Upcountry Quilters Guild Newsletter - November/December 2025
Newsletter Content Authors:
- Meeting Minutes – Donna A.
- Birthdays – Marina G.
- President’s Notes – Cheryl B.
- Meeting Program Notes – Gretchen C.
- Community Service – Edith P., Kay M., Pam J.
- Oconee/Pickens County QOV / Sit-N-Sew – Beth E.
- Public Relations – Tami M.
- Show & Tell Photos – Beth E.
Meeting Minutes
UQG Meeting Minutes, December 9, 2025
Meeting called to order by Cheryl B.
Meeting Program: Tammi Ferguson gave a presentation on her non-profit organization, “Warmth and Comfort for the Elderly”. The guild has agreed to support this organization by making “quilted hugs” and sensory items. Other items that could be made could be walker and wheelchair bags, bibs, fidget mats, sensory mitts, lap quilts for end of bed, wheelchair lap quilts.
Minutes were approved as placed on website.
Treasurer’s Report was not available, as Linda C. has been out of town.
Membership: 29 members and 5 guests in attendance. Name tag winner was Barbara D. Helene C. was the winner for attending every meeting in 2025. 2 new members have joined. Other gifts were drawn for.
Community Service: Members voted unanimously to adopt Warmth and Comfort for the Elderly as our Community Service organization this year. Kay M. has pieces of batting already cut that would be appropriate for lap quilts.
Tea and Sympathy:
- Joanne G’s husband has passed
- Stacey T. is progressing well after her knee surgery. She is walking without a cane now.
- Margaret C. will be having eye surgery
Publicity: Tami M. reported she needs three quilts to display in the county the first of February. Please bring to the January 2026 meeting.
VP:
- Gretchen C. reported that there will be a “Souper Bowl” at our January 27 meeting. Sign up sheet will be sent out for items needed: soup, cornbread, etc.
- We will also go through suggestions from the Quilt Show feedback.
Pickens Museum quilt display:
- The guild has 75 quilts being displayed at the Pickens County Museum. These will be displayed through January 24.
- Quilts will be taken down on January 24th and will be available for pick up on Tuesday, January 27th during the day at the Pickens Hagood Community Center, or that evening at the quilt guild meeting.
Pigeon Forge Quilt Show: Cheryl B. shared information regarding the Pigeon Forge Guild Group Challenge. We have chosen the theme of a “snapshot in time” to represent something from US History. The unfinished quilt size should be 18-1/2″ square. The quilt borders and bindings will be supplied by the Guild, so that everything joins together like a film strip and will look uniform.
Janice will be adding content to the website about this challenge. The goal is to have the quilts finished by early March (actual date TBA).
Board Officer’s Vote: Paper Vote for the Board was handed in by everybody. Result: Approval
Show and Tell-see pics in this newsletter.
Meeting adjourned.
Minutes submitted by Donna A.
Birthdays
NOVEMBER
- Margaret C. 11/15
- Rosemary G. 11/17
- Mary O. 11/18
- Wanda N. (Ralphie) 11/29
DECEMBER
- Carol K. 12/11
- Lorna K. 12/19
- Edith P. 12/20
- JoAnne G. 12/25
JANUARY
- Joyce T. 1/7
- Christina G. 1/18
President’s Notes
Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year! Thank you to all of your support during these past 2 years, and I look forward to a fun program selection for 2026!
At the December meeting, we voted on Board Members for 2026. Of the 29 members at the meeting, we received a total of 27 ballots. All 27 approved the following for the 2026 Board positions.
2026 Guild Board Members
| Board Positions | Guild Member |
|---|---|
| President | Tami M. |
| Vice President | Cheryl B. |
| Treasurer | Linda C. |
| Secretary | Donna A. |
| Newsletter Editor | Beth E. |
| Tea and Sympathy | Stacey T. |
| Show and Tell | Gretchen C. |
| Membership | Marina G. |
| Hospitality | Rosemary G. |
| Publicity/Public Relations | OPEN |
| Co-Chair | OPEN |
| Community Service | Kay M. |
| Co-Chair | Edith P. / Pam J. |
| Special Events | Kris V. |
| Website | Janice H. |
| Co-Chair | Beth E. |
| Presentation Quilt | Cheryl B. |
| Quilt Show Chair (2 year) | OPEN |
| Co-Chair | OPEN |
Vice President’s Notes
What fun we had at the Christmas Party! We played a new Gift Exchange Dice Game, which I believe everyone enjoyed. Good food, good friends and good fun!
Tammi Ferguson gave a presentation on her non-profit organization, “Warmth and Comfort for the Elderly”. What a wonderful project.
- The January 27th program will be a Soup-erbowl meeting. A sign up sheet will be sent out for items needed: soup, cornbread, etc. We will review works in progress and discuss next year’s Challenge quilts. We will also go through suggestions from the Quilt Show feedback.
Thank you for allowing me to represent the guild as Vice President this year. I definitely learned so much from you all.
Community Service
We had 5 quilts donated for at our December meeting. Thank you all for your generous gifts of quilts throughout the year for this project. Thank you also for completing many quilts for Quilts of Valor. You are all awesome for your hard work and your generosity.
Quilts of Valor
A ceremony was held on November 22 at the Easley Armory, where 83 Quilts of Valor were presented to military service members. Several members of the Upcountry Guild helped the Pickens/Oconee chapter of Quilts of Valor sew the 83 requested quilts for the Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 263rd Air Defense Artillery of the South Carolina National Guard.
The looks on the faces of the service members and the oohs and aahs at each quilt presented was special. Below is a picture of the group holding their quilts.
Also, check out the photos and article about this event in the Pickens County Courier (online magazine) .
Several copies of the December 17th Courier article will be available for members to view at the January 2026 guild meeting,
QOV will be on December 19th and Sit-N-Sew on December 26th (Yes, Beth E. will be there the day after Christmas). We will sew from 1000 to 1600. Bring your own lunch. See you there.
No presentations are being done in December. Needed a little rest. Will start out running in January 2026.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our QOV Family.
Those comforted as of
November 30, 2025:
Last Month – 6,774
Year to Date – 32,657
Lifetime Total – 434,018
Public Relations
We need 3 new quilts to display for the February through April months at the Museum, the Chamber office and the Clemson extension office.
Since we don’t have a Guild meeting at the end of December for members to volunteer to bring your quilt to the January meeting, Tami is asking anyone willing to part with a quilt from January 27th till April 30th to bring it to the January Guild meeting. Hopefully there will be at least 3 members doing so.
Show & Tell Photos (12-8-25 Meeting)
