Friday, November 18, 2011

Organizational Meeting


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…