November 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Hello Quilty Friends!

Time is just flying by and here we are in December almost ready for our Holiday Party and I’m just getting to the recap of our November meeting. Our fearless leader, Rachel, was unable to make the meeting, so the rest of the board took charge! A true team effort! Thanks to all 38 members who joined us on our Zoom meeting.

We jumped right in to announcements. We wanted to remind everyone about Mid-Atlantic Mod. Early admission was open on November 4 and general admission has been opened up on November 13 (and you’re in luck, there are still some tickets left!) Go to their website to find out more info and to sign up.

Our November meeting means it’s time for our vote on the next year’s budget. Annette filled us in on the overview and, as always, the information is available in the member’s only section of the website. We had our vote, and after some confusion, managed to figure out how to do it, and the proposed budget was passed! Thanks to all for taking part.

Our MQG Community Outreach Quilt is in the hands of our quilter. Thanks to Carolyn M. for volunteering! Can’t wait to see what it looks like!

We were lucky enough to be able to host Jacquie Gering for a workshop over Zoom. I heard she is a fabulous teacher and it was a wonderful class!

Our Peters Valley mini show was a resounding success! So much so, that the Cincinnati MQG has asked if they can use the idea for their own! (with credit, of course) I’m sure they’ll post at some point on their instagram. Crista has the mini’s and catalogs, for anyone who ordered one, and will distribute them at the December Holiday Party. Or reach out to her to plan another way to coordinate.

Speaking of the Holiday Party, we have some fun things planned for the meeting. On Saturday December 10, from 11-3 at the Community Church of Cedar Grove, we will be getting together to celebrate with some food, swaps and of course plenty of time to just be together! The guild is going to be getting the main food (and we are taking into account all sorts of dietary things), but are asking everyone to please bring a dessert and drink to share! We have two Blind Swaps (not Secret) swaps you can participate in if you’d like. The Iron Caddy and the Party Poppers!

Last year we mailed our swaps so we knew who the swap came from, but this year since we are in person, make sure to put your name inside the swap. We are also asking everyone to please wrap the swaps in a FQ. Can’t wait to see what everyone makes/receives! We are also going to have an activity or two to do. We will have a station to make some of those popular Swedish stars, and a little area to make some tags, too!

A few months ago, we sent out a survey to get an idea of what the guild is looking for with meetings and classes. We are thankful to everyone who answered. Here’s a little overview of what we got.

The board has been hard at work coming up with a schedule of fabulous things for 2023 AND 2024! For 2023, we will be continuing to do the majority of our meetings over Zoom, still on the third Thursday of the month. Once a quarter, we will have an in-person meeting on a Saturday and try to combine it with an open sew, so we can be together for a full day of fun! We are lining up some great lectures, workshops, challenges, swaps, etc… We are very excited to be able to share more with you real soon!

Speaking of 2023, we do have our first workshop for the year lined up. We hope you will be able to join us. Look for sign ups soon!

For 2022 we challenged you to work on some WIPs! This month there was only one entry.

Started out with 5 pillows to be made. This is the 3rd one finished

Show and Tell was light this month. Maybe everyone has started on their Holiday sewing early?

Working on sewing overlapping curves
Sharing the last quilt Dawn made. Brought to England and already loved!
Made to match a picture in a room
about 22 reusable sanitary pads and 30 extra inserts

After the official part of the meeting wrapped up we had an lovely and intriguing conversation on a topic that was floating around social media recently. What is Modern Quilting? It is an interesting topic with so many facets it’s hard to really define it. Maybe we can revisit it again sometime soon?

Thanks again to everyone for joining us. Hope to see you the the Holiday party! December 10, from 11-3. Don’t forget to bring your swaps, a drink/dessert, and show and tell!

Happy quilting!
-A

October 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Hello friends! We once again had a great meeting, in person! WOOT WOOT!! We had 40 people joining us (3 guests), including some new friends we haven’t met yet and some old friends we haven’t seen in a while! Welcome Iman, Kim, Wendy and Daniel to the guild! And so wonderful to see Mary and Terri back for a visit! It really is so lovely to get together in person.

To start us off Rachel gave us a general breakdown of what a meeting generally looks like in person, reminded us about our amazing library cart, filled with books and rulers, free to borrow. Of course we have our free table for all to share those things you are ready to pass on. Also, make sure that if you bring something that isn’t taken, please bring it back home with you!

Our name tag swap partners (who were there) got to receive their name tags, YaY!
Ann–>Jann Jann–>Tari Carolyn–>Ann Meena–>Carolyn Betsy F–>Meena

We are back up to a total of 90 members heading into the end of the year and on that note, we want to remind you that guild renewals will be starting again soon. Before we went any further, we had a request to introduce the board! Sometimes we forget that we haven’t met in person for a while, so not everyone knows us! Rachel is our fearless president. Ann M, VP. Annette A, Treasurer, Betsy F, Co-Programs (Tari K, Co-programs couldn’t make it). Aubrey C, Secretary (that’s me). Rachel then reminded everyone about our website (if you’re reading this, you’ve made it!) and all it has to offer. You can sign up for the mailing list to get posts sent automatically sent to your email. There’s the members only section, with the password protection, that has all the member info, bylaws, budget, etc… To make sure our emails get to you, and not in the junk folder, add our emails to your contacts. While your at it, make sure you check out all the MQG website has to offer, as well. Annette filled us in with the overview of the treasurer’s report. You can always find that in the member’s only section. As a reminder, we will be voting on our proposed budget at our November meeting.

Congrats to Ann on winning our first raffle!

Mid Atlantic Mod is a retreat that includes members from the DC, Baltimore, Philly, Central Jersey, and us, North Jersey modern quilt guilds. This year it is in Lancaster, PA from April 27-30. As a sponsoring guild, we receive 10 guaranteed spots for our members. We had 12 people sign up for the lottery, and the winners are…Pam C, Judy J, JuandaMarie, Jeanine B, Sarah F, Rochelle, Elinore, Rachel, Ann, and Jackie! Early registration starts November 4 (we’ll send out the code to the lucky 10) and general registration starts November 13. There is a wait list available, so don’t hesitate to sign up!

Margy was on hand collecting the MQG Color Shift quilt blocks. They’ll be trimmed and ready to piece together at our open sew on Saturday October 29. Thanks to Carolyn who offered to quilt it for us!

Congrats to Penny and our friends at the Warwick Valley Quilters Guild on a successful show! They hung 150 quilts and sold many mini quilts in there auction. Even more congrats go to the past and current NJMQG members on their ribbons! Susan S, Carol P, Carol M, Penny M, Debby S, Samantha L, Valerie W, Laura F, Mary K and Anne S. Now rest up so you can start prepping for the next one!

Wanetta and Ellaree have come up with another fantastic No Stress Charity Project! With your help previously we made more than 75 kennel pads. This time they are asking us to make reusable sanitary pad for people who menstruate in Africa. While we are fortunate that we can go to the store and purchase them, it is very expensive to do that in Africa. We are shooting for a goal of 50, but I know we can do better than that! With a small amount of pre-washed fabric, some old towels, a few buttons or snaps, you can have a bunch of these whipped up in no time! They brought in some samples and ran through how to make them (and they ways to make them easier than even the directions said). We sent out an email with the more info and a template, but if you need it again, let us know. So get sewing and send them by the end of November!

Our mini challenge show “I Used to be a Shirt” is hanging in Peters Valley Gallery until November 6th. Peters Valley is printing a catalog with pictures and info on all the quilts. If you’d like to purchase one, please let Rachel or Crista know!

Miguel is offering to start an Improv Bee. He had started a sign up sheet, but if you’re interested or have and questions, send him a message! Email can be found in members only section.

Some meeting updates! We sent out our latest Guild News at-a-Glance. Thanks for all the positive feedback on that.

Saturday October 29, we are having an in person open sew, from 10-4 at the Community Church of Cedar Grove. For now we are continuing to do the Zoom/in person combo for our meetings. We know we have varying levels of comfort and availability and want to engage with as many people as much as we can. On the way out of the meeting we asked everyone to recycle their raffle ticket in an informal poll. Pick a Can! Which day would you prefer live meetings? 3rd Thursday evening, 3rd Saturday mornings, or stay the way it is, combo? A survey was sent out to get an idea of what everyone is looking for in programs and meetings, too! We know we can’t please everyone all of the time, but we are hoping to make as many of us as happy as we can!

Congrats to Margy who won the 2nd raffle!

The holidays are approaching and we are planning our annual holiday party! Saturday December 10th, from 11-3 at the Community Church of Cedar Grove we will be hanging out and getting festive! The guild will provide a catered meal and ask members to bring drinks and desserts. We will have 2 swaps available to be a part of, as well. This year we will be making an iron caddy and we are going to exchange poppers again (because they were fun and popular last year)! They will both be blind swaps, meaning, you will not be partnered up with someone, but for as many as you bring, you will leave with one someone else made! Keep an eye on your inbox for all that info, pattern deatails, sign ups, etc…

We had one person show a WIP. Congrats to Karen for finishing another thing and for winning this month’s WIP prize!

Now on to Show and Tell

Ann
Back
Kathy- for niece wedding/baby- Laura Lowen Finger Paint
Miguel- Light/prism
Back
Inspired by an artist
I thought I was ok- trapunto appliqué
Back
Circle amoeba
Stripe appliqué
Debby S- ribbon winner! multiple classes made into one quilt- Annie Smith, sampler that isn’t a sampler, Bethany Niemish- beading radiance fabric Mark Sherman- trapunto- Natalie Bonner
Carol P- Quilts of Valor
Mary K- Bee block sampler
Back
JoAnn
Practice channel blocks
Started in 2018
Jann- Tighe Flanagan
Betsy V- quilted coat
Hex challenge
Back
Curated quilts paper piecing reject
Curated Quilts color scheme
Curated Quilts Red Issue- inspired by MAM Navajo quilts show
Wanetta- charity quilt
African fabric panel
Touch of Lemon
Debby- Selvages (accepting selvages!)
Quarter circles for swap
Back
Jackie- log cabin challenge
Susan- Audrey Esarey, mounted, all fabrics hand dyed
Samantha- Elizabeth Hartman, Sons quilt Warwick Ribbon winner
Carolyn- Caroline Oneto pillows
Italian quilter’s challenge
Annette- project Linus
Keep an eye out for these three in a brother ad!

We hope to see you at out our November guild meeting 17th, 7:15 over Zoom! Don’t forget to send pics of WIP’s, Show and Tell and any other announcements to programs for our slide show! And never hesitate to reach out with any questions for any of the board members!

Stay healthy and keep sewing!

-A

September 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Wow! Time sure does fly! I know you were all patiently waiting for the September recap and I am happy to fulfill those wishes! For September we met over Zoom. There were 39 people that joined us.

On September 10 we had our open sew. It was a lot of fun to see some old friends and meet some new friends, too! Our next open sew is coming up on October 29. Let’s celebrate the spooky season, work on some projects, and just be together! Would be great to see you there!

The only picture from open sew I got

Our Name Tag Redeux Swap is wrapping up. Partners were matched up to make name tags for each other. The deadline is the end of October. With our monthly meeting and open sew both in person for October, it is the perfect time to swap, or mail them out at any time. Don’t forget to take some pics and send them to programs for us all to see! If you are a new member or just need or want a new name tag, let a board member know and we can start a new list of people to match up.

The I Used to be a Shirt Peters Valley Gallery show has now opened for all to see. The guild was challenged to take a button down shirt with white and/or cream and turn it into a mini quilt between 18-24″ square. There was an opening reception that many members were able to attend. The show will be open through November 6, so there’s still time to see it. Some of the minis are also for sale. If you don’t have a chance to see it in person, you can see them all on their website. We had 38 minis made for the show! Amazing! Thanks to Lenny for the photos.

As well as the gallery and amazing learning opportunities, Peters Valley holds a Craft fair every year that is a must visit! The guild had talked about having a community booth to share our love and knowledge of the art of quilting this year, but time just rushed by too fast. We would love to get some volunteers to help plan for next year. You can always volunteer directly with Peters Valley as well. Just something to keep in mind for next September. We will be sure to start planning sooner and remind everyone next year.

The guild’s MQG Community Outreach Quilt is in progress. Block kits have been distributed and are due back by the October 29 open sew. We are piecing it on that day. If there is any interest in helping with backing, quilting, binding, labeling, or any step of the way, please reach out to the board or Margy, who is our point person for this. As a reminder, this is what we are working on.

Announcement time!

This weekend, October 15 & 16, visit our friends at the Warwick Valley Quilters show

Mid Atlantic Mod lottery sign up is out. NJMQG is excited to be a sponsor of Mid-Atlantic Mod Retreat which will be held at the Doubletree Resort in Lancaster, PA, April 27-30, 2023. An email was sent with all the info on how to sign up for the lottery. If you did not receive it, let a board member know.

Congrats to Jacquie, Lenny, and Betsy V for getting quilts into the Mancuso show. And double congrats to Lenny who won a ribbon and Betsy V who won 3 Ribbons! We are lucky to have so many talented quilters in our ranks!

Ellaree is asking everyone to be ready to do another quick charity sew project. Similar to the kennel quilts, it will be a quick small project that can use some stash or scraps. We will have more info at the October meeting.

JoAnn will be teaching the Audrey Esarey Ultraviolet Radial pattern at Acme on October 21 & 22.

Margy mentioned how the prices are up on fabric and maybe we can plan some sort of swap or stash share. We can work on what that may look like and get back to you.

Also, look for one of our guild’s founding members, Rayna Gilman, on an episode of The Quilt Show with Alex and Ricky. You can check it out here

Programs update

We were all set to host Jacquie Gering on September 17, but an emergency came up and the class had to be cancelled last minute. We have rescheduled the class for November 4.

Heather Kojan lecture has been rescheduled for our regular guild meeting on January 19 and the class for January 21.

We hosted Tighe (pronounced with a long I, we’ve learned) Flanagan for his Ottoman Rings workshop. There were about 15 participants that took part in the class. He explained his inspiration and method for drafting his patterns and taught a lesson on best practices with partial seams. Then they jumped into the pattern and had plenty of time to work and ask questions. If you ever have a chance to take a class, Tighe is well spoken and patient. And thank goodness because that pattern looks mind bending!

NJMQG member Miguel asked about doing an improv bee…keep an eye for when we have more info!

For 2022, Programs has challenged us to work on some WIPs and a lot of you have taken up that challenge

Congrats to Rochelle for winning this month’s WIP prize!

Show and Tell

Carseat quilt
Daughter in law’s father’s shirts
Audrey Esarey class, but changed a bit
Improv
Organic geometric
I Used to be a Shirt mini’s
Audrey Esarey class and pillowcase to match!
Raw edge stripes

Don’t forget our next meeting will be Saturday October 22, IN PERSON at the Community Church of
Cedar Grove from 10-12. We are meeting up in person the following week for an open sew. Same place, October 29 from 10-4. Come in your Halloween best 😉

As always, stay healthy and crafty!

-A