submitted by Teresa A., Secretary

The October meeting of the Bloomington-Normal Modern Quilt Guild was led by our co-president, Stormy H., and was called to order at 6:00 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church in Normal.

Treats were provided by Ary A., Barb B., and Danna B.  Thank you for the delicious treats!  Our new social time arrangement is for members to bring their own drink, minimizing the need for beverages and plastic cups to be provided by monthly snack providers.

We welcomed 40 members, 3 guests and 3 new members (including a Junior Member), for a total of 43 members in attendance.  Nancy P. informed the membership there will be a finance report and budget on the blog under the Members section within the next month.

We had a Retreat project show and tell.  So everyone could see the variety of projects worked on by some of the people who attended the retreat.  Next Stormy asked for some input on future retreats, such as locations and number of retreats which should be held per year.   The retreat for next year is already set for October 11 – 14^th at Camp CILCA in Cantrall, IL. So start thinking about attending.  Sign up will be in early spring.

Nancy P announced a workshop that will be happening on Tuesday, November 13^th at the church from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.  The workshop is on a zippered bag with a frame to hold it open.  Nancy P. made these at our recent retreat and offered to do the workshop for those wanting to make one themselves.  If you want more information on the workshop, please contact Nancy P. for the details.  The cost for the workshop is to make twenty-four (24) tiny pieced hearts for our Charity Quilt for QuiltCon.

Also, if you would like to help by making some tiny pieced heart for the quilt, please contact Nancy P.  She also would like those of you who took some at the September meeting but have not returned them to her to please drop them off at the church on November 13^th  or contact her and she would be happy to come pick them up.  There were 150 hearts completed at the retreat earlier this month but we still need LOTS of tiny hearts for the quilt top, so please consider helping out by making a dozen.

Betty W., our National quilt guild representative shared with the membership the reason for the due increase and how our national dues to the MQG are calculated.  If you have any questions regarding national membership, Betty would be happy to assist you.

Vice President Cathie H. shared an idea of the possibility of us doing a Modern Round Robin Quilt Challenge.  If you are wondering, “What is a Round Robin quilt?”  Here is one good explanation of how to set up a round robin.  https://catbirdquilts.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/round-robin-rules/

Here are some other links to round robin projects that are modern, including the Boulder Guild’s kickoff article.

https://jaxmodernquiltguild.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/round-robin-first-edition/
http://www.a2mqg.org/p/a2mqg-round-robin-guidelines-how-it.html
https://bouldermqg.com/2018/07/09/round-robin-kick-off/

There will be a sign up for those interested in participating at our November meeting.

Kathy M, one of our Heartbeat Quilt co-chairs, had a short survey to determine what would best for sew days which are designated to work on the Heartbeat quilts.  Be looking for those dates in the near future.  Nancy H. and Kathy M. have completed an inventory of the supplies we have available for the quilts.  We will need to purchase some batting for this year’s quilts.  Kathy M. has found some she can get for a little over $2.00 per quilt.

Sue K. demonstrated the block lotto for November.   The directions are available here.

Show and Tell – Be sure to check out all the talent of our members!

After half-time, Danna B., who is now coordinating the monthly survey question (on the white board), summarized the results for us.

Survey Question:    How would you describe your own paper piecing experience?

 1) Never Tried – 5
 2) A tough technique for me – 5
 3) Dabbled but dubious – 12
 4) Enthusiastic to do more – 10
 5) Love it to pieces – 9
 6) Other – 1

The door prize winner from the survey questions was Lisa B.

Other winners tonight –

The fabric raffle winner was Lisa D.

Mary Rose H. won the blocks from the Block Lotto.

Congratulations Ladies!

The program tonight was on paper piecing.  We had three stations provided by Sue K., Kathie M., and Cindy R.  Attendees split up into 3 groups and learned more on piecing.  Afterwards, several stopped by to pick up fabric and patterns for our charity quilt tiny hearts.

 

REMINDERS:

The “Members” section of the website (password needed) has all personal contact information for members of the guild.

On the general website, a downloadable reimbursement form is available for completing and turning in (attach receipts to the back of the form) to Nancy P., our treasurer.

At the request of Christ Lutheran, there is a new procedure for locking the doors at 6:00 p.m. for security purposes. A sign will be hung on the door at each meeting with a phone number to call/text for anyone arriving late and needing to be admitted.

The meeting adjourned after the program.