August Meeting Recap

Reminder: We are now a part of the international Modern Quilt Guild! Visit our site here, after you have signed in. Please refer to the email sent a few days ago about getting into the group - and feel free to email the account or any of the officers about any questions you have. Please remember that the website is all new to us, too, so we'll all get used to it together! We will be phasing out BigTent, so take some time to acquaint yourself with the new site - and we will try to do a demo at the September meeting.
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We had a seriously HUGE turnout at our August meeting! It was great to see everyone and meet new and potential members!

Important Dates

• By August 30: Sign up for the Riley Blake MQG Fabric challenge (similar to the Madrona Road challenge a few months ago)  at this link (our guild's forum). See the same link for all the info on the challenge (Sept.-Dec.)

These are the prints (but not the exact colors) that Riley Blake will be sending all those who sign up!

•  MQG SewDown in Philly - Sept. 6-8. It is an all-inclusive sewing event with workshops and lectures from 4 instructors. You can also choose to go just for the day - lectures are posted here. Remember - as you are a guild member, you can receive a 15% discount.

• Sept. 8 - Gloria Loughman, contemporary quilter, teacher and author, will be giving a lecture at the Courthouse Quilters meeting in Frenchtown, NJ. The fee is $5. See the website for more info.

• September Meeting:  Tues. Sept. 10 @ Pennington Quilt Works, 7-9:30pm (more info at the end of this post)

• Sept. 27-28 - Paula Reid machine quilter and instructor of “Fluff and Stuff” will be lecturing and giving a workshop at the Byrnes Sewing Connection in New Britain, PA. Contact the store at 215-230-9411 for more information.

• Sept. 28th is the Quilters Take Manhattan event. For those interested, tickets can be purchased online at www.allianceforamericanquilt.org.

• Denyse Schmidt will be at the NYC Library on Sept. 28th from 2 – 4 pm for a “crafternoon”. This event is FREE but you must reserve your spot - see here for more info.

• October 8 - NO REGULAR OCTOBER MEETING - lecture, trunk show, and quilt planning with Barbara Persing. Barbara is the author of “Listen to Your Quilt” and will discuss how to plan and design quilting choices for your quilt. Her lecture will be from 6-10 pm (*please note the earlier time) at the PQW on Tuesday, October 8th in place of our general meeting. (thanks to Kathleen for providing this important info!)

Annoucements

• At this meeting, we voted and unanimously passed the motion to add a section to our by-laws about being a non-profit (501C 3).

• New York City trip to NYC survey coming SOON to an inbox near you! (as in, this week)

•  Pinterest and Flickr usernames so far have been posted on the tab at the top (Members' Social Media Links), so we can follow each other! If you haven't already added yours to the thread on Bigtent, please do so HERE on our new site.

• Look for more info SOON about the multi-guild retreat, April 3-6, 2014, in Lancaster.

• We have started our "freebie table" at meetings, which Neva has generously volunteered to manage. Bring any books, magazines, tools, and quilting fabric only (no smaller than a ¼ yard) that you do not have a need/want for.

• Who wants to be in the “Spotlight”?  Please consider volunteering for this part of our meeting in the future - you'll bring in quilts and tell us about your journey as a quilter.

Meeting

• I gave a presentation/demo on Flickr. I will be posting more on this soon (a summary of what I went over). We also discussed the difference between Flickr and Pinterest (pictures vs. organization of links/pictures). Remember, you can use your Yahoo or Google ID to log into Flickr now and start documenting/sharing your quilt projects!

• Challenge: Members made 8.5" modern blocks for the CJMQG banner. Check out these beauties (which were posted to our Flickr group)! Those of you who still need to complete the challenge have until the September meeting. Reminder: please save your large scraps/any leftover fabric and hand them back, as we will use them for the backing and binding! 

 

Neva's block

 

Rachel's block

• This month, members participating in the guild bee made string blocks for Alison. Check out the strips of color we added!

 

 Show and Tell:

 

 

 

 

 

(Neva was super busy the last couple of months!! Look at all that gorgeous quilting!)

 

 

 

 

 (Kathleen made a bag to match her quilt :D)

 

 

 Robin made this cute quilt top that day!

 Robin got help from Barbara Persing for quilting this one - she can do the same for you in October!

 

 

 

 

 

And we're proud of our guests/new members! 

 

 

  
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September Meeting (Tues.,  Sept. 10, 7-9:30 pm, Pennington Quilt Works)

• Possible demo on the new site
• Carol Esch will give a demonstration on constructing wonky star blocks.
• September Swap – Make a “mug rug”, a mini placemat, in the modern quilt style to swap with another participant.
• September Challenge – Remaining volunteers complete banner blocks
• Spotlight – Eugenia, if she's available

See you then!
-Jess S.