A2MQG Meeting Minutes, June 2022

 The June meeting was held at Ann Arbor's Southeast Area Park with 16 members and 2 guests in attendance.

Secretary/Webmaster:  Kathy presented results of the planning survey. 44 out of our 52 members responded to the survey (way to go Guild!). Summary of results indicate the Board's ideas regarding meeting planning are pretty much in line with the membership.  Most members felt that paying for speakers is a good use of guild funds and a majority felt that it might be acceptable, depending on the amount, to raise the annual dues in order to continue providing speakers.  In addition, about half the respondents would like us to continue to try to do a mix of zoom and in-person meetings when possible with only a few saying they preferred only zoom meetings and some saying they did not want zoom meetings at all.

Programs:  Reminder that we have the following speakers lined up for future meetings >

    [Correction on the following program dates]

• August (Zoom) - David Owen Hastings "Minimal Design, Maximum Impact"
• October (Zoom) - Carole Lyles Shaw "Sustainable Stashing: Creating an Eco-Friendly Quilt Life"

Treasurer:  Our current fund balance is $1820.56 with a reminder that our dues year starts in October.

Charity:  Since most of our charitable giving sources have dried up, Jackie was able to donate to Faith in Action.  This organization was thrilled to get the quilts we had on hand.  We look forward to working with them but of course are also hopeful that our resources at Mott and Ozone House open back up.

MQG:

• MQG Community Outreach Quilt.  The members voted between designs submitted.  An email will go out to the membership asking for volunteers to piece, complete, quilt and bind.
• QuiltCon is Feb 23-26 in Atlanta with registration for classes starting in a couple of months. See the full catalog online.
• MQG has updated their website.  Brenda tested it and her existing login worked although it looked like some content was still in progress.
• MQG will be hosting online sessions Oct 13-16.  Registration opens July 26th. Members should have received an email but if not, please visit the MQG website for more information.

Swaps/Challenges:  

• Four members participated in the "Selfie" challenge.  The winners of the charm packs were Allison and Wendy.  Thank you all for participating.

• Next month's SWAP will be a Smalls Swap.  If you would like to participate, please plan on making a "small" item to be yankee swapped.  Examples of smalls are: mug rugs, pin cushions, coffee cup cozies, zipper pouches, coin purses, etc.

Member Spotlight:  Tara shared with us three of her quilts.  It was fun seeing and sharing her makes.

Skill Share:  Kathy gave a short presentation on collage quilting. She and other members shared their insights on some good designers, books and classes on the technique.

Show and Share:  Look at all the wonderful makes our members have created!

Makers and their quilts from left to right:  Row 1/2: Deb; Row 1: Sheryl, Ida, Nico;  Row 2: Pam, Ida, Nico; Row 3: Nico, Deb, Ida; Row 3/4: Allison; Row 4: Allison & Amy, Brenda, Brenda.

Next meeting will be in person, Wednesday, July 27, at this same park.  Brenda will check into park availability but we may decide not to pay to reserve the pavilion.  If it is not available, Tara has a couple of pop-up tents and we can set up on the asphalt or grass.  Members should bring a chair in case we don't have the pavilion.

A2MQG Meeting Minutes, May 2022

The May meeting was held via Zoom with 13 members in attendance.

Secretary/Webmaster: Kathy noted that she added the link to the public facing Facebook page to our About Us page on this site (https://www.facebook.com/a2mqg/).  This Facebook page isn't heavily used but it is where users can look for and find us within Facebook.  This is different from our private group on Facebook where you have to be a member in good standing to view content.

Membership: We had one new member join this month.  Welcome Barbara!

Programs: 

Zoom Speakers > We had great feedback on our March meeting with Audrey Esarey from Cotton and Bourbon Quilts so the Board has lined up two more speakers (with the possibility of a third - more on that once it comes to fruition) for the remainder of the year:

                [Correction on the following program dates] 

• August (Zoom) - David Owen Hastings "Minimal Design, Maximum Impact"
• October (Zoom) - Carol Lyles Shaw "Sustainable Stashing: Creating an Eco-Friendly Quilt Life"

The board is also looking into possible zoom teachers, skill shares, or even an in-person class.  Cheryl Murphy has indicated that she is willing to teach her freezer paper paper-piecing class, so look for that in the near future and let us know if you have other ideas.

We are planning to hold a couple in-person meetings during the summer. 

Question/Discussion: "Did you have a blanket or lovey when you were little?  Do you know where it is now?"  There were lots of interesting tales of a favorite stuffed animal or quilt from when members were little.  

Charity:

• Guild is still trying to find a home for our small (3x4') quilts.  Several board members plus Jackie are looking into places, but if you have a suggestion let us know.
• More string blocks were made at the in-person sew-in and by members at home.  If you make any blocks, get them to Jackie or Brenda (6-1/2" blocks (6" finished)).
• We also discussed other ideas for charitable giving such as teaching sewing classes at the Library. There was positive feedback on this idea so Brenda will continue to investigate.

    MQG Community Outreach Challenge (quilt donated to charity after being shown at QuiltCon):

• Brenda showcased photos of some of the past quilts the Guild made for the MQG Community Outreach Challenge and discussion was held on the 2023 challenge.  

• Members should bring concepts (drawings, pictures, sketches) prior to or at the June meeting so we can decide what we want to do. 
• Since Amy was the project chair for this last year's she provided a timeline and task list:
• Volunteers needed: (1 fabric bundler, many block members, many top assemblers, 1 back assembler, 1 quilter, 1 binder, 1 sleeve maker, 1 photographer)
• Timeline: (treasurer buys fabric, bundler cuts and distributes fabric before or at July meeting, blocks made by early September, there will be a sew-in date in September to assemble quilt, quilting/binding/sleeve finished by mid-October, photography by October 31st, quilt shipped to QuiltCon in January)

• The theme of the challenge is "Color Shift" and the two color palettes we have to choose from are: 
  
  
  and  
  
  
   

Sew-Ins:

• We continue to hold weekly sew-ins on Tuesdays from 7-9pm via Zoom. 
• If you would like to set up a small group of your own within the guild, let the Board know and we should be able to let you have a time slot on Zoom as long as it doesn't conflict with our other meetings.
• We had an in-person Sew-in at N.E.W. on May 15th.  Our next one will be Saturday, June 25 from 10-4.  IMPORTANT:  Please let the board (or just Amy Stevenson) know if you plan on attending.  We have been told by some that they showed up and no one was there, so they left.  Because it is typically a small turnout and because the timing is flexible the 10:00 start time is somewhat flexible so it will help if we know you are planning on attending.

MQG:  In addition to the above discussion on the community charity quilt for QuiltCon (in Atlanta February 2023) - check the QuiltCon website for more information:

• 2023 American Patchwork & Quilting Modern Log Cabin Quilt Challenge
• 2023 Windham Ruby+Bee Fabric Challenge (fabrics by Chawne Kimber)

Swaps/Challenges: Our current Challenge is for you to make a quilted "selfie".  Note that your project does not need to be an actual face/portrait. it can be abstract, improv or representational. Or yes, it can even be a collage from an actual picture as long as it depicts "you". The only rules are it should be no larger than 18" - it can be smaller - and it should be about you. Here is a link to an interesting tutorial: http://kristinshieldsart.com/.../faces-in-fabric-part-1-a...

        This challenge is due at our June meeting.

N.E.W. Center Update:  We still are limited to very small groups which work for our sew-ins but not so much for full meetings.  Brenda has been communicating with the Center to let them know our requirements.  N.E.W. will not be making any architectural changes until they have full funding so probably will not be until mid-next year.

Next Meeting:  Our next meeting will be in-person at Southeast Area Park in Ann Arbor.  June 29, 6:30pm (join us for meet and greet at 6:00).  The park is on the corner of E. Ellsworth and Platt roads.

Please be sure to join us, bring a snack to share if you'd like, and bring a quilt for show-and-share. Lets make this a great in-person get together (and tell the weather to behave!).