It's taken me a
bit longer to get to this than planned, but I wanted to thank everyone who
joined us for our organizational meeting.
We had about 30-40 potential members! I just KNEW there was interest in a NJ Modern Quilt Guild…
I don't have
official minutes, but here's how it went down:
- First, general
chatting and niceties.
- Then Deb and I
welcomed everyone and introduced ourselves.
- We shared our
vision for the Guild - a friendly, fun, and inspirational place to get together
and socialize while learning a bit more about modern quilting
- Next we broke
for an ice breaker - we paired off (based on random fabric scraps taken at the
start) and interviewed our partner.
Each of us then introduced our partner and told where they were from and
why they were there that night.
Most popular answers = wanting to learn more about modern quilting, to
be challenged, and to have fun hanging with each other.
- Next we
discussed what modern quilting is.
The topic is a big one to tackle.
Some of our major points were:
-
we don't want to be exclusive so all are welcome, but we're going to focus on
modern quilting
-
we believe the movement has some major elements like: asymmetry, use of solids,
improvisation, sparse/clean look, functional rather than art quilts, and modern
color palettes and fabrics.
-
traditional "rules" of technique can be learned from, but are no
longer a requirement
-
modern quilting is very internet based with lots of emphasis on virtual
inspiration and learning from blogs etc.
-
We had some varied examples of modern quilts that we shared. Everyone loves
Show and Tell right? We didn't
think to ask everyone to bring something, but I brought a few and so did Candi Weinrick, Liz Hawkins, and Liza Prior Lucy. (So sorry but I forgot the idea of
taking pictures until after Liz and Liza had shared, but here's a picture of
Liza as proof we did in fact have celebrities like her and Liz in attendance! She showed amazing quilts from her next
book with Kaffe Fassett).
- Then we
discussed a need for officers and some of the description of positions.
- We took an
informal poll on possible activities/swaps/workshops etc. to better understand
what people are interested in.
- We talked a
little about the next meeting which will be on the 2nd Tuesday in January (Jan
10) where we will nominate/elect officers. Our challenge for that meeting is scraps. Your quilt must use at least 50
different fabrics. That's the only
rule, but let's see how you can keep it modern!
-And finally
everyone filled out a survey so we can begin to get to know our members.
I think it was an
immensely successful meeting and I'm so excited by all the cool people that
showed up. If you couldn't make
it, we want to meet you at the next one.
Between now and then we'll be working hard to get things going strong in
the new year! Look for more
details on the January meeting here later…
