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October 26, 2022

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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

Kathy- for niece wedding/baby- Laura Lowen Finger Paint

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

Curated Quilts Red Issue- inspired by MAM Navajo quilts show

Susan- Audrey Esarey, mounted, all fabrics hand dyed

Samantha- Elizabeth Hartman, Sons quilt Warwick Ribbon winner

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

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August 19, 2022

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2022, challenges, guild business, meeting recaps, MQG, Open Sew, Uncategorized, volunteer

August 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Hello all! We had another great meeting last month! We had 44 people joining us. Welcome to new members Holly, Jennifer, Juanda, and Marina!

We had the pleasure of having Tighe Flanagan talk to us, but before he did, we had a little bit of guild business to go over.

As you may have heard, we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary…for a whole year! June 2012 the guild started having meetings and in 2013 we officially joined the MQG. As part of the celebration to commemorate, we had some pins made. At our June in-person meeting we were able to give a lot of them out. We had been planning on mailing out the rest, but to be honest, the postage was higher than we had expected, so we are going to hang on to them to hopefully see more of you in-person to hand out. We do have some more in-person meetings and open sews coming up, but for those of you who aren’t able to meet up, we can plan a way to pick up, drop off, or if you would like it sent, we are asking for you to pay for postage. (There are some extra ones for sale if you are interested in more, too) reach out to Ann vicepresident at njmqg dot com.

We have matched up some more members for a name tag swap. If you are new or interested in having a name tag made for you, let us know!

Approximately 35 members have signed up to take part in the I Used To Be a Shirt mini challenge to be shown at Peters Valley October-November. Crista has sent out the emails with the details, but to recap it must made from a button down shirt and white and/or cream fabric. It should be no smaller than 18″ no larger than 24″ SQUARE. If you are feeling inspired, you can make more than one. Really, you can make as many as you like! Don’t forget to add corner tabs for hanging and a label! Taking pictures beforehand isn’t necessary(if you saw that on the email form), but if you want to take process photos you can tag NJMQG and Peters Valley on instagram. The minis need to be handed over by September 27. They can be dropped of at Crista’s or we can plan other ways to get it where it needs to be. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions! Oh! Keep those scraps, too! We have something special planned for them.

Peters Valley is holding their craft fair on September 24 and 25 from 10-5. The guild will have a community booth so we can share more about modern quilting. If you are interested in taking a shift to work the booth and/or to lend some quilts to display, let us know!

Our MQG Community Outreach Quilt, for 2023 Quiltcon in Atlanta, is in the works. We voted on the blue/green color way with a log cabin style block idea by Aubrey. (sample above made with Aubrey’s stash) Some members will be getting together to cut the fabric for kits soon. We will be sure to let you know when they are ready to be picked up. We will be having an open sew on September 10, which will be the perfect time to pick up and/or work on the blocks. We are always looking for volunteers to help at every stage, so if you are interested in more than just making a block, please reach out. We will need help putting the blocks together, quilting, binding, even putting on the label! We would like to have all the blocks before the October meeting to stay on schedule.

A few announcements…
The deadline for the Warwick Valley Quilters Guild show is fast approaching. Check here for more info or contact Penny (email in members only section)

To try and keep things a little more easily organized, an At a Glance newsletter has been sent out and posted for everyone. It’s a nice bullet point list of upcoming dates to keep in mind. Hopefully it will help everyone!

Next up we had our guest lecturer, Tighe Flanagan. He lives in DC, has an MA in Arab studies from Georgetown and calls himself a lifelong creative. He started quilting in 2016, had his first quilt in a show in 2019, and got his first award in 2021. If you look at his work you can clearly see how he is inspired by art, architecture and math! He talked about his arsenal of tools and skills and math, lots of math! There were still a couple of spots left for his class on Saturday. Even if you can’t make it, he generously gave all members a coupon code for his site through the end of the month. The code was sent out, but if you lost track of it, someone on the board can send it to you. You can also find a free pattern of his on the MQG website. It was a pleasure to have him speak to us about his quilts and process.

For the lucky who jumped at the chance, we have a workshop with Jacquie Gering, who will be showing us how to step up our walking foot game. It was filled up in no time, but we have plenty of other good stuff coming up, too. We will be sure to update soon!

Summer is flying by and before you know it, school will be starting, days will be cooler and we will continue to have more fun things going on! Hoping we’ll see you at the open sew on September 10 or our monthly guild meeting on Thursday September 15 over Zoom. In the mean time, keep on working on the minis, WIP’s and more! Just keep on quilting!

Don’t forget to send in pictures of WIPs and Show and Tell to programs! You don’t have to wait until last minute 🙂

-A

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NJMQG Secretary

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July 27, 2022

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2022, challenges, charity, guild business, meeting recaps, MQG, Uncategorized

July 2022 Guild Meeting Recap

Hello quilty friends! We had another successful meeting this month. We had 36 people joining us over Zoom.

This month was our board transition month. Lenny provided us with her last treasurer’s report. Next time we will be hearing from Annette. Sam also lead us through her last slide show presentation of some future programs things, as well as, WIP’s and show and tell. Well, let’s say it’s their last for now…and a warm thanks for your service!

At our in person meeting in June, we had given everyone an NJMQG anniversary pin to celebrate our 10 year! For all the members who were not at the meeting, we mailed you one and you should have received it (fingers crossed). If you are interested in more, we have some for sale. Just $5. Reach out to VP Ann if you are interested.

With more in person things on the horizon, we are reaching out to anyone who needs/wants a name tag. We are pairing up members in August, and are planning on swapping at the in-person October meeting. Please reach out to a board member if you are interested in getting on that list and didn’t get that email.

We are very happy to announce our newest challenge. This one will be fun, and it is going to culminate in a show at Peter’s Valley! Get your ideas in motion…but wait, there are some rules… We are asking members to make a square mini quilt (18-24″ SQUARE). To keep it somewhat “cohesive”, we want a palette of WHITE/CREAM and incorporating 1 button down shirt. And that’s it! Whatever a button down shirt translates to you with white or cream and a square. The google form to sign up was emailed, but if you need it sent again, reach out to a board member. Sign up deadline is August 1. The mini’s need to be handed over by September 27, so they can be hung in time for the opening reception. The show will run for October and November. You are welcome to make more than one AND you have the option to put the quilt up for sale (the gallery is able to help with pricing, too!) If you have any questions, reach out to any board member or Christa. OH! Keep the scraps from your shirt, too. We’ve got another thing up our sleeves (come on, I had to) for those. Stay tuned!

We had requested ideas for the MQG Community Quilt. The theme was Color Shift. The board received a few ideas, and chose a block from a super inspired, Aubrey. We have two color schemes to choose from. We will be sending something out to place your votes, and then will be starting to plan more of the details. Anyone interested in helping in any stage to get it done, let us know. Margy has offered to be the lead for it, but we need as many hands on deck to get kits together, then putting the blocks together, quilting, binding…after all, it is called a community quilt!

Our charity lead, Elinore, has donated 16 more quilts and whole bunch of pillow cases to families through American Friends Service Commitee, Immigrants Rights Program. They were excited to pick out their quilts to help them feel more welcome in their new homes. And we are so happy to have been able to donate to them!

Warwick Valley Quilter’s Guild is once again having their show this October. Submissions are open! Email WarwickValleyQuiltGuild at gmail dot com or member Penny M for more info.

Programs updates! Next month, we will be welcoming Tighe Flanagan for a trunk show during our regular meeting time, August 18 7:15 on Zoom. Then on Saturday August 20 Tighe will be teaching his Ottoman rings pattern over zoom from 10-3. Sign up here

For September we are going to have an open sew on Saturday September 10. On Thursday, September 15, we will have our meeting over Zoom. Saturday September 17 we are holding a workshop with Jacquie Gering.

In October, we are having our class with Mel Beach that was postponed from earlier in the year, as well as, an in person meeting on Saturday October 22. Lots to look forward to and plenty more we are working on through the end of the year and even 2023!