 8 other stands. Brian, Rosalind, Margaret and myself will be there and any other members are most welcome. Volunteers are asked to bring along a few samples of their work, some work to keep you busy and to chat to the visitors. This is a popular event focusing on vintage clothing, sustainable textiles and textile repair and reuse.
• The November meeting is in Crawfordsburn Scouts Activity Centre, 20 Bridge Road South, Helen’s Bay, BT 19 1JT on 1st November at the usual time. Dr Barbara Dars will give us a talk in the morning and a half day workshop in the afternoon. We are all looking forward to that Barbara. 
• The Knit and Stitch Show is being held in The Eikon Centre near Lisburn on November 13, 14, 15 & 16 November from 10:00 – 17:30 except 16th which is 10:00- 16:00. This is one of UK’s biggest and best craft shows. There is space for 4,000 cars and free shuttle buses every 20 minutes to and from Lisburn Train Station. It’s a huge event we have agreed to take a stall at this but we need some more volunteers, especially on Friday 14th 10.00-1.30 and 1:30-5:30, Saturday 15th 1:00-5:30 also Sunday 10:00-1:00 and 1.00-4.30. That would give us a skeleton staff so please don’t be afraid to put your name forward to keep us company. 
• The Christmas meeting is on Saturday 6th December in St Dorothea’s Church. The theme for the Christmas Challenge is  “Celebrate” in the form of a decoration – it can be 2D or 3D followed by some party activiities.
• Mary will be announcing news of the Spring bus run. 

Thank you all for your cooperation on Saturday morning it was much appreciated.

Yours in quilting

Martha