MMQG Turns 4! The November 2017 Birthday Party Meeting Recap

Although it was cold and dark outside well before our meeting time - there was no shortage of festivity for us at our November guild meeting.

We are so ready!

You see, November is a special month for us. It's our birthday! The guild has grown so much since a handful of quilty people met for the first time in a VON Boardroom in 2013, and we have the dedication of our many executive and guild members to thank for this.

This years party was a total hit! There were almost $500 in prizes to be won, and everyone went away with a little something. Fat Quarter Cupcakes were almost cute enough to eat!

Yum! And so cleverly displayed. Thanks Patch for the load of FQ's!

Big thanks to President Crystal for scouring the prize bin and for doing some serious hustle to collect all these wonderful prizes for us.

We had a little program too - Amanda showed us the sweetest technique for flanged binding. Crystal shared a sweet prairie point Christmas tree ornament that can be made with very little sewing. A perfect project for our homemade ornament swap that is held at our Christmas Party.

Turns out flanged binding isn't that daunting after all!

Those sweet little points are attached in the middle to a disk of stable foam. Genius!

Throughout the evening - we had cupcakes! And as was previously mentioned - MANY prize draws.
Shouting out to all our prize sponsors for the evening:

• Patch Halifax
• clinton modern creative
• Make Modern Magazine
• Aurifil Thread
• Tamara Kate Designs

WOAH that was a lot of prizes. Here are some of our lucky winners and their goodies:

Cute pattern, Linda!

Joanne won a 6 Month Subscription to Make Modern - the digital magazine that features our own
Julia Wentzell's Potters Wheel Quilt on the cover this month! 

Sandra scored this sweet bundle from Clinton Modern Creative - an online fabric shop

And - as usual - our show and share was epic. Feast your eyes:

A set of vibrant place-mats for the charity auction that we support - as a big thanks for our meeting space.

A nautical pillow and table runner set also for the auction.

This one was commissioned to Linda - and she got to keep it! How Lucky! :)

And the big reveal - Linda's BIG birthday quilt

A labour of love, a collaborative effort.

Look at the texture in that baby!

Barb shares a pillow made at a curved piecing workshop from Fiber Fest - very nice.

And a runner from a mini-charm pack, also for the auction.

The dimensional nature of these pencils was really hard to capture in a picture, but they look almost round!
Bravo, Joanne

And sweet in baby size too.

Julie's Halloween Masterpiece - some of the blocks are paper pieced and others are wonky log cabins.
Quilted with a completely appropriate spiderweb motif by our own Val L.

A cute pair of QAYG Christmas Stockings - Thanks for the great class on these Adrienne!

The "on point" quilt - being taught at the beginner quilt class at Patch this session.
Great use of low volume to blend some of the "points" and pop others.

A sweet throw quilt from Jeanette - also for the Auction.

The back - that much coveted Ikea Numbers print.

This adorable, bright and nautical baby quilt is a special gift for a newcomer Mama in Jeanette's community.

a "HOME" pillow from our Newfoundland contingent member, Gillian.
Thanks for your contribution to the auction, always good to see you!

A festive strip n flip from Amanda - she says: "thank goodness for colour catchers!"

Sheryl shares a sweet string block baby quilt - that is intended to be a gift... but almost to cute to give away!

Hope you enjoyed this meeting recap - again a big THANK YOU to everyone who makes MMQG what it is: our executive volunteers, our talented members, our local fabric shops and YOU - our online community.

Meet your MMQG 2018 Executive

Here we are... your trusty 2018 MMQG Executive

Back: (l to r) Adrienne, Aimee, Crystal & Sarah
Front: (l to r) Andrea B, Jeanette & Amanda
Photo Credit: Chantal Davies
Missing: Andrea TJ

Each MMQG Executive Committee Member is a special person, and we thank them for the tireless hours they put into making sure we all have a great guild experience. We've just had our first ever election (usually there's no contest - so this is awesome!) and this is the lowdown on who will lead the MMQG into the new year.

Now, without further ado - your 2018 Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Executive, in no particular order:

President - Crystal Gammon


Crystal is a wife, mother, registered nurse and one heck of a quilter! You can often find her whipping up a Hazel Hedgehog pillow, chasing a toddler, or planning guild stuff while at the football field. #godestroyers! This is Crystal's second year as President and for that we are PUMPED. You can find her on the good ol' Instagram @halifaxmom

Vice President & Retreat Coordinator - Amanda Nielsen


New to the executive team this year, we are fortunate to have Amanda join us as Vice President, and remain as Retreat Coordinator for a second year. She LOVES Carolyn Friedlander fabrics, and puts her trade as a stage manager to good use at home right now - wrangling four wild and wonderful sons and shift working spouse. Welcome Amanda!

Secretary & Charity Coordinator - Jeanette Smith

Jeanette has been a valued member of our executive for many years. Her secretarial skills are second to none, and have you SEEN the colour palettes she chooses for her quilts? Just, wow. She is also half of the creative goodness that is Seam Work. Jeanette has two busy highland-dancing girls, a lovely husband who doesn't mind at all when we commandeer their house for an exec meeting, and Ben - the cutest Cavalier King Charles Spaniel you've ever seen.

Treasurer - Aimee Semel

Aimee has also served as the MMQG Treasurer for a long time. In addition to doing a bang up job managing our dollars, she's the mother of a superhero! Baby Katie is basically our hero/mascot. Of note: Aimee almost never irons, works almost exclusively in solids, and is the mastermind behind Candy Coated Quilts.


Social Media Coordinator - Sarah Pettipas


Sarah is a healthcare administrator by day, and our social media aficionado by night... and sometimes also by day. She is pretty sure she was a mermaid in a past life, loves crafts of all kinds, is married  and hates scary movies. Sarah enjoys quilted projects that can be completed in a sitting or two (have you SEEN her work-in-progress shelf?), keeps every scrap of nautical fabric big and small, and can also be found @sarahpettipas, @sweettinystitches and @_maritimemqg


Workshop Coordinator - Andrea Bezanson

Another new addition to the Exec team this year - is the wonderful human Andrea. When she's not working the day job, or reading for pleasure (now that school is over - YES!!!), she can be found loving Harry Potter, hanging out with her rad son, or petting fabric. THANK YOU Andrea for joining the team!


MQG Ambassador - Andrea Tsang Jackson


We are not sure how she finds the time, but we do love our MQG Ambassador Andrea T J. She is an incredible pattern designer, mother and mastermind behind the creative goodness at 3rd Story Workshop. We really appreciate the time Andrea takes from her busy schedule to keep us up to date on the goings on with the greater MQG organization, and look forward to having you with us this again this year!


Swaps Coordinator - Adrienne Klenck


After a little Executive rest, our Past Prez Adrienne puts her Executive pants back on this year as our Swaps Coordinator! As the other half of Seam Work, a kind and patient instructor for beginner quilters, spouse and partner in an urban gardening business and a project manager in health care by day, you never know what Adrienne will sew up next! Much love to her furry assistants/babies: Orangie, Penny, and Charlie Dog.


And last but not least - a special thank you to outgoing Executive members this year: Lori Parsons (Workshops), Anja Clyke (Charity) and Jennifer Trott-Zisserson (Vice Prez). You've each served more than one year on executive - and so todays MMQG would NOT be the same without you! Your dedication to making the guild a great, creative place - is so appreciated.


Here's to a quilty 2018!