Bloomington Quilters Guild
at a glance: February 2026
OUR Next MEETING is Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
Time: 6:00 PM Social Hour
6:30 pm Meeting start
PROGRAM: The Road to Shibori by Sue Cortese
Location: Congregation beth shalom
3750 E. 3rd Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
February 2026 Meeting
The Road to Shibori by Sue Cortese
Via Zoom, Sue Cortese will talk about her journey into Shibori, the Japanese manual-dying technique. She will also touch on the history of indigo and shibori. She will end with how she incorporates this into fabrics and patterns in her art quilts. Sue is best known for creating quilted compositions with her dyed fabric. Her work has been displayed in quilt shows and art museums around the country. She is currently a Regional Rep for SAQA and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges. Her website and blog can be found here SELC Fabrics - Home
March 2026 Meeting
Quilt Remix: UFO’s, Orphan Blocks and What was I Thinking? Fresh Ideas for Stale Projects by Heather Kojan
Heather will bring her in-person lecture/trunk show to BQG in March. Heather is a modern quilter with 25 years of experience. She loves to take traditional patterns and give them a modern spin. She also loves scrappy quilting. Heather’s work and blog are easy to find at heatherkojan.com. She has a social media presence on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as well as a shop on Etsy. She is presenting 6 half day classes at IHQS - be sure to check them out!
Community Quilts
At our January meeting, BQG members in charge of collecting and distributing your donated quilts spoke about the local organizations that gratefully receive them and pass them on. Our thanks to Betsy Birch, Betsy Glassey, Sandy Bonsib, and Karen Levay for their moving descriptions of how, where and who receive their donated quilts. We very much appreciate their time and effort in collecting and distributing them to appreciative members of the Bloomington community. During the month of January, 22 more quilts have been donated to Middleway House bringing the total number of quilts donated to various organizations from July 2025 through January 2026 to 244. Following the presentation, we viewed the 2025 short documentary, “The Quilters.” This film is about a group of men in a Missouri penitentiary that design and make quilts for foster children. If you missed the meeting, you can view it on Netflix. It is worth the watch!
Quilt Raffle
The Bloomington Quilters Guild will be selling raffle tickets for our raffle quilt at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show (IHQS) March 5-7. Please sign up for a slot to sell these tickets at Bloomington Quilters Guild: Raffle Quilt at IHQS -2026 Please note that this does not earn you free entry as it is a guild volunteer opportunity, not an IHQS one. We sell a good number of our raffle tickets each year at IHQS and meet a number of potential new members! Sandy Bonsib (sjbonsib@gmail.com) is our raffle quilt chairperson this year and will be able to answer any questions that you might have.
BQG is looking for a number cruncher!
Do you have accounting/bookkeeping skills? BQG will need a new guild treasurer starting in July when Cathy O’Bryan steps aside after 3 years as treasurer. If you like crunching numbers and would consider this role, please contact Legene White, pres@bloommingtonquiltersguild.org, for a non-obligatory chat to learn about the position.
The duties of the treasurer - Maintains financial records and serves as custodian of BQG funds. Prepares financial reports. Oversees contracts and pays speakers. Maintains non-profit status. Primarily a bookkeeping role using QuickBooks, PayPal and Squarespace.
We need more bees!
You don’t have to be a queen to start a new quilting bee! Many guild members would like to participate, but the established bees are filled to capacity (i.e. space in member’s homes or meeting locations) What’s a quilting bee? AI describes it as a communal sewing gathering where folks come together to work on projects while socializing, sharing skills, and supporting one another, a tradition that has existed in North America since the 18th century. Please consider starting a bee! It can have a specific purpose or charity, target a certain neighborhood, or just build relationships. To get started, partner with a friend, plan a first gathering, then announce it at a guild meeting. You can also reach out to Karen or Kris news@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org to have the announcement put in the At A Glance.
Fall 2026 Retreat Save the Date
Next year’s Fall Retreat will be at Waycross from October 8-11 (Thursday through Sunday). More information will be available this summer.
Quilt EVENTS
The Indiana Heritage Quilt Show will be held March 5-7. There are nationally known teachers coming to IHQS and we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. There’s something for everyone! There are several workshops this year and registration is open! Indiana Heritage Quilt Show Workshops, March 5 - March 7, 2026. — Indiana Heritage Quilt Show
February 9th at 8pm is the deadline for entering your quilts and that is fast approaching! You can enter your quilt even it is not quite finished. The quilts need to be completed and in our hands on February 28th. You can find the “Quilt Entry Rules” at Rules and Awards. We welcome all levels of quilters, so don’t be shy! We want to see your quilts!
The Challenge quilt this year is to use a song as the theme of your quilt, and you will find more information here Challenge Quilt — Indiana Heritage Quilt Show.
Studio Arts Quilters Guild (SAQA) is featuring an off-site small exhibition in conjunction with the IHQS. Don’t forget to walk over to the I-Fell Gallery, 415 West 4th Street during the conference in order to see “Hanging Prepositions,” which includes pieces by BQG members. Indiana members have created long scrolls hanging from wooden factory thread spools. The “scrolls” feature prepositions in a visual format. Every possible kind of needling and embellishment can be seen. This exhibit will “surprise and delight!” You can find the description of this and other exhibits at this link. Off-site Exhibits — Indiana Heritage Quilt Show
HELP us keep up to date! We try to include notices of quilt shows and exhibits on the BQG website. If you know of an event, please send mail to news@bloomingtonquiltersguild.org so that either Karen or Kris can update the page. https://www.bloomingtonquiltersguild.org/upcoming-quilt-events