On Saturday May 16th, we hosted 39 members and 3 guests.
Board Election – Saturday June 20th
Current President Ann Marston will continue to serve the second year of her 2-year term
The 2026-2027 candidates are:
- Vice President: Kathy Morganroth
- Treasurer: (2-year term) Sue Adams
- Secretary: Holly Finneran
- Programs Co-chairs: Aubrey Cece & Kaitlyn Fritsch
MQG Business
QuiltCon 2027 Atlanta – February 25 – 28
Three hotel blocks have been reserved (although they were mostly sold out by our meeting date! 😦
Three Challenges have been announced:
- Windham Fabric Challenge – Handloom by Tara Faughnan
- The QuiltCon 2027 Featured Speaker, Steph Skardal, has selected the fabric challenge palette from a new line of cross-weave basics called Handloom. We love these beautiful cross-weaves that give just a hint of shimmer! These wovens shift with the light and are full of subtle textures in rich, layered colors, and we look forward to seeing how you use this palette!
- American Patchwork and Quilting – Pick A Color Scrappy Challenge
- We all have scraps, that’s for sure, but this year, American Patchwork & Quilting challenges you to find a way to create a single-hued scrappy quilt!
- Eligible quilts will use at least 10 different fabrics and feature one overarching hue in the design. What color will you pick?
- Use one hue, 10 different fabrics
- Community Outreach Quilt
- The theme is Half Square Triangles, quilt design are submissions due to NJMQG’s Board in July
- There are so many great ways to use half-square triangles to experiment with different repeating shapes and secondary patterns.
- Choose ONE of the provided color palettes below and use it in its entirety.
- Dimensions: min 60”x80” & max 65”x85”.
New Meeting Space Needed!
Sadly, the First Lutheran Church is closing its doors after our June 20th meeting and we will have to find another local space in which to hold our meetings, workshops and holiday party. If you have any ideas or contacts, please contact Ann with any information that might be helpful in securing a new venue.
Good lighting, sufficient outlets, storage space and parking are on our wish list of nice-to-haves.
Fortunately our July and August meetings are already scheduled for Zoom. The first meeting we’ll need a new space for is on September 19th.
Meanwhile, we need a volunteer to store our NJMQG library of books and rulers and the library cart. If you can help out with temporary storage, please contact Ann.
Zip-up Tray Pouch workshop with Emily Chwazik
We had a blast making the zipper trays under Emily’s guidance! I think there were about 15 of us altogether.
Bring your finished trays to the June meeting, or send pictures to secretary [at] njmqg.com to be posted here!
QuiltCon Community Outreach Quilt 2025
As reported previously, we sold the COQ designed by Samantha and split the funds between two charities focused on women’s health issues, Girls Helping Girls. Period. and Flow Forward NJ. Below is the lovely thank-you email we received from GHGP.
Dear NJMQG,
Thank you! I literally squealed when I saw your donation— how truly wonderful to see a diverse group of crafters come together to enjoy a passion, and opt to help others in the process. Your website is filled with photos that just made me smile. This donation means so much to me, and to our organization. The thought behind is as important as the gift itself.
I co-founded Girls Helping Girls Period (GHGP) a decade ago with my two young daughters when we learned there were several students at their middle school who regularly missed whole days because their families could not afford menstrual products. We did a small project to help— that grew into an event that highlighted, for our greater community, the issue of period poverty, which was hiding in plain sight. And it is not just a lack of products that is deeply affecting millions, it is a lack of very basic knowledge. Stigma surrounding periods, it turns out, has left so many people uncomfortable asking questions, believing the myths their families have told them (again because of stigma), and putting themselves in danger because of practices that can have serious repercussions.
The OG “Girls” of GHGP are now young adults, both serving their communities in beautiful ways (Emma is an environmental educator in DC, and Quinn is an EMT working to become a flight medic.) And the programs we started together have grown and grown; while they are both still involved, I now run the organization and am working on its expansion.
In addition to donating millions of menstrual products, we know that this will not solve period poverty. Only when we change laws and policies, and educate everyone, will we get there. I am happy to apply your gift to a campaign we are currently running, called Party at Your Pad, which supports our education program. Specifically, we are expanding our workshops for 5th graders, where we teach the basics, and help them open up dialogue with each other and their teachers, so they can feel more confident managing their own bodies. Thank you so much for this partnership.
Wishing you all the very best. We are grateful for your kindness and generosity.
Elise Joy
Co-Founder/Executive Director
Girls Helping Girls. Period.
Show & Tell
Thanks for sharing your wonderful work!
Joanna stitched a curved block; Sue A‘s Sew Along block 1; Gretchen‘s Scrappy Apple Core quilt and Mug Rug; Blanca‘s Mid Mod swaps & Sew Along block 1; Jane‘s Christmas tree skirt & Purdue Boilermakers-themed quilt; 3 quilts by Betsy V.; Group quilt by Betsy V, Ann, Michelle & 6 other quilters; Ann‘s stress-relief quick-pieced top & swaps from Mid Mod; Betsy F’s ingenious protest-march support for her Word of the Year mini, “Resist”; Aubrey presents new member Ezra with their name tag; Ginny‘s Word of the Year mini, “Believe”; Kathy‘s water bottle carrier; Lore‘s 3 recent finishes, and Wannetta‘s “Threads Carry Memories” series heading to the permanent collection of Friends of Villages Museum and Archives Inc. in Buxton, Guyana, South America; Sara donated “Embellish Me” to the library; Jo Ann‘s Big Bow.
Happenings
TEXTILE ART GALLERY NYC PRESENTS VITAL FORMS: SIX ARTISTS WHO REJECT THE LIMITS OF TEXTILES
NEW YORK, NY — On view June 2–27, 2026 at 529 West 20th Street, 6th floor, Chelsea. Gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 AM–6:00 PM.
The six artists work in strikingly different languages.
- Giunta constructs intricate three-dimensional ecosystems from felted and sculptural cloth, conjuring coral reefs and living organisms with extraordinary precision.
- Else builds figurative sculptures from collage and quilted cloth over armature, darkly witty works that examine mortality and the quiet drama of everyday existence.
- McCauley transforms hundreds of collected coffee cozies into an immersive hanging installation that confers dignity on the discarded and the overlooked.
- Trahan works in explosive botanical abstraction, building dense layered surfaces that pulse with colour and organic energy.
- Van Eijk’s large-scale abstract textiles command space with bold biomorphic forms and complete unselfconscious authority.
- Paik works with repurposed textiles and found materials, finding unexpected tension between the domestic and the cosmic in works that ask to be looked at again.
Know about local happenings of interest?
Email secretary (at) njmqg.com.
Next Meetings
- Saturday June 20th, 10a – 1p in person at the First Lutheran Church in Montclair, 153 Park Street, Montclair NJ 07042.
- Thursday July 16th, 7p on Zoom
- Thursday August 20th, 7p on Zoom
See you soon!
xo,
Kathy
njmqg 