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

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