Leadership

Hello, my name is Sharon Garls. I moved to Burlington, Kentucky in 2018 from way out  yonder, Maineville, OH (near Kings Island), but originally from central Illinois. I retired in 2013 after 27 years at GE Aircraft and GE Healthcare.

I’ve been married to Dan for 50 years. We have a son and a daughter, 1 granddaughter and 3 grandsons. Our fur babies rule the household. We acquired Tex while wintering in Texas in 2015 and then in 2022 I adopted Bella from my sister. Dan and I are Winter Texans and hope to continue traveling with our camper. I have a sewing machine and space in the trailer dedicated to my quilting!

I have sewed since I was 10 but never quilted until I retired. I have always shared my sewing endeavors with my mom, so quilting was a step we both looked forward to mastering. We lost her in 2014 but I continue to quilt for both of us. I have managed to get my older sister, Sandy, into quilting and we now have a small quilting group at our Winter home in McAllen, Texas.

In 2021, I bought a quilting/embroidery machine and have been fascinated with ‘edge to edge’ quilting with embroidery. I continue to learn more about my Pfaff Creative Icon and hope to catch up on my quilt tops!

I joined Stringtown Guild in 2018 to meet other quilters, but my husband’s cancer took my focus away from quilting. In March 2020, we finally completed the year of “quarantine” following his stem cell transplant only to encounter Covid! Through it all, I have managed to keep quilting! I re-joined the guild in 2021 and volunteered to be secretary at my first meeting! Now as Treasurer, I look forward to getting to know everyone and keep expanding my quilting!

I grew up watching my Mom work on all kinds of crafts during the 70's and 80's... she is the inspiration and example for all my creative training! (I remember learning how to crochet granny squares; weaving macramé purses; cross-stitching Precious Moments pictures; sewing clothes for 4-H, and using stickers to decorate all my notebooks. In the 90's Mom led me headlong into the world of paper crafting and scrap booking.) 

As adulthood settled upon me and the years advanced, I found that creativity was taking a back seat to all the other responsibilities I had been happily accumulating in life. Therefore, in January of 2017, I joined the Stringtown Quilter's Guild (SQG) with the specific goal of having a monthly excuse to focus on creativity. The members of this Guild are amazingly talented quilters who have been very gracious with their knowledge and experience. I have learned so much at our retreats and monthly meetings. My favorite part is probably the inspiration I receive by seeing their completed projects during the "Show and Tell" portion of our meetings. 

After I joined SQG, I realized what a philanthropic group we are! Each year our Guild chooses a charity to support with our handmade quilts. (Visit that section of our website to see what we've accomplished!) SQG spends all year planning our annual Quilter's Day Out event which serves as an outreach to our community by sharing the folkart of American quilting through displays and demonstrations. In addition to specific quilting projects, we collect money at our meetings each month in order to participate in our host church's food pantry ministry. We try to use our talents and gifts to share with those around us!

Whether you are a novice quilter (like me, just looking for creativity and inspiration) or you are an advanced quilter (like I want to be) and are looking for fresh ideas and opportunities to quilt, we would love to have you join our Guild! Your enthusiasm and experience are welcome!

Hello, my name is Ruby Causey, and I have lived in Grant County for the past 40 years.  I grew up in Cynthiana Kentucky on a tobacco farm and got married at a very early age of 19.  My husband and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this year (2024) and I also celebrated my 40th work anniversary this year with my current employer, American Modern Insurance Group.  I see so many people around me retiring and I can’t wait until it is my turn!  I learned how to sew from my mother and mam-maw at a very young age.  I first started with embroidery with scraps of material that my mam-maw would give me and show me how to sew the various types of stitches.  My mam-maw hand embroidered quilts and hand quilted to the sell them to have a little money on the side.  I have a few of her quilts and they mean so much to me.  My mother made a lot of my clothes growing up and although I tried my hand at making clothes, my true love was making quilt tops.  My favorite quilts to make are baby quilts because they are small and don’t take as long to complete.  I made a king size quilt for my bed several years ago, and I still need to quilt it.  I have a longarm and consider myself as a beginner, but the frame is only a queen size and now I need to figure out how to quilt it.  My husband and I have two boys, Ben, and Joshua.  Ben is our oldest and is married to Shannon (originally from Germany) with two beautiful girls, Emma, and Nora.  Joshua was blessed with a German Shepard dog Bailey, and mom is currently making her a quilt.  I joined SQG in February of this year (2024) because I wanted to learn more from other quilters and WOW WEE, what I have learned so far is that this group of people are inspiring and very talented and I’m so glad to be part of the team.  

I was a member of the guild in 1992, and then took 25 years off while raising 3 sons, Ted, Jack, and Sam.  I rejoined in 2017 and started editing the newsletter in March 2019. My mother taught me to sew as a child, and after many years of arguments, I finished my first quilt, a Cathedral Window.  I finally learned to free motion quilt in Sue Nichols's class with the guild and am trying to make up for the 25 year hiatus. I am a daylily gardener and a retired math teacher. My husband, Philip, and I have been married since 1987.   

As a child growing up, I remember my Grandmother (Nanny) having some kind of needle work in her hands from crocheting, knitting to embroidery. It was common to have afghans and doilies lying around the house, as well as many other handmade items. Though I do not recall seeing Nanny sewing at the machine, there was a coveted cabinet with a Singer sewing machine in the dining room. 

My Mom carried on the traditions, by age 11, I asked my mom to teach me how to sew. I was proud of my first tote bag project, by the time I was in High School I was making all of my own clothes. As an adult, I continued sewing cheerleader uniforms, costumes for my children and church Christmas plays.

I had always wanted to make a quilt, but didn’t know where to start. I took a quilting class at JoAnn Fabrics in 1990 piecing the top with a serger…..when it was time to sandwich the quilt, I was lost and the quilt became a UFO. 

In 2015, I accepted an invitation to attend a Stringtown Quilters Guild meeting and became a member. My first retreat was at Blue Lick State Park, I was ecstatic of the talent that was in the sewing room. The members graciously helped sandwich and pin my 1990 quilt. So much to learn from so many and the willingness to teach is phenomenal! 

Volunteers were needed in the guild so I teamed up with a friend who joined at the same time and we organized our first guild retreat. I thought, “Just this one time.” ….It’s been 6 years later and I am still organizing the retreats and earned the title Retreat Coordinator. 

I truly love making quilts and have been doing so since I joined the guild. 

I would like to extend an invitation to join us for a quilt retreat. I promised you will not regret going!