New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild

May 8, 2025 General Membership Meeting Recap

The meeting was led by Helen.

There were 30 members and 3 guests in attendance.

Thank you to Amanda, Sonia, and Carol K for attending the door and welcome table.

Thank you to Shelly and others who brought food and beverages.

Raffle Winners

Sarah won the door prize, an Oven Mitt kit.
Laurie M won the raffle for the Ruby & Bee Blenders FQB by Heather Ross for Windham Fabrics.
Mary Lou won the raffle for the Cheryl Ann’s Design Wall.

Guild Business

Secretary (Mary Lou): Nothing new to report.

Treasurer (Marie/Sonia): Nothing new to report.

Communications (Amanda and Lorri): Nothing new to report.

Events and Programming (Laurie K, and Susan H):

Laurie collected and thanked members who completed blocks for the Kona’s Color of Year charity quilt. She handed out a few more packets of fabric.
The June meeting will be a trunk show by Michelle C.
The July meeting will be our annual Ice Cream Social at Greeley Park (weather permitting).
The August meeting will include a 2.5” strip swap.
The September meeting will include a presentation on sewing machine maintenance, by the owners of Quilt Perfect.

Community Outreach (Carol K)

Carol has two quilts available for donation. She will give them to Families in Transition.
Sonia made 30 pillowcases! Carol gave 20 to “Ryan’s Cases for Smiles” and 10 to the Amherst Police Department.
At the end of their presentation last month, members donated two recently-completed quilts to the Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) project. They are no longer accepting quilts from us, because they are at capacity in their warehouse.

Retreats (Shelly and Ophelia)

Our Spring 2025 retreat at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, ME went well.
Our Fall retreat will be November 13-16^th at the St. Methodios center in Contoocook, NH. We may be sewing in their new gym building, if it is completed by then.

Hospitality (Marry Ellen)

Mary Ellen thanked all the members who bring food and beverages to our meeting.

Guild Day Outings. Helen will organize another outing to the New England Quilt Museum to see a new exhibition of Japanese quilts. It will be in June; more details and date TBD.

Board Positions for 2026. We are anticipating some turnover of Board positions. Helen will send out a survey similar to the one she sent out last year asking for members to tell us if they are interested in serving on the Board.

International Scrap Sorting Day. Helen reminded us that November 1^st is the day to sort our scraps! The Modern Quilt Guild is encouraging members to get together and have fun. They will be posting more suggestions and information shortly.

MEETING ACTIVITY

This meeting’s activity was a presentation by Laurie Matthews on her journey as a quilter. She brought many quilts, all with amazing stories to go with them. She offered this quote as inspiration:

Amanda Knox: I am not an accomplished poet or painter, but I’ve fumbled enough at both to know that art is impossible unless you’re willing to start without a plan or coherent vision for what you hope to create. You just have to trust that something will arise from the effort.

Thank you so much, Laurie!

SHOW AND TELL

Sonia told us about upcoming events offered by the Nashua Area Artists Association. Sonia is the manager of the new ArtHub Gallery on Main Street in Nashua. The Grand Opening of the Gallery will be May 17^th, from 2 to 7 PM.

The annual Greeley Park Art Show is scheduled for August 16-17 at Greeley Park in Nashua. The adult competition will be on the Saturday. Shelly is running the children’s competition on Sunday.

Betty showed her blue Royal Wedding quilt, a Missouri Star pattern.
Jeannie showed us her Elephant Abstractions quilt, pattern by Violet Craft. This was the Jeannie’s first time doing paper piecing!
Sarah showed us her Peanut Butter quilt, pattern by Then Came June, which she made from a kit she got at our yard sale!
She also showed us her Read Between the Lines quilt, pattern by Alison Glass. For the thin strips in the quilt, she used pieces from her handmade COVID masks.
Ophelia told us she has been exploring patterns from published quilt books. She had five quilts to show. First, her Ahh-Mazing quilt from Stashtastic 2 by Douglas Leko.
Then, the Pod Patrol quilt from Michelle C’s new book, Not Your Typical Jelly Roll Quilts.
And Myriad, another quilt from Michelle’s book.
And Chapel Windows from the Fun Fat Quarter Quilts For Spring book.
And lastly, her Interwoven quilt, another from the Stashtastic 2 book.
Susie showed her Barn Star Sampler quilt.
And her Brightly quilt, pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.
Barbara H showed us her disappearing 9 patch quilt.
Barbara B showed us her Hello Birdie quilt, from Connecting Threads pattern.
Mary Ellen continues to make progress on finishing her WIPs. Today, she showed us her Evening Primrose quilt, pattern by It’s So Emma.
Tracy showed us three quilts. First, her quilt made from blocks from Jen Kingwell’s Wanderer’s Wife booklet.
Then her blue quilt for her new grand-nephew.
And a quilt she made from a panel of sailing ships.
Simone showed her completed Passiflora quilt, from a Bernina sew-along, which she made for a class she is teaching. Several of us are still working on ours!
Shelly showed three wall hangings she completed. First, a pictorial quilt showing the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia.
Next, a portrait quilt.
And then a quilt of a dancing girl with a hula hoop.
Chelsea showed us her Southwest Sunshine quilt, pattern by Quilty Love. She made this for her new 4-month old son!
Amanda showed us her Shirt Stripe Boxes quilt, pattern from Kaffe Fassett’s Passionate Patchwork book. This quilt was “ten years in the making.”
Helen showed us a two-sided patchwork chair mat she made for her sister-in-law.

Please note that when we were adding links to raffle prizes and quilt patterns and books, we tried to link them directly to the pattern or book designers’ webpages, but sometimes we couldn’t find the original sources and put links to popular online commerce sites that carry these products. We are not endorsing any particular commerce sites – most items can be found from multiple sources.

Please post quilts, questions, and any other quilt-related information on our private member FaceBook group. To join, click here.

Our Guild email address is: nhmodernquilt@gmail.com.

See you next month!

--Amanda, Lorri W, and Mary Lou

In April, the annual NHMQG Spring Retreat took place at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, Maine. By all accounts, the retreat was a great success, with many projects both started and completed. Below are some photos shared by Mary Lou and Shelly.

In March, a group of guild members visited the Fierce Planets exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. The exhibit is a collaboration between Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and the Johns Hopkins Wavelengths™ public research communication and outreach program. During our visit, we enjoyed an lecture by SAQA artists Gwyned Trefethen and Judith Content. You can learn more about the exhibit through the SAQA and NEQM websites linked above. Below are pictures from the exhibit.

There was also a secondary exhibit, Just Wanna Copyright for Makers, which presented valuable lessons on copyright specifically relevant to quilting and other fiber arts. After exploring the exhibits, Helen graciously hosted lunch and conversation at her apartment, just a short walk from the museum. Thank you, Helen!