Meeting Recap (August 13, 2022)

Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...Feel better? Equal parts relaxing and invigorating, chair yoga for quilters was a hit! See what else we got up to at this week's meeting.

Guild Business

• Em (Vice President) ran the meeting today and gave us the details of local events:

• City Sewing Room: T-shirt Quilt Class, Thurs. Oct. 13-Nov. 3 5:30-8:00pm

• PerennialSTL: Intro to Needle Punch, Thurs. Aug. 18 6:00-8:30pm/T-shirt Totes + More, Sat. Aug. 20 10:00am-12:00pm

• Jackman’s: Many upcoming quilting and quilting adjacent classes.

• Alison Glass/Giucy Giuce mini series SAL begins September 1.

• Gail (Treasurer) went over the guild's finances and our current membership numbers. We have a roster of 193 members! WOW!! If you're not a member yet, learn how to join HERE.
• Announcements and Reminders:
• Board elections will be held at the November meeting. We have openings for Vice President and Treasurer. Please contact Lilo if you are interested in running.
• A group of members has been formed to head up the guild's QuiltCon charity quilt entry. Watch your email for more details coming soon.
• If you are not familiar with City Sewing Room and their sister site SewHope STL, these are great places to learn new skills and acquire fabric, notions, tools, etc. for bargain bin prices. Check them out HERE and HERE.
• DON'T FORGET!! Registration for QuiltCon starts today!

Activity: Chair Yoga for Quilters

Lisa from Urban Breath Yoga led a room full of our members through some gentle and refreshing exercises, right in our chairs. Her cheerful guidance helped us release built up tension in our necks, shoulders, backs, knees, wrists, and legs; all places quilters need to stretch throughout an intense sewing session. She couldn't believe we'd stay up until midnight to quilt at the SewMe retreat. Good thing she joined us today! You can look up "chair yoga for quilters" on YouTube or Google for instructional videos. Thank you Lisa!

Committee Updates

• Quilt Show
• The Quilt Show committee gave a follow up of our first quilt show event in several years.
• 770 people attended the show.
• Food Bank donation from the raffle quilt = $947.
• Net cost to the guild = $900.
• Thank you to all the show volunteers and members who publicized our show.
• Thank you to the quilt show committee and Marie Hill for your print services.

• SewMe STL
• All current details can be found HERE. We will continue to update as information becomes available.
• Registration opens to members Thursday, August 18 at 8PM via email.
• We are limited to 100 attendees and do expect this event to sell out, however we will have a waiting list.
• Cost is $35/day and you can attend the entire weekend, or just choose one or two days of participation.
• Commemorative t-shirts will be available for $10 and are optional.
• We need volunteers to greet attendees. Sign up will be sent after registration.
• Raffle donations are appreciated and can be given to Jennifer Deck, Susan Muszynski, and Jessica Elliston.
• Watch your email for the registration link!!

• Charity
• Guild members have been invited to attend the Empowering Women Gala put on by our charity partners, The Women's Safe House. More info can be found HERE. Donations are also welcome.
• The committee has begun to collect charity quilts and will continue to do so through our November meeting and the SewMe retreat.
• Please attach "STL MQG Cares" label to each quilt.
• The committee has created a comprehensive document in the member drive full of pattern suggestions for those wanting to go a different route then the kit patterns. Quilt parameters are HERE.
• There is still time to complete a quilt for The Women's Safe House and invite you to help us reach our goal.

• Swap and Challenge
• Fabric Placement blocks are due at the November meeting. 
• There may be some prizes, although this is not a contest.
• Official rules can be found HERE.
• Members can follow this path in the Google Drive to find instructions for the blocks: STLMQG Members > Swap/Challenge > 2022

Other Items Covered

• Home Sew Happy Hour: Jump on Zoom August 16 from 6-9pm and get to know other guild members better. 
• This is a casual event where you can come and go as you please.
• Some members have expressed interest in doing this event in person again and are welcome to do so. Let the board know your plans and we'll publicize on social media.
• Block of the Month Winners: Have you joined in the Block of the Month sampler quilt party yet? It's been so fun seeing everyone's take on Instagram. For all the info look HERE. It's not too late to jump in.
• Linda Kocher is our winner for June's entry.
• Joan Miller is the winner for July's block.
• August BOM: Speaking of the block of the month, the next tutorial is live on the blog and we're taking on improv curves. Em takes you through all the steps HERE. 
• Post to Instagram using #stlmqgbom or email a photo before our next meeting to be entered for a prize. 

• Fabric Raffle: Thanks to Cotton Cuts we gave away two FQ bundles of Sublime Summer from Free Spirit fabrics to Robyn Passig and Carol Schmidt. Hooray!
• Show and Share: We wrapped up the meeting with another great Show and Tell. Pics are being posted to our Instagram and Facebook pages. Join us there to see pictures of quilts that were shared, and to stay up to date on what's to come this year!