November meeting recap

Submitted by Barb S., Secretary

Sixty nine (69) members and one guest attended a virtual meeting of the Bloomington-Normal Modern Quilt Guild on November 28, 2023.

President Vivian H. opened the meeting with a brief review of using Zoom including muting yourself and putting questions in the chat.

Nancy P. then introduced the speaker, Libs Elliott. Libs is a fabric designer and quilt instructor. She also heads an online group called The Sew Squad. She designs her modern quilts using a coding program called processing. By using the code, she is able to edit the code to produce simple, geometric quilt shapes. She showed several quilts she designed using this process. Toward the end of the program, she showed a sample of the code she uses. Libs explained she does not know what the end result will be until it is displayed on the screen.

Following a short break, the meeting resumed. Linda L. explained that the deadline of November 30th was fast approaching to sign up for QuiltCon for free – signing up will give you access to the Quilt Con app even if you are not attending in person. The free app will allow members access to the quilt display as well as access to vendor information. They will not, however, be allowed in the classes.

The survey question was regarding the interest by members in another Tech Tuesday. Completion of the poll revealed the following:

62% would like Tech Tuesday to cover EQ8;

59% would like to have a program on using Instagram;

33% would like the program to cover Facebook.

Following these guidelines, Tech Tuesday will be set up in the future.

Members were reminded there is no meeting in December.

The David Hastings workshop on January 20 is sold out. However, there is a wait list on Sign Up Genius. Link is also available on the Members page.

In the absence of Pat S., Linda L. thanked everyone who attended the recent sew day There were 15 present who worked on the Heartbeat quilts. In the future, the kits for the quilt will be handed out to the members for completion.

The Board has proposed changes to the by-laws which now need to be reviewed and voted on by the members. The proposed by-laws can be found on the BNMQG web site on the members page. Members should review the proposed changes and if they have any questions, contact a board member. All board member’s contact information is listed on the member’s list on the members page. It is now available in both spreadsheet and pdf formats. The proposed changes to the by-laws will be voted on at the January meeting.

Jamie W. gave a brief report on the book Intuitive Color & Design; Adventures in Art Quilting by Jean WellsC&T Publishing, 2009

Jean Wells (Owner and founder of the Stitch’n Post Quilt Shop and Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show) changed her personal quilting direction in quilting after a course with Nancy Crow and seeing the Gee’s Bend Exhibit in San Francisco. Jean began a more improvisational style by using the structure of the elements of art and principles of design to create her new art quilts often based on her daughter’s (Valori Wells) photographs as well as some of her own, The author explains her process of design, how she reduces images of nature into simple abstractions, and then begins the process of piecing her ideas. Jean stresses if you are willing to spend the time planning and making linear sketches you can achieve your ideas in cloth. Jean refers to herself as an “art quilter” but her process of serious color study, cutting without rulers, linear & spontaneous piecing, cutting units apart, and finally reassembling is as modern as it can get. The book offers pages for reproduction for planning the quilting lines and a special chapter with the best directions and descriptions for unconventional finishing methods. I have returned to this book over and over for instruction, inspiration, and quilt study. Get your cup of tea and get ready to take notes and start planning your next original quilt.