February Meeting Reminder!

Our second meeting is on Valentine's Day!
7 - 9:30 PM at Pennington Quilt Works.


What to bring:
-your favorite tool/notion for a group discussion
-your swap item - any small sewn valentine (mini quilt, pillow, softie, ornament, bag, etc) made of fabric
-your latest show and tell
-your $50 dues

Please RSVP on Big Tent so we have an idea of how many are coming.

See you then! :)
-Jess H

January Meeting Recap

We recently had our first official meeting of the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild on January 10. Thanks to everyone who came – it was a great turnout! We hope you’ll join us for our meetings, every second Tuesday of the month at Pennington Quilt Works, Pennington, NJ, at 7 PM.

We started out talking about our goals for the guild. Basically, we’re all about being laid-back, oohing and aahing over fabric and quilts, challenging ourselves, getting to know each other, and having fun, all while learning about modern quilting. 

Our elected officers are:

President - Jessica Levitt

Vice President - Janneke Vander Ree

Treasurer - Sandy Mahaney

Secretary - Robin Buscemi

Additional Positions:

Webmaster - Jessica Hoenig (hi there!)

Photographer - Lori Saporito

Our activity/icebreaker for the meeting was matching fabrics. Everyone brought in 10 or more pieces of fabric and laid them out on the table. We paired up with someone we didn’t know and tried to create palettes together. Often, the single piece I picked up did not match my partner’s, but we were all able to come up with something! Hopefully this improved our color and pattern matching skills. We saw many  combinations - plus, we got to ooh and aah over fabric. Always a plus.

This month's challenge was to make a quilt using 50 or more fabrics. 

Liza 

 

   Jessica L.

Finally, we had show and tell, which we will have every meeting.

(You can find all pictures taken from the meeting over on our Big Tent group – along with the official meeting minutes, which include announcements from the meeting).

--Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 14 – yes, Valentine’s Day!

• Valentine’s Swap: Make a fabric modern mini project of your choice (example: quilted cards, ornaments, pillows, pin cushions). For anyone who participates, there will be a random drawing of a Valentine.
• Program: bring your favorite tool to discuss.
• We will vote on the CJMQG bylaws.
• Bring your dues ($50) if you haven’t paid them already!
• Guests are welcome as usual! (guest policy: first meeting = free, second meeting  - $5, third meeting = join).

--March Meeting Challenge (advance notice):

• Make a monochromatic quilt (you can use one neutral but there are no quilt police!). No size requirements, it's up to your interpretation.

*Join our Flickr group and check in on the Big Tent group (you can RSVP to the February meeting now).*
Let me know if you have any suggestions for the blog!

Jess H.

Coming Up

The first official meeting of the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild is coming up.  Will you be there?

The meeting stats are:
Tuesday January 10th @ 7pm
Pennington Quilt Works, Pennington NJ

We will (hopefully) be electing officers at this meeting, so we hope to have a large attendance.  If you weren't at our organizational meeting and have a desire to be an officer (pres, VP, secretary, treasurer), email me ASAP and we'll discuss the responsibilities.

We will be doing some fabric play.  Bring 10-20 fabrics (fat quarters or larger, marked with your name on masking tape).  They will not be cut, so don't worry, you'll get them back intact.  We'll get to know each other a bit better by challenging our fabric selection skills.

The challenge for this first meeting is scraps.  Bring a quilt (to this meeting) that uses at least 50 different fabrics and is still modern looking...

We'll also have general show and tell so please bring your latest project.

I have set up a Big Tent group for our guild.  I'll be sending out invites to join to all the emails we currently have on file.  If you're new and didn't make our organizational meeting, please send me an email and I'll send out your invite.  The memberships will be guest memberships until you have paid your dues.  Dues of $50 be can be paid this month or next month.  Guests can come to one meeting free then pay $5 to come to another meeting but then they must join.

I'd really like everyone to RSVP on Big Tent.  Of course, we won't kick you out if you don't and I don't mind if you do it last minute (well, a few hours before the meeting) but it really helps us to have an idea how many are coming.

Can't wait to see you all there!

Jessica

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…

Jessica

Whoops!!!

Last night was so much FUN!!! The organizational meeting of The Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild was well attended... THANK YOU all for coming. I believe this guild is what we have all be waiting for!! So many of you have volunteered for positions on the Executive Board as well as Chairpersons... I am so thrilled with the excitement, energy and enthusiasm you all have!! 

However; a 'faux pas' was made last night which needs to be corrected... Our regular meetings  begin in January 2012 and will ALWAYS be the SECOND Tuesday of the month... NOT the FIRST Tuesday as reported. I hope this doesn't cause a problem for any one.

Photos of the meeting and minutes will be posted in a day or two... so check back here if you weren't able to join us last night.

Keep on quilting!

Deb Hunter