May, 25, 2021

The 15^th Zoom meeting was called to order by President Nancy Powell with 48 members attending. 

Heartbeat quilts – Contact Pat Silva for completed blocks to sew into quilts or to return finished quilts to deliver to the hospital.  Her email address is available in the Member directory on the Member page.

Raffle quilt – Raffle quilt winner this month is Lisa B.  Next month’s quilt is a blue bowtie pattern.  Buy tickets to win this beauty.

Kona Color of the Year Mini Quilt Challenge – The Kona mini quilts that have been given to Nancy will be exhibited in the Mattoon Outdoor Quilt Show in Lytle Park on June 12 from 10 AM to 6 PM. Mark your calendar and take a short trip to Mattoon to enjoy the quilts. Thanks Jamie W. for this opportunity. If you’re there when the show ends, you may pick up your quilt. Nancy will return all of the other quilts to Bloomington and make arrangements to get them back to their owners after the show!  See some of the entries on Facebook.

Poll 1 – BNMQG purchased “tickets” for all members to attend the All Star Virtual Sampler Platter on May 22 and 23. Did you attend 1 or more of All Star Virtual Sampler Platter classes?

                           Yes – 40% (17) No – 60% (26)

Breakout Rooms –

Question 1 – What ideas did you get about color or design from these sessions or others you’ve watched online?

Collage class, color theory, color wheel, use more than 1 value of a color, surface design, divide colors and progression of colors, and create secondary designs

Question 2 – With our minis, you’ve had the opportunity to do your own quilting.  What are your thoughts about ruler work. walking foot quilting, hand stitching, using decorative stitches, etc.?

We’ve done walking foot, painters’ tape to mark, decorative stitching, shashiko, ruler work, Peter Byrne gave people confidence in attacking quilting on their own, decorative stitches on binding, hand quilting, quilting on curves is more forgiving, perfectly imperfect, hand stitching is becoming more popular.

Question 3 – What topics would you like to learn more about and do you know a presenter you’d recommend?

Jodi Robinson, Big Stitch Quilting, Gudrun Erla, Susie Quilts, Pam Holland, collages with Laura Heine, thread painting with Joyce Hughes, Mel Beach, curves with Jen Carlton-Bailey, Carolina Oneto, ruler work with Angela Walters, Cindy Grisdela -improv, Cindy Stanfield, hands-on demos, textural work on quilts, Juli Smith, Jackie Gerling, Robin Ruth, Emily Taylor, Krista Hennebury, Libs Elliott, Man Sewing with Rob Appell

Take a Chance Challenge – Gary R. won the extra chance for May.  There will be 1 more optional month.  Those that have contributed all 8 months will have at least one entry in the drawing.  Everyone who enters in June’s optional challenge will automatically get an extra chance in the grand prize drawing.  The grand prize drawing will be held at the June meeting.  Next month’s optional challenge will be green and squares or rectangles.  View all the entries for the last 8 challenges.

VP Corner – Kathy Cook highlighted quilter, Heather Black, who will be our speaker in Aug. via Zoom. Check out her instagram.

June’s presenter – Maria Shell will be our speaker on June 22^nd.  Find out more about Maria Shell.  Guests can purchase a guest pass for $10.  A waitlist is available for her workshop on June 26. 

Show and Tell – enjoy these quilts on Facebook.

Retreat – Our retreat will be held Sept. 17 – 20.  This retreat was completely filled right after the May meeting.  To add your name to the waitlist, please use Sign up Genius.

Respectfully submitted, Paula M., BNMQG Secretary