Dogwood Quilters Guild

Welcome to Dogwood Quilt Guild.  We are located in Sky Forest, California where the Dogwood trees are abundant.

In the spring they bloom and blanket our mountain with beautiful pinkish white blossoms.

We are high above the San Bernardino basin in the beautiful San Bernardino National Forest, just minutes from Lake Arrowhead.

The Article Below was taken from our local newspaper;

The Mountain News.

Mountain Living Section Sept. 11, 2008
By Cat Robertson/ Assistant Editor 

Have you ever walked into a roomful of strangers and instantly felt at ease? Well, if you ever go to a quilters guild meeting that’s exactly what you’ll find. When I attended a meeting of the Dogwood Quilters Guild in Skyforest, I felt like I had known those fabulous ladies for years. They welcomed me with open arms and made sure I was comfortable and understood what they were talking about.

The Dogwood Quilters Guild was formed in 1991 by a group of 12 women who shared the love of the classic American art form of creating beautiful pieces of art that could be handed down through the generations. The guild currently has approximately 55 members, and they meet monthly to discuss guild business, projects and activities. Some of those projects include making quilts for the maternity unit at Mountains Community Hospital as well as for their skilled nursing facility and making an opportunity quilt yearly, which is auctioned off with proceeds being distributed to mountain charities. Their current opportunity quilt is called Post Cards From California, and it depicts handcrafted pictures of California scenery.

This is the quilt titled “Post Cards From California," Dogwood Quilters Guild’s current project.

“Our commitment is to give back to the community and mountains we all love and live in,” their website states. “We are nonprofit, giving back what we make to our people of the mountains in need—fire victims, school scholarships, and to our hospital.”

Phyllis Rattely, president of the Dogwood Quilters Guild, led the meeting and introduced me to the group. I must admit I was clueless, and haven’t even sewn a button on my husband’s shirt in years. The only thing I’ve sccessfully sewn is a wraparound skirt, and that was 28 years ago in high school. How hard is that?

During the course of the meeting I had to lean over and ask one of the members what the heck they were talking about. When you hear the term UFO you automatically think about space ships and little green men, right?  Well, a UFO to a quilter is an unfinished project. And what the heck is a fat quarter? After paying attention I learned it is a piece of fabric, and it something that is sometimes used for raffle prizes at the meeting. The women who won them were “excited” to search through a table covered with fat quarters. When I researched online I found out exactly what a fat quarter is: A fat quarter is a one-fourth yard cut of fabric that (usually) measures 18-inches by 22-inches instead of the typical 9-inch by 44-inch quarter-yard cut. The longest side’s dimension will vary if your fabric is not 44-inches wide. A fat quarter gives you the opportunity to cut larger chunks of fabric than would be possible from a regular quarter-yard, including strips that are twice as long on the fabric’s (less stretchy) lengthwise grain. A fat quarter offers more versatility, whether it’s for patchwork or appliqué. Quilt shops know that fat quarters are popular and usually offer a wide assortment of them. Pre-cut and ready to go.

It didn’t take too long for me to catch on and pick up on some of the lingo of the quilting world. The longer I sat there the more at home I felt. As the meeting went on I discovered the group is something of a sisterhood and they have a lot of fun during their meeting. These wonderful ladies gather to learn from each other, share techniques, ideas and suggestions, and they also have a lot of fun together with potlucks, quilting retreats and holiday parties. They are very eager and willing to help those in need. They raise money for various causes, and give scholarships to high school graduates.

“We’re a very social group,” Rattely said. “If you’re a new person we will teach you and share with you. We also do work to help charities. We give quilts to new babies and patients in the extended care section of MCH hospital. We’ve given scholarships to the high school and the Boys & Girls Club. Last year at the Crestline Home Tour we gave them a quilt to auction off.”

The Dogwood Quilters Guild meets at St. Richard’s Episcopal Church in Skyforest, located at 28708 Highway 18, on the first Saturday of each month at 9:30 a.m. The first half hour is social time, and the meeting begins at 10 a.m. For information, call Phyllis Rattely at (909) 338-4600or e-mail at mprattely@aol.com.

“At the beginning of each meeting we do the business part,” Rattely added, “and then the most important part is the sew and share. It’s where we show each other quilts we’ve made and share techniques and tips. That’s the best part of our meetings.”

NOTE: The article goes on with 9 more paragraphs devoted to Willow Woods Quilt Guild and has a picture of the Quilt Show auction in progress.

 

 

Our 2011 El Grande Quilt Retreatat Alders Gate, Pacific Palisades, CA.