Our annual Member Mini Trunk Show was the topic of our January meeting, featuring quilts and other work from Trish De Preter, Kathy DeVries, Emily Parson and Katie Cooper. The breadth of the amazing work produced by these four quilters was utterly inspiring, and so beautiful. We really enjoyed hearing the story of each maker’s influences, their creative practices, and how their work has evolved.
Thanks to you all for sharing your quilting art with us and to Holly Harper for putting the program together!
To top it off, we saw even more quilty goodness in our Show and Tell. If you missed it, you can see some of what was shared in the January Show and Tell album associated with our member Facebook group.
GUILD ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Upcoming Board Elections: A reminder that elections for the guild’s 2021-2022 board will be held in April. If you’ve wanted to serve on the board, now is the time! The new proposed board slate will be announced on Feb 19th via email, and we need to know your intention to run for a spot by Feb 12th. Email current Vice President, Julia, to let her know you are interested. All help is appreciated — we will find a place for you and your talents!
Membership Renewal: As of this meeting, we already have 115 new or renewed members for the 2021 calendar year! Membership in our guild comes with all kinds of benefits beyond the monthly meetings – we have sew-alongs, charity projects, swaps, speakers and workshops. Members also have access to the national MQG website, containing webinars, patterns and so much more content – go check it out! Guests are always welcome to attend a first meeting for free (or for a $10 fee if we’re hosting a paid guest speaker); the second meeting is $5.
Charity Pods: Charity pod assignments have been sent out and groups are welcome to organize the production of charity quilts any way they want. Quilts will be donated to Project Linus/McHenry. They accept all sizes of quilts. Email Ellen if you’d like more info or to be assigned to a pod — she’ll create more pods if there is more interest. Also, if you’d like to produce a charity quilt outside of a ‘pod’ please also contact Ellen – we are happy to get as many quilts to donate as possible.
Show and Tell: Please continue to upload your show and tell pictures to each month’s Facebook album (especially big quilts and other items that are hard to show off on the Zoom platform), and we’ll create a slide show to present during our meeting’s “show and tell” time. You’re also welcome to share in real time during the meeting if you wish. If you don’t use Facebook, you can email pictures to Julia. Please upload or email photos by the day before each meeting.
MQG news: If you’re attending QuiltCon Together 2021 this week/weekend, you may want to join our Chicago MQG QuiltCon Together Facebook group as a way to connect with others from the guild who are also participating. This group is a place where we can talk about what we’ve seen, what’s good to make time for, what we learn. It is a group for Chicago MQG members only.
Be sure to check out the national Modern Quilt Guild site and take advantage of the many resources available to you as a member: webinars, quilt patterns, block studies and more!
QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge: Look for our finished quilt in the virtual QuiltCon Together 2021 show right now!
Weekly Sewcials! Open to all CMQG Members: Sewcials on Zoom are every other Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon. These unstructured sew-ins are for members who want to hang out, catch up, sew a little (or do any craft, really) and meet other members. Jenni Grover will host them as we begin, but we’d love to have other volunteer hosts as well. The next Tuesday Sewcial is February 23 at 6pm, and the next Wednesday Sewcial is March 3 at 1pm. Check your monthly newsletter (the Full Bobbin) or the member Facebook page for the Zoom link.
CMQG Tenth Anniversary book: Book orders will happen very, very soon! The book looks beautiful and out of this world inspiring, and is just going through its final edits. Any books ordered will be mailed directly to you from the printer.
Guild-wide sew along: Month Five block instructions for the Big Fun Mystery Sew-Along (#BFMSAL) are up on the blog, as is the Month Six post which includes some layout ideas. You can make as many or as few blocks as you want – everyone’s quilt will be different. Please post to Instagram and Facebook with #BFMSAL so we can see your progress.
Modern Quilt Bee: Follow along with the progress of the #chimodbee on Instagram. And please reach out if you’d like to be part of a future bee!
Spring Retreat: We won’t be doing the Spring retreat in-person, but have scheduled a sew-in day (or Virtual Retreat) instead for Sunday, April 25, 10:00am-5:00pm. We are crossing our fingers for an in-person Fall retreat!!!
Star Stitches: We hope you’re enjoying this way of recognizing members for achievements and triumphs both large and small — not just quilting related. Each month you can submit your friends’ achievements (or your own) for announcement and celebration at the upcoming meeting. Look for a link in each month’s member newsletter.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Sunday, February 28, 2:00-5:00, virtual meeting via Zoom: Make Do. Ideas and inspiration for substitutions, sourcing hard-to-find items, mending, shortcuts, etc.
Saturday, March 6 AND Saturday, March 20, 10:00-5:00, virtual workshop via Zoom: Color Interaction with Tara Faughnan. The workshop (which is now running twice to accommodate the demand) is limited to 20 participants each session and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Workshop fee is $75. All current members should have received an email with the sign-up link. Email Emily with questions or for more information.
Sunday, March 21, 2:00-5:00, virtual meeting via Zoom: Guest Speaker Tara Faughnan. Tara will discuss her creative design process. She’ll share the ways in which she takes an idea and develops it; how the role of scale and color are integral to her process; and how she resolves issues and deals with a creative rut.
The guild’s complete list of programs and events through December 2021 is now available, so take a look at the rest of our programming and mark your calendars.
Use and follow our guild hashtags!
#chicagomqg
#chicagomqglecture
#chicagomqgshowandtell
#chicagomqgdingdingding
#BFMSAL
#chimodbee
#chicagomqg10yearmini
All meetings are 2-5 pm on the third Sunday of the month, unless otherwise noted.
This month’s meeting is on FEBRUARY 28, via Zoom. (Look for a link in our member newsletter, the Full Bobbin.)
Meeting location: Online, via Zoom.
Rush Oak Park Hospital
Centennial Room
520 S. Maple Ave Oak Park, Il 60304
A list of our meetings can be found here.
Not a member, but would like to be? Click the button below to join our Guild!
We hope to see you there!