November meeting reminder and other announcements

November is a big month for our guild! I have a few reminders for everyone, and a few reminders for those volunteering at the Gathering.

• Got patchwork skills? I'm currently seeking member volunteers to run regular meeting workshops in January and March. I need quilters who can cover topics such as "Conquering Y-Seams", "Piecing Curves," "Free-motion Quilting on Your Home Machine," "Sewing a Perfect 1/4'' Seam"/"Patchwork Basics Bootcamp." Never taught a workshop before? Don't think you're an expert? You probably ARE an expert and don't know it. If you're willing to look up a traditional block that includes a Y-seam, practice it a few times on your own time, and show us how to do it in a meeting, you're an expert! Bonus points if you can show us how to turn our workshop sample into a finished product such as a pillow or pouch. Please contact Laura if you are interested.
• If you have signed up to volunteer at the Gathering: Please remember to save your validated parking receipts (all-day parking is validated by the show and will cost $5) and the guild will reimburse you for parking on the day(s) you are volunteering at the show. I will distribute information about picking up your entry passes to the show next week, but no volunteer should have to pay to enter the show on the day they work. If you have not received your guild t-shirt, it will be available at the show starting on Wednesday afternoon. For your volunteer shift, please wear either your SMQG t-shirt or, if you plan to wear an apron, a navy blue shirt of your choice, and pants or skirt of your choice (it is OK to layer your shirt over a long-sleeved shirt). Please remember to wear your guild nametag!
• If you signed up to help hang the show on Wednesday November 4, please plan to meet at the Manchester Radisson sometime between 12 pm and 3 pm and work until around 6 pm that evening. 
• If you have a quilt in the Gathering show, you may pick it up at the November 14 meeting. Please contact Mary if you cannot attend this meeting. 
• Lined Drawstring Bag Swap!: If you would like to participate in the Lined Drawstring Bag Swap for our end-of-year celebration in December, please contact Mary as soon as possible and include the following: 1) your name, 2) favorite fabrics/colors/designers, 3) favorite notion or notion you've always wanted to try. Mary will be distributing your partner information soon, so if you haven't yet let her know that you want to participate, please do so now.
• November meeting is November 14, 10a-12pm, at the Newmarket NH Public Library. There is ample free parking behind the library; the library opens at 10 so you won't want to be too early. On the agenda for this meeting: voting on our 2016 officers and bylaw revisions (please see the previous blog post and emails from Judy for details). After our business meeting, we will have show and tell. Remember Allison's gorgeous QAYG scrap quilt? She'll be giving a QAYG demo at the November meeting, so you'll be equipped to make your own scrap quilt! The lottery block is still Berene's Spooky Eyes block.

If you have ANY questions, or think that I've forgotten ANY details, please email me and ask, or let me know! I can't wait to see many of you at our show last week. 

October Meeting Recap

Lots of business to take care of last Saturday in West Newbury. Judy ably stepped in for the vacationing Laura, agenda in hand. 

Quilt Con West

The electronic submission date is 11/30. For $30 you can submit up to 3 quilts. Full details on the show and quilt submissions are here.

A Quilter's Gathering

Our volunteer slots are filled! (Thank You!). AQG will cover the cost of a 3-day pass for volunteers and SMQG will reimburse one $5 parking fee. See Jess with your receipts after the show. 

Mary distributed t-shirts and showed off the promo post cards featuring several different quilts and guild contact information on the back. 

East Kingston Library Exhibit

For advance promotion of AQG, Diane is coordinating an exhibit of quilts at the East Kingston Library. If you have a quilt that you'd like to show, please contact Diane soon!

Treasurer's Report/Retreat

Jess submitted the Treasurer's report and gave some retreat information. In January, deposits will be taken for the April 14 - 17th retreat at the Franciscan in Kennebunkport. Jess is taking volunteers for hospitality and swag for the retreat. A fun way to jump into guild activities, just sayin.

Raffle Blocks

The Spooky Eye raffle blocks will be continued for another month. It will be after Halloween for the second round but that leaves plenty of time to finish the WIP for next year. Tutorial here. 

December Secret Handmade Swap

Mary collected some information from the participants and will make partner assignments by the 23rd of this month. The tutorial for the Lined Drawstring Bag is here. Fill with $15 of fun notions, fabric and goodies for your partner to exchange at our last meeting of the year.

For all of Mary's hard work over the last month(s), Jess created this "High Five" to acknowledge her efforts. It was quite the badge of honor!!

Wonky Star Blocks for Laura

Well, it's not a secret so... Judy is collecting presidential thank you blocks, please have them to her by the November meeting. The specs are found in this recap.

Officer Nominations

Voting for 2016 Officers will be at the November meeting (Nov. 14 at the Newmarket Library). If you need an absentee ballot, please let Laura know. The nominations for officers are:

President - Mary Gregory

Vice President - Nancy Peach

Secretary - Kali Zirkle

Treasurer - Jess Benoit May

All are running uncontested. 

By-law Revisions

Judy has been toiling on the dry, but necessary By-law revisions. The document has been emailed to all members for review with the changes highlighted in red type. We will be voting to adopt these revisions next month as well.

Show and Tell

Judy showed the finished raffle quilt. Good job everyone! Thanks to Mary for the glorious quilting. Let's sell some raffle tickets next month!!! (My apologies for the blur!)

Susan showed a huge California King navy geometric that is destined for her son's bed. The back is as lovely as the front.

Kali was heading to the wedding of the couple that will receive this beautiful sampler after the meeting. It contains fabrics from the bride's family and wedding ring blocks.

Mary had improv blocks from guild scrap leftovers from a long ago meeting. Trash becomes treasure.

Jess sported a Heather Ross Tiger Lily skirt with girls climbing trees. Squeee!

Jelly Roll Race

With all business taken care of, Kali explained the basics of the jelly roll race as we divided into 4 teams to create wheelchair lap quilts destined for nursing homes in NH and MA. The teams will complete the quilts (polyester batting is preferred for heavy duty washing) for the February meeting.

The one team that did not get a decent photograph (probably because Mary was sewing too darn fast) finished first with this colorful quilt top. Yay, quick! Yay, easy! Yay, fun! 

Thanks for all the helpful hands that make quick work.

See you next month, a week later on November 14, 10 am at the Newmarket, NH library, 1 Elm Street. Note that the library opens at 10am so don't be too early.