Submitted by Teresa A., Secretary
Happy 5th Birthday to us! We celebrated our fifth year of being together as the B-N Modern Quilt Guild. There were even cupcakes and punch to celebrate the occasion provided by our Hospitality Committee chair, Paula M. and Betty D. As we left for the evening, we were given a fat quarter “cupcake” in honor of the guild’s 5th birthday.
Kathy thanked everyone for attending our sew days, field trips, taking Heart Beat kits, and bringing refreshments. The more we all participate in our guild, the stronger our guild becomes!
At this month’s meeting we had 41 members, 7 guests and 5 new members! Welcome to our new members, Heather B., Connie F., Marsha H., Sharon O., and Leslie S. We look forward to getting to know you and are so happy to have you join our BNMQG.
Kathy presented an appreciation gift to Ann U., outgoing secretary and Ann G. outgoing treasurer. Thank you both for sharing your talents and commitments to the guild. We wish Ann G. the best with her new adventures in California. Please come back to visit us sometime soon!
Our guild webmaster, Lisa B., demonstrated how to access BNMQG on the blog and sign up for emails when items are posted – meeting recaps, meeting reminders, and a password protected member list is available, in addition to upcoming events on a calendar. If you don’t know or remember the password for the member list email BNMQG@hotmail.com.
Carol B. announced Operation Santa is needing 3000 stockings made by October 16th. If you are interested in helping contact Carol.
Kathy updated the group on the recent field trip to Dekalb for breakfast with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, followed by a tour of the Northern Illinois University Pick Museum of Anthropology’s “Quilts and Human Rights” exhibit. Our tour was led by the exhibit curator, Laura McDowell Hopper and a behind the scenes tour of their textile collection. This exhibit is free and open to the public until February 24, 2018. If you were unable to go on the field trip, there’s still time for you to see this fabulous exhibit showcasing the work of wonderful quilt artists and their equally powerful artist’s statements! There was also some fabric shopping on the trip home.
Information was presented on the Indianapolis Quilt Show – “The “Fly Me to the Moon” 
will be October 20th and 21st. This is the only Midwest location to show the entire collection from eight different countries commemorating the moon landing and all Apollo missions. On Friday, October 20th attendees will have the opportunity to meet NASA Astronaut Dr. David Wolf. The show will be held at Westfield Middle School, Westfield, IN. For more information on the show visit the sponsoring guild’s website.
PLEASE note that our October 18th Sew Day is cancelled. The Heart Beat Kits were distributed and need to be completed and returned by our October meeting.
We are going to have a Pouch Bag Swap this fall. Donna shared the guidelines. She also had some examples of different types of bags you can make for the swap. The largest size is the size of an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and the smallest is half of the 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper folded horizontally. The only requirements are that the bag must be quilted and have a zipper. There was a signup sheet but if you missed it, you can still sign up, by contacting Donna Lee.
Sue K. and Viv B. are our new Block Lotto Leaders. Our Block Lotto this month is a paper pieced block designed by Sue. See the directions here.
Vickie A. taught a short workshop on Ice Dyeing before the meeting. We look forward to seeing all those dyed fabrics at future Show and Tells!
We had so many wonderful projects shared during our Show and Tell time. See all the pictures below.
This was our first Modern Maker Vendor Fair. During our halftime, we learned about the different services or items offered by some of our members.
The winners for this month were . . .
- Block Lotto – Marilyn B.
- Fabric Raffle – Heather B.
- Survey Door Prize – Viv B.
Our survey question was “What Shape Draws You to Good Modern Quilt Design?” The choices were: Basic Geometrics (square/triangle) – 24, Circles – 11, Rectangles – 11, Hexagons – 7, Random Improv Shapes – 15. We could chose as many as we liked. Looks like we are drawn to the Basic Geometrics with Random Improv Shapes second.
Indy Quilt Show Tickets – Carrie O. – 2 free tickets, Sue K. and Marsha H. – $1 off 2 tickets
After our halftime and prize winners, Ann U. led our program on Design Basics. She shared these tools (color, line, shape, scale/size, space, texture and value) for creating thoughtful quilt designs. Thanks Ann for a great and informative presentation!
The BNMQG retreat is October 6 – 9th. We’ll be looking forward to seeing lots of finished projects at our October Show and Tell time!!!!
The next BNMQG meeting is October 24th – The program is titled, “Heavy Metal,” and we should all be able to “hammer out” our frustrations at this meeting! Hope to see you there!
Bloomington/Normal Modern Quilt Guild 