MESSAGE FROM JULY 2025
Our July meeting met at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. Twenty-six people were in attendance. We began the meeting with a continuation of studying some regional styles with a presentation on Amish and Mennonite quilts by Carol Butzke, which included viewing some quilts from both Carol’s collection and the museum’s collection. Thank you Carol, for another very informative presentation!
This was followed by a business meeting, where several items were discussed. Some details were finalized for our upcoming retreat in October, and registration was available to members. If we don’t fill the retreat with members, we will open it up to non-members at a later date. We also put our 2026 meeting dates on the calendar.
Membership was reminded I will be stepping down as Coordinator after the retreat. As of this meeting no one has stepped forward to take over the role of coordinating the group, so the 2026 schedule and the future of the group will have to be discussed if a solution isn’t found by the new year.
I think that about wraps it up!
Thanks,
Bonnie
MESSAGE FROM MAY 2025
We had a great turnout of 26 people at our May meeting. It started off with an informative presentation by Jan Sprecher Bruski on the subject of Doll Quilts, Miniatures and Doll House Quilts, which included lots of hands-on examples. We followed that up with a treasurer’s report and some more discussion on possible subjects for our October retreat, with a goal of having a retreat schedule confirmed by our July meeting. The group also agreed to have an information booth again at the Winter Quilt Show in 2026.
After a lunch break, which included some shopping time to support our meeting location, Blue Bar Quilts, attendees shared doll and crib quilts from their own collections. It was fun and interesting to see the variety of styles covering a wide timespan.
More information about future meetings can be found on the “meetings” tab on our website. We hope you can join us!
That’s it for now,
Bonnie and Diane
MESSAGE FROM JANUARY 2025
We had a great turnout and a very informative Zoom meeting on January 15th. Anna Harkin shared lots of useful information about Pennsylvania style quilts. We had originally planned to also have Allison Rainboth present information on Southern style quilts but decided to reschedule the second half of the meeting to a later date. Allison will now share that information on March 5th at 7 pm. A reminder email with the link will be sent out closer to the date.
We also had a brief business meeting to remind everyone that we will have a booth at the Winter Quilt Show at the Washington county fair grounds on February 8th and to ask for volunteers to be present in the booth to provide information about our group. We touched on upcoming meeting dates and topics, which can all be found on our website under the “meetings” tab. Our last bit of business was to talk a bit about our October retreat. We will be relying on our members to offer to share their knowledge and experience with attendees and asked for members to start thinking about possible topics. We will be talking more about this at future meetings.
I think that about wraps things up!
Bonnie and Diane
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MESSAGE FROM NOVEMBER 2024
Our 2024 Retreat was fantastic! Even the weather cooperated as 20 of us gathered at Mount Morris in mid-October. How lucky can we be to have our presenter Carol Butzke as part of our group?! Carol brought a wealth of fabric & quilts and presented them in quarter centuries starting in 1825 and going up to 1950. Besides the material treasures, Carol provided us with written copies of the history and trends from each of the quarter centuries. To quote attendee Ebie Morris, “It’s comparable to going to multiple museums and seeing several centuries of …great textiles.”
In between we had a colorful and interesting Show & Tell, a successful auction that netted over $500 for WQSG and, of course, some time for visiting and hiking and, oh yes, snacking. Thanks to all the participants who made the weekend a joyful and memorable learning experience!
Our next meeting will be a Zoom meeting on January 15th at 7:00pm. Allison Rainboth and Anna Harkins will present Pennsylvania and Southern regional quilt styles. The Zoom link will be sent out a few days before the meeting via email.
Also, please keep in mind that volunteers will be needed at our WQSG table at the Winter Quilt Show on February 8th, 2025. It’s a great opportunity to meet other quilters and see their eyes sparkle when they learn that they can learn about quilt history through WQSG as well as continue making quilts.
Thanks to Bonnie Eales and Diane Galarneau who will continue to coordinate WQSG activities and to Jayne Steffens who is stepping aside but will continue to be a member of our group.
Bonnie, Diane and Jayne
We encourage members to post pictures and information about quilt related events on our Facebook page. Search Facebook for WQSG, Wisconsin Quilt Study Group
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069271276510
MESSAGE FROM AUGUST 2024
We’re very excited about our programs for 2025 and hope you are too. Be sure to check out the “Meetings” tab and mark your calendars so you can join us.
We’ll send out a reminder before each meeting and a summary of the meeting soon after. By now, you should have received an accounting of our fabulous July meeting at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts (WMQFA). Special thanks to Carol Butzke for her interesting presentation on Whitework Quilts.
Good news…we have almost 50 members! Members that quilt, collect, and read everything about quilting and quilt history. Members that are nationally recognized as teachers, judges and appraisers. Members that are just interested in quilts. Members that are trying to figure out what their grandmother’s quilts are all about. What we all have in common is curiosity and a desire to learn.
Someone requested a history of WQSG. It is interesting that we love history about quilts and then neglect our own journey. We will definitely look into that and share WQSG history with you in the future.
Bonnie, Diane and Jayne
Because every quilt tells a story
Wisconsin Quilt Study Group 