Meeting Minutes for 2/27/2013

We had a great meeting last night at Maker Works!  If you weren't there, then you missed out on scoring a birthday treat from the Booze Bucket.

Sew-in on March 10: 12 - 4pm at MakerWorks.

Next Meeting's March 27- Please keep watching the blog or our facebook page for the Meeting location.  We may be heading towards Pink Castle Fabric's new home!

• For the next meeting, please bring your Round Robin blocks if you are participating - and you can join in at any time! Just bring a block! 

OLD BUSINESS:

Guild Retreat:  If you are interested in attending the Summer A2MQG Retreat, please read this post.

• The deposit due date was moved up to the MARCH MEETING in order to get an accurate head count for our guild members who plan on attending.  Please give your $50 deposit to Ginia.  If you are writing a check, please make it out to the Hankerd Inn.

• We will then open up the remaining spaces to other guilds (Toledo, Holly from Bijou Lovely, Cincinnati, Detroit...).  Once the barn has reached capacity, we will close off reservations.

• Ginia will call the Hankerd Inn and determine how many beds are available in the barn.  She will also see what the cost would be should those attending vote to handle their own meals.

• Once a guest list is finalized, those attending will vote on meals and organize transportation.

Quilt Con: Those who attended the conference had a great time!  

• It looks like the MQG is planning another QuiltCon in 2015

• Our guild had 7 quilts in the show and was very well represented!  One of Rossie's quilts will be in the traveling show!  

• Craftsy has several lectures from QuiltCon posted online for free.

Membership Dues: Those who chose to become a member of the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild paid $35 to our Treasurer (Jen) and filled out a membership form and gave it to our VP of New Membership (Rossie).

Non Profit Status: Our check has been cashed, but we are still waiting on formal approval from the state for becoming a Non-Profit in Michigan.

Madrona Road Challenge:

• For our challenge, make a finished quilt that is at least 120inches in perimeter.  
• You can only use Madrona Road Fabrics and Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solids.  This applies for the entire quilt top, and the binding.  However, you can use any fabric for the backing.
• The deadline for this challenge is our April meeting - April 24
• We're looking to have another guild vote on our winner!  Reaching out to the Columbus Modern Quilt Guild...
•  Jen B. had obtained prizes from Moda, Pellon, Quilters Dream... and maybe more!
• There are still some fabrics available from Brenda.

Spoonflower Quilts:

• Kathy did an amazing job quilting our two quilts. 
• Jen and Brenda will do binding
• Once the binding is done, we are interested in taking pictures in distinctly Ann Arbor settings.
• How should we auction these quilts? Ebay - through their charity site? Should we submit the quilts to an auction that is accepting goods for donation? If you have any ideas, please keep a look at your email for continued brainstorming.

The NW Ohio Modern Quilt Guild has invited us to participate in an upcoming challenge!

• On Sunday, April 7 those interested in participating will travel to the Toledo Art Museum and seek out a painting from which to draw inspiration for a quilt! 

There was a discussion about touring Motowi tile for quilt inspiration.  Anne D. has a contact at the company who may be available to give us a private tour.


NEW BUSINESS
  
Bylaws: Jenna read through the bylaws and the guild provided a couple of revisions. 

• There was a vote and the bylaws were approved with the revisions unanimously. 
• Our bylaws are posted on this site. Look at the tippy top! It's a page tab.
  

National Quild Dues? The mothership mentioned at QuiltCon that there will be dues collected from our local branches that would like to become formal members of the National Quilt Guild. The details are still unclear and we will post more information once it becomes available to the public.  
 
- Some highlights and benefits of guild membership:

- 501(c)3 status for individual guilds (under supervision and control of National)

- For leaders - access to a CRM management system, total website access, tracking membership, newsletters, social media, etc.

- Discounted entry fees for MQG shows, conference rate, and events

- Priority or early-bird registration for events

- Permission to use the MQG logo

- Access to MQG leaders only newsletter and forum

- Membership cards, pins, official blog button

- 10% discount on MQG merchandise purchases

 
Concerns were raised over obtaining 501(c)(3) status through MQG - paying MGQ every year vs. one time $400 fee. Will there be an option to join the National Guild without being under their 501(c)(3) umbrella? We do not know yet. 

The MQG also said that funds earned from QuiltCon have gone towards a major revamp of the website, obtaining and maintaining CRM software, and other things! 

A2MQG Library:

• A Chairperson position was created: Guild Librarian. Amy S. volunteered to be the chair, and was appointed by the Officers.

• If you are interested in donating quilting books to our guild library, please bring them to the next meeting.  
• Amy will draft a Library Policy that will include the note that only A2MQG Guild Members may borrow books. 

Round Robin/Swaps Chairperson Dorie asked if there was any interest in doing other swaps besides the Round Robin - there was! And she asked if we would like to do a fabric swap in April - we would! More details to follow. 


ROUND ROBIN blocks were shown and rotated.

20 POINTS OF THE MODERN QUILT GUILD:  The Mothership has given us 20 points to consider about Modern Quilting.  Debbie will present a point at each meeting.  The point presented at this meeting was:

"Modern quilts and quilters use asymmetry in quilt design."

This point was deemed true and uncontroversial. 


QUILT HELP: Amy S. asked for advice on a layout for a quilt-top. Vicki asked for advice on how to sew parts of her fabric portfolios together. 


SHOW AND SHARE: Quilts and quilt blocks were shown and received adequate praise.

'Til next time!

Meeting tomorrow - 2/27

There will be a meeting tomorrow (Feb 27) at 6:30pm at MakerWorks. 

• If you are participating in the Round Robin, please bring your projects.
• We will be reviewing and hopefully approving our bylaws.  If you would like a copy to peruse in advance of the meeting, please email jennaral AT gmail.com

Free QuiltCon Craftsy Lectures!

For the few of us pitiful souls who were not able to attend QuiltCon, I've got great news!  The Modern Quilt Guild has posted several lectures from the conference online for FREE at Craftsy!

Weekly Round-Up 2/22/2013

Hello all!  I hope those of you who are at QuiltCon are having a BLAST!  I love seeing all of the pictures pop up on Instagram.

Back here in Michigan Ginia has been making great progress on her Modern Lilly Quilt...

Debbie had a super cool feature on the Janome website!  Check it out:

 Powered by Janome: Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts

And I just won't shut up about Modern Art...

Pam has some beautiful bee blocks to show, including this one:

 

and

Rossie posted a tutorial for her awesome Conversation Quilt: 

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our meeting on Wednesday - 2/27 - at 6:30pm at MakerWorks.

Take care!

Summer Retreat! A note from Ginia...

The next Retreat is scheduled for the weekend of June 28, 2013 at the Hankerd Inn in Pleasant Lake.

The cost is $135 per person.  This price includes your room, use of the facilities, dinner on Friday, breakfast and dinner on Saturday, breakfast on Sunday.  There is an extra charge of $35 if you would like to come on Thursday, but this does not include any meals.  Check in time is noon on Thursday or Friday and check out time is 2:00 pm on Sunday.

**UPDATE - The deposit is $50, due to Ginia at the MARCH meeting for our A2MQG Guild Members.    

The balance is due at check out.

In order to get the barn, we must have 10 or more people.  If we have less than 10 we will get one of the smaller houses.  This is the only weekend available between May and September except Labor Day weekend.  I would like to get an idea of how many people are interested, so please check your calendars and send e-mail to gsearsATmed.umich.edu if you are interested in attending.

If the group is too small, we may want to consider a date in the Fall.

-- Ginia

Weekly Round Up 2/15/13

We've added several more blogs to our blogroll!  If you are planning on paying membership dues and formally joining the guild at the February meeting, make sure you email me your blog information so you can be added in on the fun!  jennaral AT gmail.com

Amy S. blogged about her Madrona Road Wild Carrot Quilt... (love the background fabric on this one!)

and this adorable Ed Emberley Frog quilt!

Amy D. has made some super cute patchwork bracelets  

... and how much do I love her post on how a quilt inspired an outfit??

If you're still in the Valentine's Day spirit, Debbie has re-posted her Hug and Kiss pillow tutorials!

Jenna is still exploring the history of Modern Art and relating it to Modern Quilting...

Did you catch that Pam's doing a pattern and book destash?

Rossie did another great book review-- this time on Quilting Modern, which I (Kris) found super useful!

Dorie posted about the awesome quilt she was working on at the retreat! It's even made from Jenna's Postive Space pattern, so it's filled with  extra A2MQG talent!

Ronit made a beautiful baby quilt with shades of emerald fabric. I (Kris) love how the orange binding pops!

 

Keep quilting, everybody!  Have a wonderful weekend.

Officer's Meeting Notes from 2/12/2013

On Tuesday night the A2MQG officers signed the articles of incorporation for becoming a non-profit in the state of Michigan.  We also reviewed a draft of our Bylaws that will be presented to the membership for approval at the February meeting. 

Weekly Round-Up 2/8/2013

YAY!  The Weekly Round-Up is back!  Like a phoenix emerging from the ashes, we have new life thanks to the support of Kris!

So from now on Kris and I (Jenna) will share the load and keep everyone informed with what's going on in the blogosphere of our guild.  We'll be looking at blog posts from Fridays-Thursdays that feature quilts, quilts in progress, "think pieces," and other sewn projects.

If you plan on becoming an A2MQG member (membership dues will be accepted at the February meeting), and do not see your blog on our blogroll (to the lower right on this web page), please let me know - jennaral AT gmail.com

So let's get started by playing a bit of catch-up!...

First of all, if you haven't seen them yet - Rossie has cooked up two great quilt tops for our Spoonflower quilts! 

Debbie is participated in a series for Pink Castle Fabrics about how to manage your scraps...

Brenda has a tutorial for making an adorable nap blanket...

I'm doing a series on my blog learning a bit more about the history of Modern Art.

Pam finished up a Teen Wolf inspired quilt for an online charity auction.

 

Kris finally posted about finishing up an improv quilt that worked on at the retreat.

Lynn posted a tutorial for making those adorable frame purses she sold at the sale. (Seriously I need to make a few of these!)

Ronit's finished up a sweet green baby quilt.

We're really excited about bringing this series back!  So keep checking Friday mornings for our Round-Ups and keep blogging!!

Spoonflower Quilt Proposed Layout

Hi all,  Rossie here.  I played with the layout of the rows for our quilt and came up with the following:


Given how many rows I have, I do believe we have two twin-size quilts on our hands (approx 62" x 95").
Quilt 1 will be made up entirely of our rows. 
Quilt 2 will have solid white above and below the rows.
It seemed to work best to pull out the more monochromatic and intensely piece rows and let them sing in white space in Quilt 2.

I know that I still need Dorie's row, but I think that is the only lingering one remaining.


Does this seem good to everyone?
I'll be back in the studio on Friday and I'm planning on piecing this at that time!