submitted by Nancy P., President

Hi Modern Quilters,

Welcome to the 2019-2020 year of the Bloomington-Normal Modern Quilt Guild.  There are many activities, speakers, and fun planned for this year.  But before we close the book on 2018-2019, I want to take a minute to thank our Co-presidents Kathy Merrick and Stormy Helton and our Vice President Cathie Haab for their service for the past year and our Secretary Teresa Arendell for her service to the guild for the past two years.  Your leadership, time, and ideas are greatly appreciated and have strengthened our guild.  I am excited to welcome Kathy Cook as our Vice President, our Social Media chair – Betty Woodruff is moving into the Treasurer position, and Gale Imig is taking on the Secretarial duties.  As your president, I will work hard and do my best to bring fresh modern quilting ideas to BNMQG.

September Meeting – IMPORTANT information
The program at the September meeting will include an activity to get you creating modern designs and will require you to bring a few things to participate.
Please bring
1) one solid BLACK or dark fat quarter, pressed flat
2) one solid COLORED fat quarter, pressed and cut into 4 equal pieces approximately 9″ x 11″ each
3) rotary cutter
4) cutting mat, and
5) a quilting ruler (12″-24″ long)

Renew your membership this month!  Member dues are $35 and a renewal form can be downloaded in the member area of the blog so you can fill it out, attach your dues, and bring to the September meeting.  Keep current with your dues to continue enjoying guild meetings, special speakers, information, and activities as well as the member area of The Modern Quilt Guild website.

Please also bring your blocks for block lotto (blocks for August and September will be accepted) and items for show and tell. At this meeting, we will have your Kona mini quilts to return. These quilts made for a very beautiful and successful show at Scout’s Downtown Cafe during the month of August.  Scout wants to thank all of you who participated in this year’s show.

The program committee will be surveying the membership in September for your ideas for programs for future meetings.  Please think about the programs you’d like to have.

You won’t want to miss a meeting this year.  We will have Cathie Haab highlight special areas on the MQG website.  I will have a 5 minute tip this month and I am looking for members to present their favorite 5-minute Quick Tip each month.  Do you have a favorite tip you could share quickly?  Please email me at:  nancynpowell@gmail.com so we can get it scheduled to present.

Do you have a workshop you’d like to take or one you’d like to do for guild members?  Let me know. We’re hoping to have at least one this year in addition to sewing days for Heartbeat quilts and the QuiltCon Charity Quilt.

BNMQG Library
In case you were unaware, our guild has a library.  For $5 you can check out a book till the next guild meeting and then return your book and your $5 will be returned.  There are several great selections to choose from, so take a moment at the next meeting and check out the selections.  If you any questions, please contact Carol B.

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.

Also, the church will be having a craft sale in November so be thinking of things you could make to donate to their craft sale as a way to thank them for allowing us to use their amazing facility every month!  Items will be accepted at our September and October meetings.  So start crafting!

QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, TX
Entries are now open! Submit your quilts now through November 30!

MQG Challenges: Me & You Indah Batik Challenge and Stripes Quilt Challenge, both open to all members.  For more info visit  www.quiltcon.com

Volunteer at QuiltCon – Volunteering is a great way to fully experience QuiltCon, meet new people, and have fun! We have many returning volunteers every year, dedicating their hours over and over again because they have such a great time, but we are always happy to welcome new volunteers!  Volunteer signups for QuiltCon 2020 are now open!

Call for MQG Swap Fairies
Who’s ready for the next MQG Mini Swap? Mark your calendars for these important dates:
· Now-Sept 25: Swap Fairy sign-ups open (Swap fairies facilitate the mini quilt swap partners)
· Oct 4-25: Swap signups open
· Nov 4: Partner notifications sent
· Feb 7: International shipping deadline
· Feb 14: Domestic shipping deadline
· Feb 21: QuiltCon Swap Meetup
Interested in being a Swap Fairy? Sign up now!

BNMQG is growing…
During the past year, we’ve become aware that our guild is growing and therefore to keep things running smoothly, the 2018-2019 Board worked on defining roles and duties for very much valued guild volunteers.  These roles and duties can be found in the member area of the blog and in the new MEMBER ONLY area on Facebook.  So, you don’t know about the member only area on Facebook?  I’m not surprised because it is NEW. It is a closed group on Facebook found at:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/BNMQG/ .  You must be a current member of the guild and answer a question about Modern Quilting to be a member in this group.  If your membership is not current as of the October meeting, you will lose your access to this area.  You will be able to download files that include renewal forms, information for workshops and other meetings, and you will be able to start your own conversations and share your pictures.  Please keep the conversations to things quilting related.  Need a friend to go to a lecture or workshop, ask here.  Need help with colors for a quilt, post some photos.  Want information on where or how to enter quilt shows, I’m sure someone will have that info.  So, request to join BNMQG on Facebook today.

Meet your 2019-2020 committee chairs
Block Lotto and Fabric Raffle – Cindy Reynolds

Fabric Raffle Sales – Pam Laws

Heartbeat Quilts – Pat Silva

Hospitality – Barb Stevens and Mary Rose Hill

Library – Carol Benson

Membership – Susan Chancellor

Nominating Committee (2018-2019) – to be announced in March

Photographer – Kelly Cummings

Program Committee – Vickie Alsene

QuiltCon Charity Quilt – Cindy Reynolds

Survey board and door prize – Danna Boore

Webmaster – Lisa Baermann

Your 2019-2020 Officers
President – Nancy Powell

Vice President – Kathy Cook

Treasurer – Betty Woodruff

Secretary – Gale Imig

And, if you’ve read this email/newsletter to this point, you deserve a special heads-up of things to come.  In November, we’ll be enjoying a modern trunk show by Laura Hartrich (http://www.laurahartrich.com ) from the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  And, pencil in our May 15-16 meeting for a famous guest quilter and another fantastic BNMQG workshop.  Note the meetings in May are on a Friday and Saturday to accommodate our speaker and to provide a Saturday workshop for all of you.  Stay tuned for more information on that.

Get ready for another fun year of Quilting Modern!  I’m looking forward to quilting with you!

• Nancy Powell