Meeting Recap (July 9th, 2011)

Another fun-filled meeting, literally...I mean cake, giveaways and everyone walked home with a little something from Moda.  Who could have asked for a better way to celebrate our 1st Anniversary.

We started the day with 62 due-paying members and ended it with 70.  Hi !  New Members

Here's how it all went:

• Sign-ups for the Surprise Sew-In (August 27th) will open August 1st.  To sign up, visit our blog and click on the Sew-In button that will appear.  Due-paying members only and the entrance fee is 1 Modern-style Fat Quarter. 
• It's not too late to get in on the Golden Ticket Bus Tour (September 23rd-25th), starting at Fabric Nosherie in Webster Groves (opening in September) and travelling across several states. 
• Mary Claire shared with us some tops that were already put together using some of the blocks that were collected for the Cross Blocks Gathering.  The guild did an amazing job, and we are now looking for donations of batting, and of course time.  If you are interested, please contact Mary Claire.  The Sew,Mama,Sew! $20 Gift Certificate was won by Candy G.
• Fabric Folding & Storage Solutions Part 1, included Cindy Lammon and Gina S. showing some of the techniques that they learned from In Color Order and Turning*Turning.  There was a discussion which followed where several additional storage ideas popped up.  Part 2 of the program was a blog post which included contributions by Cindy Lammon, Gina S., Nancy L. and Candy G.  If your scroll to the post before this or click here, you can check it out.  Thanks Everyone!!!
• The HABITAT Challenge has officially started.  Fabric was shown and distributed, rules were given and the response was overwhelming.  We currently have 33 participants; but it's not too late to get in on the fun.  If you missed July's meeting, I'll have the fabric with me in August too.  If you need a reminder of the rules or are interested in where you can buy more of the HABITAT fabric, check our the Challenge tab at the top of the page.  Here's what the fabric looks like for those that missed it.

• Cake Time!!!  Thanks to Jessica and Linda for cutting and prepping, and the other ladies who helped distribute.
• As mentioned in the Big Surprise post, we had some lovely prizes to give away. 
• Bindings, Borders & Squares donated a copy of the Block Party book, a Heather Bailey pattern and a Bananafana pattern
• The Quilted Garden donated 2 Gift Certificates each worth $15, along with a basket of other goodies
• The Quilted Fox donated a skein of Japanese embroidery floss and another variety of embroidery floss
• Mary Claire had some "Favorite Things" to giveaway to several winners
• I donated some Fat Quarter bundles
• Moda/United Notions donated mini-charm packs of Flurry and Countdown to Christmas to all of the members in attendance yesterday.

• While the 1st anniversary celebration was wonderful, it was certainly time to have a Reality Check, just to reinforce that all of this just doesn't magically happen.  As Mary Claire put it, it "takes a village".  I would be most honored to continue as your President for however long you'll have me, and Mary Claire would love to be involved for however long you'll have her too; yet don't let that deter you from running.  We are just 2 people and when elections happened last year our group was still relatively small; yet as I mentioned earlier in this post, we are now 70 strong.   
• We agreed to change our By-Laws allowing for an Election Officiate to collect names of those wishing to run for office/committees/etc.  Jamie Mueller is now that Election Officiate for this year.  If you'd like to have your name on the ballot, please notify Jamie no later then October 1st.  After which she will provide all names to Mary Claire and I, and a ballot will be created.  Campaigning and Elections will happen at the November meeting (11-12-11) in case you are wondering.  You must be present to campaign and vote in the election, as there are no absentee ballots.  More info can be found here on the process, positions, etc.  After reviewing the information if you have additional committees you think we need, or have questions as to the roles please contact me.
• There was a discussion around guild involvement and how important it is to follow your fellow member's blogs, connect on Flickr, upload photos, comment on other's blogs/photos/etc.  Here is some information regarding this topic
• Finally, the future of the STLMQG was briefly discussed.  It is my hope that we can continue to do more charitable block collections, that we can go on retreats and have tons more Sew-Ins, that we can host Speakers that appeal to the modern quilter, and one day have a quilt show that is truly our own.  One of our members even challenged us to be the best Modern Quilt Guild outside of LA...and why the hell not.  Yet, none of this is possible if we do not have a strong foundation and group dynamic. 

Our next meeting will be August 13th, at our new location.  The Kirkwood Family YMCA.  Our meeting time has changed too, it's now 10:30am - 1:00pm.  Address and directions can be found on the Meeting Info tab along the top of our header.  Of course, I will send out an email and make special note of this when it gets closer as well, we don't want any members going to the wrong location, do we?  The Rip, Rip, Ripping Challenge is due that month as well.

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Lastly, as our 1st year comes to a close, I wanted to take a quick trip down memory lane. 

We started online 7/30/2010 and literally that same day, a few crazy people jumped onboard (Mary Claire, Jamie and Cara). 

Our1st meeting was 9/11/2010 and as you can see in the photo below, while a few had left before Mary Claire took our 1st photo (See photos are always the last thing we think of)...our group was quite small. I think we only had 13 attend that first meeting.

 Photo courtesy of Mary Claire

Here we are a month later, October 9th.

 And here we are today:

Photo courtesy of Mary Claire

You cannot know how much you all mean to me, you have challenged me, pushed me to do things that I was previously uncomfortable doing, and allowed me to grow and learn new things...and I thank you all for that.  I am continually inspired by all of your talent and hope that the longer we stick together, the more it will rub off :-)  A special Thanks goes out to Mary Claire, for being my Quilty-WingWoman and for sharing your ideas and listening to my crazy ones.  I certainly could not have done it without you.

Looking forward to many, many more years.

See you all in August!!