2026 CQG State of the Guild Report
Covington Quilters Guild
State of the Guild Report
January 2026
Happy New Year!
This report will review our mission and accomplishments during 2025.
In January 2025, our membership was 113. We dropped to a low of about 94, ending the year with 28 new members and a membership of 118. Leanne Shipley, our Membership Chair, relinquished her responsibilities in September and Gabriela Merle and Marilyn Patterson took over. There were 5 membership orientations during the year. If you have not had time to go to one or if you want a refresher on everything guild related, I encourage you to attend. Gabriela and Marilyn do an excellent job, and their booklet has a ton of information.
Our mission is threefold. The first two are:
· To promote the art of quilting and quilt-making through the use of monthly meetings, satellite groups, workshops, demonstrations, and guest speakers.
· To educate and increase the members’ knowledge of quilting techniques.
We held 12 monthly meetings. March, April, September, October, and November, we contracted with a variety of speakers including Krista Moser’s Trunk Show, Norma Starks using the Sew Kind of Wonderful Rulers; Jana Colombi’s Trunk Show (one of our fabulous members); Alice Marshall from Running Stitch in Kent. We also celebrated with three parties: a Spring Tea, an August BBQ, and a Holiday Celebration. Our members also spoke about a variety of topics, including Hugs and a meeting devoted to the quilt show.
The Guild hosted three workshops: Krista Moser taught about 20 of us to use her 60 degree ruler for the Champagne and Pearls pattern; Norma Starks led us in making Sew Kind of Wonderful’s Posh Sunflower using the mini quick curve ruler (there were about 9 of us in this class); and Mary Allen helped us to create self-portraits (about 11 of us).
The Guild held its second annual Quilt Show and it was a resounding success – from the venue, to the set-up, the silent auction, table runner sales, tea room, bazaar, the bed turning, it took a ton of volunteers and most of you stepped up to participate. Thank you! We are already in the planning process for our 2026 show. This year, our biggest challenge is finding one or two people to shadow Melanie Blount and Jo Parker to take over for our 2027 quilt show.
Kathy McClung opened the door to coordinate our activities with the Covington Arts Commission, and the Commission gave ribbons to several quilt entries. Kathy also presented information about the Guild to their membership. This may open the door to farther collaboration with this Arts Commission and, maybe, with the Maple Valley Arts Commission.
The Guild participated in the Western Washington Fair in September. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, our members brought completed items and demonstrated a variety of techniques. This was our third year participating in the Fair. A lot of you volunteered to help and I thank you for your participation.
There are a number of satellite sewing groups: Sewing Sisters in Hobart; Stitchers, Etc. (hand stitching); Zoom Sewing Group (1st and 3rd Saturdays); 2nd Saturday Sewists; Featherweight Sewing Group (you do not need to have a special machine to participate in this group); and the 4th Saturday Hugs Workshop Group.
The Quilt Buddy program is in its second year. If you need a buddy or would like to volunteer for this, please contact one of our Membership Team. These buddies help acclimate new members to the Guild and can provide guidance / advice on a variety of quilting issues.
Jill Ellis has a Block of the Month program. This is an opportunity to build a variety of skills: reading instructions, accurate cutting, accurate 1/4” seams, etc.
The Guild sponsors two retreats a year at Camp Koinonia in Cle Elum. Everyone is invited to join. I love this retreat. I usually get a lot done (if I am organized). And there is a lot of expertise available if you are stuck on a project or just need some advice. Linda Ferguson has the April retreat scheduled. Please see her to sign up.
The Guild’s 3rd purpose is:
· To provide opportunities for members to participate voluntarily in philanthropic projects.
The Guild’s Hugs project makes quilts for nine charities which members have voted to support. Hugs Administrator, Karen Zink, her team leaders, and many of you sitting in this room have all worked together to make and deliver 377 quilts, 249 bags, and 39 burp cloths. Next month at our February meeting, the Hugs team will have the program part of our meeting. They will speak about our successes and how you can fit into the process. There is always room for more people to join the team!
Financially, we have healthy incomes from a variety of sources:
· Kathy McClung and her team sell items through eBay and at our membership meetings. Our bank accounts have grown from this effort.
o Fabric sales at meetings, retreats, and other gatherings raised $3297.
o The Guild eBay site raised $3618.
o These proceeds were split evenly between the Guild and Hugs.
o This does not include the bazaar proceeds at the Quilt Show which was included in the net totals for that event.
· The Fund-Raising Committee have been hard at work this past year and continue their efforts.
o Jo Parker arranged for Mod Pizza event. Thank you to everyone who ate a meal on the designated day.
o The annual Raffle Quit sold just under 3000 tickets and also received donations of approximately $40. Thank you, Denise Schillaci, for all your hard work. She passed the torch to me, and I am working on the travel schedule for our 2026 quilt.
o Jo Parker has been highly active in selling our table runners at events. I do not have a total for those events. She continues to organize sales events and welcomes any volunteers to assist with this effort.
o Debbie Russell started raffling off baskets of sewing items at our Membership Meetings and Jill Ellis has continued with this. Again, I do not have totals, but the past two months has raised $62. Jill will continue to have baskets as long as she has the baskets and items to fill them. They are $1 a ticket.
· The Guild Quilt Show also added approximately $7000 to our finances.
Congratulations Covington Quilters Guild for a full year of events and thank you for continuing to support us as we move forward into 2026.