Door prize gals, left to right: JoAnn Stansell, Donna Aybar, Wendy Gilbert
PCQ President Linda Labenz
Millissa Masters
It was a terrific afternoon and approximately 86 quilters showed up to enjoy some friendly camaraderie. President Linda Labenz finally corralled the quilters’ attention to start our business meeting portion of the luncheon which was kept to a swift 30 minutes only to be interrupted so that we could be served lunch. Kudos go to the Tuscany Food & Beverage Department as the Asian Chicken Salad and the croissant sandwich were delightful.
While snacking on our dessert cookies, the very talented and expert quilt maker Ann Peterson took the podium to share her experience of sewing quilts since her childhood while dazzling us with a trunk show of her award winning works. This included her quilt that won first place at both the Houston International Quilt Festival and the America Quilter’s Society Show in Paducah, Kentucky. Her work has also been featured in numerous books, magazines and exhibitions. Ann also teaches quilting classes on Craftsy and around the country; specifically how to quilt beautifully on your domestic home machine. We were all in awe at her exquisite accomplishments and are eager to learn more from her in the future.
Now to the final part of the luncheon which included a very different and fun door prize presentation by Donna Aybar and her willing assistant JoAnn Stansell. Set up like a lottery drawing, we each received a ticket upon entering and then had to choose a bag to place your ticket in. Donna provided tricky little hints as to what you would win if you chose that bag, she is so very creative. The winners were thrilled with the prizes; I think this might be a continuing part of our future meetings. A huge thank you goes to our Vice President Chris Booth who did a great job organizing the luncheon, contracting the inspiring speaker and recruiting our social director to create the table centerpieces and door prizes.
As with all of our meetings, we have a show and share at the end. This is where any of our members will bring one or more of their creations and by taking turns will show it to our group with a small story or insight into their creative process. We all enjoy seeing our friends’ accomplishments and applaud their talent of sewing things for others. Many of the completed show and share quilts were then given to our community service chairperson Pam Branfuhr, who broke into tears at the generosity of these talented women. Pam continually inspires us with the stories of those who receive our quilts, the appreciation in their eyes and the wonderment of this gift they are allowed to call their own. This was the perfect ending to a wonderful Spring Luncheon.