A2MQG Meeting Minutes - July 2023

Neither sleet nor snow.... well obviously we didn't have that issue, but weather definitely attempted to derail our July meeting.  Originally planned for outdoors at a local park, threatening thunderstorms swayed us to move it to an indoor location.  Unfortunately the storms turned severe causing power outages, downed trees and torrential downpours in the area.  The place we were to meet was one of those who lost power so we shifted to all Zoom (yay Zoom!).  Since many of our members were also without power, this meant a much lower turnout than usual and a much shorter meeting but the eight of us who met had a grand time.

Skill Share:

Thanks go to Sheryl who did a couple of impromptu skill shares, first showing us her planning process on a recent quilt and then some video highlights to answer questions on what a Flynn Frame is.

 

Speaking of skill shares, this is exactly the type of thing we are looking for.  We typically want just a 10-15 minute sharing of a technique or tool or just something you've learned that others in the group might be interested in.  Some examples of past shares include how to choose batting, board basting, english and foundation paper piecing.  We also are interested if you know of very short videos that show a skill you think is well presented (because we know not all YouTubes are created equal).  So if you have learned something from a short (again less than 15 minutes) YouTube, please send the link to the board and we will see if we think it will work at a future meeting.

Swaps and Challenges:

• The Smalls Swap has been moved to the August meeting.  Please bring your "small" item such as a pin cushion, zipper pouch, coin purse, small stuffie, mug rug, mini wallhanging, etc. to the next meeting and we will Yankee swap.

Charity:

• MQG Community Outreach Quilt - Maya and Rossie have been working on creating plans for the MQG quilt.  The pattern is being finalized and they have chosen fabric.  We hope to have a group effort to cut and divvy up fabric on Saturday, September 30th.  A form will be going out for sign-ups shortly.
• We are planning on having a STASH SALE at a future meeting to cover the costs of this quilt.  Please help out by donating fabric (quilt shop quality/modern or at least with a modern bent) at the next meeting.  We will then re-sell it to members to raise the needed funds.

Community:

• Please join us for the first annual A2MQG/DAMQG meet up in Plymouth.  This gathering will be Sunday, August 27th from 2-4pm at Kellogg Park in downtown Plymouth.  Please bring a small swap item to yankee swap.  Information has gone out via email and on FB for specifics.

Meeting Location:

• Note that this is a tad different from what was mentioned at the meeting, but we are moving our meetings entirely to Maker Works in Ann Arbor starting with the August meeting.  
• Maker Works has always been very accommodating for our group and this is no exception as they will allow us to set up regular meetings at their facility.  For those of you who've been around awhile, this is going back to our roots as early guild meetings were held there until we moved to Brenda's digs at Pink Castle. 
• Maker Works is in the Airport Plaza Industrial Park over by Costco in the second row of buildings with a colorful dust collector outside and the numbers are very large at the top of the buildings.  There is plenty of parking once you get to the right section and their front door is on the end of the building.  Please visit their website for a detailed map.

Next meeting:  August 30th, Maker Works

A2MQG Meeting Minutes - June 2023

The June meeting was held at N.E.W. with 17 members attending in person and 2 via Zoom.  We had two guests present.

Membership:  Welcome to our newest member Taryn!

Skill Share: Members shared their favorite quilt tool.  There were some interesting ones ranging from seam rippers to needle organizers. One member had a vintage metal candlestick that she repurposed into a magnetic holder.

Meeting Space: Next meeting will be at Southeast Area Park.  The August meeting and all or most future meetings will be at the Ypsilanti District Library - Superior Room.

Programs: We are planning a Map Making class in October so look for more information on that closer to the date.  Cheryl is also working on getting a local quilter to come to a meeting and give a talk and trunk show.

Round Robin Progress (lots of fun being had - jump in anytime):

Swaps and Challenges:

• This month was final check-in date for UFOs/WIPs.  There was a lot of participation. Ida got the award for longest in progress (I think it was late 1990's when her quilt was started) but Cheryl M was pretty close to that. Cheryl did win for the most UFOs finished (3) and Jes won the drawing. Thanks all for participating.  You now have 6 months to finish more as we will have another challenge in December.

• We also had a lot of participation in the Modern Block Challenge.  Participants were given a traditional block and asked to create a modern version. The creation did not have to be a completed quilt. Examples of blocks were Shoo Fly, Broken Dishes and Bear Claw.

• Our next swap, due at the July meeting, will be a "Smalls" swap.  This swap is for participants to make any small item they wish (examples are: pin cushion, small purse, small stuffy, mini quilt, mug rug).  Items will be exchanged via Yankee Swap.
• This month's Bring a FQ, Take a FQ was Bold fabrics.  Next month will be Solids.

Charity & Outreach:

• There are quilts to be quilted - check with Carol.
• MQG Community Quilt Challenge for QuiltCon - discussion was held on many 12 concepts that were submitted and a vote was held.  The 'winning' design was an original by Rossie H. called Chained.  Maya has agreed to chair the project.  Rossie will get together with her on the pattern and how we can break it up into workable pieces for the guild.
• The group decided we would like to have interested members donate fabric from their scraps and then sell them to go towards funding the MQG quilt.  More information will be sent out in email.

General information was shared on upcoming shows. There are no sew-ins planned at present and there was no library report. The rest of the meeting was Show and Share and an awesome give-away by Katie of many of her bag creations (thanks Katie!!).

Next meeting will be at Southeast Area Park in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, July 26.