Meeting Minutes and Officer Election Results, October 2022

Officer Elections:

We had 28 out of 60 members voting (43%) unanimously for the following slate of officers.  These officers will assume their duties effective January 1, 2023.

President:  Kathy Koch

VP Programs: Cheryl Smallwood

VP Membership: Deb Spring

Treasurer: Amy Stevenson

Secretary: <open>

Committee Chairs:

Library: Kim Ulrich

Swaps/Challenges: Tara Parks

Retreats: Tara Parks

Charity: <open>

Secretarial committee (in lieu of electing a secretary): Kathy Koch will chair - looking for committee members

October Meeting Minutes:

There were 22 attendees at this meeting via Zoom.

The Guild was honored to host guest speaker, Carole Lyles Shaw.  Carole has been quilting for over 30 years and over that time has pondered the concept of "sustainability" in her quilting life.  She has seen too many times where a quilter is no longer able to quilt or passes on and then has a huge stash that friends and family need to deal with.  Carole has decided it is a much better way to live in the moment with our stash by only purchasing fabric that can be used immediately in a project.  She has stopped gathering fabric just because she loves it and instead tries to find other fabric in her stash that will do instead on any given project.  Carole gave the guild a lot to think about and offered some great tips on how to reduce, organize and repurpose our stash.  Thank you Carole for an inspiring presentation!

Other Business:

• Sunday, October 30th - "Scrappy Appliqué" class by Nico Laudenberg.  There is still plenty of room in the class if you'd like to sign up.
• Elections for the 2023 Board are being run online, will close voting Thursday at noon.
• October is dues month.  Please go to the form link fill it out and then pay your dues ($40 by check, $42 by PayPal).
• We have 3 openings for the January Retreat at Creative Passions. We have opened it up for family/friends of members so let the board know if you or a family member would like to attend. 
• Postcard swap: sign-ups have been extended until Friday.  You should have a link in your email.  Tara will send out swap partners by the end of the day Friday. Postcards will be exchanged in person at the November meeting or you can mail them to your swap partner. 
• Round Robin: will be starting up again at the November meeting.  See link at tabs above for more information.
• Sew-Ins: A question was raised as to whether Tuesday evenings are no longer good for Zoom virtual sew-ins.  The Board let everyone know that we have plenty of availability to set up Zoom meetings on other days and times so just let us know if you'd like to start something on a different day.  The Board will discuss whether we want to go to a once a month or every other week schedule after the new year.
• Monthly meetings:
• November 30th - in person at N.E.W. (bring postcards, any finished fall or halloween quilts, round robin packets if you are interested in participating, any other show and share quilts or tops). Please remember to wear your mask.
• December 21st (note this is a change of date from the 28th) - holiday party/gathering also at N.E.W.

A2MQG Meeting Minutes, September 2022

The September meeting was held at N.E.W. with 16 members in attendance, 3 of which were via Zoom. We were able to get a pretty decent video connection for the Zoom portion, however the instructions for the facility on how to connect the camera and microphone were incorrect.  This meant that Zoom attendees had difficulty with the audio portion.  We hope to get this corrected by the November meeting.

Membership:  We currently have 61 members.  Members are reminded that October is when we collect dues for the following calendar year (2023).  Dues will remain at $42 if you pay via PayPal, $40 if you pay by check.  Members should go to the link on our website to fill in their form and make their payment.

Programs:  

• We have an exciting program planned for our October meeting.  Carole Lyles Shaw will be giving a presentation on sustainable stashing. This presentation will be on Zoom only. Note that we are not able to sell tickets for non-members for this event.

• Nico Laudenberg has offered to give a free class to guild members call "Scrappy Appliqué".  Look for an email with sign-ups.  [UPDATE: This class has been scheduled to replace our sew-in on Sunday, October 30th.  It will run from 10-4 at N.E.W. and does require sign-ups.]
• Cheryl is working on setting up a class for the spring timeframe.  More on that as we get details firmed up.
• The board is looking into a partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library where we would set up classes/instruction for library patrons.  

Charity:  

• The MQG Community quilt top was finished and is at the longarmmer.

• A suggestion was made that we consider giving charity quilts to UofM's Compassionate Care program.   The quilts are given to support patients and families at end-of-life.  The Board will pass this along to Jackie for follow-up.

Retreat:  We currently have 11 sign-ups for the January retreat.  We have a max number of 16 and need deposits by mid-month.  Cost is $165, with an additional $30 if you want to add Thursday to the event.  It was also shared that we have one scholarship available at a cost of $85.  Let the board know if you would like to apply for the reduced fee.

Swaps: 

• The postcard swap kicks off at the October meeting with cards being sent to their recipient in early December.
• For our December meeting we will have our "Notions Swap" (wrap a small notion and swap anonymously Yankee style).

Business cards:  Brenda has made up business cards which can be posted at quilt shops and venues that allow it.  Let her know if you need cards.

Elections:  October is officer election time.  We have two open slots on the board.  You may run for any position, although the present gaps are President and Membership VP.

Sew-Ins:  We continue to hold virtual sew-ins via Zoom on Tuesday evenings.  Contact the Board if you've lost the Zoom link info.  

Other: 

• We had some sharing of upcoming events (see also our guild google calendar).
• Kim brought library books that can be borrowed

Show and Share:

Next meeting will be Wednesday, October 26th.  Zoom information will be send prior to the meeting.