Welcome to the Utah Quilt Guild

From our President, Debbie Robertson

“Don’t worry; I will take care of it later.”  How many times have you heard this phrase?  How many times have you said it yourself?

About a month before Christmas, I asked my daughter who was heading to the mall to work, to purchase a BYU team sweatshirt hoodie that my husband had had his eye on.  My plan was to give it to him as a Christmas present. She replied that she would be happy to help.  Good, that meant one less trip to the mall for me.

The next day I found the sack containing the hoodie on my cutting table in my sewing room.  I pulled it out only to discover that it was at least one size too big and probably two sizes larger.  I called my daughter to the sewing room and exclaimed, “You have got to be kidding me!!”  Her explanation, “Mom, they had sold out of dad’s size.  I thought you could take this in.” Now my children have grown up with the notion that I can perform miracles at the sewing machine.  And they were right; I have altered and sewn more clothing that I care to remember.  I looked at that oversized hoodie and began to plan.  It would require unpicking the ribbing around the bottom and each sleeve before I could even begin cutting the sides.  Did I really want to do this?  I was already engrossed with sewing Minky pillow cases for each of the kids, sewing a quilted handbag and finishing up an heirloom photo quilt.  Nope, I did not have time for this!!

I found my daughter in the kitchen and asked for the sales slip which had not accompanied the hoodie in the sack.  She was in a hurry to leave the house and said, “Don’t worry Mom; I will take care of it later.”  Well “later” turned into three weeks with me occasionally asking for that sales receipt.  Her answer was always the same, “I will take care of it later.”  Finally with only days before Christmas, “LATER” had come!!  With some indignation, I marched into her bedroom and demanded that sales receipt.  Well, as you can probably guess, in the interim of three weeks that sales receipt had sprouted wings and flown away.  I did what every frazzled mother does whose Christmas “To Do” list is longer than her life does; I picked up the hoodie, grabbed the nearest empty box, wrapped it and put it under the Christmas tree, muttering to myself the entire time, “I will take care of this later”.

My husband opened that package on Christmas morning and with some surprise graciously received that oversized BYU hoodie.  With apologies, I promised to return it to the store and get him one that fit.  Shortly after the New Year, he drove to the mall without the sales receipt to return the hoodie.  He is now the proud owner of a Sports Authority gift card.

The advantage of taking care of a task now is you do not have to remember to do it later.  By “taking care of it later”, two jobs are created in having to remember it and still having to do the promised job.  This creates stress for all involved.   The task is not accomplished on time or not completed at all.  We leave a mess for others to clean up and a trust has been breached.

In regards to working with my board members and other amazing quilters in this guild, “I will take care of it later” is not a part of their thinking.  We just completed our first board meeting this week and these women are excited and committed to make 2010 a great year for the Utah Quilt Guild. 

We are excited to announce a new make over of our website!!  Levi Hutchison, our Webmaster and I have put in long hours in designing this website and working with the hosting company that has been hired by the guild.  I think that all of our members are going to be pleased with this new look and functionality.  One of new features is a gallery of quilts made by our own members.  I requested digital pictures to be submitted in our November Beeline newsletter and received photos from three quilters who are Carol B. Johnson, Sharon Wright and Charlotte Davis.  All right ladies, there are more than three of you out there!!  The website home page features Carol’s Canyons Quilt.  Carol’s Rock Ribbons quilt is part of the side bar on all the web pages.  A close-up shot of Sharon’s St. George Arches quilt is displayed in the Contact section of the website and a full view of this quilt is on the Newsletter page.  Charlotte’s quilt is featured in the Quilter’s in the Spotlight section. All of these quilts along with full view photos of their quilts can be viewed in the Gallery section.

We are anxious to continue adding digital pictures to our Gallery.  You may submit photos for consideration to Levi Hutchinson at levihutchinson@msn.com .

Another new feature of this site will be photos of the executive officers.  Have you ever wanted to put a face to the name?  Our website will accomplish this.  Also, we are excited to add a blog. There will be an icon on the home page for you to click.  Bev DeMaria is our new blog coordinator.  We want to hear all about what you are doing in your quilt guild.  You can send articles and digital photos to Bev at lintybev1@comcast.net .

The last feature on this website is a secure log-in which is for members only.  You may access the Beeline newsletter, board members names, emails and phone numbers only through this secure log-in.  This will require your email address and a password.  All email addresses that were given to us at the time you renewed your membership have been given to the web design/hosting company.  Currently the password is ‘buyfabric’ (do not include the quotations when logging on).  You will then be able to change that password to one of your own choosing.  If you forget your password, follow the prompts to recover it.  You will also have access to the entire website which includes all Beeline newsletters from this point on; board contact lists and the guild membership list.  We will no longer be mailing a membership list in March.  The membership list will be updated from time to time on the website.  We will continue to send out the Beeline via email and for those members who do not have email; the Beeline will be mailed to you.  The advantage of having the Beeline on the website and emailed to you is that it will have color photos and other eye-catching graphics.

Now for those guild members, who do not have an email address and want to log onto the website, pay close attention.  Here are your instructions.  In the secure log on page type your first and last name in small letters with no spaces and add @utahquiltguild.org.  For example, debbierobertson@utahquiltguild.org.  Type in the password ‘buyfabric’ and press login.  Again, do not include the quotations when logging in.  If you choose to change your password, write it down and DO NOT loose it.  Because you do not have your personal email to log in, the system will not be able to recover a lost password.

Some of you may be asking why board members information is under the secure section.  For years now, we board members have been subjected to mass amounts of spam email because our personal information has been available for all to view.  To say the least, this has been annoying.  I personally, had to change my email a few years ago because it became unbearable.  This also is the reason why our members’ information will be secured.  I am sure that you do not want your personal information out on the web for all to access.

With all of that said, I am excited for what this New Year will bring and look forward to working with all of you!

From one quilter to another….Debbie