July 2023 Recap

If you tuned in to the meeting via Zoom, we know how painful it was to keep having it drop. We are taking steps to improve the signal for August. Hopefully, no matter when or how you joined us in July, this meeting recap is beneficial.

Programs:

The Q2 challenge of using pre-cuts was a success! All entries can be found on the Challenges page here. They were not included in the Show & Tell carousel below.

The theme for this month is Color Theory. You can access the Meeting Slides in the Member-Only area of the website. Follow this path: Members-Only>Archive>Programs>Meeting Slides>July. There you’ll find the links to the resources that Erin shared and the slides with various definitions and inspirations for choosing colors.

Future programs: August - Skill Builders and Framing Quilt Blocks, September - Sew Day and assembling the charity quilt, October - fabric weaving, November - temperature quilt

Quarterly challenges: Q3 - Limited color palette/due October. Using 3-5 colors, make and finish a quilt of any size. Use the hashtag #pghmqgltdcolor

Sara Goer workshop coming in October - Building An Improv Toolbox… You can now register for the workshop in the Members-Only area: Members-Only>Workshop Registration. You can find more information on the workshop here.

Membership:

The membership year was over as of June 30, 2023. Renewals were due by then. You can now pay by cash or check, and you can also mail your payment to the Treasurer at the following address:

Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild

PO Box 105

Wexford, PA 15090

At this point, if you haven’t renewed your membership you will be removed from our social media groups and our roster. You are still a member of the MQG “mother ship” until the end of 2023.

President:

The 2024 QC charity quilt programs has some changes, but we are aiming to be completed in time for entry. The winning design was a yellow version of the Deco quilt by Lo & Behold Stitchery. The volunteers are coordinating the fabric purchase and will have kits to take at the August meeting. A photo of the mockup can be found in the slides.

We are always happy to share news of other workshops, lectures, etc. However, we would ask that members with this information create their own social media post that we can share. We will highlight that information on our platforms, including any posts you might create to sell your sewing items.

Please consider stepping up to lead next year! Several offices will have met their term limits and an organization is only as good as its volunteers.

Social Media:

Progress updates on the website and social media refresh were shared. The new site is active and feedback is positive. All of the old site’s links still need to be updated to the new site. No decision was made regarding a public versus private presence on Facebook. Streamlining the accounts to match emails for continuity and media sharing will take place and the group vs page question will be revisited in the future.

A general overview of Instagram terms and functions was quickly covered. In the meeting slides, a link to an instructional article is provided.

Treasurer:

Jen provided a financial statement for the 2022-2023 year, with details regarding our balance. This information is also in the meeting slides. A budget for the 2023-2024 year is in the works and will be presented at the August meeting.

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Things we want you to remember! In the Members-Only area, you can now submit Show & Tell, register for the workshop and submit a member bio! As functionality grows, we will make more announcements. Thanks for the support of the new website!

June 2023 Recap

Our June meeting was another full event! We started off with a review of the retreat, including the reel made from the photos taken. If you haven’t ever attended a retreat, I encourage you to really consider it. It is such a good time! Here’s the reel, if you want to watch us one more time. :)

You might notice a few photos towards the end of the reel full of tote bags. Judy estimates we made over 100 tote bags for Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh! In fact, we had a visitor at the June meeting who came just to give us her tote! Thank you, Nora! You can read more about the tote drive here. The guild is not collecting totes as a group anymore, but you are always welcome to donate on your own.

Programs:

June 25th is the Kawandi Workshop with Vivian. It is from 1-5pm at the Millvale meeting location. If you didn’t receive the supply list, reach out to Erin at pghmqg.programs@gmail.com Vivian has since clarified to also brings scissors and to press your backing folds to the back.

July is when we introduce the next quarterly challenge and the Q2 Pre-cut challenges are due.

Future programs: July - Color Theory & quilting, August - Skill Builders and Framing Quilt Blocks, September - Sew Day and assembling the charity quilt, October - fabric weaving

Quarterly challenges: Q3 - Limited color palette/due October, Q4 - Block Exchange/due January 2024, Q1 - Temperature Quilts/due April 2024

Sara Goer workshop coming in October - Building An Improv Toolbox

Membership:

The membership year is over as of June 30, 2023. Renewals are due by then. You can pay by cash or check, and you can also mail your payment to the Treasurer at the following address:

Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild

PO Box 105

Wexford, PA 15090

President:

The 2023 QC charity quilt will be hung at the Quilt Co East show and it is for sale. The 2024 QC charity quilt programs has some changes, but volunteers are needed to work on a design. (Peggy, Patti, Kathy, Rose, Connie and Cheralee all volunteered at the end of the meeting.) A vote was taken to do the quilt and attempt to make the MQG deadline, but we’re fine if we don’t. It can still be donated locally.

Please consider stepping up to lead next year! Several offices will have met their term limits and an organization is only as good as its volunteers.

Social Media:

Social media had a huge portion of the business part of the meeting. Voting was put forth to move to SquareSpace, a new platform that can also offer a commerce option for processing payments in the future. This first phase is a site that is up to date with an interactive calendar, easy email links and connections to officers, a place to provide member-only content like our roster and biographies, etc. The vote passed unanimously and more research needs to be done before the online payment option is brought back to the guild. A schedule of refreshing the online presence and social media for the guild was also presented with June covering the new site, the reassignment of our Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild domain to the new site and backing up the old blog for our archives. As of this post’s writing, those have all been achieved. The password to access the member-only section of the new site was shared in the May email from the president. That password will be good through June 30, 2023. A new password, accessing new updated content will be provided to members who have renewed for the 2023/24 year. All 2022/23 members were also subscribed to the new site. You are free to unsubscribe at any time, however, it will remove the ability to receive notification of additions to the calendar or new posts like this one, etc.

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June’s programming:

We were treated to a Zoom talk by Lyn from www.battingsupersale.com Lyn generously offered a few prizes to both our in-person attendees as well as our Zoom participants. She covered each substrate (cotton, polyester, blends) with information on their quilting distances, their warmth factor, washability, and best applications. It was a great talk and we’re grateful for her time!

*Please see some additions to the calendar, including the Beaver Valley Show, the Dairy Barn in Ohio show, QuiltCon 2024 and a North Pittsburgh Guild lecture in September!

April 2023 Meeting Recap

It was a full house for the April meeting, with lots of new and old faces!  We had lots to cover, so let's dive right in!

Membership: 

Gail is still taking orders for the Hobbs batting samplers. Payment is due by May 8th, so contact her at pghmqg.membership@gmail.com if you are interested.

Presidency/Treasurer: 

Mary shared that we had a number of ribbon winners at the Three Rivers Quilt Show, and we're proud of all of the entrants from our guild!  Congrats to: Tamara Howard, Pam Bice, Pam Valone, Luiza Skylar, Tracey Zigo and Zsofia Molgaard!  We had a really nice Sew Day in March, too, with a good turnout.  

The retreat is coming in early May, with money due April 21st.  If you're reading this now, you should have already contacted Jen to make last minute arrangements.  The facility, Camp Crestfield in Slippery Rock, is where we had the retreat last year.  See this post for more information.  Emails will be going out to registrants.

We're still collecting totes for Judy, and will be collecting them at the retreat.  The final collection through the guild will be at the June meeting.  After that, please contact Judy directly to make arrangements.  See this post for more information.

We still don't have a home for the QuiltCon charity quilt.  It will be entered into the Quilt Company East show and offered for sale with the money to be donated to charity.

A $5 increase to the dues was put forth and voted on by the attending members.  Dues will now be $55 starting in July 2023.  Renewals will be due by June 30, 2023.

Social Media:

(Full disclosure, Cheralee didn't make it to the meeting because of downed trees by her house.)  The first slide was to share Textile Talks, a series of lectures, panels, etc hosted by 6 different organizations, including the Modern Quilt Guild.  Here is the link to sign up for the newsletter to stay informed of upcoming streaming content.

April being Earth month, sustainability was also a focus.  Determining what sustainability looks like for you would have been discussed.  Zak Foster, Heidi Parkes, Chris English and the Create & Sustain page on Instagram were featured.

The National Quilt Museum BOM starts in May: https://quiltmuseum.org/blockofthemonth/

The MQG is having it's first sewalong: https://www.themodernquiltguild.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CrissCrossChain_Chow_final-2.pdf <--- This is the pattern.

Programs: 

The focus of the meeting was pre-cuts: fat quarters, layer cakes, jelly rolls, charms and mini charms.  then there are ones called honey buns, bars, hexagons... Pre-cuts are the focus of our next quarterly challenge and Erin had the attendees break up into groups to create quilt designs based on pre-cuts anyone had brought to share with the meeting.

Q1 Challenges "Sew Small" were turned in.  See this post.

Quarterly Challenges are as follows: Q2 Pre-Cuts, Q3 Limited Color Palette, Q4 Block exchange/MQG Block, Q1 2024 Temperature Quilts

Vivian Benton will be teaching a Kawandi class June 25th.  See this post for details.

Announcements:

QCE show is July 13-15, 2023.  Entries due by 05/19/23

QuiltCon 2024 Raleigh, NC

QuiltCon 2025 Phoenix, AZ

North Pittsburgh Quilters has a May 2nd lecture and a September 5th lecture.  Contact Sandra Schott for more details. schottsandra8235@gmail.com

Sept 9, 2023 Sew Day

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We had a sweet family attend as guests!  Here are their Show & Tell photos.