Sharon Planche-Williams Outgoing President September 2021 G – it’s a great Gathering of wonderful, dedicated, focused, fun-loving people U – it provides a Unifying place for quilters of all nationalities, talents & interests I – it provides a place to express Individual artistry, from beginner to advanced, and to further individual knowledge & experience L – it provides a wonderful place to Learn, outside the internet, and develop new skills and friendships  D – it provides an opportunity for people to Dedicate their talents – whatever they may be – to help furthering ..read more

For the past 9.5 months, I have been serving as president of the Orchard Valley Quilters Guild. Little did I know last September what the position entailed and what great joy it would bring me.  I am humbled each and every week by the talent and generosity that all of you display. From incredible personal projects to the volume of donations, you are all incredible quilters and more importantly you all 'walk the talk' of giving back to the community both within the guild community and within the greater community that we live in.  As of this date the OVQG has contributed a total of ..read more

Quilts from Kelowna’s past and present representing many techniques and trends in quilting will be on display in a new show Needle and Thread: The Art of Quilting at the Okanagan Heritage Museum,   470 Queensway Avenue, from Monday, February 19 to Friday, May 25.  The museum is open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our members will be treated to a trip down memory lane seeing once again quilts created by present and former members for the Orchard Museum, for Kelowna’s Centennial in 2005 and our beautiful Sunsational Orchard Valley guild banner.  Our stunning new Canada 150 ..read more

Peggy Renton, now 102 years of age, is the oldest member of the Orchard Valley Quilters Guild. She became a member in 2010. Born in 1915 in Abby, Saskatchewan, she left there to do her nursing training in Saskatoon. When she was finished, she bought a one-way ticket to Montreal to begin work in obstetrics at Royal Victoria Hospital. There she met and married Ernst, who was doing his medical training. In 1945, they moved to Deep River, Ontario, where Ernst was the doctor for The Atomic Energy department. They had three children: Hollis, Marg And Ray. When Ernst died, Peggy went to work as a n ..read more

Our 2017 quilt show, Binding Canada Together: One Quilt at a Time, is only two short months away -- Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24 -- and after many months of hard work, everything is falling into place.  As chair for the Orchard Valley Quilters Guild’s biennial quilt show, I will give you a behind the scenes rundown of all the work that goes into staging our show. Event planning starts at least a year ahead with setting a date and then booking a venue. Next we booked Show Time, a company who sets up pipes and curtains to hang the quilts. Three of the guild members met with the ..read more

The idea for a Canada 150 project came about in October of 2016 when the OVQG decided it wanted to create a unique quilt to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.  Joanne Gaudet, Publicity Chair, secured funding for the project through the City of Kelowna. Over the next few months Sharon Planche-Williams, with input from other guild members, created a unique design, and the decision to commemorate Canadian women was made.  Sharon, along with guild member Shirley Sellers, researched women making significant contributions to Canadian history.  After locating approximately 65 deservin ..read more

Quilting ideas can come anytime -- yes, even on a golf course.  Between shots, Rock on Canada came to mind.   Rock on Canada is the theme for one of two smARTies projects to be displayed at our September 2017 quilt show.   I was anxious to get started on my piece by rusting fabric. First I collected rusty nuts, nails, bolts and pieces from the old railway line including a couple of nicely rusted spikes. After reading an article in American Quilter magazine, I was ready. Using white cotton fabric and equal parts water to vinegar, I made sure the fab ..read more

Quilting while you are away from home becomes an exercise in decision making and packing for travel. We go to Yuma for November, come home for Christmas, and then return to the south for two more months. Adapting the fifth wheel into a sewing room isn't really too difficult as long as your husband stays outside a lot. It's what to take down after Christmas that's the issue. In the fall, we drive, so I can take pretty much what I want, including my smaller machine. But after the holiday, we are limited to carry on! That's when the crunch really hits. I have to take anything that I forgot in th ..read more

Since becoming Donations Coordinator, I have been stunned by the generosity and dedication of the guild members making so many gorgeous quilts for donation.  This past Thursday, Barb Segal and I delivered 71 quilts to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and 17 quilts to Tiny Bundles at the Food Bank.  The staff who received the quilts were SO enthusiastic at the beauty and the sentiment!  I currently have half a dozen quilts destined for RCMP cars.  And not to forget Joanne Tjaden who has donated 101 toques which I will take to the Food Bank.  All of us contribute what w ..read more

My term as President started in mid-September, I blinked and now it is mid-November.  This week I spent Monday organizing changes to our signing authority at the bank.  Tuesday was day group – the smARTies met to reveal their purple challenge, a couple of sewers were busy making donation Christmas stockings at their machines, and many of the HANDfuls were working on their embroidery. I made some progress on my Italian knotted border stitch, although guild business kept interfering – how many new books should we buy, someone not receiving the email updates, and etc.  Wednesday w ..read more