A big thanks to everyone for participating in the neonatal sew-in on March 4th. Fifty-five quilts were delivered to the hospital yesterday!

Also thanks to the wonderful sponsors who provided coffee and food to keep us going!

Below is a slideshow from the day. Click HERE to see pictures taken by Scott Morgan from the Rockford Register Star.

We will not be holding the March 20th SPAM workshop because the Cherry Valley Library is having their book sale that day.

The next SPAM workshop will be April 17th, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Cherry Valley Library. At 1:00 Pam Collings will talk about Sewing Machine Maintenance.

Contact Barb Lange for further information.

Speaking of Cherry Valley Library, here’s a picture of the “cherry” quilt the Guild presented to the Library at the February meeting. Thank you to everyone who worked on this beautiful quilt.

Thursday, March 4th

Come join the fun starting at 9:00 a.m. and running through around 8:00 p.m. Stay for a few hours or stay all day. Bring your machine if you want to sew. If not, bring your cutting mat and cutter. There will be lots to do. Bring a hand sewing kit and neutral thread if you would like to finish bindings. Irons and ironing boards (and extension cords) will be provided.

Urgent note from Judy:

I awoke to a phone call from Zach Sundquist, the administrative assistant at the Rockford Airport that I am working with planning our Paducah trip. He reported to me that he had received 84 letters of support this past weekend in response to my email last week. A big thank you for those of you that responded.

I apologize again for the error I typed in my email of Zachs email address, as I heard from many of you experienced difficulty with sending your note to him. If you have not yet sent your short note to him or it was returned as undeliverable, please do so today. His address is zsundquist@flyrfd.com.

I know there is interest and excitement about our proposed trip to Paducah. The 366 quilters that signed up for more information tells me that. Word of our trip is spreading. But the airline is looking at this trip from a business perspective and 84 quilters does not fill an airplane.  If you are considering flying with us to Paducah for the quilt show, it is imperative that you share that wish with the airport soon or our trip may be canceled before it has a chance to get off the ground. Feel free to call me at 815-621-2747 if you have any questions.   Let’s show them we really want to go !!!     Judy

“Window Seat, Please” challenge is due April 1st. You can bring your piece to the next meeting or make arrangements with Judy Mullen to get it to her by the deadline. It must be 14 inches wide and 20 inches long, three layers quilted, but NO border (please see the newsletter for more details). Judy will be adding the border, and she would like to know by March 1st if you are planning to make one so she knows how many borders to make.

The guild will be presenting a large quilt to Rockford Airport and displaying the challenge quilts on Thursday, April 8th, at 11:00 a.m., at the Rockford Airport. Please plan to attend even if you are not participating in the challenge quilt project.

Judy Mullen has received a call from the Rockford (RFD) Airport regarding our upcoming flight to attend the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah.  An airline has agreed to fly us there as a day trip for $130 round trip on Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24.  The airplane seats 100 passengers.  Paperwork will be forwarded to the US Dept. of Transportation on Monday, Feb. 22, for their approval of our proposed charter flight. Approval is usually granted within 7 to 10 days and after that is received and reviewed, tickets will be available for sale.  Watch for a future email with instructions on how and when to purchase your airline ticket and your show tickets.

The RFD Airport has asked as many of the quilters who showed an interest in our trip  to write a brief letter of support to them. They wish to present these letters to the airline agreeing to fly us, the Dept. of  Transportation, as well as to the RFD Airport Board of Directors.  They ask for a brief, few sentence note stating our desire to attend the AQS Quilt Show, The National Quilt Museum, and especially the convenience of flying from RFD for the day. If you intend to purchase a ticket for a spouse or relative as well as yourself, you may wish to include that in your note. Send your email to Zach Sundquist at RFD Airport by February 22nd.

Judy has a meeting scheduled at 9:00 a.m., on Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, with the airport and hopes to come away with a lot more information to share.

If you are not on Judy’s email list, please email her to be added, or check here for further updates. You can call her with any questions 815-636-9094.

We’re kicking off our 30th Anniversary this month. Stay tuned for upcoming events celebrating this milestone.

The next SPAM workshop is February 20th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Cherry Valley Library. The focus will be getting ready for the NICU sew-in and the baby quilts in general.

SPAM meets every third Saturday of the month at the Cherry Valley Library.

On January 12, Judy Mullen met with Bob O’Brien, RFD Airport Director, and his staff. The 366 names of interested quilters were presented. Bob and the staff were very interested in contracting an airplane to fly us to Paducah in April for the show. Type of aircraft, price of the ticket, and when tickets will be available and how to buy them is still not final. The airport is trying to arrange a flight on Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24. If those flights sell out and there are still more quilters wanting to fly to Paducah, the airport will consider contracting another flight on Thursday, April 22. These flights will leave in the morning and return in the late afternoon (and don’t forget free parking at RFD!). Stay tuned for more details.

Artists: How would you like to sell more art?

If you could use some fresh and practical ideas for marketing your art, check this out.

Alyson B. Stanfield, author of “I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion,” is coming to Wisconsin in early March to help us get a groove on our marketing.

I’D RATHER BE IN THE STUDIO
A NO-EXCUSES ART MARKETING WORKSHOP
March 9-10, 2010
Siena Center, Racine

**Sign up by February 12 and get a bonus gift from Alyson!

During these two days, you’ll learn:

• How to write a better artist statement that connects with your audience
• How to organize and expand your mailing list
• The tragic mistakes artists make on websites and blogs (and how to fix them)
• Email secrets that produce results
• How to increase traffic to your website and blog
• How to build your online presence with Facebook and Twitter without becoming a slave to your computer

And it’s only $100! Alyson says this is a crazy low price, so you should probably grab it while you can.

Two full days of ideas, examples, and motivation to help you get your art out of the studio and in front of people who can see it and buy it. AND, you’re going to leave with an action plan.

Get the details and register (by February 12 to get the bonus!) at:

http://www.artquilters.com/retreats/retreat10-03.html

And help us fill the room by sharing this information with other artists. We’re already at 2/3 capacity!