June 2018 Meeting Minutes

Loree called the meeting to order at 10 a.m.

Activity this month was a chance to win a Carrot Cake baked by Lisa.

OLD BUSINESS

• Arrive early to help set up.
• Sign up on the Show and Tell form and food sign-up form when you arrive.
• Please continue to make items for our raffle in November.
• Quiltcon is February 21-24, 2019. MQG Charity Quilt parameters are out.  If you are interested in a design proposal submit it to the guild.  Include fabric costs, (top, back, and binding) and a timeline for completion. Don’t forget reservations for your rooms for Quiltcon. They do fill up fast. List of hotels is on the Quiltcon website. June 26^th is the day to begin registering for classes. 9:00 AM Eastern time for the beginning of registration. The catalog is out, so you can begin looking at teachers and who you may want to go to.
• Anyone interested in a program with Joe Cunningham contact Pensacola MQG.

Treasurer’s Report:  Linda gave us an updated account of our funds at this time.

New Business: 

• Next meeting will be Christmas in July.  We will do a modern Christmas fabric swap.  Bring up to 3 yards of fabric to swap.  Look at Facebook site.  We will be posting ideas for modern Christmas fabric to bring.  We wrap it up…each yard in Christmas paper and exchange with other members.
• Also, bring fun quilty gift ideas for Christmas to share with the group.  Bring your samples, patterns, and ideas.
• We shared a Quiltfest from Jacksonville in September 20, 21, and 22^nd in case anyone is interested in going.
• Door prizes were drawn:  Winners were, Lisa, Loree, Lisa, Marsha

 The Block Lottery:  Marsha won the blocks this month and Linda shared next month’s Block Lottery block.  It was the Triangle Strip Block which consists of 4 pieces.  Linda had printed directions.  Next month, Lisa does her block for August.

PROGRAM 
Westwood Acres Fabrics has had lots of experience in blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting, and Instagramming.  We invited them to give us some information on tech tools and using them for our quilt guild and personal use. They shared some recent makes. On Instagram most people like to see finished quilts.  They said when they posted finished quilts, they got the most hits.  

They explained that most businesses like online fabric businesses have at least a Virtual Assistant and a Physical Assistant.

They explained that the value of Social Media may be great in some areas, but that we have a loneliness epidemic in America, too.  It is better to know the people and have fewer contacts than to have many friends and they be mostly people we don’t even know.

@sewshabbyquilting was another site they recommended. 

They shared how they start designing a quilt by:

1.       Drawing the block, first

2.      Working to eliminate seams

3.      Figure out finished measurements

4.      Figure out unfinished

5.      Figure out quantities to buy

Hashtags were explained as folders to keep info.  Following hashtags can be fun.  The feed is filtered.  Some recommended following are:  #igreads #quiltblock

For our Quilt guild members were reminded to look at #ecmqgsews

When typing hashtags go to the next line right after punctuation…no space.

Instagram—she recommended just exploring as well as Pinterest.  

Another good book is by Penney Sturgis is The Toolbox.

On Pinterest we reminded our members we are:  Emerald Coast MQG

Show and Tell, Lunch and Sew Day followed an exciting meeting.

February 2017 Meeting Minutes

February 11^th brought us together for our second meeting of 2017 in our regular meeting place, First Baptist Church of Crestview.  Cindy promptly began the meeting at 10:00am, welcomed our members and guest, and asked the energy, thoughts, or prayers from our opening moment of silence be directed to several of our current and past members who were in need.

The first order of business was distribution of the awesome packets of Riley Blake Designs Creative Rockstar fabric to those who signed-up for the latest MQG fabric challenge.  

Just because the MQG bundles have been distributed, doesn't mean you can't participate.  You can!  Simply purchase fabric from your favorite retailer, submit pictures and details of your quilted item by April 30, 2017 to be in the running for prizes. (Here is the submission link.)  Remember to post pictures on social media using the #mqgfabrichallenge hashtag. 

Savannah, GA and QuiltCon were discussed.  So many ECMQG’rs are attending for the first time!  We hope everyone returns with ideas and inspiration to share!! 

Cindy let us know our QuiltCon Charity Quilt would not be displayed because it was not representative of the talent within our guild.

February door prizes were F8 bundles of coordinating Cotton + Steel fabrics purchased from one of our favorite online shops, Westwood Acres.  

Wendi and Cindy selected these fabrics to show the diversity and coordination of the various Cotton + Steel lines across collections and designers.  Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets; our winners were Bailee, Mary, Loree, Jill, Wendi, Maureen, Kim, and Cindy.  

Introduction to Color Theory was the program segment Natalie prepared and which she’ll continue to present, in small amounts, over the next several months.  This time, the basics were given including the 12 main color families and their associated names, and explanations of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. 

Before Laraine could talk about the March Block Lottery, Natalie issued this color challenge – use your color wheel; attempt to keep the five pieces of the fan blade arc in the same color family. 

 

Laraine showed us the first glimpse of the chosen tutorial for March’s block lottery, Letha’s Electric Fan which uses the Pantone Color of the Year, Greenery.  You can use as little, or as much, of the color as you want.  Her sample blocks were made with that in mind; the color in her Kona solids stash was Sour Apple.  All of the block lottery details can be found in this post.

25 You’ve Got Mail! blocks were received from Natalie, Faye, Bobbi, Cindy, Wendi, and Jill.

Before we could choose a winner (or two), Cindy showed us her quilt top made from the Foldstar lottery (November).

Natalie showed her top from the Umbrella lottery (July).

Laraine showed her table runner from the Transparent Play lottery (October).

After eligibility had been established, Jill’s and Wendi’s names were drawn.  Congrats ladies!

2017 Program Captain, Loree, provided an overview of programs through July, deliberately leaving the calendar for the last half of the year open-ended until she (and the other ECMQG’rs) returns from QuiltCon.  She is tapping into the interests (the survey passed around last month) and talents of people within the guild.  Please see her with your suggestions and ideas.      

Next month March begins a three-part program/mini-workshop series that delves into rulerless improv strip piecing using all solid fabrics!  Diane and Natalie will share presentation duties.  You can find full details and a supply list here.  The guest and non-member fee for each session is $15, payable at the door.

Mary shared a charity request for Pillowcase Dresses and Curtain Rod dresses on T.J's Site.  Please see Sherri, our Community Outreach and Charity Captain to coordinate giving efforts.  She told us she'd have some names of organizations for us at the March meeting.

Mary generously shared her construction expertise for the yoga mat bag planned for the Sit and Sew.  Thank you!

Cindy reminded us to save our selvages – 1.25” to 1.5” wide - because of an upcoming project Laraine’s proposed.  You want that little extra bit of color and pattern attached.

The beautiful Carolyn Friedlander F8s were distributed thanks to Natalie’s mad sorting skills!  Remember, if your bag(s) had Amy 1 and/or Amy 2 tickets in them, see her at the March meeting to receive your F8(s). 

Show & Tell wrapped up the meeting with more than half of the group sharing 12 projects (not including the block lottery insta-quilts shown in the middle of the meeting). 

Travels kept Jo, our Hospitality Captain, from being with us but her idea (thanks to Pinterest!) for a Perfect Pairs potluck lunch was a hit!  Just ask Natalie's dog.  :)

Respectfully Submitted,

Roxie Tew

ECMQG Secretary