September 2026 Meeting Recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

Please pardon the delay in posting – delay is due to Webmaster, my apologies.

President Noemi B called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm, and welcomed everyone to the beginning of the guild’s 14th year. She then called Program Chair Nancy P up to introduce our speaker.

Program: Julius Rempe-Night of @JuliusHandmade began sewing in 2009 by making a dog collar, learning with online videos. He began making more and more things and began a business. This became a full time business when he was between jobs. In 2018, he began making quilt blocks and and quilts, and soon fell in love with foundation paper piecing. He liked that there was no precision cutting, that he could get very precise points and use up tiny scraps to create fine details. Julius then began designing his own blocks and sold them. He also tried longarming for others, but didn’t like being responsible for other people’s quilts. He then began custom quilting, but decided that also was not for him. Making custom FPP blocks was not cost effective. He took a break from quilting and after not sewing for 2 years, designed a lion FPP quilt and posted it online. People loved the pattern. He was asked to do a gallery show, and designed and made 30 quilts in 5 months for it, releasing the patterns for sale as he designed them. He now travels, teaches and designs and is also an ambassador for Benartex, designing patterns based on using their fabric lines.
Julius recommends starching the fabric when doing FPP, and presses seams open when joining sections. Julius shared many quilts to illustrate his quilting journey. He will share his love of foundation paper piecing in a Design Your Own FPP class on Friday Sept 25, and in his Scrappy Star workshop on Saturday, Sept 26. Break- Noemi reminded everyone that Julius’ patterns are for sale, to visit the library, participate in the survey and grab snacks during the break.

The business meeting began by introducing the 26-27 Hospitality Committee, Donna P, Sandy F, Cheryl Anne S and Laura S, then thanking Jean B, Tiffany B, Ann K and Ann U for tonight’s treats. Ann K found the recipe for Monster Munch Chex Mix on the Holly’s Cheat Day website.

Committee Updates:

Programs: Nancy P has planned a Make-Take It night for the October meeting. She will teach us the Japanese art of Kinusaiga. Check the newsletter for more info- Nancy will include a link to a video for us to watch ahead of time. Please bring a craft knife, small fabric scissors and a variety of fabric scraps about 3 inches square. She noted Amazon has a special on craft knives and blades.

In our November Zoom-only meeting, many-time QuiltCon Exhibitor Julie Ruben will present “Confessions of a Thread-Centric Quilter.” The topic of our January meeting will be announced later.

Community Outreach: Tonya K is the new chair of this committee. Noemi reported for her that 34 HeartBeat quilts were delivered to Carle BroMenn NICU on Sept 5th. The Festival of Trees ornaments have mostly been turned in and she requested the rest be returned at the retreat or October meeting. This is a community event to benefit The Baby Fold, to be held Nov 20-21.

The Giving Bees are creating quilts for community charities. There are three Bees and we are still able to form another if there is interest.

The QuiltCon Community Outreach quilt has been submitted to QuiltCon.

Sew Days: Last year’s chair Marilyn B has become our membership chair, so a new Sew Day Chairperson is needed. Please note that the Sew Day in September was canceled due to having the workshop on Sept 26th, and October’s is canceled because of the retreat. November 14th is Zoom only sew day, as is December 12th.

Sip’n Sew: These casual Zoom-only get-togethers are scheduled on the third Tuesdays from 6-9 pm. Log into the Zoom that is sent out by the BNMQG VP, and chat while you work on your own projects. There is a new policy that if no one has joined by 7 pm, the host will log off. Hopefully there will be more participation during the winter months when we are all spending more time inside at home.

Exhibits: Nancy P reported that our Nocturne Mini Quilts are still traveling with the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. They will be in Nashville-Lebanon, TN on Oct 1-3; Cincinatti-Sharonville, OH on Oct 15-17 and in Detroit-Novi, MI Nov 5-7, 2026.

Membership: Marilyn B, our new Membership Chair, said we currently have 103 members. The meeting count in person was 41 and we have 9 attending via Zoom. She welcomed new and returning members and four guests- Josh and Amelia, Karen and Lou and her young son.

Library: New chair Nicole and her committee Laurel B and Kristi G will present a book of the month. This month’s is Inspiring Improv by Nicolas Ball. There are 5 new books with one already checked out.

Webmaster: Lisa B has arranged for the Merch store to open. An email was sent on Sept 16 from the presidentofbnmqg@gmail.com. Orders can be placed through Oct 1st.

Treasurer: The Treasurer’s Report is posted on the Members Only section of the website. Erin also reports that we have an advertiser in our newsletter- Karen Goloff, longarmer. Thank you for supporting BNMQG, Karen! Contact Erin H for advertising info.

Fall Retreat: Noemi B, Nancy P, Lisa B and Ann U are retreat co-chairs for this year’ retreat, Oct 9-12 at the Holiday Inn near the airport. It costs $175 for Friday – Monday sewing space and 3 dinners. There are still 7 seats available, so you can still sign up – the link to Sign Up Genius is on the Members Only page of the Website. The menu has been finalized- Friday is Olive Garden, Saturday is Jason’s Deli Potato Bar and Soups, and Sunday night is Bandana’s brisket and turkey. Attendees are encouraged to bring containers from home to save dinner leftovers for the next day’s lunch. After retreaters have taken what they want, the leftovers will be taken to the firehouse. Contact retreat chairs with any questions.

QuiltCon: The next QuiltCon is in Atlanta on Feb 25-28, 2027. Registration is open on the MQG website. This year a 4-day ticket for members is $50, unless $50 or more is spent on classes and workshops.

Quilt Submission are open though Oct 31, including all challenges. Our community outreach quilt has been submitted. The theme was half-square triangles. Other challenges are the American Patchwork and Quilting Pick a Color Scrappy Challenge and Windham Fabrics Handloom Challenge. More info is on the MQG Website. Noemi said she is driving a big Suburban with only 1 other person and has space for other passengers.

Member Survey: This month’s survey asked “Which Fiber Artists do you follow on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube?” Answers were: Krista Moser (6), Libs Elliott (5), Rebecca Bryan (5), Lo&BeHold Stitchery (5), Bonnie Hunter (4), Tara Faughnan (4), Julius Handmade (3), BadAss Quilter (2) and Stephanie Sliwinski, Radhika, Jittery Wings, Pam Dorra, She Sews Seams each are followed as well. One response with 3 answers was that some members followed “100 of
them”!

Winner of the survey prize was Lori LeVar.

50/50 Drawing: This drawing was created to help offset the increase of dues by the Modern Quilt Guild that was NOT passed on to members for this year. This month, Sheila R won $31, and the guild made $31.

Show and Tell: Laurel B, Melissa K, Julie C, The BeeMod Bee, Sandy F, Gary R, Judy M and Sheila R all shared their work. Donna P showed her witches Hat from Sew A Story.


The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 pm.

August meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

Apologies from the webmaster for such a delay in posting!

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by president Noemi B. First we took a group picture of all in attendance, then began the Potluck dinner. Attendees brought food according to their last names: Appetizers, Pasta Salads, Vegetable Salads, Fruit, Bread and Crackers and Desserts, and the guild provided chicken strips from Jewel/Osco.

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July meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

President Noemi B called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm, and welcomed everyone to our Christmas in July night. She introduced Nicole M, chairperson of the Community Outreach committee, who planned our program. Four demonstrations on making Christmas ornaments for the BNMQG Christmas tree at the Baby Fold’s Festival of Trees. These included Foundation Paper Pieced trees, wreaths and gifts, Folded Fabric Stars, and Fabric Pinecones. Marilyn B also explained how she made the garland for the tree out of fabric circles. The members divided themselves into four groups and moved from table to table to learn how to make each item. We were all encouraged to take a kit home to complete and return to the August meeting.

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June meeting Recap – Daisy A.

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

The meeting was called to order by President Noemi B at 6:03 pm. Nancy P, Program Chair, introduced our speaker, Daisy Aschehoug of @warmfolk, who is visiting the US this summer from Norway and speaking to us on “Anatomy of a Curve.” She lives in Nesodden which is south of Oslo. Daisy began her interest in curved piecing when she saw Kaffe Fasset’s crocheted blanket with half circles and wanted to recreate it as a quilt. She used Jen Carlton-Bailey’s quarter circle templates. Since then, and also because she designs quilts in Illustrator, she still uses a quarter circle for most of her curved piecing. She noted that piecing curves is not the same as lining up square pieces, as two different edges are coming together-a convex piece and a concave piece. She cuts precise pieces and uses pins and glue to baste the pieces together before sewing together with a SCANT 1/4 inch seam, sewing slowly. Because of the bias edges, she is conscious not to stretch the pieces to fit too much, especially bigger curves. For smaller 3” circles, she uses an inset circle, and has created a template and method for those.

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May 2026 meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by President Noemi B. Program Chair Nancy P. introduced Radha Weaver of @sewingthroughfog on Zoom. Radha studied costume design in college and worked for Levi’s, traveling the world, until the pandemic in 2020. She focused her lecture on “Finding Your Creative Voice through Your Own Materials.” She feels choosing your own materials makes your work more personal.

She grew up in a commune in northern California around natural textiles and a philosophy of making the most of what you had, re-using so as not to throw anything away. She had always sewed but began quilting during COVID. She used what was available to her – jeans and old clothes and treasured fabrics such as Liberty of London lawn she picked up on her travels. She eventually designed some patterns but really wanted them as a guide people could use to create their own projects rather than copies of hers. She began weaving denim strips upcycled from old jeans, mixing whatever fabrics she had, including leather. When she went to QuiltCon in 2023 and 2024, she studied the quilts made from upcycled and thrifted fabric, creating blog posts. Radha likes the clean lines of modern quilts but enjoys traditional blocks, especially log cabin.

Radha loves denim as it is a very practical twill weave fabric. There are many variations, dyes and wear that affects the color and texture. Once people found out she was using old jeans in her projects, they brought her plenty of them, so she always had plenty of materials available.

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April 2026 Meeting Recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

**Delay in posting is due to Webmaster – so sorry! Lisa B.


The meeting was called to order at 6:01pm by President Noemi B. She thanked the Hospitality Committee and the members who brought tonight’s treats: Ann Ca, Ann Co, Sue W and Ann U. The Decatur Quilters Guild will be selling tickets for their 2026 raffle quilt in the entry way tonight. Tickets are $2 or 3 for $5.


Committee Updates:

Programs: Radha Weaver of @sewingthroughfog will lecture on Upcycling on May 26. We will then have the kickoff of our own Upcycling Challenge! Monetary Prizes will be awarded!

On June 23, we welcome Daisy Aschehoug in person from Norway! Her lecture is entitled “Anatomy of a Curve.” A workshop on Giant Nested Curves is set for the next day. There is a waitlist for this workshop.

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March Meeting Recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

The meeting was called to order by President Noemi B at 6:00 pm. She thanked our hospitality volunteers, Erin B, Lisa F, Stormy H and Mary W.


Noemi also introduced the business part of the meeting, stating that there were items that needed to be presented before the break, so members could get more information on our new community service Quilting Bees, and also do the survey, visit the library and sign up for the Kona Mini Challenge for 2026.


First, Nancy P gave a program update. In April, the program is Heart Beat Quilt Design Night, where members work together to choose completed blocks and lay them out into a design. A variety of colors have been used, so each quilt will look very different. Some volunteers will hopefully take the blocks home to put the top together. Others will volunteer to quilt the tops, making the process a true guild effort. We will also show our 2026 Kona Mini Challenge quilts using the color Wander.

In May, Radha Weaver, of @sewingthoughfog, will give a lecture on Upcycling, and our 2026 Upcycle Challenge will kick off.

June’s meeting will feature Daisy Aeschehoug of Norway give her talk “Anatomy of a Curve.” The next day, June 24, she will teach a workshop, “Giant Nested Circles.”

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February meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

*Delay in posting is due to Webmaster (Lisa B.), not our wonderful Secretary (Ann U.) So sorry for the delay! Can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow night at the meeting!

The zoom-only meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by President Noemi B. She asked Nancy P, Program Chair, to introduce the speaker, Charles Cameron of @FeltLikeSweets, whose lecture was titled “Color Value and Color Placement in Your Quilts.” Charles began quilting in 2018, and has had quilts in many national shows and QuiltCon. He is an engineer and feels his approach to color and value is guided by his engineering background. He feels that color and value have an inherent order found in nature, and he utilizes this order as a tool to enhance a quilt’s design. He gave a brief summary on color theory, noting that colors in the color wheel also use that nature-inspired order, and using that order helps make the colors “dance.”


Charles defined some basic color terminology: Hue is pure color, Tint is a hue with white added, Shade is a hue with black added and Tone is a hue with gray added. He said that most tones have the same color value as the hue they are based on. Color Value is the perception of a color relative to its neighbor.


When using a pattern, Charles uses color intentionally, such as grouping like colors together and using them in the order they appear on the color, wheel, or in some cases, sudoku fashion, where each color would be used in each position in a block once in the row and column it is in. He gave examples of each. In creating his own quilt designs, he has also limited his color palette to three colors in six values of each, kept in the same order throughout a quilt to add
movement. He uses PowerPoint to help him design his quilts and audition color placement, because it is simple and familiar to him. He encouraged each of us to try using color in these or other new ways to give our quilts more impact.


After a quick break, guild president Noemi B began the business meeting. First a vote was held on the updates to the bylaws, as required by the MQG. After stating changes made at the last meeting were in the version to be voted on, Laurie S moved to approve the bylaws as presented and Shirley P-G seconded. The vote was held by a poll and it was unanimously passed. Noemi noted that the Secretary would post and certify these new bylaws, with a copy being added to the Secretary’s records in the binder.

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January meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

Noemi B called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm.


Paulina from Wonderfil Specialty Thread introduced Bernadette Kent, who presented her lecture, “Enriching your Quilts with Hand Embroidery and Embellishments.” Highlights included photos of many quilts she has embellished with hand and machine embroidery. She stated that 12-weight thread is the heaviest that can go through the sewing machine needle, and that you can use a much lighter weight thread in the bobbin- she recommends their 80-weight Deco-Bob. She noted that you must use a larger needle when using heavy-weight thread. She recommends using size 100/16 Top Stitch or Super Non-stick needle for 12-weight thread in the sewing machine.


Wonderfil offers 12-weight cotton, 8-weight Perle cotton, 5-weight Perle cotton and 3-weight Perle cotton; the 8, 5 and 3 are for hand work. The lower the number, the thicker the thread. The size of the thread affects the boldness and visibility of the stitches. Bernadette explained that traditional hand quilting uses 50-weight thread and much smaller stitches using a very short needle (quilting between needle), and has as many as 12-14 stitches per inch. Big stitch quilting uses a longer needle, such as a milliner’s or chenille 22-size needle and approximately 4-5 stitches per inch. Milliners needles are good for wrapped stitches such as French knots, and Chenille is good for running stitches and stem stitches. Other stitches she uses on quilts or Boro visible mending include Fly stitch, blanket stitch and couching stitch. Chain stitch is good for letters and writing.

Kantha is lines of big-stitch quilting but the lines do not have to be perfectly straight, just free-hand. Boro is visible mending of clothing and can use a variety of straight stitching, cross stitch, stars or random stitches going different directions. She usually adds stitching to quilts before they are layered and quilted, and will use a fusible stitch enhancer to stabilize the hand work, then layers and quilts it. She also uses Rinse Away, a Wonderfil product to transfer stitching designs, as it can go through the printer (even a laser printer if you only do a few sheets, since the drum can get too hot). Wonderfil offer many types of thread-cotton, rayon, rayon with metallic, and a wool-acrylic
blend for a variety of looks. Eleganza comes in 8, 5 and 3 weights, Razzle is shinier rayon thread, Dazzle is rayon with metallic and Starry Night has two strands of rayon intertwined with a stand of metallic. Many of their threads come in variegated and Bernadette stressed that these have shorter change lengths that make the variation show up more. She also stressed that Wonderfil uses a technique called “double gassing” to eliminate lint on their threads.

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December meeting recap

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Submitted by Ann U., Secretary

President Noemi Bowers called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm. She called on Nancy P.
who introduced our speaker Sheila Frampton Cooper, who spoke on “Spontaneous Creation
and Inspiration.” She recounted her artistic journey that eventually led her to quilting, and
shared many of her quilts. She first learned to quilt in 2009 at a Project Linus MLK day service
project, and has done whole cloth painted quilts, improv quilts, and Appli-Piecing quilts, based
on the technique Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry pioneered. She stressed that the Appli-Piecing
technique requires planning and is very different from Improv. She has a You-Tube channel
where she explains where she finds inspiration for her quilts. She offers online workshops and
BOMs, and is beginning a new online program called Composition Lab. Here is the website
Sheila shared in the Zoom Chat: https://mailchi.mp/zoombaby.com/big-news-new-workshop-for-2026-holiday-event-12895313?e=c72ac26112

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