Thursday, February 2, 2017

Meeting Minutes - February 1, 2017

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MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Maitland, FL

Alissa was unable to attend, so Joan, the Treasurer, as Acting President, called the meeting to order; 53 members were present, and there were 5 guests. Joan announced that someone donated a large number of tubes of Gold Bond Healing hand lotion and asked members to each take one before they leave.

ICEBREAKER

The Icebreaker this month was for everyone to line up in order by their birth month and day.

TREASURER’S REPORT

In January there was income from class fees and the Raffle Basket and expenses for Pulse, paying a teacher fee, the guild membership annual fee to the Modern Quilt Guild, and membership gifts. There are Pulse funds remaining, but there are more expenses coming in the completion of the Pulse project, so return of an overage to Thrivent, if any after all expenses, will be handled by the new board.

MANCUSO’S WORLD QUILT FLORIDA

Mary Sm reported that the guild’s display of 13 member quilts was shown at the show held in the Orange County Convention Center January 19-21. Quite a few members attended and saw our quilts.

RAFFLE BASKET

Paula returned the Raffle Basket filled with special batting for microwave projects, a graph paper journal, binding tool, special quilter’s mug, and other special items. The basket was won by Love.

EDUCATION

Education Coordinator Ede reminded members who have signed up to attend them about Mary-Jeanine’s two free classes this Saturday at the Dr. Phillips Public Library, [Faux Log Cabin and Color Slab Quilt Top] which are her gift to the guild to recognize our efforts in the Quilts for Pulse Project. Ede said there are several openings in the morning class, but the afternoon class is full, and reminded those attending to bring items for a potluck lunch. Ede has sent a number of emails with class descriptions and materials lists.

Ede reported that, due to its great popularity [examples of the muted colors and the bright colors shown above] and the fact that he is moving this spring, the guild will offer Frank’s dyeing class again on Saturday, March 4, if 10 people register. Registration is open until February 10^th, so anyone wishing to take it must email Ede by the 10th, if not already on her list. If the class takes place, it will be at Mary W’s home and there will be lunch. The cost is $60 and should be mailed to Marge after Ede emails to let everyone registered know that the class will take place.

There were sign up sheets for Jacquie Gering’s classes; as always a place is held by payment of the class fee, $55 each for her two classes, Walking Foot Machine Quilting (Friday March 17th) and Slice and Insert Improvisational Blocks (Saturday March 18th). There will be a lottery after February 15th, if more register than there are places available; checks will be held until then; mail your check to register to Marge to arrive by February 15^thif you have not paid already. She will give a trunk show at The Sewing Studio on Sunday afternoon, March 19^th, which will cost members $10 and others $20; Ede will mail a flyer about the event to other guilds.

Future classes include Shannon Brinkley on May 6^th [Ede asks members interested to look at teacher websites to let her know which classes listed there they would like to see offered here], and Amanda Jean Nyberg will teach on September 30^th. Ede has been discussing the possibility of other future classes with Sarah Sharp (paper piecing) of No Hats in the House and Chawne Kimber (piecing tiny pieces) of Cauchy Complete.

UCF COUNSELING & PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

Two young women from UCF Counseling & Psychological Services came to the meeting to present the guild with a lovely framed paper quilt made by those who received Pulse quilts as a special thank you.

RETREAT

Marge reported that she and Debra have been making contacts in the search for a retreat location for this fall and possibly next spring as well. Dates and details will be decided by the new board. They’re looking for something in October or early November and have discussed the possibility of a retreat cruise with Frank, who is a travel agent; they are also asking quilt shops for ideas. Marge checked with the woman who owns Granny Sue, the quilt shop in the Kennilworth Lodge in Sebring, where our retreat was held in 2015 and was originally scheduled for November 2016, and she said nothing is happening there, so they are not continuing to check on returning there.

QUILTCON EAST – SAVANNH, GA

A pad was passed for members going to QuiltCon in Savannah, Georgia, February 23-26, to sign up if they are willing to help with set up or manning our guild’s Quilts for Pulse booth. Help is needed to pin 1,800 3”x3” copies of quilt photos and a number of statistics about the project to a cardboard display, and there may be a wholecloth quilt to hold Pulse pins to be given to others in attendance. Originally we were to have a display at the admission area, but now the booth will be on the vendor floor.

Someone advised those going this year that it is cheaper to register for a daily pass online than in person, and those who have attended before warned that the line the first morning is very long. In answer to questions, those who have attended before noted that many vendors have freebies to give away, and most of that happens the 1^st hour everyday. Debra J suggested going to the Cotton + Steel booth first thing to get one of their free bags. Anne warned that it takes longer to see the show than one would expect so to leave plenty of time for that. Rene mentioned that there is a QuiltCon app now available.

Heather, at the national Modern Quilt Guild set an official Meet & Greet for Quilts for Pulse on Saturday, February 26, at 12 or 12:30, in front of the display. Last month members going agreed on Thursday as the best evening for the group to try to meet.

[Note that, as was reported at last month’s meeting, Debra J has had 4 quilts accepted into the QuiltCon Show, and Anne has had 2 quilts accepted. The guild congratulates both of them on this achievement.]

ELECTIONS

Ede, as a member of the Elections Committee (Ede N, Karol E and Jodi P) passed out ballots for the board election, and the nominated slate was elected. The new officers who will take over now:

President-Sarah L

Vice President – Paula K

Secretary – Mary Sm

Treasurer – Marge C

Education Coordinator – Anne S

Charity Coordinator – Mary W

Member-at-Large – Jane A

GUILD LIBRARY

Guild Librarian Yanick brings the guild’s library of modern quilting books to meetings. The book list is available at the guild website. Books may be checked out for a month and must be returned at the following month’s meeting.

QUILTS FOR PULSE

Paula reported that she will have photographed over 1,800 quilts by the end of next week at what will be the last photography session.

Alejandrina reported that there are two distributions still pending, of 150 quilts to the Florida Highway Patrol, which has been extremely hard to contact, and an additional 28 quilts for Florida Hospital ER personnel. Debra A said she lives near the FHP office and will stop by to see if she contact someone about it. It was estimated that there are about 180 quilts left with some more in process of being finished, some at the Maitland Sew Day on Monday, February 6^th. Joan thanked Alejandrina for her efforts at coordinating the distribution of all of these quilts.

LUNCH

There were not many planning to have lunch together, so choosing where to meet was left to them. Marge said she thinks that going to lunch together is important for members to get acquainted with each other, so, while officers were having a board meeting this month and were not available to join the lunch group, it was agreed that, after the March meeting, members will gather for lunch at The Chicken Coop, recommended by Debbie Z.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

Jodi’s Scrappy Churn Dash block brought in a number of red, pink and white blocks, which were won by Pam P. Because no one has planned a block for March, the new officers will see to it that a Block of the Month for March will be posted on the blog.

SHOW AND TELL

Made by Judi from last month's Block of the Month blocks

After Show and Tell, a random number generator was used to choose the winners of three door prizes, which went to Debbie Z, Sarah and Ede.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:15.

UPCOMING EVENTS

· February 4 – Mary-Jeanine’s 2 classes at Dr. Phillips Public Library, Faux Log Cabin, 10-1, and Color Slab Quilt Top, 1:30-4:30.

· February 6

· February 23-27 - QuiltCon East 2017, in Savannah, GA

· February 25 – Quilts for Pulse Meet Up at QuiltCon, 12 or 12:30 pm

· March 1 – March Guild Meeting, 10 am, The Sewing Studio, Maitland

· March 1-4 - AQS QuiltWeek Daytona Beach Quilt Show

· March 4 - Frank’s class on dying fabric at Mary W’s house (if 10 register)

· March 17 – Jacquie Gering’s “Creative Quilting with the Walking Foot,” 10-4, Dr. Phillips Public Library

· March 18 – Jacquie Gering’s “Slice and Insert Improvisation” class, 10-4,

Dr. Phillips Public Library

· March 19 – Jacquie Gering’s trunk show – The Sewing Studio, Maitland, early afternoon [$10 for OMQG members; $20 for others]

· May 6, 2017 – Shannon Brinkley’s class

· September 30, 2017 – Amanda Jean Nyberg’s class

Meet Beth Schmidt

I am 70 years old and a retired nurse. Retirement is the Best job I've ever had and I highly recommend it! I am happily married to Paul. He is very talented at fixing and building things and I am always putting his talents to work for my quilting purposes! I have one daughter, (Amanda, married and living in S.C.), and one grand daughter, (Abigail, 14 y.o., and the owner of my heart).

I was present at the very first meeting to establish the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild and have been a member ever since. I have been “Charity chair”, Vice president”, and “President” in the past. I've seen many changes and a lot of growth in the guild since it began, and just love all the progress we've made. I am so proud of all our guild members who worked so hard on the “Pulse Project” in 2016. I got to know many “new” friends through that work. Now, I look forward to a very “fun” year in 2017.

I've never been much of a “sew person”. I learned in 7th grade in school, sewed a little in my 40's, but was never very good at making clothes. I made my 1st quilt just before my grand daughter was born, under the sporadic guidance of my older sister, (who was very ill). The theme was “giraffes”. I chose a Batik fabric that had giraffes on it, and outlined the giraffes with colored pens so they stood out. I hand stitched around the giraffes and did “stitch in the ditch” around each block. (A lady at the quilt store was very short with my questions about batting and backing, and I swore off quilting).

A couple of years later, an online machine embroidery group talked me into sewing blocks together to make quilt tops for charities. I occasionally made simple “pieced” blocks if some were needed. Once I was comfortable with that, they got me to quilt the layers by saying “Just do stitch in the ditch. It's easy”! And that was that! We started meeting in Kansas City for a week every July to make Quilts for Veterans, (a purpose very dear to my heart). I loved the camaraderie, and the travel. I still love quilting retreats! I have been on 4 retreats with our guild, and look forward to many more. I have accumulated a “huge” fabric “stash”, and had to get my husband to build a “shed” just for it. Now I am working on decreasing how much fabric I have, to get it to be more manageable. (Woe is me...woe is me)! Of course I never have what I need for the project I'm working on!

I attended the inaugural QuiltCon in Austin, with 4 other members of our guild, and had so much fun! It took several years of exposure to the esthetic of modern quilting before I actually began to really like the look. Now, I love it! I try to spend at least one hour each week “creating” something in my shed. I also try to join occasional swaps, where I try to do something outside of my comfort zone. I have mainly made quilts for charities. I usually make quilts in order to learn a technique or because I like the look. Then I donate it.

I have owned a long-arm machine for about 7 years now. I was never able to move the quilt well enough to like quilting on my home machine, and the first time I tried a long-arm machine, I fell in love with it. I truly admire anyone who can quilt on their

home machine, as it seems to be a skill I cannot acquire!

I am inspired by the quilts our guild members show at the meetings, and by what I
see on Pinterest. My “I want to make this” list is a mile long, and I'm constantly finding more I like. This year I want to work on my “UFO” list from last year. It is long, and while I looked to see if I could eliminate a few of them, they are all things I really want to finish!

February Block of the Month

I am so sorry for the delay for this month's block lotto. I am hoping it will be worth the wait.

Since the winner of the blocks will get them at the beginning of February I thought we need to have a Valentine's Day themed block but we are all burned out on heart blocks. So instead let's use Valentine's Day colors instead.

Our block is a Scrappy Churn Dash block and Sherri @ A Quilting Life has a lovely tutorial. You can download her tutorial here. Sherri gives instructions for three different sizes, 6 inch, 9 inch and 12 inch, blocks. You can make any size you wish. Better yet, make one of each! That is what I have done.

You will need 5 different fabrics. At least one white and at least one low-volume, red, pink and you can have just a touch of black or gray, but let's keep it to a minimum. Here are some of my suggested fabric choices.

And here are all my finished blocks. Last month we had over 50 blocks for the block lotto. Can we top that this month?

Meeting Minutes - January 2017

MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, January 2017

Maitland, FL

President Alissa called the meeting to order; 47 members and 4 guests were present; the guests each introduced themselves.

ICEBREAKER

The Icebreaker this month everyone lining up in alphabetical order by last name.

TREASURER’S REPORT

With various expenses for the Quilts for Pulse project, purchase of books and appreciation gifts, and income from the Raffle Basket, membership and class fees, there was a net loss for December, leaving a balance of $11,547.60.

UPCOMING QUILTY ACTIVITIES

Mancuso’s World Quilt Florida will be at the convention center January 19-21, and the guild will have a display there. Alissa has received information about a Shibori dyeing class in South Florida in February; email her if you are interested in the details.

RAFFLE BASKET

Jane returned the Raffle Basket filled with a book about color theory, a coloring book and colored pencils, fabric, a set of different weights of thread and other special items. The basket was won by Paula.

UFO LOG

Kelly, who keeps the UFO log was not present, but Alissa explained for new members that everyone can list projects in the log which they hope to finish this year. For each project reported finished by December’s meeting, the maker’s name will be entered once in a drawing at the Holiday Party. The one who finishes the largest number will win a prize, but there is also a random drawing so one can win with just one project on the log completed.

QUILTCONEAST – SAVANNH, GA

Alissa asked for a count of members planning to attend QuiltCon in Savannah, February 23-26, and there were 24 present planning to go or considering it. Heather, at the Modern Quilt Guild national office has allowed us to have a display at the admissions area, which will include many small prints in two sizes of Quilts for Pulse quilts, and Alissa asked for volunteers to help pin them to the cardboard wall on Wednesday, the day before QuiltCon opens; Patti, Mary W, Marge and Ede volunteered to assist her. She will email those volunteers when Heather sets the time. The display will also include statistics Alissa has been gathering and calculating – number of quilts, number of packages, postage, hours spent making quilts, amount of thread and fabric, etc.

Heather also set an official Meet & Greet for Quilts for Pulse on Saturday, February 25, at 12 n or 12:30 pm, in front of the display, and Alissa asked for volunteers to be there as ambassadors to thank people who contributed and to answer questions. Alissa asked that anyone who can help at that time to let her know by email.

Alissa asked the group to agree to a good time to meet for dinner, and all agreed on Thursday, February 23.

Alissa announced that Debra J has had 4 quilts accepted into the QuiltCon Show and Anne s has had 2 quilts accepted. The guild congratulates both of them on this achievement.

Alissa showed the OMQG Charity Quilt which will be submitted for display at QuiltCon and then returned for us to give to a local charity.

EDUCATION

Education Coordinator Ede reported that Frank’s dyeing class on January 7 is full, but there are still openings in both the morning and afternoon free classes offered by Mary-Jeanine on February 4^th to all who were involved in the Quilts for Pulse project, and the sign up sheet was available.

There will be an opportunity to sign up for Jacquie Gering’s March classes at next month’s guild meeting, and what the classes are going to be will be announced later.

ELECTIONS

Ede, as a member of the Elections Committee (Ede N, Karol E and Jodi P), introduced the slate of nominees to be voted on at the February guild meeting, with each nominee introducing themselves:

· Member at Large – Jane A – Jane said she sees the position as a sounding board for members to bring ideas and concerns to the board.

· Education Coordinator – Anne S – was not present but is a new faculty member at UCF and teacher at QuiltCon. Ede hopes she will offer a class or program for the guild on color theory, and she has many connections among modern quilting teachers.

· Charity Coordinator – Mary W – indicated that she has been very involved with nonprofits and charities where she lived before and is excited to continue to connect with charities here. Mary would like there to be more committees to involve more members, and she plans to put out a calendar of charitable projects spread over the year as a place for members to connect.

· Treasurer – Marge C, who has been treasurer before, loves numbers and says communication is a big deal to her; she hopes to get to know everyone in the guild by name, and she is big on surveys for finding out what members would like.

· Secretary – Mary Sm will continue as secretary after holding that position the past year. She encourages members to consider the job next year, because it’s not too time-consuming and interesting being on the board.

· Vice President – Paula K has been a member less than a year but found the Pulse project this past year was a great way to connect with the guild. Her personal goal for the coming year is to show something at Show N Tell for the first time. Her pet project will be to work with new members so they feel connected.

· President – Sarah L also found the Pulse project a great way to get involved and is excited about the coming year. She sees her job as listening and moving along ideas.

Ede told the guild that getting involved in guild activities as a volunteer is a great way to feel a part of things, and encouraged people to consider joining committees or running for office next year. She encouraged members interested in being on any committee to talk to either Paula or Sarah about it.

Members will vote on this slate of nominees at the February guild meeting, and the new board will take over at the March meeting. Mary W thanked Ede, Karol and Jodi, the Elections Committee, for their work on putting together the slate of officers for next month’s election.

[Absentee Ballots: Anyone not able to attend the February meeting should email Karol E for an absentee ballot, which must be returned by the February meeting to be counted with ballots cast at the meeting. Nominees will be posted on the blog.]

GUILD LIBRARY

Guild Librarian Yanick brings the guild’s library of modern quilting books to meetings but would like to bring just books which members have asked online to check out. The book list is available at the guild website. Books may be checked out for a month and must be returned at the following month’s meeting.

QUILTS FOR PULSE

Paula reported that she has photographed 1,768 quilts, and a quick informal count at the meeting of those yet to be photographed indicates that there will be over 1800.

Alejandrina asked for volunteers to attend a rehearsal of the Orlando Gay Chorus some upcoming Wednesday, 7-10 pm, where the guild will give them a small quilt to go on their awards wall. Judy T took the quilt, and others wanting to attend that distribution are Alissa, Debra A and Paula.

Alejandrina reported that there are two large distributions still pending, of 150 and 100 quilts to the Florida Highway Patrol and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, but they have been hard to contact. Some will go to the Orange County Fire Department. She believes there will be about 100 left after these distributions.

LUNCH

Lunch for those who want to eat together will meet at the Ale House on 17-92 in Winter Park at 12 noon.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

Diana’s Block of the Month brought in 55 blocks, which were won by Judy T.

Jodi volunteered to post a tutorial for February’s Block of the Month on the guild blog by this weekend. Alissa noted that Tanyia hoped to use the Block of the Month as a skill-builder for modern quilting.

THANK YOU

Sarah thanked everyone who attended the Quilts for Pulse event on December 13 at The Mezz in downtown Orlando where quilts were distributed to Pulse employees, City employees, and special quilts were presented to Mayor Buddy Dyer, Barbara Puma, owner of Pulse, and Patty Sheehan, county commissioner.

SHOW AND TELL