Message from the President
Welcome to our new guild communication site. We are going to strive to keep this up to date so that you will always be able to find out what is going on in the guild, and in surrounding areas. Several executive board officers and committee chairs will have the ability to post information. If you have something you would like included feel free to email me at pwhein@charter.net and I will pass it on.
It’s an honor to serve as your president. It took me awhile to get up to speed but I had a lot of help and am looking forward to this upcoming year. One thing for sure is that I have become a little more computer savvy! As our membership book states, my duties are to ride herd on the General and Executive Board meetings. Fortunately, the guild is full of creative and experienced folks who do a great job at serving on the many committees. I’m a non-voting member of the board unless there is a tie then I play the “heavy” and break the tie. The best thing is that I don’t have to know everything, just how to delegate and rely on others for their knowledge. Probably the thing that takes the longest is sending out emails twice a month to get meeting agenda input and then drafting the agenda. As you may have noticed, I usually forget something but someone always seems to remind me. Thank you for those reminders.
Speaking of reminders, we have many things coming this year, starting with our annual retreat, held at the Oregon Gardens the end of January. I cannot emphasize enough how much fun this is. It’s a great way to get to know members from the sewing table seating to the meal seating and the crazy games and special projects. If you are shy either you don’t have to participate in the extras, or you can participate and you won’t be shy when you are done!
The workshop committee is hard at work planning the year’s activities. I urge you to participate in as many as you can. Speaking of workshops, we have 2 Judy Niemeyer mini-retreats a year, held in Newport so you can have fun all day and go home to sleep in your own bed! In May I will be attending my first mini-retreat, not because I was thrilled about taking on something that looked so difficult, but I like the orderliness and precision involved. The MAIN reason I signed up was because I would stop by for a visit and to see what was going on at them – well, that hooked me because there was so much laughter, food and friendship. Learning something new is an added bonus!
I can’t close this without mentioning the Quilt Show, held the first Friday & Saturday in August at the Newport Recreation Center. This annual event will require LOTS of volunteers. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of signing up to help. Experience is not required, you will be shown the way. In fact, volunteering on any of the guild committees is always welcomed and needed, that’s what keeps us going. I’ve said before that my theory is to pick a duty that sounds interesting to me rather than wait to be recruited for something else! Happy quilting to all of you and please feel free to email me at the address above, or call me at 541-961-0673.
Your “trusted servant”
Phoebe Hein