The North Quarter is up to two representatives from each guild in the northern California area that meet 4 times per year. They talk about events their guild is participating in and any important information to quilters or guilds everywhere. Each representative writes a few paragraphs about what their guild is doing and a few weeks before the quarterly meeting a newsletter is sent out. Each meeting is hosted by a different guild. That guild decides where we will have lunch in their town.

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Quilt Guilds of the North Quarter held its quarterly meeting on Saturday, July 25th, in Yreka, in a house next door to the Wooden Spools Quilt Shop.The house is the property of the owner of Wooden Spools and is in the process of being remodeled.The meeting was originally going to be held outside, but since the weather turned extremely hot in Yreka that weekend, Wooden Spools graciously loaned out the use of the house with its nice air conditioning!Our large group was cozy but comfy.
The hostess guild of the day, Siskiyou Country Quilters, decorated the room we were in with quilts that covered all available wall space.The quilts were produced by the monthly "strip club" from Wooden Spools and were very beautiful.The quilters also displayed their gorgeous Opportunity Quilt called "Peaceful Garden Path".

Our President, Arlene Arnold, opened the meeting with introductions of the various guild representatives and visitors.In attendance were reps from:Chico, Colusa, Etna, Montague, Mt. Shasta, Orland, Oroville, Red Bluff, Redding, Sutter, Yreka and Yuba City.

Future QGNQ meetings will be in Etna in October 2009, Orland in January 2010 and Colusa in April 2010.Upcoming quilt show locations were given:Log Cabin Quilters (Hayfork)--Aug. 28-30, Sutter Buttes Guild--Sept. 19th, Siskiyou Country (Yreka)--Sept. 26th, Annie's Star--Oct. 24-25. Butte County Historical Society Museum and the Ehman House in Oroville will have a quilt show Sept. 19th with special guest quilt historian, Julie Silver.Also, on Sept. 19th, a group of quilters (not a guild) will have an outdoor quilt show in Shingletown.

Siskiyou told of one of their community service projects.They gathered a lot of donated fabric, tagged it with yardage measurements and then sold it and the monies went toward grants for those who have had problems such as being burned out of their homes.

Representatives listed some of their upcoming guest speakers:Flavin Glover to Yuba City in August, Diane Steel to Redding in August and then Patricia Knoegle (sister of Eleanor Burns) will be in Colusa, Orland, Oroville, Red Bluff and Sutter during October.She comes out here once a year and does her lecture for free at various guilds who request her.She sells her ownher sister's products at the guilds.

Idabel Crowell was the spokesperson for our hostess guild.The guild raffled off two large baskets of goodies--one from the guild and one donated by Sew Unique in Mt. Shasta.Each one of us was given a cute, handmade placemat and matching napkin, all 50 of which were made by one member!We each received a little pincushion with needles and a 25% off coupon for the quilt store next door.Idabel also told us of her telephone conversation with the L.L. Bean Catalogue company.She "vented" to them about their selling of cheaply made quilts from China that are advertised as "handmade" and asked to have her name removed from their mailing list.She was steamed that the catalogue is proud of selling American-made products. We were also informed that the Smithsonian Institute has sold our American quilt patterns to China!

Helen Blackston (with tears in her eyes) told us that she had the honor of receiving a freedom quilt for her son-in-law, who is on active duty overseas, in the service.Scott Valley Quilters made 745 quilts for local service men and women. In November, they will be having a "back to World War II" party to give quilts to local WWII veterans from the area.The quilters in the northern section are certainly a productive bunch!

The program for the afternoon was "What Was I Thinking?"We were all previously instructed to bring something from home to share with the group that related to the title.Some of the things that were shared were "ugly" fabric, quilt squares, projects, a huge blow-up doll and a "snake quilt".The stories that the purchasers or makers shared were extremely hilarious.The owner of the snake quilt (you had to be there!) won a gift certificate to the quilt store for having the best "what was I thinking" object.

Nine women shared their latest projects during Show and Tell.There was a third drawing for three extra placemats.Idabel shared her much-requested B-B-Q chicken recipe and told us ofsecret ingredient:Klamath River Gold Apricot BBQ Sauce that could be purchased at two local stores.raved about the chicken served at the luncheon and as Janet Lindahl and I headed out for home, after checking out the quilt store, we ran into several other quilters who were searching for the sauce at the local Raley's store!
We all had a wonderful meal, great fellowship with old and newfriends and an informative afternoon, compliments of the gracious ladies from the Siskiyou Country Quilters.

Gay Evans,Representative