Meeting Recap (January 14, 2023) - Happy New Year Everyone!

01/15/2023 10:27 AM | Gail Luther (Administrator)

Meeting was called to order at 10:06 AM.

Link to the Slides Shown at Meeting 

Octavia (President) opened up the meeting with our usual Zoom instructions and welcoming remarks.

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 17: Home Sew Happy Hour -- ZOOM Meeting, 6-9PM Host - Octavia (President)
  • Jan 24: In-Person Hand Sew -- Brentwood Bread Co, 6-9PM Host - Gayle Larson
  • Jan 25 & Feb 1: Hand Stitchers -- Buder Library, 5-7:30PM Host - Lynda Mueller Drendel

  • Feb 11:  Monthly Meeting
  • March 11: Monthly Meeting
  • April 8: No Regular Meeting
  • April 28-30:  Speaker/Workshops

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

  • City Sewing Room -- Quilter’s Sale: Jan 14-15, Foundation Paper Piecing Class: Jan 19
  • T2Q Virtual Shop Hop: Jan 16-21
  • Perennial Classes -- Tools 101: Table Saw: Jan 18, Intro to Natural Dyeing: Jan 21. Knitted Pouf: Jan 24 & 31
  • Warm ‘n Cozy Quilting Classes -- Longarm Certification: Jan 16, Heart Shaped Rope Basket: Jan 21
  • Missouri Botanical Garden -- Orchid Show: Jan 28-Feb 26
  • MLK Day of Service Virtual Activity; Jan 16
  • Calico Cut-ups Annual Quilt Show; Feb 3-4 Independence, MO
  • QuiltCon; Feb 22 - 26, Atlanta, GA
  • Sappington House Quilt Show; Mar 4-5, Crestwood Community Center
  • Bits 'N' Pieces Quilt Show-Fanfare of Quilts; Mar 18-19, Queeny Park
  • American Quilter's Society QuiltWeek; Mar 22-25, Branson, MO

Quilt Alongs -

  • Emma Jean Jansen Balderdash Quilt - Link
  • Suzy Quilts Garland Quilt - Link

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.

  • Lilo Whitener-Fey -- Program and Welcome committees
  • Jenn Deck -- Charity and SewMe committees
  • Robyn Passig -- Quilt Show committee
  • Leila Gardunia -- Quiltcon Challenge committee
  • Octavia Pitts - House committee which is new this year

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.

Submitted

Gail Luther, Secretary


St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 216 Parkland Ave, St. Louis, MO 63122


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