Slides presented at meeting
Meeting was brought to order at 10:07 by our president, Octavia Pitts.
Octavia (President) opened up the meeting with our usual Zoom instructions and welcoming remarks.
Susan Muszynski (Treasurer) presented the monthly financial report. We currently have $24,162.86 in the checking account. We recently paid the annual MQG renewal of $2,100 and everyone’s membership in MQG should be updated in their database. We have an upcoming bill for the April speaker of approximately $3,500. She reminded everyone that needs or will need to be reimbursed for guild expenses, to please make the requests in a timely manner.
Gail Luther (Secretary) reported that attendance at the January meeting was 91. At this time, this day’s attendance wasn’t known but it was later reported that we again had 91 members attend with an additional 9 guests and 6 members attending via zoom. Current membership was reported at 167 (as of this writing, the membership is now 174), this includes 17 new members since the beginning of the year (now 21).
Octavia went over the communications slide which included the Wild Apricot for Members icon to look for in the app store. This app allows members to easily access our website on your phone. Some functions are not available in the app, however it is a quick way to view the guild’s calendar and membership directory.
She reminded members that we have switched platforms and all guild information from 2023 can now be found at www.stlmqg.org. Please log in and become familiar with the website. The old website, stlmqg.blogspot.com will be kept as an archival of guild activities up to 2023.
Follow the guild on Instagram @stlmqg. Use hashtag #stlmqg for general items you want to the guild to see, #stlmqgufo2023 for the current 2023 Modern UFO challenge and #stlmqgRR23 for the 2023 Round Robin challenge. You can read more about these challenges on the website under the menu tab, Guild Activities.
You can also join our Facebook group, St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild. Within that Facebook group we have an active chat for those of us going to QuiltCon 2023. There is also a separate Facebook group for Quiltcon goers called STLMQG@QuiltCon , but it is not used often.
Jenn Deck (Vice President) reviewed upcoming guild activities. All of these can be found on our website or phone app event calendar with more details.
- Feb 21: Hand Sew Happy Hour, Brentwood Bread Co 6-9PM, Host - Gayle Larson
- Feb 15 and March 1: Hand Stitchers, Buder Library 5-7:30PM, Host - Lynda Mueller Drendel
- More events can be found on the calendar.
Jenn also went over some activities happening in the community. All of these are listed in the slides; the link is at the beginning of the post.
Member Announcements
St. Louis Metro Area Shop Hop 2023 will be going on the month of March. More information can be found on this Facebook group - link.
AI Art Quilt Challenge - While not a guild activity, participants will use the power of AI to help design a quilt throughout the year. More information can be found in these two links – Flyer and Signup Form.
Committee Announcements
Jenn reported that the committees and committee leader positions have been filled. She thanked everyone for stepping up. Committee leaders and members can be found on the Committee page on the Website.
Sarah Linker (Social Committee Leader) reported that starting in March, the Social Committee will be hosting informal lunches at various restaurants in the area to provide more opportunities to get to know each other. The lunches are casual and are listed on the guild’s calendar. An informal headcount may be taken at the meeting. The March meetup location is McAlister’s Deli at Deer Creek, conveniently located near Joann’s.
The Social Committee is planning a social event for April so watch the website for details.
Tonya Cass (Charity Committee Leader) reported that the Charity Committee has come up with some good ideas and will be presenting those in detail at the March meeting.
Jessica Schunke & Lilo Whitener-Fey (Swap & Challenge Co-Leaders) along with their committee announced the first 2023 Swap. We will be creating magnets of tiny quilt blocks to exchange in a modified “white elephant” game at our May meeting. The 2023 Swap page has some examples plus the instructions. Magnets were provided to attendees and If supplies last, will be available at the March meeting. You are also welcome to supply our own magnets and make more than one.
The committee will announce their Traditional to Modern challenge at our next meeting.
Susan (Treasurer) reminded us the UFO challenge has begun. Post your completed modern UFOs on Instagram with #stlmqgufo2023 or email a picture to stlmqg@gmail.com. Tips and information are posted on the challenge page on the website.
Octavia (President) apologized on behalf of the board for the chaotic review of the 2022 BOM quilts last month. Be sure to check out the slide show of these quilts on the website’s home page. If you completed the 2022 BOM and there isn’t a picture of your quilt in the slideshow, please email it to Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org. Captions are not currently available.
Octavia also went over the Round Robin challenge again and how it works. Rules for the challenge can be found on our website. Groups will be announced this week by email. The first pass will take place at our March meeting.
Tess McMahon (2022 Charity Leader) welcomed Mary Ann Owens of The Women’s Safe House back to our meeting. This group was the recipient of our 2022 Charity effort to create quilts for the families being helped by this organization. Mary Ann thanked us for our generosity and told us that the first family had just received their new quilts as a celebration of their starting their new lives. Everyone that participated should feel proud of your efforts
Octavia asked to please let us know if you have a quilt hanging at QuiltCon, so that we can take pictures of them for the website. Gail is compiling this list at secretary@stlmqg.org.
Guild members attending QuiltCon are encouraged to meet up at 4:45 pm on Friday, February 24 by our charity challenge quilt for a group photo. If you are attending, please put that on your calendar.
Octavia discussed the various clubs that have sprung up; some officially associated with the guild and some not. We are happy to put a gathering on the guild’s calendar if it would interest our guild members. Please contact Gail at secretary@stlmqg.org to submit an event.
Octavia also led a discussion of what is modern and what is not. See the slides for examples and information on the modern aesthetic.
Hope Wyss (House Leader) has asked that any free table scraps smaller than 2” x 2” be placed in a ziploc bag and labeled “small scraps; must take all.”
Octavia and Amy Suiter led the group activity Improv is for Everyone. Members used improv methods to make paper collages during timed rounds with different shapes. The slides include links and book suggestions for further information on Improv piecing. Photo Album of activity - scroll down page.
After the program, we drew attendance prize winners. The winners of the fabric raffle donated by Cotton Cuts were Gayle May and Patricia Meyer.
Check out the photos from our Show & Share, Photo Album.
Meeting Adjourned
Submitted
Gail Luther
Secretary, STLMQG
