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!

We got together Saturday for some crafty fun and social time. Check out November's meeting highlights.

Guild Business

• Details of local and online events:

• • 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.

• Congratulations to the newly elected board officers!
• • President: Octavia Pitts through 2023
  • Vice President: Jennifer Deck 2023-2024
  • Secretary: Gail Luther through 2023
  • Treasurer: Susan Muszynski 2023-2024
• Our current membership numbers are 210 guildies. WOW!!
• Announcements and Reminders:
• • Membership renewal for 2023 is HERE. Dues will remain $40.
  • Hand (Home) Sew Happy Hour is tonight from 6-9PM. This is the last one for the year. ZOOM link.
  • December raffle meeting will take place on the 3rd Saturday of the month-12/17/22 in the Sunset Room. Not the second Saturday and not our normal meeting room. There will NOT be Zoom for this meeting. Please note the change.
  • Tickets for the raffle can be purchased BEFORE the meeting begins.

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

• SewMe STL
• • Despite a couple of hiccups, our first SewMe retreat in three years was a success!
  • Save the date for next year's retreat: September 15-17, 2023.

• Charity Committee
• • The charity committee is still tallying the final count, but a conservative estimate is that our guild produced 200+ quilts to donate to The Women's Safe House. What a beautiful effort from our guild!
• Swap and Challenge
• • The Fabric Placement challenge has come to an end. Thank you to the committee for bringing this to life.
  • Prize winners for participating: Barb Phelps, Terry Darling, Gail McCarthy, and Megan Smith. Congratulations!

Other Items Covered

• Fabric Raffle: Thanks to Cotton Cuts we gave away two FQ bundles of Sketchbook by Alexia Marcelle Abegg to Hope Wyss and Robyn Passig. Hooray!
• Block of the Month Wrap-up: 
• • All of the tutorials for the 2022 Block of the Month are posted on the blog and you still have a chance to win. 
  • Any member who completes their block of the month quilt top by January's meeting will be entered to win a free longarming service from Dottie Vaughn!
  • September and October Block of the Month winners are Kathy Leahy and Carol Schmidt. High fives!
• Donation: Our membership voted to make a donation to SewHopeSTL to aid in their flood recovery.

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.

Guild Business

• Details of local and online events:

• • 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.

  • Do you know of some quilty fun? Be sure to share it in our Facebook group or Instagram page.

• We went over the current guild balance. More details can be found in the member drive or speak to the treasurer.
• Our current membership numbers are 205 guildies. WOW!! If you're not a member yet, learn how to join HERE. We love hearing from members, any ideas or suggestions for the guild. Please pass your thoughts along to the board.
• Announcements and Reminders:
• • Cathy Jones has decided to step down as president at the end of December. We're grateful for her service to the guild.
  • Octavia Pitts will step down as Secretary to run for the remainder of Cathy's term.
  • All positions are therefore open and any member who has been in the guild at least one year is eligible to run for office.
  • Board elections will be held at the November meeting. Candidates will be announced in October. Please contact Lilo if you are interested in running.
  • Pam Weske and Annamaria Lu have formed an independent group to create a charity quilt for QuiltCon in the warm colorway. Let them know if you're interested in joining the fun.
  • The folks at the Midwest Fiber Festival have invited our members to be a part of their event next spring. Look HERE for more details.
  • NO GUILD MEETING IN OCTOBER!!

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!

Committee Updates

• SewMe STL
• • All current details can be found HERE. We will continue to update as information becomes available.
  • We need volunteers to greet attendees. Sign up HERE.
  • Raffle donations are appreciated and can be given to Jennifer Deck, Susan Muszynski, and Jessica Elliston.

• QuiltCon Charity Quilt
• • Packets with fabric included were distributed during the meeting.
  • Foundation Paper Piecing tutorials can be found HERE and HERE.
  • Blocks can be returned as soon as you finish, at SewMe, or by November's meeting at the latest.
  • Example of finished quilt:

• Swap and Challenge
• • Fabric Placement blocks are due at the November meeting. 
  • There may be some prizes, although this is not a contest.
  • Official rules can be found HERE.
  • Members can follow this path in the Google Drive to find instructions for the blocks: STLMQG Members > Swap/Challenge > 2022
• Charity Committee
• • The committee has begun to collect charity quilts and will continue to do so through our November meeting and the SewMe retreat.
  • Please attach "STL MQG Cares" label to each quilt.
  • The committee has created a comprehensive document in the member drive full of pattern suggestions for those wanting to go a different route then the kit patterns. Quilt parameters are HERE.
  • There is still time to complete a quilt for The Women's Safe House and invite you to help us reach our goal.
  • Interesting volunteer opportunities have presented themselves at The Women's Safe House. Please see Tess or Candy for more details.

Other Items Covered

• Home Sew Happy Hour: Jump on Zoom September 20 from 6-9pm and get to know other guild members better. 
• • This is a casual event where you can come and go as you please.
  • Some members have expressed interest in doing this event in person again and are welcome to do so. Let the board know your plans and we'll publicize on social media.
• Block of the Month Winners: Have you joined in the Block of the Month sampler quilt party yet? It's been so fun seeing everyone's take on Instagram. For all the info look HERE. It's not too late to jump in.
• • Christine Taour is our winner for August.
  • September BOM: Speaking of the block of the month, the next tutorial is live on the blog and we're taking on improv curves. Em takes you through all the steps HERE. 
  • Post to Instagram using #stlmqgbom or email a photo before our next meeting to be entered for a prize. 

• Fabric Raffle: Thanks to Cotton Cuts we gave away two FQ bundles of Sublime Summer from Free Spirit fabrics to  Ann Philiph and Kristina Olson. Hooray!
• Hotel Room Raffle: Angie Terry and Carol Taylor each won a one night stay at the Marriott during our Sew Me retreat. Congratulations!
• Show and Share: Our meeting and presentation ran long and we were sorry to miss show and share this month. We will post photos of Rebecca Bryan's quilts this month and hope you will bring your beautiful pieces to the next meeting. Pics are being posted to our Instagram and Facebook pages. Join us there to see pictures of quilts that were shared, and to stay up to date on what's to come this year!