January 2024 elections and recap

Hello and welcome 2024!  We had a great meeting with elections for new officers, a speaker from the Heinz History Center and a review of Quilt Market in October.  Because of a last-minute Covid diagnosis, I missed the December meeting/sew day, so I have a few updates there, too.

Eric Lidji from the Heinz History Center came to talk about an upcoming exhibit (September 1, 2024 through April 2025) featuring the work of local quilter, Louise Silk.  Silk’s journey from 1970s textile artist and home ec teacher are on display as well as today’s works that are more personal and comprised of family clothing. It promises to be both deeply personal to her and to speak to the creative soul in each of us.  Lidji explained that the first half of the event will be creating stitched pieces that will be added to exhibit for public display and the second half will be where the public can take the tiny pieces home with them.  You can see examples on Silk’s Instagram account, @silkquilt. The name of the group of volunteers who will be piecing and stitching these small works will be BubbeWisdom Stitching Circle.  If you are interested in participating, get the email from Mary pghmqg.programs@gmail.com 

·        President:  The new officers for 2024 are Connie in Membership, Luiza in Social Media, Mary in Programs, Cheralee in Treasurer and Michele as President.  Congratulations to the new officers and thank you to the 2023 officers: Mary, Gail, Jen, Erin and Cheralee. The retreat drawing winner was Zsofia!

·        Membership: We now have 60 members, with 16 new members joining in 2023!

·        Treasurer: A year-end update was shared and you can find that in the meeting slides in the Members-Only Archive.  Our dues to the MQG increased because our membership grew as well.

·        Programs: Weaving challenges were due at this meeting!  The 2024 challenges were also shared – Q1 Temperature Quilts, Q2 Scrappy Quilts, Q3 Color Challenge and Q4 UFO Challenge.

Nicole and her mom, Kim Nixon, from Sewing Original Stitches treated us to a Quilt Market review. Quilt Market is an industry show for shops and professionals and showcases new products, new lines, etc. It happens twice a year, with one event always happening in Houston and the other rotating throughout the country. New products they brought to share were TenSisters Easy Piecing Grids, OdiShine glitter gel, and fusible scrap tape. Kim noted that handsewing’s presence at Quilt Market is on the rise, and also that some noted quilters are retiring. We really enjoyed learning from a shop’s perspective about choosing the range of products to offer. Thanks so much to Nicole and Kim!

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December notes: The Meet Me At the Point charity quilt was donated to the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. It looks like everyone had a great day sewing and the swap of thread catchers was a festive success.

November 2023 Recap - Temperature Quilts

The November meeting was low-key, with just a few leaders and a smaller attendance than what we normally see. That didn’t prevent us from covering a wide variety of topics or taking care of some administrative work! This month we voted on accepting an updated version of the by-laws. Key changes included upgrading the social media position to be on par with the other leadership as far as title and candidate eligibility. Social media has come a long way since the guild began and the part it plays deserved a more thoughtful definition. We also updated our definition of modern quilting to align with the new Modern Quilt Guild website. Leadership terms were clearly spelled out as one year long, and references to a specific month for the General Meeting were removed to reflect that the calendar for the guild has shifted since Covid. The new , and approved, by-laws will be found under the tab in the Members-Only portion of the website. The vote to make the changes was unanimous.

President: Mary wasn’t able to join us, but Erin reviewed the need for new candidates for the upcoming election. Judy Irving is our election official and as of Sunday, nobody had submitted their names. ALL positions are open, as the current leadership will be leaving or vacating their current position. PLEASE consider running for office. The guild cannot function without volunteers and the changes you saw this year were done with an eye to making the roles run more smoothly. Our motto in leadership was that the decisions we made weren’t for today, but were intended for tomorrow. Ask any officer if you have any questions and remember to speak to Judy by the end of the day Friday, November 24, 2023. A ballot will be prepared and shared at the December meeting. Voting will be at the January 2024 meeting (which WILL be in-person.) Our community charity quilt for QuiltCon has been submitted, too!

We added a social time at the beginning of the meeting. What did you think?

Social Media: A progress report on the tasks outlined in the June meeting was given. Over 1, 000 show and tell photos have been added to the archives for member viewing. The Facebook page and members-only group are now linked for cross-posting. The Instagram account cannot directly link to the Facebook account at this time because of limitations in creating profiles in Facebook. Video tutorials were made for the future social media officers to use the new website as well as written instructions. The Flickr photos are 90% moved over and a little clean up needs to happen before that account can be deleted. An emphasis on simplicity and streamlining the job of social media was made, plus a description of the duties required versus personal choice was explained. The Monday Member Roundup feature, for instance, is a personal choice to create. Future officers should feel that they can continue or discard these optional activities as they see fit while fulfilling the duties of the role.

Membership: Two new biographies were added to the website in the members-only area. Thank you, Gerry and Merrilee! We currently have 58 members and 33 attended the October meeting on weaving. Make sure to pick up your MQG membership pin from Gail if you didn’t get it in July. Also, please confirm that you are receiving the weekly emails from the MQG. Your PghMQG membership includes membership to the MQG.

Programs: The meeting topic was Temperature Quilts, quilts that use weather data to determine something about the pattern, usually fabric color. Erin covered how to create a color range for the temps, where to find historic temperature date and how you could add details like precipitation to your design. Anne W brought a temperature quilt that she had previously made as an example. Temperature Quilts are the focus of the Q1 2024 quarterly challenge, due in April 2024. We have a great resource from a guild in Erie, PA that has an algorithm that will take the guesswork out of choosing colors. The email to receive this customized info can be found in the slides rather than here as it was shared with us with special permission. Erin also has many links to accompany this program, also found in the slides. Just a reminder, the Q4 2023 challenge is to include weaving in a project. Due January 2024!

Special MQG Report: Karen Womack, PghMQG member, was elected our regional rep to the MQG board. She shared that the MQG is looking to diversify the programs it offers to include more individual members. We saw the International Scrap Sorting Day and an upcoming Quilt Back Challenge was discussed. Another line item was that QuiltCon is the main source of funds for the MQG. They are looking to apply for grants, so requests for demographic information may be coming in the future to help determine which grants will work best for us all.

Don’t forget:

• December will be our holiday sew day & luncheon. Come sew with us December 2, 2023, from 9am-8pm. We are exchanging thread catchers! Links to ideas are on the meeting slides in the archives.

• Pam Bice has reserved an AirBnB for QuiltCon and is looking for roommates. Please email or text/call her for more information. She can be found in the roster in the members-only area of the site.

• All 2024 dates have been added to the website calendar, including meetings, sew days, etc.

October 2023 Meeting Recap

Fall has officially arrived and this month’s program was all about weaving. Fabric weaving, to be more precise. Let’s review the business portion and then check out some pictures of the work everyone did!

President: Mary explained that there are some proposed by-law changes that have been put forth. You can find a button to the proposed document as well as the current by-laws in the Members-Only portion of the site. Please check with Gail or Cheralee for the password if you can’t remember it or can’t locate the July email that contained it. These proposals should be reviewed in time for the November meeting where we will be voting on them.

Judy Irvin has agreed to be the election officiate again this year. All of the leadership positions can be applied for by a member in good standing of at least one year. (Social Media is an exception to the one year rule.) Job descriptions are in the current by-laws and you can reach out to any leader to ask what all their job entails. Submissions are due by the end of the day, Friday, November 24, 2023. Voting will take place at the January General meeting in 2024.

Last year’s community quilt, Meet Me At the Point, has found a home with the women’s shelter that we made totes for earlier this year, Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh! Thanks again to Michele for all of her hard work and all of the members that participated in the creation of that quilt! This year’s quilt, based on Deco, has been pieced and is going to be quilted. It has been entered into the Community Quilt category at QuiltCon 2024. We’re waiting for a final look and the answer to our submission.

Programs:

Erin shared the techniques for different styles of weaving as well as tools you can purchase or make at home.

REMINDER:

Q3 Challenge was limited palette quilts. You can now find that gallery at our Challenge page.

Q4 Challenge is to include weaving in any project. Due at the January 2024 meeting.

Q1-2024 Challenge is Temperature Quilts, due in April 2024.

We’re trying something new in November. The first 20 minutes of the meeting will be a social time for members to catch up and chat. The doors will still open before 1pm and the business portion of the meeting will begin immediately afterwards.

December is our holiday party. The swap item this year is a thread catcher. Links to some projects are in the October slides, and in the Challenges Highlight on Instagram.