Happy New Year!

It all began when three friends, acquainted through the internet, decided to join together to start the Bakersfield branch of the Modern Quilt Guild. Meg had been participating in online modern quilt guild swaps, Terri had attended a few meetings of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and Jen had attended the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild, where the Modern Quilt Guild movement began. These women all enjoyed this new trend in quilting and handwork and decided to see if they could get a group started here. At our first meet and greet last January, we filled the classroom at Strawberry Patches! Since that time, we have become an energetic, productive, enthusiastic, wonderful group of quilters, who make up the heart of The Bakersfield Modern Quilt Guild. Thank you, Meg, Terri, and Jen, for getting it all started!

Over the past year, we have formed friendships, learned new techniques, held some fun swaps, and hosted our first guest teacher. The class was a huge success, and the teacher, Nancy Rink, said that we were one of the nicest groups of quilters that she'd ever had the pleasure of teaching. What a compliment!

As we move into the new year, the first order of business at our January 21st meeting, will be to elect new officers. We have nominees for the positions of President, Vice-President, and Secretary, but we still need nominees for the positions of Treasurer and Program Director. The term is for one year, February to January. Descriptions of the positions can be found here.

The program for the January meeting will be to share and talk about our goal boards. Lynn shared her goal board at the November meeting and asked members to create their own goal boards for the new year. Get those boards made, and lets cheer each other on in our quilting adventures for the new year!

Mark your calendars for these upcoming events: Saturday, January 21st, BMQG meeting at Strawberry Patches, 2:00-4:00. Saturday, January 28th, sew-in at Bolts to Binding, 10:00-4:00.

Happy stitching,

Lynn and Nicci

And A Good Time Was Had By All!

Last Saturday, the BMQG hosted a color theory class taught by Nancy Rink, of Nancy Rink Designs. I'm happy to report that it was a smashing success! We had 17 students in the class, and we filled the classroom at Strawberry Patches!

Nancy started the class by sharing some of her award-winning quilts and explaining the color scheme involved in the creation of each one. She does amazing work, so getting a mini trunk show was an extra treat for the class! After enjoying all of her quilts, she set about teaching us how to use the 3-in-1 Color Tool by Joen Wolfrom. Many of us already owned the color tool, but we had no idea how to use it. Finally learning how to use the tool and gain confidence in choosing fabrics for quilts, was worth the cost of the class! Everyone brought a variety of fabrics for the class, and it was great fun to stand back and watch everyone digging, sorting, sharing, and thoroughly enjoying the entire process of creating blocks to fit each color scheme. Nancy was great about getting to each student, giving everyone one-on-one help and encouragement.

Part of Nancy's instruction included going through the quilt shop and pulling bolts of fabrics. Nancy asked students to use their color tools to choose coordinating fabrics for the print chosen. What a great exercise! Everyone, from the beginning quilter to the advanced quilter, learned something new! There were several comments about how great the class was, and Nancy said she thoroughly enjoyed teaching such a warm and enthusiastic group! Thank you, Nancy, for such a great class! Thank you also to Christiane' Marzi, for being a great 'Vanna White' and making sure that everyone got to see each quilt up close.

Thank you to Strawberry Patches, and their awesome staff! They went out of their way to help pull everything together, and they were very patient about us wandering the store and pulling all of those bolts of fabric. Becky, Kara, Marissa, and Andie... you ladies rock! Thank you, Suzanne, for always being so supportive of our group and hosting us in your shop!

May you all be enjoying some wonderful holiday sewing,

Lynn and Nicci

Officer Elections for 2012

This past year has been one of both challenges and growth, as we all worked to establish our young guild. We tried meeting on a couple of different days of the week, which also meant changing meeting times. We lost our sew-in location, so we had to find a new one. We also had some changes on the Board. All of these "bumps" are normal when forming a new group, and we are thankful that all of you continue to support such a wonderful group of quilters and sewing enthusiasts! As we approach our second year, we feel that there won't be too many more changes, as far as locations and times are concerned. Now it's time to elect a new Board for the 2012 calendar year! If you are considering serving on the Board, be assured that there will be plenty of help and support from past Board members. We also have a tentative program schedule for the first couple of months, to help get the year started. Below, you will find descriptions for each Board position:

BMQG President

-Primary function is to see to the smooth running of the BMQG. Organization is necessary and follow through is a must.

-Arrange, schedule and facilitate monthly meetings of the BMQG, as well as for officers of the BMQG.

-Assist in maintaining Blog, Google Docs, and Flickr, and other duties as necessary.

- Take suggestions from all members under advisement. Works with individuals as needed.

-Prior to officer and BMQG meetings, the President, with input from other BMQG officers, is to prepare an agenda. This is to be emailed to all officers before the monthly meeting. In addition, a brief general description of upcoming activities/meetings is to be posted on the blog.

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BMQG Vice President

-The vice president will perform the duties of the president if needed, including running the monthly meeting.

-Assist in maintaining all online media (blog, Flickr, etc)

-Attend monthly guild meeting. Arrive 1/2 hour before BMQG meetings to assist with meeting set up and stay for clean up.

-Attend monthly board meetings. Actively participate in guild leadership and making decisions regarding activities and growth of the BMQG.

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BMQG Secretary

-The primary duty of the BMQG secretary is to take notes at all monthly BMQG meetings and officers’ meetings. In a timely manner, a summary of these meetings will be sent to all Board members. The secretary will also assist in posting pertinent guild information to the blog/web page, including announcements, guild business, presentations, show and tell, shop hops, sewing nights, charity work, etc. Picture taking at monthly meeting is also helpful, and this responsibility will be shared by everyone on the board.

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BMQG Treasurer

-Maintain bank account including preparing monthly/quarterly statements for BMQG, pay any bills that may incur, including reimbursements to members.

-Collect membership dues, collect new membership forms, maintain membership spreadsheet, collect teacher/speaker fees, and keep financial records updated. Membership information is to be shared with all BMQG Board members.

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BMQG Program Coordinator

-Supports the planning, implementation, maintenance, and documentation of BMQG’s public programs and educational activities.

-Actively recruits a guest speaker and/or arranges group activity for each BMQG meeting. Works with the speaker on presentation, offering help, encouragement and support.

-Actively works on future month’s meeting: content, lectures, social events, sewing projects, etc.

-Coordinates give-aways, challenges, swaps, and guild activities.

-Encourages members to be involved in presentations.

-Have on-hand filler material or a ten minute tutorial on hand in case a meeting runs short, and/or program changes.

All positions require the require the following:

-Officers are expected to represent the guild in a honorable manner, in all communications and interactions related to the BMQG.

-Ability to speak in front of a group

-Can actively seek new information from people and groups, via internet, phone, etc.

-Organizational ability and attention to detail

The time commitment for each position is about 10 hours per month, which includes monthly BMQG meetings and monthly officers’ meetings.

This is an exciting time for the Modern Quilt Guild movement, and we are so thankful to be a part of this fun and supportive group of quilters. We think that 2012 will prove to be a very successful year for the BMQG! If you are interested in serving, or if you have any questions regarding any of the positions, please contact Nicci at nino9969@gmail.com.

In stitches,

Lynn and Nicci

Color Play Class With Nancy Rink

Award-winning quilter, author, designer and teacher, Nancy Rink, will be teaching a color theory class for our guild on Saturday, December 10, 10:00 - 3:00, at Strawberry Patches.

If you have signed up for the Color Play class and don't yet have your supply list, please e-mail me at LongarmLynn@aol.com, and I'll e-mail it to you. The Ultimate 3 in 1 Color Tool by Joen Wolfrom, is required for the class. The Joen Wolfrom book, Color Play, is recommended, but not required. As of this morning, Strawberry Patches had 8 of the color tools and one copy of the book left. The class is a half day, hands-on workshop, and lunch will be provided. (The class is full) *Please bring small/medium cutting boards, as we will be sitting 4 to each table. If you don't have one small enough, there will be a few extras available.*

I look forward to spending time with my BMQG friends, learning skills that we can all use in our future quilting adventures!

Lynn

Your Friendly Neighborhood Program Coordinator

November Wrap Up

November has been a very busy month, and the BMQG activities were no exception! At our monthly meeting, we enjoyed swapping hand-made pin cushions, a hands-on demo of the Slice cutting machine, lovely show 'n tell, and had a discussion about setting quilting goals for the upcoming year. Our monthly sew-in was held just after Thanksgiving, and it was obvious that everyone needed the day out to enjoy the fellowship of other quilters. We had a packed house! This is an awesome group, and I'm thankful for each and every one of you!

Suzanne, owner of Strawberry Patches, gave us the details on the Slice cutting machine. Pam did an awesome job of preparing fabrics so that everyone got to cut out some fusible applique pieces, using her Slice cutter. Thank you, ladies!

Our pin cushion swap bags. Great surprises were contained in these little bags!

Show 'n Tell

Pam used The Ghastlies fabrics by Alexander Henry, to embellish a pre-made canvas bag.

Lynn's batik stars quilt.

Nicci's t-shirt quilt.

Liz is mug rug crazy!

Sew-In at Bolts to Binding

Nicci worked on her zig zag quilt.

Laura worked on a holiday table runner.

Pam could only stay a little while, but we always enjoy her company!

Jen, Lana, Christy, Lynn & Meg

Bob and Jae popped in for a bit.

Our December program will be the Color Play class taught by Nancy Rink, Saturday, December 10th, 10:00 - 3:00, at Strawberry Patches. Lunch will be provided. This is the only activity on the December calendar for our guild.

Our January program will include sharing our goal boards for 2012. I shared one that I made and challenged members to share theirs at our January meeting.

Include pictures, lists, quotes, etc. Make it yours!

January Elections

In January, we will hold elections for guild officers for the 2012 year. Positions include President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Program Coordinator. If you are interested in serving on the BMQG Board, e-mail Nicci at nino9968@gmail.com.

May you all find some time to nourish your quilting/sewing souls,

Lynn

Your friendly neighborhood Program Coordinator

November Guild Meeting

Can you believe it's almost Christmas already? The excitement has been building over on Face book about our up an coming meeting, this Saturday November 19th from 2pm-4pm over at Strawberry Patches. There will be a fun demo on the new cutting machine called the Slice. For those of you that love embellishing, scrap booking, or applique, this is the perfect opportunity to see what the possibilities are.

You will have the chance to play with the machine in a group activity, so bring your fabric scraps to play around with. The Go! Baby Machine will also be there for everyone to enjoy. This should be a great mingle event if your new to the guild.

Things to bring to our meeting::

Fabric scraps

Pin cushion (for swap) in a concealed bag

Show and Tell

Remember these are coming up::

Sew-In Saturday November 26th at Bolts to Binding

Officer Elections (January) Think about what position you would like to run for

December 10th color Theory with Nancy Rink (Our class is now full)

We hope to see you all on Saturday.

Saturday Sew-In

This month's sew-in will be on Saturday, November 26, 10:00 - 4:00, at Bolts to Binding, 2437 Oak Street. If you want to bring your lunch, the shop has a frig and a microwave that we are free to use. There are also places nearby to get a bite to eat. People come and go throughout the day, so drop in at any time!

Reminder: There will not be a sew-in for the month of December.