Upcountry Quilters Guild Newsletter - October 2025
Newsletter Content Authors:
- Meeting Minutes – Donna A.
- Birthdays – Janice H.
- 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
The meeting was called to order by Cheryl B.
Program: The meeting began with presentation by Teresa and David Melonson regarding sewing machine care and maintenance. Shequiltshefixes@gmail.com Taylors, SC 716-998-5729
Treasurer’s Report was given by Linda C. Report included revenue and expenses for the quilt show.
Membership:
- 22 members and 5 guests were in attendance
- 3 new members were in attendance
- Susie C. was the winner of the name tag drawing
- Reminder was given that dues for next year will be collected at the December 9th meeting. Dues are $35.00. Cards will be issued at that time.
- Marina reported that she will be at the Hagood Community Center every Tuesday if you want to drop off your dues there
- Each month, the 1st and 3rd Thursdays are when our local quilt shop, Swoopadaisies, offers a guild member discount.
Sewing Bees: A reminder was given regarding the Sewing Bees which occur every Tuesday at the Hagood Community Center. Everyone is welcome. Lunch will be provided by Cheryl B at one of the October bees.
Community Service: Kay M. reported that she will be delivering quilts to the pediatric hospice this Thursday and then again in December. Kay asked if there were any more suggestions for Community Service for next year other than those mentioned last month.
Publicity: Tami M. reported she needs two more quilts to display at the Pickens Chamber of Commerce for the next three months. Beth E. and Donna A. stated they would loan her two quilts to display.
Quilts Of Valor (QOV):
- Beth E. reported that with the two QOV she received tonight, we have enough quilts made for National Guard group.
- Beth E. also reminded us that there is a continued need for QOV that will be ongoing. Saturday, November 22, the National Guard unit will be presented with their quilts. All quilt guild members are invited and encouraged to attend this event Saturday, November 22, 2025, at the Easley Armory, 107 Rock Mont Rd, Easley, SC.
- Beth stated she will need volunteers the first week of November to help check these quilts for loose threads and for intact binding. She will send out details later.
Tea and Sympathy:
- Cheryl B. reported that Stacey T. had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago
- Tasha’s foot is improving, and she is out of the boot
- Carol C. reported to Cheryl B. that Scott Mercer (Doc’s Woodworking) had a serious fall and was able to crawl out of the woods and get help
- Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers.
Newsletter: Janice H. asked Cheryl B. to remind officers and chairs to have their reports to her by November 1.
Vice President:
- Gretchen C. reported that there will be no meeting in November, but a combined Nov/Dec meeting on December 9th for our Christmas party at Pickens Presbyterian. Please bring “finger foods”. Gifts will be exchanged via a game. Gifts should be about $20.00.
- The January 27, 2026, program will be a Soup-erbowl. Food signup will be at the December guild meeting. At the Soup-erbowl meeting we will be reviewing “works in progress” and challenge quilts for 2026.
Former member (Wanda A) fabric donation: Danny A. (Wanda’s husband) contacted Mary P. and has donated Wanda’s fabric to the Guild. She will bring it to the January meeting.
2026 Board members:
- Voting for new board officers will take place at the December 9th meeting.
- Cheryl asked that anybody wanting to serve as an officer/chairperson should add their name to the sign-up sheet at the registration table.
- Open positions needing candidates are Publicity and Co-chair and Quilt Show Coordinator and Co-chair.
- The outgoing and new incoming officers and chairs will meet in January for a transition meeting.
2025 Quilt Show feedback:
- There is a password protected form on our website to enter feedback.
- A couple of members reported problems submitting this form online.
- Cheryl said that she would ask Janice to also develop a paper form, but that members could just write down their comments/suggestions and give them to her.
Pickens Museum quilt display: Cheryl reported that the museum wants to have another quilt display from November through 2nd week of January. Any of your quilts would be welcome, but especially our challenge quilts from the show and holiday quilts. Cheryl will send out details about this soon.
Pigeon Forge Quilt Show:
- Cheryl shared that the Pigeon Forge Quilt Show for 2026 has a challenge open and quilts will be due by May 2026.
- A minimum of 5 quilts from our guild would be required with no maximum of quilts.
- Cheryl stated that there will be a planning meeting at the Hagood Community Center on December 2 at 1:00 p.m. to discuss our entries. Please come with ideas.
- Minimal size is 12” x 18” and maximum size is 36” x 36”.
Quilters of South Carolina state guild:
- There will be a spring and fall retreat. The spring retreat will be in Columbia on March 13-15, 2026, and the fall retreat will be at the beach again October 22-25, 2026.
- Cheryl B. and Nancy S. recently attended the fall retreat at the beach and shared the projects from the classes they attended.
Show and Tell – see photos in this newsletter
Meeting adjourned.
Birthdays
OCTOBER
- Katie H 10/4
- Cathy C. 10/14
- Gayle D 10/15
- Tami M 10/21
- Monique D 10/23
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
President’s Notes
PRESIDENT’S NOTES
Hi everyone! Hopefully the program on sewing machine maintenance was helpful in some way. I especially liked the demo on how the machine threads come together and the importance of the correct (and correctly inserted) needle and thread to get the best stitch on your project.
2026 BOARD VOTES
We will have paper ballots available for voting on board members for 2026. Please take note of open positions and consider your availability to assist and write in your name during the vote! The descriptions of all the positions are in the bylaws, available for viewing on the website.
| Board Positions | 2025 Officers & Chairs | 2026 Nominations | 2026 Write in candidate |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Cheryl B. | Tami M. | |
| Vice President | Gretchen C. | Cheryl B. | |
| Treasurer | Linda C. | Linda C. | |
| Secretary | Donna A. | Donna A. | |
| Newsletter Editor | Janice H. | Beth E. | |
| Tea and Sympathy | Stacey T. | Stacey T. | |
| Show and Tell | Beth E. | Gretchen C. | |
| Membership | Marina G. | Marina G. | |
| Hospitality | Mary P. | Rosemary G. | |
| Publicity/Public Relations | Tami M. | OPEN | |
| Co-Chair | Monique D. | OPEN | |
| Community Service | Kay M. | Kay M. | |
| Co-Chair | Edith P. / Pam J. | Edith P. / Pam J. | |
| Special Events | Kris V. | Kris V. | |
| Website | Janice H. | Janice H. | |
| Co-Chair | Beth E. | Beth E. | |
| Presentation Quilt | Cheryl B. | Cheryl B. | |
| Quilt Show Chair (2 year) | Cheryl B. | OPEN | |
| Co-Chair | Carol C. / Kris V. | OPEN |
QUILT SHOW FEEDBACK
For anyone who wanted to leave feedback on the quilt show the site is still available on the website. If you have/had issues with it, you are certainly welcome to email/send any feedback to either Cheryl or Janice. We appreciate the time you spent preparing for and working at the show. There is always room for improvement so would appreciate your time to provide feedback. We will discuss the results at the January meeting.
Feedback forms:
- Feedback online form (online form, password protected)
- Feedback PDF form (paper version – PDF)
- List of feedback forms submitted online (online form, password protected)
PICKENS MUSEUM EXHIBITION OF QUILTS
We are invited to participate in exhibiting our quilts at the museum again this year. You can show as many as you like. If you have quilts to display, please enter the name and size on the website as soon as possible or again, email me the information. If you have had your quilt quilted by someone else, please add that information as well. This is a great opportunity to show the community our quilts and our guild.
Please enter or provide requested quilt name and measurements as soon as possible
Key Pickens Museum Quilt Display Dates:
- 12/3 (10am-5pm) Quilt drop-off at the museum
- 12/10 (9am) – Quilt exhibit
- 12/13 (2pm – 4pm) – Quilt exhibit reception at the museum
- 12/13/25 – 1/24/26 – Quilts will be on display
- 1/27/26 – Quilt pick-up at Pickens Hagood Community Center, or can be brought to the Quilt Guild meeting that night
Museum Quilt Display forms:
- Entry online form – (online form, password protected)
- Entry PDF form – (paper version – PDF)
- List of entry forms submitted online (website – password protected)
Vice President’s Notes
October 2025 Guild Meeting:
We had a very informative program presented by Teresa and David Melonson discussing Machine Maintenance.
7 Steps to Keep your Machine Working Between Intervals of Service (once a year)
- Preventing problems pays by dividends
- Needles – the most common problem
- Power to your machine, is important
- Threading your machine, read your manual!
- Make sure to clean your bobbin area
- Take up mechanism needs to be cared for
- Tensions! Can be a trouble area
There will not be a November meeting as we combine Nov. and Dec. meetings for our Christmas Party on December 9th. Bring finger foods and a $20.00 gift for our gift exchange dice game.
The January 27th program will be a Soup-erbowl meeting. We will review works in progress and discuss next year’s Challenge quilts. A signup sheet for bringing food for the Soup-erbowl meeting will be available at the December 9th guild meeting.
Thank you for all your beautiful donations to the Quilt Show Boutique. We couldn’t have done it without you!!
Community Service
We had 11 quilts donated to Hands of Hope Pediatric Hospice through Agape Missions in October. The last time to donate quilts for this community service project is our last meeting for the year on December 9th. Thank you for your generous work on this project. We will be discussing and choosing a new community service project for 2026.
Quilts of Valor
Work has continued on the 78 quilts (had to revise the number as I didn’t take out the titles on the Excel spreadsheet). All 78 quilts are now completed. We met on November 7th at Dacusville Community Center and inspected each quilt and put together packets. Quilts are ready to be delivered to the Guard and ready for covering.
The presentation for the soldiers of the Bravo Battery 2-263rd ADA will be on November 22, 1300, at the Air Defense Artillery – ADA, 107 Rockmont Road, Easley, SC. If you plan to come, PLEASE let me know as they would like to have a place set aside for us all to seat.
We do ask that you continue working on quilts. Our backlog in NAMS is 25 and we need to work on getting these vets cover ASAP.
QOV will be on 21st and Sit-N-Sew on November 28th. We will sew from 1000 to 1600. Bring your own lunch. See you there.
Quilts of Valor Community Service
Even though we have the quilts needed for the National Guard soldiers, there is still a need for other veterans in our area.
QOV size guidelines:
- Width: 55 – 65 inches
- Length: 73 – 90 inches
See Beth’s QOV write-up for presentation location and time.
Thank you to those who have made quilts for our veterans.
Those comforted as of
October 31, 2025:
Last Month – 2,285
Year to Date – 25, 760
Lifetime Total – 427,121
Public Relations
The hanging quilts will be switched out for Nov-Jan period.
Tami will be contacting the Pickens Courier and the Pickens Chronicle to invite them to the Quilts of Valor presentation on Nov 22, hopefully for a nice article and pictures in their publications.
Show & Tell Photos (October 2025 Meeting)
