The Fairfield Glade Fantastic Quilt Guild will hold its monthly membership meeting on Friday, Nov. 17, at the Fairfield Glade Methodist Church Fellowship Hall (231 Westchester Drive) beginning at 9 a.m. Guild Member Pat Jennings will be the featured speaker, giving a lecture on “Borders: Basics and Beyond!”
Jennings moved to Tennessee a couple of years ago from Everett, WA. Before retiring, Jennings worked as an educator for Bernina of America, where she instructed dealers, their employees, and customers on how to use their Bernina machines to create fiber art masterpieces. She also worked with Bernina’s customer service and product development. Currently, Jennings uses her skills to enrich and expand the quilting skills of her fellow quilters in the Fantastic Quilt Guild and is an extremely gifted teacher in her Beginning Quilting Classes sponsored by the guild.
Borders are often strips of fabric used to frame a quilt. They can be outside around the quilt itself, and inside around individual quilt blocks. They may be solid strips of fabric that are pieced or appliqued and are an important part of a quilt design. Quilts may contain more than one border, but whether singular or multiple, a beautiful border adds a finishing touch to any quilt. There are many purposes for the use of borders in a quilt — to add areas for design, to provide the space needed between design elements, to highlight or compliment the quilt’s center, to frame the project, to provide distinct areas for elaborate quilting designs, and to add to the overall size of a quilt when needed.
While borders often “make” a great quilt, they can also be a long-arm quilter’s nightmare if they are not correctly added to the quilt top. Jennings’ presentation will address many of the questions quilters have when it comes to adding borders to their quilts. Does the quilt need a border? What colors do I choose? Corners or no corners? Fancy or plain? One border or multiple borders? How do I make a pieced border fit the quilt top? How do I get a mitered border to lay flat? These questions and more will be covered during the presentation. Those who attend are encouraged to bring their own questions to discover answers during the question-and-answer session of the presentation.
Please join the guild on Friday, Nov. 17, for a time of fun and learning as the group welcomes Jennings to teach everyone about “Borders: Basics and Beyond!” There will be a business meeting, Quilter’s Tips and Tricks, plus the Fat Quarter Drawing (the theme this month is Christmas colors) and a time of Show and Tell.
The Fantastic Quilt Guild is a local group of 150 quilters who meet on the third Friday of the month to further the art of quilting through education, sharing, community outreach, and social camaraderie. They have been meeting since 2002. New members and visitors are always welcome. For more information, email fantasticquiltersffginfo@gmail.com.