Members displayed their starting blocks for the 2023 Round Robin Challenge.
Slides presented at meeting
Meeting was brought to order at 10:03 by our president, Octavia Pitts.
Octavia (President) opened the meeting with our usual Zoom instructions and welcoming remarks.
Susan Muszynski (Treasurer) presented the monthly financial report. We currently have $24,484.33 in the checking account. We have an upcoming bill for the April speaker of approximately $3,500. The Profit & Loss statement is posted on stlmqg.org under Member Resources/Finances.
Gail Luther (Secretary) reported that attendance at the February meeting was 91. At this time, this day’s attendance wasn’t known but it was later reported that we had 97 members attend with an additional 3 guests and 4 members attending via zoom. Four joined as members at the meeting. Current membership was reported at 177 (as of this writing, the membership is now 182), this includes 24 new members since the beginning of the year (now 29).
Gail went over the communications slide, pointing out to new members the different ways to have contact with the guild. She forgot to mention the smart phone app that’s available which allows members to easily access our website on their phone. Some functions are not available in the app; however, it is a quick way to view the guild’s calendar and membership directory. Seriously, everyone should get this Wild Apricot app.
She reminded everyone that all things guild-related should be on our website, www.stlmqg.org. Please log in and become familiar with the website. If there is something that you think should be included, please contact Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org.
Follow the guild on Instagram @stlmqg. Use hashtag #stlmqg for general items you want to the guild to see, #stlmqgufo2023 for the current 2023 Modern UFO challenge and #stlmqgRR23 for the 2023 Round Robin challenge. You can read more about these challenges on the website under the menu tab, Guild Activities.
Jenn Deck (Vice President) reviewed upcoming guild activities. All of these can be found on our website or phone app event calendar with more details.
Mar 15: Hand-Stitchers, Buder Library 5-7:30 PM, Host – Lynda Mueller Drendel
Mar 21: Hand Sew Happy Hour, Brentwood Bread Co 6-9PM, Host – Jenn Deck
Mar 25: Virtual Sew, 10 am - 12 pm., Host – Susan Muszynski
Apr 8: NO REGULAR MEETING
Apr 18: Hand Sew Happy Hour
Apr 19: Hand-Stitchers
Apr 22: Virtual Sew
Jenn discussed the upcoming workshops on April 28 – 30; Rainbow Remix and Design Improv with Triangles by Rebecca Bryan. See website to register for trunk shows and workshops. Registration is required. Registration will open to non-guild members on March 17th. Secure your seat now!
Jenn also went over some activities happening in the community. All of these are listed in the slides; the link is at the beginning of the post.
Member Announcements
Candy Grisham spoke to us about the upcoming quilt show hosted by Bits ‘N’ Pieces guild, Fanfare of Quilts on March 18 – 19 in Queeny Park. It’s the first show by this guild in five years and should be fabulous. There is a group of our members planning to attend on Saturday at 11:00 am and another group on Sunday. So, plan to work this into your weekend schedule.
There is a play scheduled at the Alton Little Theater on March 24th, 25th (7:30 pm) and Mar. 26th (2:00 pm) about the Gee’s Bend quilters. The play was written by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder and centers on a family from Gee’s Bend in Boykin, Alabama. The tickets are $20 and more information can be found at www.altonlittletheater.com.
Susan Veenstra told us about The Midwest Fiber Festival scheduled for April 28 – 30 at St. Louis Community College, Meramec Campus. More information can be found at https://www.midwestfiberfest.com.
Committee Announcements
The magnet swap is due at the May meeting. Find more information on the website under Guild Activities.
Sarah Linker (Social Committee Leader) reported that the March meetup location is at McAlister’s Deli at Deer Creek, conveniently located near Joann’s. The May lunch meetup will be at Fuzzy Taco’s on Watson in Webster Groves.
There is an event on the website for Walk & Picnic on April 15th at Creve Coeur Lake at 10 am with the picnic schedule for 11:30 am. Registration not required but helpful. Link for event and more info here.
The Sew Day event on May 20th will open for registration on Monday, Mar. 13th at 7:00 pm. 20 tables will be available for 40 members with machines (2 machines to a table) and additional spaces for hand sewers. Snacks are highly encouraged but no slow cookers or coffee machines. No charge for members, you should have received the announcement by the time this recap is published. Sew Day link.
Watch for an announcement for a social event to visit the Chihuly exhibit at the Botanical Gardens sometime in July.
Kristina Olson (SewMe STL Committee Leader) reported that the first committee meeting was held on March 2nd for introductions and subcommittee assignments. Future committee meetings will be held the 2nd Thursday of the month with the next one on April 13th at 7 pm via zoom. Three more volunteers are needed on the committee. Save the date, September 15 – 17, 2023.
Tonya Cass (Charity Committee Leader) and the rest of the charity committee presented their plans for the charity activity this year; Lap Quilts and Wheelchair Quilts. The organizations that will be getting the donations –
Patterns, videos and other resources will be added to the website soon.
Susan (Treasurer) reminded us the UFO challenge has begun. Post your completed modern UFOs on Instagram with #stlmqgufo2023 or email a picture to stlmqg@gmail.com. Tips and information are posted on the challenge page on the website. As of March 7th, we have 27 UFOs completed, can we make 100?
Octavia then led a discussion of what is modern and what is not. See the slides for examples and information on the modern aesthetic.
After a few miscellaneous business items and a reminder that there wouldn’t be a regular meeting in April, Octavia excused the guild for a brief break. The first round of the round robin was exchanged during the break.
Program - Modern Quilting
Kristy Daum led a very interesting discussion on what makes a quilt modern. See the slides for pictures and examples of the various components typically considered. There were many questions/comments from the members. Here are a few that were noted –
If upcycling fabric for a project, be sure to check the integrity of the fabric. Old fabric can be very fragile and may not be suitable for your project.
Many people wonder how the MQG goes about picking quilts for the Quiltcon show and how they judge them. Kristy who has worked separately as a jurist and a judge at Quiltcon (at different shows) explained the jurists pick the quilts that will be in the show, the panel of judges are separate people and use different processes. Different jurists/judges will value various aspects differently. She mentioned that various quilters are currently posting the comments that they received from their judges on Instagram.
Dottie Vaughn also commented that judges for the MQG pay a lot of attention to the artist’s statements that are submitted with the quilts.
Someone asked for a list of fabric designers that are considered modern and the committee said that they would look into that.
Lilo Whitener-Fey presented the rules for the 2023 Log Cabin Challenge. All the rules are on the slide and on the challenge page on the website. This challenge comes with generous prizes this year and we were all reminded that this is not to be expected for all the guild’s challenges. These slides are also available on the challenge page on the website. The committee said that they would welcome emails if a member wanted to run their ideas for the challenge by them. You can email stlmqg@gmail.com and the board will forward the email to the committee.
Marie Nicholson-Hill and Gayle Larson then demonstrated various things you can do with log cabin blocks. Pictures of this demo are included on the slide PDF.
Octavia mentioned that we are collecting pictures of Quiltcon for the website. If you have some to share please send to Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org.
After the program, we drew attendance prize winners. The winners of the fabric raffle donated by Cotton Cuts were Suzanne Domalewski and Wilma Schmitz.
Check out the photos from our Show & Share, Photo Album.
Meeting Adjourned
Submitted
Gail Luther
Secretary, STLMQG
Meeting was brought to order at 10:07 by our president, Octavia Pitts.
Octavia (President) opened up the meeting with our usual Zoom instructions and welcoming remarks.
Susan Muszynski (Treasurer) presented the monthly financial report. We currently have $24,162.86 in the checking account. We recently paid the annual MQG renewal of $2,100 and everyone’s membership in MQG should be updated in their database. We have an upcoming bill for the April speaker of approximately $3,500. She reminded everyone that needs or will need to be reimbursed for guild expenses, to please make the requests in a timely manner.
Gail Luther (Secretary) reported that attendance at the January meeting was 91. At this time, this day’s attendance wasn’t known but it was later reported that we again had 91 members attend with an additional 9 guests and 6 members attending via zoom. Current membership was reported at 167 (as of this writing, the membership is now 174), this includes 17 new members since the beginning of the year (now 21).
Octavia went over the communications slide which included the Wild Apricot for Members icon to look for in the app store. This app allows members to easily access our website on your phone. Some functions are not available in the app, however it is a quick way to view the guild’s calendar and membership directory.
She reminded members that we have switched platforms and all guild information from 2023 can now be found at www.stlmqg.org. Please log in and become familiar with the website. The old website, stlmqg.blogspot.com will be kept as an archival of guild activities up to 2023.
You can also join our Facebook group, St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild. Within that Facebook group we have an active chat for those of us going to QuiltCon 2023. There is also a separate Facebook group for Quiltcon goers called STLMQG@QuiltCon , but it is not used often.
St. Louis Metro Area Shop Hop 2023 will be going on the month of March. More information can be found on this Facebook group - link.
AI Art Quilt Challenge - While not a guild activity, participants will use the power of AI to help design a quilt throughout the year. More information can be found in these two links – Flyer and Signup Form.
Jenn reported that the committees and committee leader positions have been filled. She thanked everyone for stepping up. Committee leaders and members can be found on the Committee page on the Website.
Sarah Linker (Social Committee Leader) reported that starting in March, the Social Committee will be hosting informal lunches at various restaurants in the area to provide more opportunities to get to know each other. The lunches are casual and are listed on the guild’s calendar. An informal headcount may be taken at the meeting. The March meetup location is McAlister’s Deli at Deer Creek, conveniently located near Joann’s.
The Social Committee is planning a social event for April so watch the website for details.
Tonya Cass (Charity Committee Leader) reported that the Charity Committee has come up with some good ideas and will be presenting those in detail at the March meeting.
Jessica Schunke & Lilo Whitener-Fey (Swap & Challenge Co-Leaders) along with their committee announced the first 2023 Swap. We will be creating magnets of tiny quilt blocks to exchange in a modified “white elephant” game at our May meeting. The 2023 Swap page has some examples plus the instructions. Magnets were provided to attendees and If supplies last, will be available at the March meeting. You are also welcome to supply our own magnets and make more than one.
The committee will announce their Traditional to Modern challenge at our next meeting.
Susan (Treasurer) reminded us the UFO challenge has begun. Post your completed modern UFOs on Instagram with #stlmqgufo2023 or email a picture to stlmqg@gmail.com. Tips and information are posted on the challenge page on the website.
Octavia (President) apologized on behalf of the board for the chaotic review of the 2022 BOM quilts last month. Be sure to check out the slide show of these quilts on the website’s home page. If you completed the 2022 BOM and there isn’t a picture of your quilt in the slideshow, please email it to Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org. Captions are not currently available.
Octavia also went over the Round Robin challenge again and how it works. Rules for the challenge can be found on our website. Groups will be announced this week by email. The first pass will take place at our March meeting.
Tess McMahon (2022 Charity Leader) welcomed Mary Ann Owens of The Women’s Safe House back to our meeting. This group was the recipient of our 2022 Charity effort to create quilts for the families being helped by this organization. Mary Ann thanked us for our generosity and told us that the first family had just received their new quilts as a celebration of their starting their new lives. Everyone that participated should feel proud of your efforts
Octavia asked to please let us know if you have a quilt hanging at QuiltCon, so that we can take pictures of them for the website. Gail is compiling this list at secretary@stlmqg.org.
Guild members attending QuiltCon are encouraged to meet up at 4:45 pm on Friday, February 24 by our charity challenge quilt for a group photo. If you are attending, please put that on your calendar.
Octavia discussed the various clubs that have sprung up; some officially associated with the guild and some not. We are happy to put a gathering on the guild’s calendar if it would interest our guild members. Please contact Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org to submit an event.
Octavia also led a discussion of what is modern and what is not. See the slides for examples and information on the modern aesthetic.
Hope Wyss (House Leader) has asked that any free table scraps smaller than 2” x 2” be placed in a ziploc bag and labeled “small scraps; must take all.”
Octavia and Amy Suiter led the group activity Improv is for Everyone. Members used improv methods to make paper collages during timed rounds with different shapes. The slides include links and book suggestions for further information on Improv piecing. Photo Album of activity - scroll down page.
After the program, we drew attendance prize winners. The winners of the fabric raffle donated by Cotton Cuts were Gayle May and Patricia Meyer.
Meeting was called to order at 10:06 AM.
Link to the Slides Shown at Meeting
Susan (Treasurer) went over the current financial situation of $24,654.30 in the bank account. The balance seems high but there are a couple of reasons; our membership jumped quite a bit in 2022, SewMe did not cost as much as budgeted and the workshop that we held in 2022 was prepaid in 2021. She reminded us that we will be paying for the MQG membership soon which is a major bill.
Gail (Secretary) reviewed the December meeting attendance of 66 and mentioned that the average attendance last year was 73. This year we will be striving to keep closer tabs on our attendance to help with planning of meetings. The website does allow for pre-registration of monthly meetings. Because there is no fee involved, it is not required but could be helpful when planning meetings that require supplies.
The final number for the January meeting, which was recounted at least three times, came in at 91 in-person, 6 zoomers and 6 guests. Three of the guests joined the guild at the meeting. (HOLY COW!)
Our current membership now stands at 162 (it was 144 at the meeting; people are renewing as we speak). Last year at this time, it was 150. The new membership system archived 64 members that had not completed their renewals. We suspect some of those will come back when they realize they have been removed from the membership rolls.
We also have 17 new members since last November which in the Secretary's opinion, is a little nuts! WELCOME EVERYONE!
Please monitor the website for updated news. There is a phone app available that has the membership directory and the calendar on it. That app is called Wild Apricot for members. It uses the same userid (email) and password as the website. If you have not changed your password since you were set up, the original password was Welcome. If that is your password, please change it to something more secure. If we have to cancel a meeting for any reason, we will post everywhere we can think of. It will definitely be on the calendar so get in the habit of checking the calendar (on your handy phone app) before heading out.
We do plan on keeping the Zoom option available through the March meeting and will assess the need for continuing at that point.
Jenn (Vice President) went over all the coming events.
Jan 25 & Feb 1: Hand Stitchers -- Buder Library, 5-7:30PM Host - Lynda Mueller Drendel
Rebecca Bryan will lead a trunk show and two workshops on April 28 - 30. We will be posting more info on this in coming days.
What's Happening Elsewhere -
Quilt Alongs -
Member Announcements -
Lynda Drendel (muellerdrendel@gmail.com) is coordinating a new in-person group, STLMQG HandStitchers. The events are a couple of times a month and are included on the Guild's calendar. Email Lynda to be included on a group text. Meeting details are on the calendar, and they would love everyone to come.
Melissa Eagan reported that she will teaching a four-week class at the Craft Alliance starting Feb. 27. The class is about transforming traditional blocks to modern blocks. See this link for more details. Link
Suzanne Galli Koenen invited us all to her show at the Webster Groves Library (301 E Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, MO 63119) during the month of February during normal library hours. The opening reception will be on Friday, Feb.3 from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. Her show features paintings that look like quilts. Everyone is welcome!
Nancy Dlugosz told us about a Bernina service repairman that she highly recommends. His contact info is Aaron Pucci, aaronsmachinerepair@gmail.com. He only works on Berninas. He will pick up and drop off machines.
Annual Plea for Committees -
Jenn (Vice President) led the annual call for committee leaders and members. The 2022 Committees Leaders were invited to come up and describe the activities of the specific committees.
Update after meeting - There was a great response in signing up for committees. We still need committee members for Programming and SewMe, please sign up on the website if you are interested. Website Link Thanks everyone for stepping up.
Octavia (President)
Octavia thanked members who took the time to complete the annual survey.
She noted the bylaws are always available for members to view and invite input on potential updates. The bylaws may be accessed through a link on the Home page in the box listing the Board. Feel free to peruse.
Octavia then presented the board's focus for the guild this year as we plan to emphasize the Modern quilting aesthetic and create sustainable practices for our growing guild.
2023 Challenges -- Our new challenges were presented; Round Robin and Modern UFO Challenge. The descriptions, rules and schedule can be found on the website under Guild Activities; 2023 Challenges.
After the break, we played a mixer game; one where you had to remember the name in order of various items that players bought at the fabric store. Then a fun game of Never Have I Ever... with 2 1/2 square inches of fabric that everyone brought.
Everyone that participated in the 2022 BOM Challenge showed off their quilts and they were simply fabulous. Check out the pictures on the 2022 Challenge page. The winner of the grand prize of quilting from long-arm quilter Dottie Vaughn was Marie Hill. Congratulations Marie!
The two winners of the fabric raffle sponsored by Cotton Cuts went home with a selection from the collection Birdsong by Gingiber for Moda Fabrics plus a surprise addition of thread. Thanks so much Cotton Cuts! The lucky winners are Octavia Pitts and Pat Davis.
Check out the pictures of Show & Share on the 2023 Picture page.
With that, the meeting was adjourned. See everyone in February.
Gail Luther, Secretary
Instead of a recap of the December meeting (Huge raffle, lots of winners!), we are going to recap the year 2022. The Guild had a very busy year, let’s break it down.
The Big Events – After three years, in July we hosted our third Quilt Show with much success. Over 770 people came to see 168 fabulous quilts all which were pieced by members of the guild. You can check out the winners on our website. Also, after waiting a long three years, the guild hosted SewMeSTL 2022. Almost 100 guild members attended the fun filled three-day weekend in October. In May we had a virtual workshop with the terrific Jenny Haynes of Papper, Sax, Sten and learned how to do Skinny Inset Curves and her signature Thistles, Cogs and Caterpillar Wheels.
Other programs – We learned how to do Kanzashi Flower Folding, Rebecca from Bryan House Quilts taught us the elements of graphic design, Lisa from Urban Breath Yoga showed us yoga exercises to help with our bad sewing posture, we had an excellent presentation on batting by member, Dottie Vaughn, we had fun with a mixer and lastly, we were entertained by an ugly quilt show. We did learn that ugly, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Charity – Over 200 quilts, many made from quilt kits assembled by the quilt committee, were donated to the Women’s Safe House. A cash donation of $1000 was made to SewHopeSTL to help with their flood recovery efforts. The 2021 Quiltcon Challenge quilt, The Divide, was raffled at the guild’s Quilt Show in July and raised over $900 for the St Louis Area Foodbank.
Challenges – Many of us participated in the year long Block of the Month challenge led by board member, Em Komiskey. We also had an Inspirational Fabric Swap and an Ugly Fabric challenge.
Raffles – Every month we held a raffle of beautiful fabric donated by the wonderful Cotton Cut company (Thank you!!!). We had an additional raffle of Accuquilt dies and cutter donated by a non-member and the annual December raffle which raffled off items donated by many, many members.
Over the year we increased our membership to 207 with an additional seven new members slated to start with the new year. We started the move to a new website, www.stlmqg.org, that will allow the board to use some tools to help with the administration that comes along with this membership increase.
If you haven’t renewed yet, it’s time. Log into your profile in the new website and complete it there. (link to video)
We say goodbye to 2022 Board Members, Cathy Jones and Em Komiskey and thank them for their service. We welcome Jenn Deck and Susan Muszynski, new to the 2023 Board along with existing board members, Octavia Pitts and Gail Luther. Here's to a good year.
Happy New Year Everyone! See you in January!
Guild Business
PerennialSTL: Intro to Mesh Embroidery, Saturday 11/19, 10am - 1pm Upcycled Quilt Coat, Wednesday 12/14 & 12/21, 6pm - 9pm
Jackman’s: Christmas Stocking, Thursday 11/17, 10:30am - 2:30pm Build Your Own Bargello Quilt, Saturday 11/19, 10:30am - 4:30pm
Do you know of some quilty fun? Be sure to share it in our Facebook group or Instagram page.
Kanzashi Flower Folding
We had a chance to mingle with our fellow guild pals while learning how to fold fabric Kanzashi style. After you fold a few petals you can string them together to make a flower. Between chatting with friends and working with our hands, it seemed like everyone had a good time. Thank you to the Programming committee for coming up with a fun activity!
Committee Updates
Other Items Covered
If you attended the meeting Saturday then you know our membership has grown to over 200 modern quilters! It's exciting to see so many people interested in quilt making and we're looking forward to getting to know all of you. Check out September's meeting highlights.
City Sewing Room: T-shirt Quilt Class, Thurs. Oct. 13-Nov. 3 5:30-8:00pm
PerennialSTL: T-shirt Totes + More, Thurs. Sept. 22, 6pm - 8pm
Intro to Embroidery, Sat. Sept. 24, 10am - 1pm
Jackman’s: Many upcoming quilting and quilting adjacent classes.
Alison Glass/Giucy Giuce Mini Series SAL begins September 1.
Quiltober 2022 with Nicholas Ball (@quiltsfromtheattic) begins October 3. Details on his Instagram page.
Activity: A Quilter's Guide to Graphic Design
Rebecca from Bryan House Quilts joined us on Saturday and walked us through the nine elements of graphic design and how we can use these concepts in our quilt designs. Using her own vibrant quilts as examples of each idea, members were given tangible visuals for the abstract aspects of graphic design. Bonus, she rejoined our guild so you can expect to see more of her in the future. Thank you Rebecca!
St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 216 Parkland Ave, St. Louis, MO 63122
