This month I visited with the Creative Threads Friendship Group.   I was so thrilled to attend this meeting because it was their Christmas Party!  The food was incredible and the friendship and joy of this group were also incredible.  They met at Sue Weisshaupt’s home and did a potluck salad luncheon.   There were some amazingly creative salads and then for dessert there were some equally creative cookies.  What a treat because I LOVE cookies!   My family was happy because I even got a box of cookies to bring home!   I was received into this group as an honorary member for the day and I think I smiled the whole time.

The members of this group are: Sue Weisshaupt, Sara Fossett, Lois Tribble, Jeri Teisl, Shawn Stencel, Pam Peters, Fran Reinecke, Melodie Moreno, Lynn Beck, Cindy Freshley and Sandy Hoffman.     They started  back in 2008 when TBQ had a waiting list for membership.   The group began as “The Ladies in Waiting” until there was an opening in the guild for new members.   They all eventually joined TBQ but remained as a friendship group and changed their name to Creative Threads.  

They meet every month at the Yavapai Hills Clubhouse on the 3rd Friday from 9:30 to 1:00.  Everyone brings their own lunch and they usually have some sort of dessert to share.   They are open to new members because there is room at the clubhouse for more people and they say ‘the more the merrier’.

At their meetings,  each member can work on  their own project  or they do a group project and  they have a  demonstration of some kind every month.   They love to go on fieldtrips whenever they get the chance.  They go to quilt shows  and quilt stores together and they go to Bear Cabin Inn every year.

The focus of this group is community service.   They have created and donated items  to many different organizations.  For Quilts of Valor they made quilts,  for the YRMC Birthing Center they made baby quilts, for  the Breast Cancer Society they made a raffle quilt and a gift basket,  for the Humane Society they made dog beds (65 last year!),  and for  an autism organization they made fidget quilts.  

At the meeting I attended, they had their unveiling of their group challenge for 2012.   The rules were that they had to do a Black and White project but had to add one more color which was determined by drawing a Crayola out of a bag.   The rules stated that if they didn’t like the color they drew, they could exchange with someone else but if they still didn’t like the color they could just choose whatever they wanted.  I love that!   The pictures of their challenge are shown below.

This group of ladies has so much fun together and they are some of the most generous and thoughtful quilters I’ve ever talked to.    Thank you to Creative Threads for allowing me to be part of your group for a day and especially for letting me share in your Christmas Party.   

Oh, one more thing.   The motto of this group is “Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.”  

____________________________
Kathy Beeson
Friendship Group Coordinator