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NJMQG Secretary

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February 27, 2023

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2023, guild business, meeting recaps, membership, MQG, Open Sew, QuiltCon, Sew-In

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February 2023 Guild Meeting

Hello quilty friends! We had our monthly meeting over Zoom on February 15. As always it was a lot of fun. We had 38 members joining us, including a few new members- Amanda H, Ginny M, Mindy M. Welcome! After a little bit of technical difficulties (Betsy F powered through and persevered!! Don’t give up, you got this!) our slide show got started.

We started with a little bit of business. The guild renewals are still in the grace period until the end of March, but for anyone who has renewed or signed up should have received the welcome letter including info about what our membership includes and the password for the members only section of our website. If you have no idea what I am talking about, send us an email and we can get that sent out to you!

The NJMQG board is doing the annual review of the bylaws. If anyone has any proposed amendments you are asked to submit a ‘proposal’ before the March meeting. Everything can be found in the members only section of the website here. Annette gave us the 4th quarter treasurer’s report overview. If you are interested in checking it out, that is also in the members only section. And speaking of financials we are also asking for a couple of volunteers to help us do an audit and review the financial stuff. Please reach out if you are willing to help with that.

We are also reaching out and planting the seed for any member who would like to be more involved in the guild and be a part of our board. We will definitely be looking for someone to step into the presidential role (could be co-lead), but also someone to help share program’s duties. If you are interested in another role, we are always looking for more good people to help make our fabulous guild continue on being what it is. Elections are in June and the new board members transition in July. Let us know if you, or someone else in the guild, might be a good fit!

The MQG Quiltcon 2023 in Atlanta is coming up! We have quite a few members who are going as well as having work hung at the show. I will share our member’s work on Instagram, but if I miss anything, send a pic/email to secretary at njmqg dot com and I can share. While a bunch will be in Atlanta we are having a Missing Quiltcon Open Sew over Zoom, February 25 from 10-2.

Our next meeting will be in person on March 18, from 10-12 with an Open Sew right after until 4. We hope you will join us for our Tea Party themed meeting. For those signed up, the needle minder swap will be happening and during the open sew time
Sam L will be on hand to walk any member whose interested in making a Schlep Bag. We will be meeting at our usual in person spot at the Community Church of Cedar Grove. If you are staying for the Open Sew, don’t forget to bring a project to work on, your machine, etc… We’ll send out a reminder, of course, that will include supplies for the bag.

It’s Show and Tell time!

First up we have some blocks made from the Heather Kojan Interleave Piecing workshop

International friendship swap- Little Lute Bag

Lamp mats- Paper pieced, hand dyed fabric, walking foot with Jacquie Gering

Quiltcon mini swap- Sarah bond paper piecing

Until next time friends! Stay well and keep on stitching!

-A

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NJMQG Secretary

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January 30, 2023

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2023, Guest presenter, guild business, meeting recaps, MQG, Programs, QuiltCon, swaps, Uncategorized, workshop

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January 2023 Meeting Recap

Hello quilty friends! Hope you’ve all had a lovely start to the new year. This month we had 50 people join us for our Zoom meeting. We welcomed some new friends to our guild with a special shout out to Mary Ann D, Daniel R, Cindy S, Pat B, Mary K, Pam F and Michelle.

We went over some quick guild business, because what we all were here for this month was a lecture from Heather Kojan. First things first, we could not continue without proudly congratulating our very own member and cofounder, Aleeda C. for being elected MQG Board President! We know she will put her heart and smarts into her role. Read more about it here!

Quiltcon is coming up. Thanks for Margy S. for once again taking the lead on all the coordinating for the Community Outreach Quilt. If you are going to be in Atlanta, Lenny is coordinating a meetup/group photo. Contact her to join in. For those of us not going to Quiltcon, we will be hosting an open sew over Zoom on Saturday, February 25. We’ll send out an email with that info soon.

We are in the middle of our guild renewal! Tell your friends! I may be biased, but we have the best guild around. Don’t forget to fill out the form AND then send the payment, either through Paypal, or check to the PO Box. To do that and find out more check it out here. We are hoping to have majority of the signups done by the end of January. We reset our roster in February.

We will be hosting a Needle Minder Swap! We will be sending out the sign ups and matching up partners soon. Then we will be swapping at our In Person Tea Party meeting/Open Sew in March.

Last, but certainly not least, we welcomed Heather Kojan for a lecture ahead of the Interleave Piecing class she was teaching on Saturday January 21.

Heather talked to us about Quilt Design. Her personal style is more modern traditional. During the pandemic she was quite a prolific quilter with about 20 quilts each in 2020 and 2021! Regarding quilt design she talked about 5 points. Inspiration (is everywhere!), Design Composition, Education, Selection and Construction and Documentation. It was lovely to have her with us and I hope everyone enjoyed!

Next month we will have our usual updates, as well as the quarterly treasurer’s report and show and tell! Send pictures of everything you’ve been working on to programs at njmqg dot com. We want to see all the quilty goodness!

Until next time, be well, stay crafty!

-A

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NJMQG Secretary

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December 4, 2022

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2022, guild business, meeting recaps, Programs, Uncategorized

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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?

Sharing the last quilt Dawn made. Brought to England and already loved!

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