This year's theme for the annual holiday social is "Home for the Holidays"

Plan to arrive early - 6:30! We hope to have a great turnout for the festivities. The planned activities include:

Holiday Pal Gift Exchange

Be a secret pal, and give something special to a fellow guild member.  Fill out the “Holiday Pal” form and return to Joan Barker by the September general meeting. We will exchange forms that evening. You will then have plenty of time, to make or purchase a special gift for your Holiday Pal. Handmade gifts are the best; however, it is the special thought that matters ($30 maximum, please!)

Forms can be picked up at The Farmhouse, filled out and left for Joan Barker. They will also be available at the August and September in-person general meetings.

Games

We will be participating in several interactive games. There will be prizes!

Music

The Northgate High School Madrigal Choir from Walnut Creek has been invited to perform for us

Food

When you register, you will be asked what type of finger food you will bring to share -- appetizer or dessert.

Holiday Quilt

Bring your favorite holiday quilt to share!

Teresa Duryea Wong

This presentation covers a tumultuous period in Native American culture beginning in 1880, when Native lands were taken away, buffalo herds were decimated, forced relocations were happening, and education systems changed dramatically.  Indigenous Americans learned to adapt over the next few decades.  Western missionary women introduced quiltmaking to the community, and Native American women, with their adept needle skills, learned to make quilts that reflected their own cultural heritage.

Learn how the transition from sewing buffalo hides to quilting evolved and see examples of beautiful quilts made in this period.

More About Teresa

Teresa loves to write, and has been at it her entire life.  She has worked as a TV news camera woman, freelance journalist, publisher of a fine-art magazine, and 20 years working for a corporation.  In 2013, she struck out on her own again to follow her passion.  She is a staff and contributing writer for numerous quilt magazines, has published five quilt history/textile books, and presents lectures to guilds throughout the US and Canada.

Check out her website at teresaduryeawong.com

Maday Delgado

This lecture pays homage to sustainability, connection and accepting one’s work, as perfectly imperfect. 

The intention is to embrace the twists and turns that our personal work takes as it evolves organically, without worrying about the end result. 

Perfection is both chaotic and elusive. When we place the emphasis on creative well-being, exploring colorful compositions and acceptance, we inspire more joy and openness in our creative practice. 

More About Maday

Maday is a prolific art educator, published artist, Janome America Artisan, and speaker based in the Midwest. Her mission is to nurture artistic platforms across cultures and generations to foster creative work, while finding ways to minimize our environmental footprint. She combines paint, weaving, hand-stitching (her favorite) and machine sewing and embroidery to infuse her creations with energy, paying homage to her Cuban upbringing. 

Maday’s work has appeared in international publications and periodicals in her home state. She currently teaches virtually and at folk schools, quilt shops, quilt shows, and is an instructor at Madison Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin.

Check out her website at sustainabletextiledesign.com

Michelle Wyman

Michelle will share stories of her background as a professional actor, a Montessori teacher and quilt maker. There is a thread that connects all of these experiences that have led her to the creative process of making quilts.

For Michelle, craft is a verb and art a noun, so she crafts works of art with layers of fabric stitched together as a quilt. The design of the quilt, whether it is an interpretation of someone else’s pattern or her own design, is a practice of expression created with intent. She has grown as a quilter paying attention to the principles of design while also finding flow in the process of spontaneity and improvisation.

More About Michelle

Michelle grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.  She has a BA in Liberal Arts from Pomona College and an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.  She worked for several years as a professional actor before pivoting to a career in education while raising a family.  

Her first quilt was a lumpy mess sewn with love while pregnant with her first child. She realized then that the craft of making a quilt elevated not just an artistic visual expression but also an intangible process.

She currently lives with her husband in the coastal mountains above San Francisco Bay, where she advocates for environmental causes, gardens, hikes, and quilts.

Michelle will be teaching  "Aura Quilt" on May 3, 2025 (event to be posted soon).

Check out her website at hummingbirdtextiles.studio

Nancy Brown

Join us for a  retrospective of over fifteen years of Nancy's animal and family quilts and the stories behind them. She will also bring several quilts to share up-close.

More About Nancy

Nancy started making quilts over 30 years ago after her mother took a quilting class and taught her what she had learned. Nancy has always loved animals and found that by using applique she could create realistic animal portraits.  She has made many animal quilts, but feels there are many more animal quilts waiting to be made. Nancy also loves old family photographs and has made quilts inspired by these as a way to celebrate family.

Nancy exhibits her quilts around the country and has received several awards for her work. Her quilts are in several private collections. She teaches hand applique classes with animal themes and lectures on her animal quilts.

Nancy will be teaching a class on July 26, 2025 (event details to be posted soon).

Check out her website at nancybrownquilts.com

Kitty Oliver

Have you wondered what criteria a professional quilt judge uses when evaluating a quilt?  Kitty will present how she went from quilt maker to quilt judge, and what makes for an award-winning quilt.

More About Kitty

Kitty has been a quilter for over 25 years. She has won numerous honors and ribbons.  Kitty creates her own patterns and designs, and has a deep appreciation for the creative process. 

In addition to teaching quilting technique classes and giving lectures, she created the California Sesquicentennial Children’s Quilt Program.  This program brought information on quilting and California history to thousands of school children

As a successful graduate of the West Coast Quilt Judging Academy she has become a very busy quilt judge.  Kitty loves the opportunity to encourage and challenge quilters at all levels, through meaningful and thoughtful comments.

Christina Cameli

Christina shares the biggest "aha!" moments she's had in her years as a quilter, teacher, and pattern and fabric designer.

More About Christina

Christina has been sewing since she was a child. In 2003 she fell in love with quilting. Since then she has authored five quilting books, filmed multiple online classes and designed quilt patterns and fabric. She is also a nurse-midwife, a mom and a paddle boarder. 

Christina lives in Portland, Oregon with her blended family, a rescue lab mix and a ton of houseplants.

Check out her website at christinacameli.com

Sandra Bruce

This presentation will be an overview of the evolution of "Material Matrix", a technique developed by Sandra and influenced by the painter Chuck Close.   This technique interprets a photograph using a grid.

Sandra will also discuss the colorful visual journey that defines her style of quilts, her inspiration, longarm quilting, wearable art, and much more!

More About Sandra

Sandra was born in Virginia to deaf parents who always encouraged her creativity.  Her love of quilts began when she started a quilt group with her neighbor Therese May in the early 1980's.  She moved to Grass Valley in 1990 and has been taking classes and learning new techniques ever since.  

As a commercial illustrator and letterer for over 30 years, it greatly influences her quilt work.  Sandra is also a polymer clay artist, and teaches classes and sells polymer clay buttons and jewelry.  She also enjoys making wearable art, playing pickleball, and traveling.

Sandra will be teaching a class on the "Material Matrix" technique on September 27 and 28, 2025 (event details to be posted soon).

Check out her website at sandrabruce.com