What a great meeting last night with over 40 members online.  Who knew how fun and “easy(?)” it is to create such an intricate pattern with interleaving!  Awesome presentation Donna!  Thank you.

I forgot to mention the fact that the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is online from Sept. 10-12 and the registration and classes are FREE.  Just register.

It’s time to pay your dues for 2020-2021.  You can pay with Paypal on our website or find a renewal form in the Member’s area or About tab and mail in a check.  If you like what we’re doing, don’t miss out and pay your dues.

Election results for 2020-2021 Officers:  Nancy Powell, President; Kathy Cook, Vice President; Betty Woodruff, Treasurer; and Paula Meiner, Secretary.  Thank you Gale Imig for your service at secretary this past year!  The board wants to thank all of you for your support during these crazy times and our online meetings.  We’re working hard to keep you inspired and learning, and quilting exciting.

Rebecca Bryan’s presentation has been rescheduled.  She will present at our November meeting – November 24 via Zoom.  Her Modern Triangle workshop will be held on Zoom from 9 am – 3 pm on Saturday, November 21.  There are still spots available in her workshop.  Sign up here.

We rolled for our first month of the 8 month Take a Chance Challenge.  You haven’t signed up for the challenge yet? What are you waiting for?  Don’t miss out on the fun.  It’s not too late!   The Grand Prize is now over $200.
Here’s what you need to know for month 1.

Take a Chance Challenge: Month 1 Roll
Color 2 = Orange              Shape 5 = Curve
Photos must be posted by 2 pm on September 22, 2020 on Shutterfly!
Need help with Shutterfly? Sign up for Tech Tuesday.

Don’t miss next month – Jill Fisher will be presenting “Unlocking the Joy in Scraps” and we’ll roll for month 2 of the Take a Chance Challenge.

This month we welcome Donna Lee of DonnaLee Design Studio. She will be presenting a program on Interleaving Quilts – Mixing Two Designs Together. You don’t want to miss this one! Attached to your Zoom invite will be two files to print before the meeting. Donna will have you use them during the meeting.

Remember that elections are this month at the zoom meeting. You must be present to vote.

We will also be rolling the dice for the first installment of the 2021 Take A Chance Challenge. Don’t forget to sign up now on the website – use Paypal or send your check. It’s not too late!

Take some photos for Show and Tell and get ready for this month’s announcements and updates.

As always, members are free and guests may attend for a fee of $5.50 that can be purchased via PayPal using the button below.

Guest Ticket

Guidelines:

1. Every BNMQG member may join the challenge. The cost of the challenge is $5/member if you send a check (BNMQG, PO Box 154, Normal, IL) or $5.50 if you pay via Paypal.  You must enter the challenge and upload your photo by September 22 (check mailed and postmarked by September 20 or paid by Paypal) by September 22, 2020.  The money will be added to the winning Grand Prize of $100 (provided by the guild) and awarded at the end of the challenge.  Wouldn’t that make your quilting budget happy?
          Sorry this challenge is no longer available to join.
2. Create a project with modern aesthetics that meets the monthly challhttps://py.pl/wM7o1enges decided by chance at the monthly meeting. This can be 8 individual monthly projects (mini quilts, quilt blocks, placemats, postcards, mug rugs, etc.) or all or some can be put into one quilt flimsy at the end of the challenge.
3. A die will be rolled twice to determine what the challenge is for the month.
   
4. Post a photo of your completed monthly challenge. By 2 pm on the day of the meeting, a photo of your challenge must be loaded onto the Take A Chance Challenge site on Shutterfly  to be eligible to win a monthly prize.  (September 22, October 27, November 24, January 26, February 23, March 23, April 27, and May 25).   You will be invited to join this website once you sign up for the Challenge.  There will be Tech Tuesday sessions available on September 8 (11 am and 6 pm) and September 15 (11 am and 6 pm) to make sure you know how to post your photos on the Shutterfly site. Please sign on to Shutterfly.com and create a free Shutterfly account if you don’t already have one before attending any of these sessions.
5. Every member finishing the monthly challenge will be in a drawing for an extra entry into the grand prize drawing. This extra entry will only be entered in the grand prize drawing if the quilter completes all 8 monthly challenges.
6. The GRAND PRIZE WINNER for finishing every month’s challenge (August – May) will be chosen from members who have not missed any month of posting a photo of their finished monthly challenge and all extra entries that were drawn (only if all of the monthly challenges were complete by that member). The grand prize winner will win the money in the “pot” at the May meeting, a guarantee of at least $105.

Questions?  Attend the Zoom meetings in July and August to find out more!

Ann Morton with the Violet Protest is our guest speaker this month. 

What is the Violet Protest and how did it all get started?  This month’s speaker will be Zooming with us to tell us all about it.

A little info:  The Violet Protest is a pubic effort to send 50 hand-made textile squares to each and every member of Congress in support of these core American values:  Civility and Respect, Citizenship, Compromise, Country over party and corporate influence, courage, candor, compassion, and creativity. 

That means that they will need 26,750 red and blue 8” x 8”
​squares.  They will be exhibited at Phoenix Art Museum in 2021.and 50 will be sent to each and every senator  and representative of the new 117th Congress of the United States in late 2021. THE DEADLINE FOR FINISHED SQUARES IS NOVEMBER 15, 2020.  Think about volunteering to make some blocks.

Join us this month and encourage your quilting friends to join us.   This event is free for all BNMQG members.  To  purchase  a guest  pass  for  the  July  meeting,  please  use  the  PayPal  button  below.

July 2020 Guest Pass

For more information about Ann Morton and the Violet Protest:

• Website:  violetprotest.com for the project – learn more details about the project and sign up.
• Facebook: facebook.com/thevioletprotest
• Ravelry: ravelry.com/groups/the-violet-protest
• Instagram: @thevioletprotest

JOIN US – Put a reminder in your phone or on your calendar and join us for our monthly meeting on Tuesday night (July 28) from 6 pm – 8 pm via ZOOM.  Keep an eye out for your Zoom invitation in your email and the Zoom “room” will open at 5:30 so you can get logged in.

Have you decided to take some classes during the virtual QUILTCON? Registration starts this Wednesday, July 15 at 9am CST.  Check out the catalog … Remember that classes fill up FAST.

PREPARE Today:

• Watch new MQG videos on registration and QuiltCon Together 2021
• Make sure you know how to login to your MQG account in order to register!
• Find your email from register@themodernquiltguild.com for your QuiltCon Together MQG Member Registration Link

Registration or QuiltCon questions?  Register@themodernquiltguild.com
Membership questions?  info@themodernquiltguild.com

Cathie Haab might also be able to help via email at bnmqg@hotmail.com.  If you have any trouble or questions, do it quickly.  Please don’t wait to check or she may not be able to help you in time for registration on the 15th.

Lyric Kinard is our featured speaker at our next ZOOM meeting JUNE 23, 2020

This has been an exciting month for BNMQG considering we haven’t been physically together for severalmonths now.  We’re averaging around 40 members per meeting (which is just barely less than an in-person meeting) but we still could use more.  The travel isn’t long.  The weather isn’t a problem.  ZOOM is really easy (just ask anyone who has attended our meeting via zoom).  Lisa B. does an amazing job of running the behind-the-scenes stuff.   AND if you’re still intimidated by the technology, email me and we can have a private zoom (it probably would only take 10-15 minutes) so you can see how easy it is.  We want all of our members to be able to attend our meetings and it’s so much fun to see each other’s beautiful faces.

We had our first ZOOM workshop – Modern Free Wheeling Circles, which, from my feedback was a success and I know I had fun.  After 4 hours, most everyone had all of their blocks constructed and ready to add the finishing touches.  We laughed.  We could dig in our stashes for additional fabrics (or to add to our blocks in case we miscounted-LOL).  We didn’t have to setup or tear down our sewing stations in a remote location.  Some people even sewed with a lake view!  Demos were given and we could see each other’s progress.  Questions were answered. Some people shared Internet and sewing spaces.  Photos will migrate over to Facebook as quilts are finished.  People who signed up and paid for the workshop got their patterns and they have a private Facebook page to access extra information/resources and photos.  I’ve already signed up for an online workshop with Carole Lyles Shaw to see if they are as much fun as we had…the standards are high…just saying!

There have been 4 sessions of Tech Tuesdays and they’ve had great reviews.  Individual help was priceless and the sessions included really good ways for using Instagram by our own Kathy C.  We offer sessions at 11am and another at 6pm most Tuesdays.  We are looking for more topics for Tech Tuesdays – anything tech related.  At the next Tech Tuesday (6/30) we’ll be looking at some ways to make your Instagram posts more fun using Boomerang and Layout. There will also be time to answer questions about posting, editing and anything else you need help with.  Signup

Stitchin’ Saturday was fun.  People dropped in and sewed and talked for about 3 hours.  It was fun seeing the projects that were being worked on.  We’ll try this again.  Watch your email for more opportunities!

In the past we have had the opportunity to bring guests to our meetings and there was a $10 fee charged when we have a speaker.  We now have that capability for our zoom meetings.  Starting with this month’s meeting, we will feature a speaker – Lyric Montgomery Kinard.  We are offering a paypal option for non-members to attend at the low price of $6.00.  There is a link from the event on Facebook or on our website.  If this takes off, we may be able to get even more speakers for our guild meetings! So spread the word to your quilting friends.

Continue reading →

Program – Abstract Design Exercise with Lyric Kinard

This month we have a very special guest speaker attending our Zoom meeting.  Lyric Kinard is a well-known artist, author, and quilter!  You might have seen her on Quilting Arts.  She is an award winning artist with a passion for sparking the creativity that she knows each of her students possess. With playful support and gentle encouragement she will take you through your first steps on a new path, seeing the world through the eyes of an artist. As an artist, author, and educator she transforms cloth into art in her studio and timid spirits into confident creatives in the classroom.

Lyric was recognized for her talents as the 2011 International Association of Professional Quilters Teacher of the Year and is the author of the book Art + Quilt: design principles and creativity exercises. She has written extensively for Quilting Arts Magazine, appeared on Quilting Arts TV, and The Quilt Show. In her past life she was a musician, earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Utah and has also formally studied architecture. She currently lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and some of their five children.

You can see what she’s been up to on her blog.  Enjoy some of her great Covichats which are interviews with some famous quilters and artists from all over the world.  Some of her guest have been Carole Lyles Shaw, Mel Beach,  South African business owner Henneli Davie, Wendy Butler Berns, Joe Cunningham, Cristina Arcenequi from Seville, Spain, Victoria Fiindlay Wolfe, Jacquie Gering, Bonnie Hunter, Michelle Wilkie, Susan Brubaker Knapp, and many more.  They are fun to listen to as you sew.  You don’t want to miss her website… take a peek before Tuesday.

The meeting program:

Learn how easy it is to find inspiration in any environment as you create your own unique abstract designs by following this very simple exercise. The elements of line, shape, and value will be explored as you generate a plethora of little thumbnails, jumping points for your own original modern designs.

Option 1 – have paper scissors, sharpie, and several sheets of blank paper ready.
Option 2 – Have printed PDFs, paper scissors, and a sharpie ready.

This is a FREE event for members. These will be attached to your Zoom Invitation Email, so look for the attachments! An email will be sent to members for this event on Zoom. Join us for a short social time from 5:30-6:00. This will give everyone time to enter the meeting, chat a little, and work out any last minute technical problems.

If you are NOT a BNMQG member, just buy a TICKET for this event for a small fee of $6. You won’t be disappointed with Lyric’s program. Sign up early to make sure to receive your link to Zoom . You don’t want to miss the meeting and download Lyric’s files..

To purchase a guest pass for this meeting, please use the PayPal link below:

As a result of our poll at the meeting and your comments, we are offering the following ZOOM opportunities.  You will need to sign up and there is a limit of 6 people in each of the Tech Tuesday sessions.     If you are unable to get into one of the Tech Tuesday sessions that you are interested in because of number of participants, please send an email to Kathy C.  and we’ll try and schedule another session.  There is no limit for our Stitchin’ Saturday but you need to sign up to get a zoom invitation.  For any of these Zoom events, sign up on Signup Genius (the link is in the member area). You will also get an email from Signup Genius – one for Tech Tuesdays and another for Stitchin’ Saturday.

Tech Tuesdays

Tuesday, June 2 – Instagram for Beginners (you must already have Instagram on your phone/tablet before this meeting) – there are two sessions (both are identical, just choose one or the other.)  Have your phone/tablet with your Instagram account ready to use during the Zoom.  You could use Zoom on your laptop and Instagram on your phone/tablet to make it a little easier or you could do both on your phone/tablet.

Session 1 – Intro – 11 AM – June 2 Signup to get an invitation to ZOOM.  (no cost)
Session 2 – Intro – 6 PM – June 2 Signup to get an invitation to ZOOM.  (no cost)

Tuesday, June 9 – Posting and editing photos on Instagram 

Session 1 – Posting and editing Photos – 11 AM – June 9 Signup to get an invitation to ZOOM.  (no cost)
Session 2 – Posting and editing Photos – 6 PM – June 9 Signup to get an invitation to ZOOM.  (no cost)

Stitchin’ Saturday

Saturday, June 13 – Stitchin’ Saturday with BNMQG – a virtual sew day,  Jump in/out from 10 AM – 2 PM to chat while you work on your own projects or just come and chat.  Signup to get an invitation to ZOOM.  (no cost)