January 11 General Membership Meeting
36 members in attendance
Meeting led by new president, Helen.
Welcome newcomers!
Betty and Jennie joined the guild tonight!
Thank you Carol and Sonia for attending the door and welcome table!
Thank you to snack-bringers Simone for bringing pepperkaker and Lynn for bringing oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
Raffle Winners
Lynn won the door prize, a wooly bun pincushion and thread cutter.
Lori won the monthly raffle, a $200 Bits ‘n Pieces gift card and monthly free yard membership.
Brenda won the programming raffle, a $25 gift card to Quilted Crow.
Membership (Marie, Treasurer)
We are at 56 confirmed members (membership cap is 65). To those who have paid, thank you! Those who have not, please do so!
Events and Programming (Karen, Laurie, and Susan)
Programming Ideas and Interest
Cards were passed around to learn what members are interested in for programming this year (activities, raffles prizes, etc). From the turned in cards, a winner was drawn for the programming raffle. If you think of any other ideas for programming - contact us!
Yard Sale
Next month’s programming is the annual yard sale. Start looking for things you want to get rid of by donating to the yard sale. Price for fabric is to be announced. If you bring notions or UFOs (unfinished objects) please price them yourself. Books and magazines can be no more than 5 years old. All proceeds from the yard sale will go to the guild. Laurie M knows an art teacher who will gladly take anything we have unsold at the end of the sale.
Free Block of the Month offerings
Communications (Brenda and Susie)
E-mail Communication
If you have not been receiving the monthly meeting reminder emails - please reach out to us!
Facebook Group
We are starting a Facebook group. Submit a request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nhmqg/
This is a private group only for dues paying members of NHMQG. Feel free to share things like things you’re working on, sales or events or classes you find, carpools for shop hops, questions you have about sewing/quilting, etc!
This does not change how official guild communication goes out - we will still be sending important information via email!
Social Media
We are going to be posting more on our Instagram and Facebook page. If you do not want to be pictured on our social media platforms, please let us know. Also feel free to start using the hashtag #nhmqg on Instagram. We’re trying to follow all of our members so we can share makes throughout the month, if we’re not following you - let us know!
Member Directory
We are adding photos to our member directory so it’s easier for everyone to connect names to faces. Brenda took photos during the meeting - if you did not attend, send me a picture, or be prepared next month to get your picture taken!
Nashua Visible Mending Group
We got an email from Nashua Public Library where a visible mending group meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays every month from 6-8 pm. They are looking for someone to teach the skill of darning and are willing to pay - if you want to do this, let us know and we’ll pass your information along. Details about the group: https://nashualibrary.libcal.com/event/10977795
Quiltcon Streaming Lecture Pass
This year Quiltcon is offering a streaming lecture pass to those who can’t go to Quiltcon in person! With the pass you get access to all 28 lectures (these are lectures as opposed to workshops) and can view the replays until March 4, 2024. The pass is $265 and is on sale until February 15. Get more details and purchase here: https://www.themodernquiltguild.com/quiltcon-streaming-lecture-pass/ (note - you’ll have to sign in to your mother guild account to view this - if you need help with that - let us know!)
Charity (Lesley and Julie)
No big updates - Lesley has a number of unquilted quilts that have backings ready to go.
Spring retreat will be at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunk, ME on May 2-5. We are taking checks as the deposit for your room now, but won’t cash them until the deposit is due (in March). For now taking deposits from members, starting probably at the March meeting, we’ll open it up to non-member friends. Ophelia is checking to see if we have a limit to how many can come.
Rates:
Single, 3 nights: $502
Double, 3 nights: $355
Single, 2 nights: $355
Double, 2 nights: $257
Price does not include food. If you change your mind within the month before, don’t expect your money back - before then we can usually figure it out.
Notes on the Franciscan - the guest rooms are simple (shades of brown 
) but clean. The rooms have fridges and coffee service. The sewing room has a big fridge and microwave, tons of design walls, irons and ironing boards, lots of light)
Local Events
Label Make and Take
Chelsea led our monthly programming activity, a quilt label make and take. Fabric blocks were provided to each table - each piece of fabric was backed with freezer paper for stability. (Freezer paper is paper on one side, wax on the other - so you can iron it onto fabric easily). Stamps and ink were provided. When selecting ink - look for permanent or archival on the label. One of the ink pad brands used:
For writing, Chelsea recommended Identipens (have a skinny and a fat side which is great), Microns, and Sharpies. Other coloring utensils that were brought to share were Inktense pencils, Crayola fabric markers and Fabrico markers.
See below for pictures from the activity:
Captions below photos give details for each quilt!
Carol finished a WIP with this on-point churn dash placemat.
Lisa made the Tic Tac quilt from the Easy Peasy 3-yard Quilts book with an adorable flannel sloth backing.
Marie made a large disappearing nine-patch.
Lisa made this Kitchen Table Quilting Violet Quilt using Marble Run fabric
Lisa made the Slide Show quilt from Atkinson Designs using the Summer Lovin’ fabric line with a flanged binding.
Ophelia made one of Chelsea’s favorite patterns (and its free!) - No Point Stars from Cluck Cluck Sew using Sweetwater fabric. She noted that it's a great stashbuster - it calls for 48 fat quarters (though you can use just 30 if you don’t make any mistakes )
Ophelia made a scrappy batik version of the Snowflake quilt from Modern Handcraft.
Ophelia made 2 different Tula colorways of the Hedge Maze quilt - a free pattern from Tula Pink and Free Spirit.
Kim made this Confetti Hearts quilt from Modernly Morgan. Take a gander at that great quilt label!
Kim made the Landmark quilt from the Urban Quilting book. The quilting design is called Freeway.
Laurie M made this quilt from the City Quilts book by Cherri House using her solid scraps.
Raya made this on-point log cabin quilt she designed for her daughter with an elephant on the back. She took inspiration for her quilt from this quilt from the Cloth Parcel.
Raya also made this stuffed minky elephant made with the Funky Friends pattern.
Gail is in the third month of the Tara Faughnan Block Studies Collective. This month’s prompt was lines and she got to practice her y-seams in the center of this block!
Mary Ellen made this out of a quilt kit that she bought at last year’s yard sale. It appears to be the Fly By Quilt Pattern from Initial K Studios. She liked the pattern - so whoever brought it to yard sale - thank you!
Mary Ellen liked the pattern so much she made another one in a pink colorway!
Simone made the Shell Chain block from the Wonderful Curves book and shared about the class she is teaching based off of this book (see the local event section above for class details!)
Simone shared a book called Stunning 3D Quilts Simplified and the Knots tablerunner-turned wall hanging she made from it.
Tracy made the Button Box quilt from the Quilts in a Jiffy book for her nephew that likes cats.
Chelsea finished this WIP (well kinda - the binding isn’t done quite yet). This is the Wensleydale quilt from Jen Kingwell’s book Quilt Recipes. Chelsea recommends using paper piecing instead of templates for this quilt.
Ashley made these beautiful matching baby quilts as gifts.
Ashley made this Camp Woodland Panel Quilt (a free pattern!) by Riley Blake Designs for a friend with a child.
Ashley made this Swoon quilt from Thimble Blossoms and matching pillowcase for herself!
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be February 8. See you then!
